Politics

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

Thursday

12 Dec 2013

George Osborne thickens his welfare dividing lines

We already knew that welfare would be a key dividing line for George Osborne at the next election. He set up the dividing lines in the emergency budget and comprehensive spending review in 2010, and they have largely stuck, which is a testament to the Chancellor’s skill as a strategist. But at today’s Treasury Select Committee, Osborne thickened those dividing lines with Labour by saying that the welfare budget must take another billions of pounds’ worth of cuts. It was the language that Osborne used, as much as anything else, that revealed how the 2015 debate will pan out. He said: ‘My view is that welfare expenditure cannot be excluded

Sebastian Payne

Five things you need to know about Ipsa’s final report on MPs’ pay

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has released its final report on MPs’ pay today. It’s pretty much what was expected — a big salary bump, paid for by cutting back expenses and pensions, to start in the next Parliament. This is what you need to know: MPs’ pay will a take one-off hike to £74,000. Ipsa says this is to ‘address the historic shortfall’. This is a 11 per cent rise based on what they’re paid today, or 9.26 per cent on top of a previously announced inflation-linked pay rise. After this, MPs’ pay will track average earnings — going up or down based on what’s going on rest of

Steerpike

Adam Afriyie’s fantasy government

It’s a shame that Adam Afriyie now seems to be a busted flush when it comes to his leadership ambitions. The Tory MP had succeeded not just in designating his fantasy cabinet, but also the lower ministerial ranks. Mr Steerpike hears that at the height of his plotting, he sidled up to fellow Conservative James Gray in a lift to tell him that his talents were not being appreciated by the Prime Minister. Then he added, comfortingly, that though he couldn’t offer him a place in his Cabinet, he’d definitely be able to do something at Minister of State level. Gray did not want to give a comment to Mr

Charles Moore

The Irish are fearful of Scottish independence

In Dublin, where I am writing this, people are watching the Scottish referendum campaign more closely than in London. Despite the polls, they almost expect a Yes vote, but most do not want one. People fear that Yes would weaken the UK and therefore make it a less useful ally for Ireland in the EU. They also think that an independent Scotland might overtake Ireland as a cute little place for foreign investors who like the combination of kilts, bagpipes and general Celtic carry-on with tax breaks and commercial access to the Anglosphere. Finally, they worry that Scottish independence would reopen the Irish question. At present, the Republic enjoys the

Isabel Hardman

Labour denies Heathrow U-turn

Spectator readers won’t have been particularly surprised by the FT’s story that Ed Miliband is dropping his opposition to a third runway at Heathrow: James reported that the Labour leader was softening his stance on aviation back in November: ‘Miliband is also determined to avoid a head-on collision with his shadow chancellor. Having put Balls back in his box over HS2, he now seems to be softening his opposition to a third runway at Heathrow. This extra runway is something which Balls regards as vital to Britain’s economy and which the pair fell out over in government.’ But if that softening is continuing apace, Labour isn’t ready to go public

Fraser Nelson

David Cameron on tax, coalition, ‘green crap’ and Team Nigella

It’s 9.30 a.m. on a Friday and David Cameron is about to head for his Oxfordshire constituency and work from home. This is precisely the habit that his Cabinet Office minister, Francis Maude, is trying to beat out of the civil service, but the Prime Minister has a reasonable claim to some downtime. In the past five days he has met 150 businessmen and toured four Chinese cities. This morning, he has paid a visit to Tech City, London’s answer to Silicon Valley, and travelled to South Africa House to pass on his condolences following Nelson Mandela’s death. His last appointment, which will last for as long as it takes

James Forsyth

James Forsyth: Insurgents are remaking British politics

Next year will decide the fate of the United Kingdom. The Scottish independence referendum on the 18th of September could destroy the Union, and when we sit down to Christmas lunch in 2014, it could be to the background of independence negotiations. We may all be waiting to see what the Queen says about the end of the Union in her Christmas message. Too much of England is still struggling to take the prospect seriously. The Scottish government’s independence white paper struggled to make it onto the front pages of the next day’s London papers. Why? Because there is an assumption — based on remarkably steady opinion polls — that

