UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Dominic Watters watches his gas and electricity meter like a hawk. He topped it up a few days ago, but now there’s just 1.85 pounds ($2.40) of credit left. That may determine what kind of dinner he and his teen daughter get tonight, he says.Watters, a campaigner for better access to nutritious food, is a single dad in Canterbury in southern England who relies on government welfare. He knows microwave meals don’t compare to home-cooked dinners, but sometimes he simply cannot afford to use the gas stove or oven.“It’s become more and more of a struggle, especially for single parents on benefits,” he said. “It leaves you feeling stranded. It doesn’t allow you enough to pay for fresh fruit and vegetables, and also to pay for the gas and electric to cook the food.”Since calling a general election for July 4, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been at pains to repeat a key message on the campaign trail: The economy is turning a corner. Inflation is down. Things are looking up.That’s not the reality for Watters and millions across the U.K. still feeling the squeeze from high food, energy and housing prices. The persistent cost-of-living crisis is a top concern for voters in the parliamentary election, when they will choose lawmakers to fill all 650 seats in the House of Commons, and the leader of the party that can command a majority — either alone or in coalition — will become prime minister. While Sunak’s Conservatives are widely expected to lose after 14 years in power, the dire state of the economy — combined with a deep disillusionment with politics and politicians among voters — means that the prevailing mood ahead of the election is one of malaise, not excitement or hope for change, even if the opposition Labour Party wins. Although inflation has returned to near-normal levels after skyrocketing in recent years, energy bills and items on store shelves still cost more than they did before the pandemic, when they started their steep climb. And while wages are starting to rise, mortgages and rents have soared along with interest rates, taking large chunks out of many household incomes.Coral Dyer, a psychologist who has a young child, was among shoppers lining up to buy 1-pound ($1.30) bowls of fresh vegetables at a bustling street market in Lewisham in south London on a recent day.“It’s much cheaper than the supermarket, and you get a lot more,” she said. Money’s becoming tighter, she added, with her income just about covering high day care fees.Dyer, 37, laughed and shook her head when asked if she agreed with Sunak’s upbeat message.“I don’t really feel that way, no,” she said. “I think we’re being more conscious of buying in bulk, to shop and eat in different ways to save some money. It’s becoming less of a choice and more of the way we have to do things.”Like other countries, Britain experienced a double economic shock when it was hit by surging prices, first stoked by supply chain issues during the coronavirus pandemic and then by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.Inflation in the U.K. hit a peak of 11% in late 2022, the highest the country had seen in four decades. For most, especially public sector workers, take-home pay failed to keep up with spiraling prices.The Institute for Fiscal Studies, a leading think tank, said in March that the current parliament has overseen the worst growth in living standards since at least 1961. It added that from 2019 to 2023, the number of adults who reported being unable to adequately heat their homes more than doubled.Sunak is keen to point out that the worst appears to be over: Inflation is now down to 2.3%, and average wages are also rising after more than a decade of low income growth following the 2008 financial crisis.But there’s little to be jubilant about. The latest official figures published last week showed that economic growth was flat in April, after rising 0.6% during the first quarter of the year.The IFS and many economists have warned that whoever wins the election will face tough choices to raise taxes or cut public spending because they will need to wrestle with a huge debt burden while trying to take Britain out of economic stagnation.For those on benefits or low incomes, talk about change or growth feels distant when it’s a daily struggle to afford food staples and heating. Britain’s poorest have been disproportionately hit by the cost-of-living crisis because they spend a much larger share of their incomes on essentials.More people are falling into poverty and more are turning to food banks, according to the Trussell Trust, which runs more than half of all U.K. food banks. The charity said it provided 3 million emergency food parcels to people in need last year — a record number for the trust — including to over 300,000 people who used a food bank for the first time.At the Community Food Hub in Hackney in east London, a rapidly gentrifying area that nonetheless still has one of the highest child poverty rates in the U.K., volunteers say their workload has not lessened in recent years as they packed up bread and canned food for patrons.“I’m hoping that these elections are going to prove to be fruitful. I personally doubt it,” said Michelle Dornelly, who has run the service since the pandemic. “I’ve kind of given up hope with these politicians and them understanding the common people, the working class people. I am kind of fed up that they won’t take the time out to come and see what it is that we’re doing and how people are living.”While Labour has a significant lead in polls and they’re widely expected to win by political commentators and members of the public, there is a deep lack of optimism or belief among voters that either Sunak or his rival, Keir Starmer, can bring material change.Watters, the food campaigner, said things won’t get better until those in power take time to listen to struggling families.“I think that it’s been so bad for so long that people are trying to hold out hope for a change,” he said. “But there is a kind of shared sense of hopelessness within my estate (social housing block) of whether change will actually happen, no matter what government, gets in.