UK Politics

Labour will not go into the next election promising to take private rail, energy or water companies back under public ownership, Rachael Reeves has said.The shadow chancellor said on Monday morning that the policies were not compatible with new “fiscal rules” she would introduce to restrain public spending.Speaking later in the day Keir Starmer said he agreed with Ms Reeves and that “having come through the pandemic it’s important that we have very clear priorities”.But there was confusion after the shadow chancellor’s interview, when Labour spokesperson clarified that the party believed public ownership could have have a “positive” role in rail.And Labour’s shadow transport team went further, taking to social media to say the party was in fact “committed to public ownership of rail”.RecommendedAt the 2017 and 2019 elections Labour promised to bring rail, energy and water into public ownership to help with the cost of living and drive down fares and bills. But asked whether she was still committed to the policies, Rachel Reeves said they had been replaced by ideas like reforms to business rates and a “buy British” campaign.”I’ve set out fiscal rules that say all day-to-day spending will be funded by day-to-day tax revenues,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.”Within our fiscal rules, to be spending billions of pounds on nationalising things, that just doesn’t stack up against our fiscal rules.”Asked to confirm whether she had just dropped the commitments, she said: “They were a commitment in a manifesto that secured our worst results since 1935. We have scrapped the 2019 manifesto. “That is not the starting point. We’re setting out distinct policies under Keir Starmer, the plans today around industrial strategy, my commitments around a climate investment pledge, our plans to buy, make, and sell more in Britain, reforms to the business rate system. “Those are the policies that will be going into the next election under Keir Starmer, not the policies of 2019.”Following the interview, a Labour Party spokesperson told The Independent: “We are pragmatic about public ownership as long as it sits within our fiscal rules – a point Rachel was underlining in the interview by referencing this framework. For example, we know there is a positive role for rail in public ownership.”But speaking at Q&A session after a speech in Liverpool later on Monday, party leader Sir Keir was asked about nationalisation of water and energy, and replied: “I agree with what Rachel Reeves said this morning. Having come through the pandemic, it’s very important that we have very, very clear priorities. And that’s why we’ve set our fiscal rules already, as an opposition. “Rachel did that at conference last year: that’s way ahead of the general election, setting out our priorities. And my priority, as I hope is obvious from this morning, is growth. The mission of the next Labour government will be growth and that partnership with business is where I see that growth coming from. So my approach here is, is pragmatic, not ideological.”Asked specifically about taking rail back into public ownership he said: “Whether it comes to rail or anything else, I want to be pragmatic about this rather than ideological. I think what some of our mayors and Metro mayors are doing with public transport is the right way forward, absolutely focused on keeping the price down and making sure there’s control over where things go, particularly buses recently.”Following the pair’s comments, Labour’s shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh took to social media, posting: “Labour is committed to public ownership of rail and putting the public back in control of our bus network to drive down prices, improve services and meet net zero.”In his own post, shadow transport minister Sam Tarry added: “Just to be absolutely 100% crystal clear – this is the Labour Party position on the public ownership of rail.” He posted a link to a video of himself from May this year stating that Labour would bring “our rail networks back into the hands of the British public”.But Labour’s competitors seized on the apparent confusion. Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said privatisation had been a “failure” and accused Sir Keir of not representing the public’s “best interests”.“It is depressing to see Labour abandoning their traditional support for public ownership of essential services at a time when this is so popular amongst voters,” he said.”Their attempt to compete with the Tories will see ordinary people and the planet pay the cost as a result.“It’s clear for all to see that the privatisation of essential services like energy, transport and water has served only to line the pockets of shareholders, rather than ensure that these services we all depend on are reliable and affordable.”He added: “The Green Party believes it is essential that public services are publicly owned, both in order to guarantee the level of service required to meet society’s needs and help tackle the climate crisis, and to ensure good pay and conditions of those working within them.