There have been penalties for those who looked the other way when Epstein was convicted of child sex offences and decided to maintain relationships with the financier — but not for the British ambassador to Washington, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES
Sticking to Tory tax and spending plans will be disastrous
Labour's adoption of austerity policies, like a National Insurance cut benefiting higher earners, suggests a bleak outlook with worsening living standards, increased inequality and heightened economic instability, warns DIANE ABBOTT MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves Downing Street, London, with his ministerial box before delivering his Budget in the Houses of Parliament, March 6, 2024
Labour’s new Treasury unit will ‘challenge unnecessary regulation’ by forcing nominally independent bodies like Ofwat to bend to business demands — exactly what Iain Anderson’s corporate clients wanted, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
DR DYLAN MURPHY looks at a Big Brother Watch report which exposes the government as an enabler of DWP secret spying on benefit claimants
The EU faces a critical choice: will it remain in the shadow of an increasingly unreliable US ally, or will it forge its own path in a multilateral world where co-operation with China is essential, asks MARC VANDEPITTE as leaders meet for the EU-China Summit
A lot of discussion about how the left should currently organise – including debate on whether the Green Party is a useful vehicle for advance – runs the risk of refusing to engage with or learn from the reasons the left was defeated previously, argues KEVIN OVENDEN
For Egypt trade trumps the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians, but how long can the country’s ‘misleaders’ – and others in the region – continue their indifference against the popular will of their own people, asks ROGER McKENZIE
JEREMY HUNT’S latest Budget continued themes of all his previous fiscal interventions. He takes from the poor to give to the rich and takes from working people to give to big business. But austerity has been imposed for so long that it has brought the economy to a virtual standstill, and the impact on living standards will get worse.
This then is the key domestic challenge for an incoming Labour government. Unfortunately, all the signs are that the current Labour leadership is completely wedded to austerity. Forcing sick people to work is not a recipe for higher living standards.
To leave no doubt, the shadow chief secretary even took to the airwaves to proclaim the party’s full adoption of the austerity policy. If the party persists with this line in office, it will have disastrous political and economic consequences.
More from this author
Our Foreign Secretary now condemns Israel in the Commons, yet Britain still supplies weapons and intelligence for its bombing campaigns — as the horror reaches perhaps the final stage, action must finally replace words, writes DIANE ABBOTT MP
The BBC and OBR claim that failing to cut disability benefits could ‘destabilise the economy’ while ignoring the spendthrift approach to tens of billions on military spending that really spirals out of control, argues DIANE ABBOTT MP
Europe is acquiescing in Trump’s manoeuvrings — where Europe takes over the US forever war in Ukraine while Washington gets ready for a future fight with China. And it’s working people who will be left paying the price, says DIANE ABBOTT MP
DIANE ABBOTT MP argues that Labour’s proposals contained in the recent white paper won’t actually bring down immigration numbers or win support from Reform voters — but they will succeed in making politics more nasty and poisonous
