UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSenior Conservative right-winger Lee Anderson has claimed that only “odd weirdos” care about achieving net zero in the battle against climate change.The Tories’ former deputy chairman – who quit his role because he rebelled on Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda bill – urged the PM to ditch green levies.Mr Anderson appeared alongside Liz Truss and Jacob Rees-Mogg at the launch of a new Tory faction called Popular Conservatism – also known as the PopCons.The right-winger said “net zero never comes up” with voters on the doorstep, apart from the “odd weirdo in the corner” who supports the Green Party.Not many of his constituents “lie awake at night worrying about net zero”, the Ashfield MP told the group’s launch, arguing that they care far more about their own fuel bills.Speaking about the need to ditch the green levies which pay for investment in transition away from fossil fuels, Mr Anderson said: “We should have an opt-in, opt-out on our fuel bills.”Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Mhairi Fraser, Lee Anderson and Liz TrussMr Anderson also joked that both he and right-wing ally Sir Jacob “have one thing in common here – we were both born on estates … His was a country estate, I was born on a council estate.”It came as Mark Littlewood, leader of the Popular Conservatives, insisted that he was not interested in ousting Rishi Sunak – claiming “this isn’t about the leadership of the Conservative party.”The right-wing economist – a key Truss supported who was handed a peerage in her resignation honours – also said it was not about seeking to “replicate or replace” any of the many existing right-wing caucuses of Tory MPs.Railing against the Sunak government and the Whitehall institutions, he said low taxes have proven to be “frustratingly elusive” – attacking bureaucrats who “share the same sort of leftist groupthink”.Mr Rees-Mogg also launched an attack on “unaccountable” institutions and drew parallels with the anger of British voters and the protests by farmers in France and Germany.Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg during the launch of Popular Conservatism And new right-wing favourite Mhairi Fraser, a prospective Tory candidate, attacked Mr Sunak’s “ludicrious” youth smoking ban and other “nanny state policies”.Nigel Farage denied he is seeking to join the Conservative party or the PopCon movement “at the moment” – insisting that he was only there to cover it for GB News.“I’m not looking to join the Tory party, you must be joking,” said the Reform UK president. “Not at the moment, given what they stand for. And as far as this group’s concerned – I’d rather be part of Reform because that’s the real thing.”Mr Farage said none of the ideas that will be discussed at the Popular Conservatism launch will make it into the next Tory manifesto.“Whilst there were some big names like Liz Truss, Jacob Rees-Mogg – I saw Priti Patel coming into the audience earlier – they are a very small minority within the parliamentary Conservative party.”The hard-right populist said the party is now “so far away from the centre of gravity of most Conservative voters, it is almost untrue”.Asked whether he will remain a GB News presenter or stand as a Reform candidate, Mr Farage said: “I’m very happy with life as it is, thank you very much indeed – doesn’t mean I won’t change my mind.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailFormer Conservative chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has announced that he is quitting parliament at the general election later this year.The senior figure in the short-lived Liz Truss government – the minister responsible for the disastrous mini-Budget – will stand down in his “blue wall” Surrey seat of Spelthorne.Mr Kwarteng has been largely unapologetic for the spree of unfunded tax cuts which saw him fired as chancellor only five weeks into the job.He has also lashed out as his former boss and ally – saying Ms Truss was “not wired” to be PM and would have “blown up” something if they had escaped the autumn statement debacle.“It has been an honour to serve the residents of Spelthorne since 2010, and I shall continue to do so for the remainder of my time in parliament,” Mr Kwarteng posted on X, formerly Twitter.The mini-Budget debacle masterminded by Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng saw a collapse in the pound and a spike in interest rates as markets betted against Britain.The staggering episode cost the country £30bn, according to the Resolution Foundation, and saw poor Tory poll ratings plummet further.Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss were in power at Downing Street for only around six weeksMr Kwarteng revealed last year that he thought his sacking by Ms Truss, only six days before her own exit at the hands of Tory MPs, was “completely insane”.