“The fact that Labour has abandoned these beliefs shows just how far Keir Starmer is prepared to drag the party away from representing the best interests of people and planet in order to gain power at any cost.”Public ownership of sectors like rail, water and energy enjoys broad popularity with the public. A 2021 poll by ComRes found that 60 per cent people want energy in public ownership, versus 17 per cent who are opposed.YouGov found in 2019 that 64 per cent want rail in public ownership and 63 per cent want water in public ownership. In both cases a small minority of 23 per cent were opposed.It is unclear why Ms Reeves’ fiscal rules would conflict with taking the sectors into public ownership as such an approach would be unlikely to be financed through day-to-day spending.In other European countries increased public control over utilities and rail has been used to help with the cost of living. RecommendedEmmanuel Macron’s French government last week fully nationalised supplier EDF to help France manage its transition away from fossil fuels and to meet its climate goals. It has also forced the company to take an €8.4bn hit to protect consumers from rocketing energy bills.Germany’s government has meanwhile helped cut commuting and travel costs by providing funding for a €9 monthly season ticket on all local and regional public transport across its largely publicly-owned rail system. More

The two candidates vying to be Britain’s next prime minister will face off in a TV debate Monday, after both sought to woo the Conservative Party’s right-wing base by backing a controversial plan to deport some asylum-seekers to Rwanda. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak are battling to succeed the discredited Boris Johnson as head of Britain’s governing party. They were chosen by Conservative lawmakers from an initial field of 11 candidates as finalists to replace Johnson, who quit as party leader on July 7 after months of ethics scandals triggered a mass exodus of ministers from his government.The winner will automatically become prime minister, governing a country of 67 million — but will be chosen by about 180,000 Conservative Party members. They will vote over the summer with the result announced Sept. 5. Johnson remains caretaker prime minister until his successor is chosen.Truss, 46, and 42-year-old Sunak have wooed Conservatives by doubling down on policies thought to appeal to the Tory grassroots. Both are backing a contentious deal agreed by the Johnson government with Rwanda to send some migrants who arrive in Britain in small boats on a one-way trip to the East African nation. The deportees would be allowed to apply for asylum in Rwanda, not the U.K.The government says the policy will deter people-traffickers from sending migrants on hazardous journeys across the Channel. Political opponents, human rights organizations and even a few Conservative lawmakers say it is immoral, illegal and a waste of taxpayers’ money.RecommendedThe first scheduled deportation flight was grounded after legal rulings last month, and the whole policy is now being challenged in the British courts.On Sunday, Sunak said “no options should be off the table” despite questions over the policy’s legality and morality. Truss said she was “determined” to see the Rwanda plan through and raised the possibility of expanding it to additional countries.Truss also said she would expand the size of the U.K. Border Force, while Sunak has suggested housing asylum-seekers on cruise ships.Hard-line policies like the Rwanda plan are less popular with voters as a whole than with Conservatives, but the British electorate won’t get a say on the government until the next national election, due by the end of 2024.Truss and Sunak have already clashed over economic policy, with Truss promising immediate tax cuts and Sunak — who shepherded Britain’s economy through the coronavirus pandemic — saying he will get inflation under control before slashing taxes. He says borrowing more to cut taxes would be “immoral.”The leadership election is taking place during a cost-of-living crisis driven by soaring food and energy prices, partly due to the war in Ukraine. While many countries are experiencing economic turbulence, in Britain it’s compounded by the country’s departure from the European Union, which has complicated travel and business relations with the U.K.’s biggest trading partner.Both Sunak and Truss are strong supporters of Brexit, which was the signature policy of the Johnson government.But the two have sparred on topics such as policy toward China, with allies of Truss accusing Sunak of changing his stance on relations with Beijing. Sunak says China represents the “biggest-long term threat to Britain,” and says that if elected he would close the 30 Confucius Institutes in Britain. Funded by the Chinese government, the institutes teach Chinese language and culture, but have been accused of spreading pro-Beijing propaganda.Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, a longtime China critic who backs Truss, said Sunak’s Treasury had previously “pushed hard for an economic deal with China.”“Where have you been over the last two years?” he said.Oddsmakers say Truss is the strong favorite to win the leadership. She outperforms Sunak in polls of Conservative members — though Sunak has the edge among voters as a whole.Sunak also faces hostility from allies of Johnson, who consider him a turncoat for quitting the government earlier this month, a move that helped bring down the prime minister. Truss chose to remain in the caretaker government.Many Conservatives worry that the bitter internal fighting is only benefitting the opposition Labour Party. Former party chairwoman Amanda Milling said the contest was “more toxic than I’ve ever seen.” Writing on Twitter, she urged both candidates to sign up to a “Clean Campaign Charter,” saying that without it “the lasting damage to our Party could see us out of power for a decade.” Recommended___Follow all of AP’s coverage of British politics at https://apnews.com/hub/boris-johnson More

