UK

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour is set to make it easier to change gender by allowing a single family doctor to sign off on the decision under plans to “simplify” the process.The policy would include scrapping a panel of doctors and lawyers that approve gender recognition certificates to stop the “futile and dehumanising parts” of changing gender.A source said the party wanted to make the process “less medicalised” but added that the plans would retain the involvement of a doctor, as reported by The Times.Anneliese Dodds, the shadow women and equalities secretary, told the newspaper: “We want to see the process for gender recognition modernised, while protecting single-sex spaces for biological women. “This means stripping out the futile and dehumanising parts of the process for obtaining a gender recognition certificate, while retaining important safeguards.”Labour is set to make it easier to change gender by allowing a single family doctor to sign off on the decision More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Europe’s far-right political parties unofficially launched their campaign Sunday for European Union elections in Spain with strong messages against illegal migration and the bloc’s climate policy while declaring their support for Israel in its war against Hamas. French National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni tried to rally voters at an event organized by Spain’s far-right Vox party in Madrid ahead of the European Union’s parliamentary elections June 6-9. Analysts say the vote across the bloc’s 27 nations could see a strong rise of the far right.“We are in the final stretch to make 9 June a day of liberation and hope,” said the French presidential candidate. “We have three weeks left to convince our respective compatriots to go out and vote.”Meloni, whose Brothers of Italy party has foundations in Benito Mussolini’s fascism, spoke in Spanish via video conference and called for young people to vote. “You are the only possible future for Europe,” Meloni told them.The defense of the EU’s borders was another main theme of the last of two days of a meeting organized by Vox in an arena in the outskirts of the Spanish capital.“We are not against human rights, but we want strong borders in Europe… because it is hours,”said André Ventura, leader of Chega, a party that won the third largest number of parliamentary seats in Portugal earlier this year. “We cannot continue to have this massive influx of Islamic and Muslim immigrants into Europe,” he added. Meloni defended her country’s policy of reaching agreements with third countries to try to curb illegal immigration, while Le Pen advocated for reform of the Schengen area — which allows free movement of people within most of the bloc’s borders — so that “Europe allows each country to choose who enters and who leaves its territory.”Vox’s president, Santiago Abascal, called for unity of the far-right ahead of the European election. “In the face of globalism we must respond with a global alliance of patriots in defense of common sense, economic prosperity, security and freedom because we share the threat, and that leads us to solidarity,” Abascal said.The vote will indicate whether the continental political drift will match the rightward swing seen across much of the globe from the Netherlands to Slovakia to Argentina.Argentina’s flamboyant president, Javier Milei, who was welcomed like a star amidst chants of “Freedom”, dedicated his long speech to bashing socialism. He said that socialism “is an ideology that goes directly against human nature and necessarily leads to slavery or death.”“There is no other possible destiny,” he said. “To open the door to socialism is to invite death,” he added. Supporters who packed the Palacio de Vistalegre arena cheered on messages against the European Green Deal and in favor of farm workers, whose protests brought several cities in the continent to a standstill in recent months. They also applauded every speaker’s message in solidarity with Israel in its war in Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.Israel was represented at the meeting by its Minister for Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli.Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the former prime minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, also spoke from a video screen.During the event, hundreds of left-wing activists were demonstrating against fascism in the city center in Madrid.“I am here because in Vistalegre we have a summit of hate and we must fight against fascists,” said Frank Erbroder, a Polish activist at the gathering. “I am worried because Hitler won, because of democracy, and I think that maybe we’ll have the same situation.”___Associated Press writers Iain Sullivan and Alicia León in Madrid contributed to this report. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA cabinet minister has admitted that tens of thousands of victims have waited too long for compensation as a result of the infected blood scandal. Grant Shapps also said that families affected by the fiasco have been “let down” over decades. Victims are set for a compensation package expected to top £10bn, after Jeremy Hunt said the payouts would fulfil a promise he made to a constituent 10 years ago to deliver justice. The chancellor also called the scandal the worst of his lifetime as he indicated he would be open to a memorial to the victims. Ministers are set to outline payments to those given contaminated blood or blood products between the 1970s and the early 1990s later this week. The parents, children and siblings of those infected will also receieve money, it is expected. On Monday an inquiry is due to unveil its damning findings on the scandal, one of the worst in NHS history.On Sunday, Mr Shapps agreed the cases were one of the most shameful failures of government he had seen. Campaigners are set to rally for a final time for the final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry (Aaron Chown/PA) 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 insightThe Brexiteer promise of stronger sovereignty has failed and is instead leading to a loss of control of British territories, MPs have warned.The claim has come ahead of a showdown on Monday between David Cameron and members of the Commons European scrutiny committee over a planned treaty for Gibraltar.The governments of Gibraltar and the UK are close to agreeing a treaty that some fear will see EU Frontex border guards decide who can enter the British overseas territory – and will give them the power to turn away British citizens.Added to that, with the threat that Gibraltar could become subject to Schengen area rules, there are now concerns that UK citizens will only be allowed to stay for 90 days on “the Rock” even though it is a British overseas territory.David Cameron is due to discuss Gibraltar and Northern Ireland with the European scrutiny committee More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailBritish companies should ditch political activism and focus on delivering goods and services for customers, the UK’s business secretary has said.Kemi Badenoch, who also works as Britain’s equalities minister, said there was a “creeping politicisation” of businesses and claimed equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives did more to divide than unify people.It comes as 50 per cent of people thought businesses were too concerned with “taking political positions” on contested issues, according to a survey by centre-right think-tank Policy Exchange.Up to 75 per cent also believed firms should hire on merit, regardless of race or gender, instead of seeking to create a diverse workforce.