Welcome to The Independent's Inside Politics newsletter
Hello there, I'm Matt Mathers, and welcome to The Independent's Inside Politics newsletter. Parliament has been prorogued ahead of the Queen's Speech on 10 May, but there will be plenty of political action this week with the local elections just days away. The 5 May contests are a big test for Boris Johnson, who could face further calls to resign over the Partygate scandal once the ballots have been cast. Meanwhile, Westminster was rocked by further allegations of sexual misconduct and bullying over the weekend, prompting an intervention by the Commons speaker. |
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Inside the bubble Parliament is not sitting. Coming up: – Universities minister Michelle Donelan on talkTV at 8.18am – Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon on BBC Breakfast at 8.32am |
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OVERHAUL: With just days to go until the local elections, allegations of harassment, sexism and bullying continue to rock Westminster. Following the resignation of Neil Parish, who was named as the MP caught watching porn in the Commons chamber, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker, intervened to call for a radical overhaul of working practices in parliament. He suggested that it could be time to look again at the system which means that MPs are employers of their staff. Chris Bryant, the Labour MP and chair of the Commons standards committee, became one of the latest people to make harassment claims, saying yesterday that he was "touched up" by male MPs when he arrived in the House of Commons as a young gay man. - VOTE SPLIT: The 5 May polls are a big test for Boris Johnson, who has faced calls to resign over the Partygate scandal. Keir Starmer, meanwhile, is also under pressure to start making inroads into the Tory vote in red wall areas. There is this morning concerning news for Labour, with research showing candidates from left-of-centre parties will outnumber those on the right by more than two to one, creating an inbuilt advantage for the Conservative Party. In almost half (43 per cent) of wards being contested, the Conservatives are the sole right-of-centre party against three contenders from the left of centre – Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens – effectively splitting the "progressive" vote in a way that makes it easier for Johnson's party to win.
TAX ATTACK: Labour is still going after the Tories on tax. In the wake of revelations about the use of non-dom status by Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak's wife, James Murray, Labour's Treasury spokesperson, has written to HM Revenue and Customs demanding an investigation to provide "full clarity that no sitting government minister" responsible for shaping tax policy has benefitted from undeclared tax arrangements. He also asked for reassurance that steps would be taken to ensure that no ministers with such links are involved in future decisions on tax policies in those areas.
- 'ANTI-WOKE AGENDA': The PM's "anti-woke agenda" has helped fuel the rise in misogynistic behaviour in parliament, one of Labour's most senior women MPs has said. Margaret Hodge's comments came after the resignation of Tory MP Neil Parish for watching porn in the Commons chamber, and amid a flood of complaints about women at Westminster being groped, objectified and belittled because of their sex. Dame Margaret Hodge said that the upsurge in sexism complaints was partly caused by the "culture led from the top" in UK politics."We have had Boris Johnson creating a culture where it's OK to break the rules and we've got an 'anti-woke' culture being driven from the top," she told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend. "That anti-woke culture has allowed this sort of behaviour to be seen as the norm."
- CABINET SPLIT: Cabinet divisions over the cost of living crisis have been exposed, as business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng argued firmly against an "arbitrary" windfall tax on energy firms just days after Rishi Sunak indicated he was ready to consider the move. "I've never been a supporter of windfall taxes," he told Sky News's Sophy Ridge on Sunday. "I've been very clear about that publicly. I think they discourage investment."
The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page. |
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On the record "I believe it is time we reviewed our working practices, and particularly whether it is right that individual MPs are the employers of their staff." Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker, on culture at parliament. |
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From the Twitterati "This policy was literally announced in 2015 by David Cameron as prime minister."
FT chief politics correspondent Jim Pickard on reports PM wants a new 'right to buy' for people renting from housing associations.
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