Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Tuesday

James Kirkup

Britain's stingy state pension is good news

That Britain has the least generous state pension in the G7 should be recognised for what it is: good news. The fact that it won’t be celebrated tells us a lot about the mismatch between policy and politics around pensions in the UK. The nature of Britain’s state pension isn’t an accident or a failure. It’s the product of deliberate design. For the past three decades, British policymakers have chosen to provide retirement income largely through private saving rather than tax-funded state benefits. They’ve done so quietly, but rationally. The alternative would be to copy France – a country that still treats the state pension as a social guarantee and

James Heale

What does Rachel Reeves really mean that we must all 'do our bit'?

It is three weeks until the Budget – and Rachel Reeves wants to get her narrative out there. The Chancellor held an early morning press conference today to, in her words, ‘set out the circumstances and the principles’ guiding her thinking on 26 November. One line in particular stood out: ‘If we are to build the future of Britain together’, Reeves said, ‘we will all have to contribute to that effort. Each of us must do our bit’ Her speech followed a familiar pattern. First, there was the evisceration of the ‘austerity’, ‘reckless borrowing’ and ‘stop go of public investment’ which characterised the last 14 years. Then came the global

Ross Clark

Budget tax rises will mark the beginning of the long end for Labour

So just what was the point in dragging political journalists out of bed to be addressed by Rachel Reeves in Downing Street this morning? We could – and should – have had the Budget by now. Instead, we got a half Budget speech – a desperate attempt to blame the Tories, a vague suggestion that taxes are going to go up (which we know anyway) without any details. We heard yet more about Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng, despite the fact that they have been out of office for more than three years. Reeves herself has been in office approximately ten times as long as Truss and Kwarteng were. Reeves is fooling

Nigel Jones

Do black lives still matter?

It was an ethnic massacre so bad that it could be seen from space. Satellites picked up bloodied patches of soil in North Darfur’s capital, El Fasher, after Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) swept into the besieged city. Pools of blood and piles of bodies were identified. Thousands of people are feared to have died in the appalling violence. Many thousands more have fled for their lives. Others remain trapped in the city. Satellites picked up bloodied patches of soil in North Darfur’s capital, El Fasher The scenes of slaughter were so blatant that it should have brought marchers out on to the streets of London in passionate protest. But there

Daniel DePetris

The Israel-Lebanon ceasefire is in danger of shattering

It’s been almost a year since Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia that arguably held more power in Lebanon than the government itself, signed a ceasefire to end a ferocious two-month long war. The deal couldn’t have come at a better time; thousands of Israeli air and artillery strikes had pulverised southern Lebanon, Hezbollah’s traditional base of operations, leading to a displacement crisis and killing close to 4,000 Lebanese. Whole swaths of northern Israel had been vacated due to Hezbollah missile attacks, forcing the Israeli government of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to spend money on tens of thousands of civilians bunking in hotel rooms. But the agreement is wearing thin. The

Alexander Larman

Is it all over for Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie?

There is a saying, variously attributed either to Euripides or Shakespeare, that is something along the lines of ‘the sins of the father will be visited upon the children.’ By anyone’s reckoning, this is deeply unfair and wholly undeserved, but the treatment of Prince Andrew’s children, the Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, will soon bear out the dread-laden maxim. Virtually all the international attention has so far come upon their parents, the Andrew formerly known as Prince and the unduchessed Sarah Ferguson. But now, with the inevitability of good hangings preventing bad marriages, interest is going to alight upon them. A pile-on towards these young women is coming, and it will

Alexander Horne

Can the European Convention on Human Rights survive?

