UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailKeir Starmer has backed a change in the law on assisted dying as he indicated MPs could vote on the issue if he becomes prime minister. The Labour leader said he was an “advocate” for reform and warned the current law was not working. Childline founder Dame Esther Rantzen, who is suffering from stage four lung cancer, sparked a fresh debate on the issue last month when she revealed she had joined the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland.Sir Keir said: “I am an advocate of a change to the law. Obviously that change has to be very carefully crafted.”He added: “It shouldn’t really be for the prosecutor to try and make the law work when it doesn’t really. It’d be better for parliament to actually change the law.”He also said the “best route” was probably through a private member’s bill, brought by a backbench MP. He added: “And yes, I would be open to making time for that (as prime minister).”Asked if he wold vote to change the law, Sir Keir said he would “subject to it being the right change”.He also backed calls for a “free vote”, meaning MPs would not be whipped along party lines and would instead vote with their consciences. A similar bill was used to bring in abortion in the 1960s. Earlier this week a former Labour minister called on the party’s leader to hold a vote if he becomes prime minister. Dame Joan Ruddock urged action as she revealed she came close to smothering her husband with a pillow as he died an agonising death from cancer. She said that she had gone so far as to get “the pillow ready” and anticipated a “struggle”. The former head of CND also said she had cursed herself for not using his liquid morphine while he was still able to swallow it.She is now appealing for assisted dying to be made legal.She told the Independent: Dame Joan said: “There should be a vote in the Commons and it should be a free vote. Around 80 per cent of people support assisted dying. MPs should take note of that. That is what the country wants and they should do what the country wants.”She added: “I think there will be a vote in the Commons before Keir becomes PM. But if there is not one before the general election then certainly I would urge Keir Starmer to allow … a free vote on the issue.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA Labour government may not be able to cut personal taxes for two years without healthier economic growth, Keir Starmer has suggested.The Labour leader said on Friday he wanted to “lower the tax burden on working people” – but could not repeat Liz Truss’ mistake of unfunded promises.It opens up a dividing line with Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives, after the PM pledged to offer more personal tax cuts in the run-up to the 2024 general election.“I do want to see a lower tax burden on working people … I do want to do that,” Sir Keir told an LBC radio phone-in – saying the way to cut taxes was to “grow the economy”.“What I’m not going to do is make unfunded, unaffordable promised that I can’t keep. That’s what Liz Truss did … The economy crashed and people are still paying the price.”Speaking to Sky News on Thursday, Sir Keir refused to say if he would want to cut taxes within his first two years in office.“Of course, I want working people to pay less tax, to have less of a burden. But we’ve got to get our economy working. And I think everybody understands that,” Starmer told the broadcaster.And the Labour leader told reporters that “the first lever that we look for is the growth lever”, adding: “Before we even get to the question of tax, we’ve got to deal with the economy.”Keir Starmer says he wants to get tax burden down on LBC phone-in It comes as Labour made the audacious move of taking out anti-government tax adverts on the ConservativeHome website – the “bible” for the Tory grassroots.Labour’s “Rishi’s raw deal” posters highlight that for every £10 paid in tax they will only be getting £2 back because of frozen thresholds.Meanwhile, Sir Keir gave his strongest signal yet that he will get behind the legalisation of assisted dying if he becomes prime minister.“I totally feel that we ought to actually change the law … Obviously that change has to be very carefully crafted,” he told the LBC phone-in – before saying would be “open to making time” for a free vote in parliament.Asked if he would like personally vote to allow assisted dying, Sir Keir said he would back it “subject to it being the right change”.Sir Keir also conceded his planned £28bn-a-year green energy investment could shrink depending on economic conditions – saying it remained only a “confident ambition” and would be subject to strict fiscal rules.The Labour leader told LBC that the green spending will be “ramped up” in second half of parliament – but “in the end the fiscal rule comes first”. He added: “The world can change … It’s a confident ambition.”Sir Keir said criticised health secretary Victoria Atkins for demanding that junior doctor strikes called off before entering talks. “I would just say, get in the