Each party has savaged the other’s efforts to tackle the problem with the same lazy attacks. Now the only common ground seems to be to kick the problem into more long grass.
They can appeal to two groups: those currently intending to vote for Reform UK, and those who currently “don’t know” who they would vote for if a general election were held tomorrow but who backed the Conservatives in 2019.
Who decides which “ordinary people” get a hearing? Which studies are examined? Without parties or partisanship, what prevents a handful of dominant individuals railroading the others into a false consensus?
How long until Starmer is demanding an immediate ceasefire? How long until another Labour MP or candidate is suspended for saying something appalling? And what will this mean for the party overwhelmingly likely to form the next government?
Party strategists will be concerned that Reform UK managed to post double-digit vote shares in both Kingswood and Wellingborough. But the mortal danger is Labour, and Conservatives cannot afford to forget it.
Does the caginess reveal an opportunist leadership, prepared too launch key policies without working out the details? Or is there in fact a detailed programme in place – but they believe it is either too complicated or too contentious to spell it out?
We asked voters how likely they thought various outcomes were under a Conservative government, and under a Labour government, Only two things were thought more likely to happen than not in both scenarios: ‘higher taxes for people like me’ and ‘a new financial crisis’.
Labour’s campaign co-ordinator says the party’s candidate in Rochdale was right to apologise after claiming Israel allowed the October 7 attacks by Hamas so it could then invade Gaza.
They bear all the hallmarks of irresponsible activism, intent on pushing the expansion of abortion at all costs regardless of the real-world impact.
Even before the latest Hinkley Point setback, this target looked nigh-on impossible deliver. Analysis has suggested it is right at the edge of what is possible.
“I think every single one of us as an MP could give you a list of death threats and threats of attack that we receive on pretty much a weekly basis.”
Mike Freer’s announcement is a significant milestone. As he prepares to leave the room, Labour is knocking on the door. We have little sense of how it would rearrange the furniture.
As Conservative group leader on South Gloucestershire council, our candidate knows the local issues that matter to residents, chiefly the prospect of 6,000 new homes being built on the Green Belt.
The Prime Minister and Keir Starmer traded blows over rising mortgage costs.
Points of parliamentary procedure may seem arcane to journalists and the public, but their fair enforcement is vital to the proper functioning of our democracy.