Politics

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

Tuesday

23 Jul 2024

Labour will struggle with its plan to get Britain back to work

Liz Kendall wants Britain to get back to work. The Work and Pensions Secretary has unveiled a target for the country to reach an 80 per cent employment rate. But hold on: that ‘ambition’, as the government is calling it, is completely unrealistic. Labour’s plan to reverse the dire labour market and drive up Britain’s employment rate seems certain to fall short of its ambitious target. Spending on sickness and disability benefits is set to increase by £30 billion over the next five years Britain is the only country in the G7 whose employment rate has still not returned to pre-pandemic levels: 2.8 million people are out of work because of

Jake Wallis Simons

After Biden, the deluge

Remember that $230 million ‘humanitarian pier’ that the Americans moored off the coast of Gaza? It was announced with great fanfare in Joe Biden’s State of the Union address in March. But earlier this month, the White House quietly mothballed the project. It had not been built to withstand inclement weather, you see, so sections of the causeway broke off and washed up among the sunbathers on Tel Aviv’s Frishman Beach. During the first week in which the pier had been operational, three-quarters of the aid it delivered had been stolen by unspecified Palestinians on the way to a UN warehouse. Who would have thought that the administration responsible for

Ross Clark

Miliband will need natural gas to hit net zero

Three weeks into the new Labour government and it is already becoming clear where some of its weaknesses lie – none more so than Ed Miliband’s promise to decarbonise the electricity grid, save consumers money and boost the economy with many thousands of ‘well-paid green jobs’. Today the Royal Academy of Engineering weighs in with its own assessment of Miliband’s chances. Its verdict? That even if the government wants to decarbonise the grid, Britain is going to have to invest in new gas plants – and ‘unabated’ ones (i.e. not fitted with carbon capture and storage CCS technology) at that. Even in an optimistic scenario, the Academy thinks that in

Steerpike

Nadine Dorries takes aim at Emily Maitlis’s ‘cosy “centrist” podcast’

Another day, another drama – only this time it’s not MPs in the spotlight. Now politician-turned-pundit Nadine Dorries has taken aim at journalist Emily Maitlis and her ‘cosy “centrist” podcast’ The News Agents. In a scathing attack laid out in the fine pages of the Daily Mail, Dorries slams Maitlis’s ‘neurotic’ perspective of politics, her obsession with ‘remaining “relevant”‘ and her, um, ‘orange permatan’. Ouch. The former cabinet minister described how she had been invited on Maitlis’ podcast only to be asked, charmingly, whether she was ‘unhinged’. ‘I had no particular desire to be on The News Agents,’ Dorries fumed, continuing: ‘I won’t tolerate being spoken to like that by a

Steerpike

SNP leader convinced party in ‘strong position’ for 2026

To Scotland, where First Minister John Swinney appears to be trying to make a career for himself as a spin doctor. The leader of the Nats has a new tactic to win back support for his beleaguered party – convince voters that, contrary to their daily experiences, his party has actually been, er, ‘formidable’ over the 17 years it has clung onto power in Holyrood. During a trip to Aberdeenshire, the FM also suggested that the SNP’s bad press is down to a lack of ‘appreciation’ of all it has achieved. Pull the other one… The Nats saw dozens of Westminster MPs ousted at the election – and lost their

Damien Phillips

What will Labour do about Iran?

Labour isn’t typically known for offering a more hawkish foreign policy platform than the Conservatives, but at the last election there was an exception: Iran. Yvette Cooper and David Lammy have spoken in strong terms about toughening up Britain’s approach to Iran George Robertson, the former defence secretary and Nato secretary general leading the government’s defence review, has described Tehran as part of the ‘deadly quartet’ of nations working together to challenge the Western-led global order. Both Yvette Cooper and David Lammy have also previously spoken in strong terms about toughening up Britain’s approach to Iran. With the Home Office and Foreign Office on board, Sir Keir Starmer has the

Fraser Nelson

Are we in for a ‘dirty’ Tory leadership contest?

