Simon Jenkins's Blog, page 23

It’s not enough for Labour to be a nicer version of the Tories. It must take risks for what is right | Simon Jenkins

Instead of fighting for the centre ground, Keir Starmer should look to the radical changes pushed through under Harold Wilson

The pitch is being rolled for Keir Starmer’s entry to No 10. Titles on the prospect of a Labour Britain already line the bookshop shelves, from Oliver Eagleton’s The Starmer Project to Lisa Nandy’s All In. Who is he really? Is he a socialist in sheep’s clothing, or just another moderate, pragmatic, oh-so-hesitant Labour leader trapped in an ideological no-man’s-land betwee...

Ministers think trains are just too much bother. That’s why they are so relaxed about the strikes | Simon Jenkins

As fewer and fewer people use them, it seems railways are regarded as no longer essential – especially in the north

Of all Britain’s looming strikes, ministers seem least worried by the trains. When last week the Treasury and the transport secretary, Mark Harper, reportedly stopped the rail companies from upping their pay offer to the unions, they would have known the strike was on. They would have known that demanding new work practices alongside a fall in real-terms pay was never going to work....

Rishi Sunak’s U-turn on windfarms reflects the Tories’ failure to protect rural England | Simon Jenkins

As the Conservatives squabble over planning and housing targets, England’s countryside is being destroyed

The English countryside is sick. It can feel as though a day never passes without its green and pleasant land falling victim to the threat of windfarms, coalmines, solar arrays and housing estates. Boris Johnson seemed to want a turbine in every field. Liz Truss wanted “investment zones” even in protected areas. Rishi Sunak called for 300,000 new houses a year – until he didn’t.

This week the ...

Will Labour really axe the Lords, that laughing stock of democracy? I’ll believe it when I see it | Simon Jenkins

It is time for this institution to be replaced by a council of the people, but Starmer may not have the stomach for reform

The most telling fact about the House of Lords is that not one living prime minister has deigned to darken its door. They know too much of its deals, kickbacks and cronyism to be reminded of them round every corner. Yes, there are impressive peers, but they are captives of a roughly 800-member club that has become the laughing stock of British democracy. Revelations such as t...

According to the census, we’re now a land of many faiths. There is no place for an established church | Simon Jenkins

The king and Anglican leaders should take note that if the country is changing, so should its institutions

England and Wales are no longer Christian: shock. Christians a minority for the first time since the dark ages. We are among the most godless nations on Earth. According to the 2021 census, the number of us ticking the Christian box has fallen to less than 48%. While Christian Pentecostalism is booming, barely 12% are members of the national Church of England. More of us now go to a mosque e...

Dear PM, if Scots want closer links with Europe, why not? Let’s have a Scottish protocol | Simon Jenkins

Rishi Sunak has gloated at the supreme court’s rebuff to Nicola Sturgeon. He’d be better off fashioning a proper devolution deal

England never gets Scotland right. Last week the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, repeated Downing Street’s familiar gloat over another reverse for Scottish home rule. London’s supreme court dismissed the Scottish National party’s bid for an “advisory” plebiscite on whether to hold another independence referendum. Just go home, said Sunak, and run Scotland better. He seemed...

Professions, heal yourselves – only you can make the public sector better value for money | Simon Jenkins

Rishi Sunak should complete Thatcher’s challenge and ask doctors, barristers, teachers and academics to embrace change

Jeremy Hunt’s budget statement last week might calm markets. It is unlikely to calm its chief clients: the public services. Here, the best Hunt could claim is that they were warned. After 10 years of austerity and two of pandemic chaos, all sectors other than health now face real terms cuts. Hunt is not going to help them any more. They must help themselves.

The oddest contributi...

We may not be heading for a Swiss-style Brexit deal, but Sunak must face reality | Simon Jenkins

Most of Britain’s trade is with Europe, and Brexit has crippled it. There is a long way to go to resolve this fallout

As long as Brexit lasts it will remain on the political stage. For six years since the 2016 referendum, Britain’s relations with the EU have been soured. The reason is simple, you cannot erect a barrier against the 40% of trade that is with your closest neighbour without pain.

The Office for Budget Responsibility has said that Brexit’s impact on the economy is now “adverse” over th...

The real ‘black hole’ in the UK’s finances is HS2 – let’s kill off this monstrosity for good | Simon Jenkins

Successive prime ministers have lacked the courage to end this vanity project. Is Rishi Sunak any different?

In April 2020, the then chancellor Rishi Sunak gave his approval to a new railway to Birmingham, expected to cost £44bn. Contracts were promptly signed. The overall HS2 project is estimated at £100bn. An infuriated Whitehall official told me at the time: “Never let that man say he cannot afford any item of public expenditure.”

The ambition was soon trimmed. HS2 will no longer go to Yorkshir...

Beware The Crown’s blurring of fact and fiction in this age of dangerous untruths | Simon Jenkins

It might be ‘only’ a TV show, but the boundaries between history and make-believe need to be clear

Thirty years ago, the present king tried to usurp his mother, the Queen. He sought to conspire with the then prime minister, John Major, after an opinion poll hostile to the monarch appeared in the Sunday Times. Like all the scenes in Netflix’s The Crown, this is claimed to have been “inspired by real events”.

In truth there was no such plot, no conspiracy and no poll hostile to the monarchy. A ficti...