UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Britain’s lawmakers will leave Parliament on Friday for the last time before an election is held in six weeks. Some will never return -– members of Parliament who are retiring or who lose their seats on July 4 face an abrupt readjustment to life outside politics.After a flurry of last-minute legislation, Parliament will be prorogued, or formally suspended, in a ceremony featuring hat-doffing, lords in ermine-trimmed robes and commands in Norman French.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s surprise decision to call a summer election means that some key pieces of legislation will have to be abandoned -– including his flagship plan to ban tobacco sales to future generations. WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL? On the second full day of campaigning, Sunak and his main opponent, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, have already covered hundreds of miles (kilometers) crisscrossing the U.K. on carefully stage-managed visits to businesses and communities. Sunak is visiting Northern Ireland and central England on Friday, while Starmer is in Scotland and northwest England.Labour is the strong favorite to win the election after moving from the left toward the political center under Starmer, its leader since 2020.The party got a reminder of its recent past on Friday, when Starmer’s predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, said he would run for Parliament as an independent against Labour’s candidate. Starmer suspended Corbyn and barred him from running again for Labour after the former leader accused opponents of exaggerating the problem of antisemitism in the party.Starmer apologized for antisemitism, a move welcomed by many Jewish Labour members and others. But supporters of Corbyn said he was being smeared because of his longtime support for the Palestinian cause.Labour has not yet chosen its candidate to run in the inner-London seat of Islington North, which Corbyn has represented since 1983.“I am here to represent the people of Islington North on exactly the same principles that I’ve stood by my whole life: social justice, human rights and peace,” Corbyn said. HOW IS PARLIAMENT PROROGUED? Parliament is set to break up for the election with a tradition-steeped ceremony in which lawmakers from the House of Commons are summoned to the House of Lords in the name of King Charles III by an official known as Black Rod. That’s followed by a round of bowing and cap-doffing, before the title of each bill being passed is read out by an official with a cry of “le roy le veult” — “the king wills it” in Norman French.Parliament will be officially dissolved next week, 25 working days before election day. It will not sit again until after the election, when new members will be sworn in.The new government, whether Labour or Conservative, is due to announce its legislative program at another occasion of pomp and ceremony, the State Opening of Parliament, on July 17. WHAT LEGISLATION WILL BE PASSED FIRST? Members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords were scurrying Friday to pass final pieces of legislation on the last day of a Parliament that began after the previous national election in December 2019 -– a process known as “washing up.”One of the most significant is a law that will quash the convictions of hundreds of Post Office branch managers who were prosecuted for theft or fraud because a faulty computer system known as Horizon showed money was missing. The prosecutions and yearslong cover-up by Post Office bosses has been called one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in U.K. history.The Post Office (Horizon System) Offenses Bill was approved by Parliament late Thursday and is due to become law after receiving the formality of royal assent from King Charles III on Friday.Victims of a tainted blood scandal in which thousands of people were infected with HIV and hepatitis by contaminated blood products in the 1970s and ’80s will get compensation after the Victims and Prisoners Bill is passed by Parliament.Also expected to make the statute book is a bill overhauling property law in England and Wales, giving more rights to people who own leasehold properties, where the building’s freehold is owned by someone else. WHAT BILLS WILL FAIL? One of Sunak’s flagship policies -– a plan to create a “smoke-free generation” by banning the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 2008 — is among the bills that has run out of time. It could be reintroduced by the new government if the Conservatives win the election. Labour supports the idea in principle and could also introduce a similar bill if it wins power.A law that would ban landlords from evicting tenants without giving a reason is also falling by the wayside. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email King Charles III won’t be out and about much over the next six weeks — and it’s not because of his ongoing cancer treatments.Shortly after U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called an early parliamentary election for July 4, Buckingham Palace said that all members of the royal family were canceling most public engagements until after the vote to avoid doing anything that might divert attention from the campaign.That announcement is just one of the ways that Charles will seek to play his part as a unifying head of state during the election, without violating a constitutional ban on interfering in politics. While the king’s role in government is largely ceremonial, it’s bound up by traditions that embody the way royal powers were gradually transferred to Parliament over the last 800 years.Here’s a look at the monarch’s role in the run up to the election, including