David Reed MP @DavidReedMP

This is how I know the Gov’s National Preparedness Campaign due later on in the year is going to flop hard….

Sky News @SkyNews

17 hours ago

🟣 Jess Phillips and Angela Rayner discuss what they would pack in an emergency survival kit after Angela went viral for saying she'd pack Sauvignon Blanc and mascara in the event of a war. Sky News Insider requires a paid subscription. UK only. 18+

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Well worth a watch. One of the most interesting exchanges in the whole series comes when the fictional US Secretary of State is asked by the British PM for American support following a serious attack. His response, in essence: “You have to accept your middle-power status, whether you like it or not.” In other words: you don’t have the cards. Get in line. Michael Gove, playing the PM, and Nicola Sturgeon, playing the Deputy PM, looked genuinely shocked. But that is the uncomfortable question Britain has to confront. We cannot expect to exercise the influence of a great power while being unwilling to spend like one on defence. For too long, we have suffered from a serious cognitive dissonance between the role we imagine Britain can play in the world and the capabilities we are actually prepared to pay for. Unless that changes, our influence and deterrence will continue to weaken, leaving us increasingly vulnerable to the whims of greater powers. Mark Carney’s Davos speech remains one of the clearest statements I’ve heard from the leader of a comparable country about the world we now inhabit. Canada appears to understand how profoundly the strategic environment has changed. Why are we still struggling to have the same conversation in Britain? I’m glad my party is developing credible, costed plans for defence. But the brutal parliamentary reality is that, if there is no general election until 2029, the Government has the numbers and the time to act. The Conservatives can make the arguments and try to move the debate. Ultimately, though, the Government has to make the decisions. That is why the relatively minor role defence played in Burnham’s conference speech mattered. Britain’s security cannot be treated as another item competing for attention in a domestic policy programme. It is one of the fundamental responsibilities of a Prime Minister. The choices will be difficult. They will require spending money we would rather spend elsewhere and an honest conversation with the British public about what security costs. But pretending we can retain great-power influence without paying for the capabilities that underpin it is not a strategy. If Britain wants strategic autonomy, credible deterrence and influence with its allies, we have to be prepared to pay for them immediately.

The Spectator @spectator

21 hours ago

Monday. The start of The Wargame. This is the TV version of Sky’s podcast, simulating the start of a hot war with Russia. Your editor and I spent four days in a bunker with political opponents, role-playing a coalition government on the brink. While we had been filming,

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When vibes meet reality….

Alex Wickham @alexwickham

17 hours ago

NEW by @PhilAldrick There is an £85 billion black hole in Andy Burnham’s spending plans The government says the changes to the triple lock will save £15 billion by 2040, or £11 billion in today’s money, and that he will not raise taxes to pay for social care That doesn’t

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The UK needs to get serious about national resilience. Denmark offers a useful example. Building on my visit to Copenhagen this summer, I recently joined a breakfast discussion at the Danish Embassy in London about resilience and preparedness. The Danish government have started a proper conversation with the public on national resilience. They have clearly communicated the threats Denmark faces and have sent a booklet to every household explaining how citizens can play their part. The British government, in contrast, are failing to communicate with the British public about the level of “grey zone” threats Britain routinely faces and are set to launch a half-hearted public preparedness campaign. In times like these, this complacency could be very costly.

The PM offered hope for after the next election. The numbers are about to intrude on the here and now.

Alex Wickham @alexwickham

21 hours ago

NEW: The UK’s long-term borrowing costs have reached 6% for the first time in almost three decades The yield on 30-year gilts rose five basis points to 6% this morning, a level last seen in March 1998 The global bond selloff has reignited this morning bloomberg.com/news/live-blog…

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If only they put this much effort into coming up with credible policies… they’d be unstoppable.

