By Bev Haigh-Jones
With world events as they are, it’s become impossible to totally separate UK, European and American politics, but I will do my best to keep them in relevant sections.
Snippets – UK politics including Reform UK Ltd
A number of Tory MPs have defected to Reform UK recently, meaning that their constituencies are no longer represented by the party that the voters chose, but despite a petition calling for by-elections under these circumstances reaching 128,594 signatures, the government is not planning to change the rules. The petition is still open and can be signed here. Some changes to the electoral system will be happening soon, however, courtesy of the Representation of the People Bill, though this article suggests that opportunities for improvement are being missed. One by-election is going ahead, though, in the Gorton and Denton constituency. Although Andy Burnham, the current Mayor of Manchester had wanted to stand, he was blocked from doing so, but this overview of his policies sounds encouraging, if he gets the chance to stand in the future.
The odds-on favourite to take the seat in Gorton and Denton is the Green candidate, Hannah Spencer, and next in the betting is Reform’s Matt Goodwin, despite the opinions of some constituents. Mr Goodwin seems to court controversy with opinions about women needing to have more children at an earlier age, and suggesting that women in higher education are a problem. He is also, along with Nigel Farage, a staunch supporter of Orban’s authoritarian regime.
Reform UK Ltd’s leader is still much in evidence in the media, but his insulting refusal to debate with Green Party leader Zack Polanski showed his contempt for others. Is it any wonder when he reveres and emulates Trump and his policies, and when his response to the Dunblane shootings wasn’t to support gun laws, but to mock them and say licensing was the answer. His disciples are also showing their colours with one saying “he would not object” to replacing the NHS with an insurance system, despite the risk of financial devastation as occurred with James Van Der Beek. And talking of finances – the Reform-led Worcestershire Council is about to issue the highest tax rise in England.
Switching to more standard politics – how many people have you heard say “I’m not interested in (or don’t care about) politics”? On street stalls I have heard many, and persuading them that politics matters to all of us can be difficult, but this short video from Em Clarkson puts it across really well. That’s why we should all care when Rachel Reeves says “closer integration with the EU is the ‘big prize’”, or that “zero net migration would shrink the UK economy”, and most definitely when we hear Keir Starmer making encouraging statements like this one to the Munich Security Conference.
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Snippets – Brexit, Europe and the EU
I ended the UK politics section with a video of Keir Starmer in Munich, but I could just as easily have included it here. Our relationship with the EU is moving on at pace – and why not when Caroline Lucas and Dominic Grieve tell us that “Trump has made the case for rejoining the EU impossible to ignore”. Spain is just one of the EU countries who openly say they would welcome the UK’s return, but in the meantime we’re joining a major wind farm project; we’re reconsidering joining the EU Defence Fund; and it’s possible that we may benefit from the €90bn EU loan to Ukraine in respect of arms procurement.
Of course, there will be those who say we can do better on our own (that hasn’t gone well for the last ten years), but the EU has just done a landmark trade deal with India, and for those who would say that the EU is going bust, the IMF’s Kristalina Georgieva tells Politico that in a shortlist of top-performing economies, seven of the top ten were in the EU and Portugal was in the top spot. The EU are also taking a stronger stance against online media giants and this resulted in French authorities raiding the Paris offices of Elon Musk’s “X” organisation recently.
Not all is good news, however, with the recent announcement of new passport rules for UK citizens with dual nationality. When returning to the UK, they must now travel on their UK passport, there are criteria as to validity, and since the new rules come into force on 25 February, there has been little time to prepare.
Finally, the European Movement held an interesting webinar recently – “UK and Europe: the year ahead”. If you didn’t catch it live, or of you would like to watch again, you can access it here.
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Snippets – Trump and the US
I won’t spend a lot of time on this section, as most of the bizarre statements and actions are well reported, but there may be a few that you’ve missed. Firstly, there was this article covering the plan for the US government to fund MAGA-aligned think-tanks in Europe. Only one motive for this – to manipulate European politics for their own purposes. Trump has also nominated another totally unsuitable candidate for public office. This time it’s Jeremy Carl, a “white erasure” theorist who served in Trump’s first term, and, if confirmed, he would become the Assistant Secretary of State for International Organisation Affairs. Perhaps the most concerning of all, though, was the reversal of a key ruling that underpins all federal actions on curbing planet-warming gases, with Trump saying it was “a disastrous Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers”.
This side of the Atlantic, and very close to home, the Trump government are trying to buy a slice of South Crofty Tin Mine, which is not a popular proposition for many people in Cornwall.
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Snippets – The environment
Only two items for this section this month – one fairly positive, the other not so. Although China is by far the largest producer of green technology, their investment in the sector has dipped slightly, but that was more than made up for by the rest of the world, especially Europe, and global investment in the sector is up by 8%. Somewhat less positive and a cause of great concern, is the latest government national security assessment on global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security. This should be taught in every school and should be compulsory reading for those who don’t believe that climate change is a threat!
