Politics

A video of Barack Obama speaking on the perverse nature of US gun laws has emerged in the wake of the Orlando shootings. The US president talks about a meeting he came from in the Situation Room where known extremists in the US have been on ISIL websites. He points out how absurd it is that he can put these people on the no-fly list when it comes to airlines, but because of the National Rifle Association he cannot prohibit...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Two of the most outspoken MPs in the Commons have broke ranks with the party line and are backing Brexit. They become the ninth and tenth Labour Members of Parliament who are going to vote out on June 23. It is feared that working class traditional Labour voters might vote Out and swing the balance of the referendum, and with these figures backing Brexit, it could encourage core Labour voters to do the same. However,...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor As the EU referendum gets ever closer, everyone possible is chipping in with their opinion on what would happen after the votes are counted later this month. Now German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble said that a Brexit vote would one and for all mean 'Out is Out' for access to the EU single market. He has ruled out any chance Britain would have to use the European single market for trading, which is exactly the opposite...

By Ben Gelblum, Contributing Editor @BenGelblum To paraphrase France’s greatest export (apart from Stella Artois) Jean Paul Sartre: “all human endeavours are doomed to failure.” Tony Blair and John Major join the EU Referendum fray today with even more nightmarish complications for those hoping for a quick and easy Brexit - like having to renegotiate the whole Northern Ireland peace process while dealing with the possible dissolution of the United Kingdom with another Scotland Independence referendum leaving us rebuilding Hadrian’s...

Our MPs have just finished their inquiry into flooding and concluded that a “proactive approach to flooding is needed”. The report published this morning by the Environmental Audit Committee exposed the Government’s knee-jerk reaction to flooding. During the last Parliament funding was cut just before floods, only to be "increased" after the floods. The funding has fluctuated year by year. The Committee has demanded an action plan from the Government. Beavers should be part of that plan. Earlier this year, just one month after...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor In a shocking twist in the EU referendum campaign a Tory MP has switched sides. Sarah Wollaston has now left the Leave campaign and will now back the Remain side instead. She was instantly subjected to attacks from Leave campaigners on social media after she made her announcement. Wollaston, who is chair of the health select committee, has decided that the claims that leaving the EU would mean an extra £350m would be available for...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The on-line voting registration system had crashed, EU citizens had wrongly been given polling cards and both sides have predicted the world will end on the 23rd June depending on which box you tick. So unsurprisingly the EU referendum led today’s session. At one stage Cameron pointed across the chamber and said: “look, the Lib Dems, Greens, and trade unions are all on the same side.” A Brexiteer axis of evil if ever I seen...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor John Hayes, a Tory and “proud union member,” is a rare beast in the corridors of Westminster. Unlike many in his party he believes in the need for strong unions and he accepted Labour alterations to the Investigatory Powers Bill. This means that the Government have now canned a law which would have allowed intelligence agencies and the police to spy and monitor union activity. The changes were agreed after Andy Burnham, Shadow Home Secretary,...

The former and current Mayors of London are set to lock horns at Wembley in front of 6,000 people in a live debate on Europe. Labour Mayor Sadiq Kahn will face the former Conservative Mayor Boris Johnson just hours before the country goes to the polls. According to The Standard, the debate will see each side of the argument advocated by three speakers at the event on June 21, to be broadcast on BBC One at 8pm. It will be...