If Lam defects to Reform after having been appointed by Badenoch it will be an even bigger coup for Reform than Jenrick's defection. If she stays, it will underline that the Prosper Tories are flogging a dead horse in wanting the party to return to the centre-right.
It seems that everything Ed Davey says is really popular, yet for some reason the Lib Dems’s polling is still surprisingly low.
Obviously their image just isn’t glitzy enough to attract the voters…
I know that not everyone can afford to go private, but an initial consultation with a specialist only costs a few hundred pounds. Where I had my NHS scan there was a price list for private patients and this was less than £500.
In some areas GPs can directly arrange some types of scans. For instance I had an MRI scan without going thru the hospital system. 1/
Merz's behaviour has opened up an acrimoious row with Spain in which the Spanish Foreign Minister spoke of having had dealings with three Germany Chancellors but he could never have imagined either Merkel or Scholz behaving as Merz had done.
Chart of when 2025 reform supporters say they last voted Labour. Shows that 70% as never /before 2005, 9% as 2024, and remaining 21% between 2005 and 2019
Thank you for sharing again (and writing!) great article. I was especially struck by this ….
politicscentre.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/media/onnnzq...
On the other hand there's no evidence that Reeves' fiscal policies will significantly improve the housing crisis or declining high streets. Indeed they make addressing these issues even more difficult. 3/
There is a big difference between promoting policies that are popular because they improve people's lives, and promoting populist policies that offer simple solutions to complex problems. It's bizarre to label policies designed to address the housing crisis or declining high streets as "populist. 2/
"Reeves bets on patience over populism" while on Labour List Ben Cooper argues Labour should embrace its own form of populism, not decry it.
This shows how confused party thinking is. 1/
Fine, but Labour have no plans to substantially "break down trade barriers" with the EU. Perhaps because they judge that to be politically impossible but, if so, that needs to be said. Otherwise, we just continue the endless dishonesty which has characterized Brexit.
Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey:
"Tax exiles like Isabel Oakeshott and washed up old footballers who mock ordinary people who stay in the UK and pay our taxes... As we protect them, it's only right for tax exiles to start paying taxes to fund our armed forces, just like the rest of us".
Following in the footsteps of the much missed Charles Kennedy.
Very good 👇
French citizens living in France but having some UK income have to file tax returns in both countries, not withstanding the taxation treaty.
The government's immigration proposals are an obscenity: They needlessly punish refugees, make integration basically impossible, and introduce a sliding system of administrative abuse depending on how wealthy you are iandunt.substack.com/p/can-we-ext...
While of course everyone should take heed of the opinions of someone clinging to a rotting corpse.
If you vote against your values and the party you voted for still loses then psychologically you feel much worse that if you had stuck to your principles. Currently Labour looks more like a decaying corpse than a party capable of defeating Reform, even in what was its 38th safest seat.
I too was dismayed by his defeatism on Brexit, but stick with him because he has interesting things to say on other issues.
Project Fear didn't work for Cameron over Brexit, and it's not going to work for Labour under Starmer. Labour is now on a downward spiral, so voters might as well vote with their heads held up high rather than tie themselves to a decaying corpse.
What I think is irrelevant; what Green and Lib Dem supporters think however is. If they think, as many evidently do, that Lab under Starmer is sh*ting on their values they're going to vote for what they believe in, not a Reform-lite party.
Unless the army changes sides the hardliners will continue in power indefinitely. Even the Israeli occupation of Gaza hasn't destroyed Hamas as a political force.
How about this? It would surely encourage Green and Lib Dem supporters to vote tactically for Lab in many seats.
open.substack.com/pub/hayest/p...
That's because of the current Labour leadership. Lib Dems too are less likely to vote tactically for Lab than Lab supporters are to vote Lib Dem. Get a better leader who doesn't sh*t on Green/Lib Dem values and the dial might move.
It's difficult not to agree with what Liam Byrne has written but it's naive to think that Starmer and his Chancellor Reeves are the people to lead the transformation. Indeed the parliamentary Labour party seems devoid of anyone who could do so.
open.substack.com/pub/liambyrn...
Amid rising alarm over suspected pollfraud, Reform leader says allowing non-British citizens into ballot booth threatens democracy FOREIGN-BORN VOTERS STOLE BY-ELECTION BLASTS FARAGE that Reform UK was robbed of victory diary assertion in today's Mail on Sunday by foreign-born voters in last week's that 'Reform UK won the Gorton and Denton By Glen Owen Manchester by-election. by-election among British-born voters'. Amid mounting allegations that voter, fraud And he vowed that if he becomes Prime Pages 16-17 POLITICAL EDITOR and sectarianism contributed the Grecn
Truly, truly, truly disgusting.
Keep this Trumpist race baiting out of British politics.
Isabel Oakeshott reports from a dangerous war zone that somehow isn't London.
Starmer is reminiscent of the Titanic captain - a man with a solid record occupying what should have been the crowning achievement of his career, but faced with the ultimate test of his skills failed disasterously.
open.substack.com/pub/hayest/p...
While in recent times Ed Davey has played down the issue, Lib Dem policy has long been to treat drugs as a public health issue, and so favoured decriminalisation.
I'm surprised. My impression is there are far fewer election posters in people's windows and front gardens these day than was the case 40 years ago. Perhaps a parliamentary by-election is different.
That's partly a reflection of their targeting strategy in 2024. Untill the formation of the Coalition they used to have quite a few pockets of support up north. Perhaps come 2029 the Greens will inherit these, or perhaps not.
