UK Politics

Angela Rayner has insisted she is “not losing any sleep” after it was revealed police are reviewing claims she may have broken electoral law when she lived between two council houses in Stockport.Greater Manchester Police has confirmed a detective chief inspector had been assigned to reconsider the case, just days after Ms Rayner accused the Conservative party of attempting to “smear” her.Appearing on Good Morning Britain on Thursday (28 March), Ms Rayner insisted she had done nothing wrong.She said: “I am not losing any sleep over this. The only thing I am losing sleep over is 14 years of Conservative economic chaos.” More

Rishi Sunak has spoken of the challenges of being a good father to his two children, while balancing being prime minister.Mr Sunak opened up about the struggle in an interview with former Conservative Party leader William Hague for The Times Podcast.The prime minister said: “I have two young girls who mean the world to me. Ding these jobs it’s hard to balance being a good dad and doing a good job. You’ve got to prioritise this job because it’s an important job and you are doing it on behalf of the country.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailGeorge Osborne has suggested that Rachel Reeves is the “heir to David Cameron” – and himself – as he predicted Labour will win the next election. The shadow chancellor channelled another former Tory leader, Margaret Thatcher, during part of a major speech on the economy last week.The former chancellor once famously called Lord Cameron, now the foreign secretary, the “heir to Blair”. At the time, he says, “the Tory refuseniks were appalled”. But, he adds in a diary for The Spectator magazine, “moving on from lost battles is the key to future success”.In government, he says, he and Lord Cameron “accepted parts of the Blair inheritance – social liberalism, the minimum wage and so on, just as Blair had before him accepted the Thatcher inheritance of union laws and the market economy”.The same pattern can now be seen in the current shadow chancellor, he suggests. “Now Reeves is saying she wants to strengthen the Office for Budget Responsibility I introduced, adopt austere fiscal rules and won’t put up corporation tax,” he points out, asking: “Is she the heir to Cameron/Osborne?” Elsewhere, Mr Osborne, once widely seen as the man most likely to replace Lord Cameron as prime minister, predicts Labour is “going to win” the looming general election. It comes after a polling guru put Labour’s chances of securing the keys to No 10 at 99 per cent. In a blow to the Tories, Sir John Curtice said the chances the Conservatives could turn around their dire poll ratings was small, and added: “The Labour Party will be in a much stronger position to negotiate a minority government than the Conservatives because, apart from possibly the DUP, the Conservatives have no friends in the House of Commons.”Labour has consistently been 20 points ahead in the polls. Rishi Sunak has ruled out a general election on 2 May, but the prime minister still faces a potential electoral mauling on the day as voters cast their ballots in the local elections. The PM is also facing an exodus from his party after two cabinet ministers quit ahead of stepping down as MPs at the general election.A total of 63 Conservative MPs, including former PM Theresa May, have now said publicly they will not stand the next time around.A Labour source dismissed the “heir to Cameron” claims as “rubbish”. They added: “A claim that has about as much credibility as Osborne’s campaign for David Cameron to be Labour’s foreign secretary. And it’s because of the OBR we know the damage five Conservative prime ministers have done to the economy.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailTikTok has unveiled plans to launch online election centres on the platform as part of its efforts to support electoral integrity during 2024.The video-sharing site said more than two billion people in more than 50 countries were expected to go to the polls this year, and that its election centres would be used to point people to trusted information.Concerns have been raised about the potential impact of social media on elections this year, with artificial intelligence fuelling new waves of misinformation and disinformation in the form of manipulated media and deepfakes.TikTok said it would launch a Local Election Centre in the UK in early April, ahead of local elections in May, which had been created in partnership with fact-checking firm Logically Facts.AI-generated content brings new challenges to our industry, which we’ve proactively addressed with firm rules and new technologiesTikTok blog post The online centre would provide users with verified voting information, including when, where and how people could vote, as well as links to resources from the Electoral Commission.On TikTok, people would be directed to the centre through prompts on relevant election posts or searches.The company said it was planning to introduce similar centres in other countries around the world, tailored to each election.In the UK, TikTok said it would also produce a range of educational videos with Logically Facts, encouraging users to consider the information they consumed around elections.These videos would be featured on the election centre.Alongside 20 other leading tech companies, we recently pledged to help prevent deceptive AI content from interfering with this year’s elections through proactive collaborationTikTok blog post In a blog post discussing the company’s approach to elections in 2024, TikTok said it was also already making specific efforts to combat AI-powered misinformation, and this would continue during elections.“AI-generated content (AIGC) brings new challenges to our industry, which we’ve proactively addressed with firm rules and new technologies,” the company said.