Katy Balls

Katy Balls

Katy Balls is The Spectator’s political editor.

Post Office scandal: government to exonerate victims

15 min listen

At PMQs today Rishi Sunak took the opportunity to announce that the government will be introducing legislation to ‘swiftly’ exonerate the victims of the Post Office scandal. Keir Starmer chose not to probe, instead grilling Rishi on his commitment to curbing migration. With the Safety of Rwanda Bill returning to the Commons next week, will

Katy Balls

Battle lines are being drawn over the returning Rwanda Bill

The Rwanda battle is returning to parliament. On Tuesday, Penny Mordaunt confirmed that the ‘Safety of Rwanda’ Bill will go to committee stage in the House of Commons next week. This means MPs will have two days to add and debate amendments to it. Given Rishi Sunak had to fight to even pass it at

Paula Vennells hands back her CBE

10 min listen

Paula Vennells, the former head of the Post Office, has handed back her CBE. Will her decision put more pressure on politicians like Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader who has so far refused to resign? Max Jeffery speaks to Katy Balls and James Heale.

The problem with Chris Skidmore’s resignation

12 min listen

Chris Skidmore has formally announced his resignation today, triggering another by-election in the process. His departure from the Commons is in protest against the government’s bill on new oil and gas licenses, which is set to be debated later this evening. What’s the reaction been in Westminster? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Fraser

Darren Jones: ‘Labour will reform, not splurge’

This time next year, Darren Jones could very well be deciding how your tax money is spent. As shadow chief Treasury secretary, his days are spent having difficult discussions with would-be Labour ministers and explaining that it would be hard for them to spend any more than the Tories already are. If Labour wants to

What Tories make of Truss’s resignation honours

Liz Truss’s resignation honours list has finally been published. After much speculation – and some outrage she was even doing one in the first place – Downing Street has opted to put out the former prime minister’s resignation list to match with the annual New Year Honours list. The intention is pretty obvious: No. 10

Why Sunak hasn’t yet decided when to call an election

When will the election be? It’s the question that is asked whenever MPs meet. Over the Christmas recess, the issue has once again been driven up the news agenda. The reason? The announcement from the Chancellor that the Spring budget is due to take place March 6. Given this is the earliest the annual fiscal

Inside Labour’s debate on its £28bn green pledge

Merry Christmas Keir Starmer. The Labour leader ends the year with a commanding lead in the polls and both business and media figures working on the assumption that by this time next year he will be in 10 Downing Street. In contrast, Rishi Sunak has little reason for cheer this December (even if he did

The Susan Hall Edition

32 min listen

Susan Hall is a born and bred Londoner running for one of the most important jobs in the city. After leaving school at 18 she had dreams of being a mechanic and struggled to get into technical college. She was later a business owner, running a beauty salon and hairdressing business.  Susan has been involved in

2023: The year in review

27 min listen

How well did Rishi Sunak do on his five pledges? Are we any clearer on what Keir Starmer stands for? Is the SNP done for in Scotland? On this episode, Cindy Yu, Katy Balls, James Heale and Coffee House Shots regular Stephen Bush look back on the past year in British politics. Produced by Cindy

Katy Balls

Will the 2024 mortgage timebomb be less bad than feared?

Rishi Sunak hasn’t had much good news of late. The BBC’s ‘fact checker’ declared this week that he has achieved only one of his five priorities this year – bringing down inflation. As has been pointed out multiple times, bringing down inflation is not something entirely in the Prime Minister’s control and it has been

Is British support for Israel wavering?

10 min listen

Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Defence Secretary Grant Shapps have signalled a shift in the British position towards the Israel-Gaza conflict, suggesting that British support for Israel’s actions may be time-limited. James Heale talks to Katy Balls and Stephen Bush. Produced by Cindy Yu.

Will we avoid recession in 2024?

10 min listen

The big economic news of the week was that the Bank of England has held interest rates at 5.25 per cent for the third consecutive time. This was the expected outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee’s latest vote, but it wasn’t unanimous. There were six MPC votes to hold rates but three to raise it to 5.5

Another by-election looms for Rishi

10 min listen

The big political news today is the Standards Committee recommendation against Scott Benton, meaning a likely by-election in Blackpool South. He was the MP caught on camera by the Times in April, allegedly boasting about lobbying ministers for cash to a gambling firm. When will Rishi catch a break?  James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Paul

Katy Balls

Christmas Special 2023

70 min listen

Welcome to this festive episode of the Edition podcast, where we will be taking you through the pages of The Spectator’s special Christmas triple issue.  Up first: What a year in politics it has been. 2023 has seen scandals, sackings, arrests and the return of some familiar faces. It’s easy to forget that at the

Sunak wins the Rwanda vote – but the battle is far from over

7 min listen

The government has won this evening’s vote on the ‘safety of Rwanda’ bill comfortably at 313 votes to 269 against. This means Rishi Sunak has managed to pass his bill at second reading after a day of negotiations with the various Tory tribes. Not a single Tory MP voted against the bill but 38 conservative

Katy Balls

Sunak wins the Rwanda vote – but the battle is far from over

The government has won Tuesday’s vote on the ‘Safety of Rwanda’ Bill comfortably at 313 votes to 269 against. This means Rishi Sunak has managed to pass his Bill at second reading after a day of negotiations with the various Tory tribes. Not a single Tory MP voted against the Bill. Thirty-eight conservative MPs abstained