Politics

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

Friday

Ryan Bourne

There are economic reasons to cut the state, irrespective of the deficit

Treasury Select Committee Chairman Andrew Tyrie recently explained he would support cutting back the size of the state even if our public finances were in balance. I doubt whether the leadership of the Conservative party agrees. Cameron and Osborne seemed settled on the Brownite consensus until the financial crisis threw them a curved ball. This, in many ways, makes the so-called ‘austerity’ programme more difficult for them to implement. Without the argument that they genuinely believe in smaller government for economic or moral reasons, the party has had to adopt the ‘we wish we weren’t doing this but we have to’ line. It’s meant they’ve been unable to spell out

Jonathan Jones

Will a Greek exit mean an EU referendum?

A couple of weeks ago, James revealed that the promise of an EU referendum is almost certain to feature in the 2015 Tory manifesto. But might we actually have one before then? If the speculation by ‘senior government sources’ in today’s Times is to be believed, we might indeed. According to No.10 and the Foreign Office, a Greek exit from the euro — which could follow soon after the country’s new round of elections on 17 June — would necessitate a rewriting of EU treaties. And that, the Times says, ‘would trigger “aggressive” demands by Tory MPs to hold a referendum on Britain’s EU membership.’ Meanwhile, over on the other

Thursday

Jonathan Jones

May backs gay marriage

So Theresa May has voiced her support for same-sex marriage, joining Lynne Featherstone, Yvette Cooper and the PM’s Parliamentary Private Secretary Desmond Swayne in recording an Out4Marriage video. Of course, we shouldn’t be too surprised. It’s May’s own department that’s put forward the proposals for same-sex marriage, with a foreword signed by both the Home Secretary and Featherstone saying: ‘We do not think that the ban on same-sex couples getting married should continue. Put simply, it’s not right that a couple who love each other and want to formalise a commitment to each other should be denied the right to marry.’ With Cameron strongly in favour, and the government committed

Peter Hoskin

Off target on immigration

How goes the Tories’ plan to reduce net migration to the ‘tens of thousands’ over this Parliament? Not too well, judging by the latest ONS figures released today. As it is, net migration was 252,000 in the year up to September 2011. That, lest you need reminding, is over double the Tory target. No.10, however, has been fairly defiant in response. ‘It’s still our intention to bring levels of net migration back down to tens of thousands,’ said a spokesman today, before adding that, ‘clearly that’s going to take some time.’ They also cited different Home Office statistics, which record the number of visas issued up until March of this

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Leveson continues, but it is a sideshow to the Euro drama

Fred Michel’s testimony this morning at the Leveson Inquiry was embarrassing but not devastating. The texts between him and Jeremy Hunt are cringe-worthy but my read is that the Culture Secretary is not in a weaker position than he was this morning. More important for Hunt’s survival prospect is the appearance of his former spad Adam Smith this afternoon. The question is, did Hunt not know of the extent of contact between Smith and Michel? Everything going on at Leveson, though, is a sideshow compared to the economic news and the storm brewing on the continent. On that note, it does seem odd that Nick Clegg is suggesting that the

Wednesday

Jonathan Jones

Obama vs Balls

What do Ed Balls and Mitt Romney have in common? They both want you to think that Barack Obama is spending government money like never before. For Mitt Romney, it’s an attack: he wants to make Obama a Big Government bogeyman who’s failing to tackle America’s deficit. ‘I will lead us out of this debt and spending inferno,’ the Republican nominee promises. For Ed Balls, it’s an example for Britain to follow: ‘I will lead us into this debt and spending inferno’, the shadow chancellor promises. Well, essentially. But the Obama camp is pushing back hard against such claims, highlighting a Wall Street Journal article yesterday titled ‘Obama spending binge

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Cameron’s attack on Balls is strangely endearing

Ed Miliband had it easy at PMQs today. The government is bleeding in all directions. And a further haemorrhage has arrived in the shape of Adrian Beecroft, a government adviser, whose proposal to relax employment law has delighted the Tory right and incensed the soft-and-cuddly Lib Dem left. ‘A proposal to fire at will’, is how Mr Miliband described the Beecroft plan. Did the Prime Minister support it or did he agree with the Business Secretary who has covered it in scorn? Cameron didn’t so much duck the question as swan straight past it. He pretended it wasn’t there. Instead he cherry-picked some positive footnotes from yesterday’s IMF statement on

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Cameron loses his rag

Ed Balls succeeded in getting David Cameron to lose his rag at PMQs today. The shadow Chancellor sledged the PM throughout the session, apparently asking him how many glasses of wine he had had today and the like. Towards the end of the session, Cameron snapped and called Balls ‘the muttering idiot sitting opposite me’. The House erupted. Ed Balls looked even more pleased with himself than usual while the Tory benches cheered the line. The exchange will put Cameron’s temper up for discussion which is Downing Street’s second least-favourite topic after the PM’s work-rate. But I suspect that there’ll be limited cut through to the public: politicians insulting each

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The pressure on Cameron to call Clegg’s bluff

The debate over the Beecroft report is now the politics of the viscera. For Tory MPs it has become symbolic of how the Liberal Democrats — and Vince Cable, in particular — are holding them back from doing what they need to get the country out of this economic emergency. On the Liberal Democrat side it has become emblematic of everything about Steve Hilton — ‘Thatcher in a t-shirt’ as they dubbed him — that annoyed them. Adrian Beecroft’s intervention today in the Telegraph and the Mail is bound to increase Tory tensions on the matter. He tells the Mail that Cameron and Osborne have ‘given up’ on unfair dismissal.

