Politics

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

Friday

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Guy Verhofstadt is playing politics with his ‘special arrangement’ offer to Brits

Guy Verhofstadt thinks Brexit is a ‘disaster’, a ‘tragedy’ and a ‘catastrophe’. That verdict, from the European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, won’t surprise many. But Verhofstadt has a solution to what he sees as a looming crisis for despairing Remain voters. During his interview on the Today programme this morning, he brought up the prospect of British citizens being allowed to keep their EU benefits as part of a ‘special arrangement’. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard this pitch from Verhofstadt. Back in November, the Belgian touted the idea that Brits could pay a fee to retain free movement and a vote in EU elections. ‘Many say ‘we don’t want to

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Tories, tax and trust – a warning from history

I was on the Question Time panel last night, and suspected that the issue of National Insurance might crop up – and that Karen Bradley, the Culture Secretary, would be sent out to defend the indefensible. Like all ministers, she has to repeat Philip Hammond’s bizarre claim that the Tories had not broken a manifesto pledge. That when they repeatedly promised not to raise National Insurance they meant only part of the National Insurance. The 2015 Tory manifesto contained no such caveat (I brought a copy along to the studio) and it’s impossible for any minister to claim otherwise. Hammond has already been accused of ‘lying’ – a strong word,

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: David Cameron appears to blast Chancellor’s ‘stupid’ National Insurance rise

As Philip Hammond faces a second day of negative headlines over his decision to break a 2015 Tory manifesto pledge and raise National Insurance for the self-employed, he can take heart that the latest YouGov poll gives the Conservatives a 19-point-lead. Still, not everyone in his party is pleased. On top of the growing number of Tory MPs letting known their dismay over the move, is David Cameron also rather unimpressed? Mr S only asks after ITV’s Chris Ship shared a video of David Cameron talking to Michael Fallon at yesterday’s Iraq service. Cameron appears to say something along the lines of ‘breaking a manifesto promise, how stupid can you get?’ Other interpretations

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

The newspapers dump on Hammond’s National Insurance hike – again

Theresa May and Philip Hammond were in a laughing mood in the Commons on Wednesday. After a second day of dreadful headlines in the newspapers, they certainly won’t be now. The Government’s honeymoon period in the media is over – and the Chancellor’s National Insurance hike for the self-employed is entirely to blame. So far, the Prime Minister has stuck to her guns by insisting the policy will go through (even if the PM did kick it back to the Autumn). If she really is to go through with the controversial policy – and the number of Tory rebels is growing – she’ll have to resist a mounting barrage of

Katy Balls Katy Balls

How many deals will the Department for International Trade have signed by 2020?

Liam Fox has (for a change) unfairly become the subject of much mockery this week, over his department’s plans for ‘Empire 2.0’. The name relates to the International Trade Secretary’s plot to boost trade links with African Commonwealth nations by promising developing nations that their trading relationships with the UK will not get worse after Brexit. Contrary to many online jokes, the name was not concocted by an egocentric International Trade Secretary, but instead Whitehall officials who think it is misguided to place too much importance on trade with the Commonwealth, compared with the EU. It comes as the head of the Commonwealth secretariat has called for Britain to ‘go an awful lot faster’ in

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 9 March 2017

On Scottish independence Sir: Alex Massie writes of the order permitting a second Scottish independence referendum: ‘Having granted such an order in 2014, it will be difficult to refuse Mrs Sturgeon’s demand for another’ (‘Back into battle’, 4 March). Surely that is precisely why Mrs May should refuse another? It was the SNP who described the 2014 vote as a chance in a lifetime. The only thing way in which Brexit could have changed matters is if it had been a fundamental and unforeseeable upset. Alex Massie, from this and his previous writings, clearly believes it was. But the Conservatives, at the time of the Scottish vote, had promised to

Ed West Ed West

Why do so many French youngsters support Marine Le Pen?

I’m very sceptical of the idea that the younger generation are more conservative than their elders, and that this makes conservatism somehow cool, which it isn’t. There have been times where the kids are more reactionary than their parents but generally only as a result of religious movements – and Britain is as atheistic as can be. Young Brits are very liberal and cosmopolitan, even compared to their peers in other European countries. In polls they express low levels of pride in their country and an unwillingness to fight in any theoretical war. The Brexit vote, and the big gap between old and young, showed just how liberal the young are.