Wednesday

11 Dec 2013

James Forsyth

It’ll take more than one vote for Britain to leave the EU

What would the exit negotiations look like if Britain voted to leave the EU? Well, Open Europe tried to give us an idea today hosting a war game sketching out what would happen next. (Seb wrote about their work on the renegotiation earlier). It left me with the view that there would be a second vote on the proposed exit terms. If Britain does vote out in a referendum, it is then—under Article 50—a member of the EU for two years while it tries to negotiate an exit deal. I suspect that the package would be, despite the UK’s trade surplus, relatively ungenerous. John Bruton, the former Irish Taoiseach and

Isabel Hardman

Miliband demands party leaders block pay rise tomorrow

After his suggestion of cross-party talks on MPs’ pay at PMQs today, Ed Miliband has just upped the stakes by suggesting that the three party leaders meet Sir Ian Kennedy of Ipsa tomorrow to set out their opposition to the pay rise. His letter, which you can read in full below, reminds Cameron that he said at noon that ‘my door is always open to the right honourable gentleman’, and adds: ‘The public expect us to resolve this now and not wait until 2015. it only undermines confidence and trust in our political system if the uncertainty about MPs’ pay is allowed to continue. ‘Therefore I believe the three party

Sebastian Payne

War gaming a better EU deal for Britain

What will happen when Britain sits down to negotiate a new relationship with the European Union? The Open Europe think tank decided to find out with ‘war games’ in Westminster this morning. Expert negotiators representing the UK, EU Commission, Germany and France among others tried to figure out how a new Europe could be built that works for everyone. Tory MP and member of the No.10 Policy Unit Andrea Leadsom ably batted for the UK, based on the principles in her Fresh Start manifesto. Not surprisingly, she clashed with France, Germany and the EU Commission representative John Brunton. He was against fundamental change and was ‘amazed’ at the UK’s position,

Lloyd Evans

PMQs sketch: The snarling between Cameron and Balls enters fresh territory

Christmas is here. And Ed Miliband’s script writers have already got their present. The sack. Really, he seems to have let them go. At PMQs he was reading out insults that pre-date Nicholas Parsons. Out of touch, complacent, the plaything of millionaires. Cameron can fight off such jibes his sleep. Tory backbenchers asked questions full of happy economic tidings. Conservative constituencies are alive with commercial euphoria. New investment, new apprentices, new customers. It’s all thanks to this wise and decisive government. Cameron duly lapped up the credit. Peter Lilley revealed his personal remedy for the proposed pay hike for MPs. ‘Re-table the Boundaries Commission report!’ he advised. In other words fewer MPs

Isabel Hardman

What does pay row mean for Cameron’s relations with his MPs?

Tory backbenchers are in an odd mood after PMQs. They weren’t happy about the leaders agreeing so readily on their pay, but their stances were hardly a surprise, and Labour MPs looked just as flat as Ed Miliband and David Cameron skirted around a possible cross-party deal on pay. But what’s striking is that while Tory MPs who do think they deserve a pay rise are angry that the leaders and ministers such as Philip Hammond have made it so clear that it cannot happen, they are not angry with Cameron specifically. Instead, they are angry with the executive in general, muttering darkly that this is another sign that ‘those

Ed West

Britain’s refusal to defend Christians in the Middle East is shameful

I have an ebook published next Thursday, called The Silence of Our Friends, on the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and the apathy of the West about this tragic and historic event. (A link will appear at the top of this page next week – in the meantime please spread the word.) I say apathy, but lots of people are concerned, and in the past year and a half such books as Christianophobia, Persecuted and The Global War on Christians have tackled worldwide persecution; there has also been increasing awareness following violence in Syria and Egypt over the summer, and last month Baroness Warsi became the first minister

Isabel Hardman

Shock as Government agrees with Bill Cash

Something extraordinary happened on the Committee corridor in Parliament today. A government Secretary of State turned up to a session led by veteran troublemaker Bill Cash to accept a bill that the Tory MP was pushing. More extraordinary still to those unfamiliar with the range of subjects that Cash takes an interest in is that this had nothing to do with Europe: it was his Gender Equality Bill. Cash has been plugging away at this Bill, which lays a statutory duty on the International Development Secretary to ensure that women and girls are supported and promoted through UK aid. It’s something that Cash is passionate about after visiting a number

Steerpike

Now Ed Miliband is on #TeamNigella too!

