Uk politics

Monday

William Lowe

Heathrow is the answer – and we know how to make it work

From our UK edition

I realised I wanted to pilot Concorde the day I turned 25. I learnt to fly as a member of the Air Squadron at Birmingham University, but I wasn't sure I wanted to make a career of flying. But when I turned on the television on my 25th birthday and saw the first flight of the British Concorde, I thought 'that’s what I’ll do'. I became Concorde’s longest serving pilot: 27 years. Concorde has long since been retired, and I stepped down as Director of Flight Operations for British Airways a number of years ago. But the one problem that irked me throughout my flying career remains unresolved: what do we do about Heathrow? Heathrow is crucially important to the UK. It is responsible for 1 per cent of UK GDP and drives the economic competitiveness of London and the South East.

Isabel Hardman

New curriculum offers political points to Tories

From our UK edition

The funny thing about the new National Curriculum, published today, is that after all the fuss of the past few months, particularly over the history curriculum, it's probably the last ever national plan from the government. As more and more schools convert to academy status, and more free schools pop up to compete with poorly-performing schools, there will be fewer and fewer who must conform to this: the rest have been given freedom to teach what they judge is best for their pupils. Michael Gove's critics like to argue that he is a great centraliser, dictating the curriculum from Westminster while claiming to give schools freedom. But he only remains a centraliser where schools remain subject to centralisation and local authority control.

Sunday

Isabel Hardman

Ed Miliband prepares for his most testing week yet

From our UK edition

While the Tories bask in the glory of Abu Qatada's deportation, the progress of James Wharton's Private Member's Bill, and the general good atmosphere in the party, Labour is trying to work out what the best response to its terrible week is, and how to get to a situation where it is on top of the story, rather than jogging after it. The Independent on Sunday quotes one senior figure today as saying that Ed Miliband only has two weeks in which to resolve the Falkirk row, and his acolytes were out in force today to underline that the fightback is already under way. Michael Dugher has just appeared on Pienaar's Politics to say that the 'process of change, if anything, has got to accelerate and I think that's what you will see in the days and weeks coming after this'.

Charles Moore

Why not marry your dog?

From our UK edition

Looking forward, as one always must, I wonder if the law will eventually be changed to allow one to marry one’s dog. Until now, this would have been considered disgusting, since marriage has been a law revolving around sexual behaviour, and sexual acts with animals are still, I believe, illegal. But, as this column has pointed out, the unintended consequence of the same-sex marriage legislation has been to take sex out of marriage law. Civil servants, unable to define same-sex consummation, omitted it. So marriage, from now on, can mean no more than the legally registered decision of two people to live together while not being married to anyone else. The justification for this is ‘equality’, buttressed by the idea that love must carry all before it.

Saturday

Charles Moore

The system for MPs’ pay is an undemocratic absurdity

From our UK edition

MPs are incomparable. This may seem an odd thing to say in the current climate of opinion, but I mean it exactly: they cannot be compared with others. Now that a big rise is being suggested by Ipsa, the ‘independent’ body which sets their pay, people say they should be compared with local authority chief executives or head teachers, or that they are a profession. They cannot, and they aren’t. They are our elected representatives. We elect them to make our laws and to vote ‘supply’, i.e. to decide how much of our money government may spend. They therefore constitutionally must decide, in public, on their own pay (if any) and vote on it.

Friday

Isabel Hardman

Ed Miliband and Len McCluskey’s acrimonious rally

From our UK edition

Wham! Len McCluskey and Ed Miliband have spent this afternoon hitting criticisms back and forth over the Falkirk row. Earlier, the Labour leader sent a challenge shooting over the net to the Unite boss, telling McCluskey he 'should be facing up to his responsibilities'. Then the Labour party said it was referring the matter to the police. McCluskey slammed back on Sky News, saying Unite had 'done nothing wrong'. He said: 'I'm afraid the way it has been handled by the Labour party headquarters is nothing short of disgraceful.' And he warned Ed off having a confrontation with the unions: 'It's depressing that Labour leaders seem to want to have a Clause 4 moment, they have got to have a situation where they front up union leaders. Well, Ed doesn't need to front up me. I'm his friend.

