Politics

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

Thursday

11 Apr 2024

The EU’s migrant pact is worthless

It has been a bloody April in France. Last week a 13-year-old girl of Algerian origin was beaten unconscious, allegedly by her classmates, for dressing ‘like a European’. Two days later a 15-year-old boy, Shamseddine, was beaten to death by a group of youths in what the police believe was an ‘honour killing’. The victim and a girl in his class had reportedly exchanged text messages; these messages came to the attention of the girl’s elder brothers, who allegedly attacked Shamseddine to salvage the family’s ‘reputation’. The objective of the Pact is to better manage migrants once they have reached Europe On Wednesday evening a man was stabbed to death and another seriously wounded in

Steerpike

Boris lashes out at Rishi’s ‘mad’ smoking ban

Oh dear. Having his leadership questioned is becoming an almost-daily occurrence for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. When he announced he was going to introduce a smoking ban at the Conservative party conference in October, there were people in his own party rather aghast at the proposal, with more recent talk of a rebellion on the issue. And now Sunak’s predecessor Boris Johnson has sided with the PM’s rivals… Sunak wants to phase out smoking by raising the legal age for the purchase of tobacco by one year, every year, from 2027 onwards. But the health-focused PM is facing a backlash from his own politicians. One group of parliamentarians is urging

Steerpike

Watch: Canadian MPs sing God Save the King after constitutional motion defeat

Well, well, well. In a turn of events that is good news for Canada’s monarchists, a motion that would have amended the country’s Constitution Act — and made the oath to Canada’s monarch optional for MPs — was, on Wednesday, defeated. 113 voted for the motion while 197 voted against it. A cross-party group of parliamentarians, including those from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, killed the bill. This means that the Canadian Constitution will remain as is, with every new MP required to swear they will be ‘faithful and bear true allegiance’ to the current monarch before they can legally assume their seat. Meanwhile, Quebec-based parties were keen to see

Lionel Shriver

Is Trump or Biden a bigger threat to democracy?

When more than two-thirds of the American electorate doesn’t want to vote for either major party’s nominee, a third party should have a chance. Polls have demonstrated that whichever party chucked its front-runner would win –even if it nominated a cloned sheep. Yet last week, having failed to convince a prominent politician to sign up, No Labels closed shop. Whichever wretched candidate wins, we’ll just have slightly different problems The centrist project was doomed from the start. The formation of a successful ‘unity party’ is inherently unlikely in an era of rabid polarisation. Republicans and Democrats differ substantially on policy issues, and compromise positions on tax, Israel, Ukraine, immigration, and

Matthew Parris

What is there left to say about the Tories?

Spare a thought for us political commentators. We stare into the void between now and a (presumed) decisive Labour victory in a (presumed) autumn general election, haunted by the need to say something significant on a weekly basis at least. Yet there seems so little left to say. Readers don’t need to be told that the Tories are in an unholy mess, or that nobody likes them Until recently we could perhaps speculate that the election might be next month but it’s surely too late now even for that surprise. So ‘autumn’, we say: no surprise there. We think we know the winner too: Labour, easily. I struggle with betting

Rod Liddle

A new survey that may be of interest

My favourite opinion polls are those which elicit enormous shock in the population for stating something everybody knew for ages, or could have guessed. Such as those headlined ‘People in Torquay are happier than people in Rotherham’ – goodness me, etc. Surely we are reaching the time when bland, deceitful shibboleths should be replaced by reality The polls that always occasion the gravest shock, however – despite the fact they come out every year or so – are those dealing with the views of the British Muslim community. In the lacunae between these reports their findings are completely ignored in favour of the approved set of lies with which the

Owen Matthews

Will Biden support Ukraine’s attacks on Russia?