Peter Hoskin

Where will our politicians’ obsession with Hollande lead?

Hollande fever strikes again in Nick Clegg’s interview with the FT this morning. ‘I personally massively welcome the arrival of Hollande on to the scene,’ he says, but it goes deeper than that. You see, the Deputy Prime Minister also places an emphasis on ‘growth’, as opposed to ‘austerity’, suggesting that the government might do more to get infrastructure projects up and running. When asked why they didn’t do this before, Clegg responds, ‘It’s for the obvious reason — because the economy is flatter than we anticipated two years ago.’ In some respects, this is unsurprising. Not only did Clegg deploy similar language in an interview with Der Speigel the

Tuesday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

A matter of conscience

Personally, I’m in favour of gay marriage. But it is precisely the kind of issue that should be subject to a free vote and all the indications are that the government intends that when the legislation comes to Parliament it will be. So, it shouldn’t be a big deal that the Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson feels that he can’t support it, a view he expressed in a letter to a gay constituent that Politics Home has obtained a copy of. There are several other ministers who feel the same way. Indeed, I understand that the Chief Whip himself has grave reservations about the matter. It would be deeply intolerant

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Susie Squire to take over as Tory press chief

Senior Conservative sources are confirming that, as Guido Fawkes reported this morning, Susie Squire will take over from Henry Macrory as the party’s head of press. Squire, who is currently Iain Duncan Smith’s media special adviser, is highly-thought of in Number 10 where she is credited with ramming home the party’s advantage over Labour on welfare. The decision to move someone from such an important department to CCHQ shows that Number 10 has recognised that coalition requires the party to have a more distinctive presence. What also makes the appointment noteworthy is that in her current brief Squire has not been afraid to mix it with the other parties. In

Alex Massie Alex Massie

10 Pretty Unpersuasive Reasons for Scottish Independence

This week the SNP will launch their campaign for Scottish independence. Or, rather, it’s the official beginning of what they term the ‘Yes’ campaign. Prefacing this, Joan McAlpine uses her column in the Daily Record to list ten reasons why Scots should endorse independence. It is an interesting list, not least because McAlpine, who is close to Alex Salmond, is one of the higher-profile SNP MSPs and someone to whom it is always worth paying attention. This is her list: 1. An independent Scotland would be the sixth wealthiest country on earth. According to the OECD, apparently. It’s the Black Gold, silly. This is a very dubious statistic. It relies

Peter Hoskin

Clegg rallies behind Cable

It’s no surprise that the Lib Dems aren’t keen on Adrian Beecroft’s proposals for hiring and firing. This intra-coalition disagreement has been rumbling on for months now, after all. But when Vince Cable spoke out against them yesterday, it wasn’t entirely clear whether this was his party’s line or just Vince being Vince. Other Lib Dems might have taken a more conciliatory approach. Today, however, it’s clear that they’re not going to. Nick Clegg himself has charged in behind Cable, saying that ‘I don’t support [Beecroft’s plan for “no-fault dimissals”] and I never have, for the simple reason that I have not seen any evidence yet that creating industrial scale

Sebastian Payne

Making the loan companies pay

Will Parliament soon decide to clamp down on payday loans? The controversial firms, offering ultra-high interest short-term loans, have proliferated on high streets and across the Web, utilising crafty advertising to make them appear far less dangerous than the 4,000 per cent APR would imply. Our Campaigner of the Year, Stella Creasy MP, has been fighting for legislation to regulate the firms, after witnessing the consequences of the 17 payday loan businesses in her consistency. Ahead of a crucial Commons vote on her proposals to regulate the firms, polling by ComRes has given her a boost, with strong support inside and out of Parliament for action on the matter. MPs and public are for once

Monday

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

One man’s terrorist…

I wonder if our government will demand more information and threaten reprisals over the case of the two ‘British citizens’ killed by the Syrian Army? Or if, instead, it won’t say very much at all and just deny they are British? This was a story which emerged over the weekend but has not gained very much traction. Easy to see why this would be the case. Hassan Blidi and Walid Hassan were on a list of names of ‘foreigners’ who the Syrians say were engaged in terrorist activities in the country. Reading between the lines, one supposes that Hassan and Walid were the sort of jihadi Norman Wisdoms whom this

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Bust-up postponed

A coalition bust-up was avoided today by Vince Cable’s absence from the Commons for the urgent question on the Beecroft Report. Tory MP after Tory MP got up to make warm noises about a report which Vince Cable has been gleefully trashing, describing one of its proposals as ‘bonkers.’ That Cable couldn’t make it back in time from the north of England to appear at the dispatch box will have been a relief to the Tory whips; one of them was distinctly concerned about how the Tory benches would treat the Business Secretary when he heard about the UQ earlier. Indeed, it was telling that when Chris Heaton-Harris attacked Cable

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Will Nick ignore Vince and go for growth?

Vince Cable’s reaction to the coming publication of the Beecroft report — which Pete blogged earlier — suggests that the memo on a more cooperative, coalition attitude to growth hasn’t reached the Business Department. The full-on hostility from Cable’s crew to the proposals shows that he remains set against any further deregulation of the labour market. The question now is whether Nick Clegg overrules the Business Secretary. Relations between Clegg and Cameron are warmer at the moment than they have been for a while, the pair dined together with their wives on Thursday night. Aides to both men have been acknowledging in recent days that both sides are going to