THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE BAREFACED
Nigel Farage waved his calculator around promising billions in “savings” from ripping up the UK’s “Right to Remain” while Keir Starmer tried to look statesmanlike by recognising Palestine. Meanwhile, HMG quietly admitted that its big anti-harassment law is still gathering dust. Add in grim inflation figures, a giant far-right rally and committees muttering about everything from parental leave to undersea cables and you have Britain’s political playlist for the week: loud, messy, and a fair few miles behind the curve of public opinion.
Farage’s Big Immigration Promise
Nigel Farage pulled his latest rabbit from his capacious hat (presumably a trilby): Scrap “Indefinite Leave to Remain” (aka ILR), make people reapply, raise the salary threshold and make English language tests harder, reclaim benefits and tighten family migration criteria. Claims of saving £234 billion floated, but critics dismissed it as fantasy accounting, a legal calamity, and a human-rights minefield. Mr Farage looked on, well pleased after a good day’s work. Man on the Clapham Omnibus (or driving an Uber in Hounslow): “Bit bonkers, but it’s something.”
Starmer’s Inevitable Palestinian NON SEQUITUR
The PM formally recognised Palestine as a new state on Sunday, citing a desire to keep alive the “two-state solution” that has been on life-support for about 50 years. Doing this in co-ordination with Canada and Australia seemed like a good way to highlight the non-US Anglosphere, but separating the process from Mnsr Macron’s announcement at the UN seemed un peu small-minded.
Though Israel howled, Labour insisted the UK’s recognition will not be a blank cheque for Hamas and that UK sanctions remain unchanged. The foreign policy shift, symbolic though it may only be, sharpened divisions both abroad (“Hi, Donald!”) and inside Labour. It is probably fair to say that Israeli indignation makes the policy change seem more worthwhile than its limited effectivity might have otherwise suggested.
Starmer’s Counterattack on the Far-Right
In response to the hullabaloo stirred up by Farage, Starmer launched a “moral fightback” (aka “Save My Job!”) against what he termed decline, division, and far-right rhetoric, which might have landed better with an alliterative third leg – decline division and demagoguery perhaps? Expect more speeches, faux “gravitas”, lots of name-calling (“No, YOU’RE the fascist!”) and plenty of “reframing” featuring unity, fairness, belonging.
[Note to No 10 speechwriters: recall how “island of strangers” went down – avoid!]
Inflationary Mountaineering
The OECD poured salt on Rachel Reeves open wound of superficiality and incomprehension by revealing a revised inflation projection showing the UK likely to have the highest inflation among G7 nations this year, hitting ~3.5%, with food prices especially ugly. [It’s your NI increase on low-wage food manufacturing workers, innit Rache?]
Growth is also cooling sharply: so, tighter public finances, higher taxes. Not great for electoral arithmetic when many households already feel squeezed. Local elections 2026 looking like significant sized iceberg for Starmerites. Sack Reeves is my humble suggestion.
Harassment Legislation – USELESS IF NOT IMPLEMENTED
That much-trumpeted law that was going to make cat-calling and public harassment a criminal offence: still not actually “in force.” Why? Whitehall thinks “women getting harassed in the street” is not as urgent as, say, another inquiry into potholes. I find this irritating.
The legislation is technically “on the books”, but no guidance, no police training, no proper enforcement plan has been deployed as yet, so if you are followed down the street, you are still more likely to get sympathy from your mates than protection from the law.
For younger women (and not only women), but especially students and those working late shifts, this is a daily reality.
Politicians, meanwhile, are too busy making grand speeches about “security” while ignoring the most basic need to feel safe walking home.
Starmer’s team says they are “working through the details.” Translation: Don’t hold your breath!
“Unite the Kingdom” Rally & Backlash
150,000 people turned out for jailbird Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon’s “Unite the Kingdom” march in London. Counter-protests followed, as did some violence and a few arrests. Ministers condemned both the event and what it signals about modern Britain’s fault lines. Starmer has clearly tried to adjust his tone, emphasising equality and anti-racism in response. Zzzzzz.
It seems to me that the PM’s shift of “tone” entirely misses the target (all too predictably): Tommy Robinson may be ghastly, but what struck me about most of the interviewees prepared to speak on camera was that they all seemed to be quite normal “salt of the earth” types, rather like the vicars and philosophers who turn out for the Palestine Action Group support rallies – although that seems to be generally a more middle-class interest. There may be some element of self-selection biasing the sample as the Beeb will only put on reasonably articulate interviewees, but I think 70% of the population will find themsleves nodding along, while Starmer’s worthy tone change will have them nodding themselves to sleep instead.
Parliament Grinding ITSELF into the Ground
Several parliamentary committees issued reports this week: under-sea cables are under-protected, further education & skills need more investment, the parental leave system is “broken” beyond cosmetic tweaks. Meanwhile the planning & infrastructure bill (housebuilding, etc.) trudged through another stage. This is crucial and dull mechanics, which any party should be capable of implementing at speed. No-one seems able to do so in practice. I conclude that the mechanism is broken rather than the policy prescriptions discussed. Parliament needs radical reform. (Rather than Reform!)
FARAGE WINS WHEN HE LOSES
Farage’s proposals to remove the Right to Remain have successfully dominated the agenda – BY DESIGN. Even though Reform’s headline policy includes errors, misconceptions and oversimplifications, which have had to be “clarified” rapidly, the announcement keeps Reform out in front. People discount the errors and think “well at least he’s trying to do something about it.”
Meanwhile, the PM is trying to encourage centre-left cohesion by recognising Palestine and laying down a moral gauntlet to the far-right. With inflation rising, bland promises of change over the next horizon will need to land in voters’ wallets soon, or the trouble will not be easily contained— it will be just as obviously on the streets of London as the boulevards of Paris this weekend. It was a hard ask but Starmer is making Sunak look like a go-getter. Anyone for Rwanda Part Deux?
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