UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch as Grant Shapps updates parliament on the latest Houthis strikes on Monday 5 February. Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, has said the Houthis’ “illegal” harassment campaign in the Red Sea is having “economic consequences”, as he defended the UK taking part in a third wave of air strikes.There have been fears that the attacks on commercial ships in the Middle East could drive up the price of goods in the shops, as cargo firms are forced to re-route their vessels via longer and more costly routes to avoid clashes with the rebel group.Mr Sunak said the UK on Saturday had acted in “self-defence” when taking part in joint air strikes with the US to target Houthi sites in Yemen.He repeated that he “won’t hesitate to protect British lives”, in a signal that he would be undeterred from continuing to approve further RAF bombing raids if the Houthis do not desist. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailDehenna Davison has been mocked for a cringeworthy social media video in which she makes fun of stereotypes about Tory MPs.The former minister jumped on the satirical TikTok trend, dubbed “of course”, for the way online creators use it to dispel myths about their profession or background.“I’m a Tory MP, of course I wear grey suits work,” Ms Davison said, highlighting her hot pink blazer and trouser combo.Ms Davison, the first Tory to represent Bishop Auckland after winning the seat from Labour in 2019, also showed off her Dr Marten boots after declaring: “I’m a Tory MP, of course I only wear kitten heels”.Ms Davison, who is from Sheffield, then points to a map showing South Yorkshire, before saying: “I am a Tory MP, of course I am from the south.” And she jokes about her favourite singer Taylor Swift counting as “classical music”.The 30-year-old MP for Bishop Auckland will stand down at the next electionMs Davison is standing down as an MP at the next election and quit as a levelling up minister after suffering from migraines.A Twitter account called Accidental Partridge, which mocks politicians for making gaffes similar to the comedic fictional television personality Alan Partridge, re-posted Ms Davison’s TikTok video.SNP MP John Nicholson said the post was “cringe”, while other parody accounts on the site mocked the MP.“I’m a Tory MP, of course I’ll be looking for a new job this year,” said one.Another joked: “I’m a Tory MP, of course I’m standing down and won’t contest the next election.”Ms Davison, who was seen as a rising star in the party, announced her resignation as a minister in September. At the time she said her migraines had “a great impact on my ability to carry out the role”.She said: “Some days I’m fine, but on others it is difficult, if not impossible, to keep up with the demands of ministerial life – and the timing of such days is never predictable.Ms Davison is standing down as an MP at the next election and quit as a levelling up minister after suffering from migraines “Though I have tried to mitigate and am grateful to colleagues for their patience at times, I don’t feel it is right to continue in the role.”She had already announced her decision to stand down as an MP at this year’s general election.Ms Davison was praised by levelling up Secretary Michael Gove, who said he was “really sorry to lose her”. “She has so much to offer,” he added.She said she will use her remaining time in Parliament to focus on “doing all I can to deliver on the pledges I made in Bishop Auckland” and championing the cause of “better justice and support for one punch assault victims and their families”.The issue has been of great personal importance to Ms Davison, whose father was killed by a single punch during an attack in a pub in Sheffield when she was just 13.She raised the issue at PMQs last week, calling for Rishi Sunak to introduce a specific offence and tougher minimum sentences for one punch manslaughter. 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 insightRishi Sunak has told Sinn Fein to focus on the “day to day” concerns of people in Northern Ireland rather than a referendum on Irish reunification.The PM said “constitutional change” should not be a priority for the Irish nationalist party – after newly-appointed first minister Michelle O’Neill claimed a border poll could be held in the next 10 years.Mr Sunak met Stormont’s party leaders and Republic of Ireland’s premier Leo Varadkar on Monday after the Northern Ireland Executive re-formed on Saturday to end a two-year stalemate.Mr Sunak said the £3bn funding boost would deliver for Northern Ireland’s families and businesses. “That’s what everyone’s priority is now – it is not constitutional change, it is delivering on the day-to-day things that matter to people.”The devolved government – headed by Sinn Fein’s Ms O’Neill and the DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly as deputy first minister – held its first meeting on Monday to start dealing with the province’s strained finances.The meetings came as Mr Sunak’s Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris told Ms O’Neill that she should focus on improving public services rather than the issue of Irish reunification.The Tory cabinet minister dismissed the prospect of a border poll, after Ms O’Neill claimed one could be held in the next 10 years. Mr Heaton-Harris said the conditions for a referendum were “definitely not met at this time”.NI secretary Chris Heaton-Harris, first minister Michelle O’Neill, deputy first minister Emma Little-Pengelly and Rishi Sunak at Stormont CastleHe told LBC that he would have to be “confident” that there was a potential majority of people in Northern Ireland “who would like to depart from their current constitutional status”.Mr Heaton-Harris added: “I would suggest that actually top of the in-tray for an incoming executive has to be things like public sector pay, the health service … funding on education and a whole host of other things that actually all people in Northern Ireland from both communities truly care about.”DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson criticised the new Sinn Fein first minister for focusing on the “divisive” issue of reunification.”