Labour party

Monday

James Heale

Rachel Reeves’s new year’s resolution

On Christmas Day, 12 million people watched the will-they-won’t-they couple Smithy and Nessa finally marry after 17 years in the finale of the hit BBC comedy series Gavin and Stacey. Yet for all the cheery sentiment, it’s a depressing thought that – statistically – in the real world the characters would be earning roughly the same amount at the series’ end in 2024 as they were at its beginning in 2007. Rachel Reeves’s task this year is to spring Britain from its low-growth trap. The early signs are not encouraging. Those captains of industry whom she once so assiduously courted are turning hostile. The Confederation of British Industry says private

Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

My business predictions for 2025

Headed for ‘the worst of all worlds’ is not where any of us would wish to find ourselves at the start of the new year. But that was the phrase used by the CBI economist Alpesh Paleja to sum up the predictions of member businesses – of reduced hiring and output, rising prices and weak growth. Since that survey, a revision to zero of the official growth figure for the third quarter of 2024 and reports of depressed pre- and post-Christmas consumer spending have provoked even darker whispers of a return to recession. Whence cometh such pessimism? Has it bubbled out of the Tories’ black hole of fiscal shame? Can

Thursday

Kate Andrews

UK interest rates held, plus could Musk fund Reform?

10 min listen

The Bank of England has voted to hold interest rates at 4.75%. The Spectator’s economics editor Kate Andrews joins Katy Balls and Freddy Gray to discuss the decision and what this means for the economy.  Also on the podcast they discuss how a potential donation from Elon Musk to Reform UK has rattled politicians across the political spectrum. Could Labour seek to reform political donation rules to limit donations from foreign owned companies? And is this a sensible move, or could those in favour of changing the rules face a charge of hypocrisy? Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Oscar Edmondson.

Wednesday

Katy Balls

Rising inflation will make Rachel Reeves’s job harder

12 min listen

New figures have shown that, for the year to November, inflation rose by 2.6%. While unsurprising, how much will this impact the Chancellor’s plans going into the new year? Katy Balls speaks to Kate Andrews and Isabel Hardman about the impact on Labour, especially given their October budget. Also on the podcast: do the WASPI women deserve compensation? The team discuss Liz Kendall’s announcement that Labour will not recompense women who faced pension changes; they also discuss the last PMQs of 2024. Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Oscar Edmondson.

Monday

James Heale

Could the local elections be cancelled?

14 min listen

Labour will reveal plans today to re-design local government, with district councils set to be abolished, and more elected mayors introduced across England. The plans could be the biggest reforms of their type since the 1970s, but with the May 2025 local elections set to be Labour’s first big electoral test since the general election, how will they be impacted? Local government minister Jim McMahon didn’t deny that the elections could be affected, or some even cancelled. Reform UK have called foul – what’s going on? James Heale speaks to Isabel Hardman and Katy Balls. Also on the podcast: rumours abound that a Chinese spy could be named in Parliament

Saturday

James Heale

Would Brexit voters really accept the return of freedom of movement?

19 min listen

New research this week suggested that a majority of Brexit voters would accept the return of freedom of movement in exchange for access to the EU single market. The poll, conducted by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), found that 54% of Brexit voters – and 68% of all respondents – would accept this. Facing their own changing domestic concerns, how close can the UK and EU governments really get? Could Defence hold the key for collaboration? And how much is this driven by a more volatile geopolitical landscape ahead of Trump’s return as US president? James Heale speaks to Anand Menon, director of the think-tank UK in a

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Christmas I: Katy Balls, Craig Brown, Kate Weinberg, Craig Raine, Lisa Haseldine and Melissa Kite

37 min listen

On this week’s Christmas Out Loud – part one: Katy Balls runs through the Westminster wishlists for 2025 (1:26); Craig Brown reads his satirist’s notebook (7:06); Kate Weinberg explains the healing power of a father’s bedtime reading (13:47); Craig Raine reviews a new four volume edition of the prose of T.S. Eliot (19:10); Lisa Haseldine provides her notes on hymnals (28:15); and Melissa Kite explains why she shouldn’t be allowed to go to church (31:19).  Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

Thursday

Oscar Edmondson

Labour vs the NIMBYs, plus are sandwiches ‘for wimps’?

16 min listen

Today Downing Street has continued its reset – that is definitely not a reset – by providing more details on Labour’s plan to cut the planning red tape and deliver a housing revolution. Their target is to build one and a half million new homes over the next five years by building on green belt land and giving councils mandatory targets. This has predictably been met with robust opposition from several groups who are concerned about the plan, which involves building on a green belt area the size of Surrey. Can Labour win its battle against the so-called NIMBYs (not in my backyard)? In other news, it is publication day

William Moore William Moore

Christmas Special 2024 with Rod Liddle, Lionel Shriver, Matthew Parris and Mary Wakefield

71 min listen

Welcome to a special festive episode of The Edition podcast, where we will be taking you through the pages of The Spectator’s Christmas triple issue. Up first: our review of the year – and what a year it has been. At the start of 2024, the outcome of the US election looked very different, the UK had a different Prime Minister, and The Spectator had a different editor! Luckily, The Spectator’s regular columnists are on hand to declare what they got right – and wrong – throughout the year, and whether they’re optimistic for 2025. Rod Liddle, Matthew Parris, Mary Wakefield and Lionel Shriver take us through everything from Trump to trans (03:24). Next: ‘Good riddance

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Why 2025 could redefine politics

Santa will have a tricky time this year fulfilling all the Christmas wish lists in Westminster. Keir Starmer is desperately hoping for a change in the political weather and Kemi Badenoch would like an in with Donald Trump. Ed Davey dreams that Labour’s electoral troubles will get so bad that proportional representation starts to look appealing. Nigel Farage, meanwhile, wants to avoid what usually happens with him and keep his party from falling out. Come the new year, all four leaders will have their eyes on May’s local elections. The 21 county councils, ten unitary authorities and one metropolitan district are up for grabs for the first time since 2021.

