Politics

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

Thursday

Douglas Murray

A Remain vote won’t reform the EU – but a Leave vote might

So the great day is here. Those of us who wish to vote ‘Leave’ will be heading to the polls in the hope that this is the eve of our nation’s independence. Those voting ‘Remain’ will obviously be heading to the polls hoping that the current status quo in Europe will continue. Throughout the campaign I have been repeatedly struck by how many undecided (as well as Remain voters) have told me that the EU is anything ranging from a ‘disaster zone’ to ‘a body badly in need of reform’. I would like to make a point to these people. As I pointed out in Foreign Affairs yesterday, if you

Helen Nugent

EU referendum, pension woes and the cost of teenagers

The European Union referendum dominates today’s papers. The Times reports that a series of eleventh hour polls suggest the vote is too close to call, with the country split down the middle over the economy and immigration. After a bitterly fought four-month campaign, the Remain and Leave camps were separated by two percentage points, according to three surveys. A YouGov poll for The Times put Remain on 51 per cent against 49 for Leave. Meanwhile, holidaymakers nervous about what may happen to the pound after today are rushing to stock up on foreign currency, with the Post Office reporting a 380 per cent surge in online orders. The Guardian reports that the Post

John Osullivan

A sadder, wiser referendum

In June 1975, I was given the heavy responsibility of writing the Telegraph’s ‘light’ op-ed on the conduct of the first Euro-referendum campaign, which duly appeared on the day of the vote. My theme was that it had been the nicest possible stitch-up. ‘From the establishment and the respectable anti-establishment, from the Economist and the New Statesman, from the Lord Feather [of the TUC] and Mr Campbell Adamson [of the CBI], from Mr Wilson and Mr Heath, from the Royal Commission Volunteers to “Actors and Actresses for Europe”, the same advice, the same dire predictions of life outside the Market…’ It rings loud bells today. ‘Mr Barrie Heath told the

Wednesday

The Spectator

Letters | 22 June 2016

European identity Sir: Alexander Chancellor (Long life, 18 June) echoes the widely accepted view of the European Union as a ‘bulwark against the nationalism that is rising again’. The European project was, of course, conceived as a means of averting the catastrophes that nationalism wreaked upon Europe during the 20th century. However, in practice the EU has stoked nationalism within its constituent member states. As a top-down, elite-driven process, EU integration has crucially failed to mobilise the masses in favour of a common European identity that transcends national allegiances. Combine this with a simultaneous erosion of state sovereignty and the EU’s democratic deficit, and it is not difficult to understand why

Peter Jones

Cicero’s Brexit moment

If Remain has won, for all the political and financial flurries, it will be business as usual for us plebs. But such is the EU’s octopus-like embrace, so it will be if the Leavers win, creating much disillusionment. Cicero felt equally impotent at a similarly dramatic turning point — the assassination of EUlius Caesar. Cicero had long despaired at the slow collapse of the ‘free’ republic and the rise of the tyrant Caesar. ‘We ought to have resisted him while he was weak — then it would have been easy,’ Cicero wrote in a letter. When Caesar started the civil war in 49 BC, he exclaimed ‘Are we talking about a

Andrew Roberts

Diary – 22 June 2016

It was a nice touch that MPs sat in each other’s seats in the Commons during the tributes to Jo Cox on Monday. I hope it helped remind Tories where they’ll be sitting permanently after 2020 if they don’t bind the party’s wounds on Friday. If Remain wins, then everyone must coalesce around David Cameron; if it’s Leave then Michael Gove. These things were managed much better before 1965 when the Queen decided on Tory leaders. For all his reservations about the premiership, Gove wouldn’t refuse Her Majesty’s request to form a government, not in the year of her 90th birthday. How do you think Jeremy Corbyn voted in the

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Why all the certainty about the referendum result?

