After 14 years of increasingly incompetent and fractious Conservative government, the Labour Party under Keir Starmer seems to have got a remarkably firm grip on the beginning of the effort to deal with the mountain of problems facing the country today.
Starmer himself has travelled around the United Kingdom, from Westminster to Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, seeking to rebuild at least a modicum of trust between the central government and the devolved administrations around the United Kingdom.
He has brought elected mayors from around England – Labour and Conservative – into his tent and enlisted their support for the efforts pioneered by the new chancellor, Rachel Reeves, to recharge economic growth.
His government has set out to deal rapidly with the appalling crisis of overcrowding in our prisons, left behind by the Conservatives. The health secretary, Wes Streeting, is attempting to improve industrial relations in the health service so that it can get on with the job of reducing the waiting lists for even serious treatment.
Abroad, the new foreign and defence secretaries are busy restoring relations with our partners in Europe. Starmer himself has been in Washington for a Nato summit, pledging more support for Ukraine, and preparing for a meeting in Britain on security and foreign policy with the other European democracies.
And what of the Conservative Party? The earthquake of the recent election handed out what is probably its worst-ever defeat. It lost votes across the board to Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Nigel Farage’s Reform party. There was a spectacular cull of ministers left, right and centre, good and bad. Long-serving MPs watched majorities which had seemed impregnable reduced to handfuls of votes, or even wiped out altogether.
Denne historien er fra July 16, 2024-utgaven av The Independent.
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Denne historien er fra July 16, 2024-utgaven av The Independent.
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Carse justifies England faith as the archetypal bold pick
If you won a boxing match after your opponent continually punched themselves in the face, how much credit can you take?
Tenacious Diallo the key to Amorim pressing machine
Old Trafford has not seen anything like this before.
Gold King Cole packs the Bridge with merry old souls
In the 83rd minute, the ball rolled to the feet of Cole Palmer in a bubble of space outside Aston Villa's box, and the crowd snapped to attention.
Vibrant Anfield marks the changing of the Guardiola
There was a lull in the noise, a break in the Anfield atmosphere, when a defiant chant emerged from a corner near Stefan Ortega’s goal.
What is so daunting about Spain's new data checks?
Q You have written about the new “red tape” for visitors to Spain. So, as well as your usual passport details you will give a contact number, address and email. Not exactly the Spanish Inquisition, is it?
Sectarian clashes claim at least 130 lives in Pakistan
At least 130 people were killed in deadly sectarian clashes in Pakistan's northwestern Kurram district in spite of a tentative ceasefire, days after gunmen opened fire on a convoy of vehicles carrying Shia Muslims, local officials said.
Coalition government likely in Ireland as count proceeds
Fianna Fail say decisions on power-sharing for another day’
How Syria's forgotten war is back on the world's agenda
Many believed the country was lost in an unsolvable conflict, until everything changed in a matter of days, writes Bel Trew
Assad regime scrambles to halt Syrian rebels’ advance
Civilians reportedly killed by Russian and Syrian airstrikes
Mother of poisoning victim says she knew she would die
Lawyer Simone White succumbed to the effects of methanol while backpacking in Laos with two of her childhood friends
