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Politics

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

Saturday

Dr Matt Strauss

Ventilators aren’t a panacea for a pandemic like coronavirus

‘More ventilators!’ cried the journalists on Twitter. ‘Yes, more ventilators!’ replied the politicians. ‘Where are the ventilators?’ demanded the journalists, now screaming on television. ‘Yes, even more!’ replied the government, somewhat nonsensically.  I am a critical care physician, specialising in the use of such machines. I’m flattered by all the attention our tools are receiving. But I fear the current clamour reminds me of nothing so much as the panic buyers of toilet-paper stampeding over each other in early March. When the history of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Western world is written, I do not believe ‘massive ramp-up of ventilator manufacturing,’ will be credited with our deliverance. Let me explain why. Ventilators

Friday

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Matt Hancock looks to clinical trials for a coronavirus way out

After a week of criticism over the government’s lack of mass testing, Matt Hancock and deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam used Friday’s press conference to try and move the focus to other methods for tackling the coronavirus outbreak. The Health Secretary reiterated that social distancing remains the best way to prevent spread of the disease and called on the public to resist the sunny weather this weekend and remain indoors. When it comes to treating those already infected, Hancock said clinical trials could be key.  Hancock said the UK is a world leader in clinical trials and there has been a big push within government to unlock this potential to help with the recovery

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Has Sweden got it right?

16 min listen

Unlike the UK and most of Europe, Sweden hasn’t locked down its population. What explains its difference in approach? Plus, what does the government’s coronavirus exit strategy look like?

Matthew Lynn

Coronavirus has again exposed the euro’s fatal flaw

Rising death rates. Economies closing down. People forced to stay at home. The coronavirus is a health, social and economic emergency for every country where it hits. But in Europe it has also mutated very quickly into something else as well, and which, while it may not be quite so threatening in the short-term, could well do even more damage in the years ahead. A currency crisis. Over the last couple of weeks the eurozone has been engulfed by a furious argument over ‘coronabonds’ – a joint eurozone financial instrument that could raise money to help deal with the crisis. The highly-indebted Southern economies, along with France, are in favour.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The government needs an ‘exit strategy’ from this crisis

The economic, and social, damage being caused by coronavirus is becoming clearer by the day. In the UK, we had the news on Wednesday that 850,000 more people than usual have applied for universal credit in the past fortnight. Across the Atlantic, the number of jobs lost in the last few week is approaching 10 million – that’s more than were lost in the Great Depression. This economic news underlines the need for an ‘exit strategy’ from this crisis. The lockdown is right at the moment; it appears to be the least-worst way to keep this virus within the NHS’s capacity to deal with it and so save lives. But, equally,

James Kirkup James Kirkup

Matt Hancock and Rishi Sunak show why we need professional politicians

Coronavirus commentary often takes a familiar form, which can easily be parodied thus: ‘Why the Coronavirus crisis justifies the thing I was arguing for before the crisis.’ I mention this because this article could, I suppose, be written off in that way. It is a column of praise for technocratic, wonkish politician-managers written by someone who runs a centrist think-tank. I would say this, wouldn’t I? Well, perhaps, but I will say it anyway: the coronavirus crisis is reminding us that we should, once again, value politicians whose primary skill is understanding, gripping and managing complicated stuff and whose inclination is to put that management ahead of appealing to the

The Spectator

Matt Hancock: How we’ll get to 100,000 tests a day

The health secretary Matt Hancock spoke to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme earlier this morning where he explained how he thought the government could reach his new target of 100,000 coronavirus tests a day. This is an edited transcript of that conversation:  Mishal Husain How do we get from a testing level of 10,000 tests a day to 100,000 a day in England by the end of the month? That target, unveiled by the government yesterday, includes both swab tests, currently being used to diagnose whether people have the coronavirus, and the as yet unvalidated antibody test, which would identify those who have had it and which could therefore be a key

Parliament must return to defend our liberties

MPs seem to have lost interest in defending our liberties. On 25 March Parliament went into recess a week early when our fundamental freedoms are under threat, our economy is being shredded, and our most independent-minded individuals, such as the self-employed and entrepreneurs, are being required to plead for state aid or bank loans. Above all, Parliament did not even scrutinise the most draconian measures enacted since the second world war. Both houses went into recess on 25 March. The coronavirus regulations were laid before Parliament at 2.30 pm on 26 March and came into force immediately. These regulations granted the police powers to impose fixed-penalty notices on people for

Steven Fielding

Corbyn’s leadership has been a success and a failure for Labour

When he was elected Labour leader on 12 September 2015 opinion was uniquely divided as to what impact Jeremy Corbyn would have on his party. Critics looked to his far-left politics and predicted disaster, believing Corbyn would repel millions of former Labour voters who had just re-elected a Conservative government committed to austerity; supporters believed his principled socialism would in contrast save the party by mobilising those alienated by Labour’s reluctant embrace of austerity. As he prepares to step down a settled consensus has yet to emerge about the Corbyn years. It is likely one never will. For both sides of the argument can point to evidence that suggests Corbyn’s leadership