“Policy Exchange’s findings confirm what I know to be true from talking to people who run businesses, work in them, and buy from them,” said Ms Badenoch.Kemi Badenoch said British companies should ditch political activism and focus on delivering goods and services More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Archbishop of Canterbury has slammed the two-child benefit cap as “cruel” and urged prime minister Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer to commit to scrapping it.Justin Welby said the limit, which restricts child benefit entitlement to two children per household, was neither “moral nor necessary” and it fell short of “our values as a society”.The prime minister has pledged to keep the policy if the Tories remain in power and Sir Keir has so far resisted calls to get rid of it.“The two-child limit falls short of our values as a society. It denies the truth that all children are of equal and immeasurable worth, and will have an impact on their long-term health, wellbeing and educational outcomes,” the Archbishop told The Observer.“This cruel policy is neither moral nor necessary. We are a country that can and should provide for those most in need, following the example of Jesus Christ, who served the poorest in society.”Sir Keir said tackling child poverty was ‘central’ to a Labour government but has so far resisted calls to scrap the policy More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour has pledged to introduce shared NHS waiting lists to deliver an extra 40,000 appointments a week and improve healthcare.Hospitals would be forced to run evening and weekend surgeries, with staff and resources pooled across a region under the plans.Patients would also be offered appointments at nearby hospitals to avoid waiting times at their local one, allowing them to be treated faster.Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “Fourteen years of Conservative neglect has seen waiting lists treble and, despite Rishi Sunak’s promise, they are still rising.“Only Labour has a plan to reform our NHS, get hospitals working together with shared waiting lists and staff, to get patients treated on time again.”Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting slammed the government’s ‘neglect’ of the NHS More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Croatian lawmakers on Friday voted into office a new government that marks a tilt to the right in another European Union nation ahead of the 27-nation bloc’s parliamentary election next month.Although it is still dominated by conservative Croatian Democratic Union, or HDZ, the new Croatian government now also includes hard-right Homeland Movement, a relatively new party that emerged as a kingmaker after an inconclusive parliamentary election in April.The new Cabinet of Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who started his third consecutive term in office, was approved in a 79-61 vote in the 151-member Sabor, or the Croatian assembly. The HDZ won the most votes in the April 17 election but not enough to rule alone. A relatively slim majority for the new coalition government could usher in a period of political instability after HDZ’s years-long domination. In his speech, Plenkovic said that his new government will focus on further economic growth and modernization, saying that so far “the citizens have recognized our effort.”Croatia’s economy was among the weakest in the EU when it joined the bloc in 2013 but has since managed to join the single currency market last year. The country of 3.8 million people relies heavily on income from tourism along its stunning Adriatic Sea coastline. For the first time in years, Croatia’s government does not include a party representing Croatia’s ethnic Serb minority after the Homeland Movement, known as DP, objected to their participation. This has sparked concerns that Croatia’s hard-won ethnic balance following the 1991-95 Serb-Croatian war could be disrupted. Plenkovic pledged that “we will take care of the rights of national minorities, respect them, protect achieved rights and make sure that everyone in Croatia, each and everyone of our citizens, feel good.”But Anja Šimpraga, a former government minister from the Independent Democratic Serb Party, or SDSS, warned during Friday’s debate that “already we are witnessing radicalization.” Liberal lawmaker Sandra Bencic, from left-green Mozemo, or We Can, party ironically evoked what she described as “homeland spirit” fueling divisions in the society.The Homeland Movement party is made up mostly of radical nationalists and social conservatives who had left HDZ. The party is led by the hard-line mayor of the eastern town of Vukovar, which was destroyed in 1991 at the start of Croatia’s war for independence after it split from the former Yugoslavia.The party has demanded that the Croatian state abolish financing of a critical liberal news outlet Novosti, which is issued by the Serb minority and funded from the budget.The Croatian Journalists’ Association has reported that Novosti journalists have received threats and been deemed as enemies of the state. The organization said the threats are the result of DP’s campaign against Novosti, and have demanded a response from the authorities.The DP also has advocated a return to the traditional, stay-at-home role for women in Croatia’s society, which is predominantly Catholic and conservative, and where women already face problems accessing abortion. HDZ has largely held office since Croatia gained independence. The Balkan nation became an EU member in 2013, and joined Europe’s passport-free travel area and the eurozone last year.With hard=right and populist parties now part of or leading a half dozen governments in the EU, they appear positioned to make gains in the June 6-9 election for the European Parliament. The vote takes place as the continent faces a war in Ukraine, climate emergencies, migration and other problems. More