“We don’t allow manipulated content that could be misleading, including AIGC of public figures if it depicts them endorsing a political view. We also require creators to label any realistic AIGC and launched a first-of-its-kind tool to help people do this.“Alongside 20 other leading tech companies, we recently pledged to help prevent deceptive AI content from interfering with this year’s elections through proactive collaboration.“As technology evolves in 2024, we’ll continue to improve our policies and detection while partnering with experts on media literacy content that helps our community navigate AI responsibly, including working with industry through content provenance partnerships.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRepetition of words, tautology and paragraphs starting with “however” are some tell-tale features of ChatGPT’s writing style, researchers have found.The writing style of the artificial intelligence tool is “bland” and “journalistic”, according to a Cambridge University Press and Assessment study.It comes after the rise of generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, has sparked concerns about cheating among pupils in the education sector.Researchers compared essays written by three first-year undergraduate students, with the aid of ChatGPT, with 164 essays written by IGCSE students.These essays were marked by examiners and the undergraduates were then interviewed and their essays were analysed.The study found essays written with the help of ChatGPT performed poorly on analysis and comparison skills compared to non-ChatGPT-assisted essays.But ChatGPT-assisted essays performed strongly on information and reflection skills.Researchers identified a number of key features of the ChatGPT writing style, which included the use of Latinate vocabulary, repetition of words or phrases and ideas, and pleonasms.Essays written with the help of ChatGPT were also more likely to use paragraphs starting with discourse markers like “however”, “moreover”, and “overall”, and numbered lists with items.The researchers said ChatGPT’s default writing style “echoes the bland, clipped, and objective style that characterises much generic journalistic writing found on the internet”.The report said: “The students found ChatGPT useful for gathering information quickly.“However, they considered that complete reliance on this technology would produce essays of a low academic standard.”Lead researcher Jude Brady, of Cambridge University Press and Assessment, said: “Our findings offer insights into the growing area of generative AI and assessment, which is still largely uncharted territory.“Despite the small sample size, we are excited about these findings as they have the capacity to inform the work of teachers as well as students.”She added: “We hope our research might help people to identify when a piece of text has been written by ChatGPT.“For students and the wider population, learning to use and detect generative AI forms an increasingly important aspect of digital literacy.” 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 insightMillions of Britons are barred from entering the EU by post-Brexit passport rules that are set to cause chaos over the Easter holidays.With the getaway starting in earnest on Thursday, an estimated 2.4 million travellers have documents that can’t be used for trips to the EU because of the change in expiry requirements.Since Brexit, British passports must have an issue date less than 10 years old on the day of departure to the EU, and must have at least three months left before their expiry date on the intended day of return. But millions of passports issued prior to September 2018 have longer validity periods.Analysis by The Independent suggests 200 people every day are falling foul of this rule at UK airports, with thousands expected to see their holidays ruined over the upcoming break.The rule change follows Britain’s Brexit deal with the EU, which puts the UK into the “third country nationals” category – alongside Venezuela and Samoa – with different expiry rules than when it was a member state. It means Britons are being turned away at airports, ferries and trains bound for Europe even if they have previously travelled to the EU on the same document.The 17-day Easter break is a particularly busy time for British travellers and an estimated 6.4 million trips will be made from the UK to Europe – 1.6 million over the bank holiday weekend alone.Longer validity on older passports was a useful way to avoid wasting part of the life of a passport, since holders could renew up to nine months early without losing any time. But after the rules changed, many have been confused into believing they have more time on their current passports to enter the EU than they actually do.For example, anyone with a passport issued before 28 March 2014 will be prevented from going to Europe today, even if they have many months remaining before expiry. This confusing rule will potentially affect everyone whose passport was issued before September 2018: an estimated 32 million people.One traveller, Ruth Wade, was about to board a flight recently from Manchester airport to Zurich via Brussels for her son’s wedding. But she was turned away because her passport had gone over the 10-year limit.“I had already checked in for the flight 24 hours previously,” she told The Independent. “I handed over our passports at the desk. The woman from Brussels Airlines just looked at me and said, ‘You can’t travel on this passport, it’s expired.’“My reply was: ‘No it hasn’t, it doesn’t expire until October 2024.’ She then went on to say, the expiry date doesn’t matter, it’s 10 years from the issue date.”The passport had passed the 10-year mark by a matter of days.“ I was distraught,” Ms Wade said. “She looked at my husband and said, ‘You can go but she can’t.’