room and get on with it,” said the Labour leader.And the Labour leader said that UK police should be willing to examine any allegations made against Prince Andrew.The Duke of York has been reported to the police by the campaign group Republic after allegations of sexual assault resurfaced in unsealed court documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew has denied any wrong doing.Asked if police should investigate, Sir Keir said: “Wherever there’s a complaint made, it’s inevitable that it should be looked at. We have to start with the victims here, and look at what allegations have been made.”He added: “I’ve seen the headlines on this, not the detail, but frankly whoever it is, where there are allegations, credible allegations made, then of course they should be looked at.”On Thursday Sir Keir claimed Mr Sunak was trying to “squat” at No 10 for as long as possible, after the PM rejected a spring election and said he wanted to wait until the second half of the year. More

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Sir Tony Blair has led tributes to Derek Draper, who has died aged 56 after a heartbreaking battle with long Covid. Draper, a political lobbyist who later became a psychotherapist, was perhaps best known as the husband of TV presenter Kate Garraway.Mr Blair described the Labour adviser as a ruthless political operative and “an important part of the New Labour story”.Draper, who contracted the illness during the early stages of the pandemic, was rushed to hospital on Sunday 17 December after suffering a cardiac arrest that left him fighting for his life.Garraway announced the death of “my darling husband” in a statement on Instagram on Friday 5 January. “I’m sad to have to tell you all that my darling husband Derek has passed away,” she wrote. “As some of you may know he has been critically ill following a cardiac arrest in early December which, because of the damage inflicted by Covid in March 2020, led to further complications.“Derek was surrounded by his family in his final days and I was by his side holding his hand throughout the last long hours and when he passed. Sending so much love and thanks to all of you who have so generously given our family so much support. Rest gently and peacefully now Derek, my love, I was so lucky to have you in my life,” she wrote. Replying to her post, Sir Elton John wrote: “So sorry to hear of this news, Kate. Love and thoughts to you and your family.”Garraway and Draper, who got married in 2005, attended the singer’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour at the 02 Arena in London last April. Mr Blair was among the New Labour era heavyweights leading tributes to Mr Draper, who worked for Peter Mandelson and set up the Progress organisation with Liam Byrne, who went on to become an MP.Mr Blair said: “It is extraordinary and remarkable that Derek survived so long after the ravages of Covid. And that was in large measure due to the love Derek had for his family and they for him. This also says something very special about Derek.Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime VideoSign up now for a 30-day free trialSign upAccess unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime VideoSign up now for a 30-day free trialSign up“He was a tough, sometimes ruthless political operative, a brilliant adviser and someone you always wanted on your side. But underneath that tough exterior he was a loving, kind, generous and good-natured man you wanted as a friend.”He added: “He was an important part of the New Labour story, at the centre of things right at the beginning. But most important of all, he was a good colleague and great friend. And we will miss him deeply.”Another former Labour prime minister, Gordon Brown, wrote: “I will remember him as brilliant, creative and multitalented, and our thoughts are with Kate, Darcey and Billy.”Former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell described Draper as “a huge character”.Lorraine Kelly described her ITV colleague as “strong and brave” in a statement shared on Instagram. She wrote: “This is just so sad. Our friend Kate Garraway has been so strong and brave. Thoughts with her and her children and family. She was right by his side until the end and did him proud. An astonishing woman.”Born on 15 August 1967 in Chorley, Lancashire, Draper went to Southlands High School until 1984. He then attended Runshaw College in Leyland before studying at the University of Manchester.His political career began in 1990, when he was appointed constituency secretary to Nick Brown, now a Labour Party veteran, who went on to serve as chief whip. He quit the job two years later and went to work as a researcher for Peter Mandelson. In 1996, Draper was made director of lobbying firm GPC Market Access, where he remained until early 1999. During his career, he became involved in a scandal now known as “Lobbygate”, when he and Labour political organiser Jonathan Mendelsohn were caught on tape boasting that they could sell access to government ministers to create tax breaks for their