Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Monday

Steerpike

Scottish Labour rule out deal with Reform

At the last Labour conference before the 2026 Holyrood election, Scottish Labour is enjoying the limelight. With less than eight months to go until the Scottish parliament election, the party is trying to prove that – despite its rather dire polling – it can win. But in an increasingly fractured political world, Labour may have to rely on another political party to prop itself up if it is to have any hope of governing in Scotland. And given Nigel Farage’s tartan outfit is doing pretty well north of the border, a Labour-Reform pact – informal or not – could be one solution. But would Anas Sarwar do a deal with

George Bridges

Is it too early to tell Rachel Reeves 'I told you so'?

‘I told you so’ – the most irritating four words in the English language, dripping with self-satisfaction and schadenfreude. So, forgive me. A year ago I – or rather, ‘we’, the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee of which I was chair – told you, the great British public, that the UK risked economic catastrophe. A cross-party group including Corbynites and Thatcherites, we came to one crushing conclusion: unless this government took tough decisions this Parliament, the UK’s sky-high debt might well become unsustainable.  A year on, what had been the subject of intense but largely ignored scrutiny in Lords’ Committee Room 2A has, at last, become the dominating issue. Being

Yossi Melman

Why Trump wants Blair to run Gaza

Tony Blair is a man for all seasons, a political operator who knows precisely on which side his bread is buttered, the side of the super-rich oil and gas sheikhs and the well-connected elites of the Middle East. It is no coincidence, then, that his name has emerged as a potential candidate for a role envisioned by President Donald Trump’s administration: effectively serving as governor of Gaza if, and when, the ongoing war there comes to an end. Driving his candidacy is Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who continues to accumulate vast wealth from investments backed by Saudi, Qatari, and Emirati funds. Kushner is once again returning to mediation in the

Fred De Fossard

Reform has changed the conversation on immigration

Last week, Reform UK announced the most radical proposal on overhauling immigration by a mainstream political party in a generation. Under their new plans, migrants in the UK with indefinite leave to remain (ILR) would have to reapply for residency and would lose access to welfare benefits, unless they qualify to become British citizens. This is a British-preference immigration and welfare policy, the likes of which we have not seen since at least 1997. It is intended to avert the fiscal and social implications of giving permanent welfare access to the wave of migrants who entered the country after 2021 – the infamous ‘Boriswave’ – which saw net migration surpass

Patrick West

No, Keir Starmer: Reform’s migrant plans aren’t racist

Keir Starmer’s behaviour, demeanour and language has taken a rapid and strange turn of recent. Unable to do anything meaningful about this country’s economic woes or the chronic immigration crisis, the Prime Minister now resorts to words in preference to actions. He relies increasingly on alarmist rhetoric and hollow gestures in order to make us believe that he is a competent and purposeful leader. It’s the customary response of low-intelligence fringe-leftists The decision to officially recognise Palestine, a country with no borders, no capital city and no meaningful government, was merely one indication of this lurch. His endless pronouncements on his determination to ‘smash the gangs’, rather than do anything

Michael Simmons

Will Labour MPs stand for Rachel Reeves' benefits crackdown?

When Rachel Reeves speaks at Labour party conference today, she has a tough message to deliver. The Chancellor will announce her plans to ‘abolish youth unemployment’ by forcing Britain’s jobless youth into work. There’s a moral case to be made for welfare reform and the Chancellor must make it today The ‘youth guarantee’ scheme will offer the carrot of a guaranteed work placement once unemployed 18 to 21-year-olds have spent 18 months out of the workforce. Those who turn down job offers or training places, however, will face the stick via sanctions such as having their benefits docked. With nearly one million 16 to 24-year-olds classified as not in education,

Druin Burch

Starmer's 'racist' Reform remark is his 'deplorables' moment

Reform’s proposal to scrap indefinite leave to remain for foreigners is racist, according to Keir Starmer. ‘I do think it’s a racist policy,’ the Prime Minister told the BBC yesterday. ‘I do think it’s immoral – it needs to be called out for what it is.’ Removing people who were here legally, he said, was wrong. That’s a reasonable stance for a lawyer, but odd for a PM, whose role isn’t compliance with the law but deciding what new laws should say. Starmer is wrong about Britain. We live not only at the least racist point in history, but in one of the least racist countries in the world Supporters

