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A ritual dance takes place after every economic statistic is issued: regardless of the figures, Labour ministers complain about their economic inheritance, while the Conservatives insist they bequeathed an economy that had turned a corner. Yesterday’s performance came after worse-than-expected official figures
Why is the Starmer government so reluctant to talk about the root causes of the riots? Although Keir Starmer was quick to blame the violent disorder on “far-right thuggery”, I’m told Downing Street’s enquiries suggest that “there is more to this than right-wing extremists”. The reasons may be more complex
Rachel Reeves began that task today, in an important Commons statement in which she said the Treasury had found a £22bn black hole in this year’s Budget left by the outgoing Conservative government. The chancellor announced £5.5bn of cuts in the current financial year, and £8.1bn in the next.
The UK is “not immune” from the rise in nationalism and populism on the continent, Keir Starmer told The New Statesman’s summer party on Monday. “Do not think for a minute that that could never happen here,” he said. “It could – and it might, if we fail in our project of delivering change, and our
A parliamentary showdown between Keir Starmer and Labour’s band of left-wing MPs was inevitable — though it wasn’t expected quite so soon. The prime minister was always going to deal with their revolt ruthlessly, as he did by suspending the seven MPs who backed an SNP amendment calling for the two-child
It was mission accomplished for the first phase of Keir Starmer’s “reset” of Britain’s relations with the EU at the European Political Community summit at Blenheim Palace. The prime minister convinced more than 40 European leaders that he is deadly serious about transforming the relationship. He won their trust by promising not to do something
It has become a standing joke at Westminster. Keir Starmer bangs on about being “the son of a toolmaker”, while Rishi Sunak constantly reminds us his father was a GP and his mother ran a pharmacy. The rolling of eyes in the Westminster village won’t stop them from repeating their favourite
For Keir Starmer, the road to Downing Street has always run through Scotland. Until a year ago, Labour had a proverbial mountain to climb north of the border: in the country it once dominated, it had just one MP (now up to two after the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election).
Dame Alison Rose’s resignation as NatWest chief executive was no surprise, after she admitted last night that she was the source of the BBC story about why Nigel Farage was dropped as a client by Coutts, the private bank owned by NatWest. What was a surprise was how Rose was de-banked in the wider
For months, Conservative and Labour politicians have presumed we are either heading for a general election like 1992, when Tories under John Major defied the opinion polls to spring a surprise victory, or 1997, when Tony Blair won by a landslide. Last week’s local elections in England tell us the answer: neither.
Political columnist for The Independent.
