UK

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailJust days after promising to fight and win a vote of no confidence in his leadership, Humza Yousaf fought back tears as he threw in the towel.His resignation is the latest twist in the chaotic tale of the SNP since the 2019 general election and the 2021 Scottish election.Then, the party was riding high under the leadership of Nicola Sturgeon, whose smooth communication style helped reassure the people of Scotland during the Covid crisis and saw her become a household name across the UK.Humza Yousaf fought back tears as he quit as first minister More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Reform UK candidate for the 2024 London Mayoral Election has vowed to scrap the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) and refund all fines. Howard Cox is the founder of Fair Fuel UK, a lobbying group that campaigns to reduce charges on motorists, particularly fuel duty.“As the founder of the FairFuelUK campaign, I am the only Mayoral candidate with a proven track record of making a difference to your lives by helping to reduce your cost of living,” he said.“Since 2011, every driver, business and charity has benefited from paying thousands of pounds less to fill up their motorbikes, cars, vans and trucks – all because of my campaign against fuel duty increases.“No other Mayoral candidate has an equivalent record in successful campaigning, or my detailed knowledge of road user transport – both essential to get London moving again.“I want our city back. I will be strong on crime and take a zero tolerance approach to violent offenders. I will always listen to you, and from day one I will scrap all policies that do not benefit the majority of Londoners.”Speaking at an anti-Ulez protest earlier this year, Mr Cox describe the low-emission scheme as unnecessary. “Good, decent, honest, taxpaying, hardworking people are being impacted by Ulez,” he said. “It’s such a sad thing because we do not need Ulez. Science proves we don’t need it.“Stop picking on the motorists, they’re the commercial heartbeat of the economy.”Mr Cox said that while he has an Ulez compliant vehicle, he had been “bombarded by people like plumbers and sole traders, people like that who can’t afford to change.”Figures released by TfL in October showed around 60,000 vehicle owners a day were paying the charge.A taxi with an advert for Howard Cox More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Liberal Democrat candidate for London mayor has said his top priority is policing and crime following his own experience of being violently mugged. Rob Blackie had his neck fractured and was fitted with a titanium replacement following the attack and his perpetrators were never caught. Mr Blackie told The Independent he will focus on “fixing” the Met Police and tackle violence against women and girls. “After eight years, Londoners are feeling let down by Sadiq Khan, particularly on crime,” he said. “I see this myself going around London. Every week, I’ll knock on people’s doors. It might be a burglary, might be a car theft, it could be a stabbing nearby.“I am the only candidate with a serious and credible plan to tackle violence against women and girls. It’s time the Mayor had a proper plan too – that’s why I would create a new Mayoral Strategy for Violence Against Women and Girls and set up a new Sexual Offence Unit to drive up the number of sexual offenders caught in the capital.“That’s the thing that drove me to want to stand. Because I thought nobody’s offering particularly serious solutions to that.“I know first-hand from having my neck broken how horrible it is be attacked,  so my top priority is to fix Metropolitan Police.”Rob Blakie Kingston Women’s Hub launching his violence against women and girls plan More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailHumza Yousaf has stepped down as Scotland’s first minister amid mounting pressure in the face of two upcoming no confidence votes.Mr Yousaf was facing two votes of confidence after he terminated the powersharing deal between the SNP and Scottish Greens last week.Despite previously saying he would not stand down and intended to win the confidence votes, the first minister has now announced that he is leaving his role during an impromptu press conference.Announcing his decision, he said he had “clearly underestimated the level of hurt and upset” his decision had caused. He added: “I’ve concluded that repairing a relationship across the political divide can only be done with someone else at the helm.