Politics

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

Tuesday

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Why won’t Labour oppose solar panel slavery?

The evils of slavery weigh so heavily on Britain’s conscience that we must decolonise our museums and our university courses, tear down statues of all those involved in the trade and quite possibly pay billions of pounds in reparations to the descendants of slaves who live 200 years ago. Yet the obsession with putting right historic wrongs does not, it seem, extend to rooting out slavery which is taking place beneath our noses in current times. When the bill to set up Ed Miliband’s Great British Energy reached the House of Lords, Lord Alton of Liverpool, a former Liberal MP who now sits as a crossbencher, tabled an amendment which

Steerpike Steerpike

Forced labour ban to be ditched in race to net zero

Should the race to net zero come at any cost? Ed Miliband’s crowd appears to think so. The Energy Security Secretary will overturn a ban on forced labour to further his zero carbon ambitions, it transpires, as today the government will whip its parliamentarians to vote down an amendment that would prevent eco-friendly materials being purchased by the government from supply chains relying on ‘modern slavery’. How noble… As Mr S wrote in January, Lord Alton of Liverpool tabled an amendment to stop money being spent by state-owned GB Energy on solar panels, among other green materials, from places where there exists ‘credible evidence of modern slavery’. As reported by

Matthew Lynn

If Bailey won’t call for radical growth reforms, no one will

It was hardly the message Chancellor Rachel Reeves would have been looking for a day before a Spring Statement which could well make or break her political career. The Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, delivered a speech yesterday warning that growth was going to prove very hard over the next five years. The Governor is completely right to emphasise how hard it will be to expand the economy. But he should be making the case for far more radical reforms. If he won’t, no one else will. Bailey is staying within the ‘managed decline’ consensus To paraphrase PG Wodehouse on Scotsmen, ‘the difference between the Governor and

Steerpike Steerpike

Housing minister takes a pop at Reeves over freebies

This week was never going to be an easy one for Rachel Reeves, what with her Spring Statement – likely to include controversial spending cuts – tomorrow. But things are going from bad to worse for the beleaguered Chancellor as yet more Labour ministers hit out at her latest Sabrina Carpenter freebie. Dear oh dear… Now housing minister Matthew Pennycook – whose constituency contains the O2 arena where Carpenter performed – has taken a pop at the Cabinet Secretary. When asked on LBC this morning why he would not accept tickets at his local venue, Pennycook remarked: ‘Well, I don’t personally think it’s appropriate. If I want to go to

James Tidmarsh

No one should celebrate if Le Pen is banned from politics

Marine Le Pen, the frontrunner for the 2027 French presidency, could be sent to prison and banned from office as early as next week. Prosecutors allege that Le Pen and more than 20 National Rally (RN) members misused 2.5 million euros (£2 million) in EU parliamentary funds between 2004 and 2016 by redirecting them to pay party staff rather than accredited parliamentary assistants in Brussels. There is no allegation that Le Pen embezzled the funds or used them for personal gain: this was a matter of internal staffing allocation, not misappropriation for personal benefit. But nonetheless, if the court decides against Le Pen, it could spell the end of her

Yuan Yi Zhu

The landmine ban hands Britain’s enemies an advantage

There are few better symbols of Europe’s military fecklessness during the brief era of relative peace that followed the end of the Cold War than the 1997 Ottawa Treaty, which banned the use of anti-personnel landmines by its signatories. The same is true of the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), which outlawed cluster munitions. This was championed by Gordon Brown, despite the strong opposition of the British armed forces. The return of war to Europe has focused minds It is easy to understand the humanitarian impulses which lay behind both treaties, both of which count the United Kingdom among its signatories. Anti-personnel mines and cluster bomblets can remain unexploded