All but “essential” UK overseas aid spending has been halted in an unprecedented Treasury move which a senior Conservative MP is warning will “cost lives”.Aid organisations and politicians have condemned the crackdown – sparked by the cut to allocating only 0.5 per cent of GDP and the growing cost of relief work in Ukraine.Departments have been told to suspend “non-essential aid spending” until Boris Johnson’s replacement as prime minister is in post, because the lower cap is about to be breachedSam Nadel, head of government relations at Oxfam, warned that help for Ukraine “cannot come at the expense of responding to other emergencies around the world such as in east Africa and Yemen”.David Lammy, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, said: “At a time of chronic global food shortages, drought, rising prices and conflict in so many parts of the world, it’s extraordinary that UK developmental aid appears to have been suspended.Recommended“Lives literally appear to be dependent on the Conservative party leadership elections.”And Andrew Mitchell, the former Tory international development secretary, said: “To withhold spending on life-saving projects in this way will undoubtedly cost lives and further impair the UK’s reputation.”Simon Starling, director of policy at Bond, the UK network for aid groups, told The Independent: “If the government sticks to the diminished 0.5 per cent budget while new crises like the Ukraine war emerge, more and more people will be denied the critical humanitarian and development support the UK promised to provide.”The government said ministers are “prioritising overseas aid funding such as providing humanitarian support to the people of Ukraine”.The Conservatives broke their own manifesto commitment by slashing aid spending from 0.7 per cent of national income – with no date for returning to that figure, despite a legal commitment.The also axed the Department for International Development, downgrading the priority given to aid within the new Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, is also shifting strategy from tackling poverty to what she calls the “geopolitics” of countering China’s vast “belt and road” programme.Now, in an instruction to departments, the Treasury has warned that the 0.5 per cent cap could be breached because of the bills for helping Ukraine and resettling refugees from Afghanistan.It says controversial spending decisions must be put on hold until a new prime minister is in place – making aid spending a dilemma for either Ms Truss, or her rival Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor.Mr Johnson’s spokesman denied the block on some projects would be “life threatening”, insisting only “non urgent spending” will be halted.RecommendedHe rejected funding humanitarian aid for Ukraine separately – to avoid further cuts for the developing world – arguing spending must remain “within budget”.“People would expect us to take heed of the amount of money we have available to spend without adding additional debt,” the spokesman said. More

Boris Johnson says French staff shortages and a motorway accident – not Brexit – were to blame for the misery of holidaymakers hit by long delays at Kent ports.The UK’s departure from the European Union means travellers face more rigorous passport and other checks before crossing the Channel, where previously they were largely waved through.But the prime minister’s spokesman said they did not “necessitate” the huge queues seen at the weekend, while declining to say they played no part at all.The problems were caused by a combination of factors “including a shortage of French border control staff and there was a serious accident on the M20”.“These are not scenes that we think are necessitated by leaving the European Union,” the spokesman said, adding: “We think we have operational procedures and processes in place that do not need to see these levels of queues.”RecommendedNo 10 also stepped back from calling on France to stop stamping the passports of travelling Britons – which Paris says is required now the UK is a “third country”, not an EU member.