a few dos and don’ts. DID CHARLES PLAY ANY ROLE IN CALLING THE ELECTION? The decision to call an election was entirely Sunak’s. But before he could do so, the king had to grant permission to dissolve Parliament early.Technically, the king still has the power to refuse a dissolution request if he believes an election would be detrimental to the nation. But the last time this happened was in 1835.Ignoring that precedent “would expose the monarch to allegations of political interference of an undemocratic nature, even if the intention of the refusal was to preserve the good functioning of democracy,” according to the Institute for Government, an independent think tank. WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE KING? The current session of Parliament will be “prorogued,” or ended, on Friday based on an order that Charles approved during a meeting of the Privy Council on Thursday at Buckingham Palace.The king won’t attend the formal end of the session, a ceremonial affair where the speaker of the House of Commons and other members of Parliament will troop into the House of Lords to hear a speech written by the government. WHAT ABOUT THOSE PUBLIC APPEARANCES? The royal family is barred by law and tradition from interfering in politics at any time, but ensuring that those rules are strictly followed is even more important during an election.That means the royals can’t campaign for candidates, endorse policies, or even let their political preferences be known.Buckingham Palace spelled it out soon after Sunak’s announcement, announcing that members of the royal family would postpone all engagements that “may appear to divert attention or distract from the election campaign.’’That meant the king on Friday ditched trips to a Bentley car factory and a community center helping people who are struggling financially. WHAT’S A MONARCH TO DO? Well, some things are above reproach.The king and queen still plan to attend ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day on June 6.Other engagements will be examined on a case-by-case basis, the palace said. WHY DOES THIS MATTER? One of the modern monarchy’s primary roles is to provide a unifying figurehead who is seen as above politics and can provide a sense of stability in difficult times.This is the first general election of Charles’ reign. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, oversaw 21 during her 70 years on the throne.George Gross, a royal expert at King’s College London, said elections are by definition moments of turbulence in which people look to the monarchy for continuity.“There is … a power vacuum in political terms. Power is now handed back to the British people, and they will review the offering over the next six weeks,’’ Gross said. “So what that means, though, is that the head of state has a new role. Or rather, (the) key role of stability and continuity comes to the fore. Now, (the royals) cannot be political in any way.”___Follow AP stories on King Charles III at https://apnews.com/hub/king-charles-iii More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailDiane Abbott has attacked Sir Keir Starmer for claiming her suspension from the party is nothing to do with him. The suspended MP, who represented Labour for 36 years until last April, said the long-running investigation into her is entirely up to the Labour leader “The decision about whether to let Diane Abbott back into Labour has everything to do with him,” a message posted on her X account said. Diane Abbott was suspended last April for an article she wrote about Jewish people More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSir Keir Starmer has rejected a challenge by Rishi Sunak to take part in head to head TV debates every week between now and polling day.The Labour leader defended his decision saying he would rather talk to voters directly and claimed the prime minister had nothing new to say.He poured cold water on the idea after Mr Sunak called for a record six TV election debates and accused the Labour leader of ducking out because he “does not have a plan.”With the latest Techne UK weekly tracker poll giving Labour a 26 point lead, Sir Keir has more to lose from televised debates than an increasingly desperate Rishi Sunak.Sir Keir said on ITV’s ‘Good Morning Britain’: “I could do a hundred debates with Rishi Sunak – I know what he is going to say. He is going to stand up and say everything is fine, the cost of living crisis is over.”Asked if he was “backing away from the fight,” he said: “Of course we will have debates – they are a tradition and part of the electoral cycle. The debate I want to have is with the voters directly.”The Tories noted that the Labour leader had not committed to any TV debates at all. However, Labour sources have reportedly indicated Sir Keir will take part in two televised showdowns with Mr Sunak on BBC and ITV. Sir Keir Starmer not keen on weekly TV debates (Maja Smiejkowska/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has lost his £1,000 bet with Piers Morgan after he conceded deportation flights to Rwanda would not happen before an election.The prime minister shook hands with the YouTuber on his show on the bet which was described as taking politics to “a new low”. But the morning after calling a snap contest on 4 July, the prime minister said asylum seekers will be deported to the east African nation only “if I am re-elected”.Mr Morgan has already goaded Mr Sunak asking him to make his donation payable to the British Red Cross.The prime minister accepted the bet offered by the TalkTV broadcaster that asylum seekers will be sent on one-way flights to Kigali before voters hit the polls in February.Rishi Sunak and Piers Morgan bet £1,000 on Rwanda flights leaving before next election More