Uk politics

Sunday

Steerpike

Labour conference, in pictures

From our UK edition

It's that time of the year again. As Labour conference kicks off in Brighton, the annual event has managed to attract a range of interesting characters – all with a common aim: true socialism. With Labour leading in the polls, Mr S has been touring the conference centre and World Transformed festival to get a glimpse of what life would be like under Corbyn: [caption id="attachment_9940392" align="aligncentre" width="520"] Bye bye Sun[/caption] [caption id="attachment_9940542" align="aligncentre" width="520"] (Credit: Lucy Fisher)[/caption] [caption id="attachment_9940342" align="aligncentre" width="620"] A World Transformed display[/caption] [caption id="attachment_9940402" align="aligncentre" width="520"] Labour – a party for workers?

Tom Goodenough

Labour conference rows over letting Sadiq Khan speak

From our UK edition

When Sadiq Khan took to the stage at Labour’s conference last year, his none-too-subtle message to Jeremy Corbyn was a lecture on the importance of winning power. Now, a year on, some Corbynistas are determined not to give the London Mayor the same opportunity to speak up - as we have already seen in the conference. Khan was reportedly denied a slot on the main stage this time around. That decision was then reversed in the wake of a backlash by one of the big unions, as Katy Balls reports. But the row over whether Khan should be allowed to speak isn't over yet. As proceedings kicked off this morning, one Labour member took to the stage to call for Khan to be blocked from speaking (see the video above).

Steerpike

Watch: Clive Lewis vs Caroline Flint on racism and migration

From our UK edition

Labour’s conference only started a few hours ago but already the cracks are starting to show. While the Tories are doing a good job of tearing themselves apart over Brexit, Labour is determined not to be outdone. Clive Lewis and Caroline Flint don’t see eye-to-eye on many issues - and the question of freedom of movement is no different. On Sky’s Sunday with Paterson, the pair debated the question of whether opposition to immigration was a matter of racism. It's fair to say their exchange summed up why Labour's still has some work to do on its Brexit stance... Does opposition to immigration come down to racism? pic.twitter.

Isabel Hardman

Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit confusion continues

From our UK edition

One of the daily rituals in British politics at the moment is each of the main parties sending out press releases about how 'hopelessly divided' the other is on Brexit. There are so many facets on which politicians can bicker that this ritual won't end with the negotiations, or the transition period (however long that ends up being) or indeed with the eventual relationship with the EU that Britain settles into. "There will be a lot of movement" of workers after Brexit - @jeremycorbyn tells #marr pic.twitter.

Steerpike

Jeremy Corbyn’s Uber memory lapse

From our UK edition

The Uber ban presents something of a dilemma for the Labour party. The decision by Transport for London not to renew the taxi company’s licence has angered the party’s young voters. Yet Labour politicians are inclined to side with the unions rather than those affected by the ban. But when Jeremy Corbyn was put on the spot on the Andrew Marr show today about whether he has ever used an Uber, he found the perfect way of dodging the question: AM: Have you ever taken an Uber? JC: ….I don’t think so. AM: You don’t think so? JC: I’m not sure but I don’t think so If Jeremy ever does remember, Mr S would be interested to know the answer...

Katy Balls

Battle lines drawn ahead of Labour conference

From our UK edition

Comrades, Labour conference is here. Today MPs and members descend on Brighton for four days of speeches and discussions on what Labour has to do in order to become a party of government. With the party now leading in the polls, the fringe talks on 21st century socialism, Venezuela and foreign policy at large will be watched with newfound interest from the business community. Given the trouble the Tories found themselves in last week over Europe, one could be forgiven for thinking that the Labour party by comparison is now the picture of stability and calm. But as the party comes together for the first time since the snap election, a number of battles are being fought behind the scenes.

Tom Goodenough

Labour’s conference, day one: The Spectator guide

From our UK edition

As the  Labour party conference kicks off, Jeremy Corbyn's grip on power has never been stronger. The party's moderates have been sidelined from the main stage at this year's event in Brighton. And a vote this week on rule changes affecting future Labour leadership contests is likely to give a further boost to those on the party's left. On day one of Labour's conference, here are the main events to watch out for: Labour conference: 10.30am: Morning plenary session: NEC Chair’s Address; CAC report 11.20am & 2.15pm: Protecting our communities 4.30pm: General Election report Fringe events: 12.30pm: Will one last heave win Labour the next general election? Hall 7 - Trent, Hilton Brighton Metropole Speaker: Chuka Umunna 12.

