Politics Archives

Thursday

15 August 2024

Labour’s train driver capitulation is the first step to fiscal ruin

It has taken six weeks, but already the government has lost control of public finances. The decision to award train drivers a pay rise of 15 per cent spread over three years, and backdated, without any requirement to reform outdated working practices, won’t break the government’s piggy bank on its own, but is has set a course which, once again, will end with a Labour government leading the country to fiscal ruin – as every single Labour government has done before. Public subsidy has corrupted the entire industry Train drivers are already one of the highest-paid groups of workers in Britain, with basic salaries of £65,000 and with many earning

Steerpike

Scottish Tory tore into ally’s campaign in WhatsApp statuses

They say honesty is the best policy, but there are times when a little discretion is more advisable. It’s something Scottish Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr should note, after it emerged the politician had shared some rather candid thoughts about Murdo Fraser’s leadership campaign on WhatsApp. Not only are the messages damning – Kerr publicly endorsed the leadership contender last week – but it transpires that the MSP had been posting his criticism directly to his WhatsApp statuses, meaning that, er, all of his contacts could view them. Talk about analogue in a digital age… In a series of posts, the former chief whip at Holyrood revealed his growing disillusionment with

Jawad Iqbal

Liz Truss needs to learn to take a joke

It is hard to know what Liz Truss hoped to achieve by storming off stage during an event in Suffolk promoting her new memoir. The former PM did so after campaigners unfurled a banner emblazoned with the phrase: ‘I crashed the economy’ below a picture of a lettuce. All that Truss, who lasted just 49 days in office, succeeded in doing was to draw even more attention to the prank – the clip has amassed over six million views on social media. In the process she also managed to confirm what many have long suspected, which is that she really can’t take a joke, however lame. Truss was sitting comfortably on stage, discussing

Martin Vander Weyer

After the Olympics, France has to face its grim reality

The French television personality Laurent Baffie, interviewed by Le Figaro, came up with a nice phrase for the success beyond most expectations of the Paris Olympics: it had been ‘une parenthèse enchantée’, he said, but parentheses always have to close and ‘la merde va revenir’. I’m guessing he meant France’s brief political truce will end and attention will refocus on economic woes, even after a slight fall in unemployment – to 7.3 per cent, compared with the UK rate of 4.4 per cent – that was announced as another ‘bonne surprise’. Writing from the Dordogne, where lunch is long and markets that matter are not global and financial but local

James Heale

Keir Starmer’s mission impossible

Labour backbenchers have spent years dreaming of the day they are in power and get ‘the call’ from the Prime Minister, inviting them to become ministers. But this time, a few were surprised that when the call came they heard the cut-glass accent of Sue Gray on the line. Perhaps it shouldn’t have surprised them. Her power over the government is hardly a secret: she helped run the country as a civil servant during the Tory years. Now she does so as a political adviser. Why disguise it? Sunak told the electorate to judge him on how well he fulfilled his five missions. In the end, they did Gray is

Wednesday

14 August 2024

Steerpike

Labour ‘cronyism’ row escalates as Tories demand answers

Back to the curious case of Ian Corfield. Revelations emerged this morning that the civil service watchdog was not informed of the banker’s donation history to Labour before it approved his selection to a top civil servant job in the Treasury. As Politico reported, the Civil Service Commission chief Kate Owen stated that government departments are responsible for vetting candidates, but the Treasury refused to say whether Corfield’s donations – of over £20,000 in the past nine years – were indeed declared. And now it appears the Tories have started sniffing around the Labour donor’s appointment. It now transpires that Laura Trott, the former Chief Secretary to the Treasury under

Euan McColm

The Scottish government’s winter fuel payment hypocrisy

The Scottish government has today confirmed that it will follow Westminster’s decision to end the universal payment of winter fuel payments to pensioners. Instead, a Holyrood-run alternative will ensure that those elderly Scots most in need are still supported through means-testing. Social justice secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville insists she is unhappy about the decision, stating today that she had ‘no alternative but to replicate the decision’ after Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced cuts in England. Somerville claims that the Chancellor’s decision to end universal entitlement for winter fuel payments means a cut of almost 90 per cent of the funding for the Scottish benefit. This sounds bleak, doesn’t it? But the social justice secretary