“It is for, obviously, individual governments to decide how to carry out checks at the border. Our view is that these should be done proportionately and sensibly given the good working relationships that we have,” the spokesman said.Asked whether the government believed the French approach was proportionate and sensible, the spokesman said: “It’s not for me to pass judgment.”He was also unable to say why the Port of Dover’s £33m application for new infrastructure to cope with longer checks and more queuing was rejected, as reported.The port had been given extra staffing booths, more parking spaces and two further lanes for freight traffic, Downing Street said.Fears are growing that the congestion seen at Dover and Folkestone will become ‘the new normal” at weekends throughout the rest of the summer season.Motorists and truck drivers must clear French border controls on this side of the Channel, as holiday traffic returns to levels not seen since before the Covid pandemic, in 2019,Checks by The Independent found a typical time of 90 seconds for a family of four in a car to have their documents checked – probably three times longer than before the post-Brexit rules took effect.The police are required to check every passport, stamp it with the day of departure and check both the purpose of the visit and that the traveller has an onward or return ticket, plus sufficient funds for their stay.RecommendedThe Port of Dover said traffic is “flowing normally this morning” and that the French booths were “well staffed”.But Toby Howe, senior highways manager at Kent County Council said, of the rest of the summer: “It’s a very vulnerable situation, it takes very little to cause further issues.” More

Sunak accuses Truss of putting national debt on ‘credit card’ for future generations to payRishi Sunak and Liz Truss are taking part in their first head-to-head televised debate tonight after a senior MP made cutting remarks about the “puerile” Conservative Party leadership race.The pair are in Stoke-on-Trent to take part in the BBC One debate. The broadcaster’s journalists said that “stakes are high” as Ms Truss is far ahead in opinion polls.It comes after Cabinet Office minister Johnny Mercer warned that the Tories will be out of power in two years’ time if they continue on the “current trajectory” of “embarrassing” episodes during the contest.His call for his fellow MPs to “raise the standards” came after MP Angela Richardson said that she had muted culture secretary Nadine Dorries’ on Twitter over her criticism of Mr Sunak’s expensive clothes.Ms Dorries tweeted: “Liz Truss will be travelling the country wearing her earrings which cost circa £4.50 from Claire Accessories. Meanwhile…“Rishi visits Teeside in Prada shoes worth £450 and sported £3,500 bespoke suit as he prepared for crunch leadership vote.”Next week, 160,00 Tory members will vote on whether Mr Sunak or Ms Truss will succeed Boris Johnson.RecommendedShow latest update

1658789292Thanks for following today’s live updatesAisha Rimi25 July 2022 23:481658789115Snap debate poll shows which candidate viewers think performed best in elections debateThe poll, conducted by Opinium – a strategic insight agency, indicates a close ties between the two candidates. Aisha Rimi25 July 2022 23:451658788515Voices: One thing became clear, that Sunak and Truss visibly hate each otherRishi Sunak and Liz Truss really do hate each other. It’s the reality TV hit of the summer.Does it matter, anymore, which one of them wins? Will anyone even know? The next election is only two years away, by which point anyone who watched the BBC leaderships debate will still be so haunted by the program’s first fifteen seconds that they will be incapable of any meaningful interaction with the world around them.Read the full opinion piece: More

Rishi Sunak has promised to ban China’s controversial Confucius Institutes from the UK, labelling the country the “biggest-long term threat to Britain”.The announcement would signal a major hardening of government policy on China if Mr Sunak becomes the next prime minister, following pressure from a vocal caucus of Tory backbenchers.In recent months Mr Sunak’s Tory leadership rival Liz Truss has also taken an increasingly hardline approach on China in her role as foreign secretary.This latest announcement will be seen as a move to firm up the former chancellor’s national security credentials, as he promises to close all 30 of China’s Confucius Institutes in the UK. More

Sir Keir Starmer will today put economic recovery at the heart of his pitch for the next general election, declaring that Labour’s priorities in government will be “growth, growth, growth”.His comments are likely to act as a red rag to the left of his party, as he seeks to shake off the long-standing accusation that whereas Conservatives aim to increase the size of the pie, Labour is interested only in how it is shared out.And he will confront environmentalist critics of the growth model, insisting that it is possible to increase the size of the economy without giving up on net zero carbon emission aspirations.The Labour leader’s determination to fight the next general election on the battleground of economic growth is a signal of the extent to which Mr Starmer believes that the UK’s parlous condition allows him to challenge the Tories on their traditional home turf.He will say that 12 years of moribund economic performance under Conservative-led governments has left the UK economy “weaker than its competitors, less resilient, brittle”.RecommendedAs a result, Britain is more vulnerable than comparable nations to the current cost of living crisis and spiralling inflation.But he is likely to infuriate those on the Labour left who fear that a concentration on growth will favour bosses, corporations and shareholders to the exclusion of more disadvantaged members