Politics

Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.

Tuesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Who has the better mandate: Theresa May or Nicola Sturgeon?

For the last week, the Unionist opposition at the Scottish parliament has enjoyed observing that the Scottish government is happy to ignore non-binding votes at Holyrood when it suits them to do so but now expects the UK government to be bound by today’s vote authorising the Scottish government to seek a Section 30 order that would begin the process by which a lawful second referendum on independence can be held. It is a neat line but an insufficient one, not least since this vote – unlike some of those on which the SNP government has been defeated – actually recommends a particular course of action that the government should

Nick Hilton Nick Hilton

Ed Miliband’s sassy Twitter reinvention is bad news for Labour

I really liked Ed Miliband. I thought he would make a great Prime Minister. He was wide-eyed and striving, the less hip or handsome of the Miliband brothers, but undeniably a fine man. In recent months, however, he has tried to shed that image. He now wants to seem cool. This morning, for example, Miliband responded to the Daily Mail’s controversial ‘Legs-it’ cover by tweeting ‘The 1950s called and asked for their headline back’. He then proceeded to engage in a back-and-forth with James Blunt (another of Twitter’s surprise rehabilitations) who wrote ‘It’s been such a pleasure guest-editing @Ed_Miliband’s Twitter page these last couple of weeks.’ Miliband then delivered the exchange’s coup de grace, slaying

James Forsyth James Forsyth

How Britain and the EU can both benefit from Article 50

Theresa May doesn’t do drama. She regards order as both a political and personal virtue. And this goes a long way towards explaining why she is Prime Minister. After the Brexit vote last June and David Cameron’s resignation, the Tories had had enough excitement. They turned to the leadership contender who was best able to project a reassuring sense of calm. It is in keeping with May’s approach that she has drained the drama from the triggering of Article 50, the start of the two-year process for leaving the EU. Other prime ministers might have been tempted to do it with a flourish — to feel the hand of history

Charlotte Gill

The last thing Brexit needs is support from an ageing Sex Pistol

John Lydon – aka Johnny Rotten, the former Sex Pistols front man –  has voiced support for Brexit, and some seem to think this is a good thing. Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he said: ‘Where do I stand on Brexit? Well, here it goes, the working class have spoke and I’m one of them and I’m with them,’ before revealing he admires Nigel Farage. Perhaps he should have left it there, but This Morning was only the beginning of Rotten’s slithery journey across the nation’s media. After all, he has a book to promote! (Mr Rotten’s Songbook, if you’re interested – out on 31 March). Later on, Rotten could be found in the Guardian telling its

Pádraig Belton

James Brokenshire is out of his depth as Northern Ireland Secretary

There is a saying that whoever the Prime Minister hates, they appoint as Northern Ireland Secretary. James Brokenshire, Theresa May’s unlucky pick for the job, had three options yesterday: a new election, direct rule, or a fudge. When the clock struck 4pm, three weeks after Northern Ireland’s election, there was only one option: it was always going to be the Irish fudge.  James Brokenshire had tried valiantly to maintain the fiction, which no one believed, that at 4:01pm yesterday he was prepared to fire the starting pistol of Northern Ireland’s third assembly election in a year. It wasn’t a credible threat, and people in Northern Ireland have a way of telling the one

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: The perks – and pitfalls – of Brexit

The clock is ticking. At 12.30pm tomorrow, Theresa May will be on her feet in the Commons declaring that Article 50 has been triggered. Finally, nine months after the referendum, Britain will be heading out of the EU. The moment itself is likely to be underwhelming and we’re unlikely to find out much more of the Government’s actual Brexit plan. But already the Daily Telegraph has some suggestions. This is the perfect moment for asking: ‘What type of country do we wish to be at the end of that journey?’, the paper says. Yes, Brexit is about ‘reclaiming sovereignty’. It is also about ‘reforming the state’, the Telegraph says, and it’s

Katy Balls Katy Balls

How Unionists are preparing for a second Scottish referendum

This afternoon Scottish Parliament will vote on Nicola Sturgeon’s call for a second independence referendum. With MSPs expected to vote in favour of the motion, Theresa May’s line that ‘now is not the time’ for a referendum looks set to come under increased pressure. ‘IndyRef2’ could still be pushed back as far as 2020/21 but behind the scenes Unionists are beginning to make preparations for a second vote. So, what would — and what should — a cross-party campaign look like this time around? Two years prior to the 2014 referendum, Better Together was established with the support of the three main unionist political parties in Scotland: Scottish Labour, the Scottish Conservative Party, and the Scottish

Monday

Melanie McDonagh Melanie McDonagh

Could the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement help end Stormont’s stasis?

