Politics

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

Wednesday

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Starmer needs more than just competence

Keir Starmer went back to what he most enjoys at Prime Minister’s Questions: calling the government incompetent and demanding that it ‘get a grip’, especially over Covid. Let’s face it, he’s hardly short of material given all the let downs and U-turns that the PM has inflicted on the nation. He swiftly reduced Boris Johnson to the cringeworthy tactic of claiming that criticism of him amounted to an attempt to ‘deprecate the efforts of NHS track and trace’. But more significant than Starmer’s deployment of his relentless boxer’s jab about competence today was what he did yesterday. In a series of television interviews, the Labour leader very publicly embraced Brexit.

Matthew Lynn

Oxford’s vaccine delay has thrown the global race wide open

Even a politician as tenaciously optimistic as Matt Hancock was struggling to put any positive spin on it: the world has woken up to the disappointing news that trials of the Oxford vaccine for Covid-19 had been paused after an adverse reaction in one patient. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was one of seven in Phase 3 trials, in which doses are administered to thousands of people of different ages and varying states of health. A spokesperson at Oxford has said the pause ‘is a routine action which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the studies, while it is investigated, ensuring we maintain the integrity

Steerpike Steerpike

Keir Starmer’s PMQs incompetence

The general consensus in the media these days over PMQs is that Keir Starmer is a pro and Boris Johnson verging on incompetent. Today’s exchange saw Starmer once again turn the heat up on Johnson’s government. During a fiery exchange at PMQs, Keir Starmer criticised the government’s track and trace system. However, it was not what could be described as a slick attack line.  Starmer claimed that ‘far from the world beating system we were promised the government can’t even get the basics right. The government is lurching from crisis to crisis’. In the conclusion of this verbal attack, Starmer appeared to slip up. He said that recent escapades show Johnson’s

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Boris’s Internal Market bill will struggle in the Lords

The reverberations from what Brandon Lewis said yesterday continue. Having spoken to various peers, it is clear that the internal market bill will now really struggle in the House of Lords. Two peers who are far more sympathetic to this government than most in the upper house don’t think that it will pass the Lords before the end of the year, meaning that it wouldn’t be on the statute book for the end of the transition period. The view of these peers is that Lewis’ comments about breaking international law and the fact that the bill is unlikely to get legislative consent motions from Holyrood, Stormont or Cardiff Bay will

Sam Leith Sam Leith

Former Australian PM Julia Gillard on sexism in politics

38 min listen

My guest in this week’s books podcast is the former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Along with the economist and former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Julia has written a new book called Women and Leadership: Real Lives, Real Lessons, which includes interviews with women who’ve reached the top roles in global institutions, from Christine Lagarde and Joyce Banda to Michelle Bachelet and Theresa May. I asked her about her own time in politics, what she’d have done differently, whether Australia is more sexist than the UK, and her notorious ‘misogyny’ speech – plus, what she thinks her old sparring partner Tony Abbott has to offer the UK as a

Robert Peston Robert Peston

A Brexit question Boris Johnson must answer

The question for Boris Johnson is why he signed a Withdrawal Agreement that gives the EU the power to decide whether British agricultural products are fit for export to Northern Ireland. There was no secret that this is in the Withdrawal Agreement. It is there in black and white. Critics of the deal cited it from the start. It is why more sanitary and phytosanitary checks will be required on livestock and agrifoods going from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.  So why would Boris Johnson sign a deal knowing from the outset that its terms were such that in plausible circumstances they might lead him to breach international law? Or was he was

Richard Dobbs

Here’s how the Covid nightmare could be over by Christmas

Matt Hancock has announced his ‘Moonshot’ project of achieving population-wide mass testing for Covid-19. He should be congratulated for this shift in strategy. The previous strategy of ‘Test, Trace and Isolate’ relied on people with the virus feeling ill and so taking a test. Those who tested positive would then be called by one of the NHS tracers to ask for their recent close contacts, who the tracer would in turn contact and ask to self-isolate. While this approach has worked in the past with illnesses such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in countries such as South Korea, it is unlikely to work in the UK for Covid-19. The main