Patrick West

How ID cards destroy freedom

Those who make the case in favour of national ID cards invariably do so on pragmatic grounds. As they have reminded us in recent days following Keir Starmer’s announcement of the rollout of digital ID, these would make life more simple, more convenient, secure easier access to public services, reduce fraud, criminal activity and even stem the tide of illegal immigration to this country. Those who repeat the canard of ‘nothing to hide, nothing to fear’ should ask themselves the underlying belief they are really articulating Who could possibly object to such reasonable-sounding arguments? National ID cards would be ‘for own good’ they continue, or more ominously: ‘if you’ve nothing

Alex Klaushofer

Britain's free speech crisis could get a whole lot worse

If you think Britain’s free speech crisis is bad now, if Ofcom gets its way it could get a whole lot worse. The broadcasting regulator-turned-internet-policeman is currently consulting on proposals to beef up the Online Safety Act. The proposals in its blandly-title ‘Additional Safety Measures‘ document could reduce the internet in Britain to a shadow of its varied, vibrant self. Ofcom’s proposals are alarming A big chunk of the 309-page consultation concerns livestreaming. In Ofcom’s world, livestreams are of particular concern because of the ‘risk’ posed by humans interacting with each other in real time. The proposed measures go way beyond protecting children from online predators, encompassing all livestreaming services

Sunday

Steerpike

Scottish Labour goes for Andy Burnham

Well, well, well. The atmosphere is more than a little tense as Labour conference kicks off in Liverpool. In recent weeks, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has suffered not just from poor poll results – with a recent MRP suggesting his party could fall to less than 100 seats at the next general election – but the PM has lost both his deputy and ambassador to the US. Further north, feathers were ruffled during Starmer’s reshuffle when Scottish Secretary Ian Murray – member of parliament for Edinburgh South since 2010 – was cut from the government in place of Douglas Alexander, onetime Scotland Secretary for Tony Blair. But while Sir Keir

Madeline Grant

Keir's cabinet of rotters are a comedy gift

Day one of the Labour conference – oh frabjous day! The annual gathering of people who hate each other just a little bit more than they hate themselves was underway. You really do wonder where they find some of these characters.  Sir Keir arrives in Liverpool as the least popular PM in history. Worse than Liz Truss or Boris Johnson at their nadirs, worse than Lloyd George when he did all his lady diddling, worse than Neville Chamberlain. I bet the ghost of Lord North is absolutely over the moon. Mr Starmer is a road traffic black spot of a PM. Most excruciating of all, inevitably, was the Prime Minister

Steerpike

Watch: Housing Secretary flails on house building

A glorious exchange on GB News this morning. Steve Reed, the new Housing Secretary, has been making a big song and dance this conference about his plans to ‘build baby build.’ Red caps bearing the slogan are being dispersed to delegates who are proudly displaying them around Liverpool. There is just one problem: the government is woefully off track on its pledge to build 1.5 million new homes by the end of this parliament. Asked by Camilla Tominey for how many homes have been build in the 14 months Labour have had thus far, Reed replied thus: I don’t have the exact – I’m not Wikipedia. No, I’m not Wikipedia,

Steerpike

Sarwar: Scotland will reject 'poisonous' Farage

To Liverpool, where politicians and delegates are gathering for Labour’s annual party conference. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has just finished his speech on the main stage, where he lead out his vision for his party with just eight months to go until next year’s Holyrood elections. But it was a non-Labour politician that dominated Sarwar’s discussion today, as Reform UK support in Scotland continues to surge. Slamming Nigel Farage as a ‘pathetic and poisonous little man’, the Scottish Labour leader fumed: You are a pathetic and poisonous little man that doesn’t care about Scotland, doesn’t understand Scotland, and that’s why Scotland will utterly reject you. All Reform can do is

Euan McColm

Is Anas Sarwar destined to be another failed Scottish Labour leader?