Ed Miliband wanted agreement from the Prime Minister about MPs’ pay today, but Mr Steerpike hears that the Labour leader is keen to strike agreement on another topic. After David Cameron revealed to the Spectator that he was a member of #TeamNigella, Labour sources whisper to Steerpike that Ed is ‘definitely a member of #TeamNigella too’. So that just leaves Nick Clegg.

Alex Massie

Scottish Nationalism’s Dangerous Cult of Victimhood

Danny Finkelstein’s column in the Times today is characteristically elegant and incisive. In politics as in life he writes, “whatever apparent power and temptation lies with the adoption of the identity of victimhood it is ultimately destructive”. Since Finkelstein is pondering lessons that may be drawn from the life of Nelson Mandela it may not be immediately obvious that the conclusion he reaches has some relevance to the campaign for Scottish independence. I better elaborate, then. Much has been said about how and why Unionists need a better “narrative” when making the case for Scotland as part of the United Kingdom. This is true. There is a need for a positive, optimistic,

Steerpike

Is Red Balls toast?

Ed Balls, the Shadow Chancellor, gave an abortive performance in response to the Autumn Statement last week; he blamed his embarrassment on the cacophony of jeers from the Tory benches. You might have thought that Balls would lay low this week. Not a bit of it. There he was chanting ‘Dave, Dave, Dave’ and testing his new hand gesture, which is simply to point downwards. ‘He can dish it out but he can’t take it,’ said the PM. Cameron is easily riled by Balls; but he went in for the kill this time: ‘I’ll tell you what’s going down: his career’. It wasn’t a great line; but the fact that

Isabel Hardman

PMQs: Backbenchers eerily silent as bosses discuss their pay

Ed Miliband started off with a soft question to which he already knew the answer at PMQs: ‘Does the PM agree with me that given the crisis ordinary families are facing in their living standards, MPs should not be given a pay rise many times more than inflation in 2015?’ The PM did agree, and offered some further thoughts on the situation. Then Miliband pushed him a bit further. He asked whether the Prime Minister was keen ‘to work with me to find a way on a cross-party basis to make Ipsa think again?’ This whole exchange was carried out to an amusingly eerie silence from backbenchers listening to their

Nick Cohen

The segregation of women and the appeasement of bigotry at Britain’s universities (part two)

On the Today programme this morning Justin Webb covered the decision by Universities UK to allow fundamentalist speakers to segregate women from men at public meetings. With a characteristic disdain for accepted standards of behaviour, Universities UK refused to go on air and answer his questions. Webb had to ‘put the other side of the story’ himself. He told a Palestinian woman demonstrating outside Universities UK headquarters in central London, [1hr 36mins in] ‘What Universities UK say is, if non segregated seating is also provided, it could be all right.’ Put like that it can sound just about all right. Men and women who want to sit apart can do

Isabel Hardman

What the National Audit Office really said about free schools

Is the free schools project unnecessary and costly? If you take your news from the BBC, then you might be forgiven for answering ‘yes’: the Beeb’s reporting on the National Audit Office’s latest report on Michael Gove’s pet policy suggests that the whole thing has been an expensive vanity project. The report itself doesn’t seem to say quite the same thing, though: it argues that the Education department has ‘achieved clear progress on a policy priority’ and that ministers face a ‘rising capital cost trend’ in spite of much lower average construction costs than previous programmes (free schools often use existing buildings, while the department allows smaller space standards and