Saturday

Philip Sime

‘Long and vain’: Europe’s press reacts to Theresa May’s Florence speech

From our UK edition

Following months of tortured negotiation between the UK and the EU, Theresa May delivered her speech in Florence yesterday in an attempt to break the Brexit deadlock. Mrs May proposed a two-year transition period during which Britain would retain its access to the single market and confirmed that the UK Government will honour its commitments to the EU budget. She also spoke of the ‘shared challenges and opportunities’ that face the UK and the EU in a bid to build consensus. Here’s how Europe’s press reacted to the long-awaited speech. France France’s centre-left daily, Le Monde, agrees with Theresa May that Brexit negotiations can be extended beyond March 2019, however, points out that all member states must be in favour of such a move.

William Cook

Britain may have lost faith – but Germany still believes in the EU

From our UK edition

Theresa May’s Florence speech may have been welcomed with cautious optimism by Michel Barnier, but the reaction in Germany has been decidedly more downbeat. ‘In substance, May is bringing no more clarity,’ tweeted German MEP Manfred Weber. ‘I am even more concerned now.’ Weber is Chairman of the centre-right European Peoples Party, the biggest grouping in the European Parliament, and a rising star in Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union. So does he speak for Merkel? Well, that would be pushing it, but while ‘Mutti’ maintains her deafening silence about all matters Brexit, it’s probably the closest we’re going to get.

Steerpike

Jacob Rees-Mogg sees red

From our UK edition

Although Theresa May did manage to prevent a revolt breaking out after her speech in Florence yesterday, that's not to say anyone in Cabinet is particularly pleased by her words. The Prime Minister did buy herself more time – but failed to clearly say where she what direction she was planning to go in that period. On the backbenches, Conservative MPs have less reason to hold their tongue over such concerns – as Jacob Rees-Mogg demonstrated on Newsnight.

Ed West

Is America’s ‘despair epidemic’ about to arrive in Britain?

From our UK edition

However stressful and bad things get for a parent of young children, there is always one thought that puts it all in perspective - just wait until they're teenagers and they're calling you up at 3am asking for a lift from a nightclub in New Cross. So reports like this one, showing that one in four adolescent girls suffer from depression, are bound to add to that gnawing feeling of dread. Firstly the caveats - any statistic that claims '1 in such and such' suffers from this, or is a victim of this, should be treated with scepticism. Depression is also an ill-understood term, a medical diagnosis widely applied by non-medical experts. But it's safe to say that a lot of people are unhappy, and in particular a lot of young women.

James Forsyth

The big questions Theresa May must answer

From our UK edition

Theresa May’s speech in Florence was fine as far as it went, I say in The Sun this morning. A time limited transition is a sensible way to smooth out Brexit. But May didn’t answer the really big questions in this speech: what kind of future relationship with the EU does the UK want? How does it think regulatory divergence should be managed? The problem is that the Cabinet is divided on these questions—and neither side is strong enough to win the argument. So, Boris and Gove can stop Hammond and Heywood from getting what they want. But they can’t win the debate themselves. The result is a stalemate. This means the government doesn’t have clear direction on this crucial question.

Charles Moore

Is my euroscepticism partly down to a delayed teenage rebellion?

From our UK edition

On Tuesday, for the first — and undoubtedly last — time in my life, I found myself mounting the platform at the Liberal Democrat conference. This was because my father, Richard Moore, was receiving a richly deserved award there. He is 85, so I was assisting him up the steps in Bournemouth. Part of his distinguished service to his party consists in the fact — surely unique in human history — that he has attended every Liberal annual conference since 1953: these shows have taken up a year of his life. He told me that he spoke at the first one he attended, in Llandudno, in favour of what was then referred to as the Schuman Plan, the embryo of what is now the European Union. It is sad for him that Britain will leave the EU more than 65 years later.