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

A Brexit delay could last longer than you think

Here’s something Brexiteers might want to keep an eye on. While the country’s attention is welded to the Tesco delivery website, there are moves afoot to delay the Brexit negotiations. Fabian Zuleeg, chief executive of the European Policy Centre, has called an extension of the transition period ‘an absolute must’ given the Covid-19 outbreak. He contends: ‘There will simply not be any bandwidth to focus on the negotiations, which require a delicate balance of give and take. In a situation with major healthcare challenges in the short- and long-term and economic challenges already requiring urgent action, there will not be enough political time and attention to successfully conclude this EU-UK

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Why the Treasury is bashing the banks over coronavirus emergency loans

There is some fascinating language in last night’s press release from HM Treasury that modifies the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBIL) Scheme. It says lenders are ‘banned from requesting personal guarantees on loans under £250,000’. Hmmm. This is – to put it mildly – a bit disingenuous, though politically expedient, bank bashing, because it implies it was the banks which wanted borrowers from the CBIL emergency scheme to pledge their business premises and any assets (other than the primary residence) as security against the loan. In fact, this demand for personal guarantees, which so alarmed the owners of small businesses desperate for the help, was actually stipulated by HM Treasury

Thursday

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

Coronomics: how surreal is this economic crash?

40 min listen

On the podcast this week, we take a look at the exceptional nature of ‘coronomics’ and what comes after (00:55), how the Swedish are dealing with coronavirus differently (18:50), and lessons in solitude from a polar explorer (31:15).

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Can Matt Hancock meet his 100,000 tests a day target?

The government had a strategy for this evening’s press conference, which differentiated it from several this week. Matt Hancock, who was himself returning from self-isolation, came with a big headline announcement: there would be 100,000 tests a day by the end of this month. He took lots of questions from journalists and allowed follow-ups which made him look like he was being frank and answering the question. It was all fairly basic stuff, but it had been missing yesterday. There is, though, the question of whether this target of 100,000 tests a day can be met — and how far off it is. The 850,000 more claims than usual for

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Boris Johnson’s government the most popular in a decade

Another day, another set of dreary headlines for the government over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. As well as publications that tend to be hostile to the Conservatives, the Telegraph today splashes with criticism of the testing shortage, saying there are ‘Questions without answers’. Yet despite all the noise, the polls tell a rather different story.  YouGov’s political tracker says that for the first time in nearly a decade, Britain approves of its government. Boris Johnson’s government has a net approval rating of +26 – the highest YouGov has recorded in the 1,400 times it has asked: do you approve or disapprove of the government’s record to date? Meanwhile, Johnson’s personal approval ratings

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Coronavirus has already caused a huge spike in unemployment

In Britain and America, the employment news is grim. Nearly a million Brits – 850,000 more than usual – have applied for Universal Credit in the last fortnight. While in the United States, unemployment has reached an historic high. As of the end of last week, 6.6 million people claimed for out-of-work benefits. This is the highest increase in adjusted seasonal claims on record and is made even more astonishing when you consider that just four weeks ago fewer than 200,000 people applied for jobless benefits.  With every day that goes by, the health implications of Covid-19 are becoming clearer, as are the economic effects. While the Office for National Statistics reports that 27 per cent of UK businesses

Matthew Lynn

Rishi Sunak has badly miscalculated his coronavirus bailout

Ten billion? Twenty billion? Thirty billion? To borrow a phrase from the American senator Everett Dirksen when scrutinising the escalating costs of the military, ‘pretty soon you are talking about real money.’ Chancellor Rishi Sunak has already thrown huge sums of money at rescuing the economy. He may well spend a lot more over the next few weeks. You can argue about the rights and wrongs of that. But one thing is already becoming clear, and the more you pause to think about it the more worrying it becomes. It is already looking like he has hugely miscalculated the cost.  Figures out today suggest that up to half the UK

Matt Ridley

Britain’s coronavirus testing is bogged down in bureaucracy

Despite what Corbynites like to claim, Britain’s National Health Service has always relied heavily on the private sector for lots of things. The food it serves to patients is not grown on state-owned farms, nor are the pills it prescribes manufactured in state-owned factories. Yet when it comes to diagnostic tests there seems to be a reluctance to buy them in, even from other public bodies let alone from private firms. This ideological prejudice is proving costly. A new report by Matthew Lesh for the Adam Smith Institute, published today may explain the British failure compared with other countries when it comes to tackling the current pandemic by testing. On

Claire Fox

This is no time for ‘gotcha!’ journalism

The lockdown has ensured that many millions now gather round the TV and watch the daily press conference from No.10. We hang on every word from politicians and medical/scientific experts, trying to read the runes of our fate for the next hours, days, months. These people are leading the country’s response to Covid-19. A third group in the room (be that virtually), whose leadership should be indispensable, are the press, charged with asking penetrating, crucial questions on our behalf. This should be when the nation feels the latest strategy is being held to account and scrutinised, when more light is shone on controversial decisions that affect our livelihoods and liberty,

Wednesday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The worrying surge in Universal Credit claims

Wednesday evening’s figures for new claims for Universal Credit are sobering and a reminder of the economic – and moral – consequences of the shuttering of huge swathes of the economy. Despite the government offering to pay 80 per cent of the wages of furloughed workers, 850,000 more people than usual have applied for Universal Credit in the past fortnight. Right now, the shutdown is, I think, justified by the fact that it is the least worst way of preventing hospitals from being overwhelmed and the number of coronavirus deaths increasing to ever more horrific levels. But no one who backs the current policy should pretend that it doesn’t come at its own