Politics

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

Wednesday

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Britain can’t just blame the rain for its moribund economy

Did GDP fall in July because of the wet weather? That’s the argument being made this morning, as the Office for National Statistics reveals that the economy contracted by 0.5 per cent in July, after having grown 0.5 per cent in (warm and sunny) June. Services output, production output and construction sectors all fell, by 0.5 per cent, 0.7 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively, as the bad weather took its toll. It stands to reason that weather did play a factor. Monthly GDP figures are sensitive to these kinds of effects, which also include disruptions like bank holidays or strikes. The impact of frequent industrial action this year has repeatedly

Eliot Wilson

Is it time to admit China is a ‘threat’?

Former Tory leaders are queuing up to take a pop at the government’s response to the Westminster spy story. Liz Truss has labelled China the ‘largest threat’ to ‘democracy and freedom’ after it emerged that a parliamentary researcher had been arrested on suspicion of spying for the Chinese government. Iain Duncan Smith suggested that ‘the problem lies in the mess we have got into over whether we define China as a threat or not’. So far, the government is doing its best to sit on the fence. Rishi Sunak has said he ‘will not accept’ Chinese interference in the UK’s democracy, but has refused to go much further. Deputy Prime

Jawad Iqbal

The trouble with Angela Rayner

Angela Rayner, the Labour deputy leader, would have people believe she is made in the mould of Barbara Castle, the radical Labour minister, now seen as one of the most significant women politicians of the 20th century. When Rayner was challenged on the BBC’s Today programme that she was more often viewed as a deputy leader like John Prescott, lacking any real power, she dismissed the comparison, replying: ‘I think I’m more of a Barbara Castle.’ This claim comes across as historically and politically illiterate, and a touch cringeworthy. At the risk of stating the blindingly obvious, Rayner has a way to go before she can be spoken of in the

Tuesday

Juan P. Villasmil

Republicans start impeachment proceedings against Biden

Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced on Tuesday that House Republicans will move ahead with an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden. Questions about the business dealings of the president’s son Hunter have been raised since the Trump presidency, with a lot of speculation about whether Joe or other Biden family members benefited from his work. A rock-solid tie showing whether President Biden was an active participant in Hunter’s transactions is one of the chief things the House GOP will be investigating. ‘Today, I am directing our House committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden’, McCarthy said, as he stood in front of three American flags in the US

Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti

Why Putin is pointing the finger at Britain

Perfidious Albion is, we are told, at it again. In the course of a wide-ranging and often quite surreal speech at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Vladimir Putin accused Britain of being behind attempted nuclear terrorism, rhetorically asking whether the government was ‘trying to provoke us into retaliating against Ukrainian atomic power stations’ or whether the British Prime Minister even ‘knows what his secret services are doing in Ukraine?’ Needless to say, no evidence is forthcoming to support Putin’s claims that a number of Ukrainian ‘saboteurs’ had been intercepted and detailed by Russia’s Federal Security Service on their way to break the power lines at an unnamed Russian nuclear

James Heale James Heale

Will Rishi axe the pensions triple lock?

11 min listen

Rishi Sunak has refused to commit to keeping the pensions triple lock in the next Conservative manifesto. What’s behind his equivocation? And, if the triple lock is ditched, will Labour follow suit?  James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews.

David Spencer

Has Mark Rowley made London safer?

Today marks a year since Sir Mark Rowley became Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. When Rowley took over, his predecessor Cressida Dick had been pushed out of office, the force had been placed into ‘special measures’ for the first time in its 200-year history, and public trust had cratered following the conviction of police officers for some of the most heinous crimes imaginable. So has Rowley managed to steady the ship? Over the past year there is no doubt that Rowley has made progress. He has restored stability – a feat that should not be underestimated. More wrong ‘uns in the force are now facing misconduct proceedings and criminal trials. This week, at an event

Annabel Denham

The problem with the ‘right to strike’

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has vowed to report the government to the UN workers’ rights watchdog over its controversial strikes bill, but how seriously can we take this threat? The TUC’s leader, Paul Nowak, certainly sounds like a man on a mission: earlier this year, Nowak claimed the legislation was ‘almost certainly illegal’, a curious assertion given it was going through parliament at the time. Now that the bill has received royal assent, it appears the TUC is doubling down on its war on the strikes bill. Yet it’s hard not to see the TUC’s complaint as anything other than a stunt designed to further denigrate the Tories who, to the

Henry Hill

Rory Stewart’s Brexit revisionism

‘Mad’. ‘Disgusting.’ These are the words Rory Stewart, the great centrist king over the water, uses to describe Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to expel Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour party. He goes on: ‘Jeremy Corbyn, whatever you think of him, is a major figure who represents a very significant part of Labour history and heritage.’  Well, it’s a view. And perhaps it is not surprising, since Stewart was one of the Conservative MPs Boris Johnson expelled for collaborating with the opposition against the government’s Brexit policy in 2019.   It’s still an odd association for Stewart to make. It would not be difficult to draw a clear distinction between the way

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Prisons aren’t working

Will we learn the lessons of Daniel Khalife?  It depends what those lessons are. If they revolve solely around prison placement decisions, security protocols, and risk assessments for inmates assigned to work details, then perhaps we will. These sorts of lessons are appealing. They appear to address the immediate causes of the absconsion. They make it look like ministers are doing something tangible. The word ‘crackdown’ can be broken out by Ministry of Justice press officers and newspaper headline writers alike.  But what about the other lessons? When a suspect of Khalife’s profile is able to escape from a prison kitchen, attach himself to a food delivery truck, and lead

