The Foreign Affairs Committee has written to Sir Olly Robbins, former Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, to request he give evidence next Tuesday (21 April) on the vetting of Lord Mandelson.
Following recent reporting by The Guardian exposing Lord Mandelson’s failure to pass developed vetting and the decision of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to overrule this, Sir Olly resigned as Permanent-Under Secretary at the FCDO.
Correspondence: Foreign Affairs Committee Chair to Sir Olly Robbins
“For more than four decades, miners and their families have been forced to live with unanswered questions. Today, I am formally launching the Orgreave Inquiry to uncover the truth of what happened.
“I pay tribute to the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign, the National Union of Mineworkers, and all those who campaigned so tirelessly to reach this moment” – SHABANA MAHMOOD, HOME SECRETARY
ORGREAVE TRUTH and JUSTICE CAMPAIGN STATEMENT:
We are pleased that the Government is finally launching the start of the Orgreave Inquiry after their inquiry announcement last July 2025.
While we are disappointed that it has taken so long for the Home Office to come to this stage, we are relieved that work will now begin to establish the truth about the Tory government involvement and police conduct at Orgreave on 18th June 1984 during the 1984/5 miners’ strike.
The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign and supporters have worked hard over many years for an Orgreave Inquiry and it has been a long and difficult journey.
Our determination and tenacity has however received much support from many individuals, organisations and the Labour and Trade Union movement, whose wonderful solidarity has made it possible to continue and be able to come this far.
This is a statutory inquiry, with the Terms of Reference and panel membership established by the government. We have however tried our best to influence the process to ensure this does not become a police-led inquiry but one shaped by the miners and their experiences.
This 42nd anniversary year of the miners’ strike reminds us that we must never forget the importance of that great strike to defend an industry, jobs, trade unions and communities and the fight for all our futures.
We are indebted to the striking miners and their families for their dedication and sacrifice to that year-long struggle that changed all our lives forever.
The 1980s Tory cabinet of Margaret Thatcher, Leon Brittan, Nigel Lawson, Norman Tebbit and others, along with their secret “Misc 101” Committee, planned to destroy the British coal industry and organised labour, the National Union of Mineworkers, its leaders Arthur Scargill, Peter Heathfield and Mick McGahey and the British labour and Trade Union movement.
Kevin Horne, striking miner arrested at Orgreave on 18th June 1984 said: “We know that the Tory Government of the 1980s was directly involved in the miners’ strike while professing ‘non-involvement’.
“The Tory Ridley plan of the 1970s exposes how far they were prepared to go and the 1980s Tory Government put vast amounts of public resources into the implementation of this plan. This was state sponsored organisation against the miners and our livelihoods.
“The Tory’s own archives confirm Parliament and the public were knowingly lied to but their involvement in the strike and the policing of it has never been publicly acknowledged.”
John Dunn, striking miner assaulted by the police and arrested on a Derbyshire picket line said: “The mass media colluded with the Tories by lying in their headlines and reports about what was really happening, or not reporting it at all. Their collaboration in these government and police lies and coverups continues to this day, demonising and vilifying strikers and protesters.
“The raw footage that the many media companies and photographers have of police attacking miners at Orgreave and other footage of police violence and harassment throughout the strike must be handed over to this inquiry.
“The injustice faced by us miners and our communities has never been acknowledged by the state and instead they and the media have lied and covered it up. The right to strike and the right to protest should be a fundamental human right”
Kate Flannery, Secretary of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign said: “We need answers about the systemic violent and lying behaviour of the police. We need to know about plans of how police officers on the ground were briefed and how that briefing came about.
“We need government and police papers releasing that have been embargoed until 2066 and 2071. The police have recently still been destroying vital evidence needed for this inquiry.
“This is of great public interest and concern and is about a government who actively worked against its own population and handed the police paramilitary powers and destroyed an industry in the process.”
Chris Peace, Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign activist said: “Orgreave marked a turning point in the policing of public protest. With no accountability of policing at Orgreave, a message was sent to the police that they could employ violence and tell lies with impunity.