You’d think, with Brexit talks starting sometime after Wednesday, that Northern Irish politicians would have something better to do than engage in the amusing party politics that leave everyone else in Ireland and Britain stone cold. But nope, given the possibility that the EU could insist on the imposition of a land border between the north and south of Ireland, and at the very least the challenge of sorting out how to stem the free flow of booze and fags from a UK outside the EU to a Republic within it, the parties are locked on the following issues: the status of the Irish language (Sinn Fein); the extent to

James Forsyth James Forsyth

James Brokenshire plays for time in Northern Ireland. Will it work?

The Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire is playing for time. In a statement made after the 4pm deadline for forming an executive in Northern Ireland was missed, Brokenshire said that he was giving the parties a few more weeks to try and reach a deal. He justified this on the basis that there is no enthusiasm for either early elections or direct rule from Westminster. But even with more time, it is hard to see how an agreement can be reached. Sinn Fein, post Martin McGuinness, is far more determined to cause mischief and senses a Brexit moment of opportunity. This means that it is not keen on joining a

Steerpike Steerpike

David Cameron’s larynx joins the Labour party

Given that Owen Jones, Glenda Jackson and Derek Hatton are just a handful of the figures to recently turn on Jeremy Corbyn, one could be forgiven for thinking that the Labour leader is turning people off Labour. So, Mr S was surprised to learn of Labour’s latest recruit, in today’s issue of the Times. Step forward Clare Foges. Yes, David Cameron’s former SpAd and speechwriter — who earned the affectionate nickname ‘the Prime Minister’s Larynx’ — has joined… the Labour party. Writing in the Times, Foges says that she is as surprised as anyone by her decision: ‘I tapped out the words somewhat guiltily, late at night. This was entering a corner of

William Cook

The reports of Angela Merkel’s political demise have been greatly exaggerated

Once again, the pollsters got it wrong. Yesterday’s election in Saarland was supposed to be the beginning of the end for Angela Merkel, and the start of the SPD revival under their new leader Martin Schulz. And yet, against the odds, Merkel’s conservative CDU has beaten the left-leaning SPD by more than ten per cent, a result which bodes well for her election campaign this autumn, and her bid to win a record-breaking fourth term as Chancellor. Last week, the signs for Merkel’s CDU seemed pretty bleak. Saarland’s CDU leader, so-called ‘Mini Merkel’ Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, went into this election with just one more seat than the resurgent SPD. With two

Steerpike Steerpike

No 10’s Scotland gaffe

Today Theresa May travelled to Scotland to give a speech in which she claimed that Brexit will make the UK more united. In an attempt to counter calls from the SNP for ‘IndyRef2’, May said Britain’s exit from the EU creates an opportunity to strengthen the ties between the nations of the United Kingdom. All very well. Only there’s a problem. According to the press release of the event, May gave the speech in ‘East Kilbridge’: In truth, no such place exists. Instead May was speaking from East Kilbride. Mr S recommends that No 10 endeavour to make sure they spell Scottish place-names correctly in future — otherwise the Prime Minister could be accused of being

The Spectator

Theresa May’s Brexit speech in Scotland, full transcript

It is very good to be with you here with you today, and particularly to be able to thank you all for the work you do on behalf of the Government and on behalf of the British people. Vital work that helps millions around the world and speaks strongly to the values that we share as a country. And it is vital work. Not just because the things you do here have a material impact on the lives of some of the poorest and most vulnerable people around the world. But also because the work you do here – in conjunction with your colleagues at the Department for International Development in

