Category Archives: Politics

Call for investigation into Nadine Dorries over failure to quit as MP

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More than half of people believe MP’s absence is significantly damaging parliament’s reputation, poll shows

A campaign group has written to the standards watchdog asking for an investigation into Nadine Dorries after its poll suggested more than half of people believe her absence as an MP and failure to quit has significantly damaged parliament’s reputation.

Tom Brake, the director of Unlock Democracy, called for an inquiry after the group commissioned an Opinium survey that found 55% of people thought Dorries had caused significant damage by failing to speak in parliament and delaying her decision to quit.

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A social tariff could bring a warm glow to UK energy policy

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A lower price cap will still mean unaffordable bills for many. Yet a fairer alternative has been quietly dropped

Nearly a decade ago, former Labour leader Ed Miliband sowed the seeds of the energy price cap, vowing to protect households from unfair tariffs by freezing their energy bills. But even though a cap has been in place since 2018, bills today can be far from affordable, even when they are fair.

On Friday, industry regulator Ofgem will set its new limit on how much suppliers can charge per unit of gas and electricity. Analysts at Cornwall Insight expect it to lower the energy price cap from £2,074 a year for the typical household to £1,823, which would be its lowest level since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Government’s ‘small boats week’ backfires as Labour lead on immigration rises

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Tory attempt to capitalise on Channel crossings draws attention to immigration and strengthens opposition lead on issue

Government attempts to make capital out of the issue of Channel crossings in a special “small boats week” appear to have backfired with the public, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.

“Small boats week”, earlier this month, was dogged by a series of disasters, including figures showing record numbers of crossings; the evacuation, due to a health scare, of the Bibby Stockholm barge used to house migrants, and the deaths of at least six people when a small boat capsized and sank in the Channel.

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How William Gladstone defended his father’s role in slavery

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The great Victorian statesman’s glittering career was financed by huge profits made in the 1820s and 30s on Guyanese estates

• William Gladstone: family of former British PM to apologise for links to slavery

William Gladstone’s father, John, was an absentee landlord who never visited his estates in the Caribbean but became fabulously rich from the proceeds of slavery.

His pursuit of profit at the expense of free – and then cheap – labour in Guyana transformed the South American country for ever.

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Russia bans dozens of UK journalists, media figures and politicians

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List of 54 Britons includes Guardian reporters and executives, a defence minister and the culture secretary

Russia has banned dozens of British journalists, media representatives and senior UK politicians from entering the country, including five Guardian journalists and executives, the foreign ministry said on Friday.

In a statement published on the foreign ministry’s website, Moscow said the sweeping action was a response to UK sanctions and the “spreading of false information about Russia”, as well as “London’s unrelenting military support for the Kyiv neo-Nazi regime”.

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My view on Scottish independence has ‘moved’, says Kezia Dugdale

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When asked how she would vote in a referendum, former Labour leader in Scotland says she will ‘decide at the time’

Former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has said her stance on independence has “moved”, as she can no longer argue for staying in the UK with the same strength she did in the run-up to the 2014 referendum.

Dugdale said she felt that Scots will eventually get a second vote on the future of the UK but did not believe another referendum would take place within the next decade.

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Labour is ‘far from watering down’ employment policy, says Angela Rayner – UK politics live

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Deputy leader says party would legislate to improve workers’ rights within 100 days as reports say it plans to water down previous policy positions

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has said that “far from watering down” the party’s commitments to improve workers’ rights, it will be setting out “in detail how we will implement” changes, and promised the party would legislate to protect rights within 100 days of coming into office.

Her long thread on social media comes off the back of reports today in the FT that the party is planning to water down some of its previous policy positions. Rayner wrote:

Labour’s New Deal for Working People will be the biggest levelling-up of workers’ rights in decades - providing security, treating workers fairly, and paying a decent wage.

We’ll tackle insecure work by banning zero-hours contracts, ending fire and rehire and ending qualifying periods for basic rights, which currently leave working people waiting up to two years for basic protections.

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Rishi Sunak and Saudi crown prince hope to meet ‘at earliest opportunity’

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Leaders discuss plans to ‘progress UK-Saudi cooperation’ amid reports that Mohammed bin Salman has been invited to UK this autumn

Downing Street has confirmed Rishi Sunak plans to meet the Saudi crown prince “at the earliest opportunity”, following reports that the UK has invited Mohammed bin Salman to visit this autumn.

A No 10 readout of Thursday’s conversation between the prime minister and Prince Mohammed gave more indications of the shift towards a renewed UK embrace of Saudi Arabia, after a hiatus in the wake of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the dissident and Washington Post columnist, in 2018.

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Government confirms plan to scrap two-week cancer wait targets in England – UK politics live

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Currently two-week wait target is not being met as government says new guidelines will consolidate ten current targets into three

There was some consternation in the comments yesterday at any passing mention of the football, which is going to make it awkward to do the front pages today, with an awful lot of papers featuring the Lionesses upfront and centre.

The Guardian led with the prime minister promising to protect the pensions triple lock, which could see a massive benefits rise given how high inflation is running.

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UK windfarm red tape to cost billpayers £1.5bn a year, say analysts

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Analysis finds Treasury rules on new windfarms likely to stifle energy generation and keep bills high

New offshore windfarms will be strangled by government red tape, costing UK billpayers £1.5bn a year, an analysis has found.