This time last year, Volodymyr Zelensky was touring western capitals, calling for weapons and money to launch a decisive summer offensive. Nato eventually provided Leopard and Challenger tanks, Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, M777 howitzers, Himars rocket artillery and Patriot air defences – but too little, too late. The much-vaunted offensive went nowhere, despite a mutiny by the Wagner Group and widespread disarray in the Russian army. Instead, Soledar, Bakhmut and Avdiivka were seized. Today, Russian missile assaults are intensifying, not receding. In March, Russia hit Ukraine with 264 missiles and 515 drones. A relentless bombardment of Kharkiv is making Ukraine’s second city uninhabitable. In response, Kyiv’s most successful strategy to

Katy Balls

Is Cameron upstaging Sunak?

The logic behind Rishi Sunak’s decision to make David Cameron foreign secretary was that he would be a ‘big beast’ on the world stage and wouldn’t need much instruction. Six months on, that plan is going reasonably well, insofar as Cameron appears to be setting his own agenda. It also means he’s making his own mistakes. In February, his foray into US politics misfired when, in an article for the website the Hill, he appeared to lecture Americans about support for Ukraine, telling them not to show the ‘weakness displayed against Hitler’. A key Donald Trump ally, Marjorie Taylor Greene, responded that ‘David Cameron can kiss my ass’. This week,

Wednesday

10 Apr 2024

Fred De Fossard

Climate change is not a matter for human rights law

We have debated for years whether Britain’s continued membership of the European Court of Human Rights threatens our national security. This ruling means that it will threaten our prosperity and democracy as well. The ECHR has said that climate change policy is a human rights matter. The Court ruled that Switzerland – a signatory, like the United Kingdom – had ‘failed to comply with its duties under the Convention concerning climate change’ and that it had violated the right to respect for private and family life. This ruling followed a case brought by a group of elderly Swiss women, who claimed that the Swiss government’s supposed failure to tackle climate

David Swift

The schism that could tear Israel apart

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is looking increasing precarious as international opposition grows. When I went to Friday night dinner at my in-law’s last week, everyone was gripped by the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to remove state funding from Orthodox Yeshivas, unless they break their 76-year practice of refusing to enlist in the military. The court ruled that as of 1 April, ultra-Orthodox schools will no longer receive any state funds unless they allow their students to serve in the IDF, as all other Jewish Israelis must do. This marks the end of the uneasy status quo that’s existed since the formation of Israel. Back in 1947, the then chairman of the

Mark Nayler

What’s going on with Spain’s Golden Visas?

Pedro Sanchez, Spain’s Socialist prime minister, wants to abolish the country’s ‘Golden Visa’ scheme, according to which non-EU citizens automatically receive residency for three years if they purchase property worth at least €500,000 (£429,000). Sanchez hopes that doing so will help tackle the cost-of-living crisis and soaring rental prices in the country’s biggest cities. It’s unlikely to do either. It might, however, have unintended positive effects in other areas. Golden Visas were introduced by Spain’s then-Conservative government in 2013, as a way of stimulating foreign investment after the economic crisis. They can also be acquired by non-EU citizens who invest at least a million euros (£855,000) in Spanish shares or two

Freddy Gray

Why did Mike Johnson snub David Cameron?

24 min listen

Today Freddy is joined by Sarah Elliott, senior advisor for the US-UK special relationship unit at the Legatum Institute. They discuss Lord Cameron’s visit to America this week and the news that speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson snubbed a meeting with the foreign secretary. Is the special relationship still special?

Steerpike

Watch: Tory tax protestors target Rayner in Teesside

Try as she might to duck questions on her tax affairs, the issue just keeps following Angela Rayner around — literally. On a campaign event today in Teesside, the deputy Labour leader was met by three men in high-vis jackets, one of whom was later identified as local Tory councillor John Coulson who took part in the protest alongside other Conservative councillors. The men were carrying an ominous black banner that read: ‘Angela Rayner Tax Dodger?’ Where Rayner walked around Yarm, her unexpected guests went too. In fact, so hot on Rayner’s tail were the protestors that the shadow levelling up secretary eventually had to leg it out the back

Oscar Edmondson

What are the conclusions of the Cass Review?

