Politicshome

This week is the sixth and final episode in our series over Parliament’s summer recess, speaking to experts and looking at how Labour have performed in their first year in office in some of the big policy areas, and the biggest has been saved until last; the economy.Fixing the country’s finances was their number one priority when Keir Starmer came into office last year, promising to kickstart economic growth after a decade of stagnation and austerity, followed by post-pandemic inflation and the chaotic fallout from the Liz Truss ‘mini-Budget’.But after announcing there was a so-called £22billion ‘black hole’ in the country’s finances once she arrived in the Treasury, Rachel Reeves announced £40billion of tax increases in her first Budget as Chancellor, and despite saying it would be a ‘one off’, this year’s sluggish growth figures mean she finds herself in a similarly difficult position as she heads towards her second Budget this autumn.So joining host Alain Tolhurst to discuss how well the government has man

In the latest episode in a series over Parliament’s summer recess, speaking to experts looking at how Labour have performed in their first year in office, this week the focus is on the world of work, from employment rights, public sector pay, and the government’s relationship with trade unions.Host Alain Tolhurst is joined by Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, which represents 48 unions with a total of about 5.5 million members, to discuss how well Labour have done so far, having come into office promising an end to the strikes in a number of sectors, repairing the relationship with public services, as well as sweeping changes to workers rights.To sign up for our newsletters click herePresented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

In the fourth episode of a series over Parliament’s summer recess, speaking to experts and looking at how Labour have performed in their first year in office, host Alain Tolhurst is joined by not one but two brilliant guests to discuss probably the single most important policy area outside of the economy for this government; health.Labour has long staked its reputation as being the defenders of the NHS and made big promises ahead of last year’s election about fixing a broken system of healthcare in this country, but 12 months on, have they lived up to those pledges?Later in the episode Siva Anandaciva, director of policy at the King's Fund think tank, discusses the government’s new 10-year plan to reform the health service, and how Wes Streeting is faring as health secretary, but first up in Dame Jennifer Dixon, the chief executive of the Health Foundation charity, to assess Labour’s overall performance on health and social care so far.To sign up for our newsletters click herePresented by Alain Tolhurst,

The latest in a series over Parliament’s summer recess, looking at how Labour have performed in their first year in office, this episode features Chris Skidmore, the former Conservative MP, who as Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth, signed the UK's Net Zero pledge into law in 2019.Later asked to chair a review of the government's net-zero strategy, he resigned from the Commons in January last year over the introduction of the government's Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill, calling it "the greatest mistake" of Rishi Sunak's premiership, and he now chairs the Climate Action Coalition launched by former US Secretary of State John Kerry.He spoke to host Alain Tolhurst about how Labour have got on with the country’s climate commitments and its progress on Net Zero, what he makes of GB Energy, whatever happened to the party's promise of £28 billion of green Investment, and where the Tory party finds itself on all of these issues.To sign up for our newsletters click herePrese

In the second episode of a series over Parliament’s summer recess looking at how Labour have performed in their first year in office, this week's guest on The Rundown is Sarah Owen, Labour MP for Luton North and the chair of the Commons select committee on women and equalities.Speaking to host Alain Tolhurst, she discusses how this government is doing on its manifesto commitments to tackle racial injustice and gender inequality, improve the lives of the disabled and to protect trans people and other marginalised communities, as well as the role of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission.To sign up for our newsletters click herePresented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

With Parliament now into its summer recess, The Rundown is going to spend the next few weeks assessing how the Labour government is performing after a year in office in a number of key areas, with the help of some top experts and those with experience of having facing the same problems staring back at Keir Starmer and his Cabinet.Starting this week with the subject of social mobility, and that most key of all questions we ask of those in power; have you made our lives better? And have those barriers to success been removed?To discuss if Labour are on the right track so far, and her own party’s record in this area, host Alain Tolhurst is joined by someone who has made social mobility the focal point of her political and business career, the former Conservative education secretary Justine Greening.To sign up for our newsletters click herePresented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

This week marks nine years since Theresa May entered Downing Street, after David Cameron’s resignation the morning after the EU referendum, but while Brexit was the reason she became Prime Minister, ultimately it was the thing that ended her premiership too, after she was unable to get a deal through Parliament.Consequently most look back on her tenure as a failure, but looking back now while her three years in Number 10 were undoubtedly some of the most chaotic in recent memory, they might also be some of the most consequential, with events and legislation taking place that still impact our politics now, despite the vast stream of history that has thundered through in the years since she left office.So joining host Alain Tolhurst to take another look at what Theresa May’s time as PM achieved, and what the current Downing Street incumbent Keir Starmer can learn about dealing with a difficult inheritance and global headwinds while also trying to get your own agenda implemented, I’m delighted to be joined by Ba

