Markus Andrews

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was accused Wednesday of leading a “chaotic” government as another one of his Conservative lawmakers defected to the main opposition Labour Party ahead of a looming general election.In a stunning move just ahead of weekly prime minister’s questions, Natalie Elphicke crossed the floor of the House of Commons to join the ranks of Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, which appears to be heading to return to power after 14 years in opposition.Elphicke, who represents the constituency of Dover, which is at the front-line of migrant crossings from France, lashed out at the “broken promises of Rishi Sunak’s tired and chaotic government” and said that Labour now occupies the center ground of British politics.“From small boats to biosecurity, Rishi Sunak’s government is failing to keep our borders safe and secure,” she said. “Lives are being lost in the English Channel while small boat arrivals are once again at record levels.”Sunak has made stopping small boat arrivals one of his main priorities, notably with his controversial plan to send some asylum-seekers to Rwanda. Starmer welcomed Elphicke to the Labour benches as well as Chris Webb, the party’s new lawmaker in Blackpool South in northwest England following his big victory in a special election last Thursday. Elphicke is the second Conservative lawmaker to defect to Labour in two weeks after Dan Poulter quit in anger over the government’s handling of the National Health Service.Starmer called on Sunak to call a general election now as he wondered what was the point of “this failed government staggering on” when even the Conservative lawmaker ”on the front line of small boats crisis says the prime minister cannot be trusted with our borders and joins Labour?”Last week, the Conservatives suffered a historic drubbing in local elections, losing nearly half of its candidates, while Labour made gains and won most of the key mayoral races it fought, including in London.In the U.K., the date of the general election rests in the hands of the prime minister. It has to take place by January, and Sunak has repeatedly said that his “working assumption” was that it would take place in the second half of 2024. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch as Rishi Sunak faces Sir Keir Starmer in Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday 8 May.It will be the first time the two leaders go head-to-head since last week’s local election results.The Conservatives suffered a mauling from the electorate, losing nearly 500 council seats, the West Midlands mayoral race and the Blackpool South by-election.Sir Keir has urged the prime minister to call a general election “as quickly as possible” as he welcomed Labour’s newest MP to Parliament yesterday.Chris Webb took his seat in the House of Commons five days after winning the Blackpool South by-election with almost 60 per cent of the vote.Welcoming Mr Webb to parliament’s Westminster Hall, Sir Keir praised his “phenomenal victory” and hailed him as “the first born-and-bred Blackpool MP for 60 years”.The Labour leader joked that the party was “making a habit of this”, with Mr Webb making last Thursday’s by-election the eighth of the parliament to see Labour gain a seat. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailTory MP Natalie Elphicke has defected to Labour, hitting out at the “broken promises of Rishi Sunak’s tired and chaotic Government”.The Dover MP crossed the floor in the Commons just moments before Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.Here is the statement she released in full following her defection:“When I was elected in 2019, the Conservative Party occupied the centre ground of British politics. The party was about building the future and making the most of the opportunities that lay ahead for our country.“Since then, many things have changed. The elected Prime Minister was ousted in a coup led by the unelected Rishi Sunak. Under Rishi Sunak, the Conservatives have become a byword for incompetence and division. The centre ground has been abandoned and key pledges of the 2019 manifesto have been ditched.“Meanwhile the Labour Party has changed out of all recognition. Since 2019, it has moved on from Jeremy Corbyn and now, under Keir Starmer, occupies the centre ground of British politics. It has accepted Brexit and its economic policies and defence policies are responsible and can be trusted.“Most significantly for me, the modern Labour Party looks to the future – to building a Britain of hope, optimism, opportunity and fairness. A Britain everyone can be part of.