Politics

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

Thursday

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National Liberal Club distances itself from Farage

Egad! Uproar in clubland. The reason? Nigel Farage. Yes, it seems that the veteran Brexiteer is still capable of causing a fuss among t’great and t’good – even when he is pledging to, er, lift the two child benefit cap. The Reform UK leader gave a big speech on Tuesday in Whitehall, talking about his party’s plans for welfare reform. His choice of venue was the Royal Horseguards Hotel – the construction of which, in the 1880s, involved an elaborate pyramid scheme of fraud. Insert your own jokes here…. Unfortunately, the hotel’s site also encompasses the National Liberal Club, the haunt of choice for that rarest of all breeds: senior Liberal

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Reeves is right to slash funds for wealthy landowners

It is beginning to feel a bit like 1998 all over again. That was the year of the first countryside march when it – supposedly – rose up in anger at the Blair government over its plan to abolish hunting, introduce the right to roam and build some houses for people to live in. Landowning interests, already reeling from Rachel Reeves’ decision to partially remove the inheritance tax exemption on agricultural land, are now gearing up to bleat about a proposal to slash the £2.5 billion a year budget for Environmental Land Management (ELM) – the scheme which replaced the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after Brexit.  It is reported that

Lucy Dunn

Can Reform conquer Scotland?

23 min listen

Dissatisfaction with the established political parties is driving a ‘tartan bounce’ in Scotland for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. Far from being an English phenomenon, Reform is polling favourably with Scottish voters. There will be a by-election next week for the Scottish Parliament seat of Hamilton, in what will be Reform’s first big test inside the politics of devolved government.  For councillor Thomas Kerr, who defected from the Scottish Conservatives to Reform earlier this year, Reform’s appeal in Scotland is no surprise. He joins Lucy Dunn to explain why he thinks the ‘sky is the limit’ for Reform, why Farage is an asset to the party in Scotland and to explain

Ben Goldsmith

Labour has launched a galling attack on nature

During the last Conservative government, it was common to hear the refrain that the prime minister of the day was waging a ‘war on nature’. As someone who played a role in advising a string of environment ministers, I always thought that to be somewhat hyperbolic. I always admire the passion of campaigners, and I share with them a longing for our government to go further and do more for nature; but, at least until the last couple of years of Conservative government, I didn’t think many of the criticisms were fair. I’m starting to worry now, though, that we’re living in an altogether different world. The new Labour government was elected

Eliot Wilson

The problem with Trump’s Golden Dome project

Donald Trump did not get to where he is today by taking no for an answer. Mark Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada, could scarcely have been clearer when he visited the White House earlier this month that the President’s notion of Canada becoming America’s 51st state was not even being entertained. ‘Canada is not for sale,’ he said bluntly. When Trump chided him that he should never say never, he mouthed silently, ‘Never, never.’ Undaunted, President Trump has tried a new tack: the proposed Golden Dome, a missile defence system covering the United States which Trump initiated by executive order in January. He announced on his Truth Social platform

James Heale James Heale

The rise of the Red Queen

‘All Labour prime ministers go gaga for the Queen,’ sighed Cherie Blair, played by Helen McCrory, in the 2006 film about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Her words were fictitious but the sentiment is real. From Ramsay MacDonald to Harold Wilson, left-wing prime ministers invariably end up as royalists. The current cabinet is no exception: former republicans such as Lisa Nandy have been charmed by Charles III. Even Keir Starmer – who once boasted on camera that he ‘often used to propose the abolition of the monarchy’ – is said to have a warm relationship with the King. Yet geniality is only one reason why Labour loves the

Wednesday

John Power

Mike Tapp: ‘I’ll never insult or belittle someone who votes Reform’