“She says she wants to be a first minister for all, well that means the unionist community,” he told Sky News. “Let’s focus on the issues that really matter to people. They’re not interested in a divisive border poll.”On Sunday Ms O’Neill, the very first nationalist to assume the post of first minister at Stormont, said: “I believe we are in a decade of opportunity and there are so many things that are changing.“All the old norms, the nature of this estate, the fact that a nationalist-Republican was never supposed to be first minister. This all speaks to that change,” she said.Mr Sunak and Mr Heaton-Harris met leaders Ms O’Neill and Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald at Stormont on Monday.It is understood the Sinn Fein leaders objected to elements of the recent UK deal with the DUP amid concerns it adopted a pro-Union approach to issues such as a border poll.They also are believed to have stressed the requirement for the UK government to remain impartial in relation to the calling of any future referendum on Northern Ireland’s constitutional future.The institutions were restored following a deal between Mr Sunak’s government and the DUP to allay unionist concerns over post-Brexit trading arrangements.Mr Heaton-Harris suggested post-Brexit problems related to Northern Ireland were not over when he was grilled BBC Breakfast if Brexit was “actually done” after “eight years of uncertainty”.The cabinet minister said: “This is a problem that will never be solved … This is a land border with the European single market that we have here in Northern Ireland.”Rishi Sunak, DUP MLA Edwin Poots and NI secretary Chris Heaton-Harris at StormontBut Mr Heaton-Harris insisted the updated deal with the DUP to ease checks was an “opportunity” that gives the province smooth access to both the UK and EU’s single market.The PM also met with Ms O’Neill and deputy Ms Little-Pengelly at Stormont Castle – telling the executive’s Sinn Fein and DUP leaders: “Today isn’t the end, it’s the beginning and the real work starts now.”Mr Sunak’s government has offered a £3.3bn package to stabilise finances in the region. However, the executive has pressed Mr Sunak for more funding.A letter from all Stormont ministers to No 10 states that the current financial package on offer “does not provide the basis for the executive to deliver sustainable public services and public finances”.The PM said the offer represents “a generous and fair settlement”. He added: “There has not been devolved government up and running here for far too long. But now we do have it and they can start focusing on delivering for everyone.”Mr Sunak also met Irish premier Leo Varadkar at Stormont, as both leaders visited Belfast to mark the restoration of devolved government. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailBritain will suffer the highest inflation of the G7 group of advanced economies this year and next, new forecasts show.The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) lowered its predictions for headline UK inflation to an average of 2.8 per cent in 2024 and 2.4 per cent in 2025, from the 2.9 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively forecast in November.But this would still see the UK suffer the highest level of inflation of all the G7 countries, which include Canada, Italy, Japan, Germany, France and the US, in both 2024 and 2025.The OECD also downgraded its forecasts for Britain’s economic growth, meaning the UK economy will be the third-worst performer this year. Just France and Germany are expected to grow less than Britain, while Britain’s economy will grow at the same rate as Italy. The latest figures are a fresh headache for Rishi Sunak as the general election, expected this autumn, approaches. It means the country will be going to the polls amid a period of sluggish economic performance and inflation still above the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target. Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak will hope next month’s Budget can revive Britain’s sluggish economy Jeremy Hunt is expected to cut taxes in a bid to spur growth with next month’s Budget, but he has warned his scope for lowering the tax burden is limited.The Liberal Democrats said that “yet again the Conservative government is top of the table for price rises and near the bottom for economic growth”.Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney said: “Conservative ministers trashed our economy and left families to clear up their mess. This verdict on their economic performance is yet more proof the prime minister and his chancellor aren’t fit to hold the key to the Treasury.”In 2024, The OECD is predicting that UK inflation to be above Canada at 2.6 per cent, France at 2.7 per cent, Germany at 2.6 per cent, Italy at 1.8 per cent, Japan at 2.6 per cent and the United States at 2.2 per cent.And while the OECD said inflation is projected to be back to target across most G20 countries by the end of next year, it warned over the risk to inflation globally from geopolitical tensions and the Red Sea shipping disruption.It also downgraded its UK growth forecast for 2023 to 0.3 per cent from 0.5 per cent previously predicted in November, but held firm on its forecasts for Britain’s gross domestic product (GDP) to expand by 0.7 per cent in 2024 and 1.2 per cent in 2025.The OECD said central banks could start to lower interest rates in 2024 and sooner than it had predicted in November, although it warned that monetary policy must be “prudent”.It added that it is “too soon to be sure that underlying price pressures are fully contained”.High geopolitical tensions are a significant near-term risk to activity and inflation, particularly if the conflict in the Middle East were to disrupt energy marketsOECD secretary-general Mathias Cormann said: “Monetary policy needs to remain prudent, though central banks could start to lower interest rates this year, provided that inflation continues to ease.”The organisation flagged concerns over the Israel-Gaza conflict and attacks on ships in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels, which has seen US and UK forces respond with strikes against the rebels.“High geopolitical tensions are a significant near-term risk to activity and inflation, particularly if the conflict in the Middle East were to disrupt energy markets,” it said.“A widening or escalation of the conflict could disrupt shipping more extensively than presently expected, intensify supply bottlenecks, and push up energy prices if traffic is interrupted in the key routes for the transport of oil and gas from the Middle East to Asia, Europe and the Americas,” it added.The Bank of England last week also flagged worries over the Red Sea attacks in affecting the outlook for inflation, though it said the impact to the UK has so far been small.The Bank signalled on Thursday as it kept interest rates at 5.25 per cent that it could start thinking about cutting borrowing costs this year, though it also stressed the job of reining in inflation is not done.In its latest report, the OECD said global central bank policies “should remain restrictive for some time to come”, suggesting that policymakers should not cut rates too quickly or too far.Its growth forecasts see the UK with the joint third weakest expansion of the G7 countries, falling far short of the 2.1 per cent pencilled in for the US.Germany is set for the weakest expansion in the G7 this year, at just 0.3 per cent, followed by France at 0.6 per cent and then both the UK and Italy at 0.7 per cent, according to the OECD. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSome local authorities have yet to confirm funding for childcare providers to deliver on the government’s promised expansion, education secretary Gillian Keegan has said.Rishi Sunak previously admitted that his pledge to expand free childcare in England has hit trouble, as ministers scramble to get a grip on the roll-out ahead of an April deadline.As first revealed by The Independent in December, there are major problems with funding, staff shortages and nursery closures.Ms Keegan admitted she cannot guarantee the pledge to provide more free hours – but said she is leaning on councils in England “very hard” to publish funding rates ahead.“The vast majority of them have already – 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.Childcare providers have reported 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.Education secretary Gillian Keegan When challenged on whether she can guarantee that parents will be able to access funding, Ms Keegan said: “I’m very confident in this programme.”She added: “I’m very confident that your 15 hours for two-year-olds will be available in April. The only reason I say I can’t guarantee is strictly it’s tens and tens of thousands of businesses all across the country who are actually delivering it.”The new policy enables eligible working parents of two-year-olds to claim 15 hours of free childcare for 38 weeks of the year from April.And from September 2025, working parents who have children under five will be able to claim 30 hours of free childcare for 38 weeks per year.Mr Sunak admitted last month that there were “practical issues”, after it emerged that IT flaws which have stopped some parents from accessing the necessary code to apply for state-funded hours. Eligible parents will be sent an automatic code.Meanwhile, Ms Keegan said her husband will give evidence at the public inquiry into the Post Office Horizon IT scandal if requested to do so.Michael Keegan was formerly UK chief executive of Fujitsu – the tech firm behind the faulty accounting software at the centre of the Post Office Horizon scandal.Grilled on whether her husband will be giving evidence, Ms Keegan said: “He has said he would give evidence,” before suggesting that he would not be called.She added: “Actually, the stage of the inquiry that they are at now, they’ve just published a list, I think, of 68 people who they think can answer the questions for the governance and everything that happened, and he’s actually not on that list. So they haven’t asked him. But he would [give evidence], absolutely.”Asked why her husband has given up his part-time role at the Cabinet Office, she said: “Well, he’s doing a PhD. That’s his main thing. He’s doing a PhD and he’s getting to the sort of final bit of it, and that’s what his passion is.”The education secretary did not give Rishi Sunak’s government the top rating when asked to rate its performance.Ms Keegan said she would rate the government as “good” using Ofsted’s four-point grading scale of Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, and Inadequate.When asked how she would grade the performance using the watchdog’s system, she said: “I would say, ‘good’. Often a lot of the things that we’ve delivered nobody ever talks about.” 