For what’s actually a pretty significant story, at least in political terms, it’s got very little airtime thus far. One article in the Telegraph a couple of days ago is all I’ve found of any significance. The Treasury have asked Scotland to find £107 million in savings in 2015/2016, compared to the original £177 million […]
Archives for June 2015
With either Sol Campbell or Zac Goldsmith running, Labour may find it harder to retake London than they banked on
As I and others have noted in the past month, Labour are in a bit of a pickle at present. Stephen Bush at the New Statesman gave a fascinating breakdown of the psephological mountain Labour have to climb in order to win the next general election. And that’s before you take into account the new […]
David Cameron is right to demand collective cabinet responsibility on Europe – now let’s see if he can stick to it
The prime minister has come out all guns a-blazin’ on Europe today, specifically on the topic of what he expects his cabinet ministers to do. He unequivocally expects them to back his position. “The government isn’t neutral in this. We have a clear view: renegotiate, get a deal that’s in Britain’s interest and then recommend […]
Given what we saw post-Indy referendum in Scotland, what could the EU referendum do to British politics?
Andy Burnham wants there to be a separate EU Labour Yes campaign, one very much walled off from any possible connection with the Tories. The reason for this is simple. Better Together was seen as a disaster for Labour, particularly given what happened several months later (the whole losing every seat in Scotland bar one, […]
Jeremy Corbyn has no chance of becoming Labour leader. Here’s why that’s actually key to Labour’s core problem
Owen Jones wrote a piece in the Guardian late last week, the title of which made me laugh out loud the moment I read it. “Jeremy Corbyn is in the Labour leadership race. The real debate starts here.” To be fair to Owen, I get what he was trying to say; it was only so […]
John Wittingdale’s bit on the BBC licence fee hitting the poor the hardest is a tick for the Tories
The Conservative Party, under the guise of new Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, has described the BBC licence fee as “unsustainable” and that the current set up is “worse than poll tax”. He said all that in the last parliament actually, when he was not Culture Secretary. Nevertheless, Chris Bryant, the shadow Culture Secretary, decided to […]
If Scotland gets dragged out of the EU unwillingly, a second independence referendum is fair enough
As many long time readers will know, I am not a fan of either the Scottish National Party or indeed, of nationalism altogether. But I had sympathy reading Nicola Sturgeon’s words about a Brexit leading to a second Indy ref yesterday. “Bluntly, I believe the groundswell of anger among ordinary people in Scotland in these […]
I’ve given Burnham a hard time before. But Yvette Cooper would be almost as bad as Labour leader
Yvette Cooper was on the BBC over the weekend, talking about what she’d do if she was elected by the party faithful to steer the Labour ship forwards. Actually, thinking back on it, it was more like she spent a lot of time telling us about all the wrong things the other candidates would do […]
A Eulogy for Charles Kennedy
I’ll start by saying I’m not the best placed person to be writing this piece. I know several people who worked for Charles, some for a very long time, and they’d have more of substance to say about the man. Me, I only met the Rt Hon Kennedy a handful of times; usually at Westminster […]
Don’t like the Rose-Smith Tory-UKIP collusion? Get used to it
An article from the Guardian yesterday revealed that the Hampshire police are investigating a possible intelligence sharing operation run between Royston Smith, the Conservative candidate for Southampton Itchen who is now that constituency’s MP, and Kim Rose, the UKIP candidate in the same seat. The Tory MP has admitted to giving the UKIP candidate advice […]