John Denham

Labour has promised a ‘Take Back Control Bill’ in the first King's Speech. Aimed at England, it must bring to life Keir Starmer’s promise of a ‘whole new way of governing’. But what sort of Bill? Will it entrench a fundamental and…

On another St George’s Day, England’s government is creeping onto the agenda. It is not English identity that is driving change, but the awareness that England is simply so badly governed. Inequality within and between regions is…

Twenty years on, Labour’s discussion of the Iraq War is curious and worrying in equal measure. The disaster often seems to have been absorbed into a wider factional politics in which positions on the war are more likely to be shaped by…

As Labour consults the public about the distribution of power, the real debate must be whether the Brown commission goes anywhere near far enough. As Adam Lent has warned, Labour will fail if it clings to the current centralisation of power…

England is the most centralised and unequal nation in Europe. Power is hoarded at the centre in Westminster and Whitehall, creating a huge barrier to any government wanting to deliver radical social and economic change. The strains inside…

The combination of Boris Johnson’s remarkable, entirely self-inflicted political disasters and a revitalised opposition frontbench have brought about a possibility seemingly unthinkable a few months ago: Labour might actually do well enough…

Labour launched its policy review ‘‘Stronger Together: A Better Future for Britain’ – our roadmap to bring Britain together and deliver a fairer, more secure future” last month. Little has been heard of it since. So, perhaps there is time…

Setting out his plans for a constitutional commission, Keir Starmer said: “Of course, a project of this scale and this urgency should be initiated by the UK government." Last weekend’s media were full of speculation that Boris Johnson will…

Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething recently pointed out a startling statistic: if Wales had had the same excess death rate as England, it would have seen 1,600 more deaths; and if England had had the same excess deaths rates as Wales, it…

As we all gear up for an election, party strategists should recognise a key group of English voters. These voters think England has interests that are different to the rest of the UK; they want parties to stand up for English interests and…

Fighting an English election The local elections set for May 2019 are particularly important to Labour because the party can only gain a healthy parliamentary majority if it wins in these English towns and coastal areas. More than that…