Our Westminster politicians must pay heed to the Union November 14, 2019 Pollsters at election time are a funny breed. Like Father Christmas, they drop nuggets of data into the hands of grateful journalists and analysts hoping to make sense of what is going on around them, trying to drown out the noise of election campaigns and listen to what really matters. Yet the most interesting — [...]
Experts split on impact of Farage’s decision to stand-down candidates November 11, 2019 Pollsters and Westminster strategists were split this afternoon over the impact of Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage’s decision not to stand candidates in 317 seats currently held by Conservatives. Whilst there had been calls for Farage to stand down candidates across the country, his party will continue to fight in seats held by the Lib [...]
Labour deputy leader Tom Watson to step down as an MP November 6, 2019 Labour Deputy Leader and West Bromwich East MP Tom Watson will not be standing for re-election in the 12 December election. Watson broke the news on his twitter feed just as Boris Johnson was launching his election campaign in Birmingham. The Shadow Culture Secretary has been embroiled in internal rows within the Labour party over [...]
Facebook has a job to win new cheerleaders November 5, 2019 For an outfit founded on the principle of bringing friends together, Facebook has cut a lonely figure in recent years. In America, founder Mark Zuckerberg has been hauled to DC to answer privacy concerns and one of the Democrats’ leading presidential candidates, Elizabeth Warren, has all but declared war on the firm. Politicians enjoy the [...]
The City will watch the election with interest November 1, 2019 The fate of the financial services industry is rarely a battleground in election campaigns but though the City won’t get much attention (beyond Labour’s ham-fisted criticism of it) the future of financial and professional services will certainly be determined by the next six weeks of campaigning. Labour have made clear to City leaders and business [...]
Budget must acknowledge regional growth and capital’s strength October 29, 2019 During the Tory leadership contest, a raft of regional papers launched a campaign calling on the various candidates to “power up the north”. The now-chancellor Sajid Javid promised to do just that. Now his former adviser Nick King, via the Centre for Policy Studies, has produced a plan for boosting regional growth not just across [...]
‘Bake Off’ winner and publican calls on Downing Street to cut beer tax October 24, 2019 Former Great British Bake Off Winner Candice Brown today delivered a petition signed by more than 200,000 Brits to 10 Downing Street calling for a cut in beer duty in the next Budget. Brown, who now runs The Green Man pub in Eversholt, Bedfordshire, was joined by publicans from across the country to deliver the [...]
Markets hold the key to climate solutions October 22, 2019 One of the odder elements of our climate debate is the unwillingness of any political party to champion the green progress Britain has made recently. After all, last year more than half of the UK’s energy came from nuclear or renewables — a remarkable achievement. Yet politicians, for once, seem strangely reticent to shout about [...]
Tax cuts, not just increased costs, should be on Chancellor’s agenda September 30, 2019 Sajid Javid acknowledges that he is in no small part a product of the City’s big bang. Faced with closed shops in some of the more traditional banks, this British-Asian outsider worked his way up the chain first in an American bank and then in a German one. Many in the Square Mile reckoned they’d [...]
Nuance doesn’t go viral, but attacks on journalists certainly do September 19, 2019 The Supreme Court hearing that has made headlines this week is a case of the most profound constitutional importance. In the words of the government’s defence lawyer it invites judges into the “forbidden territory” of politics. Those taking on the government are convinced of their role as the defenders of liberty. The barristers appearing in [...]