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailAlmost half of people working in key services have considered quitting their job as they struggle because of a “shameful” level of hardship, a study has found. The study, by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, found that around 40 per cent of people who work in primary schools and GP surgeries were “staggering under the weight of hardship”, as resources have to be redirected to provide extra support to the nearly four million people struggling to pay for essentials like food, heating and appropriate clothing.The researchers surveyed more than 1,000 staff at primary schools and primary and community care settings across England, Wales and Scotland. Sixty per cent of respondents said hardship has made it more difficult to do their job well. Almost half of people working in key services have considered quitting their job, a study has found More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailPenny Mordaunt has issued a rallying call to beleaguered Tories across the UK that the election result is “not a foregone conclusion” – but conceded that her party is now very much “the underdog”.With many seeing Ms Mordaunt as a leader in waiting after a Tory defeat, she admits she felt “let down” by Rishi Sunak over the D-Day fiasco, which hit the headlines just hours before she was due to take part in a televised debate.But she also made it clear that she wants to see tax cuts, in a message to her party as well as the country.The Tory cabinet minister gave a wide-ranging interview to The Independent from her bellwether constituency of Portsmouth North. Ms Mordaunt won the seat from Labour on her second attempt in 2010, and has increased her majority in each election since. In the interview, she addressed:The inside story of how she reacted when she learnt that the prime minister had left the D-Day commemorations earlyWhy she believes the Tories need to be pushing tax cutsWhy the polls could be wrongHow she deals with misogyny in politicsHow she prepared for the TV debatesPenny Mordaunt is seen by many as a leader in waiting More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWes Streeting has appealed to junior doctors to abandon their plans to go on strike during the election and wait to see what the result will be.It comes after the shadow health secretary made clear he will not agree to their demands for a 35 percent pay rise branding them “unaffordable”.But the row came as the respected health think tank the Nuffield Trust warned that both Labour and Tory plans for the NHS are worse than the peak of the austerity era under David Cameron’s premiership after the financial crash.The Nuffield Trust think tank warned Labour and Tory pledges on the NHS would leave the health service with lower annual funding increases – at 1.1 percent and 0.9 percent respectively – than during the austerity era.Wes Streeting declined to rule out council tax hikes More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour have claimed that the collapse Tory support is now so bad that only they can stop Nigel Farage winning Clacton if the last remaining Conservatives vote tactically for their candidate.In 2019 Tory MP and former actor Giles Watling won Clacton with 72.3 percent of the vote and a majority of 24,702 with Labour a very distant third with just 15.5 percent of the vote.But with the arrival of Mr Farage as the Reform UK candidate in a seat twice won by his former party Ukip, the dynamics appear to have changed.The debate in Clacton is over who can beat Farage More

Nigel Farage teases leader of the opposition credentials as he makes Tory party declarationSign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA new poll suggests disaster ahead for Rishi Sunak, with the Tories on track to win just 72 seats in the next election. A Survation poll for Best for Britain, published by The Sunday Times, predicted that Labour would win as many as 456 seats, which would far surpass Tony Blair’s landslide victory in 1997. Meanwhile, Labour and Nigel Farage have accused the Tories of a ‘con’ over plans to send more migrants to Rwanda during the election campaign. The Independent understands plans are in place to fly a person from Nigeria and another from Pakistan, who are in the UK illegally, to the East African country before the election on 4 July. But much like the first person who was sent in April, it is a voluntary move and so not an enforced deportation. Mr Farage this week claimed Reform UK is the “new opposition” following a YouGov poll that put his party ahead of the Conservatives for the first time.Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has said Mr Farage is “incredibly divisive” and trying to “destroy” the Conservative Party.Show latest update 1718548818Douglas Ross’s decision to run as MP has left ‘bad taste’ in north eastDouglas Ross’s decision to stand to be an MP has left a “bad taste” in the north-east Scotland constituency where he is running, First Minister John Swinney has said.The Scottish Conservative leader put himself forward as candidate for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East after David Duguid was told by the party’s management board that he could not stand due to his ill-health.Mr Ross said he would step down as leader shortly afterwards, when his colleagues expressed unhappiness at the move.Boundary changes mean that Aberdeenshire North and Moray East is being contested for the first time, but the majority of the constituency was in Banff and Buchan, previously represented by Mr Duguid.Read the full news article here: Holly Evans16 June 2024 15:401718547048Kemi Badenoch accuses Labour of ‘intimidation and abuse’ towards its own Kemi Badenoch has waded into the row about Labour candidate Rosie Duffield, accusing Labour of “intimidation and abuse” towards its own.It comes after Labour peer Lord Cashman called Ms Duffield, who has been a defender of women’s rights, “frit or lazy” for cancelling local hustings over safety concerns.Women and equalities minister Ms Badenoch tweeted: “I can’t imagine what it’s like being Rosie in a party where her own colleagues continually attack her, just for standing up for women.“This is now about more than women’s rights, but how a party manages internal disagreement. Instead of healthy debate it’s intimidation and abuse.