There isn’t going to be another referendum. That remained the firm view of Scottish Tories on Saturday night as Nicola Sturgeon failed by the narrowest of margins to win the 65 seats that would have given her the overall majority she desired in the Scottish Parliament. By holding onto highly marginal seats at opposite ends of the country, and with the help of one staunch Union-backing Labour MSP, they left the otherwise victorious nationalists marooned and one seat short of what she regarded as the overwhelming mandate she says should force Boris Johnson to agree to another referendum on independence. And there is no doubt … it was unofficial tactical voting what did it, as it did for stalwart Labour Unionist Jackie Baillie in Dumbarton as well as several Tories. Surely now Labour and Lib Dem leaders have finally got the message to draw up a pact that will prosper against the separatists’s bid to smash the United Kingdom. They both turned down a proper deal this time. Never …
Conservative party
Tories “absolutely” to blame for over-75s losing free TV licences, says campaigner
Tory ministers are "absolutely" to blame for over-75s being stripped of free TV licences after the Government "abrogated" responsibility for social welfare, a campaigner fumed on the first anniversary of the lifeline being axed. Millions of pensioners were robbed of the benefit a year ago after the Conservatives broke a manifesto pledge. Only over-75s who receive pension credit have been eligible for free licences since last August, worth £159-a-year. Elderly people risk falling into poverty as a result of a grace period for licence payments for the over-75s ending, the National Pensioners Convention warned. With 260,000 pensioners yet to pay, according to recent figures from the BBC, an extra bill could push some people into financial hardship, the NPC feared. Many more OAPs have to buy a licence ( Image: Getty Images) General secretary Jan Shortt said: "This is a group that is just above the pension credit limit threshold and they get no …
Nicola Sturgeon warns international travel restrictions may not be lifted for sunseekers
Nicola Sturgeon has warned that she may only initially lift international travel restrictions for Scots who want to go abroad to meet family, and not sunseekers wanting a foreign holiday. The First Minister told a BBC One Scotland Holyrood election leaders' debate that she would consider the UK Government's traffic light scheme , which may allow holidaymakers to fly from English airports to Europe's top holiday destinations from next month. But she warned she was prepared to maintain restrictions on flying from Scotland's airports "for a little bit longer" to allow her to "open up much greater normality domestically". Ms Sturgeon said: "It may be that restrictions on international travel are the price we have to pay for that, and when we do open up we focus on family reunification before holidays". Although she said she wanted a deal on common arrangements with the UK Government and her Welsh and Northern Irish counterparts, she said it had to be "on the right four nations …
Andrew Oswald: Ode to joy
It is a glorious summer's morning at Warwick University's campus on the leafy edge of Coventry. Birds are singing, and the route to the economics department is lined by a trellis almost buckling under the weight of wisteria in full bloom. A day to feel happy, then, and Professor Andrew Oswald has every reason to be so. His recent appearance on the BBC2 documentary series The Happiness Formula was proof that the economist's time has come. Oswald's long-held view that advanced western economies should concentrate less on growth and more on the wellbeing of their citizens has captured the zeitgeist. "Why else would the BBC be putting out programmes like that in more or less prime time?" he asks. "Hardly a day passes when I don't get a call from a journalist somewhere in the world." The Tory leader, David Cameron, has been saying recently that it is time we concentrated not just on GDP (gross domestic product), but on GWB (general wellbeing). So is Oswald beginning to take calls …
Boris Johnson to speed up ban on petrol and diesel cars
The sale of petrol and diesel cars will be banned five years earlier than planned, under a climate change drive to be unveiled by Boris Johnson. The Government announced in 2017 that it would impose a ban on diesel and petrol cars from 2040 as part of an effort to tackle air pollution. However the Prime Minister is said to be speeding up the plans with a view to implementing the ban by 2035. The idea was first mooted by Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, in October last year, when he indicated that 2035 was a target he would like to aim for. “The government’s own advisory committee on climate change said 2035 is a date for which we should aim,” he told the Conservative Party conference. “We need to test these arguments and work in partnership with industry to examine how to proceed.” A joint committee report in 2018 criticised the 2040 target as lacking “sufficient ambition” and urged for it to be brought forward. The Commons' Environment Food and Rural …
