British Politics

Greens MP Caroline Lucas has accused the Tories of being the “nasty party” after it told backbenchers to abstain from a vote to keep a £20 top-up to Universal Credit. Lucas accused the government of being “perfectly happy” for the price of the pandemic to be paid for by “some of the poorest people who are least able to […]

A new television drama is to focus on Boris Johnson’s first year in Downing Street, with particular focus on his handling of the pandemic, his own experience with Covid-19, and the birth of his son Wilfred. The drama, to be produced by Freemantle, will focus on the private lives of the prime minister and his […]

Scottish seafood lorries have parked on the roads near Downing Street in protest against being “tied in knots with paperwork” by the Brexit fishing deal. Footage showed a number of HGVs descending on roads near 10 Downing Street in response to the issues they have faced in exporting seafood to the EU. A number of […]

A Cabinet minister has acknowledged issues in the vaccination rollout in her constituency, saying some individuals are receiving the “distressing and annoying” information that lower priority individuals are to receive jabs first. Work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey said she has been contacted with concerns in the Suffolk Coastal area that some over-80s, and even […]

Comedian and TV presenter Rufus Hound has used an appearance on ITV’s Dancing on Ice to shame the government over its handling the free school meals fiasco. Hound, a contestant on the show, joked that the only thing crazier than appearing on the programme was a government that refused to feed hungry children during the holidays. […]

The Liberal Democrats are not the party of rejoining the European Union, Sir Ed Davey has said. The Lib Dem leader said that whilst his party are “very pro-European” and want to see the closest possible relationship with the EU following Brexit, they are “not a rejoin party”. Sir Ed added that he believes the […]

Labour could win up to 351 seats if it teamed up with the Greens and Liberal Democrats at the next general election, new analysis has revealed. Analysis of polling figures by pro-EU lobby group Best for Britain showed that Labour would secure just 284 seats at the 2024 elections if it went it alone. That is 42 […]

Sir Keir Starmer has called Boris Johnson “pathetic” for ordering Conservative MPs to abstain from a vote on extending a £20 weekly rise in Universal Credit, and said that “in their heart of hearts” Tories would back Labour’s move. The prime minister was working to lessen the scale of a potential revolt from his within […]

A minister has accepted he may have made the wrong decision on voting against extending free school meals in the House of Commons – before defending a decision not to support offering help for families again in the House of Commons. Nadhim Zahawi, appearing on Good Morning Britain, was questioned over Matt Hancock’s interview in which […]

Michael Gove and 13 Conservative MPs – including ministers and cabinet ministers – reportedly joined a social media platform favoured by the far right before it was forced offline last week. Nine Tory backbenchers joined Parler in an apparent show of support for free speech following Donald Trump’s clashes with Twitter over remarks he made following […]

The foreign secretary has denied that the collapse of fishing businesses would be the result of Brexit. Dominic Raab claimed delays to fishing exports are just “teething problems” and that thee trading agreement will “create huge, sustainable opportunities” for the fishing sector. Exports of fresh fish and seafood have been severely disrupted by delays since […]

The UK would be “lucky” to strike a trade deal with Washington in Joe Biden’s first term as president, the former UK ambassador to the US has said. Ahead of Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday, Lord (Kim) Darroch, who was forced to quit in 2019 after frank diplomatic cables referring to current President Donald Trump were […]

The Tories are expected to abstain in two key votes on the government’s support for families – which includes scrapping a £1,000 a year cut in Universal Credit and the extension of free school meals – with Boris Johnson claiming the party is “playing politics” with the vote. Johnson will come under intense pressure to […]

The first stage of Jeremy Corbyn’s legal battle with Labour over his suspension from the parliamentary party will be heard by the High Court.  Lawyers for the former opposition leader are applying for the disclosure of documents ahead of a possible legal challenge over his suspension. At a remote hearing on Monday afternoon, Judge Lisa […]

Transport secretary Grant Shapps has encouraged the public not to listen to him on advice about when to book holidays. The cabinet minister admitted he would be the last person to take travel advice from after he imposed quarantine restrictions on Spain within an hour of arriving there on holiday. Shapps was forced to fly […]

Not all pro-Europeans think Keir Starmer got his position wrong on the Brexit deal. Desmond Fitzgerald (Letters, TNE #226), thinks that Starmer should be ashamed for whipping Labour MPs to vote for the Brexit deal, but I think Starmer was right: 1. The vote wasn’t Leave or Remain, it was between a bad deal (terms […]

