February's Political Intelligence
Despite the rise of Coronavirus, it seems that UK politics has been churning on, nevertheless. Post lunar new-year saw the beginning of covid-19, in the province of Wuhan. The virus quickly spread, even though many provinces within mainland China where and still are under tight control to curb it. Yet, there are daily confirmed cases from west to east, as more and more individuals are tested positive and are urged to self-quarantine for 14 days. Most recently, the UK’s Health minister Nadine Dorries has be diagnosed with coronavirus, and has been urged to self-quarantine, within the UK there is now 382 confirmed cases and 6 people whom are dead from the virus. As now the attention turns to the economic impact of the virus and what the government can do to stop the spread on the economy.
As the general election within Ireland draws to a close, Sinn Fein have a produced a win for the first time, under their proportional election system. The party took home the majority of first choice ‘yes’ votes but ended up coming second for the number of seats they gained within Parliament. However, the battle is yet to be won as the party still face week of talks with other parties to create a coalition.
The progress of the High-speed rail link hs2 which was dubbed to boost the northern powerhouse has seen many twists within its story, yet it has been given the final approval to continue the project. This is after Boris’s election manifesto which promised to increase transport plans outside London, as he announced road improvements, 4000 zero- emission buses and a mini Holland scheme to promote bike lanes.
Post Brexit, the focus of the UK’s government has shifted towards new trade deals. As the government announce innovative way to push overseas interests. One such way is the increase in budget for research within the UK and its university, as the government aims for this to be a driver for Britain post exit. However, it seems that it is not all clear skies within Downing Street as Sajid Javid resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer after a clash with Mr Cummings, one of Johnson’s special advisers. This is after Cummings advised a move to align the Treasury with thinking within the Prime Minister’s office, as Javid believed that this was not in the interests of the nation. Despite, Brexit it seems that there is still divisions within the Conservative party between Leave and Remain supporters, as the hopes were dashed of a trade deal, as the EU made it clear that there would not be a trade deal without Britain committing itself to social and labour protections which are similar to the EU’s.
Other resignation news sees the top civil servant Sir Philip Rutnam of the Home Office resign as he states that he is intending to claim for constructive dismissal by the government. As he argued that there has been a campaign against him by the Home Secretary Proto Patel’s office, after there has been reported tensions and mistreatment of officials, after allegations of swearing, belittling people and making unreasonable demands.
The government has also squashed its first rebellion from its own MPs over Huawei, this comes after the plans for the Chinese mobile network company to be used in the UK’s 5G network As the plans saw 38 Conservative rebels whom backed a proposal to end the Chinese firm’s participating in the project, yet despite the rebels the government won by 24 votes, as they underestimated the size of Boris’ majority. It seems that Boris might need to crack out the whips very soon, as many of the rebels were senior Tory members and former cabinet ministers, many of whom are not the sort of MPs one expects to fall out of line.
By Paige Wilson