All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Last night Jeremy Corbyn gathered with thousands of supporters on Parliament Square to protest against the government’s failure to guarantee the rights of EU migrants in the UK. Upon hearing the chants of ‘Say it loud, say it clear – all EU migrants welcome here!’ Theresa May performed a sensational U-turn. Britain now has an
Savers cashing in their pension pots has led to the government raking in almost twice the tax it estimated the new pensions freedoms would generate. Experts expected that people withdrawing cash from their pensions would spread the withdrawals – but savers have taken bigger amounts in one go, leading to more cash in the Treasury’s
Douglas Murray and Melle Garschagen, UK and Ireland correspondent for NRC, discuss the Dutch election: The Dutch public go to the polls tomorrow, and the question of Turkey is on the menu. This past weekend the Dutch government forbade a plane containing the Turkish Foreign minister from landing in the country. The Turkish minister had been
Following the Copeland by-election defeat, many in Labour have been left wondering whether Jeremy Corbyn is the right man to lead them into the next election. However, could it all really be the fault of the Parliamentary Labour Party? Mr S only asks after Kate Osamor — a key Corbyn ally — gave an interview to the
Fraser Nelson is joined by Alex Massie and James Forsyth to discuss IndyRef2: When will the politics ever end? Now Nicola Sturgeon says she wants a second Scottish independence referendum, and so we plunge ourselves – wearily but no less determined – into yet another fight to save our country. The nationalists operate on the
For weeks, politicians on both houses of Parliament have been carrying on a drama where they pretend to get worked up about the Brexit bill while knowing that the Lords was always going to cave and the Bill was always going to be passed. The House of Lords, which last week voted to make Brexit
The government has successfully defeated the two Lords amendments to its Article 50 bill. MPs voted down the first amendment, committing the government to guaranteeing the rights of EU nationals, by a majority of 48 — which means the government managed to increase its majority of 42 from the first vote. On the ‘meaningful vote’ amendment,
The irresistible force meets the immovable object in Washington tomorrow, as Donald Trump finally comes face to face with Angela Merkel. It seems highly unlikely that they’ll emerge from this meeting holding hands. Not only do these two world leaders disagree about (almost) everything, their personalities could hardly be less compatible. Mrs May may simper
In their frequent moments of self-congratulation, conservatives describe themselves as level-headed and practical people. If there were a scintilla of truth in the stories they tell themselves the government would not think of activating Article 50 this week. Unfortunately, for our country, actual conservatives and mythical conservatives have next to nothing in common. Unconstrained by
Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement may have taken Westminster by surprise but it wasn’t a shock to her party leadership. Indeed, by the time the First Minister left her Bute House press conference this afternoon, a new Yes campaign website was already up and running with appeals for money, campaign material and a video from Ms Sturgeon explaining
Fraser Nelson is joined by Alex Massie and James Forsyth to discuss IndyRef2: Nicola Sturgeon has thrown down the gauntlet to Theresa May with her speech today. When the Scottish parliament backs a second independence referendum, as it will in the next few weeks, the UK government will have to decide how to respond. After
Before the end of this month – and very possibly as early as tomorrow – the Prime Minister will trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, setting the UK on course to leave the EU in March 2019. It is important, therefore, for me to report now on the Scottish Government’s attempts to find compromise
Fraser Nelson is joined by Alex Massie and James Forsyth to discuss IndyRef2: You were warned, you know. You were told this would happen. And you voted for Brexit anyway. Because you privileged leaving the European Union over not giving the Scottish government an excuse to put the future integrity of the United Kingdom back
Claudio Ranieri will go down in footballing folklore as the individual who accomplished mission impossible by winning modest Leicester City the Premiership title in 2016. He will also be remembered by many footballing aficionados as Mr Tinkerman, the manager who had a propensity to tinker with teams (especially during his time at Chelsea) when a more
After spending the past few months declaring that a second Scottish independence referendum is highly likely as a result of the UK government’s plans for a ‘hard Brexit’, this morning Nicola Sturgeon bit the bullet and vowed to ensure Scotland has an independence referendum at the end of the Brexit process. In a speech at
Goodness, Wales is gorgeous to look at. The landscape is sublime. I woke in Abergavenny to snow on the Black Mountains, interspersed with emerald green valleys — all that rain is not for nothing. The natural beauty only heightens a troubling question. Wales voted for Brexit, but every road, university and waterfront improvement scheme —
Since Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, few critics have been more persistent than Louise Mensch. The former Tory MP — and Heat Street journalist — has regularly become the ire of Trump supporters over her reports and theories relating to the relationship between the new leader of the free world and
