UK Politics

Starmer: SNP and Tories using Gender Recognition Bill for political advantage

— Sir Keir Starmer argues that the SNP are using the Gender Recognition Bill to distract from pressing issues in Scotland, and accuses the Tories of using it as a tool to divide people and play politics.

UK Politics

Why 2023 is a make-or-break year for Keir Starmer’s Labour party

— The public still does not know what Keir Starmer and the Labour party stand for. Inspiration could come from a surprising source.

Long-Read

Another Brexit year begins

— Professor Chris Grey’s latest Brexit analysis on why it is not in the “remainers’” power to create a post-Brexit consensus, a discussion about the Retained EU Law Bill and Northern Ireland Protocol, plus some thoughts prompted by Frost’s hero-worship of Edmund Burke.

OPINION

UK Politics: Tweedledrear and Tweedletrump

— The most notable thing about Keir Starmer’s speech last week was the way in which the Labour leader shamelessly nicked so many Tory and Vote Leave slogans. Will he be touring the UK in a bus with £350 million a week for the NHS on the side of it next?

Long-Read

There is a better Brexit strategy available to Labour

— With Labour looking like a government in waiting, the understandable caution of its Brexit policy faces calls to be bolder. Actually, it just needs to be more imaginative, Professor Chris Grey argues.

Long-Read

Our politics is incapable of responding to the failure of Brexit

— Professor Chris Grey’s latest Brexit analysis on why despite last-ditch attempts by Brexiters to redefine ‘success’, the public view has settled that Brexit has failed. But for now, our politics is incapable of responding to the failure of Brexit.

UK Politics

Is Labour’s vision of a New Britain any different to the Tories’ levelling up?

— The plan to abolish the House of Lords has drawn the most attention but Labour is also proposing radical changes to how power is distributed.

UK Politics

Winter of discontent: How similar is today’s situation?

— With everyone from rail workers to civil servants going on strike over the winter, it’s hard to see this ending well. To say the least, Rishi Sunak’s government is in a very difficult position.

OPINION

Labour’s same old waffle on Lords reform

— Labour promising yet again to abolish the House of Lords is just more of the same old waffle, which will lead to an upper chamber which serves the interests of the government of the day.

OPINION

Preparing to win the next UK General Election

— It is safe to say now that the Conservative party has made a catastrophic mistake by choosing Liz Truss as its leader and as Prime Minister.

UK Politics

Keir Starmer needs to tell a bolder story about Britain’s future to convince voters to back him

— Keir Starmer has never made the creation of a story of us central to his leadership; his storytelling is an occasional practice. When he brings it out, his instincts are spot on, but so far he has lacked the courage of his convictions.

UK Politics

Why Labour will resist calls for electoral alliances, even when facing the prospect of a hung parliament

— Forming a pact with the Liberal Democrats to form a ‘Progressive Alliance’ would make electoral sense in England – but Keir Starmer does not see it as a risk worth taking.

UK Politics

Will Keir Starmer lead Labour back into government?

— There’s a mountain to climb but there are positive signs for the opposition in the first few weeks of Liz Truss’s government.

Brexit

How might Labour’s Brexit policy be made to work?

— Professor Chris Grey’s analysis on how Keir Starmer's timid policy could become less constipated, the implications of his foolish stance on post-election cooperation and the best/worst scenarios that follow.

Analysis

What ethical standards should we hold politicians to?

— Is a “good” politician one who is good at making dirty deals and engages in sleazy behaviour only in their personal life, or is unethical behaviour in personal life likely to translate into bad ethical character in public life?

Analysis

What Keir Starmer could learn from Neil Kinnock to capitalise on Boris Johnson’s woes.

— Kinnock lost two elections as Labour leader. Starmer could learn a lot from his successes and failures.