David Shipley

Prison bureaucracy is making inmates’ lives needlessly hard

Everyone knows that Britain’s jails are filthy, failing and dangerous. But there’s another less obvious problem with our prisons: those locked up can find it impossible to get anything done. In prison, your ability to achieve the most basic of tasks done is almost entirely dependent on others. This means that if a prisoner needs to see a doctor, apply for a job, join a training or education program, or even get more loo roll, they need to contact someone who will solve the problem for them. When most prisoners are locked in their cells for 22 hours a day, this can prove very difficult. No one wins when prisoners’

Monday

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

What Team Trump’s group chat error really revealed

Jeffrey Goldberg’s story in the Atlantic is so mind-blowing it’s hard to know what to say in response. It defies belief that Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz, appears to have accidentally added a top journalist to a Signal messaging group with senior government officials – including the Vice President, Secretary of State, Defence Secretary and the Director of National Intelligence – to discuss top-secret military action. It boggles the brain that the people running the most powerful country on the planet, the Principals Committee of US national security no less, use childish emojis to discuss a bombing campaign which they helped co-ordinate in order to kill 53 people.

Toby Young Toby Young

Adolescence demonises white working-class boys

This is an extract from today’s episode of Spectator TV, with Toby Young and James Walton, which you can find at the bottom of this page: I wasn’t all that overbowled by the series. I think one of the reasons it’s met with such a chorus of approval, particularly in the mainstream media, is because it’s just repeating back to the liberal metropolitan elite what they already think about the causes of knife crime and the dangers that influencers like Andrew Tate pose to women and girls. We’re in this sort of incredible loop. There might be a less polite term for it, but let’s call it a loop in

James Heale James Heale

Can Britain dodge Trump’s tariffs?

14 min listen

Reports in the papers today say that the British government is considering scrapping its digital services tax – largely levied at American tech companies – in return for an exemption to Trump’s tariffs that come into effect on April 2. Would this be an effective – or desirable – move on the British part? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews. Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Cindy Yu.

Jonathan Sacerdoti

Who will stand up for Jews today?

Awoken by sirens wailing over large parts of central Israel last weekend, I pulled on whatever clothes I could find beside my bed and shuffled down to the bomb shelter in the basement. The missiles, launched from Yemen by the Iranian-backed Houthis, didn’t distinguish between ideologies or identities. More or less every Israeli in the strike zone – left-wing or right-wing, religious or secular, Jew, Arab, Christian, Muslim, or other – did the same. Those without safe-rooms of their own rely on communal shelters, often meeting their neighbours dressed in pyjamas or wrapped in bath towels. Those who get caught away from home rush into the nearest building to be ushered

Steerpike Steerpike

Who do Brits blame for UK financial decisions?

Tick tock. There are less than 48 hours to go until Rachel Reeves’s big Spring Statement on Wednesday and as the Treasury finalises its preparations for the big reveal, YouGov has been running some tax-related tests of its own. In a blow for the reds, the polling company has found that it is becoming more difficult for the Labour lot to blame the Tories for its tax and spend decisions – with an increasing number of people seeing Sir Keir Starmer’s government as responsible for tough tax calls. In a survey conducted between the 18-19 March, YouGov found that 80 per cent of Brits say UK finances are in a

Edward Howell

South Korea is more polarised than ever

This past week, eagle-eyed observers of South Korean politics – not to mention the South Korean public – were supposed to have been put out of their respective miseries. The fate of the embattled South Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol, would be made known, and South Korea could regroup and plan its next steps at a time of regional and global instability. Instead, we are still waiting for the country’s constitutional court to decide the President’s destiny. Swiftness has certainly not been a priority for the eight judges. As protests in support of and against Yoon continue to line the streets of Seoul, one thing can be said with certainty:

Catherine Perez-Shakdam

When will Britain crack down on the Al Quds hate march?