of society.Acknowledging that his approach represents a challenge to his party’s instincts, Mr Starmer will say: “It pushes us to care as much about growth and productivity as we have done about redistribution and investment in the past. Not to hark back to our old ideas in the face of new challenges.”He will argue that “low-growth economies can’t rise to meet the challenges of the future”, including the threat of climate change.And he will say: “We will not be distracted by the siren calls – from the right or the left – that say economic growth and net zero do not go together.”Mr Starmer’s listing of “growth, growth, growth” as his top priorities seems a deliberate echo of Tony Blair’s battlecry of “education, education, education” in the run-up to the 1997 Labour landslide election.Speaking in Liverpool ahead of this evening’s BBC debate between the contenders in a Tory leadership battle dominated by tax cuts and immigration, he will say that “rebooting our economy” will be the “defining task” of the next Labour government.He will announce plans for an Industrial Strategy Council, established on a statutory footing as a “permanent part of the landscape that sets out strategic national priorities that go beyond the political cycle, holds us to account for our decisions and builds confidence for investors that will boost long-term growth and productivity”.And he will say that there is “no task more central to my ambitions for Britain than making the country and its people better off”, adding: “This is why I am clear Labour will fight the next election on economic growth.”Reviewing the last decade of economic performance, Mr Starmer will say: “Whether it’s the cost of living or recovering from the pandemic, our economy is weaker than its competitors. Less resilient. Brittle. And, ultimately, we are all poorer for it.”By contrast, Labour would aim for a growth that is “strong, secure and fair”, maximising the contribution of all parts of society and all areas of the country, he will say.“Strong, because it will build a foundation where every business and every person plays a role. “Secure, because it will produce good jobs that don’t leave people feeling insecure. “Fair, because it will unlock the potential of every place – every community, every town and every city.”The issue of fairness “strikes at the structural weakness of our economy”, he will say, arguing that “an economy can grow and leave some if its people behind, but a nation based on contribution cannot grow in that way”.Mr Starmer will accuse Tory leadership candidates Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak of relying on “magic-money-tree economics”.Referring to Monday’s TV debate, he will say: “You will see a clear contrast between my Labour Party and the Thatcherite cosplay on display tonight.Recommended“The difference between a Labour Party ready to take Britain forward and a Tory party that wants to take us back into the past. Between Labour growth and Tory stagnation.“That will be the choice at the next election, and we are ready.” More

The candidates for the Conservative leadership are preparing for their first TV head-to-head debate, which could play a decisive role in determining who succeeds Boris Johnson as prime minister.With many of the 160,000 Tory members likely to vote as soon as ballot papers arrive next week, the BBC showdown at 9pm on Monday could be the only real chance for Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to make their pitch direct to those determining their fate.The pair will clash over tax and immigration, but Labour insisted they should be grilled on how they would fund their “fantasy economics” plans, whether they would abolish non-dom status and how they would help families facing a £1,000 leap in energy bills this autumn.Ms Truss’s plans for £30bn of immediate tax cuts, funded from borrowing, came under renewed scrutiny after three members of Margaret Thatcher’s last cabinet – Chris Patten, Norman Lamont and Sir Malcolm Rifkind – said that the “Iron Lady” would not have approved of them.On the eve of the debate, Ms Truss set out proposals for a network of “full-fat freeports”, offering tax breaks, light-touch planning rules and scaled-back regulation in the hope of attracting investment and growth.RecommendedAnd Mr Sunak took a tough line on China, branding the east Asian country “the biggest long-term threat to Britain” and declaring he would ban its Confucius Institute cultural centres from the UK.The weekend saw an increasingly bitter clash over immigration, as each pitched to the right in the hope of picking up votes from the Tory “selectorate” who will choose the country’s PM and who, according to polls, have a significantly more hostile attitude to migrants than the population at large.Mr Sunak’s plans to house asylum seekers on detention ships off the coast of the UK and to withhold aid from developing countries that do not take back nationals who are denied the right to stay were branded “cruel” by Oxfam and “beyond the pale” by Christian Aid.And Truss allies said the proposal to house migrants on cruise ships rather than in hotels would breach domestic and international law, effectively creating a chain of prison ships in areas trying to attract tourists.Ms Truss said she would seek