UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailTeenagers would be made to do national service after their eighteenth birthday if Rishi Sunak’s Tories win the general election.It was the Conservatives’ first major policy proposal since Mr Sunak hastily announced the general election in the pouring rain on Wednesday afternoon.The prime minister insisted his plans for mandatory national service would help unite society in an “increasingly uncertain world” and give young people a “shared sense of purpose”. The exact plans remain vague, but the party said 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.Labour frontbencher Liz Kendall accused the Conservatives of merely “asking young people to solve the problems in the NHS, the police and the armed services that the Tories themselves have created”.Lib Dem defence spokesperson Richard Foord MP added: “If the Conservatives were serious about defence, they would reverse their damaging cuts to our world-class professional armed forces, instead of decimating them, with swingeing cuts to the number of our regular service personnel.”And Justin Crump, a defence expert and veteran of 25 years, told Sky News the plans were “ill-thought through” and would be an “enormous potential burden” on Britain’s military, adding: “It’s certainly not the solution to the military’s problems and I think everyone I’ve spoken to this morning still has their head in their hands.”Now we want to know what you think. Do you back Mr Sunak’s plans for national service? Share your thoughts by adding them in the comments — we’ll highlight the most insightful ones as they come in.All you have to do is sign up and register your details — then you can take part in the discussion. You can also sign up by clicking ‘log in’ on the top right-hand corner of the screen.Make sure you adhere to our community guidelines, which can be found here. For a full guide on how to comment click here.Join the conversation with other Independent readers below. 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 been plunged into a fresh row over Diane Abbott’s suspension after it emerged the investigation into her was completed five months ago.The Labour leader has repeatedly refused to say whether Ms Abbott, the longest-serving Black MP, will be able to stand for the party in the 4 July general election.She was suspended last April over a letter she wrote suggesting Jewish people are not subjected to the same racism as some other minorities.Diane Abbott had the whip withdrawn in 2023 More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLiberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey took a dive into Lake Windermere while paddleboarding as he outlined his party’s plan to tackle the sewage crisis.Local Lib Dem candidate Tim Farron joined his party leader at Low Wood Bay Watersports Centre where the pair had mixed success, being pictured taking multiple plunges.During his visit to the Lake District, Sir Ed said local environmental experts should be represented on water companies’ boards to ensure sewage spills are taken seriously, as he accused Conservative ministers of “sitting on their hands”.Under the Lib Dems’s plans, local environment experts within the community would sit on utility firms’ boards as non-executive directors to “improve public accountability and transparency”.The experts would also be expected to hold community meetings to report back on action being taken.The Lib Dem leader enjoyed mixed success on the lake More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRachel Reeves has declared she is ready to become Britain’s first female chancellor as she set out Labour’s stall as the party of business.With five weeks until the 4 July general election, the shadow chancellor promised to “turn the page on chaos and decline” and “start a new chapter for Britain”.In a major speech at a Rolls-Royce site in Derby, Ms Reeves said serving as chancellor would be the privilege of her life and would require hard work and hard choices.But she said she is ready, promising to “lead the most pro-growth, the most pro-business Treasury that our country has ever seen, with a laser focus on delivering for working people”.Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said she was a ‘social democrat’ when asked if she was a socialist More

Rachel Reeves recalled how her mother’s attitude to finances has inspired her economic policies in a major general election campaign speech on Tuesday, 28 May. The shadow chancellor described how her mother would sit at the kitchen table “combing over, line by line, her bank statements and her receipts.”Every penny mattered… The basic test for whoever is chancellor is to bring that attitude to the public finances.”Speaking from a Rolls-Royce factory in Derby, Ms Reeves said Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt are “singing from the same songbook” as Liz Truss. More

