Politics

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

Saturday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Austria and Italian voters could plunge the EU into crisis

Voters in Austria and Italy head to the polls tomorrow and could plunge the EU into a political and economic crisis, as I say in The Sun today. In Austria, the candidate of a genuinely far-right party—its first leader was a former SS officer—could become president. If the Freedom Party’s Norbert Hofer does win, and the race is too close to predict with any confidence, it’d show that the very extremist forces that the European project was meant to crush are now on the rise—and in part, because of the EU’s own failings. But it is the Italian referendum that could have the more immediate consequences. Italy bans polls just

The High Court’s Brexit ruling is a product of our ‘post-truth’ age

In November the High Court decided that the Government had no power to give notice to leave the EU under Article 50. Leaving the EU would entail changes in the law that embodied the rights of citizens and such changes could not be brought about by the prerogative power but only by primary legislation in Parliament. The court considered the referendum only advisory, even though in the Parliamentary debate it was made clear that the decision would be implemented by the Government. Moreover, the Government had circulated a leaflet to all households giving a solemn undertaking to honour the decision. On 5 December the Supreme Court will hear an appeal

Friday

Steerpike Steerpike

Nicholas Soames tries to woo Brexiteers with champagne

Throughout the EU referendum campaign, Nicholas Soames stood firmly on the side of Remain — warning that a vote to Leave would be a ‘terrible mistake’. Since the nation plumped for Brexit, Soames has called on the hard Brexiteers to keep their options open with regards to the deal. When Iain Duncan Smith penned a ConHome blog critcising Remain-ers for demanding the UK stay in the single market, Soames likened it to ‘watching an arsonist return to the scene of his crime because the flames aren’t big enough’. So, Mr S was intrigued to be passed an invitation from Soames to his fellow MPs. He has asked any comrades who think Britain should

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Is support for Brexit growing in Richmond Park?

‘The people of Richmond Park and North Kingston have sent a shockwave through this Conservative Brexit government,’ said Sarah Olney, the victorious Liberal Democrat candidate in the Richmond Park by-election. She went on to announce that she would interpret the result as a personal mandate to vote against the triggering of article 50 if it comes down to a Commons vote. The LibDems were perfectly entitled to try to turn the Richmond Park by-election into a protest against Brexit – in spite of Zac Goldsmith’s protests that it was all about Heathrow’s third runway. If you resign your seat and cause a by-election, opposition parties are entitled to fight on

Steerpike Steerpike

Listen: Lib Dems cut disastrous Sarah Olney interview short

Sarah Olney’s honeymoon period as the newly elected MP for Richmond Park has come to an abrupt end. Hours after ousting Zac Goldsmith from the seat, the Liberal Democrat appeared on Talk Radio to give an interview to Julia Hartley-Brewer about her victory. Alas things didn’t get off to the best start when Hartley-Brewer began by asking ‘when’s the second by-election’ — in a thinly-veiled dig at the Lib Dems’ call for a second referendum on the EU. In this vein, Hartley Brewer suggested that the people of Richmond Park might not have known what they were really voting for: JHB: When is the second by-election going to be held? SO: What do

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

Why do church leaders suck up to Marxist regimes?

When Fidel Castro died, Pope Francis ‘grieved’. That’s right: he grieved for the man who – in addition to murdering and torturing his opponents – spent half a century persecuting the Catholic Church in Cuba. But perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised: when Francis visited the island last year, he was gushingly appreciative of the regime’s hospitality and pointedly ignored dissidents. Even the liberal Washington Post accused him of ‘appeasing the Castros in repressive Cuba’. It all reminds me of the way, in my youth, churchmen soft-pedalled their criticism of Communist regimes because, whatever their ‘flaws’, they were supposedly on the side of the oppressed. Is that fair? I asked my guest on this

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

We need a Zac’s law: MPs who trigger a by-election should not be allowed to stand again