Noa Hoffman @hoffman_noa

2 days ago

EXCL: The Green party has produced an Orwellian glossary of ‘unacceptable’ language ahead of its conference this weekend. Its new ‘Inclusive Terminology Guidance’ instructs members to stop using words and phrases including ‘elderly’, ‘female politician’ and ‘mothers and

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Fair play to our new PM- it was a decent speech, and people came away feeling hopeful. But here’s the challenge: much of what he wants to do is planned for after the next General Election, which he’s categorically said won’t be until 2029. So what’s the plan for tackling the major issues facing us between now and then?

Just over a year ago, I had the privilege of starting at the Royal College of Defence Studies as one of just three MPs selected from across Parliament. Over the past year, RCDS has broadened my worldview, challenged my assumptions and, perhaps most importantly, given me hope that, even in an increasingly volatile and destabilised world, diplomacy and dialogue still matter. Having had time to reflect on the experience, I can already see the impact it is having on my work in Parliament. The lessons, perspectives and relationships I gained will continue to shape my thinking in my new role as Shadow Minister for Defence, Security and Resilience, working across both the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence. A huge thank you to all the military and civilian staff who make RCDS such a special place. It is an extraordinary institution and an incredibly valuable national asset. 🇬🇧

I have a great deal of respect for John Healey. He resigned as Defence Secretary on a point of principle: that Britain needed to move faster on defence spending. Now he is Chancellor. He has the power to make the change he was prepared to resign over. If something has changed, level with the British public and explain why. But if you still believe what you believed then, John, be the statesman that so many of us believe you to be. Hold to your principles- and lead.

Jack Elsom @JackElsom

3 days ago

No idea what happened to the 3.5% defence roadmap Burnham promised would be in his speech today. This is what he told LBC yesterday: "We have a commitment 2035, and what I'll set out tomorrow is how we do that, how we change things so that we can make the necessary investment

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You’d be forgiven for thinking Labour’s Nature Minister has seen very little of the country she’s supposed to represent. Apparently warm ale, country pubs and black Labradors belong to a nostalgic vision of Britain that “never really existed”. She’s more than welcome to come down to Devon. I’ll happily buy her a pint of warm ale in a country pub- and introduce her to a few very real, very friendly black Labs along the way.

Conservatives @Conservatives

3 days ago

SHOCKING: Labour Minister thinks beer, black labs and pubs are a 'very far-Right nostalgic vision of Britain’ that ‘we don’t want to have’

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The Rwanda scheme drawn up by the last Conservative Government was never going to stop illegal migration on its own. But it was intended to be a significant building block in creating a credible deterrent. Labour scrapped it. Now some of our closest European allies are pursuing the same principle: removing people with no right to stay to safe third countries. Labour opposed that principle here. They should explain why they think it is wrong for Britain, while European governments are moving in the same direction.

Jack Elsom @JackElsom

3 days ago

From @POLITICOEurope: Greece is spearheading a group of five EU countries - Denmark, Austria, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands - pushing for migrants who have been denied the right to stay in the bloc to be sent to countries such as Rwanda from as early as next year.

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The brain drain happening in real time. Look at Portugal in the early 2010s to understand just how hard this can be to reverse. Once you lose young, skilled and ambitious people, getting them back takes years. That’s why Conservatives are building an alternative around rewarding work and contribution: cutting taxes, backing businesses, reforming welfare, expanding apprenticeships and giving young people a £5,000 First Job Bonus: conservatives.com/our-plan-for-b… We want Britain to be the country our ambitious people choose to build their future in- not the country they choose to leave.

GB News @GBNEWS

3 days ago

Record 69,000 taxpayers leave Britain amid growing concerns over UK tax burden gbnews.com/money/taxpayer…

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Imagine giving them the keys to anything more complicated than a village hall. The reduce speed sign sums it up perfectly 😂

Reform UK @reformparty_uk

3 days ago

Zia Yusuf calls for a national security emergency to be declared at RAF Fairford. 🚨

