Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Friday

Steerpike

Starmer says the EU anthem best sums up Labour

Join die Labour jubilation! Keir Starmer, the man who is very likely to be our next prime minister, has just been asked on Classic FM to choose a piece of music that sums up Labour and picked ‘Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the choral Ode to Joy’. Which just happens to be the European Union’s anthem. ‘It has got a sense of destiny and is hugely optimistic,’ Starmer told his radio audience. ‘It’s that sense of moving forward to a better place, [which] is incredibly powerful.’ So a sort of high-brow version of the Blairite D:Ream belter: Things can only get better. Or perhaps a not-so-subtle nod to those Starmer-supporting Remainers who hope

Ross Clark

What good would forcing cyclists to have number plates do?

There was little competition for the oddest and most obscure bill to be announced in the King’s Speech: the proposal to licence London’s pedicabs. On the list of the most pressing issues facing the nation, it doesn’t tend to feature very highly. There must be many people in Britain who have never seen a pedicab, let alone ridden in one or come into conflict with these vehicles, which tend to ply a tiny zone of tourist London around Piccadilly Circus. But could the move to regulate pedicabs evolve into something a little more substantial? During a debate on the pedicab bill in the Lords this week, Lord Hogan-Howe, formerly chief

Andrew McQuillan

The tension simmering beneath the Dublin riots

The situation in Dublin yesterday – in which five people were injured in a knife attack in the heart of the city, resulting in a riot and violent clashes with the police – was to the untrained eye reminiscent of Belfast from days gone by. Speculation about the nationality of the attacker fuelled the scenes of violence which took place last night and that has led to condemnatory tutting. After all, Ireland’s national myth is tied into tales of immigration and welcoming. A riot over immigration in its capital city contradicts the stories Ireland tells the world about itself. The instinct, almost reflex reaction of the establishment, was to deploy

Katy Balls

The Alison McGovern Edition

27 min listen

Alison McGovern sits on Labour’s front bench as the shadow minister for work and pensions but was first elected as an MP in 2010. Growing up in Merseyside, her grandfather was a folk singer who wrote ‘My Liverpool Home’. Her father was a railwayman that campaigned for better working conditions, but it was her mother that sparked her interest in politics. Following a successful career as Labour councillor she went onto win her seat for Wirral South. Alison has led several senior posts for Labour, which began as Gordon Brown’s parliamentary secretary, then Opposition Whip, Shadow Minister for international development, Shadow Education, Shadow Treasury Minister and Shadow DCMS Minister.

Thursday

Kate Andrews

In defence of the latest high migration figures

The debate over migration figures released today seems to be whether or not we’ve reached a new ‘record high’. The Office for National Statistics reports net migration rose 672,000 in the year to June. This would have been a record high if the ONS hadn’t also revised last year’s figures up by a staggering 140,000 to 745,000. This seems, to me, to be a technicality. Either way, the figure is hovering around its highest point in recent history. Net migration has more than doubled since June 2016, when the UK voted to leave the European Union. The numbers really took off after Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit reforms, which created pathways for graduates to

Katy Balls

Have we seen peak migration?

12 min listen

After much Whitehall spin, the official figures are now in. Net migration in the year to June hit 672,000, down from 745,000 in 2022. A total of 1.2 million people arrived to live in the UK, whilst 508,000 moved overseas. The ONS says it’s too early to call this a downward trend, but has migration to the UK peaked?  Katy Balls speaks to James Heale and Kate Andrews.  Produced by Oscar Edmondson. 