“If this is what they do to their own, imagine what they will do to our country.”Holly Evans16 June 2024 15:101718545848Rosie Duffield ‘frit or lazy’ criticism extremely unfair, says Wes StreetingWes Streeting has hit out at a Labour peer for calling Rosie Duffield “frit or lazy” after she called off local hustings over safety concerns.Lord Cashman, a former EastEnders actor and Labour MEP, has apologised after he commented on a social media post about Ms Duffield’s move: “Frit. Or lazy”.It came after Ms Duffield, a Labour General Election candidate who has been a defender of women’s rights and female-only spaces, said her attendance at local hustings was “impossible” because of “constant trolling”.Read the full article here: Holly Evans16 June 2024 14:501718545248Douglas Ross’s decision to run as MP has left ‘bad taste’ in north eastDouglas Ross’s decision to stand to be an MP has left a “bad taste” in the north-east Scotland constituency where he is running, First Minister John Swinney has said.The Scottish Conservative leader put himself forward as candidate for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East after David Duguid was told by the party’s management board that he could not stand due to his ill-health.Mr Ross said he would step down as leader shortly afterwards, when his colleagues expressed unhappiness at the move.Boundary changes mean that Aberdeenshire North and Moray East is being contested for the first time, but the majority of the constituency was in Banff and Buchan, previously represented by Mr Duguid.Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross decision to stand as MP has been criticised (Jane Barlow/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWith England set to kick off their Euro 24 push against Serbia, UK voters have revealed that Sir Keir Starmer would be their choice of a party political leader to manage the team.The Labour leader, a fanatical Arsenal season ticket holder, topped the Techne UK poll of 1,636 UK voters with 31 percent, with an image of being a tough manager on his Labour team after kicking Jeremy Corbyn off the squad.The Labour leader has already put out his team message for England.He said: “There is no feeling like the build up to the first England game of an international tournament: the pubs filling up, the flags waving, the nerves and excitement building.”As fans up and down the country get ready for kick off, I want to wish Gareth and the team all the best on behalf of the Labour Party. We will be with you for every twist, turn and VAR decision. England is behind you. Make it a summer to remember.”Sunak and Starmer both looking forward to England’s games 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 insight With less than three weeks until Britain’s election day, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is running out of time to change an ominous tune for his Conservative Party.The U.K. leader — who in recent days traveled to a Group of Seven summit and a Swiss conference on the Ukraine war — has been dogged by questions about whether voters are about to bring his time in office to an abrupt end on July 4.Polls continue to give the left-of-center opposition Labour Party under Keir Starmer a double-digit lead over Sunak’s Conservatives, who have been in power for 14 years under five different prime ministers. Sunak’s attempts to close the gap have had little apparent impact. The biggest splash he’s made in the campaign so far was a gaffe – the prime minister’s decision to skip an international ceremony in France on June 6 marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. He has been apologizing ever since.Commentators are starting to talk about doomsday scenarios for the Conservatives, who have governed Britain for almost two-thirds of the past 100 years and won 365 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons in the 2019 election.University of Strathclyde politics professor John Curtice, one of Britain’s most respected polling experts, said Conservative support is at its lowest point in U.K. polling history, and Sunak “must be beginning to doubt his decision to call the election early.”In the past week, both Conservatives and Labour have released their election manifestos, the detailed packages of promises that form the centerpiece of their pitch to voters.The Conservatives focused on reducing immigration and lowering taxes, pledging 17 billion pounds ($22 billion) in tax cuts by 2030, to be paid for largely by slashing welfare costs.Labour promised to get the economy expanding after years of sluggish growth by establishing a new industrial policy, investing in infrastructure, cutting planning red tape and building 1.5 million new homes. It has promised not to increase personal taxes, but the Conservatives say the tax burden will rise under Labour.Critics say neither party is being upfront about the tax increases that would be needed to repair public services left threadbare after years of Conservative-led spending cuts, Brexit, a global pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis triggered by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.“The gaping hole in both parties’ manifestos is a reckoning with the scale and severity of the fiscal problems that will confront whoever wins the election,” said Hannah White, director of Independent think-tank the Institute for Government.The Conservatives’ electoral prospects worsened when populist firebrand Nigel Farage entered the race at the helm of the right-wing party Reform U.K. Though it is unlikely to win many seats in Parliament, Reform’s vote share appears to be rising, largely at the expense of the Conservatives.In recent days, the Conservative message has shifted from aiming at victory to warning that voting Reform could help Labour win a landslide.“If you vote for anybody else other than a Conservative candidate, you’re going to get a Labour government with a large majority,” Transport Secretary Mark Haper told the BBC on Sunday.Labour is concerned that its supporters will think the election is in the bag and stay home on polling day. Health spokesman Wes Streeting cautioned Sunday that there was “breathtaking complacency in the media” about the Labour Party’s poll lead.Sunak, who has been in office for less than 20 months, insists he is still fighting to win. Britain’s first Hindu prime minister told the Sunday Times he was guided by the concept of dharma, which he said roughly translates as “doing your duty and not having a focus on the outcomes of it.”“Work as hard as you can, do what you believe is right, and try, and what will be will be,” he said. More