Katy Balls is The Spectator’s former political editor.
From our UK edition
12 min listen
Matt Hancock today confirmed that Public Health England will be scrapped and replaced by a new National Institute for Health Protection, which will be led by Baroness Dido Harding - who currently runs the Test and Trace scheme. John Connolly speaks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews about why.
From our UK edition
13 min listen
Gavin Williamson announced this afternoon that pupils receiving A-level and GCSE results this year would be awarded teacher-predicted marks. Why has the government finally changed its mind, and will Gavin Williamson stay in the Cabinet? Cindy Yu speaks to Fraser Nelson and Katy Balls.
From our UK edition
After a bruising few days for Boris Johnson and his ministers over the grading system for A-levels and GCSEs, the government has today performed a U-turn. Following growing outrage both from disappointed students and frustrated MPs, the chair of exams body Ofqual has announced a change in the grading system. In a pre-recorded clip, Roger Taylor said: Expecting schools to submit appeals where grades were incorrect placed a burden on teachers when they need to be preparing for the new term and has created uncertainty and anxiety for students. For all of that, we are extremely sorry.
From our UK edition
10 min listen
As the backlash to the government's exams fiasco continued over the weekend, Gavin Williamson has been steadfast in not U-turning. But with GCSE results out later this week and Ofqual's algorithm revealing significant inequalities, is this position sustainable? John Connolly talks to Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson.
From our UK edition
Any hope in government that the row over A-level results would die down over the weekend has been dashed. As opposition MPs and students call for Gavin Williamson's resignation as Education Secretary, the general process has been thrown into doubt after Ofqual – the exams regulator – suddenly announced it is reviewing its guidance on how to appeal against A-level and GCSE grades using mock exam results (a point of contention is what happens when a mock result is higher than a teacher’s prediction). This announcement came only hours after that initial guidance was published.
From our UK edition
Are the Lib Dems finished? It's not the first time that question has been asked. In fact, it's a fairly regular refrain. With the days when the Liberal Democrats reliably won around 40 to 60 seats a distant memory, the party has struggled since the coalition years to find relevance. Ahead of the 2019 snap election, the party appeared to be in a good position. After big gains in the European elections, the then leader Jo Swinson had a chance to capitalise on two polarising leaders in Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn and hoover up votes from the centre. Instead the party won fewer seats than in 2019 and Swinson lost her own seat. It's in part for these reasons that the leadership contest now underway to find Swinson's successor has failed to set the heather alight.
From our UK edition
16 min listen
The Liberal Democrat leadership race will finally come to an end this month but, after December's crushing election defeat, is the party over too? In a special Saturday edition of Coffee House Shots, Gus Carter speaks to Katy Balls and Nick Tyrone, author of Politics is Murder, about how a new leader could pull the Lib Dems back from the brink of extinction.
From our UK edition
11 min listen
Belgium, Andorra and the Bahamas were added to the UK’s quarantine list yesterday evening, meaning Brits returning from those countries will be required to stay at home for two weeks. With Belgium’s neighbour, France, also seeing a surge in coronavirus cases, will they be next? Gus Carter speaks to Katy Balls – who is on holiday in Paris – and James Forsyth about air bridges, exam results and the lack of candidates to become the next cabinet secretary.
From our UK edition
44 min listen
London is the motor to Britain’s economy, so how can it rebuild after the pandemic? (00:55) How can the new Tory leader in Scotland, Douglas Ross, keep the United Kingdom together? (17:50) And why the looming conflict between India and China isn’t in Kashmir, but rather in the Bay of Bengal. (29:33) With economist Gerard Lyons; historian Simon Jenkins; The Spectator’s Scotland editor Alex Massie; The Spectator’s political editor James Forsyth; historian Francis Pike; and author Jonathan Ward. Presented by Katy Balls. Produced by Gus Carter and Max Jeffery.
From our UK edition
10 min listen
The government has announced the most ambitious planning reforms of a generation – but could they backfire? Meanwhile, as the contacting tracing regime continues to lag, health officials launch a new coronavirus app that will tell people if they may be at risk from the virus. Katy Balls talks to James Forsyth and Kate Andrews.