“She didn’t offer any advice other than saying it had been all over the news. I don’t listen to or watch the news and I wouldn’t be taking any interest in a passport issue as my passport had seven months validity left on it.”Ms Wade was able to book a slot for a fast-track appointment at HM Passport Office in Liverpool, requiring a hotel stay and new tickets.“We need to get Zurich to see our son who is getting married. We have had to rebook flights, lost money on the initial flights. Upset and frustrated doesn’t even come close.”Official data shows that 706,000 passports were issued by HM Passport Office in March 2014. According to an Independent estimate, about 500,000 are adult passports and 80 per cent of those will be renewals which could have had the extra months added to them.With a life of about 10 years and six months for these 400,000 passports, and thus a six-month window for breaching the rule, around 2.4 million passports could be affected.Airports including Edinburgh, Newcastle and Bristol are already predicting their busiest-ever Easter, with 2 million people expected to fly from British airports between Good Friday and Easter Monday, most of them to the EU and wider Schengen area.Geneva routes will be extremely busy with winter sports fans, while Malaga, Alicante, Faro and Tenerife are the leading spring sunshine holiday destinations.Among city breaks, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Paris and Rome are the most popular. Dubai, Orlando and New York are the key longer-haul destinations.Proportionately there are significantly more family European trips over Easter: Turkey’s main season has yet to get going, and Egypt is not especially popular for short holidays due to the long flight time.Airlines insist it is the passenger’s responsibility to ensure they comply with the immigration rules of their destination. Travel insurers will not pay out for losses related to passport validity issues.A government spokesperson said: “It is quick and easy to renew your passport online or at a Post Office.“We advise all customers not to book travel without a passport that meets their travel needs.” More

A Conservative MP has launched a petition to get a fish and chip shop in his town centre constituency.Steve Tuckwell, who succeeded Boris Johnson in becoming MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, is campaigning to get a chippy in Uxbridge town centre and has launched an online petition.Mr Tuckwell said: “We have a fish and chip shop in Cowley and one near St Andrew’s Park, but we don’t in Uxbridge Town Centre. That’s why I’m launching a campaign to get us a fish and chip shop in Uxbridge Town Centre, but I need your support to do it. “ More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSuella Braverman will appear at a major Conservative conference alongside right-wing Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orban next month.The former home secretary and Mr Orban have been unveiled as a keynote speakers at the National Conservatism (NatCon) conference in Belgium.Mr Orban is widely seen as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in the European Union and has been accused of launching a crackdown on gay rights and press freedom.Ms Braverman faces a backlash over her decision to attend the NatCon conference in Brussels Ms Braverman, who was sacked by Rishi Sunak in November after accusing Metropolitan Police chiefs of bias in their handling of the pro-Palestine protests, risks a backlash for appearing alongside the Hungarian prime minister.Mr Orban has previously spoken at the annual conference of the International Organisation of the Family (IOF), described by the Human Rights Campaign as a “dangerous group of activists spreading anti-LGBT rhetoric and promoting laws and policies that criminalise LGBT people”.He has also implemented a Russian-style law forbidding discussions about LGBT+ issues in schools.A Hungarian news outlet, Hungary Today, said the “woke British press” was already in “uproar” over Ms Braverman’s appearance at the conference.The Liberal Democrats criticised Ms Braverman over her plans to “share a platform with a far-right authoritarian”. Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman Layla Moran said: “No politician should be sharing the stage with an ally of Vladimir Putin as he carries out his barbaric invasion of Ukraine.”She added that it was “staggering” that a former home secretary “would think that this is the right thing to do”. “From cries of a conspiratorial deep state to sharing a platform with a far-right authoritarian, the Conservative Party has gone completely off the rails,” she added. A backer of Ms Braverman dismissed the controversy around the conference, telling the Daily Telegraph: “MP speaks at same event as another EU leader.”Hungarian prime minister Victor Orban has been accused of a clampdown on press freedom and LGBT+ rights Ms Braverman used a speech at the last NatCon conference, in London last May, to set out her hardline vision for British Conservatism and railed against “experts and elites” amid claims of fresh government splits over immigration.The then home secretary launched into a tirade against multiculturalism, “political correctness”, transgender people and identity politics.She also said the government “needs to get overall immigration numbers down” and said some immigrants needed to “learn English and understand British social norms”.The conference is the project of a think tank called the Edmund Burke Foundation, which declares its aim to be “strengthening the principles of national conservatism in Western countries”.When Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski attended the conference in Rome in 2020 alongside Mr Orban he was forced to apologise by the party and faced calls to be kicked out.A spokesman for the Conservatives said at the time: “Daniel Kawczynski has been formally warned that his attendance at this event was not acceptable, particularly in light of the views of some of those in attendance, which we utterly condemn, and that he is expected to hold himself to higher standards.” More