John Ferry

The SNP needs to get to grips with its £22 billion black hole

The Scottish government has published its latest Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (Gers) report, the official statistics outlining how much tax is raised in Scotland versus public spending for and on behalf of the country. The numbers have been followed with interest over the past decade because they give as accurate a view as possible of the starting fiscal position of any newly independent Scotland. They therefore provide an insight into the budget challenges the newly seceded state would face if the current Scottish government’s constitutional preference were to come to fruition. So what do this year’s numbers show? The main driver of the widened deficit is a fall in North Sea

Steerpike

Liz Truss hits back at ‘far-left’ lettuce stunt

Another day, another drama. This time it’s in Suffolk, where former prime minister Liz Truss appeared on Tuesday night at a promotional event to flog her new book ‘Ten Years to Save the West’. But while the ex-PM was deep in conversation about US politics and Donald Trump, she was oblivious to a banner descending slowly above her head. Bearing the image of a goggly-eyed lettuce – in reference to the Daily Star‘s unofficial countdown about whether the legume would outlast the then-PM – the poster was emblazoned with the words: ‘I crashed the economy’. Safe to say the former prime minister was less than impressed. After it was drawn

Debbie Hayton

What the New York Times gets wrong about the Cass review

Hilary Cass’s review of gender identity services for children and young people put a stop to doctors playing fast and loose with the development of youngsters in Great Britain. Her report was welcomed on both sides of the Commons, and it was reassuring to hear Wes Streeting confirm that he intends to uphold the ban on puberty blockers to under-18s. Across the Atlantic, however, the issue is more divisive. So-called ‘red states’ are moving along British lines. Last year, Tennessee prohibited health care professionals from ‘prescribing, administering or dispensing any puberty blocker or hormone’ to children who claimed to experience gender dysphoria. Meanwhile, in blue California, Governor Gavin Newsom signed

Danny Shaw

The riots have proved swift justice is possible

John O’Malley and William Nelson-Morgan; Adnan Ghaffour and Leanne Hodgson; Sameer Ali and Stacey Vint – some of the dozens of people who were arrested, charged, convicted and sentenced within days of taking part in the riots that swept across parts of the UK. No delays in the police investigation for them, no waiting for the crown prosecution service (CPS) to make a charging decision and no adjournments in court. All cogs in the criminal justice machine working together, sending out a strong message of punishment and deterrence. Punch a police officer on Monday, hear the clang of the cell door on Friday. The staggeringly long gap between crime and

Matthew Lynn

Why is Germany still cosying up to China?

Growth is slowing down. The property market is wobbling. And the government is tightening its grip on every form of economic activity. Global investors have made a decision about China over the last few months. It may have one of the biggest markets in the world, but the risks are simply too high. Over the second quarter of this year, foreign investors pulled a record amount of money out of China. A total of $15 billion was taken out of the country, and if that continues for the rest of the year it will be the first time the total has turned negative since 1999. There is, however, one exception:

Steerpike

Sadiq Khan doubles number of City Hall fat cats

While the new Labour government continues to wax lyrical about the dire state of the country’s finances, it seems not everyone is feeling the pinch. For staff working in the Greater London Authority under Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan, business is positively booming. In fact, according to a Freedom of Information response sent to Mr S, the number of GLA staffers on the top rates of pay in 2024 has more than doubled since 2016. Alright for some… When London last had a Tory mayor in Boris Johnson, there were 45 staff on the top three rates of pay, with just 12 in the highest salary bracket. Yet under Khan’s eight

Oscar Edmondson

Why has the inflation rate gone up again?

