Politics

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

Wednesday

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Parliament must take back control of Brexit

In the early, sunlit days of New Labour, the left-wing comedian John O’Farrell had a skit on how the Tories, after a generation of dominating British politics, found their party and its principles rejected by the electoral mainstream. ‘Now the Conservatives are like a lunatic fringe party,’ he said. ‘Soon we can expect to see them outside Woolworths next to the Socialist Workers on a Saturday afternoon shouting “Daily Telegraph! Get your Daily Telegraph! Britain out of Europe!”‘  A generation on, the Tories are in power, Woolworths is gone, the Socialist Workers are running the Labour Party, and Britain is indeed coming out of Europe.  This serves as a useful

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: John Bercow slaps down SNP MP for ‘unseemly’ behaviour

Ever since the (fast depleting) SNP 56 descended on Parliament in 2015, they have been frequently criticised for failing to grasp Westminster etiquette. There have been a number of incidents — from Angus MacNeil chewing gum in the Chamber to the SNP clapping en masse. Today was no exception. During PMQs, the Speaker had to intervene after Joanna Cherry, the MP for Edinburgh South West, heckled the Prime Minister a bit too vigorously: ‘Miss Cherry. This is very unseemly heckling. You are a distinguished QC, you wouldn’t behave like that in the Scottish courts — you’d be chucked out!’ With Phil Boswell going on to receive a ticking off for heckling, it seems the SNP

The Spectator

A generous, globally-minded Brexit could reunite a divided country 

Public opinion on Brexit remains evenly balanced, and there’s no point in any Conservative pretending otherwise.  About half the nation did not want their Prime Minister to trigger Article 50 today, and Theresa May should primarily concern herself with her fellow Remainers – especially in Scotland. Many of them will see, in Brexit, the triumph of ugly nativism or a nostalgic isolationism. Her Lancaster House speech in January laid out a compelling, globally minded vision of Brexit. Emphasising that message will be key to addressing the worst fears of Remain voters.  The triggering of Article 50 represents a great opportunity. We can now move on from whether Britain should or

Katy Balls Katy Balls

SNP resort to desperate tactics in the Chamber

As Theresa May gave her statement on Article 50 in the Chamber this lunchtime, there was a fair bit of heckling. The SNP benches persistently barracked the Prime Minister — with Angus Robertson, the SNP Westminster leader, talking throughout. This wasn’t the first heckle to emit from the benches, with Joanna Cherry and Philip Boswell earlier scolded by the Speaker for ‘unseemly’ behaviour. When Robertson got up to deliver his response to May’s statement, he tried to lay the groundwork for ‘IndyRef2’ as he complained that the government were ‘incapable of understanding people voted to remain’ in Scotland — but then he stopped. The reason? A light heckle from the Tory benches. Lacking

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Theresa May’s Article 50 letter strikes the right tone

Theresa May is trying to play the role of the great conciliator today. She has avoided any hint of triumphalism or saying anything that the European Union would instantly reject. Instead, she has emphasised her desire for a ‘deep and special partnership’ with the European Union and that the UK wants to be the ‘best friend and neighbour’ to the EU. She has not repeated her Lancaster House message that she thinks ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ or threatened to change the UK economic model if no free trade agreement with the EU can be struck. The Article 50 letter that May has sent to Tusk also strikes

The Spectator

Theresa May’s full Article 50 speech: ‘A day of celebration for some and disappointment for others’

Mr Speaker, Today the Government acts on the democratic will of the British People. And it acts, too, on the clear and convincing position of this House. A few minutes ago in Brussels, the United Kingdom’s Permanent Representative to the EU handed a letter to the President of the European Council on my behalf, confirming the Government’s decision to invoke Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union.   The Article 50 process is now underway. And in accordance with the wishes of the British People, the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union. This is an historic moment from which there can be no turning back. Britain is leaving the European

The Spectator

Article 50 letter: full text

On 23 June last year, the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union.  As I have said before, that decision was no rejection of the values we share as fellow Europeans.  Nor was it an attempt to do harm to the European Union or any of the remaining member states.  On the contrary, the United Kingdom wants the European Union to succeed and prosper.  Instead, the referendum was a vote to restore, as we see it, our national self-determination. We are leaving the European Union, but we are not leaving Europe – and we want to remain committed partners and allies to our friends across the

Hugo Rifkind Hugo Rifkind

The best thing about Brexit? None of it is my fault

Brexit Britain fills me with calm. Six weeks on, there’s no point pretending otherwise. Losing is far better than winning. I am filled with enormous serenity at the thought of this terrible, terrible idea being not my fault at all. I didn’t expect to feel this way. Although there were signs, now I think back, on the night of the vote. I was at Glastonbury, obviously. (‘Of course you were!’ cried Rod Liddle, when I saw him a few weeks later.) Of course I was. There, with the rest of the metropolitan, liberal, bien-pensant yadda yadda. I found out at about 2 a.m., after a pleasant evening doing pleasant Glastonbury things.

