Month: March 2018

Time to end Britain’s ‘special relationship’ with Saudi Arabia

Rolling out the red carpet for the Saudi Crown Prince shows the Tories have the wrong priorities, writes KEN LIVINGSTONE.

WHEN the government recently rolled out the red carpet to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, it claimed that our “special relationship” with the Saudi dictatorship has made “both of our countries safer and more prosperous.”

Additionally, throughout his visit, the Tories continually insisted that the Crown Prince was a point of firm support for British policy in the world.
Read the full article

15 years since Blair and Bush’s War on Iraq – We need to learn the lessons

This week marks the 15th anniversary of the beginning of the disastrous Bush and Blair war in Iraq. This war led to 100,000s of deaths and made the world, including Britain, a more dangerous place. The 15th anniversary should be seen as a timely reminder of how trust in politics got broken, where we are and where we need to go from here.

There is little doubt that we live in challenging times, whether that be the permanent circus of reaction that is the Trump US presidency or the debates around Brexit and the future of the British economy and our role in the world.
Read the full article

Hammond’s complacent Spring Statement shows the Tories need to go

Philip Hammond’s Spring Statement today showed once again that the Tory government has totally failed to wake up to the damage austerity is causing.

This is true both in terms of the sheer scale of suffering austerity is inflicting on people and their communities, and the underlying damage being done to our economy, which is being starved of much-needed investment.

In 2010, the current Prime Minister and Chancellor were members of the Conservative-led Cabinet that made the decision to slash investment and then deprive the economy of the investment it needed for years to come, whilst giving tax breaks to large corporations and the super-rich.
Read the full article

Tory-instigated housing crisis needs Labour’s radical solution

Creating a dedicated housing ministry tasked with building a million new homes in five years, including half a million council homes, is as realistic as it is necessary, writes KEN LIVINGSTONE.

Theresa May’s housing speech showed that the Tory government still has no proper plan to fix the crisis.

As John Healey MP, Labour’s shadow secretary of state for housing, said, “We’ve heard hand-wringing on housing from May before, but there’s nothing new here that will make a difference.”
Read the full article