With this week’s state visit to Britain by Emmanuel Macron, we’re looking at the state of UK-Franco relations, and how important a new ‘entente cordiale’ is to Keir Starmer as he deals with political problems both home and abroad.Joining host Alain Tolhurst to discuss why the French president is open to a rapprochement after a pretty frosty few years post-Brexit, what both sides have been able to agree on, and what still divides them, are Sir Peter Westmacott, a former UK ambassador to France, as well as Ben Lake, Plaid Cymru MP and chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on France.Alongside them are Francois-Joseph Schichan, director at Flint Global and former career diplomat in the French diplomatic service, Adam Plowright, ex-deputy editor-in-chief for Europe at Agence France Presse and a biographer of Emmanuel Macron, and Matilda Martin, reporter at PoliticsHome.To sign up for our newsletters click herePresented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

This weekend marks 12 months since last year’s General Election, when Labour were swept to power with an enormous landslide victory ending 14 long years in opposition, but it seems unlikely they will be hanging the bunting outside Number 10 after a very tough first year in office for Keir Starmer.To discuss just how bad things have got, and how Labour might solve their problems, PoliticsHome have again partnered with the pollsters Thinks Insight & Strategy, who have taken the nation’s temperature this week, and with host Alain Tolhurst to discuss the results of their voter survey is their CEO Ben Shimshon, along with two Labour MPs elected for the first time last summer, Rachel Blake, the member for Cities of London and Westminster, and Julia Buckley, the MP for Shrewsbury.To sign up for our newsletters click herePresented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

This week we’re taking a look at what life is like not for politicians themselves, but for their spouses, asking what does a life in the Westminster spotlight do to relationships, what their role is, and the often unfair way they are portrayed in the public eye.Someone who knows more about this than most is the journalist Sarah Vine, who for many years was married to Michael Gove as he served in the Cabinets of multiple Prime Ministers, giving her a front row seat to the many machinations of the modern Tory party.She has written a new book called ‘How Not to be a Political Wife’, charting her difficult upbringing to entering the so-called Notting Hill set as David Cameron become Conservative leader, through to her falling out with his wife Samantha, as the couples fell on either side of the Brexit divide, and her surprisingly amicable divorce.Host Alain Tolhurst and producer Nick went to visit Sarah at her home in West London this week to chat at her kitchen table about unrealistic expectations, what she’d le

This week host Alain Tolhurst is joined by Zack Polanski, Green Party deputy leader, as the podcast takes a look at the forgotten winners of last year’s general election, as despite unprecedented success in winning 1.8 million votes and quadrupling their number of MPs to 4, the Greens finds themselves at something of a crossroads.They are joined by Sophie Stowers, research manager at the think tank More in Common, and Sophie Church, reporter at our sister title The House magazine, about how the party builds on that success, what can it do to remain part of the national conversation, champion its progressive causes under the banner of eco populism, and Polanski's bid to become their new leader.To sign up for our newsletters click hereRead Sophie's piece about the Green Party click herePresented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

While this week Rachel Reeves set out her plans on how and where Labour is set to spend money for much of the rest of this Parliament, the question now is do they have a plan for how they’re going to deliver on their priorities, and succeed in completing Keir Starmer’s missions for government?Joining host Alain Tolhurst to discuss the vexed issue of actually delivering in office what you came in to do is Michelle Clement, lecturer in government studies at the Strand Group at King’s College London, who has just published a new book ‘The Art of Delivery: The Inside Story of How the Blair Government Transformed Britain’s Public Services’ which goes inside the work of Michael Barber, who was put in charge of Tony Blair’s delivery unit in 2001.Alongside them are Charlotte Pickles, director of the Re:State think tank and a former special adviser to Iain Duncan Smith, Alexander Iosad, director of Government Innovation at Tony Blair Institute, and John McTernan, former Political Secretary to Tony Blair and a governme

With Rachel Reeves still finalising her comprehensive spending review next Wednesday, this week we’re looking at how the process works, going inside the battles between the Treasury and Whitehall departments on spending plans for the coming years, with John Glen, conservative MP and a former Treasury minister, Sonia Khan, a special adviser to Philip Hammond during his time as Chancellor, join host Alain Tolhurst alongside Bee Boileau, research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and Tom Pope, deputy chief economist at the Institute for Government.They reflect on how useful spending reviews are for creating economic policy, take a look back at previous reviews and see what can be learned ahead of the Chancellor’s big speech, and what it will say about this government’s priorities over the course of the Parliament, while later in the episode Brandon Lewis, who was a minister in multiple departments under four different prime ministers, describes his experience of the spending review process.To sign u

As disquiet brews within Labour over cuts to welfare, and a perceived failure to pursue a progressive enough agenda, this week host Alain Tolhurst looks inside the governing party as a host of new caucuses and organised campaign groups have sprung up, and asking - who are the new tribes within Labour Who is behind them, what are their aims, and how dangerous could they be to Keir Starmer’s leadership, as he faces his first major rebellion since winning office with a huge majority last year.On the panel to explain everything from the Labour Growth Group, the coastals and rural MPs, the Co-Operatives, Christian socialists, Blue Labour and a host of others are three of the finest Labour party Kremlinologists in Westminster; Sienna Rogers, deputy editor of our sister publication The House magazine and a former editor of the LabourList website, as well as Morgan Jones, journalist and another former editor of LabourList, along with Stephen Bush, associate editor of The Financial Times.To sign up for our newsletters

