Politics

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

Thursday

30 Mar 2017

Is the Government heading for trouble with its Great Repeal Bill?

Britain’s biggest exercise in copying and pasting has begun in earnest. The Government has published its Great Repeal Bill White Paper, which it says is vital to ensuring that whether we end up with a ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ Brexit (or any other type of Brexit), it’ll be a ‘smooth’ Brexit. The scale of the task is no mean feat. The Times reported this morning a study by Reuters identifying 53,000 laws affecting those in the UK that originated in Brussels since 1990. All of these will need to be dealt with and passed over into UK law. But even that estimate could be downplaying what the Government needs to do.

Pádraig Belton

How to write the perfect break-up letter

Yesterday, Sir Tim Barrow placed into Donald Tusk’s hands the letter giving notice the UK will begin divorce proceedings with the EU. This missive now takes its place among the great relationship-ending letters of history. Today, Downing Street has said that European leaders appreciated the ‘warm, constructive’ tone of the Article 50 letter. But what makes for a good break-up letter? And when you look at the most memorable break-up letters of history, what do they have in common? Lucy Hume from Debrett’s says a relationship-ender should first of all reflect the relationship. ‘The letter need not be very long but should be handwritten on writing paper, well-thought-out and appropriate to the relationship,’

Steerpike

Ken Livingstone mouths off about Hitler. Again

Ken Livingstone will find out in a few hours’ time whether he’s been permanently booted out of the Labour party for mouthing off about Hitler. So, how is he spending the hours before the verdict is in? Well, by mouthing off about Hitler – obviously. Outside the hearing where he will discover his fate, the former Mayor of London has been up to his usual tricks — giving any one who will listen a lecture on why Adolf Hitler was a Zionist. This time, Ken has been explaining how the SS set up training camps for German Jews. Here’s what he said: ‘The SS set up training camps so that German Jews, who

Steerpike

John Bercow picks on the Hon Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip

In the excitement of the Prime Minister’s Article 50 statement — and the subsequent SNP row over heckling — yesterday, much of the drama of PMQs was forgotten. While Jeremy Corbyn once again failed to land any serious blows against Theresa May, it’s John Bercow’s conduct that disappointed Mr S. The Speaker of the House of Commons broke with parliamentary convention following a question from Tulip Siddiq. After the Labour MP asked when Vote Leave’s promise of £350m a week for the NHS would come to fruition, she accused the Foreign Secretary of ‘smirking’ on the front-bench. After some heckling, Bercow intervened and announced that: ‘Boris is sitting perfectly comfortably’. Referring

Nick Hilton

The Spectator Podcast: A new Europe

On this week’s bumper episode, we say farewell to the EU, look at the most high-profile mismatch in boxing history, and speak to two living legends: actor and director Simon Callow and explorer John Hemming. First, with the trigger pulled on the Brexit starting gun, we gathered to reflect on the process so far and how divorce proceedings are likely to go. In this week’s magazine, James Forsyth advocates for ‘a Brexit that works for everyone’ and he joins the podcast to discuss this, along with Fraser Nelson and Hugo Dixon, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Remain-supporting InFacts. In James’s piece, he imagines the future, writing that: “On 29 March 2019 the Queen should

Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Theresa May’s pitch-perfect start to Brexit

We’re off! The two year countdown until Brexit has begun. Theresa May’s triggering of Article 50 has been met with unanimous praise in the press, with the newspaper editorials saying the PM hit all the right notes in her letter. But there was controversy too. Some are saying the inclusion of a message suggesting Britain’s co-operation on security matters is at stake is an unhelpful threat to Brussels. Here’s what the papers are saying about a historic day for Britain: Theresa May’s Article 50 letter was ‘pitch-perfect’, says the Sun, which argues that the Prime Minister succeeded in balancing generosity with a ‘flash of steel’. The onus now, the paper

Fredrik Erixon

There will be a trade deal

Most diplomats in Brussels will tell you that Theresa May has just embarked upon a fool’s errand, that Britain might wish for a free-trade deal with the European Union but will have to learn that it can’t cherry-pick. Anyway, they say, nothing of any value can be agreed in two years. This received wisdom can be heard, under various iterations, in most capitals in Europe — and it’s natural that the EU will be sore, perhaps a little defensive. But there is a free-trade deal to be struck. First, a declaration: I didn’t want Britain to leave the EU. I’m a Swede running a free-trade thinktank in Brussels and can tell