Tuesday

Carl Heneghan

Covid-19 cases and the weekend effect

There’s significant mounting interest in the increase in detected cases in the UK. However, it’s worth looking at the data to try and understand what is going on. First, it is essential to analyse cases by the date the specimen was taken, as opposed to reported. The second vital thing to do is to observe this data for emerging patterns, even before looking at the numbers. If you do this, then the Government’s Staging Data shows an emerging pattern, whereby the number of people testing positive on the weekend is significantly lower than that observed in the week. Furthermore, if you assess the data for the last week, you see

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Starmer sketches out a Brexit position

As Boris Johnson comes under fire from his own MPs over his potentially unlawful Brexit plans, Keir Starmer has made his first significant Brexit intervention. After keeping relatively quiet on the issue since winning the leadership, the Labour leader has laid out his party’s position on Brexit during an evening broadcast round.  Despite previously backing a second referendum, Starmer has told ITV that ‘we’ve left the EU, there’s no question of a second referendum… the Leave-Remain argument is over’. As for the best outcome in the talks, Starmer has said there needn’t be an extension to the trade talks – but that it was on Johnson and his team to deliver: What we need to

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Boris Johnson’s Brexit dilemma

The penny seems to have belatedly dropped for Boris Johnson. He can have a no-trade-deal relationship with the European Union – what he calls an Australian-style relationship – or he can have Northern Ireland as a seamless member of the UK’s internal market. But under the EU Withdrawal Agreement that he signed, he cannot have both.  If we trade with the EU under WTO terms there will be highly significant tariffs levied on UK-EU trade alongside highly significant fiscal and regulatory differences between the UK and EU. And the default position in the Northern Ireland Protocol is that – without agreement to the contrary between the UK and EU – all

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

How will Tory MPs react to No. 10’s Brexit law breach?

16 min listen

As Michel Barnier arrives in London for another round of trade talks, Brandon Lewis today said that government plans to reinterpret the Brexit withdrawal treaty could break international law. Cindy Yu speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls about what the No. 10 proposals could mean, and whether Tory backbenchers can stomach the move.

Steerpike Steerpike

Dawn Butler’s Extinction Rebellion riddle

When Dawn Butler sent a message of support to Extinction Rebellion protesters who had blockaded newspaper printworks, it wasn’t long before her tweet was deleted. So what happened?  It was widely assumed that the order to delete the message came from the top of the Labour party and showed all too clearly that things are now very different under the leadership of Keir Starmer. Not so, said Butler.  Instead, the Corbynite Labour MP insisted that the controversial tweet disappeared ‘by accident’. She told the BBC’s Politics Live: ‘Erm, well, there is a story behind that…tweet was deleted by accident but I don’t want to distract from that question. But the thing

Gus Carter Gus Carter

Watch: cabinet minister says Brexit plans ‘break international law’

Following widespread speculation that the UK government intends to renege on the Withdrawal Agreement, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis was summoned to the chamber to answer an urgent question on the issue. Despite government attempts to suggest that intended changes to the Withdrawal Agreement through the new Internal Market Bill were simply to tie up loose ends, Lewis did admit that the moves would break international law. He said, however, this would be in ‘a very specific and limited way’.  When asked whether the new bill – designed to ensure barrier-free trade between all four parts of the Union – broke international law, Lewis responded:  I would say to my honourable friend that,

Steerpike Steerpike

When will Keir Starmer break his silence on Brexit?