“I have therefore informed the SNP national secretary of my intention to stand down as party leader and ask that she commences a leadership contest for my replacement, as soon as possible.”The crisis in Mr Yousaf’s government began after he ripped up the powersharing agreement he had with the Scottish Greens, which had been brokered by his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon after the 2021 Holyrood election.Following the break down in relations, the Greens immediately agreed to support a motion of no confidence in Yousaf’s leadership brought by the Scottish Conservatives.A second no-confidence vote against the entire Scottish government was brought forward by Scottish Labour, which would have required the first minister and his ministers to resign if successful.Humza Yousaf announced his resignation during a press conference More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, resigned on Monday, triggering a leadership contest as the governing Scottish National Party seeks to avoid early elections.Yousaf, whose party has been weakened by a campaign finance scandal and divisions over transgender rights, was finally brought down by his decision to oust the Green Party from his governing coalition because of differences over climate change goals. He was forced to resign after that left him unable to cobble together a majority in Scotland’s devolved regional parliament.With no prospect of victory in two confidence votes later this week, Yousaf quit rather than face defeat.”I’ve concluded that repairing our relationship across the political divide can only be done with someone else at the helm,” he told reporters in Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital. “I have therefore informed the SNP’s national secretary of my intention to stand down as party leader.”Yousaf will remain first minister as the SNP tries to choose a replacement who can command a majority in the Scottish parliament. If it fails to do so, Scotland faces the possibility of early elections. The debacle in Scotland adds to the fevered political climate in the broader United Kingdom, where concerns about immigration, health care and government spending have undermined support for the governing Conservative Party. The Conservatives and the opposition Labour Party had proposed separate no-confidence motions as they sought to weaken the SNP before a U.K.-wide parliamentary election expected to take place later this year. The SNP has been the dominant party in Scottish politics for almost two decades and currently holds 43 of the country’s 59 seats in the U.K. Parliament.On Thursday, England and Wales will hold local elections that are seen as barometer of support for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government.With all of the other parties in Scotland’s parliament lined up against him, the tight electoral arithmetic meant that Yousaf’s fate hinged on the upstart Alba Party, which holds just one seat. The SNP has 63 of the 128 voting lawmakers, leaving Yousaf one vote short of what he needed to eke out a victory.But striking a deal with Alba was always going to be politically fraught. Founded in 2021 by former SNP leader and first minister Alex Salmond, Alba sees itself as the true voice of Scottish independence. As the price of its support, Alba demanded that Yousaf put independence at the top of his agenda, move away from divisive “identity politics” and focus on issues such as jobs, education and investment in Scottish industry.It was a step too far for Yousaf.“While a route through this week’s motion of no confidence was absolutely possible, I am not willing to trade my values and principles or do deals with whomever simply for retaining power,” he said.Alba’s central role in the crisis is symbolic of the disarray confronting Scotland’s independence movement a decade after voters rejected the SNP’s plan to sever ties with the U.K.Yousaf became the leader of the SNP and first minister of Scotland in March 2023 after former leader Nicola Sturgeon stepped down, citing the toll more than eight years in office had taken on her.Sturgeon’s resignation came during a police investigation into allegations that the party had misused money donated to fund a second independence referendum.Sturgeon was questioned and released without charge last June. Her husband, former SNP treasurer Peter Murrell, was charged with embezzlement earlier this month. Both deny any wrongdoing in the case.Support for the SNP also declined after the party backed legislation to make it easier for people to change their gender and implemented a hate crime law that made transgender identity a protected characteristic, even though the same protections weren’t given to all women.Then came Yousaf’s decision to scrap Scotland’s goal of reducing carbon emissions by 75% by 2030.Although he said Scotland would still achieve its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2045, the decision sparked tensions with his coalition partners. The Green Party initially backed the change, but party leaders said they would poll the broader membership and reverse course if necessary.Last week, Yousaf abruptly ended a power-sharing agreement with the Greens, embarrassing the party’s two government ministers who had arrived for a Cabinet meeting.“I clearly underestimated the level of hurt and upset that caused Green colleagues,” Yousaf said. “For a minority government to be able to govern effectively and efficiently, trust when working with the opposition is clearly fundamental.”Labour is the biggest beneficiary of the ructions within the SNP because both parties support left-leaning policies on issues such as worker rights and government spending. That has huge implications for this year’s general election as Labour tries to wrest control of the U.K. Parliament from the Conservatives.The Labour vote in Scotland dropped to 18.6% in the 2019 general election from 45.6% in 1997. During the same period, support for the SNP jumped to 45% from 22.1%. Labour currently has just one member of Parliament from Scotland.