The latest government auction for new offshore windfarms, due to be completed in September, could result in few projects making it through Treasury rules, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), a non-profit organisation.

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Rishi Sunak accused of being ‘out of touch’ over energy bill support comments – UK politics live

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The Lib Dems criticise the PM after he suggested some people did not realise the government was still providing bill support

John McTernan writes for the Guardian today, calling for Labour to stop being so cautious and make the election a referendum on net zero:

Or nearly everything. Labour currently lacks one vital quality: confidence. While heading for a victory bigger than Tony Blair’s landslide of 1997, the party appears to be too frightened to fight. Whenever the Tories do something profoundly amoral or un-British – such as telling refugees to “fuck off”, as their vice-chair, Lee Anderson, recently did – Labour seems scared of going on the attack.

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Rail fare rises in England will not exceed 9% inflation figure in 2024

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Government confirms ticket price rises will be delayed until March and will be below retail prices index

Rail fare rises in England will not exceed 9% next year and will be delayed until March, the government has said.

Ticket costs used to increase in January in line with inflation as measured by the retail prices index over the 12 months to the previous July. On Wednesday the Office for National Statistics revealed last month’s RPI rate was 9%.

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Scottish public spending deficit falls as oil revenues hit record high

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Both sides of constitutional debate use Gers data to argue case for and against independence

Scotland’s public spending deficit has fallen from a record peak last year, as oil and gas revenues reached their highest-ever level after a global rise in oil prices.

The government expenditure and revenue Scotland (Gers) report calculated a per-person deficit – the gap between the amount raised through all tax and spending on all public services – as £1,521 in the 2022-23 financial year, down from £2,184 the previous year.

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Patients could get cancer scans without GP referral, says Steve Barclay

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Health secretary suggested patients could go directly to diagnostic test or clinician to ease ‘bottleneck’ in NHS system

Patients with cancer symptoms could bypass their GP in the future and go straight for a scan, the health secretary has suggested, in the latest “radical” attempt by the government to cut huge NHS waiting lists.

The suggestion, which comes as the government is expected to reduce the number of NHS cancer waiting time targets, could form part of proposals to “design out bottlenecks” in the NHS system, Steve Barclay said in an interview.

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Charities and experts call for overhaul of ‘broken’ UK sick pay system

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Coalition urges health secretary to back changes as long-term sickness levels reach record high

A coalition of charities and health experts has called for an overhaul of the UK’s “broken” sick pay system, as the number of people prevented from working by long-term sickness reached a record high.

The health secretary, Steve Barclay, was urged in a letter to support changes that the campaign says would not just address widening health inequalities but also benefit the economy.

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Labour says extra 900 beds for NHS just a ‘sticking plaster’ amid record waiting times – UK politics live

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Wes Streeting says announcement of £250m to provide 900 extra beds ‘comes nowhere near the 12,000 beds’ cut in the last 13 years

Back on the PSNI data leak for a second, former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has questioned how the details of PSNI officers and staff were all kept in one system.

“What’s happened, why it’s happened, I don’t know, I don’t get it – how 10,000 people were all in one system, particularly intelligence people – but I’m sure that will all come out in the wash,” PA Media reports he told Newstalk.

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EU denies reports it has rejected UK deal to return people who cross Channel

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Ursula von der Leyen aide reported to have ruled out ‘returns agreement’ in leaked copy of memo

The EU has rejected reports that it is not open to a new deal with the UK on returning people who have crossed the Channel, after a leak of purported discussions between London and Brussels.

A leaked copy of a memo on discussions with the UK’s national security adviser, Sir Tim Barrow, was reported to have included mention of an aide to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, ruling out a post-Brexit “returns agreement”.

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Legionella on the Bibby Stockholm barge: five questions for Home Office

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Many issues remain to be resolved after asylum seekers were evacuated on Friday because of a potentially deadly bacteria

The Home Office’s decision to use the Bibby Stockholm barge to accommodate asylum seekers generated controversy long before the first person set foot onboard.

But issues with its use came to a head on Friday when the government confirmed the asylum seekers were being evacuated just days after moving in because of legionella, a potentially deadly bacteria, being found in its water system. While officials have provided a plan to use an RAF base instead, many questions remain.

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Keir Starmer urged to defend lawyers after Tories’ ‘targeted campaign’

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Exclusive: Martin Forde KC says fellow professionals are ‘bewildered’ at silence over case of Jacqueline McKenzie

Keir Starmer is facing calls to defend the legal profession against government attacks on “lefty lawyers”, amid further concerns for the safety of an immigration solicitor subjected to a “targeted campaign” by the Conservative party.

Martin Forde KC, the senior lawyer commissioned by Starmer to investigate the Labour party’s culture, said legal professionals from across the political spectrum had expressed their bewilderment that the Labour leader had not said anything after such personal attacks, even after former Conservative law officers criticised the political rhetoric aimed at “lefty lawyers” on Friday.

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Keir Starmer accuses Tories of ‘moving goalposts’ on NHS cancer care

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Proposals to ‘streamline’ treatment, which government says are clinically led, would cut number of targets from nine to three

Keir Starmer has accused the government of “moving the goalposts” as the number of NHS cancer waiting time targets is expected to be reduced.

The government has been consulting on the proposed measures to streamline NHS cancer care, which would replace the nine existing cancer targets with just three. The target of all patients seeing a specialist within two weeks of an urgent referral for cancer tests by the GP is expected to be scrapped.

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