David Lammy’s jury lay-offs aren’t swift justice – they’re a sellout The justice secretary says he is not going as far as plans leaked last week to abolish almost all jury trials, but why is he trying to restrict the right to trial by jury at all, asks Jo... See more
Rachel Reeves is misleading people about her Budget choices – and Starmer could fall with her Both chancellor and prime minister repeatedly fail to think and plan ahead, writes John Rentoul – not least in their choice of using the ‘l-word’, which has come... See more
Has Bridget Phillipson’s schools budget been trashed to pay for special needs? The Office for Budget Responsibility says mainstream school spending will fall as the bill for SEND rises – the education secretary says this is ‘misleading’. John Rentoul adju... See more
New immigration and asylum numbers point in different directions The numbers claiming refugee status have increased while net immigration is down. John Rentoul tries to make sense of the figures Comments Net immigration fell to 204,000 in the year to June... See more
This cowardly Budget marks the death of New Labour At a stroke the chancellor has junked the sensible principles that made New Labour great and buried them beneath an eye-watering bill for welfare that has set the party back decades, writes John Rentoul C... See more