Politics

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

Monday

29 Jul 2024

Is Rachel Reeves really worried about a fiscal black hole?

There is one over-arching question hanging over Rachel Reeves’s speech today, in which she claimed that a £21.9 billion hole has opened up in the current political spending for this financial year: why, if there is such a large ‘black hole’ in the public finances, is there suddenly money available for £9.4 billion worth of above-inflation pay rises for public sector workers? Preposterously, those pay rises – which Reeves has chosen to make and which were not committed to by the previous government – are included as one of the unfunded spending items (indeed the single biggest spending item) which has contributed to the ‘black hole’. Reeves justifies this leap of

Kate Andrews

Rachel Reeves paves the way for spending cuts and tax hikes

Rachel Reeves has just announced a series of spending cuts in the House of Commons. These were ‘incredibly tough choices’, she said, to account for the £20 billion surprise ‘black hole’ left behind by the Tory government. Her announcement means £5.5 billion of immediate, in-year cuts. These include some projects that were tipped to be axed, including the Rwanda scheme, and a review of rail projects (which will include discarding the ‘Restoring Our Railways’ programme). But the big surprise was the decision to withdraw the winter fuel allowance for pensioners who are ‘not in receipt of pension credit or certain other means tested benefits’ from this winter onwards. It’s an

Steerpike

Huw Edwards charged with making indecent images of children

Back to the case of ex-BBC presenter Huw Edwards, who has this afternoon been charged with making indecent images of children. Edwards was suspended by the Beeb in July 2023 after the Sun reported allegations that he had solicited explicit images from a young man. He subsequently resigned from the Corporation in April this year, citing medical reasons. Now Edwards faces three charges over alleged indecent activity, linked to shared WhatsApp images according to the police, dating between December 2020 and April 2022. It transpires that after being arrested by the Metropolitan police last November, Edwards was formally charged last month. And on Wednesday this week, the former presenter will appear at

Fraser Nelson

Rachel Reeves is right to cut the ‘winter fuel’ bung

A millionaire I know has a tradition every year: he buys a bottle of vintage wine with his Winter Fuel Payment and invites friends to drink it. His point is that it’s ludicrous that people like him are given handouts by the government – and today, finally, Rachel Reeves is doing something about it by cutting it for those not on benefits, saving the taxpayer some £1.5 billion a year. Gordon Brown brought in this payment when it was taken for granted that pensioners were significantly poorer than people of working age. Pensions were linked to inflation – there was no triple lock. Over the past 25 years pensioners have

Stephen Daisley

The UN would have Israel accept attacks on its citizens

The slaughter of 12 children on an Israeli soccer pitch was awful, of course, but it’s important not to overreact to these things. That is the takeaway from the Majdal Shams attack for United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. Via his spokesperson, Guterres condemned the killings but called for ‘maximum restraint’ to avoid ‘any further escalation’ and urged all parties to ‘recommit to the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701’ and ‘a cessation of hostilities’. Wise words indeed, and I’m sure we all hope that Hezbollah will heed them. It was the Lebanon-based Islamist organisation that carried out the attack using an Iranian-made Falaq-1 rocket. It’s fair to say dropping 110lbs of

James Heale

What the Labour Growth Group is really about

In a month full of parliamentary firsts, we now have another: the formation of the first new Labour caucus. More than 60 MPs have co-signed a letter, as part of the ‘Labour Growth Group,’ enthusiastically declaring their support for planning reform. ‘With such a strong mandate from the country,’ they write ‘it’s imperative that the new government grasps the nettle and goes for growth.’ It urges the government to start building the 1.5 million new homes which Labour pledged in its manifesto, including ‘prioritising grey belt development.’ Very often, MPs claim to back new homes yet object to anything in their own patch. But these co-signatories say that they are

Steerpike

‘Yellow card’ system to stop Tory leadership turmoil

Nominations for the Tory leadership race have this afternoon closed – and the competition now has six official candidates. Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Priti Patel, Robert Jenrick, Mel Stride and Tom Tugendhat all managed to secure the backing of at least 10 MPs and have made it through to the next round of the process. But while we are one step closer to knowing who the next leader of the Conservatives will be, there remains some rather pressing concerns about, er, party discipline… The new chairman of the 1922 Committee has announced today that the party will introduce a ‘yellow card’ sanction for leadership contenders – in the hope that