12 min listen

Today we have had the Cass Review, a landmark report into gender services for children in England, authored by paediatrician Hilary Cass. She concludes that medical interventions were being made on the basis of ‘remarkably weak’ evidence and that there is a lack of a holistic approach to those questioning their gender. How big of an issue will gender politics be at the next election? Also on the podcast, after William Wragg gave up the whip last night will his decision to voluntarily resign call into question Rishi Sunak’s authority? Oscar Edmondson speaks to Isabel Hardman and James Heale. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Steerpike

Labour overtakes SNP in polls for first time

Uh oh. Today brings tidings of misery for hapless Humza Yousaf as a new poll reveals that support for Labour has overtaken the SNP for the first time since the 2014 indyref. The YouGov survey sees Labour on 33 per cent, up a point since October last year, while support for the Nats has gone down by two points to 31 per cent. How the mighty fall… Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour has been narrowing the gap between the two parties for the last year, with the resignation, police probe and arrest of former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon providing a helping hand. Meanwhile support for independence has stagnated, with ‘yes’ stuck at

Ross Clark

Sadiq Khan’s Ulez has spectacularly backfired

What was that about Sadiq Khan’s expansion of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) supposedly helping to reduce our dependence on cars and clean up the air? As well as the stick of charges of non-compliant vehicles, Khan has rolled out a very large carrot: £121 million of funds to help motorists ‘transition to greener alternatives’. That includes £49 million worth of scrappage grants for cars, at £2,000 a time, and £72 million worth of scrappage payments for vans and minibuses. According to City Hall in a press release last October, the whole package has resulted in 80,000 fewer motorists driving around London. So London’s streets are presumably now much less

Steerpike

The ten candidates dropped by Reform

Reform UK’s election campaign hasn’t got off to the best start. Richard Tice’s party has already had to drop ten prospective parliamentary candidates after some rather unsavoury social media posts were highlighted by media organisations and campaign groups. The Reform leader has since said that his party had published its candidate list early so that outside organisations could help vet them and that he welcomes the ‘extra scrutiny’. It does, however, raise rather serious questions about the quality of his own vetting processes… Here is the full list of the candidates ditched so far: Ian Harris Harris, a self-proclaimed ‘pastafarian’, is a member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti

Jake Wallis Simons

Hamas has all but won

It would be hard to imagine that almost exactly six months after October 7, I would find myself saying this, but Israel is either on a path to defeat or has lost the war already. The way in which the Jewish state – the regional military superpower, enjoying huge military support from the global superpower – is being forced to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory is a cautionary tale for the West. It is often correctly said that Israel is on the frontline of the struggle against jihadism. Well, pay attention: the collapse of Israel’s campaign in Gaza, which after the October atrocities was the most justified imaginable,

James Heale

Why has Will Wragg resigned the Tory whip?

Six days after his involvement in the honeytrap sexting scandal was revealed, Will Wragg has now resigned the Tory whip. It follows his decision on Monday night to quit his roles as vice chairman of the 1922 committee and the public administration select committee. Wragg had previously announced in late 2022 that he would be standing down at the next election meaning he looks likely to sit out his last few months in parliament sitting as an independent. A statement from the whips’ office made clear that Wragg was ‘voluntarily relinquishing’ the whip. So, why now? Within government there is a sense that the initially supportive reaction of Wragg was

David Cohen

Why New Zealand is cracking down on immigration

The government of New Zealand this week tightened the country’s working visa rules in order to stem historically high numbers of international migrants making their way to the South Seas. New Zealand’s infrastructure seems to be groaning in response to the surging number of international newcomers Immigration minister Erica Stanford said that the changes will allow businesses to make greater use of local workers while still attracting high-skill migrants where there are skill shortages. ‘Getting our immigration settings right is critical to this government’s plan to rebuild the economy,’ she says. The new rules have also been billed as protecting migrants from exploitation. But at least part of the political story is