Sunday

Matthew Taylor

Sunday political interviews round-up: Carswell, Farage, Rudd and Corbyn

Douglas Carswell: Why I won’t call a by-election On the Sunday Politics, the Clacton MP said: ‘I’m not submitting myself to the authority, to the whip of a new party. If I was doing so then quite rightly, as I did previously, I would feel obliged to trigger a by-election.’ And anyway, he said, he’d consulted 20,000 constituents by email and had ‘a huge number of responses back’ and ‘all but a handful were overwhelmingly supportive’. Asked if he would run in 2020 as a Tory, he didn’t rule it out, saying he felt ‘pretty comfortable with being independent’ but added: ‘let’s wait and see.’ Carswell couldn’t resist a sly

Steerpike Steerpike

‘Unite for Europe’ march turns sour

With Theresa May on track to trigger Article 50 on Wednesday and thereby begin Britain’s formal exit from the European Union, Remainers took to the streets of London on Saturday for one final hurrah. Tens of thousands of people joined the Unite for Europe march — calling on Britain to remain in the EU. Leading the protests was Tim Farron, who said it was important Leavers and Remainers unite for a final say on the Brexit deal. The Lib Dem leader received applause as he claimed that neither Theresa May not David Davis have a clue what the final Brexit deal will look like: ‘We do not believe for one minute they

Ross Clark Ross Clark

If Ukip is to survive, Nigel Farage also needs to go

So poisonous were the relations between Nigel Farage and Douglas Carswell that no-one will have been surprised at the latter’s resignation from Ukip, nor the pleasure it generated among Farage and his supporters. It takes something to cheer the departure of your only MP; along with the funding that goes with it. Yet the irony is that in theory Farage and Carswell ought to have been soulmates in Ukip. Both are naturally social conservatives but economic liberals. In contrast to many Ukip members, neither are attracted by protectionism or anti-globalisation – two sentiments which also unite many of Donald Trump’s supporters. From what we know about the political views of

Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

The Brexit bellwether will be the health of our car industry

As I’ve said before, the bellwether of post-Brexit prosperity will be the health of the UK car industry, rather than that of the far larger financial sector. The City is nimble enough to look after itself come what may; it requires little more than plug sockets and clever lawyers to outmanoeuvre barriers to its trade. Car-makers, by contrast, require massive investment in research, robotics and logistics to keep them at the cutting edge of a globalised manufacturing system operating on the tightest of margins. So every indicator is worth tracking. Peugeot-Vauxhall was a mixed signal, and a cloud hangs over the Ford engine plant at Bridgend. But there’s positive news

Hugo Rifkind Hugo Rifkind

Why is Nicola Sturgeon so cagey about Scotland’s EU future?

It’s important to keep an ear out for the rhetoric of Britain’s remaining Remain parties, because they are changing, too. Having announced plans for a second Scottish referendum entirely because of Brexit, Nicola Sturgeon is now incredibly cagey about whether her independent nation would even be part of the EU, or perhaps more like Norway. The same is true of the Lib Dems. Last weekend, Tim Farron managed to give a whole speech to his party’s spring conference railing against only a ‘hard Brexit’ and thus never quite saying whether a Lib Dem government (humour me) would leave the EU or not. These people need to get off the fence. Mind

Saturday

Katy Balls Katy Balls

It’s mission accomplished for Douglas Carswell as Ukip’s only MP quits

Today Ukip went from a political party with one MP, to a political party with no MPs. Douglas Carswell has quit the party to sit as an independent. In a statement on his website, the MP for Clacton said he left Ukip on amicable terms ‘in the knowledge that we won’: ‘Like many of you, I switched to UKIP because I desperately wanted us to leave the EU. Now we can be certain that that is going to happen, I have decided that I will be leaving UKIP. I will not be switching parties, nor crossing the floor to the Conservatives, so do not need to call a by election,

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

No, M Juncker, David Cameron did not “destroy” the United Kingdom.

Jean-Claude Juncker could have been invented by Nigel Farage’s spin doctors. He is sneering one-man advert for Brexit, Frexit and any other kind of EU-exit. As Hugo Rifkind argues in this week’s magazine, he is a caricature of the arrogant Eurocrat: “smug, lazy, unelected and utterly impervious to anything.” He is a notorious boozer, and managed ‘head of state’ by running Luxembourg, which a country with a population about the size of Sheffield. His ascension to President of the European Commission embodied everything that was wrong with the EU, a huge signal that it was time to abandon ship. When Michael Gove was once at a party and asked to make