“I’ll never insult or belittle someone who votes Reform,” Mike Tapp, the Labour MP for Dover and Deal, tells me. “We need to deliver.” It’s a message Labour is increasingly keen to project – but Tapp sound like he really means it. Where others Labour MPs prevaricate on immigration, Tapp supports “return hubs” (for failed asylum seekers). He finds merit in Denmark’s deportation model, arguably the most hardline in Europe. It includes the confiscation of asylum seeker’s cash or jewellery over a value of 10,000 Danish Kroner (around £1,100) to pay for their stay in the country. Tapp doesn’t want to leave the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights), but he

James Heale James Heale

How to do a spending review

21 min listen

Labour’s spending review is expected on the 11th of June, when we will find out which government departments face cuts and which costs have been ringfenced. This can set the tone for politics for months to come as it gives a clue to which priorities matter most – especially in times of fiscal restraint – and which ministers are up, and which are down. But how is a spending review conducted? How does His Majesty’s Treasury balance the negotiations with those competing for its attention? And, following the leaked Angela Rayner memo, do we know which economic arguments are winning out? James Nation, formerly an official at HMT and then in

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NHS trust offers support sessions over Supreme Court ruling

The National Health Service is struggling under increasing patient demand to provide quick appointments, A&E support or hospital beds – yet its managers have still found the time to issue a memo to staff struggling to cope with, er, the Supreme Court’s trans ruling. As if its staff didn’t have more pressing problems to deal with… As reported by Guido Fawkes, the NHS letter sent out by the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust first bemoans the judgment from the highest court in the land before announcing a string ‘extraordinary sessions’ for their 25,000-strong workforce. The one hour-long drop-ins will provide staff with help on how to power through with work

David Shipley

Decriminalising cannabis would be bad for black Londoners

Sadiq Khan, London’s mayor, has called for the possession of cannabis to be decriminalised, because he believes that the police disproportionately target black Londoners when policing drug possession. This announcement by Khan is in response to a report by the ‘London Drugs Commission’ (LDC), a body set-up by City Hall, chaired by Tony Blair’s old flatmate, Lord Charlie Falconer, and with an ‘Expert Reference Group’ including David Gauke, whose Sentencing Review reported just last week. Amongst other topics, the lengthy report reviews cannabis policies across the world, and identifies that black people in London are more likely to be searched for cannabis, although those searches are no more likely to

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Met chief: release ethnicity data even if it ’emboldens’ racists

To the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, who is now calling on forces to routinely release information on suspects’ ethnicities – even if it ’emboldens’ racists. In the wake of a recent attack in Liverpool, Sir Mark Rowley has urged police to be ‘realistic’ about handling information surrounding a crime and has made the case for earlier release of personal details given the number of ‘half truths’ already shared online. How very interesting. Rowley’s comments follow a furore over the information put out by the Merseyside Police force about the man arrested after a car ploughed into a crowd of supporters celebrating Liverpool Football Club’s record. Police announced they had taken a

Ian Acheson Ian Acheson

Labour’s prison reforms will flop without more police funding

The sentencing reforms announced by Labour last week were primarily an attempt to address a capacity crisis. This is something we need to be clear on, however much David Gauke’s report is embellished by talking points borrowed from the progressive criminal justice commentariat. Eliminating short sentences of twelve months or less is not about community safety, it’s about logistics. This morning’s warning shot by the country’s top police chiefs that a lack of investment will jeopardise their ability to carry out these reforms underscores the risk posed when our bursting jails are emptied of still dangerous offenders without regard for the impact. Writing in the Times today, Met Police boss

Iain Macwhirter

Why is Scottish Labour giving Farage free publicity?

If the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar is sincere in wishing to deprive Nigel Farage of the ‘oxygen of publicity’, he’s got a funny way of going about it. In a vituperative interview on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland today, he gave the Reform leader another blast of oxygen by offering a public debate on the eve of his visit to next week’s Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election. This is publicity Reform couldn’t buy with any of the money it has so far devoted to a blitz on social media. Sarwar is incensed at a mischievous attack ad last week in which Reform doctored a quote to suggest that the Scottish Labour leader

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Labour poll share slumps to lowest since 2019

Another day, another bad poll for Sir Keir Starmer’s party. Now YouGov has revealed that Labour has recorded its lowest poll rating since before the 2019 general election, with just over a fifth of Brits saying they would vote for the reds tomorrow, while Nigel Farage’s Reform UK sees its largest lead to date on the party of government. How very interesting… The latest data from the polling giant, collected between 26-27 May, shows that a little under a third of British adults would back Farage’s crowd if there was a national poll tomorrow – a figure that remains consistent on the week before. Meanwhile Starmer’s army has dropped a

Matthew Lynn

What’s the point of fining Thames Water?