Steerpike Steerpike

David Lammy: ‘We spy on other countries’

The name’s Lammy, David Lammy. With Labour cruising in the polls, all signs point to the Shadow Foreign Secretary taking over at King Charles Street. And along with Chevening and 1 Carlton Gardens, comes responsibility for the Secret Intelligence Service and the nation’s overseas spooks. So Mr S was surprised upon tuning into LBC last night to hear Lammy say the following about allegations of a Chinese spy at the heart of Westminster: We will find out, as this investigation follows all its leads, to how serious it got on this occasion. It is true to say that, you know, countries spy on one another and we spy on other

Steerpike Steerpike

Nadine Dorries takes aim at her Tory foes (again)

It’s just a few weeks left until Nadine Dorries’ successor is chosen by the good people of Mid-Bedfordshire. But the MP-turned-columnist shows no sign of going quietly, using her perch in the Mail to direct her ire at her onetime Tory colleagues. Today’s offering was another classic example. Headlined ‘I’ve seen how easy it is for hostile states to create spies in our midst’, it ended with a swipe at Alicia Kearns, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee – one of those linked to the alleged Chinese spy. According to Dories, Kearns is ‘better-known as the ring leader of the so-called “Pork Pie Plotters” – named after her Melton

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Will Rishi axe the pensions triple lock?

Will the pensions triple lock survive the election? That’s the question being asked in Westminster after Rishi Sunak refused to commit to keeping it in the next Conservative manifesto. In a press huddle with hacks on his trip back from India, the Prime Minister said: ‘I’m not going to get into our manifesto now but the triple lock has been a long-standing policy for us.’ Sunak will argue that voters ought not to listen to politicians offering easy solutions This could be read two ways. The first is that the PM simply doesn’t want to get into the game of confirming manifesto commitments as doing so will invite further questions

Euan McColm

The SNP can’t blame Westminster for Scotland’s horrific drug deaths

There is no problem in Scottish society for which the SNP will not try to apportion at least some of the blame to ‘Westminster’. The brave Scottish nationalist does his best in the face of endless obstacles placed in his way by malign unionist forces. But only independence will allow him the freedom to address the vast array of pressing issues, both social and economic, facing the oppressed people of North Britain. Reality has just called the nationalists’ bluff Of course, the SNP’s determination to hold the UK government to account for things over which it has no control is utterly cynical. But that’s nationalism, for you. Over recent years,

Matthew Lynn

Why is the EU forcing Apple to change its charger?

When the iPhone 15 is unveiled later today it will no doubt come with an array of flashy tweaks and upgrades. It may be slightly lighter, the camera might be better, and it could even have a slightly better battery life. But the really big change will be something mundane: its charging port. The European Union has forced Apple to adopt the same USB-C charger that is standard on Android and many other devices. New EU rules require all phones sold after autumn 2024 to use this connector for their charging ports. As a result, Apple has reluctantly decided to bin its lightning charger after 11 years and make the

David Shipley

Don’t condemn McDonald’s for giving prisoners a day job

In the aftermath of Daniel Khalife’s escape and recapture, prisons are in the headlines. Even the most commonplace events, like a prison stabbing, are being widely reported. So, too, is the revelation that ‘prisoners are working in McDonald’s’: that was the gist of an article in the Daily Mail which revealed that a female prisoner was flipping burger and serving customers. But rather than condemn this initiative, we should praise McDonald’s for taking on inmates and giving them another chance. The female McDonald’s worker, who returned to Askham Grange in Yorkshire after her shift, is far from alone in being let out for the day: approximately 100,000 Releases on Temporary

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Is Britain getting a pay rise?

Whisper it, but British workers seem to be getting a pay rise. This morning’s update from the Office for National Statistics reveals that average regular pay (which excludes bonuses) was up by 7.8 per cent between May and July this year, unchanged from the last three-month period. Wage growth has stayed a percentage point above headline inflation – at 6.8 per cent on the year in July – which suggests a relatively small, but meaningful real-terms pay raise. So after more than a year of real-terms pay cuts – as average wage hikes kept falling behind inflation – some workers may finally be feeling the slightest bit of relief as their purchasing

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Scotland is right to try drug consumption rooms

Scotland is the drug deaths capital of Europe. Last year saw 1,051 drug misuse fatalities, a rate 2.7 times higher than that for the UK as a whole. The Lord Advocate, Scotland’s most senior law officer, has already issued guidance allowing police to handle possession of Class A and lower narcotics: with a recorded warning rather than arrest and prosecution. The Scottish government has called for the decriminalisation of all drugs and supports a shift to a health-based approach, a move it has already begun to make within its devolved competencies. The problem has always been the Misuse of Drugs Act, the 1971 legislation which governs the policing and prosecution

Benedict Rogers

Parliament needs protecting from foreign infiltration

The suggestion this weekend that an alleged Chinese spy is a British-born parliamentary researcher – leading a policy group aimed at countering the growing threat from Beijing – has sent shockwaves through Westminster and beyond. The individual denies the accusations and says he is ‘completely innocent’ but MPs who know him and many of us who interacted with him are obviously concerned.  The investigation into the alleged spy is still ongoing, but regardless of the police’s findings Xi Jinping’s regime has long been running a campaign to influence, infiltrate and intimidate people abroad, with the aim of silencing critics and subverting democracy.  These concerns have gained particular prominence in the UK. Last year, MI5 sounded the alarm about the apparent threat from