Stephen Daisley

There’s no one to vote for if you want controlled immigration

There has been much Tory huffing and puffing about the ONS revising 2022 net migration to 745,000, up from its previous estimate of 606,000. James Heale has documented their dismay. Conservative MPs are a journalist’s dream: they don’t do much but they’re always quick off the mark with a statement lamenting all the things they’ve not done.  You will have read this story before. The Conservatives pledge to crack down on immigration, immigration goes up, and the Tories announce that they’re jolly cross about it. Boy, just you wait till they get into government. Oh how things will be different then.  Every election the Conservative party has won in the

Lara Prendergast

Israel’s challenge

42 min listen

On the podcast: Anshel Pfeffer writes The Spectator’s cover story this week. He voices concern that support from Israel’s allies might begin to waver if they don’t develop a viable plan after the war finishes. Paul Wood – former BBC foreign correspondent – and Dennis Ross – former Middle East coordinator under President Clinton and advisor to President Obama – join the podcast to debate whether Israel can rely on its allies. (01:18) Also this week: In the Books section of the magazine this week we review Andy Stanton’s new book Benny The Blue Whale. It has a fascinating inception and was co-authored by the machine learning tool ChatGPT. Andy is joined by

Steerpike

James Cleverly admits to foul-mouthed Commons jibe

James Cleverly has admitted to calling a Labour parliamentarian a ‘shit MP’ – but denied saying Stockton North is a ‘shithole’. The Home Secretary confessed to making the comment during a heated debate in the Commons following yesterday’s Autumn Statement. Cleverly was overheard taking a pop at Labour’s Alex Cunningham, after the MP for Stockton North asked Rishi Sunak why child poverty was so high in his constituency. A spokesman for Cleverly immediately denied that he made the comment – but a source close to the Home Secretary has today admitted he did use a four-letter word in the chamber. ‘He (Cleverly) apologises for unparliamentary language,’ the source said. ‘As

Steerpike

Scottish parliament to investigate SNP health secretary

Uh oh. It’s not looking good for Scotland’s health secretary Michael Matheson. During a rather tearful speech in the Chamber last week, Matheson revealed that he had referred himself to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body for an external review. While this temporarily halted press enquiries into the details, the referral isn’t the safety net Matheson desperately needs. For now it turns out that the SPCB wants to investigate him further. So far it’s only taken Holyrood 10 months to act… However, the watchdog won’t be looking into the porkies Matheson told the press last week — namely, denying his iPad had been used for personal activities when he knew it

Senay Boztas

Why Geert Wilders won

Far right, anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders has won a historic victory for his Freedom party (PVV) in shock Dutch elections on Wednesday. As the final votes are counted, Wilders appears to have more than doubled his 17 MPs in 2021 elections, winning 37 of the 150 seats in the Dutch parliament and almost a quarter of the 13 million votes. ‘The PVV can no longer be ignored,’ vowed Wilders following his success overnight. ‘We will govern’. Wilders, who campaigned on the idea of ‘stopping’ immigration, appears to have benefitted from widespread mistrust of the government after a series of scandals under ex prime minister Mark Rutte. For years, Wilders has tried to

James Heale

Tory backlash as net migration hits record levels

After much Whitehall spin, the official figures are now in. Net migration in 2022 is estimated to have hit 745,000, a huge revision upward from an earlier estimate of 606,000. That figure only fell slightly by 10 per cent to 672,000 for 2023, as a total of 1.2 million people arrived to live in the UK in the 12 months up until June. Today’s net migration figure is more than three times the level when the 2019 Conservative manifesto pledged to ensure ‘overall numbers come down.’ The reaction of Conservative MPs to these figures has not been a happy one. The New Conservatives group of 25 right-wingers has released a collective

Patrick O’Flynn

Sunak has no excuse for immigration being this high

Of all the essential tasks facing Rishi Sunak when he became Prime Minister, bringing down the level of legal immigration should have been by far the most straightforward. This is probably not what the electorate had in mind when voting for Brexit in order to ‘take back control’ of the borders All he had to do was tweak student and work visa requirements to ensure a significant fall from the gargantuan 606,000 net migration number bequeathed to him by Boris Johnson. He could then have tried to sell the idea to Tory-leaning voters that a downward direction of travel had been set in motion, with further down payments on the

Matthew Lynn

Is Javier Milei already defying his critics?