Today is the 75th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights. In spite of its longevity, the Convention faces a number of challenges, and this is perhaps not the happiest of birthdays. In the UK the Convention faces a significant challenge. For the first time, both the Conservatives and Reform will enter the next general election pledging to withdraw from it The development of the ECHR was, in part, a response to the aftermath of the second world war and the serious violations of human rights which occurred during the conflict. Much is made by its supporters of the fact that British lawyers, such as Sir David Maxwell Fyfe

Joanna Williams

Grade inflation is harming a generation of school children

The national Covid-19 inquiry rumbles slowly onwards. Module 8, examining the impact of the pandemic on children and young people, drew to a close last month. Blast-from-the-past appearances from Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson meant the decision to shut schools and stop exams from going ahead for the best part of two years was subjected to scrutiny and buck-passing in equal measure. Since lockdown ended, concern has, rightly, been raised about so-called ‘ghost children’, who continue to be persistently absent from school rolls. Far less attention has been paid to the gaps in the education of those pupils who did turn up when schools reopened. Perhaps understandably, no one wants

Monday

Madeline Grant

Jeffrey Epstein may yet wreak more havoc on Keir Starmer

Short of dressing the former Duke of York in a Carmen Miranda-style fruit headdress and attaching two Catherine wheels to each of his buttocks, the Labour party couldn’t have done much more to draw attention to one famous pal of Jeff Epstein this week – from threatening bills on the line of succession to the Secretary of State for Defence’s briefing that the former prince will have his naval ranks stripped from him. Thank heavens for that; it’s well known, of course, that no sexual deviant ever served in the Royal Navy. This is a fascinating tactic from the Labour party which reveals two truths. One: they believe the general public to

Steerpike

Blow for Scottish Tories as Reform gain another councillor

To Ayrshire, where a former Tory councillor who quit the party in July has defected to Reform UK. North Ayrshire councillor Todd Ferguson has made the leap to Nigel Farage’s party, following in the footsteps of multiple independent and former Conservative councillors across Scotland. The blow is even more painful for Scottish Tory party leader Russell Findlay as he is a regional MSP for the area. Another one bites the dust… Ferguson, who has been a councillor since 2017, quit the Conservative party in summer and has sat as independent – until now. He has become the third Reform councillor on North Ayrshire council, alongside Matthew McLean and Stewart Ferguson.

James Heale

Farage: trust me with the economy

15 min listen

With Reform leading in the polls, Nigel Farage is determined to ensure that nothing can impede its growth. This morning he sought to bolster his credibility on an area that the Tories think could be his Achilles heel: the economy. Reform’s £90 billion programme of tax cuts promised at the last election has been constantly used as a stick with which to beat its leader. So today, Farage took to the stage in the City, to – once again – formally bury ‘Our Contract with You’ – the platform on which he was elected in July last year. This morning’s speech was all about Reform claiming the mantle of fiscal

Gavin Mortimer

France is in the grip of a heist epidemic

The good news for the French police is that three of the four people suspected of carrying off the ‘heist of the century’ at the Louvre last month are in custody. The bad news is that the crown jewels they stole, worth an estimated €88 million (£76 million), have yet to be recovered. Given the audacity of the robbery, committed on a Sunday morning as the museum opened its doors to the public, it was assumed by many that the theft was the work of seasoned professionals. The profile of those arrested paints a different picture: they are petty criminals, hailing from Seine-Saint-Denis, the impoverished department north of Paris. The DNA

Matthew Lynn

Nigel Farage is right to abandon tax cuts

Nigel Farage has shelved massive tax cuts in favour of slashing public spending in a bid to balance the books. The Reform leader said in a speech this morning that ‘substantial tax cuts given the dire state of debt and our finances are not realistic at this current moment’. The ‘back-of-a-fag packet’ economics that characterised Reform’s election manifesto last year have been disposed of No doubt a fair few Reform supporters will be disappointed: it means that, if Farage wins power at the next election, the tax burden will remain at a post-war high for at least a couple of years. We won’t be hearing very much about the Laffer