Even I can’t say I’m upset that Zac Goldsmith has lost his seat. For the last few days, now, my journey into work has been an assault course created by cheery Liberal Democrat activists campaigning in Richmond – they earned their victory. Not once did I see anyone campaigning for Zac Goldsmith. Not that I wanted to see any of them:  this whole by-election was an elaborate hissy fit by Zac. Voters were being used as political props, to add extra theatricality to his flouncing out of the Tory Party. If he wanted to resign the whip to fight Heathrow, he should have done so. But to resign his seat

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Liberal Democrats oust Zac Goldsmith in Richmond Park by-election

It’s happened. Early this morning the Liberal Democrats managed to cause an upset and overturn Zac Goldsmith’s 23,000 majority in the Richmond Park by-election. Sarah Olney, the winning Lib Dem candidate, won just under 50pc of the entire vote, with 20,510 votes to Goldsmith’s 18,638 — earning her a majority of 1,872. Since Goldsmith stepped down over Heathrow to stand as an independent, the Lib Dems have piled all their time and resources into winning back the seat, which they held until 2010. As the weeks have gone on, the party have grown increasingly confident about their chances — releasing internal polling on Wednesday which predicted a narrow win, with one Lib Dem source describing

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 1 December 2016

Irrational EU Sir: James Forsyth’s otherwise excellent piece on Brexit talks (‘Britain’s winning hand’, 26 November) suffers from the flaw of most British analyses of the EU: the presumption that the EU is a rational actor. If that were so, Greece would not be in the euro, Europe’s borders would not be guarded by Turkey, and David Cameron would have returned from his talks with a deal enabling the EU to keep one of the world’s most successful countries in the union. The recent EU history of perversity and intransigence suggests that whatever aces Theresa May holds, she should prepare to walk away from the table as empty-handed as her

The Spectator

Brexit strategy

For months, now, a hunt has been on for the government’s Brexit strategy. Theresa May has quite rightly refused to disclose it. She knows that the European Union needs to be seen to make Britain suffer. She will have to ask for for a lot, only to back down so the EU can have its pound of British flesh. The hope is that she can then emerge with what she wanted all along. So a game of bluff is under way. This has created a rather unsatisfactory situation where Parliament wants to know where she will draw the line, and she refuses to say. Her every word is scoured for

Charles Moore Charles Moore

The Spectator’s Notes | 1 December 2016

It seems perplexing that François Fillon, now the Republican candidate for the French presidency, should be a declared admirer of Margaret Thatcher. Although she certainly has her fans in France, it is an absolutely standard political line — even on the right — that her ‘Anglo-Saxon’ economic liberalism is un-French. Yet M. Fillon, dismissed by Nicholas Sarkozy, whose prime minister he was, as no more than ‘my collaborator’, has invoked her and won through, while Sarko is gone. In this time of populism, M. Fillon has moved the opposite way to other politicians. He says his failures under Sarkozy taught him that France needs the Iron Lady economic reforms which it

Joshua Rozenberg

Brexit in the balance

For once, a cliché is justified: the government’s appeal to the Supreme Court next week really will be a landmark case. The underlying issue could not be greater: the political future of the United Kingdom and its relationship with the European Union. The number of judges could not be greater either: 11 is the largest panel to have heard a single appeal, not just since the court was created seven years ago but since its predecessor was established in 1876. But perhaps the greatest issue at stake is the reputation of the judiciary, at a time when judges are under attack as never before. Nigel Farage had threatened a 100,000-strong

Andrew Green

Where are the government going on immigration?

Today’s net migration figures are still at their record level of just over a third of a million a year. This reinforces the need for the government to approach the forthcoming Brexit negotiations with a clear set of objectives. EU migration is now running at 190,000 a year and accounts for half of total non-British net migration. The referendum made all too clear that the British public want to see EU migration substantially reduced. Furthermore recent polling finds that more than half of Remain voters agree. Brexit is an opportunity that must not be missed. That is why we have published a clear set of UK objectives on immigration. We

Katy Balls Katy Balls

David Davis sets the cat among the pigeons at Brexit questions

David Davis put the cat among the pigeons in the chamber today. The Brexit secretary — who takes a more relaxed approach to discussing Brexit than his tight-lipped boss — talked at length as he was asked various questions on the government’s Brexit position. The news line came after Labour’s Wayne David asked if the government would consider ‘making any contribution in any shape or form for access to the single market’ after Brexit. In response, David said the government would consider it: ‘The major criterion here is that we get the best possible access for goods and services to the European market. And if that is included in what he’s talking about, then

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Immigration reaches record high – but what does that really tell us about Brexit Britain?