Critics of Argentina’s president Javier Milei have already made up their minds: he is a lunatic and his plans will collapse on first contact with the real world. Argentina’s money will run out and the economy will grind to a halt. To some commentators, he is a ‘hard-right’ ideologue who will crash the economy within weeks. They say he’s like Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng on roller-skates. If you listen to those attacking Milei, you’d be forgiven for thinking the man in charge in Buenos Aires will precipitate yet another economic calamity in a country which has been stumbling from one disaster to another for almost a hundred years. But

Michael Simmons

Net migration hits 672,000 – with 2022 figures revised up

Has migration to the UK peaked? Net migration in the year to June hit 672,000, down from 745,000 in 2022. Some 1.2 million people came to Britain whilst 508,000 moved overseas. The ONS says it’s too early to call this a downward trend, but that immigration seems to be slowing whilst emigration is increasing. Perhaps the biggest story though is the size of some of the revisions. The ONS had previously put the net migration figure for 2022 at just over 600,000. Today they found 140,000 more people and revised it up to 745,000. This is a staggering change. Taken with today’s figure, that new peak suggests numbers are coming

Freddy Gray

Did Israel-Palestine protests push Geert Wilders’s election victory?

Geert Wilders’s victory is another slap-in-the-face moment for the European Union. The complexities of Dutch democracy may mean that he struggles to form a strong government. But his victory, which seemed impossible just a few weeks ago, reminds us that, whether we like it or not, anti-immigration politics is the most potent force in 21st century western democracies. It also raises interesting questions about how the Israel-Palestine war may be influencing elections far outside the Holy Land. There are of course many factors behind Wilders’s latest ascent — his ‘Nexit’ position against the European Union, his Freedom alliance with Dutch farmers against the eco-left, and his broader objections to the

Katy Balls

Has Hunt opened the door to a spring election?

Rishi Sunak wakes up to the most positive front pages his government has had in months. The decision to use the autumn statement to cut personal tax as well as make the largest business tax cut in modern history has led to the press praising the government for easing the tax burden – even if it is still going up. Meanwhile, MPs hope this is just the beginning and it marks a pathway to further tax cuts ahead of the election. Addressing MPs last night at a meeting of the 1922 committee, Hunt said the autumn statement marked a turning point – both for the economy and the party’s fortunes. He

Jawad Iqbal

Is India attempting assassinations on foreign soil?

Is the Indian government guilty of conducting a covert policy of targeted assassinations of political opponents on foreign soil? The question is prompted by explosive revelations that the US authorities have foiled a conspiracy to kill a Sikh separatist on American soil and have issued a warning to India over its suspected involvement. The latest allegations, reported in the Financial Times, come just two months after Canada accused India of being behind the murder of a Sikh activist in Vancouver – a claim that prompted furious denials and denunciations from New Delhi.  Sitting on the diplomatic fence is not really feasible for Washington when it involves claims of India targeting

Stephen Daisley

Removing Hamas will not solve everything

Ever since Hamas invaded Israel, massacred 1,200 of its citizens and kidnapped 240 as hostages, there has been an effort to distance the Gazan population from the terrorist group. In most cases it has been well-intentioned, reflecting a desire that western populations do not associate the rape, torture and mass murder of Jews seen on 7 October with the residents of a territory that is 98 per cent Muslim. Since 9/11, political, civil, journalistic and security elites have made delinking Islam and Islamist violence a priority in their initial responses to terrorism. This has been the case particularly in countries with a sizeable or highly visible Muslim population that could

Joanna Williams

Why won’t the Tories ban pupils from transitioning?

Finally, after months of argument and expectation, media briefings and leaked drafts, it seems the government just might be ready to release its transgender guidance to schools. Possibly. In a few weeks. Word is that this latest iteration asserts the importance of sex over gender. It makes it clear to schools that sports teams, toilets and changing rooms should be demarcated according to biology. Only female children are to play on girls’ sports teams or sleep in girls’ dormitories on school residential trips. This is sensible and in keeping with decisions recently taken by major sporting bodies. But those hoping for a complete ban on children social transitioning – changing