Right at the start of this campaign, a senior figure at Vote Leave told me that if they were level in the opinion polls on referendum day, they would win. Their view was that differential turnout, with their voters being more enthusiastic, would overcome any status-quo bias. Well, the last Opinium poll has Leave on 45%, Remain on 44% with 9% as don’t knows. Now, we should remember that polls aren’t all knowing and that one earlier today had Remain ahead. Opinium polls are conducted online, and online ones tend to be more favourable to Leave. There are still some more polls to come—and they may be better for Remain than Opinium.

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Coffee House Shots: The final countdown

There are now only hours until the polls open in the EU referendum. But the campaigning has continued today right up until the wire as both ‘Remain’ and ‘Leave’ do their best to win every vote in what looks set to be a close contest. David Cameron, Jeremy Corbyn, Sadiq Khan and Boris Johnson have been across the airwaves as they attempt to convince the public which way they should vote. It’s not only political figures from the UK who have had their say, though: Jean Claude Juncker has insisted Britain would not be getting a new reform package after tomorrow’s vote. Was it wise for him to speak out?

Philip Sime

Can the European press convince Britain to stay?

The debate around withdrawing from the European Union has dominated front pages and column inches for several months in Britain. However, with less than 24-hours until the UK makes the biggest democratic decision for a generation, the word ‘Brexit’ is now beginning to appear in newspapers across the continent and permeate the consciousness of our European neighbours. Europe is a continent in crisis. Brussels is desperately trying to foster unity while facing rising anti-EU sentiment, the most-severe migration crisis since WWII and a Eurozone struggling to recover from the 2008 financial crash. However, facing the prospect of a member state abandoning the Union, Europe’s leaders are now urging the United

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Expenses watchdog speeds up extra security for MPs after outcry

As reported yesterday on Coffee House, MPs have been incredibly frustrated by the response of parliamentary spending watchdog Ipsa to their requests for extra security measures following the murder of Jo Cox. This afternoon Ipsa’s chair Ruth Evans has written to MPs saying the regulator will ‘review and accelerate’ the process of approving applications for security funding, acknowledging that there have been complaints about how it is working at the moment. If Ipsa is able to speed up its approvals process, this will come as a huge relief to those MPs who are understandably nervous about their own vulnerability to copy cat attacks following Cox’s death. If not, parliamentarians are

James Bartholomew

Boris Johnson’s closing speech was the defining moment of the campaign

For me, last night provided the defining moment of the campaign. I was in the audience of 6,000 or so at the Wembley Arena listening to the final major debate, hosted by David Dimbleby. As far as I could tell, the evening was turning into a win on points for Vote Leave. Ruth Davidson, for the Remainers, had some moments of real success. She banged out a long list of military people who maintained that Britain would be safer within the European Union. She said she was going to take the words of these experts seriously even if the Leave speakers did not. But Andrea Leadsom, for the Leave side,

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

What next for Ukip after the EU referendum?

For someone who has spent his whole life building up to the referendum, Nigel Farage has had a rather patchy campaign. On the one hand, he has performed reasonably well in his TV question time slot, exceeding the expectations of those in the Leave camp who were dismayed that ITV had signed up the Ukip leader to its referendum programme. But on the other, he has unveiled a poster that bears striking similarities to ones used by the Nazis and has been shunned by the official Leave campaign. Today, the Ukip leader gave his final speech of a campaign that he has spent his political life pushing for. At one

Melanie McDonagh Melanie McDonagh

The collective amnesia over Turkey and the EU is astonishing

Just wondering: is there anyone out there who actually remembers supporting Turkish membership of the EU? Last night Sadiq Khan said the Brexit camp had been scaremongering with its ‘big fat lie’ that Turkey would join any time soon. (NB: Sadiq was a bit free with the ‘lie’ word; a generation ago, its use would have caused real offence; two generations ago he’d have been called out by the person he accused of being a liar. Ruth Davidson was more measured with her use of ‘untruth’.)  And Boris Johnson did look a bit abashed, though his retort (‘I am a Turk’) got lost in the exchanges. For he too was