James Forsyth

The friendly alliance

On 29 March 2019 the Queen should have a state dinner and invite the European Union’s 27 heads of state and its five presidents. The evening’s purpose would be to toast the new alliance between the United Kingdom and the EU: one based on free trade, security cooperation and shared democratic values. This celebration of the new alliance will be especially welcome after two years of negotiations which are bound to be fraught and, at times, ugly. The complexity and the sums of money involved pretty much guarantee this. There is, though, a particular onus on Britain to keep things civil. We have chosen to end this failed relationship, so

The Spectator

Ballots and bullets

From ‘The golden opportunity’, 31 March 1917: The proposal not to give women votes till they are 26 might well be modified by making all persons come of age politically at 26, but with the proviso that any man who had served in His Majesty’s Forces, naval or military, during the war should be given a vote whatever his age. There can be no better basis for a vote than such service for the state. Those male persons who from the impediment of ill-health or engagement in a special trade failed to join the combatant forces should not enjoy the suffrage till 26. Those who have gone through the fire of war or prepared

Ross Clark

A hard lesson is coming

It is one of the great mysteries of modern British politics: how public schools managed to survive three periods of Labour government with their tax breaks intact. How was it that an education secretary, Anthony Crosland, could say: ‘If it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to destroy every fucking grammar school in England, and Wales and Northern Ireland’, and yet do nothing to make life difficult for independent schools? Suzi Leather, Tony Blair’s appointment as head of the Charity Commission, demanded private schools do more to justify their charitable status. They upped their bursaries a bit and invited state schools to use their swimming pools every so often,

Rod Liddle

Brexit brings us endless little beakers of joy

The thing that got me about the photo-graph which prompted the Daily Mail’s harmless but now infamous headline ‘Never mind Brexit — who won Legs-it!’ was what I shall call the Sturgeon Lower Limb Mystery. In the photograph, the SNP leader seemed to be possessed of two slender and very long legs indeed. Whereas we know from television news footage that her legs are only seven inches long from her toes to that bit where they join the rest of her body. Walking to Downing Street for meetings, or being interviewed on the hoof by camera crews, Nicola Sturgeon usually resembles a slightly deranged Oompa–Loompa, or, as many have commented

Wednesday

29 Mar 2017

Lloyd Evans

Jeremy Corbyn looks lost at the despatch box

Tactics! At long last. Jeremy Corbyn actually used tactics at today’s PMQs. For the first time ever he divided his six questions into two three-ball overs. He spent the initial trio on last week’s terror attacks. Then, after an unsettling delay, he used three more on Mrs May’s fibs about school budgets. She says they’ve been ‘protected’. He says they’ve been ‘cut’. Protected. Cut. Cut. Protected. On it went. Mr Corbyn had a superb ally in the Public Accounts Committee which seems to support his view. The exchange might have been tricky for Mrs May but Mr Corbyn still can’t ram home a simple advantage. Rather than forcing her to

The Spectator

Transcript: Andrew Neil’s Brexit interview with Theresa May

Andrew Neil: So, Prime Minister the negotiations to leave the European Union begin. It’s a historic moment for our country. In what ways will Britain be a better country for leaving the European Union? Theresa May: Well you’re absolutely right, Andrew, that this is a historic moment for our country. We’re putting into place now the decision that was taken in the referendum on the 23rd of June last year to leave the European Union and the formal process has begun. I’ve written to, as they say, invoke this Article 50 that people will have heard about which starts the process of formal negotiations. As we look ahead to the

James Forsyth

Theresa May interview: ‘no guarantee immigration will be significantly lower after Brexit’

Theresa May’s interview with Andrew Neil revealed several significant things about the government’s approach to Brexit. Tellingly, May wouldn’t rule out free movement and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice continuing during any Brexit ‘implementation period’. This eases the way for a transitional deal, as the EU is likely to insist on both of these things applying—at least, in some form—during any transition period. Though, it does raise the prospect of the government having to go into the next general election with free movement ongoing There was another olive branch to EU capitals in May’s refusal to rule out preferential treatment for EU migrants post-Brexit. The EU is