to sign up more countries to Rwanda-style agreements to accept asylum seekers deported from the UK, despite the fact that the scheme has cost £120m and failed to remove a single migrant since its introduction in April.The foreign secretary said that her proposal for “designated investment zones” would unleash growth and innovation in areas right across the UK, attracting hi-tech industries such as AI. They also represent a swipe at Mr Sunak’s scheme for freeports, which she said gave Whitehall the power to pick winners and losers.Under the scheme, the government would work with local communities to identify sites ripe for redevelopment, with a preference for previously developed “brownfield” sites.She said that the scheme would be a cornerstone of her economic strategy and would help create new model towns like those of Bournville and Saltaire, the workers’ villages established by philanthropist businessmen in the Victorian era.But her plan to pare back planning restrictions and regulation will raise concerns about poor-quality development and environmental damage, as well as the possibility of business simply being poached away from areas outside the zones.Ms Truss said: “As prime minister, I will be laser-focused on turbocharging business investment and delivering the economic growth our country desperately needs.“We can’t carry on allowing Whitehall to pick the winners and losers, like we’ve seen with the current freeport model. Instead, by creating these new investment zones we will finally prove to businesses that we’re committed to their futures and incentivise them to stimulate the investment that will help deliver for hardworking people.”Mr Sunak promised a major hardening of government policy on China, seeking to outflank Ms Truss’s own confrontational stance towards Beijing as foreign secretary.The former chancellor said he would close all 30 Confucius Institutes in the UK, which critics have labelled propaganda tools at a time of worsening relations between China and the West.Mr Sunak accused China of “stealing our technology and infiltrating our universities” as well as bullying Taiwan and breaching the human rights of people in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.He said he would review all UK-China research partnerships and expand MI5’s reach to counter Chinese industrial espionage. And he would require all British universities to disclose any foreign funding partnerships worth more than £50,000.“I will stop China taking over our universities, and get British companies and public institutions the cybersecurity they need,” said Sunak. And I will work with president Biden and other world leaders to transform the West’s resilience to the threat China poses.”Truss supporter Sir Iain Duncan Smith, co-chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, branded the former chancellor’s tough stance towards Beijing “surprising”.“After all, over the last two years, the Treasury has pushed hard for an economic deal with China,” he said. “This is despite China sanctioning myself and four UK parliamentarians, despite China brutally cracking down on peaceful democracy campaigners in Hong Kong, threatening Taiwan, illegally occupying the South China Sea, committing genocide on the Uighurs and increasing its influence in our universities.“After such a litany, I have one simple question: where have you been over the last two years?”A spokesperson for Ms Truss said: “Liz has strengthened Britain’s position on China since becoming foreign secretary and helped lead the international response to increased Chinese aggression. This will only continue when she becomes prime minister and seeks to expand her network of liberty around the world.”With polls giving Ms Truss a comfortable lead among Tory members, Sunak supporters are aware that their favourite will have to make a big impact at the BBC debate if he is to preserve his hopes of overhauling his rival and be named PM on 5 September.The pair pulled out of an earlier leadership debate during the MPs’ rounds of voting amid fears that highly personal “blue-on-blue” attacks were damaging the Conservative brand and making it more difficult for the party to unite under its new leader.But the live broadcast from Stoke-on-Trent, moderated by newscaster Sophie Raworth and expected to attract millions of viewers, will be the first of a series of televised clashes in the remainder of the campaign, including a second head-to-head on Talk TV on Tuesday.Labour’s shadow minister without portfolio, Conor McGinn, said the candidates must be subjected to tough questioning, not least on their efforts to distance themselves from the record of the Johnson administration in which they both served.Recommended“Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak are two continuity candidates, stooges of the Johnson administration whose fingerprints are all over the state the country finds itself in today,” said Mr McGinn. “Neither offers working people anything other than more of the same.“Both must now come clean about their plans. Rather than simply trash their own Tory record of the last 12 years or rely on the fantasy economics of unfunded giveaways, both must tonight set out fully costed plans to tackle the Tory cost of living crisis and grow Britain’s economy.” More