Speaking at the Labour conference yesterday, shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn argued that his party should campaign for continued EU membership regardless of the outcome of David Cameron’s renegotiation. He reasoned, probably correctly, that if Cameron achieved an exemption from EU employment law, Labour could opt back in when it regained power. He was supported… [Read More]
The uncertainty that hangs over our relationship with the EU is a stark reflection of David Cameron’s lack of clarity over certain issues. The prime minister took a long time to even establish which side of his divided party he was on – those who are keen to remain in the EU or the sceptics… [Read More]
Today Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, has said she is willing for Scotland to take up to 2,000 Syrian refugees. Building on her earlier willingness to accept 1,000 and to house some personally, Sturgeon met foreign secretary Philip Hammond on Monday, arguing that Britain must extend ‘immediate help to more people and look to… [Read More]
The housing minister, Brandon Lewis, would like to see a million homes built during this parliament. He would regard this as “success”, he says. While this is a step forward – ministers have long refused to put a number on their housebuilding ambitions – it is still not enough. That would be 200,000 homes a year,… [Read More]
Britain’s EU membership is not just dividing the country’s politicians; it is also dividing UK business. This week, a survey from the Federation of Small Businesses showed that small businesses in Britain are not overwhelmingly for or against EU membership – with 47% voting to stay in, 41% voting to leave, and 11% being undecided. But… [Read More]
The fact that the Cancer Drugs Fund has not been collecting data on patient outcome for those it has been prescribing for seems inexcusable. The fund was created in 2011 to give cancer patients access to expensive, non-NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) approved drugs and has often caused controversy over its perceived lack… [Read More]
Over the weekend Germany closed its Austrian border to force its EU neighbours to accept more asylum seekers themselves, rather than passing them on to Germany. It still accepts Syrians with valid travel documents, and EU citizens. In addition to the thousands of refugees already in Germany, Munich saw 20,000 arrive by train before the… [Read More]
One of the pro-EU camp’s most often cited arguments for EU membership is that it is good for UK business and trade, because of access to the single market. But yesterday, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that workers without fixed offices should be paid for the journey time to and from their first… [Read More]
Those who care about the asylum crisis have been focussed on Parliament’s emergency debate and changes to the government’s stance: how many more Syrians will be accepted, the EU’s resettlement plan, how much more funding will be sent to UN camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. For the 20,000 Syrians that David Cameron has promised… [Read More]
For weeks Prime Minister David Cameron has been arguing that allowing more refugees from the Middle East and Africa into the UK would encourage even more arrivals. His stance was that the focus should be on dealing with the cause of instability in the region by trying to encourage a political settlement in Syria. The… [Read More]