It wasn’t so long ago that Sir Keir Starmer was making headlines as shadow Brexit secretary for his role moving the Labour leadership in favour of a second referendum. However, since taking over the party, Starmer has gone rather quiet on the matter.  With a global pandemic dominating the news agenda, that was understandable for a while. However, with Brexit now back, some Labour supporters are wondering whether their leader has gone missing in action. While it’s one thing not to comment on Johnson’s Brexit deadline pledge, they sense an opportunity in today’s series of events. After a cabinet minister admitted at the despatch box No. 10’s Brexit plans for the Northern Ireland protocol

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Top government lawyer quits ahead of internal market bill

After reports emerged on Monday suggesting that Boris Johnson plans to use new legislation to override key parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement relating to the Northern Ireland protocol, government ministers sought to play down the changes. Environment Secretary George Eustice suggested that any changes to be laid out in the internal market bill were aimed at simply tying up loose ends. The text of the bill is not due to be published until Wednesday. However, all the signs are that it will be controversial. The head of the UK’s government legal department, Jonathan Jones, has today stepped down. The Financial Times reports that those close to him say he was ‘very unhappy’ about the

Theo Davies-Lewis

Keir Starmer’s Welsh nationalism problem

There is no region of the UK where Labour has dominated more – both politically and culturally – than Wales. Since 1922, the party has consistently won general elections there, and has ruled Cardiff’s devolved government relatively unchallenged since it was established in 1999. But Keir Starmer would be wise to keep his eye on events in Wales as he seeks to outflank the Prime Minister. The surprising impact of this Covid crisis has been a surge in Welsh nationalism, which until now was a slumberous movement reserved for the radicals of Plaid Cymru and Welsh football fans. The flames of nationalism have been fanned by Cardiff’s break with Downing

Robert Peston Robert Peston

No. 10 to outlaw gatherings of more than six people

The government is to significantly reduce the threshold for lawful gatherings of people in homes from the current 30, perhaps to as low as six, I understand. This is a first response to the significant spike to circa 3,000 a day in Covid-19 infections we’ve seen. At the moment, attending a gathering of more than 30 people is punishable with a £100 fine and organising such an event risks a £10,000 fine. Under the reduced threshold, due to be announced perhaps today, the police would be empowered to break up and levy fines on much smaller groups. The new threshold has not yet been decided, however. One source says that

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

How the Tories can stop the SNP’s hate crime bill

Free speech concerns about the SNP’s Hate Crime Bill have been mounting for months now, so it was inevitable that the Scottish Parliament would eventually take notice. The Scottish Conservatives plan to force a vote there tomorrow calling on the Nationalist administration to withdraw the legislation. The Tory motion is unlikely to pass given the numbers at Holyrood. The SNP parliamentary group operates essentially as a single bloc vote while the sole function of the Scottish Greens is getting Nicola Sturgeon’s government out of the latest trouble it’s gotten itself into. What the resolution will do is compel MSPs to take a side. Holyrood is not known for its great

Nick Tyrone Nick Tyrone

Ripping up the Withdrawal Agreement is a big mistake

Like most things Brexit related, it depends on who you believe. The EU is concerned over the announcement that the government will be introducing legislation that could override portions of the Withdrawal Agreement, in particular the Northern Ireland Protocol. The UK government insists that the changes they wish to introduce are ‘limited and reasonable’ and will not violate the treaty. I truly hope it is our government which is right here. If Boris really is planning to violate the Withdrawal Agreement, signed with the EU earlier this year, that would be a grave error. The logic of threatening the European Union with legislation that changes portions of the Withdrawal Agreement

Monday

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

The vaccine goalposts have shifted

Matt Hancock provided a vaccine update on Monday, explaining that the chances of a drug being ready by early next year are ‘looking up’. With trials pending in the UK, USA and Brazil, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine could be approved this year, although the Health Secretary he conceded it would more likely come in spring 2021. He added that doses are already being manufactured so that it will be ready to roll-out the moment it does receive approval.  We’ve heard this all before. At the height of lockdown, Oxford professor Sarah Gilbert – head of one of the teams developing the vaccine – told the Times that a vaccine would be ready by September: ‘It’s not