Politics

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

Wednesday

20 Sep 2023

Italy can’t handle the migrant crisis alone

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to Lampedusa at the weekend – at the invitation of Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – is a clear sign that the Euro establishment has abandoned its Pontius Pilate policy on the illegal migrant emergency in the central Mediterranean. In the past week, around 12,000 migrants have arrived in several hundred small boats on the tiny Italian island that lies between North Africa and Sicily. They join the 129,869 migrants who have already reached Italy by sea this year – double the number last year over the same period. This year’s total is likely to exceed the 2016 record of 181,436. Von der Leyen dropped everything to come to

Patrick O’Flynn

‘Associate membership’ of the EU would be a disaster for Britain

The idea of the United Kingdom becoming an ‘associate member’ of the European Union is a non-starter because it would settle nothing and satisfy almost nobody politically. For Brexiteers it would involve a future British government – presumably one led by Sir Keir Starmer – breaking its word by setting off on a mission to take the country back to full EU membership and from there to the inner-core of the eurozone. Rather than settling Britain’s future relations with Europe, it would tip the country back into uncertainty and angst For ardent Rejoiners it would be a nicotine patch measure. They would have their noses pressed up against the window

Nigel Jones

Germany’s Ukraine tank blunder is embarrassing for Berlin

Ukraine is reported to have rejected a consignment of Germany’s Leopard 1 tanks – on the grounds that they are technically flawed, and that Ukrainian engineers lack the skills and training to fix them. Embarrassingly for Germany, this is the second time that Ukraine has turned its collective nose up at a delivery of German armour. When the first ten tanks – the advance guard of a total of 110 Leopard 1s that Berlin has agreed to supply to Kyiv – arrived in Ukraine, they too were found to be unsuitable for deployment on the front line. This despite the desperate need for armour to break through Russia’s defence lines

The Spectator

What if David Cameron had been offered EU ‘associate membership’ in 2016?

It can’t be coincidence that led Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron to unveil their proposals for a new class of associate membership of the EU while Keir Starmer was visiting the latter in Paris. In the Labour leader, they are presumably hoping they will find a receptive ear. With a UK election due next year and Starmer the most likely victor, Britain might yet be caught again in the EU’s tractor beam before it has really had a chance to establish itself on an independent basis. But if the German and French leaders think they are being helpful to Starmer they may end up disappointed. Ever since he became Labour

Kate Andrews

Inflation is slowing but don’t rule out another interest rate hike

Jeremy Hunt has been warning for weeks that inflation could rise over the summer due to an increase in fuel prices. Economists said much the same: the consensus was that the headline rate would jump to 7.1 per cent on the year in August. But this morning the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that the rate of inflation continued to slow last month: rising to 6.7 per cent on the year in August, down from 6.8 per cent in July. This is a rare occasion where ministers have under-promised on the inflation figures, triggering headlines like ‘surprise fall.’ In truth, it’s the smallest of dips – and prices are still going

Steerpike

‘Environmental vandalism’: Sunak’s net zero u-turn sparks fury

Rishi Sunak hasn’t even formally announced his plans to water down the government’s net zero pledges, but already the backlash has begun. Tory peer Zac Goldsmith, who stormed out of Sunak’s government this summer, described the u-turn as a ‘moment of shame’ for Britain. He called for an ‘election now’ and said the PM’s time in office will be remembered ‘as the moment the UK turned its back on the world and on future generations’. Labour’s Ed Miliband accused the PM of being ‘rattled’ and ‘out of his depth’ after it emerged the PM was considering postponing a ban on petrol cars and gas boilers. Miliband said the Tories have

Ross Clark

The flaw in Rishi Sunak’s plan to water down net zero

Rishi Sunak will reportedly make a speech later this week watering down some of the targets the government has set itself on achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, although that target itself will not be touched). The proposed ban on new petrol and diesel cars will be put back by five years to 2035, which would bring Britain in line with the EU. The ban on new oil-fired boilers will be put back from 2026 to 2035, thus relieving the Conservatives of the prospect of mass grumbling in one of their natural constituencies, rural areas. Even in 2035, it seems, the target will be to reduce installations only by

John Keiger

Why is France so fascinated by the royals?