clients. Derek Draper watches as his wife Kate Garraway collects her MBE from Prince WilliamAfter quitting politics, he went back to university and retrained as a psychotherapist, obtaining an MA in clinical psychology. Garraway spent nearly four years caring for Draper after he was diagnosed with Covid in March 2020 at the onset of the pandemic. During the course of the illness, he was hospitalised and placed in a medically induced coma.Draper was discharged from hospital more than a year after he was first admitted, returning home to Garraway and the couple’s two children, daughter Darcey and son Billy. He was readmitted on several occasions.He developed sepsis in February 2022. This led to another prolonged stint in hospital, during which Garraway said he had taken an “unexpected and frightening turn for the worse” and that he was “fighting for his life”. Seven months later, the TV presenter shared another update about her husband’s health, revealing that he had again developed sepsis that “threatened his life”.Garraway was awarded an MBE by the Prince of Wales in recognition for her services to journalism, broadcasting and charity, during an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle in July last year. She captured the devastating and permanent impact long Covid can have in the incredibly moving documentary Finding Derek.She said Draper had been the sickest person in the UK to survive Covid, adding that “unless you are up close to it, you don’t know what it’s like”. In the film, she narrated the story of the ordeal Derek and her family had endured since he became ill, as she reflected on what the future could hold for them. Draper is survived by Garraway and their two children. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Tories are only supported by over-65-year-olds ahead of a looming general election, a tracker of polls reveals.Rishi Sunak’s party is trailing Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour with voters in every age group except the over-65s, according to The Economist.The party enjoys the support of 40 per cent of people in the oldest age bracket, compared with just 18 per cent of those aged between 18 and 34. At the last election, two thirds of over-65s voted for the Conservatives.Meanwhile Labour is backed by more than half of 18 to 34-year-olds, and leads in the polls with everybody 64 and under.Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer will face off at a general election this year After Mr Sunak announced plans to hold an election in the second half of 2024, the tracker shows his party trailing Labour by 19 points – the largest gap a year out from polling day since Sir Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide.And, in a boost to Sir Keir after Jeremy Corbyn’s historic election defeat, Labour leads the Conservatives in every region, with the strongest support in its heartlands in the North and Midlands.Britain is set for a gruelling election campaign in 2024 after the PM ruled out a spring vote and revealed he wanted to go to the polls much later in the year.Mr Sunak told reporters it was his “working assumption” that he would call the election in the second half of the year.And Sir Keir vowed to fight “fire with fire” as he predicted that the Tories would embark on nasty and personal attacks in a battle now expected to last until at least October.The timing of the election was revealed after the Labour leader made a major speech setting out his stall to voters.He promised to deliver “project hope” and called for Mr Sunak to “bring it on”.Labour and the Liberal Democrats – who have called for a spring election – accused the PM of “bottling” it. Sir Keir claimed that the PM was trying to “squat” at No 10 for as long as possible.Conservative polling guru Robert Hayward told The Independent on Thursday that most “serious” Tory MPs favour an autumn election – though some are worried the local elections in May will only add to the “doom and gloom”.The Tory peer believes, on balance, that Mr Sunak was “wise” to wait in the hope of an economic revival. And he said the PM was smart to rule out a spring election today to stop Labour “going on and on about the ‘running away’ narrative”.Lord Hayward added: “It’s not risk-free, because the local elections will be bad. But the polls are still so awful. And it’s just possible that voters will become more inclined to consider his competence if inflation and interest rates continue to fall.”On Friday shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth warned the Conservatives would “run a very dirty negative campaign”, promising Labour would focus on the economy and the NHS. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailMinisters have been warned that Britain faces “massive” security risks if Donald Trump is re-elected president this year.Three of Britain’s former top US diplomats have urged the government to develop contingency plans in case Mr Trump’s bid to return to the White House is successful.Two ex-Washington ambassadors and a former diplomatic chief said preparations to help the UK cope if Mr Trump were to end US support for Ukraine and withdraw from Nato must be drawn up in secret to avoid giving him a campaign boost.Despite the legal cloud surrounding Mr Trump’s presidential run, Simon McDonald, head of the Foreign Office until 2020, along with Sir John Kerr and Sir Peter Westmacott, who both ran the UK embassy in Washington, believe a second Trump presidency remains likely.Some recent polls show Trump winning over Biden in 2024 “We should be thinking through the implications of a second Trump presidency, which are massive,” Lord McDonald told The i.The threats feared include Ukraine being left exposed if Mr Trump seeks to appease Vladimir Putin over Russia’s invasion, as well as Mr Trump turning his back on the Nato alliance – which he has previously called “obsolete”. Cross-bench peer Lord McDonald, who was head of the diplomatic service for five years, said: “The impact on the UK is potentially huge.”“There’s nothing in my lifetime that comes close,” he added, referring to the potential defence and security challenges posed by an ally.He warned ministers this is “proper preparation time and we should use it”, calling for top meetings in Whitehall and across Europe about “what it would mean for us”.Biden is hoping to keep Trump from winning a second term in the White House Meanwhile, Sir Peter, who served as British ambassador to the US from 2012 to 2016, told The i that Britain “ought to be doing some serious homework”. He added: “There’s not much point in saying, ‘We know he’s a monster, he’s unprincipled, he’s a misogynistic fraud and liar and destroyer of constitutions.’ The reality is: he will be there. We have to find ways of engaging with the US if Trump is elected.”And Lord Kerr, a cross-bench peer who was Britain’s ambassador to Washington from 1995 to 1997, said Britain and other US allies should “get together discreetly” and remember there is “safety in numbers”.He feared that any perceived interference in the US election would be exploited by Mr Trump and prove “counterproductive”.The warning comes as Mr Trump faces several challenges to his candidacy over the 2021 insurrection citing the 14th amendment to the constitution.He wants to ensure he can appear on 2024 Republican primary ballots in every state, but has been banned from running for office again in Maine and Colorado – both of which he has appealed.A recent poll shows President Joe Biden losing to Mr Trump in 2024 as Mr Biden’s support among Black, Latino and young voters has dropped. 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 insightFarmers remain “hugely frustrated” with Rishi Sunak’s government over post-Brexit subsidy payments, as ministers set out the long-awaited replacement for the EU’s agricultural support scheme.Environment secretary Steve Barclay promised it would be “easier” for farmers to get help as he revealed the structure of payments – including hundreds of pounds per hectare for maintaining habitats.But the National Farmers Union (NFU) said there were still “more questions than answers”, long after the post-Brexit consultation launched in 2018.NFU vice-president David Exwood said: “It remains hugely frustrating that nearly six years on [from the consultation] … government is still a long way behind on its commitments.”It comes as Mr Barclay also insisted that coming changes to the labelling of food products will not lead to consumers having to pay more at the supermarket tills.The government has been under pressure to finally set out its agricultural support schemes to replace EU funding since the UK left the bloc in 2020.Mr Barclay said on Thursday that premium payments will be offered to British farmers helping the environment, such as £765 per hectare for lapwing nesting plots, or £1,242 per hectare for connecting river and floodplain habitat.Environment secretary Steve Barclay says post-Brexit payments will make life ‘easier’ for farmers Farmers already carrying out work to protect nature will be offered higher payments, with the amount for maintaining grasslands, wetlands and scrub rising from £182 per hectare to £646.Applications to receive support will be open from the summer of 2024 and are designed to promote British producers while encouraging them to protect nature.Mr Barclay said: “We have listened to farmers’ feedback and set out the biggest upgrades to our farming schemes since leaving the EU, with more money, more choice and more trust to support domestic food production whilst also protecting the environment.”The cabinet minister added: “We’re also making it easier for farmers of every farm type and size to enter the schemes, and I encourage everyone to take a look at how you can join.”The NFU has been highly critical of the government over slow progress in meeting promises to boost environmental land management schemes (ELMs) aimed at replacing EU subsidies.While welcoming the increased payments and new options for support, the union said firms were still facing a minimum of 50 per cent reduction in the direct payments due in 2024.The NFU’s