Steerpike

Braverman ‘welcome to join’ Reform, says Anderson

All is not well in the Tory party these days. After a tumultuous election campaign which saw infighting frequently dominate the headlines, it seems that division and instability have followed the party into opposition too. On Sunday night, Suella Braverman announced that she would not be contesting the leadership, adamant that there would be ‘no point’ in running ‘when most of the MPs disagree with my diagnosis and prescription’. But not everyone is opposed to Braverman – and it seems that Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party are rather interested in her next move… Reform MP Lee Anderson has today insisted that Braverman would be accepted into the Farage-founded party if

Catherine Ellis

Maduro’s ‘win’ spells despair for Venezuela

It was meant to be a crushing defeat ending 25 years of socialist rule, and the presidency of a man many see as largely responsible for Venezuela’s economic woes, a humanitarian crisis and rampant corruption. But for many Venezuelans, the only thing crushed following Sunday’s presidential election was hope. Many of those who are desperate for change say they’ll take to the streets A few hours after polls closed – and amid complaints of some observers monitoring the process being thrown out of polling stations or prevented from entering – the country’s National Electoral Council announced Nicolás Maduro as the winner with 51 per cent of the vote; in second

Steerpike

Ex-Olympian enters Scottish Tory leadership race

To Scotland, where another Tory leadership race is starting to take shape. Now a second candidate has thrown their hat into the ring as Brian Whittle MSP has today announced his bid to join the Scottish Conservative leadership race – confirming there will indeed be a contest. Game on… The former athlete told the Scotsman that he will help the party ‘prepare for the next race’, promising his campaign will emphasise education, enterprise, and empowerment whilst stressing the importance of ‘telling hard truths’. Pointing to his party’s recent election result, the South Scotland MSP insisted: Losing hurts, every single time. It doesn’t matter whether it’s in politics, in business, in

Isabel Hardman

The junior doctor pay deal won’t end the government’s NHS headache

The government has offered junior doctors a pay rise worth up to 20 per cent over two years in a bid to end the strikes that have seriously hampered the NHS. Rachel Reeves is expected to confirm later today that the doctors have struck a deal with their ministers that will include a backdated rise of 4.05 per cent – on top of the existing 8-10 per cent raise – for 2023/24. Then pay will rise again by 6 per cent in 2024/25, as well as doctors receiving an additional £1,000. The cost of the deal is £1 billion. GPs are now threatening to bring the NHS to a ‘standstill’

Gavin Mortimer

Was the far left to blame for France’s Olympic railway chaos?

Trains are again running normally in France today after engineers worked over the weekend to repair the damage caused by Friday’s coordinated attack on the network. Also working overtime are fifty specialists from the national crime unit, who have pored over the three sites where saboteurs struck. ‘Even though the fires melted hundreds of cables, at the risk of destroying precious clues, samples are currently being examined in the Gendarmerie laboratories,’ a police source said. A bullish Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, declared over the weekend that the investigation to identify the culprits was progressing well and ‘we will know fairly quickly who is responsible’. The French far

Katy Balls

What’s next for Suella Braverman?

13 min listen

It’s a busy day in Westminster as we await the new Chancellor’s ‘spending audit’ of the financial challenges Labour has ‘discovered’ on entering government. But in the meantime there has been some movement in the Tory leadership race, with the deadline for applicants later this afternoon. Kemi Badenoch is the latest to declare, whilst Suella Braverman – the onetime standard-bearer of the Brexiteer right – has penned a piece for Monday’s Telegraph, declaring that she will not throw her hat in the ring. What’s next for her? Patrick Gibbons speaks to Katy Balls and James Heale. Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.