As King Charles’ state visit to France begins, it is clear that France is not as republican as it claims. The death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022 gave way to an outpouring of French national grief. Speaking for his people, President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: ‘Her death leaves us with a sense of emptiness’. On 19 September, seven million viewers watched the state funeral live on six French television channels, an audience share of 66.7 per cent. One might of course say that it was Queen Elizabeth’s exceptional qualities as a human being, her unfailing devotion to duty, that were being acknowledged rather than her status as monarch. Yet

Joanna Williams

Has the NHS forgotten its real purpose?

As doctors down stethoscopes and walk out of hospitals in their ongoing strike for better pay and working conditions, the public might reasonably conclude that the NHS is underfunded. How, then, do we make sense of this week’s revelation that NHS England is set to open three new departments focusing on equality and diversity? Either there are insufficient funds to pay doctors and nurses a decent wage or there is money to splash out on rainbow lanyards and unconscious bias training. Both cannot be true at the same time. The three new NHS England departments, set to open in April 2024, will be called ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’, ‘People and

Tuesday

19 Sep 2023

Katy Balls

Rishi Sunak dilutes net zero

Here we go. As Rishi Sunak prepares for next year’s election, the government has been on the hunt for dividing lines with Labour. One of the areas in focus is net zero. When the Tories narrowly held on in the Uxbridge by-election, Tory MPs largely put it down to the campaign against Ulez (ultra low emission zone). It led to a debate on how far to go when it comes to scaling back environmental commitments. Aides in No. 10 have been debating the issue all summer and now Sunak is close to a decision. This evening, the BBC reports that Sunak is considering weakening some of the government’s key green

Jawad Iqbal

Did Indian agents kill a Sikh separatist leader in Canada?

Canada has accused India of being behind the assassination of a Sikh-Canadian citizen on its soil – an unprecedented charge to make against a democracy and fellow G7 nation. The Canadians claim to be investigating ‘credible allegations’ that Indian agents were behind the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader. Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, was shot and killed in June outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia. Nijjar was long wanted by the Indian authorities, who accused him of involvement in an alleged attack on a Hindu priest in India and had offered a reward for information leading to his arrest. The manner of his death was bound to

Oscar Edmondson

Will Starmer soften Brexit?

13 min listen

Keir Starmer is in Paris today. It’s a bid to ‘look statesman-like’, Katy Balls says, but also underlines where a Labour government would take British relations with the EU. Oscar Edmondson talks to Katy and Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform. Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Cindy Yu.

Brendan O’Neill

YouTube is wrong to rush to judgement on Russell Brand

It is often on the back of public fury that dangerous new precedents are set. Authoritarianism can sneak in when we’re all hopping mad about something or someone. So mad that we don’t even notice that society’s rules are being rewritten in an illiberal way. I fear it’s happening again, with YouTube’s demonetisation of Russell Brand. This is a risky thing to say. The climate is febrile right now. Criticise any aspect of the censure of Brand, following the publication of very serious allegations against him, which he strongly denies, and you risk being damned as a Brand defender. Worse, his weird online army, that ‘scamdemic’ mob that views Brand

Euan McColm

How standing up for JK Rowling destroyed one author’s career

When the Scottish writer Gillian Philip posted a tweet in 2020, she could not have imagined the devastating consequences that would follow. At the time, her fellow author JK Rowling was under relentless attack for her view that a conflict exists between women’s right to use single sex spaces, such as refuges, and moves to allow trans people to use such facilities on the basis of self-identification. Philip shared the Harry Potter creator’s concerns about male-bodied individuals accessing places set up to support women traumatised by men’s violence and added the hashtag #ISTANDWITHROWLING to her Twitter bio. And then her world came crashing down. The online mob came for Philip,