There are moments in the life of a democracy when ambiguity becomes complicity. On Sunday, in the heart of London, such a moment unfolded with eerie precision and devastating clarity. During the annual Quds Day rally – an event imported from the revolutionary streets of Tehran – demonstrators hoisted images of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In a city that prides itself on liberty, tolerance, and pluralism, the figurehead of a regime known for repression, hostage diplomacy, antisemitism, and extraterritorial assassination plots was paraded as an icon of defiance. One might ask, defiance of what? Of Zionism? Of oppression? No. Of Britain itself:

Steerpike Steerpike

Scots feel safer as part of UK in blow to SNP

It’s a day ending in ‘y’ which means there’s more bad news for the Scottish Nats. Now new polling for unionist group Scotland in Union shows that most Scots feel safer as part of the United Kingdom. The Survation survey revealed that most of Scotland’s population believe they are more secure – and have more influence – as part of the UK, with the country’s people also in favour of retaining the nuclear deterrent. For the anti-Trident, secessionist Nats, it’s quite the blow… Today’s poll found half of participants believed Scotland is more secure as part of the UK, while almost six in ten respondents felt that the country should

Eliot Wilson

What Lord Frost gets wrong about the Tories’ future

It hardly feels like a serious discussion of the Conservative party’s future until Lord Frost has indicated where the leadership is going wrong. As Steerpike reported this weekend, the architect of the Brexit withdrawal agreement and former Scotch whisky salesman delivered a speech at the annual Margaret Thatcher Freedom Festival, and had some advice on the future relationship between the Conservatives and Reform UK. It is perplexing to understand how Lord Frost has become some kind of sage of conservative thought Frost argued that the door should be left open to some kind of electoral pact or agreement between the two parties closer to the next general election in 2028

John Lough

Trump can hit Putin where it hurts – if he wants to

Donald Trump’s efforts to negotiate a quick end to the war in Ukraine have run into trouble. As US negotiators meet with Russian and Ukrainian counterparts in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to explore possibilities for a comprehensive ceasefire, the Russian side is clearly going through the motions. Vladimir Putin’s call last week with Trump showed that he sees no need to stop fighting when he is winning. He believes that he can weaken Ukraine’s will to fight and encourage Trump to help him impose on Kyiv a Russian-designed peace settlement. So far, he has not sensed any determination on the part of the Trump administration to persuade him otherwise. Russia’s main

Stephen Webb

Are climate scientists qualified to judge net zero?

Kemi Badenoch’s announcement that the Conservatives are no longer committed to the net zero target in 2050 represents a massive breach in fifteen years of bipartisan consensus. It was greeted with predictable hostility by other parties, but also by pro-net zero forces within the Conservative party too. The Conservative Environment Network commented: ‘Abandon the science and voters will start to doubt the Conservative Party’s seriousness on the clean energy transition’. Is the power of the demand to ‘follow the science’ losing its effect after Covid, lockdowns and the growing realisation that net zero is likely to be hugely expensive? The very idea of ‘following the science’ is meaningless Of all

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Is Rachel Reeves brave enough to slash the civil service?

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is seeking to trim £2 billion from the government’s £13 billion administration budget, with up to 50,000 jobs being cut in her Spring Statement. The Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the government was ‘looking across the board’ for savings. But do Reeves and Starmer really have the courage, and the political capital, to carry out such a purge? On paper, Labour’s task looks straightforward enough. Civil service numbers over the past 15 years have performed a bungee jump. Between 2010 and 2016, the coalition, followed by David Cameron’s majority Conservative government, succeeded in trimming civil service numbers from 492,000 to 384,000. Then they began to climb again,

Andrew Tettenborn

Will Labour back ECHR withdrawal?

Amidst the U-turns, if there is one thing on which Labour has remained almost rock-solid until now, it is human rights and the UK’s continued participation in the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights). But even here things are changing. ECHRexit, like Brexit once did, looks increasingly respectable On Saturday, a group of Red Wall Labour members, led by Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash, broke ranks and publicly called for the government to do something to stop ECHR being used to stymie the removal of criminals and other undesirables from the UK. They said that ‘huge numbers’ of others in Labour supported them. Even if that is an exaggeration, this is still very