Katy Balls

Jeremy Corbyn undermines Scottish Labour over IndyRef2

After months of mixed messages from Labour over the party’s position on Brexit, this evening Jeremy Corbyn attempted to set the record straight in an interview with Andrew Neil. Speaking on Britain and the EU: the Brexit interviews, Corbyn tried to clarify Labour’s position on Brexit now that Theresa May has formally triggered Article 50. He said that his party would vote in Parliament against a Brexit deal if it does not meet the six tests set out by Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, earlier this week. When it was pointed out to him that a vote against the deal could lead to a ‘cliff edge’ Brexit on WTO terms, Corbyn

Stephen Daisley

Parliament must take back control of Brexit

In the early, sunlit days of New Labour, the left-wing comedian John O’Farrell had a skit on how the Tories, after a generation of dominating British politics, found their party and its principles rejected by the electoral mainstream. ‘Now the Conservatives are like a lunatic fringe party,’ he said. ‘Soon we can expect to see them outside Woolworths next to the Socialist Workers on a Saturday afternoon shouting “Daily Telegraph! Get your Daily Telegraph! Britain out of Europe!”‘ A generation on, the Tories are in power, Woolworths is gone, the Socialist Workers are running the Labour Party, and Britain is indeed coming out of Europe. This serves as a useful

Steerpike

Watch: John Bercow slaps down SNP MP for ‘unseemly’ behaviour

Ever since the (fast depleting) SNP 56 descended on Parliament in 2015, they have been frequently criticised for failing to grasp Westminster etiquette. There have been a number of incidents — from Angus MacNeil chewing gum in the Chamber to the SNP clapping en masse. Today was no exception. During PMQs, the Speaker had to intervene after Joanna Cherry, the MP for Edinburgh South West, heckled the Prime Minister a bit too vigorously: ‘Miss Cherry. This is very unseemly heckling. You are a distinguished QC, you wouldn’t behave like that in the Scottish courts — you’d be chucked out!’ With Phil Boswell going on to receive a ticking off for heckling, it seems the SNP

The Spectator

A generous, globally-minded Brexit could reunite a divided country

Public opinion on Brexit remains evenly balanced, and there’s no point in any Conservative pretending otherwise. About half the nation did not want their Prime Minister to trigger Article 50 today, and Theresa May should primarily concern herself with her fellow Remainers – especially in Scotland. Many of them will see, in Brexit, the triumph of ugly nativism or a nostalgic isolationism. Her Lancaster House speech in January laid out a compelling, globally minded vision of Brexit. Emphasising that message will be key to addressing the worst fears of Remain voters. The triggering of Article 50 represents a great opportunity. We can now move on from whether Britain should or

Katy Balls

SNP resort to desperate tactics in the Chamber

As Theresa May gave her statement on Article 50 in the Chamber this lunchtime, there was a fair bit of heckling. The SNP benches persistently barracked the Prime Minister — with Angus Robertson, the SNP Westminster leader, talking throughout. This wasn’t the first heckle to emit from the benches, with Joanna Cherry and Philip Boswell earlier scolded by the Speaker for ‘unseemly’ behaviour. When Robertson got up to deliver his response to May’s statement, he tried to lay the groundwork for ‘IndyRef2’ as he complained that the government were ‘incapable of understanding people voted to remain’ in Scotland — but then he stopped. The reason? A light heckle from the Tory benches. Lacking

James Forsyth

Theresa May’s Article 50 letter strikes the right tone

Theresa May is trying to play the role of the great conciliator today. She has avoided any hint of triumphalism or saying anything that the European Union would instantly reject. Instead, she has emphasised her desire for a ‘deep and special partnership’ with the European Union and that the UK wants to be the ‘best friend and neighbour’ to the EU. She has not repeated her Lancaster House message that she thinks ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ or threatened to change the UK economic model if no free trade agreement with the EU can be struck. The Article 50 letter that May has sent to Tusk also strikes