vice-president said the tapering of payments planned up to 2027 “continues to be very concerning”. Mr Exwood added: “We urgently need business-critical detail on how farmers and growers will smoothly transition from existing agreements to the new offer.”Changes include a 10 per cent increase in the average agreements in the sustainable farming incentive and countryside stewardship, and about 50 new actions for which farmers can be paid, such as developing robotic mechanical weeding.The government has previously said it is offering £45m for those creating new technology to make farming more efficient. There will also be different payment options, with shorter agreements of up to three years available for tenant farmers.Mr Barclay also announced government plans to change food labelling so that consumers can see if imported food does not meet UK welfare standards. The government wants people to buy more domestically produced food and would like supermarkets to have a “buy British button” on their websites.Speaking to journalists at the Oxford Farming Conference on Thursday, Mr Barclay said the changes are intended to avoid shoppers confusing imports for their British counterparts.He said: “It’s about recognising that there will be some consumers that want to pay for quality that do care about animal welfare … so it’s about empowering the consumer.”Mr Barclay added: “It’s not about closing off options for others, it’s about ensuring that someone who thinks when they see the union jack flag that the thing on the shelf is British, just making sure … that quite often that is not the case.”Ministers are hoping to have 60 per cent of the food eaten in the UK produced here, while also meeting a commitment to restore at least 30 per cent of the UK’s natural environment by 2030.Conservation groups have largely welcomed the payments for protecting habitats but said much more needs to be done to hit the 2030 target.Richard Benwell, chief executive of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said it was “very good to see Defra offer higher premium payments for nature-friendly farming choices” – but said more needed to be done to promote sustainable farming.He warned: “With six years until the legal target to halt nature’s decline, it’s impossible to imagine that we’re on track to reverse long-term decline in farmland wildlife, restore protected habitats to good condition, or stop the pollution pouring into our waterways.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email The politician favored to become Britain’s next prime minister accused the governing Conservatives on Thursday of leading the country into decline and despair during their 14 years in power, and urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to “bring it on” and hold an early election.Sunak, whose party is trailing in opinion polls, resisted pressure for an early vote, saying he planned to wait until “the second half of this year.”Kicking off a year likely to be dominated by electioneering, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer urged voters to reject a “tide of cynicism” about politicians. He said a Labour government would deliver “Project Hope,” though he ruled out major tax cuts or spending rises soon after an election.Starmer is aiming to return his left-of-center party, out of office since 2010, back to power in an election that must be held by January 2025.Opinion polls consistently give Labour a double-digit lead over Sunak’s Conservatives, who have churned through three prime ministers in 18 months amid a stuttering economy and a drumbeat of ethics scandals. But Starmer is trying to warn his party against complacency and to rouse disillusioned voters from apathy.“Everyone agrees we’re in a huge mess,” Starmer said during a speech in the southwest England city of Bristol. “Services on their knees, an economy that doesn’t work for working people even when it grows, let alone now when it stagnates.”He said that while most agreed “that Britain needs change … trust in politics is now so low, so degraded, that nobody believes you can make a difference anymore.”“Don’t listen when they say we’re all the same. We’re not and we never will be,” he added, saying voters had a choice between “continued decline with the Tories or national renewal with Labour.”With inflation still high and the economy showing close to zero growth, Labour is being cautious about making financial promises. Starmer said Labour would aim to lower taxes, but that getting the economy growing was the top priority.