With this month marking 15 years since the signing of the historic Conservative - Liberal Democrat coalition agreement, and given the fractured five-party politics of 2025, what can be learned from five chaotic days in 2010, that led to five years of surprisingly stable government?To discuss how it all came together, and what stopped it from falling apart, host Alain Tolhurst is joined by one of the people who helped negotiate the historic deal between the Tories and the Lib Dems, along with two members of the House of Lords, who in their past lives were at the heart of that 2010-2015 government, as well as a professor who quite literally wrote the book on the coalition.David Laws was the Lib Dem MP for Yeovil from 2001 to 2015, and was part of his party’s team that thrashed out an agreement after the general election gave no party a majority to govern, and Baroness Kate Fall, who began working for David Cameron after he became leader, worked as deputy chief of staff inside Number 10 when he entered Downing S

This week the podcast looks at another of those knotty, seemingly intractable issues sat on Labour’s in-tray when they entered government last year; namely social care.To look at how successive administrations have failed to grasp the nettle and deal with the rising costs of a sector that has ballooned in size to deal with our ageing population, host Alain Tolhurst is joined on the panel by Paulette Hamilton, Labour MP and the acting chair of the health and social care select committee, as well as Joe Robertson, Tory MP for the Isle of Wight who also sits on the select committee.Alongside them are Lucinda Allen, policy fellow in social care at The Health Foundation, and Will Dalton, national officer for care at the GMB union, to discuss Andrew Dilnot’s infamous unimplemented review, Theresa May’s election-losing dementia tax, and what Keir Starmer’s government is doing to take on the care crisis.They argue whether the latest review is another exercise in kicking the can down the road, and what impact this wee

This week the podcast takes a look at the government's plans to try and fix the UK’s rental market, with soaring rents, terrifying competition, no fault evictions, poorly maintained properties and huge supply pressures trapping an increasingly large cohort of tenants in a system that means they may never own their own homes.To discuss the Renters Rights Bill and how it will look to solve some of these issues, host Alain Tolhurst is joined by Joe Powell, Labour MP for Kensington and Bayswater, who sits on the housing select committee, as well as Roisin Lanigan, journalist and author, whose debut novel ‘I Want to Go Home But I’m Already There’ has been billed as a “gothic novel for generation rent”.Alongside them is Tom Darling, director of the Renters' Reform Coalition, a group of 21 housing organisations campaigning for stronger renters' rights , Charlie Trew, head of policy at the charity Shelter, and Chris Norris, director of policy and campaigns at the National Residential Landlords Association.To sign up

This week the panel is discussing whether the government can avoid a pensions crisis? As most analysts think the UK’s retirement industry is at a tipping point, needing bold and meaningful - if politically unpopular - reforms, Guy Opperman, the former Tory MP who was the UK’s longest-serving pensions minister from 2017 to 2022, joins host Alain Tolhurst to discuss how ministers can ease the financial burden of the current state pension, while making sure younger workers will still have enough savings to retire comfortably. Alongside them is Lord David Willetts, president of the Resolution Foundation think tank, and Jonathan Cribb, associate director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and there is a chat with Baroness Ros Altmann, another former pensions minister, about the overall health of the sector, and what the government’s priorities should be.To sign up for our newsletters click herePresented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

With much of England set to go to the polls next week we’re previewing a crucial set of local elections, with more than 1,600 council seats up for grabs, as well as six mayoral contests and a high-profile Parliamentary by-election in Runcorn and Helsby.On the panel is Jonathan Ashworth, chief executive of the think tank Labour Together and a former shadow cabinet minister, Max Wilkinson, Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham and his party’s culture spokesman, as well as Scarlett Maguire, pollster and founder of Merlin Strategies, and Jack Sellers, a former Conservative special adviser who worked for Rishi Sunak in Number 10.They talk to host Alain Tolhurst about the government’s potential electoral struggles, Reform’s high hopes, whether the Tories will take another pasting, and why nobody is talking up the Lib Dems.To sign up for our newsletters click herePresented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

With the Commons in recess the pod heads down the pub for another episode looking at the UK’s hospitality industry and the struggles it continues to face - with a host of global headwinds and domestic policy contributing to a bleak outlook for the sector in 2025. Joining host Alain Tolhurst for a pint in The Westminster Arms, a stones throw from Parliament, is Conservative MP Richard Holden, vice chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Pubs and the Shadow Paymaster General, Morgan Schondelmeier, policy manager on tax and trade at the British Beer and Pub Association, Ellie Hudspith, campaigns manager for CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, Steve Alton, CEO of the British Institute of Innkeeping, and Jonny Garrett, chair of the British Guild of Beer Writers and co-host of the Craft Beer Channel. They discuss what the government can do to help this crucial part of the economy, that not only contributes £54 billion in tax receipts, £20 billion in exports, and is the third largest employer in the UK - but als