Latest news with #Labour Party
Irish Times
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Labour must decide if messy break-up with Catherine Connolly is salient factor in presidential backing
Just under a decade ago, Catherine Connolly diagnosed the Labour Party had 'lost its soul'. This afternoon, the Independent TD for Galway West - who was a Labour councillor and Dáil aspirant for the party before decamping in 2006 - will go searching for its votes to formally back her for the presidential election race. A meeting is set between Connolly and the 13 Oireachtas members of the Parliamentary Labour Party for 4.30pm today. Connolly, having secured the backing of the Social Democrats , People Before Profit and several Independent members, has the wind at her back and seems almost certain to secure the 20 required votes regardless of whether Labour backs her. In some ways, it's a more consequential decision for Labour than it is for Connolly. It must decide if the messy break-up between the party and Connolly is still a salient factor. She left the party having failed to get on the ticket as a running mate for Michael D Higgins in the 2007 general election. As an Independent TD, she was a forthright critic of Labour in government. However, some party grandees who served in cabinet and were on the receiving end of those criticisms are sanguine about her potential endorsement by the party. 'On balance,' says one, speaking privately, 'I think bygones be bygones'. This mirrors the views of some within the current parliamentary party, who like her politics and her pugnacious, sincere style, while harbouring some concerns. One TD says her history with Labour is 'not relevant' to their consideration of her candidacy: 'The past is just that'. [ Who is Catherine Connolly? The outspoken left-wing campaigner running for president Opens in new window ] A second former senior figure in the Labour Party says they are undecided, while simultaneously saying they would have no principled objection to Connolly based on her history with Labour. But they outline their view that the forthright Galway native can be 'quite difficult to work with', adding knowingly that people who favour her within Labour may not have had much to do with her in the past. There are also those who want to know more about what her platform is - and what precisely is the nature of support that will be sought. Will it just be Oireachtas votes and rhetorical endorsements, or will manpower and money also be sought? Openness should not be confused for a headlong enthusiasm for backing Connolly, from past or present members of the parliamentary party - and she will have her work cut out to win over some current TDs. Some are of the view that Tipperary North's Alan Kelly will take particular convincing. But what she does have going for her is an alignment of political circumstances that leaves Labour open to endorsement, rather than fielding its own candidate. The party views itself as having changed the nature of the presidency with Mary Robinson, and as having some political custody of the office given Higgins's enduring popularity across his two terms. Sitting out the presidential campaign entirely would be unpalatable - but it also knows that Connolly's emergence as a left wing front-runner will soak up Oireachtas votes that could go to an alternative candidate, even one given a significant bump by 13 Labour votes. A second left candidate could also split the vote, while Connolly is seen as someone who may be well positioned to surf the political zeitgeist in the autumn. By this stage, muses one grandee, the evenings will be longer, the weather worse, and an unpopular Government will be closing in on a budget with none of the baubles that voters have become used to. In those circumstances, many may use the chance to back an anti-establishment candidate so the Government parties feel their displeasure in what is ultimately a second order election.
The Independent
16 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
The UK says thousands of Afghans have been brought to Britain under a secret resettlement program
Thousands of Afghans, including many who worked with British forces, have been secretly resettled in the U.K. after a leak of data on their identities raised fears that they could be targeted by the Taliban, the British government revealed Tuesday. The government now plans to close the route, which the media had been barred by a court order from disclosing. 'I have felt deeply concerned about the lack of transparency to Parliament and the public,' Defense Secretary John Healey said in the House of Commons. Healey told lawmakers that a spreadsheet containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had applied to come to Britain after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was accidentally released in error in 2022 because of a defense official's email error, and extracts were later published online. The then-Conservative government sought a court order barring disclosure of the leak, in an attempt to prevent the personal information being made public. The High Court issued a strict order known as a super injunction that barred anyone from revealing its existence. The government then set up a secret new program to resettle the Afghans. The injunction was lifted on Tuesday in conjunction with a decision by Britain's current Labour Party government to make the program public. It said an independent review had found little evidence that the leaked data would expose Afghans to a greater risk of retribution from the country's Taliban rulers. About 4,500 Afghans – 900 applicants and approximately 3,600 family members — have been brought to Britain under the secret program, and about 6,900 people are expected to be relocated by the time it closes, at a total cost of 850 million pounds ($1.1 billion). About 36,000 more Afghans have been relocated to the U.K. under other resettlement routes. Critics say that still leaves thousands more people who helped British troops as interpreters or in other roles at risk of torture, imprisonment or death. British troops were sent to Afghanistan as part of a deployment against al-Qaida and Taliban forces in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. At the peak of the operation, there were almost 10,000 British troops in the country, mostly in Helmand province in the south. Britain ended combat operations in 2014, and its remaining troops left Afghanistan in 2021 as the Taliban swept back to power, two decades after they were ousted. The Taliban's return triggered chaotic scenes at Kabul Airport in August 2021 as Western nations rushed to evacuate citizens and Afghan employees. Super injunctions are relatively rare, and their use is controversial. Unlike regular court injunctions, super injunctions bar reporting that they were even ordered The handful of cases in which they have come to light involved celebrities trying to prevent disclosures about their private lives. This is the first known case of a super injunction being sought by the government. Healey said he was not aware of any others in existence. Judge Martin Chamberlain, who ruled that the injunction should be lifted, said Tuesday at the High Court that the gag order had 'given rise to serious free speech concerns." 'The super injunction had the effect of completely shutting down the ordinary mechanisms of accountability, which operate in a democracy," he said. 'This led to what I describe as a 'scrutiny vacuum.''
Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Times
100 years ago: Lloyd George airs plans to solve the mining crisis
Lloyd George, speaking at an open-air meeting at Cinderford today in support of the Liberal candidate, referred to the mining crisis and dealt with the plan for the unification of the coalfields that was rejected in 1919 and 1921. 'That scheme,' he said, 'would have had a most beneficial effect on the mining industry but it was gibed at by the extremists of the time. Now those very men are ready to advocate it as a remedy.' As a result there was the prospect of strife and of a disastrous struggle, which had been brought about by the rejection of the proposals of which he had spoken. The Labour candidate, Albert Purcell, he said, belonged to that section of the Labour Party that had done the most mischief in the coalfields in recent years. He and the extremists on the other side had swept away the moderate men; hence the trouble which was now being experienced. Lloyd George remarked that men like Purcell wanted the moon. 'Well, there is no coal in the moon,' said Lloyd George, 'and if men of that type get hold of England it will be as desolate as that sterile orb.' • Robert Colvile: Keir Starmer isn't the new Attlee — but who could be? Purcell was too much even for the working men of Coventry. They put him out and he fled to Moscow, and now he was seeking the suffrages of moderate Labour in the Forest of Dean. Lloyd George said the government had muddled the gold standard: trade had been kept down and the cost of things had increased. This had led to the neutral markets of the world being handicapped by the most formidable competition with our exports. This resulted in the government putting up the price of coal abroad by 1s 6d per ton. That had given the advantage to Germany and the United States, he said. ⬤ At Dayton, Ohio, the jury in the evolution trial are going about their business as usual, not being confined or kept together. They are only instructed not to talk to anybody about John Scopes. If annoyed or questioned, the jurors are authorised to call the town marshal to protect them. Most of them have returned to their farms. The 'City Fathers' are debarred from holding revival meetings on the court lawn during the sessions on account of the noise, shouting and singing, and the possibility of a collision between zealous antagonists and supporters of evolution. • Mein Kampf at 100 — why the most reviled book in history still haunts us The crux of the trial [Scopes was charged with violating state law by teaching Darwin's theory of evolution] comes in the argument over the admissibility of scientific evidence, which will determine the length of the trial. Monkey man: John Scopes, second left, at his trial in 1925 for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution in high-school science classes HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES The defence counsel states: 'If we are permitted to defend ourselves, the trial will last at least three weeks; but if the scientific testimony of thirty-five defence-witnesses is barred, the trial will end very quickly.'
Arab News
3 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
Australia PM Albanese kicks off China visit focused on trade
BEIJING: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese kicked off a visit to China this weekend meant to shore up trade relations between the two countries. Albanese met with Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Jining on Sunday, the first in a series of high-level exchanges that will include meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and Chairman Zhao Leji of the National People's Congress. Albanese is leading 'a very large business delegation' to China, which speaks to the importance of the economic relations between Australia and China, he told Chinese state broadcaster CGTN upon his arrival in Shanghai Saturday. During a weeklong trip, Albanese is set to meet business, tourism and sport representatives in Shanghai and Chengdu including a CEO roundtable Tuesday in Beijing, his office said. It is Albanese's second visit to China since his center-left Labour Party government was first elected in 2022. The party was reelected in May with an increased majority. Albanese has managed to persuade Beijing to remove a series of official and unofficial trade barriers introduced under the previous conservative government that cost Australian exporters more than 20 billion Australian dollars ($13 billion) a year. Beijing severed communications with the previous administration over issues including Australia's calls for an independent inquiry into the origins of and responses to COVID-19. But Albanese wants to reduce Australia's economic dependence on China, a free trade partner. 'My government has worked very hard to diversify trade … and to increase our relationships with other countries in the region, including India and Indonesia and the ASEAN countries,' Albanese said before his visit, referring to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. 'But the relationship with China is an important one, as is our relationships when it comes to exports with the north Asian economies of South Korea and Japan,' he added. Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency, in an editorial Sunday, described China's relationship with Australia as 'steadily improving' and undergoing 'fresh momentum.' 'There are no fundamental conflicts of interest between China and Australia,' the editorial stated. 'By managing differences through mutual respect and focusing on shared interests, the two sides can achieve common prosperity and benefit.'
The Independent
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Top pollsters say Starmer's ‘one in, one out' migrant deal will have ‘no impact'
Leading pollsters have dismissed Sir Keir Starmer 's "one in, one out" migrant return deal with France as a "publicity stunt" unlikely to boost the government's popularity. The agreement is criticised for its small scale, reportedly aiming to return only 50 migrants a week, despite over 700 arriving on small boats on the day of its announcement. New polling reveals significant opposition among Labour Party members to Sir Keir's plans to tighten legal migration, such as extending the citizenship application period to 10 years. The government's focus on both legal and illegal migration is seen as a strategy to counter the growing support for Nigel Farage's Reform UK, which is currently polling ahead of Labour. Pollsters highlight record-low public confidence in the government, with only 23 per cent expressing confidence, suggesting the deal will have minimal impact on voter perception.
