‘Protest is a precious democratic freedom – we should defend it’
Ongoing protests have been essential to achieving change. They're a democratic right and must be protected.
Lord Peter Hain
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‘Starmer and Reeves must break with Treasury orthodoxy to fund Britain’s security’
Europe faces its gravest threat since the Cold War. Britain needs £36bn more for defence — and only smart borrowing can deliver it.
‘Tory attacks on Labour green plans are desperate. They are vital for growth’
Comedian Jasper Carrott used to tell a great joke about the “awesome speed” of the lightweight three-wheeler car, the Reliant Robin, as it “hurtled downhill early each morning, slipstreaming a milk float”. A fair description of the UK…
How the Labour Party can transform its prospects, and those of the country
The Conservative leadership contest has shown the Tories' traditionally reckless and dishonest approach to the public finances. It began with a total focus on one thing only: tax cuts. Yet neither contender has been candid about the…
Liz Truss is giving us a fairy-tale retelling of the UK’s recent economic history
Like Sleeping Beauty newly awoken from her slumbers, Liz Truss is struggling to think straight as she wipes the sleep from her eyes. Memory is playing tricks on her; a fairy-tale recollection of the Thatcher years; amnesia over Labour’s…
Labour must reject any post-coronavirus return to austerity
With Britain having the worst Covid-19 death rate in Europe and one of the highest in the world, hundreds of billions are being thrown at dealing with its consequences. This week, Boris Johnson is promising a big infrastructure investment –…
Peter Hain: Shame on the Labour MPs who rejected the backstop
Every MP who voted for the Brady amendment last night to reject the Irish 'backstop' was playing games with the Irish peace process and should be ashamed of themselves. Their votes showed they either don’t understand the complexities of…
A winning economic programme for the future – Questions to leadership candidates on the economy
Below Peter Hain has written an open letter to Labour's leadership candidates Dear Colleagues, Comments by some Labour leadership contenders that the last Labour Government may have borrowed too much or even over-spent before the 2008…
Nelson Mandela and the Conservative Party – forgive, but never forget
‘Forgive,’ urged Nelson Mandela after the battle against apartheid triumphed, ‘but never forget’. He might have had in mind the British Conservative Party. In very recent times its leaders have joined the rest of the world in seeing Mandela…
A Royal Mail for the Public
“A single purpose company with no shareholders and that is run solely for the benefit of customers”. This to me sounds exactly like what a privatised Royal Mail should be. The sentence is taken from the website of Glas Cymru/ Welsh Water…
Pro Europe pro EU Budget squeeze
To be pro-European does not mean enabling the EU to escape spending cuts imposed by every member state on almost every public service. In truth Europe would be more popular with its citizens if it showed more willingness to tighten its belt…
Reforming the Labour Party
By Peter Hain Ed Miliband has set out his stall to change Labour and reach out to those who lost trust in us. As part of that process of change he has asked me to look at reforms to the Labour Party's structures. My test for change?: "Does…