Fine Gael politician Neale Richmond has claimed Leave.EU is “a threat to democracy” and should not be welcomed into the Republic of Ireland. Richmond warned members of the Irish parliament that the Brexit lobby group was a “politically subversive organisation” that was allowed “a foothold in our democracy, [and there] will be an absolutely detrimental effect”. Leave.EU, the domain […]

MPs have a “moral duty” to protect the NHS from being negotiated in trade deals, campaigners have said as a vote on protecting the health service enters the House of Commons for a second time. Anti-privatisation campaigners claim that failing to protect the NHS from trade deals would open it up to being charged more […]

Labour’s shadow education secretary Kate Green has called for Gavin Williamson to resign over the latest free school meals scandal, saying he “plainly isn’t up to the job”. Green said the public had “run out of patience” with the education secretary. The opposition politician says she will force a vote in the Commons next week […]

James O’Brien has schooled a Brexiteer refusing to accept new trade rules between the EU and the UK. Simon from Sevenoaks said taking back control of British waters was a major reason for his decision to vote Brexit but that he now feels disappointed it has resulted in the end of frictionless trade with the EU. Simons’ comments […]

The transport secretary has been criticised after claiming he was “not aware” the Brazilian strain of coronavirus was in the UK – despite scientists going public about two cases hours later. Shapps described a ban on travel from South America, which includes an exemption for British and Irish nationals, as a “precautionary” measure to ensure […]

Downing Street has insisted it “as quickly as possible” to prevent a Brazilian strain entering the UK, despite evidence it has already arrived. Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds accused the Conservatives of being “far too slow to protect our borders against Covid”. He said: “It is terrible news that evidence of the highly infectious Covid variant […]

The Scottish Tories have suspended a Holyrood candidate after he said people who were reliant on food banks were fat. Craig Ross also attacked anti-poverty campaigner and English footballer Marcus Rashford and said people filmed at food banks were “far from starving”, the Daily Record has revealed. Ross was a contender for the seat of Glasgow Pollok […]

Fishermen in Scotland have left UK waters and headed to Denmark to sell their fish in a bid to bypass new Brexit regulations agreed to by Boris Johnson. According to Danish newspaper Altinget, the fishing auction in Hanstholm has reported unusually high levels of interest from Scottish fishermen since January 1. “We are in dialogue with 10-15 new […]

Boris Johnson has been told by a senior Tory backbencher that his leadership will be “on the table” if the government does not ease Covid restrictions. Steve Baker of the lockdown-sceptic Covid Recovery Group has written to members urging them to put pressure on the Tory chief whip over the issue. Baker, who played a […]

Amber Rudd has said Boris Johnson has a “sort of language which he’s quite rightly nervous using in front of women” as the ex-home secretary hit out at the “boys’ club” atmosphere in the Commons. Rudd also accused the prime minister of going “backwards” on promoting women. The former cabinet minister said she quit Johnson’s […]

There are fears that the 48-hour working week could be scrapped under government plans for a post-Brexit overhaul of labour laws. The Financial Times reports that the government is planning to tear up key protections enshrined in EU law which could see workers lose paid holiday and force them to work longer. Business secretary Kwasi […]

Trump’s refusal to accept the end of his presidency was predicted by Mitch Benn in 2017… because he had seen it foretold in Game of Thrones.  Here’s the thing: I’m not an expert. On anything. I know a fair bit about a fair few things, but the capacity to store and retrieve biggish reserves of […]

New Brexit red tape causing friction at Britain’s borders are an “obvious and inevitable” part of leaving the EU and are here to stay, former chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said. Barnier said businesses could expect to overcome “glitches, problems, and breakdowns” caused by new paperwork in the weeks and months ahead but warned that other […]

Less than four months before Scots go to the polls for Holyrood elections, Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard has announced his resignation.  In a statement to the Daily Herald on Thursday afternoon, Leonard said: “I have come to the conclusion it is in the best interests of the party that I step aside as leader […]

A Labour MP has claimed Afghanistan was quicker and more effective at implementing restrictions at its borders to contain the coronavirus than Britain. Siobhain McDonagh said No 10’s border policy during the pandemic had been “a mess”. Panellists on BBC 2’s Politics Live were discussing a ban on flights to and from Brazil in light of a new variant originating […]

A former Ofsted chair has called for education secretary Gavin Williamson’s resignation, amid the continuing lack of certainty over what will replace cancelled GCSEs and A-Levels. In a letter to exams regulator Ofqual yesterday, Williamson said he would like “to explore the possibility of providing externally set tasks or papers, in order that teachers can […]