Isabel Hardman

MPs back EU referendum bill 304 votes to 0

From our UK edition

James Wharton's Private Member's Bill has passed its second reading in the House of Commons by 304 votes to 0. The Labour Party's decision to abstain on the vote, and Conservative backbenchers' insistence that a vote be held does make the chamber look rather North Korean this afternoon. But what have we learned from just under five hours of debate? Tory HQ's answer would be five neat points, all entitled 'Only the Tories will Let Britain Decide'. In reality, the result of the debate wasn't very interesting (aside from which Labour MPs backed the bill, on which more shortly), but there are still some useful lessons from the debate itself that are worth considering. 1.

Isabel Hardman

‘Len McCluskey should be facing up to his responsibilities’: Ed Miliband stands up to Unite

From our UK edition

Ed Miliband's supporters have been arguing that he needs to show muscle on the Unite row before his opponents successfully argue that he is a weak leader in thrall to the union puppet masters. While Conservative MPs joked abut Tom Watson's 'Buddha' comments in the Chamber this morning, the Labour leader did speak out about Len McCluskey and the Falkirk row. To his credit, he has shown that muscle. He is referring the Falkirk allegations to the police this afternoon, and this morning, he said: We will act without fear or favour. Instead of defending what happened in Falkirk, Len McCluskey should be facing up to his responsibilities. He should not be defending the machine politics involving bad practice and malpractice that went on there, he should be facing up to it.

John Baron

Why Parliament must have a say before Britain decides to arm the Syrian rebels

From our UK edition

The uprising against President al-Assad shows little sign of reaching a conclusion. The civil war is causing huge suffering – with atrocities perpetrated on both sides. There are no easy answers. Some in Government actively push for Britain to supply weaponry to the rebels. But this would be a mistake of historic proportions, as it could tilt the conflict towards a truly regional war. This is one reason Parliament should be consulted before lethal support is provided to the rebels. Our debate next week attempts to draw this line in the sand as we head into the summer recess. So far the debate about providing lethal support has been confined largely to the implications within the country. But the real danger is to the region as a whole.

Isabel Hardman

Douglas Alexander’s evasive EU referendum speech suggests his party could change its mind

From our UK edition

The Tory party have been having a very fun morning in the Chamber so far. The debate about James Wharton's Private Member's Bill for an EU referendum has had the atmosphere of a children's party. David Cameron was smiling on a frontbench like the indulgent father watching his child getting a little over-excited. William Hague played the part of conjurer, producing a magnificent speech attacking Labour and, to a lesser extent, the Lib Dems, for not giving voters a say.

Isabel Hardman

#letbritaindecide fever grips excited nation

From our UK edition

It's eurosceptic party-time in Westminster today. Finally, the time has come for the Conservatives to show that they are the only ones who will #letbritaindecide. When I arrived in Parliament this morning, I was half-expecting a brass band and bunting to celebrate the momentous occasion of the second reading of James Wharton's Private Member's Bill, so excited are Tory MPs. But instead, CCHQ has placed digital posters at a number of sites across London, including the Vauxhall roundabout. You could be forgiven for thinking that the general election is this year, not 2015.

Thursday

Hugo Rifkind

I’ll tell you what really devalues marriage: patronising, preachy little tax breaks

From our UK edition

The Conservative party is trying to redefine marriage. I can’t believe they think they’re going to get away with this. Throughout human history it has been one thing, which is a loving commitment between two people who want to share a life. Now they’re trying to turn it into something completely different. A tax break. It wouldn’t benefit me, even though I am married. Although I swear that isn’t the root of my objection. Honest. My wife and I are in the same tax bracket, you see, so sharing our allowance wouldn’t make much difference. What it amounts to, really, is an incentive for one of us to stop working and stay at home. Granted, it would never be much of an incentive.

Matthew Sinclair

How the government’s energy policies will benefit a rich sheikh at the expense of the poor

From our UK edition

Today Ed Davey launched the London Array, an enormous offshore wind farm, and the Prime Minister posed for pictures with a sheikh whose sovereign wealth fund put up part of the money to finance it. But HH Sheikh Abduhall Bin Zayed is not backing this project out of the goodness of his heart. The Emiratis aim to make a return out of the lavish subsidies on offer. Just last week, the Government announced that from next year offshore wind will get a guaranteed price – under the new 'contracts for difference' in the Energy Bill – of £155 /MWh. Electricity currently sells on the wholesale market for about £50 /MWh. Offshore wind therefore gets three times the price of conventional energy.

