UK Politics

Why Liz Truss is no Margaret Thatcher when it comes to the economy

— Liz Truss’s plan is not renationalisation in a conventional sense. It is the state being used to prop up the profits of very large companies.

What The Experts Say

Mini budget 2022: Experts react to the new UK government’s spending and tax-cut plans

— What the experts say about the way the government plans to address the energy crisis and economic growth, among other key issues.

COMMENT

Back to the other Liz’s world. Shtum, imperious, foxy

— In all the days that the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II lay in state in London, the British government remained shtum, imperious, and foxy.

OPINION

Is it safe yet?

— Britain has become an insane, cruel and callous place which makes the poor pay so that the energy companies can rake in billions, a sclerotic polity which is well on the way to full-blown authoritarianism.

Climate Change

What Liz Truss’s government means for climate action

— Liz Truss has appointed a loyal cabinet with varied environmental credentials. While the new government represent a threat for UK action on climate change, their ability to inflict damage to climate policy will be restricted.

Cost of Living Crisis

These two daunting challenges sit right at the top of the new prime minister’s in-tray

— British households want answers from their new leader as they look at their soaring energy bills, but it is hard to see Liz Truss winning huge support from voters at the next election considering her views on economic issues.

COMMENT

Is the Truss cabinet’s visual diversity any more than just that?

— To all those sincere campaigners for diversity, is visual diversity enough?

UK Politics

PM Liz Truss: A laser-like focus on delivery is needed after the chaos of the Boris Johnson years

— Liz Truss must provide a clear plan and a fresh start. The new PM needs to commit to a laser-like focus on the delivery of public services. But the shadow of her predecessor looms large.

UK Politics

The shortest political honeymoon in history

— With the election of Liz Truss, the right-wing British nationalist extremists of the ERG are now in charge of the UK. The Tories have completed their transformation into Ukip.

UK Politics

Liz Truss: Who is the UK’s new prime minister and why has she replaced Boris Johnson?

— Who is Liz Truss, the new leader of the Conservative party who inherits a country in crisis after Boris Johnson and how did she get to become the new PM?

UK Politics

Tory leadership race: Will Liz Truss’s tax cut proposals win her votes?

— The likely next prime minister is focusing on tax cuts to solve inflation. There are indeed votes to be won by focusing on taxes – but these are among Conservative party members, not the general public.

UK Politics

Liz Truss may not appoint an ethics adviser – Does that really matter?

— Having an ethics adviser is a matter of convention, not a legal requirement.

Cost of Living Crisis

Cost of living crisis: The UK needs to raise taxes not cut them

— Tax cuts are unlikely to help Britain address its current crises. Extra spending has to be financed. To do this, Britain needs higher taxes, not tax cuts.

OPINION

Liz Truss, the last PM of the “big tent” Tory party

— I think the Tories are heading for a decade of strife and internecine warfare, worse than the period after Thatcher. And I think – although this is pretty speculative – that it could lead to a complete split between the two wings. Here is why.

OPINION

Liz Truss’s Conservative chip pan fire

— The Conservatives promised that their Brexit would deliver sunlit uplands, what they are delivering is unlit slum lands.

Long-Read

What the leadership contest tells us about Brexit

— Professor Chris Grey’s analysis on how, although scarcely mentioned, Brexit permeates the Tory leadership contest between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, and David Frost’s essay inadvertently revealed why whoever wins will fall prey to the impossibilities of post-Brexit politics.