Paul Johnson

The IFS backs Philip Hammond in National Insurance row

Philip Hammond is under pressure over his National Insurance contributions hike. More than a dozen Tory MPs have so far criticised the plans and Downing Street has refused to rule out a rethink. But the Chancellor does still have some allies; the IFS has just thrown its weight behind the plans. Here’s what its director, Paul Johnson, had to say: ‘Spring Budgets seem to be going out with something of a whimper. Yesterday’s was one of the smallest I can remember in pretty much every dimension – number of policies, scale of policies and size of fiscal impact. I’m not complaining, mind. There will be another Budget in November and the whole

Katy Balls Katy Balls

The IFS throws Philip Hammond a lifeline – will he take it?

As Philip Hammond faces a slew of negative headlines and fields accusations that he is a liar over his decision to backtrack on a 2015 Tory manifesto pledge and raise National Insurance for the self-employed, the Chancellor has been thrown a lifeline by the Institute of Fiscal Studies. At today’s IFS Budget briefing, Paul Johnson offered his verdict on Hammond’s first Budget. While he raised concerns about the government’s sluggish plan to balance the books (warning that it could be delayed past 2025), he welcomed the controversial NIC raise as ‘baby steps in the right direction’: ‘A tax system which charges thousands of pounds more in tax for employees doing the same job

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Philip Hammond squirms as he is accused of being a liar over National Insurance U-turn

The Chancellor has awoken to a slew of bad headlines today following his decision to row back on a 2015 Tory manifesto pledge and raise National Insurance for the self-employed. In an attempt at some damage limitation, Philip Hammond has been doing the usual post-Budget media rounds this morning. Alas his interview with Sky News didn’t go quite to plan. Challenged repeatedly on the broken Tory manifesto pledge, an uncomfortable Hammond was accused of being a liar: Sky News: Were you lying when you stood on that vote, was the manifesto wrong — or have you just decided to renege on it? PH: The manifesto presented a package of measures and we

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Revealed: The full list of Tory MPs who have spoken out against the Chancellor

Given that Jeremy Corbyn barely seemed to notice Philip Hammond’s Budget blunder, it’s unlikely the Chancellor will be too worried about Labour’s response to the National Insurance rates row. He will be troubled, though, by the rumblings on the backbenches behind him. The prospect of a Tory revolt is now very much on the cards; 18 Conservative MPs – including former leader Iain Duncan Smith and Tory whip Guto Bebb – have publicly spoken out against the policy. Because Tory MPs were voted in on a manifesto pledge not to raise NI contributions – and will inevitably be getting it in the neck from angry constituents over the coming days –

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Philip Hammond’s small print won’t save him from a Tory backbench revolt

George Osborne was famous in Westminster when Chancellor for laying large ‘elephant traps’ for Labour using Treasury policy. He was also famous for telling everyone all about how the trap worked and where it was, before falling into it himself. When Philip Hammond came into the Treasury, it was largely accepted that the days of silly elephant traps were over. But this week the new Chancellor ended up locating one of the last of the Osborne elephant traps which had been lying dormant in the political jungle – and he located it by falling straight into it. The ‘tax lock’, which the Tories announced in the 2015 election campaign to

Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

New European giants? Standard-Aberdeen looks a better bet than Peugeot-Vauxhall

Budget week also turned out to be a week of notable deals. PSA, French owner of Peugeot and Citroën, went ahead with its €2.2 billion takeover of Vauxhall and Opel from General Motors, creating ‘a new European giant to challenge Volkswagen’, according to the spin, and new fears for those who foresee post-Brexit attrition of the British motor industry. By way of reassurance, PSA boss Carlos Tavares said a hard Brexit is an ‘opportunity’ — to beef up the domestic supply chain while reducing component imports from the EU — and that ‘I trust Vauxhall workers’ to improve their productivity. That last bit sounded to me more like a threat

