Markus Andrews

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA Tory defence minister warned on the first day of the general election campaign that Rishi Sunak’s plan to reintroduce national service would “damage morale” in the military.Andrew Murrison signed off a written answer to fellow Tory MP Mark Pritchard which was published less than 24 hours after the prime minister had dramatically called a snap election.The response from a seasoned minister has been highlighted after there was a furious backlash to the Tory plan revealed overnight to reintroduce national service for school leavers.National service was scrapped in 1963 but now, if the Conservatives win power again, school leavers would be given the option of joining the military and getting paid or doing voluntary service for nothing.Rishi Sunak wants to reintroduce national service More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailIt has been a rollercoaster of a couple of years to be a Southampton fan – from the lows of regulation last season, to a thrilling rise up the Championship this season.But Rishi Sunak’s beloved Saints won a dramatic play-off final on Sunday to secure promotion to the Premier League.It finally marks some good news for the prime minister after his own rollercoaster start to his general election campaign, which saw him drenched in rain when announcing the July 4 date and a mass exodus of MPs has left his party scrambling for candidates.Following the victory, he wrote on X: “We’re back,” adding three clapping hands emojis.The Conservative Party leader had laughed off being asked earlier this week whether he would prefer to see Southampton promoted or win the general election.Mr Sunak did however score an own goal at the start of his campaign after asking workers at a Welsh brewery whether they were looking forward to the football later this summer as a potential source of revenue – despite Wales not qualifying for the Euro 2024 tournament.The PM was spotted in the stands just days before his election announcement watching Southampton take on West Brom in the Championship play-off semi-final.The self-described “massive Saints fan” was seen standing and clapping, wearing a black hoodie emblazoned with “Saints 85” in red.Jack Stephens of Southampton lifts the Sky Bet Championship play-off final trophy after his team’s victory today More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA former army reservist whose blog has been praised by ex-defence secretary Ben Wallace has ripped apart Rishi Sunak’s plans to reintroduce National Service.The author of the Thinpinstripe blog is a former civil servant at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and writes under the pseudonym “Sir Humphry”.His analysis of the Tory pledge to add 30,000 teenagers to the armed forces ranks every year has raised serious questions about the costs of the project.He warned that bringing an extra 30,000 people into the armed forces would require a roughly 300 percent expansion of the military training pipeline.Rishi Sunak speaks with British troops in April (PA) More

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UKSign up to our Brexit email for the latest insightLord Heseltine has warned that the 2024 general election campaign “will be the most dishonest in modern times” because of the refusal of the main parties to debate the consequences of Brexit.The former deputy prime minister, who fell out with the Conservatives over leaving the European Union, has written exclusively for The Independent explaining how the big issues in this general election – the economy, immigration and defence – all need to be debated in the context of the UK’s relationship with the EU.But he claimed that Labour and the Tories are too scared to discuss Brexit because of the potential impact on their voter bases.It comes as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer uses his first keynote speech of the election to focus the campaign on himself personally in a presidential style push for victory. But noting that Sir Keir and Rishi sunak are avoiding discussing “the elephant in the room”, Lord Heseltine wrote: “Both major parties are afraid of losing votes to the hard right. Labour needs to rebuild its red wall while the Conservatives run scared of Reform.”However, he argued that almost no major issue can be discussed without reference to the subject which has, in effect, dominated British politics since the EU referendum in 2016 and arguably since the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 which shattered John Major’s government.Michael Heseltine has warned about Brexit and the general election More

Rachel Reeves has ruled out increases to income tax or national insurance if Labour are elected in this year’s general election.Speaking on BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg on 26 May, the shadow chancellor pledged that there would not be a “return to austerity” under their government, noting that she would not put forward “unfunded proposals”. Ms Reeves has joined Sir Keir Starmer in his view that taxes on working people should be lower.”I don’t want to make any cuts to public spending which is why we’ve announced the immediate injection of cash into public services,” she added. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWes Streeting has set out a three-word vision of the guiding philosophy of a Labour government if, as expected, it wins power on 4 July.The shadow health secretary had echoes of Tony Blair’s New Labour when he promised that his party would be “compensatory, not confiscatory”.Mr Streeting was in discussion with The Independent’s editor-in-chief Geordie Greig in front of an audience at the Hay Festival, discussing the election, politics and his book One Boy, Two Bills and a Fry Up.Mr Greig noted that the UK is now “in the foothills of an election campaign” and asked: “Where is Labour going to find out that common centre ground? What is the formula? What are the words?”Wes Streeting insists Labour is a party which celebrates success and encourages ambition and aspiration More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailNigel Farage signalled a return to right-wing shock tactics for his Reform UK party, as he used his first election interview to attack Muslims in the UK for “not sharing British values”.Speaking to Sir Trevor Phillips on Sky News this morning, Mr Farage accused Rishi Sunak of “not being a leader” and instead being “a follower of focus groups” who is “not willing to tackle the real issues in this country”.He was dismissive of Tory plans to reintroduce compulsory national service for school leavers, describing the policy as “a joke” but then stunned Sir Trevor by launching into an attack on millions of voters.The ex-Brexit leader is hoping to capitalise on the Tories’ poor performance in the polls, which has seen his Reform Party now at 14 per cent, just five points behind the Conservatives.In a prickly exchange, Mr Farage said: “We have a growing number of young people in this country who do not subscribe to British values, in fact loathe much of what we stand for.”Nigel Farage revealed he had planned to run as an MP, but the early election call ruined his plans More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has announced that 18-year-olds would be made to do national service if the Tories win the general election.It is the Conservatives’ first major policy proposal since Mr Sunak hastily announced the general election in the pouring rain on Wednesday afternoon, with his party now scrambling to find some 190 candidates amid a post-war record exodus of Tory MPs.The prime minister insisted on that his plans for mandatory national service would help unite society in an “increasingly uncertain world” and give young people a “shared sense of purpose”. In an apparent pitch to older voters, Mr Sunak said that volunteering could include helping local fire, police and NHS services, as well as charities tackling loneliness and supporting elderly and isolated people.Below we look at what we know about the plans so far. How would Rishi Sunak’s National Service scheme work?Much of the detail remains unclear, with the Tories saying they would set up a royal commission bringing in expertise from across the military and civil society to establish how the scheme would work in practice.This commission would be tasked with bringing forward a proposal for how to ensure the first pilot is open for applications in September 2025, and the Tories would then seek to introduce a new “National Service Act” to make the measures compulsory by the end of the next parliament.But broadly, the party said that young people would be given a choice between a full-time placement in the armed forces for 12 months or spending one weekend a month for a year “volunteering,” in their community.Teenagers who choose to sign up for a placement in the forces would “learn and take part in logistics, cyber security, procurement or civil response operations”, the Tories said.Rishi Sunak met with veterans at a community breakfast during a party campaign event on Saturday More