11 min listen

We’ve got some news today on the inflation rate, which rose to 2.2 per cent in July, slightly up from the Bank of England’s target of 2 per cent, where the rate sat in May and June. It’s the first rate uptick this year – and though widely expected, it will be used to explain why the Bank’s continued hawkish stance, despite starting its rate-cutting process earlier this month. Is this a sign of economic conditions improving? Could it lead the way to interest rate cuts later this year? Also today, the Treasury its under scrutiny after a Labour donor received a top civil service job. Do we need more

Gavin Mortimer

No EU migrant deal will stop the small boats

The sea lanes of Europe were busy last weekend. On Sunday, more than 700 migrants crossed the Channel from France to England, taking the total number this year to 18,342 – a 13 per cent increase on 2023. On the same day, 421 migrants in twelve boats disembarked on the Italian island of Lampedusa, and more have arrived since, swelling the numbers to over 500. The diversity of the nationalities of arrivals in Lampedusa is a fascinating and alarming snapshot of the crisis confronting Europe. The people stepping ashore hailed from Egypt, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Ghana, Gambia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Liberia and Syria. There are now too many gangs operating in Asia, the Middle East

Steerpike

RSPB told off over ‘party political’ anti-Tory post

To the matter of ‘inappropriate’ party political tweets – from a rather unlikely culprit. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has come under fire after it took to Twitter last year with a rather odd campaign post. The charity took a fierce stance against proposals from the then-Tory government to scrap water pollution restrictions for housing sites in England – and decided to channel its fury online at Conservative ministers. In a tweet written in August 2023, the RSPB accused former prime minister Rishi Sunak, ex-housing secretary Michael Gove and former-environment secretary Therese Coffey for U-turning on environmental protections, slamming the trio as ‘liars’. Crikey. The furious

Steerpike

Treasury under scrutiny after Labour donor bags top civil service job

Back to the Labour government, which is under scrutiny as more questions about party donor Ian Corfield’s new job arise. The banker has a history of donating hefty sums to Sir Keir’s lefty lot, with Electoral Commission records showing Corfield gave more than £20,000 to Labour politicians (including now-Chancellor Rachel Reeves) over the last nine years. Just last month, the Labour donor landed a job as a director of investment at the Treasury – and now it has emerged that the civil service watchdog was not informed of his donation history when it approved Corfield’s appointment. How curious… While most civil service jobs are filled through ‘fair and open competition’,

Kate Andrews

Why has the inflation rate gone up again?

The inflation rate rose to 2.2 per cent in July, slightly up from the Bank of England’s target of 2 per cent, where the rate sat in May and June. It’s the first rate uptick this year – and though widely expected, it will be used to explain why the Bank’s continued hawkish stance, despite starting its rate-cutting process earlier this month. The slight speed up in the inflation rate is largely attributed to the overall cost of household services, where the ‘prices of gas and electricity fell by less than they did last year’. This was somewhat offset by the ‘largest downward contribution’ which was attributed to falling costs for

Tuesday

13 August 2024

Steerpike

Pro-indy politicians at loggerheads over Israel’s deputy ambassador visit

Back to Scotland, where there appears to be trouble in Holyrood’s progressive paradise. The Scottish government’s Culture Secretary Angus Robertson has received strong backlash after appearing in a photo with Daniela Grudsky, the deputy ambassador of Israel to the UK. It transpires that the Scottish government minister met with Grudsky to discuss ‘culture, renewable energy and engaging with the country’s respective diasporas’. A Scottish government spokesperson added that the discussion ’emphasised the Scottish Government’s continued work with Police Scotland to protect Scotland’s faith communities and tackle all hate crimes, including antisemitism’. But Robertson’s meeting has ruffled feathers – particularly with the SNP’s former coalition partners. First slamming the party of

Freddy Gray

Is Elon Musk a great man of history?

34 min listen

On this week’s episode of Americano, Freddy Gray sits down with journalist and Spectator author Ed West who writes the Substack Wrong Side of History and Richard Hanania who writes the Richard Hanania Newsletter to discuss Elon Musk’s interview with Donald Trump on Twitter (X), how much influence Twitter has both in the UK and America, and whether the right-wing men are ‘weird’.