Author: Miles Donavan

‘Oh, terrible. People having rights at work!’ Reform mayor for Greater Lincolnshire Andrea Jenkyns has said she doesn’t like trade unions and has criticised Labour for strengthening people’s rights at work. Speaking on the Jeremy Vine show today, Jenkyns was asked for her view on introducing a wealth tax on the super-rich. The Reform mayor expressed opposition to introducing a wealth tax, saying “I want wealth creators to come to Britain to create jobs” and that the 2% tax on wealth over £10 million would make the super rich leave the UK.  Jenkyns quickly went on to attack workers’ rights,…

“I’m a Londoner through and through, born in east London.” Labour MP Dawn Butler has said that she plans to stand to become the next Mayor of London should Sadiq Khan stand down. Butler, the MP for Brent East said she would “pop my hat in the ring” should a vacancy arise. During an episode of the Mirror’s web series Party Games, in which politicians take part in a number of light-hearted games, Ms Butler was asked if she would rather be prime minister or mayor of London. She replied: “London mayor, to represent London. I’m a Londoner through and…

‘Jenrick is fanning the flames of the far right by chasing Reform UK votes’ Shadow justice Robert Jenrick has been condemned for going to a far-right protest organised by Homeland Party members in Epping. At the anti-refugee rally on Sunday, Jenrick was pictured with Eddy Butler, an ex-BNP activist and former member of Nazi terror group Combat 18.  While an organiser for the BNP in East London, Butler spearheaded the party’s “Rights for Whites” campaign in 1993. After the demonstration, Butler posted a photo on Facebook of him standing behind Jenrick. The caption read: “At the Bell Hotel riding shotgun…

Farage previously said politics should be kept out of football Nigel Farage has been ridiculed for launching a Reform UK football shirt, given his past comments that politics should be kept out of football. Before the rescheduled Euros in June 2021, Farage said that England manager Gareth Southgate was “out of touch with England fans” and that they were “right to boo” when players take the knee in protest against racism. He famously said: “Let’s keep politics out of football this summer.” Fast forward a few summers, and Farage is doing the exact opposite.  The shirt also features a modified…

There was no mass exodus… While those on the right tried to whip up a moral panic over tax rises on ‘non-doms’, claiming that there would be a mass exodus of wealthy individuals leaving the UK, official data shows that their claims were once more overly exaggerated. In April the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, scrapped the non-domiciled tax status, which allowed wealthy individuals with connections abroad to avoid paying full UK tax on their overseas earnings. That led to a panic among right-wingers who tried to claim that it would lead to a mass exodus of wealthy elites which in turn…

Equitable distribution of income and wealth would go a long way towards stimulating domestic demand and investment… Prem Sikka is an Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the University of Essex and the University of Sheffield, a Labour member of the House of Lords, and Contributing Editor at Left Foot Forward. The UK’s economic growth has slowed in the second quarter of the year to 0.3%.The economy grew by an average of 1.5% between 2009 and 2024. The UK remains trapped in low growth as the government’s chosen tools are deregulation and greater reliance on the finance sector. Right on cue,…

Seven in ten members say the move was wrong The large majority of Labour members believe that the government was wrong to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group. According to polling carried out by Survation for Labour List, one in seven or 71% of members said the move was wrong, while a small minority, 21%, said it was the right decision. Opposition to proscribing the group was strongest among 18-24 year olds, members aged over 65 and 96% of those who voted for Rebecca Long-Bailey to be leader, according to Labour List.  Palestine Action was proscribed last month, after…

Some attendees openly displayed fascist symbols. A Reform UK councillor has been condemned for sharing a stage with a neo-Nazi at a Falkirk protest against ‘uncontrolled immigration’, in an incident which further raises concerns about the links between Farage’s party and the far-right. The National reports that ‘Claire Mackie-Brown, Reform UK Falkirk councillor for the Upper Braes, went on to share the stage with Patriotic Alternative member Richard McFarlane, who told the crowd that white people will be a minority in the UK “by the 2060s”. Mackie-Brown quit the Tory party last February, and joined Reform UK in March this…

Joseph Boam has been removed from his position as deputy leader and offered a less senior role Reform deputy leader of Leicestershire County Council Joseph Boam has been removed from his position after just three months in the role.  A party source said that due to “inner machinations” within the Reform group, he has been offered a less senior role supporting the cabinet group. The source said that Boam had not been moved to a different role due to any wrongdoing and said he didn’t know who exactly had removed him from the role.  Boam no longer holds his adult…

“It’s time for Farage to tell women and girls across Britain how he would keep them safe online.” Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has said Nigel Farage and Reform UK risk “failing a generation of young women” by threatening to scrap the Online Safety Act. In a press conference at the end of last month, Reform vowed to scrap the act, which Labour has just brought into force. They said that the act, which was introduced to push social media companies to curb false and harmful content, was an example of governmental over-reach and complained that it will alter people’s…