16 min listen

At last there is white smoke in the negotiations over the rules for the Tory leadership contest. On Monday, the 1922 committee met and agreed a timetable for the contest to succeed Rishi Sunak as Conservative party leader. The plan is for a new leader to be unveiled 2 November with eligible candidates to throw their name into the ring before the summer recess. It’s going to be a long process, but will they be able to keep it civil? Will this be a beauty contest or a Tory Wacky Races? Fraser Nelson speaks to Katy Balls and James Heale. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Eamonn Butler

Why Labour should avoid Gordon Brown’s stealth taxes

During the election campaign, Chancellor Rachel Reeves made bold promises – no increases to Income Tax, National Insurance, or VAT. She also sought to echo the ‘prudence’ mantra of her predecessor as chancellor Gordon Brown, though his tenure was marked by significant spending increases rather than prudent restraint. True to form, over the weekend Reeves indicated the government could accept recommendations for above-inflation pay increases, of about 5.5 per cent, for NHS workers and teachers. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) estimates that a similar pay hike across public sector professions would cost about £10 billion, requiring more taxation or borrowing. This comes amid other ambitious plans for restructuring and

Daniel DePetris

President Kamala could spell trouble for Israel – but good news for Ukraine

In the two days since Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid and endorsed vice president Kamala Harris as the Democratic party nominee, much attention has been devoted to the mechanics of Biden’s decision, which close advisers or family members may have convinced him to pull out and how the entire episode will shake up the race. But with Harris the strong favourite to become the Democratic’s presidential nominee, it’s worth asking what president Harris could mean for other countries, not least the United State’s allies – and enemies. The VP is tougher on Israel than Biden for the way it’s prosecuting its war on Hamas Does Harris have a foreign

Rakib Ehsan

What the Harehills riots say about Britain

The Harehills riots and disorder, which started last Thursday in Leeds after social services removed several children from a Romani family, is a fine example of people projecting their biases onto complex social events. We are more likely to find the roots of the Harehills disorders in the politics of Central Europe than on the Indian subcontinent Reform UK leader Nigel Farage – no stranger to questionable takes on integration – labelled the events as a destructive manifestation of subcontinental politics in inner-city England. This is wide of the mark. Harehills in Leeds is not Belgrave in Leicester, where trouble broke out in 2022 after an India–Pakistan Asia Cup cricket match. Some

James Johnson

Who should Kamala Harris make her running mate?

It’s Kamala. The result of the last 48 hours, capping off one of the most eventful weeks in American political history, has been to all but confirm Kamala Harris will be the Democratic nominee for president this November. More than half the delegates at the upcoming DNC in Chicago have pledged their support to her, and the number is fast-rising. She has also pulled in several big name endorsements. It is true that Barack Obama has held back his support, but she has secured the backing of most of the serious players, including former speaker of the House – and driving force behind Joe Biden’s defenestration – Nancy Pelosi. Kamala

John Foreman

Don’t let Ukraine’s culture be erased

Ukraine’s cultural autonomy is again under assault by Russia. Vladimir Putin appears to believe that ‘Ukraine and Ukrainian culture independent of “Mother Russia” do not exist’. Travel to the Royal Academy of Arts on Piccadilly, to see the untruth of that statement. The exhibition, In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine, 1900 – 1930s, displays the works of various ‘exuberant, hyper-energetic artists in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa amid the fevered optimism of socialist Ukraine’. Drawn from Ukrainian, Polish, Jewish, and Russian communities, the artists combine revolutionary, international, religious, technological, urban and rural themes with ‘the vivid colour and rhythmic compositions of Ukrainian folk and decorative art’. The effect

John Keiger

Macron’s scheming could have disastrous consequences for France

French voters are looking on aghast at the state of their country’s democracy. Faced with stalemate in the French National Assembly since the 7 July elections, acute frustration is building among left and right wing députés. They fear that the election is being stolen from them by the scheming of president Emmanuel Macron’s much depleted centrist bloc. Despite taking a beating in the European and legislative elections from left and nationalist right, Macron has been manoeuvring to deny any chance of government to members of what he refers to as the ‘extremes’: Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Unbowed party and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally. He has been brutally successful in the latter case.