Sir Ed Davey fell off a paddleboard into Lake Windermere as the Liberal Democrats hit the campaign trail on Tuesday, 28 May.The Liberal Democrat leader visited the Lake District to outline his proposals to hold the water industry to account.In the run-up to the general election, the party has unveiled plans to abolish Ofwat, the body responsible for economic regulation of the privatised water and sewerage industry in England and Wales, and introduce a new water regulator to tackle the sewage crisis.The party would also ban water CEO bonuses. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe British government has said it is “determined to hold to account” those responsible for hundreds of Ukrainians with disabilities, including children, believed to have been forcibly removed to Russian-held territory and Russia itself, after a special report by The Independent.In response to the 18-month investigation, the deputy foreign secretary, Andrew Mitchell, called the practice “despicable” and pledged further support to the disabled community in the war-wracked country.The Independent’s four-article series revealed evidence that since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, people with disabilities have been held incommunicado, in squalid conditions and even forced into adopting Russian passports in order to secure treatment or care. The series reveals other horrific abuses, including that groups were used by Russian soldiers as human shields and deprived of food and critical medicine resulting in death – potential war crimes against the most vulnerable in society.Russia has repeatedly denied committing any crimes in Ukraine and has portrayed the movement of people as humanitarian evacuations.“Russia’s forcible deportation of vulnerable Ukrainians is a despicable attempt to erase Ukrainian identity, and with it, Ukraine’s future,” Mr Mitchell said.“We are determined to hold to account those responsible – Russia must immediately cease these forced deportations and return those it has unlawfully taken from Ukraine.”He pledged further supporting humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable Ukrainians, including women, children, the elderly and those with disabilities. The UK is one of the largest humanitarian donors to Ukraine and has committed £357 million in assistance since the start of the full-scale invasion.“The UK will continue to work to ensure vulnerable Ukrainians, including women and children, older people, and those with disabilities, receive the support they need, including by embedding specialist disability expertise and assistive technology as part of our humanitarian response,” Mr Mitchell added.The fate of the vast majority of the 500 peopleThe Independent tracked remains unknown, but there is evidence that some of the children may have been sent to “re-education camps” to learn Russian language, culture and the Kremlin’s version of history.The investigation also made clear what life close to the frontline is like for people with disabilities. It zeroes in on the failings of Ukraine’s outdated care system, inherited from the Soviet Union, which relies on systematic institutionalisation from childhood – with conditions are described by UN and EU experts as “appalling”.The series calls for a paradigm shift in attitudes towards people with disabilities across all conflicts – where international law and protections appear to be failing the most vulnerable.Gerard Quinn, the UN’s special rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities until November, who has extensively worked on Ukraine, said the series painted “a damning picture” of the vulnerabilities that people with disabilities face in Ukraine war and reveals the unique risks faced by them.Those civilians remaining in frontline areas are largely older people and people with disabilities. Maksym, 33, who was himself was taken from his facility for people with disabilities in southern Ukraine and forcibly taken to Russia, told The Independent people with disabilities are ”often the first to be forgotten and the last to be left behind.”The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) provides funds to the World Health Organisation to provide assistive technology for people with disabilities, and the Ukrainian Red Cross Society in providing home-based care and disability-inclusive safe spaces.The FCDO also funds disability-inclusion specialists who work across the humanitarian response to support it to more effectively respond to the needs of people with disabilities. 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 continued his general election campaign in the West Midlands on Tuesday, 28 May, after announcing a £2.4 billion tax break to help secure the support of pensioners as he battles to remain in No 10.The prime minister has pledged a “triple lock plus” to increase the income tax personal allowance for pensioners, giving them a tax cut worth around £95 in 2025-26, rising to £275 in 2029-30.Mr Sunak is offering to protect the triple lock on the state pension brought in by Lord Cameron in 2010 which means that it is guaranteed to go up by the highest rate of inflation or 2.5 per cent, whichever is the largest increase.On Tuesday, Mr Sunak will also announce that from April next year the income tax personal allowance for pensioners will be increased in line with the triple lock.The new tax policy will cost £2.4bn a year by 2029/30 and will be funded through clamping down on tax dodgers – the same pot of money which will help pay for Mr Sunak’s plan for new mandatory national service for 18-year-olds.National service plans were the PM’s first major policy proposal since he announced the general election in the pouring rain last week.The policy would see see 18-year-olds forced to either sign up to the military or cyber defence force or undertake community volunteering work.Mr Sunak has defended the plans, saying they would “foster a culture of service which is going to be incredibly powerful for making our society more cohesive.” More