All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
There were few silver linings in today’s Budget announcement – but one measure the Labour lot are rather keen to harp on about is the cut to draught duty by 1.7 per cent. What exactly does this work out at? Er, a rather measly one penny off the cost of a pint. How very generous…
All the political framing of the past three months has been around Rachel Reeves’ first Budget. Black holes have been ‘discovered’, public services have been found to be in a worse state than expected, and Liz Truss has been exhumed at every opportunity (or at least, when she hasn’t been inserting herself into the political
When Rishi Sunak was Prime Minister, he and Keir Starmer had some of the most repetitive and uninformative sessions at Prime Minister’s Questions. Today was his final stint as leader of the opposition in this forum, and the session was charming. It covered the coast-to-coast route, which travels through his Richmond constituency, the importance of
Axel Rudakubana, the alleged Southport killer, has been accused of possessing a terrorist document, yet the police still insist there is no evidence of a terrorist motive. How can both be the case? The document Rudakubana is accused of downloading is a version of the 180-page ‘al-Qaeda training manual’. It is also known as the
Taxes will rise by £40 billion following Labour’s first Budget for 14 years. The Chancellor announced: • An increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions from April to 15 per cent, raising £25 billion • That the freeze on income tax and National Insurance thresholds will not be extended past 2028 • That the lower rate
Hillary Clinton has a simple but bitter lesson to teach Donald Trump’s supporters in 2024: the best way to lose an election is to assume you’ve already won it a week before it happens. The MAGA movement – aiming to Make America Great Again, namely by Making Trump President Again – has never been more
If there’s one thing the SNP truly excels at, it’s maintaining double standards. The extraordinary case of the Scottish government and the missing legal advice makes clear just how hypocritical the SNP is when it comes to conduct in public life. Scottish nationalists are swift to condemn opponents at the slightest whiff of impropriety but,
To the subject of office decor, with Rachel Reeves now in the spotlight for matters other than her Budget. It now transpires that the Chancellor has made some rather controversial alterations to her workspace’s wall art — in replacing a portrait of Margaret Thatcher’s chancellor with a founder of the, er, British Communist party. Good
‘To get rich is glorious’ is perhaps the most over-used slogan attributed to Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader who reformed China and opened its economy up to the world. There is no evidence that he actually said it, but regardless it seemed to capture the mood of that era. In the China of Xi Jinping,
It’s Budget day in Westminster. The question being asked by Labour MPs: can Rachel Reeves pull it off? This lunchtime, the Chancellor will stand at the despatch box and pitch Labour’s first Budget for 14 years as necessary tough choices to ‘fix the foundations’ while also ensuring ‘working people don’t face higher taxes in their
Most chancellors pull a rabbit out of a hat during their Budget statements – something to delight their own MPs and leave the opposition feeling outmanoeuvred. Such has been the atmosphere of doom and gloom generated by Rachel Reeves in advance of hers that there is a temptation to envisage her plonking a boiled bunny
The Israeli parliament resumed its work on Monday after a long recess, and one of the first items on the agenda was voting on a bill that enjoyed rare widespread popularity. The bill decreed that Israel will severe ties with the UN relied and work agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), which will heavily restrict the
It is tempting, confronted with the news that British Airways is to swap out lunch on long-haul flights leaving between 8.30am and 11.29am in favour of a ‘Great British Brunch’, to conclude that flying has simply gone to the dogs. The cost-cutting move, which applies to business and First Class passengers, has raised many an
It is tempting to think of this Budget as a triumph in expectation management. Rachel Reeves’s minions have briefed us on so many potential tax rises that surely the actual speech, when finally delivered, can’t be as bad as feared. Having been conditioned to expect the worst, we will all end up feeling pathetically grateful
The teenager accused of murdering three girls in Southport in July is now facing two further charges. Axel Rudakubana, 18, already faces three charges of murder, 10 charges of attempted murder and one charge of possession of a knife. But today the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced that he has also been charged with the
Sardinia hasn’t always been the tranquil, picture-perfect paradise of today. The island was once ruled by bandits; its rugged landscape the perfect place for criminals to hide. Things weren’t much better on the coastline: slap bang in the middle of the Mediterranean, the island was an easy target for pirates and was vulnerable to plague.
When Russell Findlay stood to be Scottish Conservative leader, he talked the familiar language of ‘change’. I predicted that this would translate to a rightwards shift for the party and his first major speech in the job confirms it. Findlay is not entirely comfortable with the ‘right wing’ label – he is a Tory, after
So, the long-awaited Israeli strike on Iran is finally over, and if we trust the Israeli post-attack analysis, then it went well. Buckling under American pressure not to attack Iranian nuclear or oil facilities, which could have led to massive escalation and a spike in oil prices (both undesired outcomes on the eve of US
Having won 72 seats at the general election, political pundits have been asking what the Lib Dems are going to do with their vastly increased presence in the House of Commons. The answer so far: not much. It’s remarkable how quiet the party has been, both in parliament and in the media. However, the Budget
Well, well, well. Budget announcements are meant to be made in the House of Commons chamber – yet despite all Sir Keir Starmer’s talk of ‘grown up politics’, his Labour government has opted to trail a number of announcements in advance of Rachel Reeves’s big speech. As Mr S wrote on Monday, Speaker Lindsay Hoyle
Perhaps the strongest asset of the Conservative party is its members (reader, I married one!) and the best part of this leadership contest has been meeting so many of them. On the campaign trail, I’ve encountered three types of party member. The first want to refight the last election, but with different policies. The second worry
We won’t have to speculate about the details of the Labour’s first Budget much longer. But one tradition as old as time has been confirmed by the Treasury: the National Health Service is getting more cash. ‘Our NHS is the lifeblood of Britain,’ the Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said ahead of unveiling her full Budget
Last week, Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury since 2013, started leading the Church of England. He got off the fence on homosexuality and backed a major change to the Church’s teaching. He said that that ‘all sexual activity should be within a committed relationship, whether it’s straight or gay’. This obviously goes against the Church’s
The Tory leadership contest has entered its final week and both finalists are ramping up their media appearances in a last ditch attempt to pick up votes. While she initially opted not to spend too much time on the airwaves, Kemi Badenoch has in recent days accepted more interview invites as concerns about voter turnout
Emmanuel Macron arrived in Morocco on Monday for a three day State visit, during which time he will discuss trade and security. Among his entourage is Yassine Belattar, a light entertainer with a controversial past. In September last year, the 42-year-old Franco-Moroccan was found guilty by a Paris court of making death threats against the
‘I’ve proven in my career that I will always win,’ Erik ten Hag told the press last month. ‘In the last six years I have won eight trophies.’ The now-sacked Manchester United manager’s words were true but said without conviction. As loss followed loss, it was just one of the many excuses he trotted out
It’s the great game obsessing all Westminster: who exactly constitutes a ‘working person’? During the election, Labour regularly said that the tax burden on ‘working people’ was too high. In the manifesto, the party again pledged to protect ‘working people’ from paying more. Now, ahead of a tax-raising Budget, various groups are discovering that while
The president of Egypt has come up with the most modest of proposals to try and end the war in Gaza. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has proposed a 48-hour ceasefire to facilitate the release of just four Israeli hostages in exchange for an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel. El-Sisi’s objective is for
What is a working person? This is the question Keir Starmer and other members of his Cabinet struggled to answer over the past week or so. Labour’s flip-flopping is in many ways emblematic of the clash between political rhetoric and fiscal reality. And there is another term that is probably much harder to define, one