“They’re going to come after you now,” he told her, according to Ben Riley-Smith’s book The Right to Rule. “They’re going to ask you: If you’ve sacked him for doing what you campaigned on, why are you still there?”Told Jeremy Hunt was going to replace him, Mr Kwarteng fumed: “Hunt?! He’s going to reverse everything!” Before leaving he told the PM: “You’ve got three weeks.”It comes as Ms Truss launches yet another Tory faction – Popular Conservativism, dubbed the PopCons in Westminster – at a rally in London on Tuesday.The ex-PM is set to be joined by ex-Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson, former Brexit minister Jacob Rees-Mogg, and Nigel Farage.The PopCons’ leader Mark Littlewood – the right-wing economist handed a peerage in the Truss resignation honours – claimed that the Tories can draw “important lessons” from her very short tenure in No 10.He told Times Radio: “I think the lessons we can draw from her very short time in office are important lessons for Conservatives who want to change Britain, want to see taxes come down.”Liz Truss will launch the new Popular Conservatism movementMr Rees-Mogg will use his speech at the event to rail against an “activist judiciary” and an “out-of-touch oligarchy”, as right wingers push to quit the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).“Popular Conservatism is about restoring this balance and returning power to parliament while taking it away from quangos and a judiciary that has become more political,” the Truss ally will say.Sir Jacob has denied the new group is seeking to oust Rishi Sunak – but the right-winger has said he would like to see Mr Farage join the Conservative party.Mr Rees-Mogg said he was “absolutely delighted” that Mr Farage was coming to cover the event for GB News – claiming the Reform UK party president was “essentially a Conservative”.Polling published on Monday suggested Ms Truss is the very least popular politician with the British public, despite her claim to be in touch with “popular” ideas.Her net favourability score is minus 54 per cent, compared with Mr Sunak’s minus 27 per cent, a survey by Savanta found.Cabinet minister Mel Stride, a loyal Sunak ally, claimed the launch of the PopCons was a sign of the range of opinions within the Tory party.The work and pensions secretary told GB News: “The Conservative party is a very broad church … and I think it’s important that the different parts of the party do come together and ventilate different views.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe mother of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey has said the Online Safety Act does not go far enough in protecting children online and called for “more drastic” action against online harms.Esther Ghey is campaigning for under-16s to be blocked from accessing social media on smartphones and stronger parental controls to flag potentially harmful searches to parents, in the wake of the sentencing of her daughter’s killers.Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe were both 15 when they killed Brianna, 16, with a hunting knife after luring her to Linear Park, Culcheth, a village near Warrington, Cheshire, on February 11 last year.Jenkinson had previously watched videos of torture and murder online.I think that mobile phones have a lot to answer for, and it’s not just in the case of Brianna, it’s in the case of mental health for so many people across the countryEsther Ghey, Brianna Ghey’s motherDame Melanie Dawes, chief executive of communications regulator Ofcom, said she would be happy to meet Ms Ghey to discuss her proposals, and Ms Ghey also said she would welcome the chance to speak to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the issue.Asked what changes she would like to see made in the smartphone industry, Ms Ghey told BBC Breakfast: “We’d like to see mobile phone companies take more responsibility.“I would like to see the law change so that children only have access to children’s mobile phones, and that could look exactly the same as an adult’s mobile phone but without the ability to download social media apps, and there is software available already.“Schools use it and we could link it up to a parent’s phone and if any words are being searched like the words that were searched during the run-up (to Brianna’s murder)… it could be flagged up on a parent’s phone, and then parents are aware of any concerning things that children are looking at.”Ms Ghey said she thought the Online Safety Bill was “a step in the right direction” but would not be enough on its own, adding: “I think that we do need something a little bit more drastic for children.”Asked whether a mobile phone was the cause of what happened to Brianna, Ms Ghey said: “I’m not sure whether it started it all, but it definitely didn’t help. I think that the content that they (her killers) were looking at online, it probably fed what was already there.“I think that mobile phones have a lot to answer for, and it’s not just in the case of Brianna, it’s in the case of mental health for so many people across the country.”My heart goes out to Brianna’s family, and I think what her mum has done over the past few days in getting all these issues really high up the agenda is so importantDame Melanie Dawes, OfcomAn online petition calling for the changes has also been launched.Dame Melanie told BBC Breakfast: “My heart goes out to Brianna’s family, and I think what her mum has done over the past few days in getting all these issues really high up the agenda is so important.”She said Ofcom was using the powers given to it by the Online Safety Act, which passed into law late last year, to “create a safer internet for teenagers”.Under the Online Safety Act, social media platforms can be fined up to 10% of global revenue for failing to protect children from harmful material online.Dame Melanie said Ofcom was currently working with social media firms to get the “detail of these laws” in place, which would take “a year or so”, but that the regulator was moving “very fast” and already seeing changes being introduced by platforms in scope of the new rules ahead of them taking effect.But she said that Ms Ghey’s proposed changes would go “a step further”, adding such a decision would be “ultimately one for our politicians”.Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live on Tuesday morning, Mr Sunak insisted he believed the Online Safety Act was robust enough to protect children online.The Prime Minister said the new law gave Ofcom the power “to actually talk to social media companies and ensure that children aren’t exposed to harmful content online and if social media companies don’t comply with those directives and rules and guidance, they will face very significant fines and penalties”. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailBosses at Amazon Marketplace, eBay and Instagram could face criminal sanctions for allowing the sale of illegal knives on their online platforms under Labour proposals.The Opposition party will urge the Government to close the “glaring loopholes” in its plans to tackle knife crime.Ministers are introducing new laws to outlaw zombie-style weapons, with the ban due to come into force in September – making it illegal to possess, sell, manufacture or transport the blades.Law-breaking online platforms who profit from these illegal sales are being let off with a slap on the wrist instead of facing criminal sanctionsShadow policing minister Alex NorrisBut Labour will use an Opposition Day debate on Tuesday to call on the Government to go further by including ninja swords in the ban and making tech executives liable for illegal weapons sold on their online marketplaces.Sir Keir Starmer has promised to close loopholes and end caveats in a “total crackdown” on the availability of knives on UK streets.The Labour leader last month met the family of Ronan Kanda, a 16-year-old who was killed by two 17-year-olds in 2022 using a ninja sword bought online using a fake name and collected from a Post Office.The former director of public prosecutions pledged to conduct a review of online knife sales to strengthen ID requirements and checks on parcels by Royal Mail and Border Force in an effort to clamp down on the unlawful supply of dangerous weapons to under-18s.A Labour government would also launch a £100 million programme aimed at identifying and supporting young people at risk of being drawn into violent crime.Any young person caught with a knife could also face curfews, tagging or other sanctions.Labour is calling on Tory MPs to back these proposals in the House of Commons on Tuesday.Shadow policing minister Alex Norris said: “Knife crime destroys lives and leaves families and communities reeling.“The Government has a duty to do everything it can to stop these dangerous weapons getting into the hands of teenagers and those who would do harm.“Dangerous weapons like ninja swords which have been used to kill teenagers like Ronan Kanda are still available on Britain’s streets. Still, law-breaking online platforms who profit from these illegal sales are being let off with a slap on the wrist instead of facing criminal sanctions.“Labour wants to close these glaring loopholes in the Government’s plans and are asking the Conservatives and other parties to vote with us to do so.”A Home Office spokesman said: “The UK has some of the strongest anti-knife laws in the world, and since 2019 we have taken 120,000 knives off our streets, but we are determined to do more to end this senseless violence.“Just weeks ago, we banned zombie-style knives and machetes and we will not hesitate to take further action based on the advice of police chiefs and frontline officers.“We are also toughening sentences for anyone caught with a banned weapon or found selling knives to under-18s, and are giving police new powers to seize any knife if they believe it might be used in criminality.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak admitted to failing on his promise to cut NHS waiting lists – the first time the prime minister has acknowledged he is off track on his five key targets.The Conservative leader also conceded that his pledge to get the UK economy growing again was still “on the wire” – but insisted that he would finally “stop the boats” once Rwanda deportation flights get up and running.Mr Sunak was roundly condemned for accepting a “depraved” £1,000 bet with TV interviewer Piers Morgan that he would get the flights to the African country started before the general election.Elsewhere, fresh doubt was thrown over the Tory party’s promise to expand free childcare, as education secretary Gillian Keegan admitted some local authorities have yet to confirm funding for providers in time for an April deadline.Ms Keegan said she could not guarantee the pledge to provide working parents of two-year-olds more free hours – insisting that she is