How much do the net migration figures mean these days? The Office for National Statistics released its latest migration estimates today, which put immigration to the UK in the year to June 2016 at a record high of 650,000 – up 11,000 on the previous year. Net migration was at 335,000. That figure comprises 189,000 EU citizens and 196,000 non-EU citizens who came to Britain, and 49,000 Brits who left this country. But these figures mostly cover the period before the EU referendum. The ONS includes three months of data following June’s vote in today’s release. And the estimates for the year that follows will also reflect Britain’s current immigration

Ross Clark Ross Clark

The Booker prize has triggered a bout of literary protectionism

Whatever happened to all those great liberal internationalists who damned the vote for Brexit as a case of isolationist Britain turning its back on the outside world? Julian Barnes, for example, is so pro-EU that not only was he against Brexit, he recently told the FT that he would still like Britain to join the Euro. It is a somewhat different story, though, when the literary establishment sees a threat to its cosy little world. Then, they come over all protectionist. Barnes is now bleating about the Booker prize being opened up to US writers. ‘The Americans have got enough prizes of their own,’ he complains. Novelist Amanda Craig was quick to

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Brexiteers won’t now admit it, but removing EU citizens was a key part of Vote Leave’s campaign

Who could have predicted that the fate of millions of people from EU member states presently residing in the United Kingdom remains uncertain? There may be something deplorable about treating their future as though it was a card to be played in the negotiations to determine the terms and conditions of Britain’s departure from the EU but, deplorable or not, there is little that is surprising about it. This is so even though treating these people in this way leaves many people, including many Leave voters, feeling distinctly queasy. If nothing else it offends an inchoate sense of fair-play. But negotiations change previously accepted realities. There is little avoiding the fact

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Europe: the Next step

It often seems like the European referendum campaign never really ended. Everything from budget forecasts to Britain’s Olympic performance is simply the cue for another round of In-or-Out arguments. But Simon Wolfson, the mild-mannered chief executive of the high street fashion chain Next, is trying to move things on. Having been one of the biggest business names in favour of leaving the European Union, his aim is to form a coalition between Leavers and Remainers to forge a certain type of Brexit. ‘There is a natural alliance between those people who voted Out but who believe in an open, free, tolerant economy and those people who voted to remain.’ Wolfson

Stephen Pollard

Algerian winter

It is more than possible that before any Brexit deal is discussed, let alone concluded, the EU will have effectively collapsed. And the key factor could be the demise of Algeria’s leader of 17 years. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is 79 and has needed a wheelchair since having a stroke in 2013. ‘His mind is even more infirm than his body,’ one observer tells me. Bouteflika returned home recently after a week’s stay at a private clinic in France. His prognosis isn’t good. Officially, Bouteflika underwent standard ‘periodic medical tests’ in Grenoble. But no one believes this. Among people who know Algeria well, there is little doubt that he is severely

Wednesday

Katy Balls Katy Balls

OBR chief ignores critics to heap more Brexit gloom upon MPs

Last week the Office for Budget Responsibility revised down its forecasts, suggesting the economy would only expand by 1.4pc in the next year — and warning there would be a knock-on effect on the public finances. While the OBR’s chairman Robert Chote put the gloomy predictions down to uncertainty from the Brexit vote, several Leave champions — including Jacob Rees-Mogg and Michael Gove — have since accuse the OBR of being on shaky ground. Today Chote was hauled before the Treasury Select Committee to defend the forecasts. While Chote joshed that there was every chance it could be proved wrong as ‘that is the nature of forecasts’, he struck a sombre tone as he warned