@politicshome
Fast, informed, comprehensive coverage of UK politics. With debate & insight from Parliament via The House magazine. Subscribe to our podcast: http://bit.ly/3M8d963 Read our stories: https://www.politicshome.com/
Twenty years on, the Iraq War still looms large in the minds of Labour MPs
🔎 @zoecrowther.bsky.social and @tomscotson.bsky.social explore how the 2003 invasion of Iraq and its aftermath are shaping Britain’s response to the Iran conflict
Very interesting @politicshome.bsky.social pod this week - looking at whether the low-key Spring Statement was a missed opportunity by Rachel Reeves to set more direction from the government, and to set out the dangers now facing the economy alongside the more positive OBR figures
🎧 Listen here:
🚨 OUT NOW 🚨 What did we learn from the Spring Statement?
📈 Labour MP @lukemurphy.bsky.social, Resolution Foundation's @jamessmithrf.bsky.social and the IFS's @nickridpath.bsky.social join @alaintolhurst.bsky.social to discuss the state of the economy
🎧 Listen now: pod.fo/e/39ea85
We are closer than ever to allergy-safe schools. Now Parliament must finish the job
✍️ Helen Blythe
Shabana Mahmood has warned Labour MPs that they cannot "retreat to the comfort of fairytales" of immigration
The Home Secretary announced a series of stricter rules for the asylum system and visa regime on Thursday, prompting over 100 Labour MPs to sign a letter expressing their concern
Keir Starmer has announced that he is sending four additional Typhoon jets to “maintain the shield” over the Brits in the Middle East
The PM said over 4k people had made it back to the UK from impacted countries, adding that the operation was "many times bigger than the evacuation from Afghanistan"
The ministerial payroll will be increased under reforms being unveiled on Thursday, reports PolHome Editor @adampayne26.bsky.social
The Labour government will argue it's not right that some ministerial positions continue to favour those who have the financial means to afford to do them unpaid
A Whitehall scoop:
A bill is coming to increase the number of paid ministers
11 new salaries will be created to bring the payroll in line w/ the average size of a modern government
"The PM believes that ministerial office should not be reserved for those wealthy enough to fund it for themselves"
PolHome's Tom Scotson reveals what Labour's chair told a private meeting of campaigners last night:
- The party must tackle immigration - but "in a way that stays true to our values"
- It must "find the right language" to combat the Greens - suggesting it hasn't yet found the right balance...
Labour chair Anna Turley has privately warned her party it must tackle immigration – but only “in a way that stays true to our values”
In remarks to campaigners following the Gorton & Denton by-election, obtained by PolHome, she said her party must find "the right language" to combat the Greens
Andy Burnham has said that Labour's seismic defeat to the Greens in Gorton and Denton showed the "chasm" between Westminster and the public
In his first public intervention since the by-election last week, the Greater Manchester Mayor said the result ought to be "code red for Westminster politics"
❌ Parliamentary staff have overwhelmingly rejected a pay offer that falls below the increase awarded to MPs, according to a @unitetheunion.bsky.social survey seen by @politicshome.bsky.social
91.5% rejected the offer, while only 4.6% said they would accept it
@zoecrowther.bsky.social reports
The post-Brexit deal for Gibraltar is not 'betrayal', as some in the UK media have claimed – it is a triumph, writes Fabian Picardo, Chief Minister of Gibraltar
I'm delighted with my heat pump – but there are still too many barriers to getting one installed, writes Green MP
@carladenyer.bsky.social
Labour Deputy Leader Lucy Powell was privately concerned about attacking the Green drug policy during the Gorton & Denton by-election campaign, PolHome understands
Many Labour MPs have complained that the campaign in Greater Manchester was misjudged, focused too much on criticising Polanski's party
As expected, Rachel Reeves' Spring Statement was a relatively low-key affair — but there was a major elephant in the room in the form of conflict in the Middle East, and the impact it could have on prices at home, writes @nadinebh.bsky.social
There must be more scrutiny of our pharma agreement with the US. Trump is strong-arming the UK into accepting massive price rises, writes Independent MP Iqbal Mohamed
Trump is no ally and there can be no special relationship, Zack Polanski has said
Speaking to @siennarodgers.bsky.social in the wake of US & Israeli attacks on Iran, Polanski said Russia was “looking to advance its imperialism”, before adding: “I believe the same behaviour is coming from the US"
There's fury among parliamentary staff after being given a smaller pay rise than MPs
IPSA said the move reflects growing demands on MPs, like "higher levels of complex casework, and abuse & intimidation"
However, staff say it's "mind-blowingly tone deaf" and fails to appreciate pressures they face
Parliamentary Staff Furious Over MPs Getting Bigger Pay Award
www.politicshome.com/news/article...
Keir Starmer has said the UK would not be joining US and Israeli "offensive" strikes on Iran
In a Commons statement on Monday, the PM said any UK action must have a "lawful basis and a viable thought-through plan", adding that “we all remember the mistakes of Iraq and have learned those lessons"
The Green victory in Gorton & Denton sent shockwaves across British politics. Campaign insiders speak to PolHome about how they pulled it off
The blocking of Burnham gave them an early confidence boost, and as polling day approached, voters "didn't buy" Labour's tactical voting claims, they said
Tom Scotson @tomscotson.bsky.social has been miles ahead of most of the lobby on what’s happening on the ground in Gorton and Denton throughout the campaign: here’s how the Greens won www.politicshome.com/news/article...
Read in full Starmer's letter to Labour MPs after their bruising by-election defeat
Obtained by PolHome, it says Polanski's party embraced the "sectarian" politics of George Galloway to win
It also sought to assure Labour MPs that the Greens won't be able to replicate their success at the next GE
Amid reports that Chinese self-driving taxis could be trialled in the UK as soon as this year, MPs and peers from across the political spectrum are urging caution.
@jamesmoules.bsky.social explores the challenges the Chinese-dominated market in electric vehicles are posing western policymakers
Labour MP tells me: “Even with the world’s best campaign you can’t win without having/delivering progressive policies. This is a result of the strategy Downing St has set”
Senior Labour MP adds: “Labour needs to be offering hope to progressive voters. Just an anti-Reform [strategy] isn’t enough”
Starmer’s letter to Labour MPs following Gorton and Denton:
PolHome understands there's frustration among many Labour MPs with what they feel was a by-election campaign too focused on Reform and lacking a positive message about why people should support Labour
"Labour needs to be the party offering hope to progressive voters. Just anti-Reform isn’t enough"
Labour left MPs are calling on Starmer to adopt a more progressive agenda after the party haemorrhaged votes to the Greens in Gorton & Denton
"Many of us in the PLP have said for a long time that we need to be more progressive in our approach and take up the space that the Greens are occupying"