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 insightRishi Sunak has told Sinn Fein to focus on the “day to day” concerns of people in Northern Ireland rather than a referendum on Irish reunification.The PM said “constitutional change” should not be a priority for the Irish nationalist party – after newly-appointed first minister Michelle O’Neill claimed a border poll could be held in the next 10 years.Mr Sunak met Stormont’s party leaders and Republic of Ireland’s premier Leo Varadkar on Monday after the Northern Ireland Executive re-formed on Saturday to end a two-year stalemate.Mr Sunak said the £3bn funding boost would deliver for Northern Ireland’s families and businesses. “That’s what everyone’s priority is now – it is not constitutional change, it is delivering on the day-to-day things that matter to people.”The devolved government – headed by Sinn Fein’s Ms O’Neill and the DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly as deputy first minister – held its first meeting on Monday to start dealing with the province’s strained finances.The meetings came as Mr Sunak’s Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris told Ms O’Neill that she should focus on improving public services rather than the issue of Irish reunification.The Tory cabinet minister dismissed the prospect of a border poll, after Ms O’Neill claimed one could be held in the next 10 years. Mr Heaton-Harris said the conditions for a referendum were “definitely not met at this time”.NI secretary Chris Heaton-Harris, first minister Michelle O’Neill, deputy first minister Emma Little-Pengelly and Rishi Sunak at Stormont CastleHe told LBC that he would have to be “confident” that there was a potential majority of people in Northern Ireland “who would like to depart from their current constitutional status”.Mr Heaton-Harris added: “I would suggest that actually top of the in-tray for an incoming executive has to be things like public sector pay, the health service … funding on education and a whole host of other things that actually all people in Northern Ireland from both communities truly care about.”DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson criticised the new Sinn Fein first minister for focusing on the “divisive” issue of reunification.”“She says she wants to be a first minister for all, well that means the unionist community,” he told Sky News. “Let’s focus on the issues that really matter to people. They’re not interested in a divisive border poll.”On Sunday Ms O’Neill, the very first nationalist to assume the post of first minister at Stormont, said: “I believe we are in a decade of opportunity and there are so many things that are changing.“All the old norms, the nature of this estate, the fact that a nationalist-Republican was never supposed to be first minister. This all speaks to that change,” she said.Mr Sunak and Mr Heaton-Harris met leaders Ms O’Neill and Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald at Stormont on Monday.It is understood the Sinn Fein leaders objected to elements of the recent UK deal with the DUP amid concerns it adopted a pro-Union approach to issues such as a border poll.They also are believed to have stressed the requirement for the UK government to remain impartial in relation to the calling of any future referendum on Northern Ireland’s constitutional future.The institutions were restored following a deal between Mr Sunak’s government and the DUP to allay unionist concerns over post-Brexit trading arrangements.Mr Heaton-Harris suggested post-Brexit problems related to Northern Ireland were not over when he was grilled BBC Breakfast if Brexit was “actually done” after “eight years of uncertainty”.The cabinet minister said: “This is a problem that will never be solved … This is a land border with the European single market that we have here in Northern Ireland.”Rishi Sunak, DUP MLA Edwin Poots and NI secretary Chris Heaton-Harris at StormontBut Mr Heaton-Harris insisted the updated deal with the DUP to ease checks was an “opportunity” that gives the province smooth access to both the UK and EU’s single market.The PM also met with Ms O’Neill and deputy Ms Little-Pengelly at Stormont Castle – telling the executive’s Sinn Fein and DUP leaders: “Today isn’t the end, it’s the beginning and the real work starts now.”Mr Sunak’s government has offered a £3.3bn package to stabilise finances in the region. However, the executive has pressed Mr Sunak for more funding.A letter from all Stormont ministers to No 10 states that the current financial package on offer “does not provide the basis for the executive to deliver sustainable public services and public finances”.The PM said the offer represents “a generous and fair settlement”. He added: “There has not been devolved government up and running here for far too long. But now we do have it and they can start focusing on delivering for everyone.”Mr Sunak also met Irish premier Leo Varadkar at Stormont, as both leaders visited Belfast to mark the restoration of devolved government. More