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Don’t need EU! UK to storm ahead with post-Brexit Erasmus rival for 40,000 students
Brexit: David Davis warns of 'three more years' of negotiations Sign up to receive our rundown of the day's top stories direct to your inbox SUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info Boris Johnson’s Turing Scheme will allow more than 40,000 students to study and work abroad when it launches next month. Named after wartime codebreaker Alan Turing, it will be open to more than 120 universities as well as over 200 schools and further education (FE) colleges across the UK. Related articles Brexiteers ordered not to congratulate Team GB: 'Reeks of desperation' Homeowner's fury as huge stone blocks dumped outside his address Its £110million annual purse will fund successful applicants to live and study in …
Labour’s silence over the hounding of Rosie Duffield is shameful
Here’s a little game you can play at home: type the words “Labour MP defends Rosie Duffield” into Google (other search engines are available) and see what comes up. Duffield is the party’s Canterbury MP and has become a hate figure among trans activists for her refusal to accept – as is now compulsory on the Left – the movement’s insistence that “trans women are women”. Duffield holds to the old fashioned, and widely held, view that “woman” can be defined as an adult human female with a XX chromosome, and has expressed concerns about women’s sex-based rights being pushed aside in favour of “gender-based” rights. You might have thought that a party aspiring to take office in the near future would have been eager to support the many woman who share Duffield’s views, who believe that fears about the erosion of women’s sex-based rights at least deserve to be discussed openly instead of being dismissed as a symptom of “transphobia”. Alas, no. That Google search will reveal the …
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Do Trump’s hawkish new advisers suggest the end of “America first?”
U.S. Trump America first Foreign policy Iran In the spring of 2016, as Donald Trump cruised to the Republican presidential nomination, he convened an elite crowd in a Washington, D.C., ballroom to announce a new proposal that would, as he put it, "shake the rust off America's foreign policy." Backed by American flags, he eviscerated decades of GOP orthodoxy—specifically the nation building of George W. Bush in Iraq—and pledged to enact a "coherent foreign policy" that would shun distant conflicts and put "America first." Trump pledged to find "talented experts with approaches and practical ideas, rather than surrounding myself with those who have perfect résumés but very little to brag about except responsibility for a long history of failed policies and continued losses at war. We have to look to new people." But now, as President Trump faces a series of conflicts with Syria, Iran and North Korea, he's surrounding himself with some of the "old people" whose …
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Inheritance Tax should be scrapped, poll reveals – ‘legalised state theft!’
Inheritance tax labelled ‘unfair’ and ‘cruel’ by expert Make the most of your money by signing up to our newsletter for FREE now SUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info Inheritance tax (IHT) is chargeable on the value of an estate of a person who has passed away, which falls above a certain threshold. The tax is set at 40 percent, meaning those who are left behind will have to deal with the levy before they can inherit assets left to them. In yesterday’s Budget, many were hopeful the Chancellor Rishi Sunak would announce the Inheritance Tax would be eradicated, or altered somewhat. However, some experts believed a rise to IHT would instead be on the cards. Related articles Pension stealth tax: Sunak hides five-year …
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Senate Committee Deadlocks, Holds Up Biden Nominee Who Rejects Constitutional Due Process Rights For College Students
A Senate committee on Tuesday failed to advance a Biden nominee after she proved hostile to the presumption of innocence and due process rights during her hearing. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) deadlocked in an 11 to 11 vote on advancing the nomination of Catherine Lhamon to lead the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. The vote fell along party lines, indicating an increase in the number of Republican senators who appear to be concerned about due process rights for college students. Lhamon’s position would have her oversee the Education Department’s Title IX rules, which prohibit sex-based discrimination. Title IX, the statute passed in 1972 as part of the Education Amendments, has been used in past decades to do the exact opposite of what it is meant to do by discriminating against men. It began with sports. Title IX ushered in an era of women’s sports on college campuses – a good thing – but quickly became used as a cudgel …