Steerpike

Marina Hyde’s Russell Brand volte face

The Russell Brand revelations have prompted much soul-searching in recent days from hand-wringing hacks fretting about the norms of the noughties. Leading the charge today is Marina Hyde, the toast of centrist dads everywhere. She has written in the Guardian about her angst concerning the infamous ‘Sachsgate’ episode of Brand’s career. Back in October 2008, Brand and his Radio 2 show co-host Jonathan Ross phoned Andrew Sachs – Manuel from Fawlty Towers – and left lewd messages on his voice machine, boasting about Brand’s past sexual relationship with Sachs’ granddaughter, Georgina Baillie. Battle lines were drawn. Charles Moore was so appalled at this that he said he refused to pay

Jonathan Miller

Starmer’s Paris trip is based on a fantasy

One small trip on the Eurostar for Keir Starmer is one giant kick in the teeth for Rishi Sunak. The Labour leader’s Grand Tour today descended on Paris, after his trips last week to Canada, where he was received by Justin Trudeau, and the Hague, where the prime minister in waiting consulted Europol, the European police agency, on his inchoate plan to stop the boats. Macron and Starmer are undoubtedly enjoying today’s love-in, but tomorrow the European Union will remain as fractured as it has ever been And now, the City of Light. After successfully transiting the squalid Gare du Nord without being mugged yesterday, Starmer was today whisked

Stephen Daisley

The Union is in trouble, however this week’s trans ruling goes

Up before the Court of Session in Edinburgh today is a legal question: was Scottish Secretary Alister Jack’s decision to block the SNP’s gender reforms a lawful exercise of his statutory powers? In January, Jack invoked a relatively obscure power to block the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill. The GRR Bill – the brainchild of Nicola Sturgeon and her Green coalition partner – would lower the age at which someone can change their legal sex to 16; remove the requirement for medical experts to be involved in the process; and reduce the statutory waiting period from two years to three months, plus a further three-month reflection period. At the heart

Kate Andrews

UK set for highest inflation in G7 this year

You’d struggle to describe the start of 2023 as anything like ‘good economic times’. But according to the OECD’s economic outlook interim report, it’s better than what’s to come. The report, published this morning, expects rising rates around the world to take their toll on economic growth. Global growth has been downgraded for next year – from 2.9 per cent in 2024 to 2.7 per cent – which is lower than the 3 per cent growth expected this year. The report notes that a ‘stronger-than-expected’ start to the year makes it all but impossible for growth to keep pace: the fall in energy prices coupled with China’s comeback post-pandemic gave global

Iain Macwhirter

When will Humza Yousaf see sense on his doomed gender bill?

Just when you thought it was safe to go to back in the gender-neutral loo, back comes the row about the Gender Recognition Reform Bill. It lands in Scotland’s highest court today, the Court of Session. Lady Haldane will hear three days of argument on the UK government’s unprecedented veto under the Section 35 of the Scotland Act. The GRR Bill, passed by the Scottish parliament in December after an acrimonious late-night debate, could allow people as young as 16 to change legal sex without a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria. It is opposed by around two thirds of Scottish voters. But the Scottish government is determined to see it on the

Andrew Liddle

Why Scottish Labour shouldn’t fear an SNP resurgence

It is a testament to the extraordinary changes underway in Scottish politics that the latest YouGov poll showing the Labour party winning 11 seats north of the border is viewed as a setback. Even six months ago, such findings would have been welcomed with jubilation at the party’s Glasgow headquarters as evidence that voters were, finally, coming back to Labour from the SNP. Even if voters are not necessarily coming back to Labour in the numbers some might have dared hope, people in Scotland have few reasons to turn out for the SNP either. As it is, other recent polls have been far more positive for Sir Keir Starmer’s party,