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

A great day for British democracy

Today is a great day for British democracy. One of the greatest ever, in fact. Tune out Project Fear, with its overblown claims that Brexit will cause economic collapse and possibly revive fascism, and just think about what is happening today. The largest democratic mandate in the history of this nation, the loudest, clearest, most populous democratic cry Britons have ever made, is finally being acted upon. The political class is starting the process of severing Britain’s ties with the EU not because it wants to — it desperately doesn’t want to — but because a great swarm of its people have told it that it must. This is amazing.

Ed West Ed West

History teaches us that Brexit will be okay in the end. Probably.

Happy Brexit Day everyone. I guess we’ll be okay in the long term. March 29th is the bloodiest day in English history, a day on which a London-dominated clique funded by the City defeated an army raised from the north and Midlands; history has since come to know it as the War of the Roses although it barely affected people who weren’t directly involved. (Historian John Gillingham even states that direct taxes went down and housebuilding continued, which is more than can be said for the past few years). On that date in 1461, in a snowstorm in Towton, north Yorkshire, the young usurper Edward IV – only 18 years

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Theresa May triggers Article 50

Britain is on its way out of the European Union. In the last few moments, Theresa May stood up in the Commons and announced that Article 50 had been triggered. She told MPs: ‘The Article 50 process is now underway. And in accordance with the wishes of the British People, the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union. This is an historic moment from which there can be no turning back. Britain is leaving the European Union. We are going to make our own decisions and our own laws. We are going to take control of the things that matter most to us. And we are going to take this opportunity

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Listen: Philip Hammond’s Today interview – ‘we cannot have our cake and eat it’

Happy Article 50 day. The day is finally upon us. The Prime Minister has signed the letter which will trigger Article 50 and begin Britain’s exit from the EU. After PMQs, Theresa May will make a statement to MPs while Tim Barrow, the UK’s Brussels diplomat, will hand deliver the letter to Donald Tusk. Once May has formally triggered Article 50, the EU 27 are expected to release a statement in response — promising to approach the Brexit negotiations ‘constructively’. But before Brexiteers pop open the champagne, Philip Hammond has appeared on the Today programme to give an interview that will bring many back down to earth. The Chancellor — who is regarded by

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Theresa May pulls the Article 50 trigger

Theresa May has put pen to paper on the Article 50 letter that will kick-start the process of Brexit. March 29th, 2017, will join June 23rd, 2016, as a key date in Britain’s modern history. The papers are unanimous in seeing today as a momentous moment. But they are also clear in their view that the challenges ahead will be big. On the day Theresa May formally pulls the Brexit trigger, here’s what the newspaper editorials have to say: ‘It’s finally here,’ says the Sun. The paper hails today as ‘the most momentous day in Britain’s modern history’ – and marks the occasion by beaming the words ‘Dover and Out’ on

Steerpike Steerpike

Red Ken’s research raises questions

As Ken Livingstone faces a two-day disciplinary hearing from Labour into his claim that Adolf Hitler was a Zionist ‘before he went mad and murdered six million Jews’, the former Mayor of London has submitted a 17-page defence of himself to Labour’s National Constitutional Committee. In the hefty document, he describes the accusations against him as ‘essentially a political charge’ owing to his support for both Jeremy Corbyn and Palestinian human rights. While Livingstone’s claim that he’s victim of a ‘political plot’ has led to some ridicule, it’s another aspect of the document’s contents that’s troubling Mr S. In the citations section, the Labour politician lists evidence for his various claims. On one such footnote, he cites ‘Israel

Tuesday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Scottish parliament votes for a second referendum – but Theresa May is unlikely to sway

The Scottish Parliament has voted 69-59 for a second Scottish independence referendum. This is no surprise. But it does lend more force to Nicola Sturgeon’s demand for a second referendum. She can now say that she has her parliament behind her when she presents the UK government with her request for a Section 30 order. Don’t expect Theresa May to move position though: she’ll stick to her line that ‘now is not the time’ for a second vote on independence. The UK government has been, privately, delighted at how May’s position has gone down in Scotland. They feel that there is no groundswell of support for another referendum, something that

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