Tom Switzer

Sydney Notebook

The other day, I went to a boozy barbecue near Sydney’s northern beaches. The guests were all political mates of mine and we chatted about those insurgent populists who threaten to upend established conservative parties across the globe: Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen, Geert Wilders, Beppe Grillo and, of course, Pauline Hanson — Australia’s version of all four. We put our wide-ranging discussion about domestic politics in an international context. But it was not until the next morning that I realised that we had not even talked about Malcolm Turnbull: he’s our fourth prime minister in four years, who was famous in the UK in the 1980s as the defence

Wednesday

Clare Mcneil

T-levels (alone) won’t prepare us for the 4th industrial revolution

The Chancellor has chosen to invest £500m in technical education, but we shouldn’t kid ourselves that the new ‘T-levels’ will help get the UK match fit for Brexit, or prepare the UK for the 4th industrial revolution. For a start, the funding may only kick in after we have left the EU, as it starts at the end of the two-year period triggered by Article 50. Therefore, it won’t help us prepare in advance for the unpredictable impact of more restrictive migration policies and changed trading relationships. Moreover, while £500m by 2022 is a significant investment, the UK will still only be spending the same amount on vocational education as

John Fitzsimons

Why your next car will cost you more: reforms mean higher costs for motorists

The beginning of March marks the start of car buying season with drivers keen to snap up a motor with the new registration plates. Some dealerships reckon interest jumps by as much as 25 per cent in new registration months. If you’re thinking about spending your cash on a new runaround, there’s a good reason to get a move on: the way that car tax is calculated is being revamped in April. For many motorists that will mean a bigger outlay. How car tax is changing At the moment, Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), or car tax, is determined by your vehicle’s emission levels. All cars are placed in bands from

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Hammond gets a pasting in the press

It’s fair to say that Philip Hammond hasn’t charmed Fleet Street with his Spring Budget.  There is little sympathy even from newspapers inclined to agree with a Conservative assessment of how to run the economy. Broken promises are potent in politics – just ask the Liberal Democrats. The Tories made their tax lock pledge in the 2015 election as they were hoovering up seats from the Lib Dems who were being punished for failing to keep a pledge on tuition fees they had made at the previous election. Westminster had almost forgotten the tuition fee row. Voters hadn’t.  The argument that bringing National Insurance for the self-employed into line with

Steerpike Steerpike

Budget day – a good day to bury George Osborne’s extra income

As politicians and hacks alike turn their ire on Philip Hammond this afternoon over his decision to row back on a 2015 Tory manifesto pledge, you’d be forgiven for thinking not much else is going on. So, Mr S was curious to learn that today is the day George Osborne’s salary as an advisor to BlackRock has been revealed. The latest register of interests shows that Osborne is bring in a cool £162,500 a quarter, which would mean an impressive £650,000 annually. Surely the former Chancellor didn’t mean to bury the news?

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Jeremy Corbyn’s torrent of miserabilism sums up the party’s woes

Would it take much to turn Philip Hammond into Dracula? He’s got the gaunt bearing, the unsettling gaze, the greedy overbite and the louring stature of the blood-sucking count. Add an opera cape and a dab of mascara and the costume would be complete. So it’s strange to see this vampiric figure delivering a budget full of happy tidings. Our economy is growing, he grinned, faster than America’s or Japan’s. Tax revenues are up. Employment has reached a new zenith. Joblessness has dwindled to 11-year lows. And he didn’t even mention London. A lot of the best data comes from the midlands and the north. He’ll probably never have an

Steerpike Steerpike

Is David Cameron to blame for Philip Hammond’s Budget blues?

This afternoon Philip Hammond has found himself the subject of much bad press over his decision to break a 2015 Tory manifesto pledge and raise national insurance for the self-employed. But is Hammond the person to blame? Mr S only asks as it turns out that those involved with the 2015 Conservative manifesto might not have put that much thought into the original pledge. Speaking to the Sun‘s Tom Newton Dunn last year, Ameet Gill — David Cameron’s former Head of Strategy — revealed that the promise to not raise National Insurance for five years was only implemented because they had a ‘hole in the grid’: ‘Towards the end of the