UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSir Keir Starmer has been plunged into a fresh row over Diane Abbott’s suspension after it emerged the investigation into her was completed five months ago.The Labour leader has repeatedly refused to say whether Ms Abbott, the longest-serving Black MP, will be able to stand for the party in the 4 July general election.She was suspended last April over a letter she wrote suggesting Jewish people are not subjected to the same racism as some other minorities.Diane Abbott had the whip withdrawn in 2023 More

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

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

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe British government has said it is “determined to hold to account” those responsible for hundreds of Ukrainians with disabilities, including children, believed to have been forcibly removed to Russian-held territory and Russia itself, after a special report by The Independent.In response to the 18-month investigation, the deputy foreign secretary, Andrew Mitchell, called the practice “despicable” and pledged further support to the disabled community in the war-wracked country.The Independent’s four-article series revealed evidence that since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, people with disabilities have been held incommunicado, in squalid conditions and even forced into adopting Russian passports in order to secure treatment or care. The series reveals other horrific abuses, including that groups were used by Russian soldiers as human shields and deprived of food and critical medicine resulting in death – potential war crimes against the most vulnerable in society.Russia has repeatedly denied committing any crimes in Ukraine and has portrayed the movement of people as humanitarian evacuations.“Russia’s forcible deportation of vulnerable Ukrainians is a despicable attempt to erase Ukrainian identity, and with it, Ukraine’s future,” Mr Mitchell said.“We are determined to hold to account those responsible – Russia must immediately cease these forced deportations and return those it has unlawfully taken from Ukraine.”He pledged further supporting humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable Ukrainians, including women, children, the elderly and those with disabilities. The UK is one of the largest humanitarian donors to Ukraine and has committed £357 million in assistance since the start of the full-scale invasion.“The UK will continue to work to ensure vulnerable Ukrainians, including women and children, older people, and those with disabilities, receive the support they need, including by embedding specialist disability expertise and assistive technology as part of our humanitarian response,” Mr Mitchell added.The fate of the vast majority of the 500 peopleThe Independent tracked remains unknown, but there is evidence that some of the children may have been sent to “re-education camps” to learn Russian language, culture and the Kremlin’s version of history.The investigation also made clear what life close to the frontline is like for people with disabilities. It zeroes in on the failings of Ukraine’s outdated care system, inherited from the Soviet Union, which relies on systematic institutionalisation from childhood – with conditions are described by UN and EU experts as “appalling”.The series calls for a paradigm shift in attitudes towards people with disabilities across all conflicts – where international law and protections appear to be failing the most vulnerable.Gerard Quinn, the UN’s special rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities until November, who has extensively worked on Ukraine, said the series painted “a damning picture” of the vulnerabilities that people with disabilities face in Ukraine war and reveals the unique risks faced by them.Those civilians remaining in frontline areas are largely older people and people with disabilities. Maksym, 33, who was himself was taken from his facility for people with disabilities in southern Ukraine and forcibly taken to Russia, told The Independent people with disabilities are ”often the first to be forgotten and the last to be left behind.”The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) provides funds to the World Health Organisation to provide assistive technology for people with disabilities, and the Ukrainian Red Cross Society in providing home-based care and disability-inclusive safe spaces.The FCDO also funds disability-inclusion specialists who work across the humanitarian response to support it to more effectively respond to the needs of people with disabilities. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch as Rishi Sunak continued his general election campaign in the West Midlands on Tuesday, 28 May, after announcing a £2.4 billion tax break to help secure the support of pensioners as he battles to remain in No 10.The prime minister has pledged a “triple lock plus” to increase the income tax personal allowance for pensioners, giving them a tax cut worth around £95 in 2025-26, rising to £275 in 2029-30.Mr Sunak is offering to protect the triple lock on the state pension brought in by Lord Cameron in 2010 which means that it is guaranteed to go up by the highest rate of inflation or 2.5 per cent, whichever is the largest increase.On Tuesday, Mr Sunak will also announce that from April next year the income tax personal allowance for pensioners will be increased in line with the triple lock.The new tax policy will cost £2.4bn a year by 2029/30 and will be funded through clamping down on tax dodgers – the same pot of money which will help pay for Mr Sunak’s plan for new mandatory national service for 18-year-olds.National service plans were the PM’s first major policy proposal since he announced the general election in the pouring rain last week.The policy would see see 18-year-olds forced to either sign up to the military or cyber defence force or undertake community volunteering work.Mr Sunak has defended the plans, saying they would “foster a culture of service which is going to be incredibly powerful for making our society more cohesive.