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The social contract with younger generations in this country is already badly frayed. We should be extremely careful about undermining the confidence of those approaching retirement too. For 15 years, people across the UK have made long-term financial decisions in the expectation that the state pension triple lock would provide a degree of predictability. That does not mean the policy can never be reformed. Governments must be prepared to confront difficult questions about affordability, demographic change and fairness between generations. But serious reform requires serious preparation. If Labour believes the triple lock needs to change, the responsible approach is to develop an alternative, explain how it would work, set out who would be affected and give people sufficient notice to plan. These are exactly the difficult policy questions that should be worked through in opposition and then put clearly to the electorate. Instead, floating potentially significant changes at party conference without first setting out a developed alternative risks creating fear and uncertainty among people who have worked hard, contributed to our country and spent years planning for retirement. That points to a wider problem. Labour had years in opposition to develop detailed answers to the long-term challenges facing Britain. Opposition cannot simply be about identifying what is wrong with the government of the day. It must also be about doing the difficult work required to be ready to govern. Britain does need change. But lasting positive change requires clarity, consultation and consent- not policy-making that leaves millions of people wondering whether the assumptions on which they planned their futures still hold. That is why I am glad Kemi is determined that our party will use its time in opposition differently. Like us or not, the Conservative Party has a responsibility to do the hard work now: to examine where we went wrong, confront the difficult choices facing the country and develop credible answers before asking the British people to put their trust in us again. Opposition should not be wasted simply opposing. It should be used to prepare seriously for the responsibility of government- and to do so in the national interest.

Politics UK @PolitlcsUK

3 days ago

🚨 BREAKING: Andy Burnham is set to signal the end of the state pension triple lock in his conference speech tomorrow [@Telegraph]

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When our new PM said national security “cannot come at the expense of social security”, I initially thought he’d muddled his words. But he’s doubled down. I genuinely want Andy Burnham’s Government to succeed. If it succeeds, Britain succeeds. But being Prime Minister means making difficult choices. And the first duty of any government is the defence of the realm. He’s not Mayor of Manchester anymore. There’s no one above him to make the tough calls. He’s the Prime Minister. It’s time to start acting like it.

He is shaking the hand of a man whose evil, despotic regime has the blood of tens of thousands of its own citizens on its hands.

Politics Global @PolitlcsGlobal

a week ago

🚨🇮🇷 NEW: Ed Miliband meets Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly

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The post-Cold War world- with all the trappings of US taxpayer-funded peace and stable global supply chains- has ended. Any Western government that doesn’t understand that is in for a rough ride in the months and years ahead. Time to stop just talking about putting the national interest first- and start doing it.

Ed Conway @EdConwaySky

a week ago

📽️ What happens when the world's biggest exporter of one of the most important substances for modern civilisation decides to stop exporting it? We might be about to find out. 🛢️Primer on US diesel and the coming fuel crunch, inc why it could be especially grisly for Britain👇

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This Inquiry has now been running for years, at a cost of tens of millions of pounds, with no clear end in sight. The allegations it is examining are exceptionally serious. If wrongdoing is established, no member of our Armed Forces is above the law. But neither should scrutiny become an open-ended process whose duration and demands impose their own punishment on those who serve. We also cannot ignore the cumulative effect this has on our Special Forces — on serving personnel, veterans, morale and ultimately operational effectiveness. These are nationally critical capabilities. Parliament has rightly given the independent Inquiry the space to do its work. But independence cannot mean an absence of accountability for time, cost and proportionality. With the latest disclosure problems threatening yet further delay, I believe the time has come for Parliament to start asking some searching questions.

Larisa Brown @larisamlbrown

7 days ago

Latest on Afghan inquiry: An "exceptional" open hearing has been held today after it emerged this week that the Ministry of Defence has found 97 million new documents, some of which could be relevant to the inquiry, raising concern it could be delayed further. The inquiry's

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Seems odd, when your government appears so determined to destroy them.

Wes Streeting @wesstreeting

a week ago

Spent much of today with Special Forces. Of all the people and capabilities I’ve met in the past couple of months, I wish I could show the public the full extent of who they are and what they do. It has made me (even more) proud to be British and of our capabilities as a country

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