“The first lever that we want to pull, the first place we will go, is growth in our economy because that’s what’s been missing for 14 years,” he said.Starmer also said Labour’s promise to invest 28 billion pounds ($36 billion) a year until 2030 in green projects would depend on the state of the public finances.Starmer has wrestled Labour back to the political center ground after taking over in 2020 from left-winger Jeremy Corbyn, who led the party to defeats in 2017 and 2019. He has dropped Corbyn’s opposition to Britain’s nuclear weapons, backed military aid to Ukraine, apologized for antisemitism within the party under Corbyn and stressed the party’s commitment to balancing the books.The 61-year-old politician embraced a resume that opponents have used against him: a onetime human rights lawyer and former head of the national prosecution service. He said those roles meant he understood “the responsibility of justice and public service and … the responsibility of serious government.”He urged Sunak to fire the starting gun on an election campaign. Senior Labour officials have talked up the prospect of a May election — in part to put pressure on the prime minister.But Sunak, who became prime minister through an internal Conservative leadership contest in October 2022, indicated he is in no rush to seek voters’ judgment. He has the power to call an election whenever he wants ahead of the deadline.He said his “working assumption” was that the vote would be held in the second half of 2024. “I want to keep going, managing the economy well and cutting people’s taxes. But I also want to keep tackling illegal migration,” Sunak told reporters. “So, I’ve got lots to get on with and I’m determined to keep delivering for the British people.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSenior Conservative Lee Anderson has clashed Richard Tice after dubbing the Reform UK party leader a “pound shop Nigel Farage”.The deputy Tory chairman told Mr Tice to “pipe down” in his attacks on the government, as the right-wing rivals squabble at the start of a general election year.Mr Anderson has previously branded Reform UK “amateurs”, after claiming he was offered a “guaranteed” job for five years on £80,000 salary to defect to the party.The senior Tory renewed his spat with the insurgent party, as speculation mounts that Mr Farage could return to take up a top role for Reform UK in the election campaign.“I get on with Richard reasonably well, but I would say this – he’s not Nigel Farage, he’s not the leader that Nigel Farage was,” Mr Anderson told GB News.“In fact, I agree with one of my constituents, who said to me earlier today he is a bit of a pound shop Nigel Farage,” he said.The Tory deputy chairman added: “I think he’s a pound shop Nigel Farage and every time he opens his mouth recently on whichever media platform, he is coming across as Reform’s answer to Diane Abbott. He’s just saying ridiculous things.”Richard Tice outlining Reform UK’s plans to ‘Save Britain’ “I think he needs to pipe down a little bit,” Mr Anderon added. “Because if the unthinkable happens and next year, we do get a Labour government and Richard Tice is on his media platforms, saying what a disaster ‘Starmergeddon’ and … the Labour party are, I shall be reminding Mr Tice it was him that helped them get elected.”Mr Tice – who warned in a speech on Wednesday that Labour would bring on “Starmergeddon” – fired back at Mr Anderson on LBC radio on Thursday.The Reform UK leader said: “Lee, who I like and is a nice guy, is terrified that he’s going to lose his seat.”“And perhaps he’s just a bit jealous that I’m pound shop, and he’s 30p Lee,” Mr Tice added.The reference is to “30p Lee” nickname given to Mr Anderson by anti-government campaigners for his comments dismissing food bank use and claim that meals could be cooked from scratch “for about 30 pence a day”.Lee Anderson has revived spat with Richard Tice The Reform UK leader “categorically” ruled out any deal with the Tories at the 2024 general election during a launch speech for the long campaign on Wednesday.Mr Tice insisted Reform would not do a deal with the Conservatives under any circumstances. And he claimed Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir were “socialist twins”.In 2019, the group – called the Brexit Party at the time – stood down hundreds of candidates to help Boris Johnson secure a majority.He gave his strongest hint that his predecessor Mr Farage will take on a frontline role in the election campaign – though the latter was notably absent from the launch, suggesting it is unlikely he will make an eighth bid to become an MP.Luke Tryl, director at More in Common, said Reform could see the Tories lose more than 30 additional seats – including chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s South West Surrey constituencyThe pollster told The Independent: “Reform could well be the difference between a hung parliament and a Labour majority.”Earlier this week Mr Anderson admitted Mr Farage’s party is a major threat on the right – lashing out at the rivals being a “bigger threat to the country at the moment than the Labour Party”.Mr Anderson – handed a key role by Mr Sunak earlier this year – revealed in November that he was offered a five-year job with Reform UK on an £80,000 salary if he defected to the party.The deputy chairman denied accusations by Mr Tice that he had used the offer as leverage to get the senior role in the Tory party.Mr Tice denied that any “cash or money” has been offered to Tory MPs to join – but said he has held “numerous discussions” with Tories worried about Mr Sunak. More