Isabel Hardman

Len McCluskey tells Labour how it should be done

From our UK edition

Yesterday Len McCluskey made it very clear that Ed Miliband was definitely, definitely the leader of the Labour party. He said: ‘There can be absolutely no question about who runs the Labour party: it is Ed Miliband and he has my full support. Yes, there may be issues we disagree on, that is allowed in a democratic party, but Unite is fully behind Ed Miliband and after today’s performance by Cameron the sooner he is prime minister the better.’ Which was unhelpful, really, as it's never good when the unions have to issue a statement clarifying who the leader of the Labour party really is. But Len's hands-off approach doesn't mean he can't still tell the party exactly how things should be done.

Isabel Hardman

Breaking: Tom Watson resigns

From our UK edition

Tom Watson has announced he is standing down from his role as Labour general election co-ordinator. You can read the full text of his resignation letter to Ed Miliband below. Given the letter says he offered to resign on Tuesday, the lines prepared by Miliband on Watson for yesterday's PMQs make a little more sense now. James also reveals in his column this week that 'several of those close to Miliband have doubts about [Watson's] work rate and priorities' when considering whether he should be running the party's 2015 campaign. Dear Ed, I said that I’d stay with you as general election co-ordinator within the Shadow Cabinet as long as I was useful. I think it would be a good idea for you, and me, if I stood down from the role now.

Tony Lodge

Ed Miliband is wrong: we need more, not less rail competition

From our UK edition

Last month the Labour party moved two debates in the Commons pushing for Government to keep running the important East Coast Main Line (ECML) rail franchise between London King’s Cross, Newcastle and Scotland. The state has run this service since National Express East Coast was hit by the downturn in 2008 when it became unable to make the necessary government repayments for operating the franchise. Tory ministers want to quickly see the franchise back in private hands. Labour’s more vocal stance on rail has important undertones; the party is increasingly echoing the left-wing rail unions and the TUC in its policy towards the sector.

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

EU referendum plotting meeting: exclusive details

From our UK edition

As trailed on Coffee House yesterday, MPs in favour of an EU referendum met today to discuss how to advance James Wharton's private member's bill and how to pressure Labour and the Lib Dems to change their stance on the issue. I hear colleagues from all parties agreed with Wharton's warning that amendments in the Commons could endanger the Bill, while the Stockton South MP also suggested that though trouble looms in the Lords, any attempts to wreck the legislation there could provide a nice opportunity for a debate about the legitimacy of the Upper Chamber turning down legislation sent up from the Commons. As with gay marriage, dark mutterings about what could happen to this Bill once it reaches the Lords could prove unfounded.

James Forsyth

The curious case of Durand boarding school

From our UK edition

The Durand boarding school project is a wonderfully ambitious attempt to give children from one of the most deprived parts of London the kind of education that has traditionally only be available to a privileged few. But earlier this week, the National Audit Office criticised the Department for Education for handing over money for the project without sufficiently assessing the risks. Margaret Hodge, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, followed up with a letter to the parish council questioning the financial sense of the project. However, as a letter from the school’s head Sir Greg Martin reveals, Hodge had not spoken to Durand before writing the letter.

The Spectator

How the Spectator blew the whistle on the International Health Service

From our UK edition

At Prime Minister's Questions today, backbencher Philip Lee ambushed David Cameron on the subject of health tourism. He asked: 'As a doctor who once had to listen incredulously to a patient explain, via a translator, that she only discovered she was nine months’ pregnant on arrival at terminal 3 at Heathrow, I was pleased to hear the statement from the Secretary of State for Health today on health tourism. Does the Prime Minister agree that although the savings are modest, the principle matters? The health service should be national, not international.' The Prime Minister replied: 'My hon. Friend makes a very important point. This is a national health service, not an international health service. British families pay about £5,000 a year in taxes for our NHS.

Isabel Hardman

How Peter Mandelson’s HS2 intervention will change the debate – and how it won’t

From our UK edition

Peter Mandelson's surprise rejection of high-speed rail in this morning's FT is another sign that the wheels are coming off this project. But while the project's critics on the backbenches - particularly those on the Tory side such as Cheryl Gillan and Michael Fabricant who are campaigning vociferously against the plan - will be thrilled, the continuing cross-party consensus means you won't hear Cameron being probed on this at Prime Minister's Questions, for instance, or Maria Eagle castigating Patrick McLoughlin at the next departmental question time in the Commons. But Mandelson's concerns about the project are about its spiralling cost, not the impact on one MP's constituency (or their majority, for that matter).