The Spectator

Portrait of the year: Subpostmasters scandal, Rishi in the rain and Syrian rebels topple regime

January After an ITV drama, the government suddenly proposed to do something about the unjust prosecution of sub-postmasters. Junior doctors went on strike. There was a surge in scabies. The King went to hospital and was later found to have cancer. The Princess of Wales was in hospital with what turned out to be cancer. Five migrants died boarding a boat for England off Wimereux. In Beirut, Israel killed the deputy head of Hamas. Israel said that it expected war in Gaza to continue throughout the year. The United States, with token British support, struck sites in Yemen to deter Houthi attacks on shipping. Russia mounted the biggest missile bombardment

Tuesday

James Heale

Spending review: a return to austerity?

13 min listen

Preparations are stepping up for the government’s spending review, due in June. The Chancellor has taken a more personable approach to communicating with ministers, writing to them to outline how they plan to implement the Budget – with a crackdown on government waste and prioritising key public services. So, expect money for clean energy, the NHS, and more ‘difficult decisions’. Will Rachel Reeves’s war on waste work? How will this all go down within the Labour Party and the Cabinet? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Monday

James Heale

How does the Syrian conflict affect Britain?

12 min listen

Following news that President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime in Syria has fallen, Natasha Feroze discusses what comes next with James Heale and Michael Stephens, senior associate fellow at RUSI. What does the Syrian conflict mean for Britain? Do we need to reconsider our counter-terrorism policy? And how will Britain’s historic relationship with Syria shape our path going forward?

Saturday

Iain Macwhirter

Are the SNP exploiting Labour woes?

13 min listen

The SNP presented their budget this week in Holyrood with the news that all pensioners would receive a winter fuel allowance and a pledge to scrap the two-child benefit cap. Questions remain about how they will make this budget work financially, but it is clear that they have one eye on the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections. How could this impact Labour north, and south, of the border? And, after a torrid year for the SNP, can First Minister John Swinney turn things around?  Iain MacWhirter and Lucy Dunn join James Heale to discuss.  Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Friday

Katy Balls

The Kirsty McNeill Edition

32 min listen

Kirsty McNeill is a new Labour MP but certainly not new to the Labour movement. She is perhaps best known for hr time working as an advisor to the Browns; firstly in Number 10 during Gordon Brown’s time as Prime Minister, and later for both Gordon and Sarah Brown on their charity projects. Following her experience working on a number of non-executive board, including at the IPPR and Our Scottish Future, she unseated the SNP in the seat of Midlothian. Currently serving in the Scotland Office, she was one of the first MPs of the new intake to be awarded roles in government.  On the podcast, Kirsty talks to Katy

Thursday

James Heale

Is immigration not a priority for Labour?

12 min listen

There is a feeling of deja-vu in Westminster today as Keir Starmer unveiled his plan for change and six ‘milestones’ (not pledges) to turn the country around. They are: raising living standards in every part of the UK; rebuilding Britain with 1.5 million homes and fast-tracking planning decisions on major infrastructure projects; ending hospital backlogs and meeting the standard of 92 per cent of patients being treated within 18 weeks; putting police back on the beat; giving children the best start in life; and securing homegrown energy and putting the UK on track to 95 per cent clean power by 2030. The problem with setting out any list of priorities

Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

The marketing genius of Jaguar

Woke it may be, but Jaguar’s ‘Copy Nothing’ video is a work of marketing genius. With its ungendered models, ungrammatical slogans (‘live vivid’, ‘delete ordinary’) and strange absence of cars, the 30-second ad has brought global attention to a brand that was dying for want of a new generation of customers, in an auto industry in turmoil over its stalled transition from carbon fuel to battery power. And a week later comes the reveal in Miami of the futuristic Type 00 electric concept car that the fuss was really about. Love it or hate it, the dictum of founder Sir William Lyons that inspired the video’s title, ‘a Jaguar should be a

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Labour’s Nigel Farage nightmare

Arriving on stage to accept ‘Newcomer of the Year’ at The Spectator’s Parliamentarian of the Year awards, Nigel Farage gave a warning to the Westminster establishment. ‘I’ve got a bit of a shock for you,’ he said. ‘If you think that I and four other people – the newcomers into parliament this year in the general election – were a shock, I’m very sorry but at the next election in 2029 or before, there will be hundreds of newcomers under the Reform UK label.’ He added: ‘We are about to witness a political revolution the likes of which we have not seen since Labour after the first world war. Politics

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Labour’s ‘plan for change’, falling productivity and 20,000 wolves in the EU

Home The Labour government announced a ‘Plan for Change’ that it refused to call a reset. Sir Chris Wormald was named Cabinet Secretary. In his Guildhall speech at the Lord Mayor’s banquet, Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, said that ‘the idea that we must choose between our allies, that somehow we’re with either America or Europe, is plain wrong’. He said ‘we must continue to back Ukraine’ against Vladimir Putin as something ‘deeply in our self-interest’. With the arrival of another 122 people on 1 December, more than 20,000 had crossed the Channel in small boats since Labour entered office. A group of about 60 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum-seekers

Monday

Cindy Yu

Is Keir Starmer turning into Rishi Sunak?

11 min listen

The government is trailing a major policy speech ahead of Thursday, in which the Prime Minister will set out key ‘milestones’ that he wants to hit, in terms of healthcare, living standards, the climate and so on. It’s all sounding a little like a previous prime minister… Cindy Yu talks to Katy Balls and James Heale about the opportunities and perils in setting public targets. Produced by Cindy Yu.