James Heale

Farage: Trust me with the economy

With Reform leading in the polls, Nigel Farage is determined to ensure that nothing can impede its growth. This morning he sought to bolster his credibility on an area that the Tories think could be his Achilles heel: the economy. Reform’s £90 billion programme of tax cuts promised at the last election has been constantly used as a stick with which to beat its leader. So today, Farage took to the stage in the City, to – once again – formally bury ‘Our Contract with You’ – the platform on which he was elected in July last year. This morning’s speech was all about Reform claiming the mantle of fiscal

Steerpike

Salmond died almost penniless after court battles

Last year, Scotland’s former first minister Alex Salmond had a heart attack during a trip to North Macedonia and passed away. Salmond brought his country to the brink of independence in 2014 and helped establish the Scottish National party as a mainstream group north of the border – but his career was also tainted by allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. As revealed by the Sunday Times, the ex-FM died almost penniless in 2024, after fighting two court battles in a bid to save his reputation. One of his supporters, former SNP MSP Fergus Ewing, has claimed that ‘the prosecution against him arose, in substantial party, from motives of malice

Ross Clark

The hypocrisy of Labour's international 'greenwashing'

There can be no more Panglossian document than the UK international climate finance results published by the government last month. Apparently, since 2011 UK taxpayers have helped prevent 145 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, given 33 million people improved resistance to climate change and saved 717,000 hectares of ecosystem. How proud we can all feel of ourselves. Except, that is, we are beginning to learn a bit more about how our money – £11.6 billion of it between 2021/22 and 2025/26 alone – is being spent. There is £52 million, for example, on a road driven through the rainforest in Guyana and millions for a rewilding scheme in Uganda

Steerpike

Trump: I feel 'badly' for royals over Andrew

The royal family hasn’t been able to stay away from the spotlight lately, as scrutiny over Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s links to US paedophile Jeffrey Epstein have dominated the news. Last week, Andrew was formally stripped of his titles by King Charles and the royal will vacate his Royal Lodge mansion after it emerged he had been paying a ‘peppercorn’ rent for two decades. Now President Donald Trump has waded in, saying he feels ‘badly’ for the royals. Speaking to journalists on Air Force One on Sunday, Trump was quizzed on the King’s decision to remove Andrew’s titles. The US President remarked: It’s a terrible thing that’s happened to the [royal]

George Llewelyn

Chernihiv is on the frontline of Russia's cruellest winter campaign yet

First, the power went out in the bar. A few minutes later came the familiar low, concussive thud of an explosion nearby, the kind that makes the walls tremble and the glasses rattle on the shelves. Somewhere close, a few streets perhaps, a Russian drone had found its mark. Almost as quick as it came, the sound dissipates, leaving an ambivalent quietness in its wake. Inside, the waitress lights candles, which flicker as if battling to keep darkness at bay. From a phone sitting on the bar, she plays music, the sound, tinny and weak, fighting to drown out the silence. Outside, buses speed along the street, clamorous beacons of

Lee Cohen

Harry and Meghan deserve the same fate as Andrew Windsor

The King acted with decisive authority to strip his brother, Andrew, of his Royal title and evict him from his Windsor mansion. The former Duke of York is now known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, and he must vacate Royal Lodge for private accommodation at Sandringham. No formal Letters Patent were issued, nor was parliamentary legislation required; the King’s prerogative sufficed. The action, though severe, reflects a man whose associations – never proven criminal – had become untenable for an institution whose legitimacy rests on public trust. Andrew Windsor’s punishment was just and proportionate. The Sussexes’ case is more complex Yet another challenge persists: the conduct of the Duke and Duchess

Debbie Hayton

Where's the money for Labour's triple science plan?

Science, which has been kicked about since GCSEs replaced O-Levels in 1986, is in for another shake-up. The latest review of the curriculum – commissioned by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson – is set to recommend that all schools must teach separate sciences to children in Years 10 and 11. That should be a good thing. ‘Triple science’ won’t be mandatory, but it will become a statutory entitlement alongside the usual diet of ‘double science’.  If a child wants to learn an extra dollop of science then that will be their right. What’s not to like about that? Schools are so hard up that they cannot afford to pay for supply