Only a few weeks after its launch, almost 200,000 Britons have signed up to the government’s scheme to host Ukrainian refugees. Yet at the same time, the Tories are pushing through the Borders and Nationality Bill which the UNHCR has condemned as unfairly penalising most refugees arriving in Britain. The
We have the Tories on the ropes. A Prime Minister devoid of integrity, partying in Downing Street, while we made sacrifices in sticking to the rules. A Chancellor whose concern as families face a cost-of-living crisis and are plunged into poverty, is escaping to his Californian holiday home for Easter.
In this month’s Paul on Politics, spring has sprung and with it minds are turning to the fresh potential Labour candidates for the next election… Margaret Beckett is the latest Labour old stager to announce their retirement. Some aspirant Labour MP will bag her Derby South constituency (majority 6,019). Yes,
What connects the Partygate scandal and the ongoing response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Through their dismissal of concerns about the No.10 parties, and refusal to engage with the Russian influence on our politics, both expose an elite Conservative mindset. One defined by moral and legal exceptionalism which actively
If a country’s economic model tells its story, then a new chapter for Britain is well overdue. Structural problems in the British economy have long held us back. Regional imbalance in government investment leaves swathes of the country without the motors for growth and exaggerates the many factors that drive
Kosovo turned fourteen on 17th of February. Celebrating the anniversary of its independence, the hope for long-awaited democratic transformation of the country remains. Kosovo represents one of the most complex pieces of the jigsaw that is the Western Balkans. The declaration of independence that came on 17 February 2008 created
As well as being the week of International Women’s Day, this is Women’s History Month – a time to reflect on the struggle of women for equality and renew our determination to rise to the challenges ahead. I’m proud to represent the ward where the Matchgirls Strike of 1888 led
The invasion of Ukraine marks the start of some quite frightening new era, the shape of which we don’t yet understand. Whether Putin’s aggression marks the start of a new ‘great game’ of powers and alliances struggling for land, or a tripartite ideological cold war between the West, Russia and
The long-awaited Levelling-up White Paper which champions Boris Johnson’s flagship policy, perhaps cynically, designed to secure his vote in traditional Labour heartlands, has finally been published. The paper sets out a strategy to spread opportunity more equally across the UK; ensuring that the concentration of wealth is not only in
The subject of aspiration has long been an uneasy one for Labour. The Party has been out of power for much of its existence, more so than the Conservatives, and more than either the American Democrats, or the Victorian-era Liberal party. The reasons for this are complex, but one enduring