“I have carefully considered this decision. The change has been dramatic and cannot be ignored. For me key deciding factors have been housing and the safety and security of our borders.Natalie Elphicke with then-Home Office minister Robert Jenrick during a visit to meet residents in Dover in November 2022 More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailFormer England cricketer Monty Panesar has stood down as a candidate for George Galloway’s Workers Party of Great Britain after just one week.Mr Panesar was to contest the Ealing, Southall seat in west London, currently held by Labour with a majority of 16,084.But after a series of disastrous media interviews, he has said he will no longer contest the seat and instead will “take some time to mature and find my political feet”.Monty Panesar said he was ‘still learning about how politics can help people’ More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailPenny Mordaunt gave a speech in central London last night warning Tory MPs that their factionalism is the main reason Labour is expected to win the general election.The leader of the House of Commons recently dismissed claims that she is positioning herself as a unity candidate to replace Rishi Sunak as leader.However, questions have been asked about Mr Sunak’s future after a drubbing at a local elections. He is due to meet Tory MPs in a briefing this afternoon to try to persuade them a win is still possible.In what was her 86th fundraiser event for the party since Mr Sunak became prime minister, Ms Mordaunt told the Westminster Conservative Association that a general election win for the party is “not impossible” if the factions end their civil war.Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt has dispelled rumours of a leadership bid (Danny Lawson/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Voters in North Macedonia were casting ballots on Wednesday in a parliamentary election and a presidential runoff dominated by issues including the country’s path toward European Union membership, corruption and the economy.The 61-year-old incumbent in the presidential election, Stevo Pendarovski, faces Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, 70. Pendarovski is supported by the ruling center-left coalition, while Siljanovska-Davkova is backed by the center-right opposition.Pendarovski and Siljanovska-Davkova squared off in the last election, in 2019, and Pendarovski had won with 53.8% of the vote.The first round of the latest presidential election, on April 24, was seen as a barometer for the parliamentary election. It gave a clear lead to Siljanovska-Davkova, who garnered 41.2%, compared to 20.5% for Pendarovski. Turnout must be at least 40% in the runoff for the result to be valid.With the presidency being a largely ceremonial post, the parliamentary election is considered the more important one.More than 1,700 candidates are vying for the 120 seats in the unicameral assembly. There are also three seats reserved for expatriates, but last time around, in 2020, turnout was too low for them to be filled. Voters will be heading to 3,400 polling stations across the country.Polls have consistently shown the center-right VMRO-DPMNE party, at the head of a 22-party coalition called “Your Macedonia,” with a double-digit lead over the coalition “For A European Future” led by the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia, or SDSM.There are also two coalitions representing ethnic Albanians, who account for a quarter of North Macedonia’s population: European Front is led by the Democratic Union of Integration (DUI), which has been the coalition partner of all governments of the past 20 years, whether center-right or center left. But VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski has expressed the desire to ally with the VLEN (“Worth”) four-party coalition, which has positioned itself to the right of DUI.The month-long campaign focused on North Macedonia’s progress toward joining the 27-nation EU, the rule of law, corruption, fighting poverty and tackling the country’s sluggish economy.North Macedonia’s path to the EU is being blocked by neighboring Bulgaria, which demands that the constitution be amended to recognize a Bulgarian minority. And while the center-left has agreed to the demand, VMRO DPMNE has denounced the government’s “capitulation (to) Bulgarian dictates.”Just over 3,500 people out of nearly 1.84 million identified themselves as Bulgarians in North Macedonia’s latest census, in 2021.North Macedonia has been a candidate to join the EU since 2005, but was blocked for years by neighboring Greece in a dispute over the country’s name. That was resolved in 2018, but Bulgaria is now the one blocking the process — it has said it will only lift its veto once the constitution is amended.EU membership negotiations with North Macedonia — and fellow-candidate Albania — began in 2022 and the process is expected to take years.Corruption is the other hot-button issue.A European Commission report last year said that corruption “remains prevalent in many areas” of North Macedonia. In December, U.S. Ambassador Angela Aggeler said there was “an epidemic of corruption in this country that has affected every sector, every organization, and only by exposing the corrupt actors can we begin to help the country address these issues.”Mickoski has accused the ruling SDSM and DUI of a “corruption pandemic.” Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski has said he is “aware that people are not satisfied” and promised anti-corruption measures.The State Electoral commission expects that more than 2,300 domestic and international observers will monitor the elections.Preliminary results weren’t expected earlier than Thursday. More