The first clue that Scottish Labour might not be dead in the water came with a soundtrack by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. Campaigning for the 2021 Holyrood Election, party leader Anas Sarwar joined an open-air dance class in the town of Livingston and – throwing all dignity to the wind – joined in. Then, just weeks into the job of leading what seemed to be a party in constant decline, Sarwar displayed some passable moves to the hit single ‘Uptown Funk’. A clip of the scene quickly went viral. Young, energetic and likeable, Sarwar showed himself a good sport and that counted for a lot. Over the preceding years, as

James Heale

Keir Starmer: Reform’s migration policy is ‘racist’

Labour conference has begun this weekend in Liverpool under something of a cloud. The run-up to the five-day shindig has been dominated by questions about old donations and Andy Burnham’s intentions. A slew of poor polls suggest the party has gone badly off track after 14 months in office. But following a summer in which many of his party felt that he had gone missing in action, Keir Starmer appears to now be channeling Donald Trump’s mantra: fight, fight, fight. The Prime Minister used an interview with the BBC this morning to come out swinging, taking aim at his critics both inside and outside the Labour party. It is an

Steerpike

Starmer officially most unpopular PM ever

Oh dear. It seems that Keir Starmer’s great big conference reset is beginning well. A blizzard of new polls have been published – all of which make for devastating reading for our embattled PM. A major new Sunday Times MRP survey shows that Reform is on course to win 373 seats at the next election, with Labour reduced to just 90. Sub-optimal to say the least… But while the brand of Starmer’s party is bad, it is nothing compared to his own personal ratings. The Labour leader is now the most unpopular prime minister on record, with just 13 per cent of voters satisfied with the job he is doing,

Renan Avelvor

Is Georgia still willing to fight for its democracy?

On 4 October, voters in Georgia will be called to the polls to vote in the country’s municipal elections and choose a new cohort of local councillors and city mayors. How many citizens will actually turn out, though, remains to be seen: for many, after a steady erosion of democratic freedoms in Georgia, this vote carries little meaning. Georgia’s elections in October last year cemented the dominance of the populist Georgian Dream party in parliament, but the vote’s outcome remains contested by the opposition. Tuesday marked the 300th consecutive day that citizens from across the country have gathered in major cities – every evening in Tbilisi, for example – demanding

David Jeffery

St George’s flags and the myth of ‘Scouse not English’

Operation Raise the Colours, a grassroots movement to adorn our towns and cities with England flags, has swept across the country. It has even hit Liverpool – long mythologised as a bastion of left-wing exceptionalism, and where Labour conference starts today. St George’s crosses can now be found across the north of the city: Dovecot, Knotty Ash, Aintree, Fazakerley, Orrell Park and Walton have seen lamp posts adorned with the national flag, as has Huyton to the east. Not everyone is happy with this display of patriotism, as this Reddit thread suggests. Liverpool is not as politically unique as its left-wing cheerleaders want you to believe Those who are offended at seeing

Alexander Larman

The Hack is proof Jack Thorne needs a break

When ITV executives commissioned The Hack, the new drama series dealing with the News International phone hacking scandal, they surely hoped they were getting another Mr Bates vs. The Post Office. Not only did it star that show’s Toby Jones as – bizarrely – Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger, complete with ludicrous wig, but it was another left-leaning account of how journalistic ethics, as personified by David Tennant’s Guardian investigative writer Nick Davies, could triumph over the forces of Machiavellian wickedness. If we didn’t get the message already that Rupert Murdoch was a villainous figure, he is played in the show by none other than a prosthetics-encased Steve Pemberton, in a

Simon Diggins

What is Putin’s game?

What happens when you boil a frog? It doesn’t notice the warming water until it is too late. According to Margus Tsahkna, Estonia’s foreign minister, Russia is boiling Nato like a frog. He fears that Vladimir Putin’s provocations of Nato (none of which on their own would necessitate a military response) will become increasingly and slowly severe, testing and ultimately undermining Nato’s defences. There is force to his argument. Two weeks ago, Polish air defences shot down Russian drones. Last Friday, Russian jets violated Estonian airspace and forced Nato planes to scramble. More drones, operated by a ‘capable actor’, according to a Danish Police spokesman, flew over Norwegian and Danish