Monday

22 Jul 2024

Katy Balls

How the next Tory leader will be decided

At last there is white smoke in the negotiations over the rules for the Tory leadership contest. On Monday, the 1922 committee met and agreed a timetable for the contest to succeed Rishi Sunak as Conservative party leader. The plan is for a new leader to be unveiled 2 November with eligible candidates to throw their name into the ring before the summer recess. It comes after a dispute over how long the contest should drag on for. When the 1922 and Conservative board met last week, there was a clash of views with the board pushing for a contest to be completed by or at this year’s Conservative conference

Kate Andrews

Did Kamala Harris just snub Barack Obama?

Kamala Harris just delivered her first public remarks since the Democratic ticket fell apart over the weekend. But this was not the moment to address the mess, or indeed her own candidacy for president – two subjects she avoided. Filling in for Joe Biden at a ceremony honouring the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship teams, Harris kept her remarks short. Standing outside the White House, she used her comments to lavish praise upon her boss, calling Biden’s record ‘unmatched in modern history’. (‘Yes, you may clap’ she encouraged, which led to a rather soft round of applause). It was quite the statement, which was as long (perhaps slightly longer) than

Isabel Hardman

How has Yvette Cooper started as home secretary?

Labour are now making daily pronouncements on the latest policy area where the last government left things in a worse state than it let on. The latest is immigration. Yvette Cooper came to the Commons this afternoon to make a statement on border security. Even though she is now the Home Secretary, she sounded strikingly like she was still in opposition. She was the one responsible for that delay. Anyway, Cooper told the Commons that ‘I have reviewed the policies, programmes and legislation that we have inherited from our predecessors and I have been shocked by what I have found.’ The added: ‘Not only are there already serious problems but

Stephen Daisley

Keir Starmer has made his first misstep as Prime Minister

In dodging calls from his party to remove the two-child cap, Sir Keir Starmer is making one of his first noteworthy mistakes as Prime Minister. Both John McDonnell, the far-left former shadow chancellor, and Anas Sarwar, the soft-left Scottish Labour leader, have called for the Coalition-era policy to go. The cap limits the payment of Universal Credit to a family’s first two children, with subsequent offspring meriting no additional payment. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, keeping the cap will mean an extra 670,000 children worse off by the end of this Parliament while scrapping it would reduce relative child poverty by half a million. The annual cost of

Steerpike

Green leader’s embarrassing U-turn over Biden remarks

Dear oh dear. With all that’s happening in the US Democratic party just now, one might have thought it would be near enough impossible for politicians elsewhere to catch the eye of the media. Well, fascinatingly, the Green party has defied all odds. The eco-zealots have found themselves in the spotlight this afternoon after a series of rather, er, bizarre responses to the news that Joe Biden will not contest the next election. After the US President announced he would be abandoning his re-election campaign on Sunday night, the Green party was quick off the mark with its press release – circulating it within an hour of the news so

Isabel Hardman

How much trouble will the benefit cap row cause Starmer?

If you wanted an idea of where the noisiest opposition to Keir Starmer’s government will come, the list of amendments to the King’s Speech is pretty handy. As I reported last week, there are a lot of amendments on the two-child benefit cap from different groups. The Greens have got one, independent MP Shockat Adam has tabled his own (also signed by the Greens and other independent MPs including Jeremy Corbyn), and the SNP have got theirs. Then there’s the amendment from within Labour, tabled by left-wing MP Kim Johnson. It currently has 29 signatures, of which 19 are Labour backbenchers. One of them, Rosie Duffield, created waves at the

Steerpike

Black attacks Forbes in SNP civil war latest

To Scotland, where the SNP infighting continues. After dozens of nationalist MPs were ditched this month by the electorate, some are already channelling their disappointment at MSP colleagues. It transpires that ex-MP Mhairi Black – who herself announced she was stepping down at this election due to Westminster’s ‘toxic’ culture – has taken aim at Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes and her religious beliefs, describing them as ‘archaic’ and ‘extreme’. Charming… In an interview with Scotland’s Sunday Post newspaper ahead of her Edinburgh Fringe show ‘Politics Isn’t For Me’, Black – who was former deputy leader of the Westminster group – claimed that Free Church member Forbes’ views on equal