Steerpike

Watch: Just Stop Oil tries – and fails – to cause chaos at Gatwick

Just Stop Oil eco-activists took to Gatwick Airport this morning – but their attempt to disrupt summer holiday travellers appears to have failed dismally. Eight people were arrested after environmental protestors with ‘lock-on’ suitcases tried – and failed – to block departure gates. An airport spokesperson insisted Gatwick is ‘open and operating normally’. The protest is part of an international attempt to force governments to establish a ‘fossil fuel treaty’ – but the eco-zealots appear to have achieved nothing more than, um, infuriating a few harried travellers. For the few not the many, eh? Extinction Rebellion protestors also gathered outside Policy Exchange in Westminster this morning to call for the

Sam Leith

What we didn’t learn from the Manchester Airport police ‘attack’

There’s a famous 1986 TV advert for the Guardian (remember when newspapers had TV adverts?) which shows you footage of a rough-looking skinhead pelting down the street and appearing to grab at the briefcase of a startled-looking city gent. Just as the viewer is digesting this scene and drawing the conclusion that suits his or her prejudices, the screen cut away to another, wider shot: the young man, as we discover, wasn’t trying to mug the older man, but was wrestling him out of the way of a pallet of bricks collapsing overhead. Despite the improbable, Wile E. Coyote quality of the imagined peril, it was a cute idea for

Katy Balls

Will Rachel Reeves get away with a ‘doctors’ mandate’ to hike taxes?

It’s ‘blame the Tories’ day in Westminster as Rachel Reeves prepares to take centre stage. The new Chancellor will this afternoon publish a ‘spending audit’ of the financial challenges Labour has ‘discovered’ on entering government. Reeves will address the Commons chamber detailing these spending pressures before giving a press conference at the Treasury early this evening. It comes after Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden wrote to colleagues ordering them to ‘bring out the dead’ and identify looming crises in their departments. Expect high doses of political theatre throughout the day from Labour as they attempt to hammer their point home. What tax rises is Reeves planning and will Labour face

Niko Vorobyov

Trump’s crackdown on Mexico’s narco-cartels won’t work

Donald Trump has said he would not rule out military action against Mexico’s narco-cartels which he blames for the opioid crisis killing astronomical numbers of Americans. ‘Mexico’s gonna have to straighten it out really fast, or the answer is absolutely. They’re killing 300,000 people a year with fentanyl coming in,’ he told Fox News host. The narcos are invisible, deeply embedded within their communities This isn’t the first time Trump has talked tough when it comes to drugs. The former and possible future president has mulled deploying commando teams to take out the narco godfathers bin Laden-style. He has also weighed up putting Mexico under naval embargo. Trump also isn’t the the only Republican to

Eliot Wilson

Is Robert Jenrick fit to lead the Tories?

As the Conservative leadership contest gets underway, the various candidates are busy talking up their differences. But most of the candidates – from Kemi Badenoch to Robert Jenrick – hold one thing in common: they realise that the Tory party needs to change if it is to recover from its electoral wipeout. A key part of its catastrophic defeat was a fundamental failure of effectiveness and probity in government. But the party is already in danger of making the same mistake in its choice of next leader. Jenrick achieved the extraordinary distinction of being dropped from the cabinet before he turned 40 We all know that trust in politics and

Sunday

28 Jul 2024

Steerpike

Suella Braverman bows out with a blast

The Tory leadership race is hotting up and there’s lots of familiar faces featuring this time around. Kemi Badenoch, Priti Patel, Tom Tugendhat – it’s like the 2022 contest never ended! But one candidate who sadly isn’t running is Suella Braverman, the onetime standard-bearer of the Brexiteer right. She has penned a piece for Monday’s Telegraph, declaring that she will not throw her hat in the ring – even though she claims to have had the backing to hit the necessary threshold before the 2.30 p.m deadline. ‘Although I’m grateful to the 10 MPs who wanted to nominate me for the leadership, getting on to the ballot is not enough,’

Katy Balls

Can anyone stop Kemi Badenoch?

Kemi Badenoch has become the sixth – and potentially last – candidate to enter the Conservative leadership race. In an op-ed for the Times published in the last hour, the Tory frontrunner launched her campaign with a promise to ‘renew by starting from first principles’. ‘We can’t control immigration until we re-confirm our belief in the nation state and the sovereign duty it has, above all else, to serve its own citizens,’ she writes. She also suggests hers will be a small state approach – arguing ‘our public services will never fully recover from the pandemic until we remember that government should do some things well, not everything badly’. Badenoch