Throughout David Cameron and George Osborne’s six-year double act, we seldom heard of serious arguments between them. Both were keen to avoid a repeat of the Blair-Brown psychodrama and prided themselves on their indivisibility. Same with their respective teams. You would never pick up the Sunday papers and read the sort of No. 10 vs
The invitation for poems making the case for a national commemoration day for a person or thing of your choice brought in a varied and entertaining entry. While Alanna Blake championed the dandelion, there were also impassioned calls for days that high-five Thomas Crapper, Doris Day and the tent. I, for one, would happily celebrate
You might argue that the self-employed enjoy less security than the employed, so it’s fair they contribute less; you might argue that the ‘sharing economy’ is a nifty pocket-money source for hard-pressed families, and that tax grabs will swiftly kill it. But revenue-starved Chancellor Hammond will retort that all income and commerce, however novel in
On the first Saturday in February, the people of Rome awoke to find the city covered in peculiar posters depicting a scowling Pope Francis. Underneath were written the words: Ah, Francis, you have intervened in Congregations, removed priests, decapitated the Order of Malta and the Franciscans of the Immaculate, ignored Cardinals… but where is your
Last Wednesday, Philip Hammond made a joke at Norman Lamont’s expense by reminding the world of how John Major’s first chancellor was sacked after a negative public reaction to his budget in 1993. Hammond, one suspects, is already beginning to regret his gag as Lamont today became the latest Conservative to damn his plans to
The Tory rebellion over the tax hike on the self-employed isn’t abating, it is intensifying as I say in The Sun this morning. As one Cabinet Minister tells me, Tory MPs ‘left the Budget feeling a little bit concerned. They’ve seen the papers, and thought this isn’t good. After the emails and constituency stuff, there’ll
Another eye-catcher, not least for the gratuitous picture opportunities it offered, was the sale of Agent Provocateur to a group led by Sports Direct tycoon Mike Ashley. But the terms of this one are ‘preposterous’, or so said the lingerie brand’s founder, Joe Corré. Well, yes — if for a horrible moment you imagine portly
After he left the Blues and Royals in 1981, the young Tristan Voorspuy drove a motorbike from London to Cape Town. Thus began his love of Africa. He also learnt to fly, and arranged to travel alone to Kenya from England in a single-engine aeroplane, using only a schoolboy atlas. Luckily, his brother Morvern, a
Osterley Park on the western fringes of London is a rare survival. A Robert Adam house, with splendid Adam interiors, it’s still surrounded by its Elizabethan stables, an 18th-century landscape and classical follies — in the middle of urban Hounslow. Over the past decade, this Georgian gem has been increasingly despoiled and dumbed down by
Some Budgets are historic, most are boring and a small number can be remembered as a disaster. After just a few months, Philip Hammond has managed a budget – his first – that can be placed in this last category. Economically, it made very little difference. Politically, it is shaping up to be a disaster. His Budget was supposed to have been
In an interview with the BBC last night, Nicola Sturgeon suggested that the autumn of next year would be a ‘common sense’ time to hold another referendum on Scottish independence. Which would, of course, mean voting without knowing what the terms of the Brexit would be. (Or, perhaps, whether it will really happen.) Why the haste?
On Thurday’s Question Time, there was one politician notably absent from the panel. For a second time, John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, had to cancel his appearance — this time putting it down to train delays. And whose fault is this? Well, the Conservatives obviously — as if Labour were in power the trains would
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the debate on the increase in National Insurance Contributions for the self-employed is that it lays bare the lie that people are happier to pay more tax to fund the NHS. In December, the Guardian reported a study that suggested that 70 per cent of people would ‘happily pay an extra
The BBC and the secular establishment don’t make life easy for Christian MPs. When Carol Monaghan, a Catholic Scottish Nationalist MP, turned up to a Parliamentary committee last week with an Ash Wednesday cross on her forehead, both her colleagues and the Beeb treated her as if she was wearing a Halloween costume. My colleague
Theresa May’s announcement that the vote on raising National Insurance contributions for the self-employed will be delayed until after the publication of the Taylor Report in Modern Employment Practises in the autumn is presumably meant to reassure us that the government is taking seriously the many objections which have been levied against the policy in
On this week’s episode, we take the Pope to task over his leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, ask whether Canada has got the right answers on drugs policy, and lament the death of spontaneity. First, Pope Francis has come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks after a controversial intervention with the ancient Order of Malta and a
Guy Verhofstadt thinks Brexit is a ‘disaster’, a ‘tragedy’ and a ‘catastrophe’. That verdict, from the European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, won’t surprise many. But Verhofstadt has a solution to what he sees as a looming crisis for despairing Remain voters. During his interview on the Today programme this morning, he brought up the prospect of British