That should teach it a lesson. The utility giant Thames Water has today been hit with a massive £122.7 million fine for failing to deal with sewage properly, and for paying out excessive dividends. No doubt the regulator Ofwat thinks that will focus the minds of the company’s management and force it to sharpen up its act. There is just one snag. Thames Water is already close to going bust. In reality, it needs new management and a restructuring of its massive debts – and a fine won’t help that.  After what it described as the sector’s ‘biggest and most complex investigation’, Ofwat imposed a fine of £104.5 million for

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Don’t pay the junior doctor Danegeld

Who would have guessed that caving into union militancy and paying a whacking above-inflation pay rise, with no strings attached, would lead to even bigger pay demands? In one of its first acts after coming to power last July the Starmer government awarded junior doctors a 22 per cent pay rise, which they accepted and ended their run of strikes. Is anyone really surprised the BMA has come back this year demanding 30 per cent, threatening yet more strikes? It is not hard to guess what would happen were the government to cave in again: next year’s demand would come in at 50 per cent. Who would have guessed that

Stephen Pollard

Badenoch needs to be brutally honest with voters

If you think the Tories’ problems would be solved if they ditched Kemi Badenoch and turned to any of the mooted replacements – or indeed to anyone else – then I have a bridge to sell you. When you’re booted out of office less than a year ago because the public despise you – because they think you stand for nothing, are disastrously useless, and are incapable of telling the truth about anything – then the idea that you just need to be a bit better at social media memes and appear on a few more TV interviews is risible. Imagine how refreshing it would be to have a leader

Tuesday

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Is Reform trying to race-bait Scottish Labour’s leader?

Nigel Farage’s party is taking heat for a Meta ad it has run as part of the Hamilton, Larkhall & Stonehouse by-election. (The incumbent MSP, the SNP’s Christina McKelvie, died from breast cancer in March.) Reform is pushing its candidate, local councillor Ross Lambie, and claims it stands a chance of capturing the seat, which would have been ludicrous not so long ago and is still hard to fathom today. A Reform victory here in Lanarkshire would be a historic upset and would give credence to a series of polls which suggest the party is on course to make gains in next year’s Holyrood elections.  The disputed ad, which ran on Facebook and

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Will Rupert Lowe join the Tories?

Ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe is no stranger to the spotlight. Nigel Farage’s former colleague has made headlines in recent months after he was suspended from the party following a rather unflattering interview he gave to the Daily Mail about Reform’s leadership. It quickly emerged that chairman Zia Yusuf and chief whip Lee Anderson had referred their former colleague to the police over ‘threats of physical violence’, with the Met Police launching an investigation into the parliamentarian. Earlier this month, news came that the Greater Yarmouth politician will not face criminal charges over the allegations – and Lowe was fast to tweet out a furious statement that branded his former party leader

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Scottish Labour leader accuses Farage of poisoning politics

To Scotland, where in just over a week’s time, the first Holyrood by-election for six years will take place. It’s set to a be a tight race in the constituency of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse and tensions between the political parties in the running are rising. Now Nigel Farage has hit out at Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, rather bizarrely accusing the Glasgow politician of introducing ‘sectarianism into Scottish politics’ as the spat between the pair continues. Dear oh dear… Farage’s remarks follow the feud over Reform UK’s attack ad, which has selectively clipped one of Sarwar’s speeches from 2022 to claim that the Scottish Labour leader will ‘prioritise the