leaning on councils in England “very hard” to come up with funding rates soon.Her admission came as:Mr Sunak was reported to top officials for a potential breach of the rules over the ‘crude’ Rwanda bet with MorganThe PM said he is now in a position to cut taxes – and insisted he “sleeps well” believing he does the right thingsA grim Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) forecast showed the UK on course to suffer the highest inflation in the G7 this year and nextThe education secretary could not give the Tory government the top grade when asked to rate its performanceRishi Sunak interviewed by Piers Morgan on TalkTVOn Monday, Mr Sunak conceded for the first time that he has not met his pledge to cut the number of NHS patients waiting for treatment – blaming strikes in an interview with Mr Morgan on TalkTV.Pressed directly on whether he had failed to meet the pledge, he said: “Yes, we have”, adding: “We have not made enough progress.”Despite recent decreases in the waiting list, it is still higher than when Mr Sunak’s pledge was made over a year ago. The list stood at 7.21 million treatments waiting to be carried out in January 2023. In November, some 7.61 million treatments were waiting to be carried out.“We all know the reasons for that … industrial action has had an impact,” said Mr Sunak on strikes.The TalkTV host went on to tell Mr Sunak about his 79-year-old mother’s experience three months ago after having a heart attack – revealing that she waited on a trolley in an A&E corridor for nearly seven hours in a scene she compared to a “war zone”.The PM said the account was “shocking” and that performance in A&E and with ambulance waiting times were “not good enough”. But he also cited the backlog created by the Covid crisis.“We can’t escape that,” he added. “When you shut down the country in the NHS for the best part of two years, that has had an impact on everything since then. And we just have to recognise that reality.” Rishi Sunak blamed his failure to cut waiting lists on industrial action in the NHS Mr Sunak also admitted that the UK economy may not have grown last year – another of the big five promises set out in January 2023 – despite insisting that progress had been made.He said: “I think we have made good progress on the economic ones, which are the first three – to halve inflation, grow the economy and reduce debt.”But the PM acknowledged that it was still “on the wire” whether the British economy had grown or stagnated, before arguing that either outcome was better than the recession some had feared.“We are on the wire of ‘has it grown a little bit, has it broadly stayed flat?’,” he said, “But fundamentally what was predicted was a year-long recession where the economy shrank by quite a lot … I am confident that we will be able to keep growing the economy.”Asked if could take credit for the reduction of inflation to 4 per cent, a battle primarily fought by the independent Bank of England, Mr Sunak replied: “I do, because I don’t think these things happen by accident.”The OECD lowered its predictions for UK inflation to 2.8 per cent for 2024 and 2.4 per cent for 2025.But this would still see the UK suffering from a higher level of inflation than any of its G7 colleagues – Canada, Italy, Japan, Germany, France and the US – both this year and next.Rishi Sunak and Piers Morgan bet £1,000 on Rwanda flights leaving before next electionGrilled on another of his pledges, to reduce government debt, the Tory leader said: “It is massively on track to happen, and it [debt reduction] has got even better.”Mr Sunak also said his government was now in a “position to cut taxes” ahead of chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s 6 March announcements. “I never get into this Budget speculation but the direction of travel is clear,” the PM said at further personal tax reductions to come next month.The Tory leader was heavily criticised for accepting a £1,000 bet with Morgan that the first deportation flights to Rwanda would take place before the general election.After shaking hands with the TV host on the terms of the Rwanda bet, Mr Sunak said: “I want to get the people on the plane. I am working incredibly hard to get the people on the planes.”Labour said the “deeply distasteful” bet showed the PM was “totally out of touch with working people”. Green MP Caroline Lucas told The Independent the move was a “new low in our politics”.The SNP reported Mr Sunak to his own adviser on ministers’ interests and the cabinet secretary over the “depraved” bet – with the party claiming it was a potential breach of ministerial code rule on avoiding conflicts with private interests.Meanwhile, Ms Keegan defended the government as England’s childcare providers continue to report being unable to commit to offering places for parents of two-year-olds in April, as they remain in the dark about final funding rates.“The vast majority of [councils] have already [published rates] but there’s a small number that haven’t, and this is causing a bit of friction in the system. I am leaning on them very, very hard,” she told LBC.The education said she would rate the Sunak government as “good” using Ofsted’s four-point grading scale of outstanding, good, requires improvement, and inadequate. More