From our UK edition
When Dominic Cummings addressed government advisers recently, he said that he was so out of touch with day-to-day politics that he needed to ask who the current leader of the Liberal Democrats was. In fairness to the Prime Minister’s most senior adviser, he’s not alone in this confusion. Since Jo Swinson lost her seat to the Scottish National party in the December election, there have been only interim leaders in place as members pick a successor. Ask a No. 10 staffer or Tory MP which candidate they would prefer to win — Layla Moran or Sir Ed Davey — and you are more likely to be met with laughter than a serious reply. Once again the Liberal Democrats are being talked up as a party on the brink of extinction.
From our UK edition
10 min listen
Douglas Ross has won the Scottish Conservatives leadership election – but can take on the SNP without risking a second independence referendum? Meanwhile, pressure is growing on the Tories to suspended a former minister accused of rape. Finally, a new report by a cross-party group of MPs suggests the failure to impose quarantine on travellers at the height of the pandemic could have worsened the coronavirus crisis. Gus Carter talks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls.
From our UK edition
As ministers work on plans to return all pupils in England to the classroom next month, the government is once again being criticised from all sides. Union leaders are questioning whether the current plan carried significant safety risks, while England's children's commissioner has made an intervention today warning that schools should be the last places to shut in future lockdowns – after pubs. This comes back to a Whitehall phrase I reported last week, the ‘schools or pubs dilemma’. Ministers have started to consider their arguments in the event that some things have to close in order for others to open as a result of the rate of infection being too high in No. 10's view.
From our UK edition
10 min listen
Pizza Express today announced that 1,100 jobs are at risk as they close 67 outlets. With the Chancellor's furlough scheme winding up in November, should we expect more mass redundancies when the government support is cut? Gus Carter speaks to Kate Andrews and Katy Balls about the UK's economic outlook, and also asks whether the UK's track and trace system is ready for children returning to school next month.
From our UK edition
14 min listen
Today marks the start of the 'Eat Out to Help Out' scheme – but can the move save Britain's restaurants without risking a second spike? Katy Balls speaks to James Forsyth and Kate Andrews about the Treasury initiative, as well as the possibility of more local lockdowns.
From our UK edition
23 min listen
Statistics released this week showed that England had the worst excess death rate in Europe during the first half of 2020. Katy Balls speaks to Kate Andrews and Carl Heneghan, professor of evidence-based medicine at Oxford University about what's behind the numbers.
From our UK edition
26 min listen
On the episode this week, Freddy Gray, editor of the Spectator's US edition, reads his cover piece on the real Joe Biden. We also hear from Douglas Murray on the trial of Amber Heard and Johnny Depp - and about allegations that can't be proved or disproved. At the end, Katy Balls relays the government's anxiety over a second wave.
From our UK edition
13 min listen
Overnight, the government announced a return of stricter social distancing measures in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and East Lancashire, with multiple households no longer allowed to meet indoors or in pubs and restaurants. Then, in an impromptu press conference today, the Prime Minister also called off the reopening of bowling alleys, casinos and indoor concert venues. What prompted the sudden change, and are we entering a second lockdown? Cindy Yu speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls.
From our UK edition
After deciding over the weekend to impose a two-week quarantine on Britons returning from Spain, Boris Johnson has pulled the hand brake once again. In a press conference alongside chief medical officer Chris Whitty, the Prime Minister announced that in light of a rise in coronavirus cases he would be pausing aspects of lockdown easing that had been due in the coming days While it remains the case that the working from home guidance will change so that people are encouraged to go to their workplace if their employer wants them to (including those who have been shielding), various hospitality measures have been put on pause. Bowling lanes, casinos and ice rinks will not open as planned while certain high contact beauty treatments will remain against the rules.
From our UK edition
Boris Johnson’s policy of local lockdowns will no doubt come under increased scrutiny after new restrictions were imposed on Greater Manchester and parts of East Lancashire and West Yorkshire. Labour politicians have been quick to criticise the short notice of the overnight announcement while local residents have complained of confusion over the changes. It comes at a time of growing unease among MPs about the local lockdown strategy itself. While the plan to go for local lockdowns as a way of avoiding a second national lockdown has been largely welcomed by the public, some believe that sentiment could change quickly – when voters find themselves placed in one.