___Find more of AP’s Europe coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/europe More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Green Party candidate for London mayor has promised to make central London car-free by 2028 if she is elected. Zoe Garbett is the leader of Hackney Green Group and has been a councillor for South Dalston since 2022.The voting system for London mayor has changed this year. Previously voters listed a first and second preference, but this time they can only vote for one candidate under the first-past-the-post system. The Green Party was seen as a beneficiary of the previous system, with their candidate Siân Berry placing third in the 2021 Mayoral election. She received 197,976 first-preference votes.Ms Garbett claimed the move to the first-past-the-post is a “step back in democracy”. “It’s terrible that the first-past-the-post system has been brought in,” she told The Independent. “It is a step back in democracy, and the Tories brought it in a couple of years ago without asking Londoners – which is terrible. But people can vote for what they believe. “In this election, we know that the Tory vote nationally and in London has decreased and they seem to have thrown in the towel on their campaign. I absolutely haven’t on ours.”Ms Garbett said the move to the first-past-the-post system is a ‘step back in democracy’ More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailHumza Yousaf has quit as SNP leader after just 398 days in office.The Scottish first minister’s decision to collapse a power-sharing agreement with the Greens spectacularly backfired, and on Monday he stepped aside.The once-dominant nationalist party is in meltdown. Ex-leader Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell, who ran the party for 22 years, has been charged in connection with the embezzlement of SNP funds.Humza Yousaf vowed last week to fight and win a vote of no confidence in his leadership More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA Tory MP and former government minister claims he was deported during a trip to Djibouti because of the east African country’s close relationship with China.Tim Loughton, who was santioned by Beijing in 2021, said he was held at the airport for seven hours, barred entry from the country and then sent back to the UK on the next available flight.China imposed sanctions on a number of MPs, including Mr Loughton, after the country said they had “maliciously spread lies and disinformation” about human rights abuses against the Uighur people.The MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, who was in Djibouti for a 24-hour visit on 8 April, described the experience as “very lonely and frightening”.He told the BBC: “I told them I was a member of parliament and then it went all very frosty.“Djibouti is effectively a vassel state of China – what China wants, Djibouti kowtows to and having a troublesome MP who has been sanctioned by China turning up on their doorstep was clearly something they didn’t want to entertain.”Mr Loughton said he was held for an hour in the arrivals hall, before later being taken to a holding room for three hours and then sent back on a flight to Britain.He added: “This was another example of how the tentacles of the Chinese Communist Government extend far and wide, and their malign influence in sensitive parts of Africa is particularly worrying.“Yet the intimidation of countless others who have dared to speak out against China’s industrial scale human rights abuses and who do not have the platform an MP raises serious concerns.”The UK’s Chinese embassy has been contacted for comment.Mr Loughton is co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Tibet, which has previously shone the spotlight on China’s record on human rights abuses.He has previously called for a UN investigation into the “use of slave labour” in China and said the country is a “serial abuser” of human rights.Mr Loughton is one of more than 100 MPs who are standing down at the next election.The veteran backbencher, who has represented East Worthing & Shoreham since 1997, wrote in April that it was “wiser to leave five minutes too soon than to continue for five years too long”.In a letter to his local Conservative association, Mr Loughton said: “It has been a great honour to have served as the Member of Parliament for the newly created East Worthing and Shoreham constituency since 1997.“With the help of a fantastic local party association, we have fought seven general elections successfully.“By the time of the next one I will have spent more than 27 years in Parliament. After much reflection I have decided now is the right time for me to move on and hand over to someone new.“As former Cabinet Minister John Biffen appropriately put it: ‘In politics I think it is wiser to leave five minutes too soon than to continue for five years too long’.” More