Polling expert Sir John Curtice has suggested that Britain could have another referendum on joining the EU before 2040, given the scale of dissatisfaction with the decision to leave the EU. Curtice, who is currently Professor of Politics at the University of Strathclyde, made the comments when speaking to a UK in a Changing Europe event on Wednesday evening and said: “I think the 2016 referendum is going to be as unsuccessful as the 1975 one.” He went on to add that the timescale “depends very much on uncertain politics”. He said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens before 2040.”  “If ..read more

Eight years ago, the UK was found to be the first ever country to breach the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People. But rather than addressing this colossal failure, the Tories went on to make it ever worse. Only a month ago a United Nations committee said UK Government policies had contributed to the deaths of disabled people and warned that its policies were “demonising” disabled people through a “traumatising” benefits system.  The UN rapporteurs said current UK policy “tells disabled people that they’re undeserving citizens” and “makes (disabled) people feel like criminals ..read more

The head of the RMT, Mick Lynch, has this morning taken apart the arguments of those who advocate for the privatisation of railways, after the Labour Party announced that it would renationalise the railways within five years if it wins the election. Under Labour’s proposals, in what would amount to the ‘biggest overhaul to our railways in a generation’, train companies would be brought back into public ownership and run by a new body, Great British Railways, as their privatised contracts expire. Crucially, the plan will nationalise the network “without the taxpayer paying a penny in compensati ..read more

The former Home Secretary’s decision to drop measures intended to repair some of the “monumental harm” done to the Windrush generation was unlawful and discriminatory, the high court has been told.  Suellla Braverman decided not to implement three recommendations made by an independent review into the Windrush scandal, a decision which has been challenged this week in the High Court by Windrush victim Trevor Donald.  The Windrush Learned Lessons Review into the government’s treatment of the Windrush generation was first published in 2020 with the promise from the government that all ..read more

The Labour Party has said that it will renationalise the railways if elected, in what it calls the “biggest overhaul to our railways in a generation.” Under Labour’s proposals, train companies would be brought back into public ownership and run by a new body, Great British Railways, as their privatised contracts expire. Crucially, the plan will nationalise the network “without the taxpayer paying a penny in compensation costs”, the party is expected to say. Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said: “Labour will deliver the biggest overhaul to our railways in a generation. Whilst the Conser ..read more

Deputy leader of Reform UK has suggested that migrants should be left to drown in the Channel by the UK in a shocking exchange that has caused widespread outrage.  Ben Habib made the disturbing comments in an interview with Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk TV when asked how his right-wing party would handle migrants coming to England on small boats.  This Tuesday four people including a child tragically died attempting to make the journey across the Channel in the hope of reaching safety in the UK. In Reform’s manifesto the party says it would ‘pick up migrants out of boats and take back ..read more

Tributes from across the political divide have been paid to the former Labour minister and welfare campaigner Frank Field, who has died at the age of 81. Field, who served as Labour MP for Birkenhead, Wirral, died after an illness, his family announced earlier today. The former MP was known for his passionate campaigns on tackling poverty and championing social justice. He had been a director at the Child Poverty Action group in the 1970s. He had also served as minister for welfare reform at the start of Tony Blair’s first term in office as Prime Minister. In 2021, he revealed he had been diag ..read more

The world’s leading human rights organisation has issued a damning condemnation of the UK government’s domestic policies and failure in Gaza, accusing the UK of “deliberately destabilising” global human rights. In a truly bleak assessment, Amnesty International said Britain had breached international human rights commitments at a “perilous” time in global history, as a result of the UK government’s policies targeting asylum seekers and protesters.  Amnesty’s 2024 annual global report notes Britain’s weakening global and domestic human rights protections for the sake of the government’s ow ..read more

To the bemusement of the broadcaster and other London mayoral candidates, Susan Hall insisted she had backed free school meals before Sadiq Khan, despite arguing last week that there is “no such thing as a free meal”.  The Tory candidate was caught out once again in a live LBC debate, after her fellow candidates and the LBC broadcaster questioned Hall over her lack of clarity on the policy, while Sadiq Khan congratulated the broadcast channel for getting the Tory candidate “to “perform a U-turn live on-air”.   Hall claimed to have backed universal free school meals “all along ..read more

A coalition of groups representing renters have issued a joint statement blasting the UK Government’s concessions to landlord lobbyists warning the Renters (Reform) Bill will be ‘a failure’ in its current form. As the bill returns to the Commons today, the Renters Reform Coalition has said the bill is set to fail due to the influence of pro-landlord MPs pushing through damaging concessions that have “fundamentally weakened” the bill.  Michael Gove caved to pressure from Tory landlord backbenchers by watering down the long-promised rent reforms, including to abolish section 21 ‘no-fault’ e ..read more