Sarah Sands

The Brexiteers own optimism just as Remainers claim reason

From our UK edition

On Brexit bias, tone has become almost as important as argument. I notice that cheerfulness can grate on some, who regard it as political comment. When the Australian high commissioner asked on the Today programme why Brits were so gloomy, it was categorised as an anti-Remain intervention. It is true that whoever came up with the word ‘Remoaners’ delivered a lasting blow. The Brexiteers own optimism just as Remainers claim reason. I want to try to tell the story of Brexit through concrete examples rather than positions. We looked at the fashion industry the other day and the designer Patrick Grant made a simple case. When he is making a suit, he imports parts from different countries. He can order a zip from Italy overnight.

Friday

Robert Peston

May’s Florence speech is a blueprint for keeping Britain in the EU as an ‘associate’ member

From our UK edition

I am not a conspiracy theorist. But if I were, I might conclude that the prime minister's speech in Florence represents the victory of Whitehall, led by the cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood, over the arch Brexiteers in the cabinet. Because although it is spectacularly short on detail, it does not represent a clean break with the EU. And it seems to propose some kind of associate membership of the EU for Britain as the long-term status quo. May proposes a new trading relationship with the EU that is neither membership of the European Economic Area and the single market or a conventional free trade arrangement. She wants our future economic relations with the continent to be more intimate than the latter and a bit less intimate than the former.

James Forsyth

May’s Brexit speech leaves some key questions unanswered

From our UK edition

Theresa May’s speech in Florence set out more detail on the government’s position on transition. But it did not answer the question of what the UK’s final relationship with the EU should be, and how the UK thinks regulatory divergence between it and the EU should be managed. May’s transition proposal, though she still prefers the term implementation period, would see the UK continue to obey all EU rules and regulations and accept free movement, albeit with registrations of new arrivals. In effect, Britain would be staying in the EU but as a non-voting member. She suggested that this transition last two years. But she also said it should go on for as long as necessary for the new systems to be put in place.

James Kirkup

A Brexit transition deal could make things worse

From our UK edition

As the sort of treacherous, Britain-hating invertebrate who betrayed his Queen and country by voting Remain and still doesn't believe leaving the EU will make us happier or richer, I should welcome Theresa May's Florence speech. It is, after all, confirmation that the British Government has - far, far later than it should have done - accepted political, diplomatic and economic reality. Remember, not too long ago we were being told that Britain would pay nothing to the EU after March 2019, that there would be a complete end to ECJ jurisdiction, that 'no deal' was nothing to fear and that those semi-mythical German carmakers would force the EU to give us a favourable trade deal, pronto. That's all gone now, at least among members of the reality-based community.

Rachel Cunliffe

Without Uber, London will be a more dangerous city for women

From our UK edition

Transport for London has decided it knows what will keep me safe better than I do. The transport regulator has today refused to reissue Uber’s private hire licence, on the basis of 'public safety and security implications'. Let me tell you about security implications as a woman in London. If I come out of a club or bar in the middle of the night, I do not want to be hanging around alone on the pavement for half an hour while my minicab fails to materialise, engaged in a frustrating negotiation with the operator about where exactly my driver is. I don’t want to trawl the streets in the hope of finding a black cab to hail down, only to be told my zone 3 address is too out of the way for them.

The Spectator

Theresa May’s Florence speech on Brexit, full text

From our UK edition

It’s good to be here in this great city of Florence today at a critical time in the evolution of the relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union. It was here, more than anywhere else, that the Renaissance began – a period of history that inspired centuries of creativity and critical thought across our continent and which in many ways defined what it meant to be European. A period of history whose example shaped the modern world. A period of history that teaches us that when we come together in a spirit of ambition and innovation, we have it within ourselves to do great things. That shows us that if we open our minds to new thinking and new possibilities, we can forge a better, brighter future for all our peoples. And that is what I want to focus on today.

Stephen Daisley

The Uber ban is a pitiful howl against a changing economy

From our UK edition

Eight days. That’s how long you have left to enjoy Uber if you live in the capital. Transport for London, a body that should really replace ‘for’ with ‘against’, says it will not renew Uber’s operating licence when it expires on September 30.  It’s a victory for the cabbie lobby, which cannot match the private hire app on price or convenience. How much easier to hector government into shutting down the competition. It’s a win, too, for fans of over-regulation, who have been out to get Uber for some time now. They are aficionados of rigidity and Uber was frustratingly fluid, its business model less susceptible to the impositions dreamed up by restive bureaucrats.