Matthew Lynn

If Brexit is the result, start buying the market

It is four o’clock on Friday morning. The early returns suggest Leave is edging ahead. You’ve just seen a tweet that Peter Mandelson has fled the country, and that Boris Johnson has been seen pencilling in the names of his cabinet. What is the first thing you do? Rush down to Sainsbury’s and stock up on olives before they get banned? Text that Polish builder for some final painting and decorating before he gets sent home? Perhaps. But actually what you should do is very simple. Get on the phone to your broker, or more realistically go online, and get ready to start buying the FTSE, the pound, and every

Ben Kew

The Spectator’s Guide to EU Referendum day (and night)

Britain goes to the polls tomorrow for the most important vote in a generation, as the country decides whether it would like to remain part of the European Union, or leave. But what will happen on the day itself? And where are the key areas to watch out for overnight? Here, The Spectator has put together a run-through of what to look out for and when we can expect to find out the results: Thursday 23rd June 7.00am Polling stations open across the UK. Voters will be asked the question: Should Britain remain a member of the European Union, or Leave the European Union? 10.00pm Polling stations close and the

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Ruth Davidson is not the answer to English Tory prayers

Tacitus argued that, after 68, ‘the secret of imperial rule was revealed: an emperor could be made somewhere other than Rome’. It has taken metropolitan observers some time to wake up to the fact the same is true in Britain today. A star can be born far from London. The difference, however, is that not all roads lead to Westminster. It takes time for change to work its way through the system so perhaps it is not surprising that it is only now that we are seeing the fruits of devolution. In their different – very different – ways Nicola Sturgeon and Ruth Davidson have each demonstrated that devolution works. It has,

Nicholas Farrell

Spare a thought for the proud Brits denied tomorrow’s vote

I live in Italy at the heart of the European Union and have witnessed first hand how the euro has destroyed La Dolce Vita and reduced the Italian economy to basket case status. But even though I am a British citizen and probably better equipped than most to see just how awful the EU is, I am not allowed to vote in the referendum tomorrow. Why? Because I have not been registered to vote in the UK within the past 15 years. I may live abroad but I remain proudly British. I fly a Union Jack – bought in a ship’s chandlers in the port of Ravenna where the exiled poet Dante

Helen Nugent

Pension freedoms, expats and the EU Referendum

A third of the UK population don’t know anything about the pension freedoms introduced by the Government in April 2015, according to the fifth UK Readiness Report from Aegon.  The freedoms, introduced by Chancellor George Osborne, have given people with defined contribution pensions new opportunities to access their pension savings and use this money in the way they choose from age 55. However, a significant proportion of the population remain unaware of the changes and even among those that recognise the term ‘pension freedoms’, many are unclear what it means.  A third of the 4,000 people surveyed in the research say they’ve heard about the freedoms, but admit to not

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

The PM boils his entire referendum campaign into a single word. But will it convince voters?

David Cameron has boiled down his entire EU referendum campaign into a single word: together. The Prime Minister made one of his final pitches to Britain on the Today programme just now. But despite doing his best to put forward the positive case for staying in, he still came unstuck on the age-old issue of migration. He was repeatedly quizzed on his net migration target to reduce numbers to the tens of thousands. We knew before that this is, to say the least, a tricky subject for Cameron. And he didn’t offer much in the way of substance to salve voters’ worries. Instead, when immigration came up, he flipped the

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Would a narrow win for ‘Leave’ be useful in getting a better post-Brexit deal?

In less than 24 hours, the polling booths will finally open. We’ve seen today the now familiar raft of letters from both sides calling on people to vote ‘Remain’ or back Brexit. 51 FTSE have signed a letter saying they think the UK should stay in the European Union. Whilst Tate and Lyle Sugars said Brexit would be the best way ahead for its business in a message to employees. But amidst this final push for votes, the polls show that tomorrow’s referendum will likely be an even race: the ‘What UK think’s’ poll of polls has ‘Remain’ on 51 per cent and ‘Leave’ on 49 per cent. So what