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailNigel Farage claimed the US election is more important than the United Kingdom’s as he praised Donald Trump’s campaign for re-election.Mr Farage said the world would be a safer place with Donald Trump back in the White House and it would be better to have a “pro-British” president.“The American election is more important. Strong American leadership, standing up to bullies and leading a strong Nato are absolutely vital,” he said.“I believe the world was a much safer place with Donald Trump in the White House than Joe Biden. It would be nice to have a pro-British president back in the White House instead of one that absolutely loathes us.”Mr Farage was speaking on Tuesday morning in Dover, where he introduced Reform UK candidate Howard Cox, and rallied against Labour and Conservative policies on immigration.Mr Farage said the world would be a safer place with Donald Trump back in the White House More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe general election campaign is in full swing with party leaders travelling up and down the country announcing planned policies if they win. Prime minister Rishi Sunak and Labour Leader Sir Kier Starmer have already announced a number of manifesto pledges after a snap summer election was announced for 4 July. Mr Sunak faces the task of preventing the Tories from suffering an electoral wipeout, with Labour consistently 20 points ahead in the opinion polls. Britain’s leading election expert Professor Sir John Curtice said the Conservatives face a “major challenge” to hold on to power and that the election is “for Labour to win”.The Independent has been tracking every policy announcement from the prime minister in his 2024 campaign, including ones he has already pledged. National ServiceIn his first major policy announcement on 25 May, the prime minister unveiled plans for mandatory national service for young adults. Plans are currently being drawn up for 18-year-olds to either join the military full-time or volunteer one weekend every month carrying out community service.Aimed for the first teenagers to take part in September 2025, Rishi Sunak is said to believe compulsory service would help foster the “national spirit” that emerged during the pandemic.Around 30,000 full-time military placements will be on offer, with the vast majority of 18-year-olds expected to do the compulsory community roles instead, working with organisations such as charities, the NHS, police or fire services.The programme will cost an estimated £2.5 billion a year by the end of the decade and plans to fund £1 billion through plans to “crack down on tax avoidance and evasion”.The remaining £1.5 billion will be paid for with money previously used for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), which is a package to support charities and community groups, the Tories said.Labour have attacked the policy with Kier Starmer calling it a “teenage Dad’s Army”. Tax break for pensionersOn 28 May, Mr Sunak pledged to increase the income tax personal allowance for pensioners. The £2.4 billion plan would give pensioners  a tax cut worth around £95 in 2025-26, rising to £275 in 2029-30.Mr Sunak’s new tax policy would see the age-related allowance rise in line with the increase to the state pension under a “triple lock plus” guarantee.That would mean that both the state pension and the allowance – the amount that can be earned before being liable to income tax – rising by inflation, average wages or 2.5%, whichever is highest.The announcement will guarantee in legislation that the pensioners’ personal allowance will always be higher than the level of the new state pension.The policy will cost £2.4 billion a year by 2029/30 and will be funded through the clamping down on tax dodgers – the same pot of money which will help pay for Mr Sunak’s plan for new mandatory national service for 18-year-olds.Labour said it was a “desperate move” from a party, and said it would not match the “triple lock plus”. Defence spendingMr Sunak set out a plan in April to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence by 2030. The announcement included an additional £500m in military support for Ukraine on top of the £2.5bn allocated for this financial year.In a speech earlier this month, the prime minister warned giving Sir Keir Starmer the keys to No 10 would leave the country less safe and embolden Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The funding for this policy would largely come from slashing the size of the Civil Service, the government said. Labour has said it wants to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, but has not set a date for achieving that target and would carry out a defence review if it wins the election.‘Advanced British Standard’ In October last year, the prime minister announced his plan to scrap A-levels and replace it with a new qualification called the Advanced British Standard (ABS). At the annual Conservative Party Conference, Mr Sunak said he would merge A levels and technical T-levels into the brand new ABS to create “parity of esteem” between academic and technical subjects.Teachers in “key subjects” will receive special bonuses of up to £30,000, tax free, over the first five years of their careers to “attract and retain” more people.Sixth formers will now be required to study five subjects rather than three under the new ABS qualification, said the PM – explaining that he wanted students to spend at least 195 hours more with a teacher.No 10 emphasised that it was a long-term reform project, and could take at least 10 years to bring in. It means pupils starting primary school in September 2023 could be the first to take the new ABS. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailMore than 120 business leaders have backed Labour as the “party of change” ahead of the 4 July general election.Founders, executives and investors from a range of sectors attacked 14 years of “instability, stagnation, and a lack of long-term focus” under the Conservatives.And, in a letter published in The Times, they called for Labour to be given the chance “to change the country and lead Britain into the future”.Business chiefs have flocked back to Labour under Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves More