South Lakeland MP Tim Farron has accused the government of completely overlooking the biggest issues facing farmers, following a speech today by the DEFRA Minister on the future of the UK farming industry.
On Tuesday, Sir Ivan Rogers' resignation as the UK's representative to the EU caused New Year shock waves and later, his resignation email to his colleagues was published. His assessment of the Government's performance so far is not one which inspires confidence in ministers. He told his colleagues:
Sir Ivan Rogers, the UK's ambassador to the European Union has resigned. Highly experienced and diligent, Rogers was expected to play a key role in the upcoming Brexit negotiations. Nick Clegg has commented
What is the future for centre-left politics? Its traditionally dominant force, the Labour Party, cannot win on its own, yet seems incapable of working with others who can. This week the Fabian Society, historically the midwife of the party, effectively pronounced its last rites, estimating that the party could be reduced to as few as 150 MPs after the next election. Labour now seems institutionally incapable of moving back to the centre ground, as it did under Tony Blair. Thus they leave the field open for the Conservative Party to command the stage for at least the next two general elections, if not more.
At the start of 2017, things feel much less stable than a year ago. Prince Charles broke with convention in his Christmas message by expressing concern at the deeply-disturbing echoes of the 1930s. He is thinking in global terms, but the UK is part of this story. He is right to be concerned. I finished a recent blog post by saying that what we need now is wise leadership. Those words are haunting me. Doubtless there are some who want a leader to push Brexit through as fast as possible, and others who want a leader to stop it. We need something different. I am mentally contrasting the stereotype of the fascist leader, who whips up the darkest desires of the crowd, and the wise leader who enables people to be heard so that wisdom emerges rather than fear and mudslinging.
This is something I read in a conversation online. The political climate in both Britain and the world at large is, I suspect, something a great many people are worried about at the moment. 2016 has been hard. Tragedies like Berlin and Orlando, the pure horror of Aleppo, the deaths of so many of our heroes, aggressive and violent political discourse in multiple countries. If you have this disturbing suspicion that 2016 was sent by some wrathful God, specifically to beat you down into submission, then believe me, you are not alone. It feels as though the world is coming undone. The progress made in Britain in the last 40 years may be undone by Brexit, whether as a direct result of the decision, or by the fallout that comes with the process separating our country from the EU. The progress of the Obama administration may come unstitched, thread by thread, by an unchecked Trump administration. It feels as though this aggressive new wave of populist politics is here to stay. Fighting against it, in favour of ratio