“This set a culture for violent militarised police to run riot throughout mining communities and villages all over Britain. It also enabled a culture for the police to maintain many lies and cover ups in 1989 at Hillsborough. The Hillsborough campaigners are still fighting for justice to this day”
Chris Hockney, Chair of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign said: “It is important that due to the age and health of many miners we quickly secure a public acknowledgement of why and what the state did to the miners and our communities.
“We have to have hope that an inquiry of full disclosure should influence the future behaviour of the state and public officials and that the inquiry panel and resources committed to this inquiry will establish truth and justice.”
The campaign will be encouraging as many people as possible to come forward with information to submit to the inquiry once more details about how people can contribute has been revealed by the Chair and inquiry team.
New measures to strengthen appointment and vetting processes following Mandelson revelations
National Security Vetting process to be reviewed following Peter Mandelson case
Ethics and Integrity Commission tasked with tightening financial disclosures, lobbying and business appointment rules
Further reforms build on ambitious programme of standards and ethics reform
The Westminster Government has ordered an overhaul of standards in Whitehall to boost ethics and integrity in political and public life following the Peter Mandelson case.
Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones confirmed the work builds on the significant action this Government has already taken to deliver reforms to standards and ethics.
However, the Mandelson case has also shown more needs to be done and raised further questions about how the direct ministerial appointment process, and wider operation of government, can be strengthened.
The Government will continue to go further to strengthen standards in public life, including by looking again at how ministers and senior officials declare and publish their financial interests, how transparency around lobbying is enforced, and whether the rules on post‑employment activity are fit for purpose in preventing unfair access to, or influence within, government.
The Prime Minister has written to the Ethics and Integrity Commission, asking them to review current arrangements relating to financial disclosures for ministers and senior officials, transparency around lobbying and the Business Appointment Rules. The Government will swiftly respond to any recommendations to bolster standards in public life.
Alongside this, the Government will review the National Security Vetting system, including lessons learned from Peter Mandelson’s developed vetting.
The Government has already confirmed that, in future, diplomatic appointments will not be announced until security vetting has been completed.
To drive this work forward, Baroness Anderson, Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office, has been appointed to work on standards policy and to deliver the Government’s agenda on ethical standards and constitutional affairs.
Ministers have asked the Lords Conduct Committee to review the Code of Conduct to consider what changes are required to ensure peers can be removed when they have brought the House into disrepute. Ministers are also exploring whether the Committee can tighten rules on lobbying and paid advocacy to bring the Lords in line with the Commons.
In parallel, the Government has also committed to bringing forward legislation to remove peerages from disgraced peers as soon as possible. This work will build on progress to reform the second chamber, such as the upcoming removal of hereditary peers from the House of Lords.
These further steps add to the action the Government has already taken to raise standards — including publishing a new Ministerial Code, establishing the Ethics and Integrity Commission, strengthening the powers of the Independent Adviser, and reforming the business appointments system.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is supporting the strengthening of the due diligence and security vetting processes for politically appointed Heads of Mission. This includes introducing individual due diligence-specific interviews with proposed candidates and ensuring politically appointed Ambassadors will have to undergo security vetting before they are appointed.
The government is also looking at assurance processes for high-profile Direct Ministerial Appointments across government, ensuring there are robust measures in place with further details on this work to be set out in due course.
The Government recognises that the Mandelson case has raised serious concerns about standards and inflicted real damage on people’s trust in politics. While the specifics of that case are now a matter for the police, it has exposed the gaps in whether the systems designed to uphold integrity are strong enough.
Taken together, these measures show this Government’s determination to address the issues raised and uphold integrity in public life by strengthening the rules, improving transparency, and restoring confidence in how government operates.
New Hillsborough report: summary of findings of IOPC and Operation Resolve investigations published
A report published yesterday sets out a summary of the wide-ranging investigations conducted by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) and Operation Resolve into the role of the police in the Hillsborough disaster and its aftermath.
Our findings reinforce, and build upon, those of the Hillsborough Independent Panel (HIP) Report published in 2012.
Both investigations supported the Goldring Inquests—providing more than a million pages of documentation and hundreds of hours of audio-visual footage—which determined in 2016 that all those who died were unlawfully killed.
The investigations again found no evidence to support police accounts that the behaviour of supporters caused or was a contributing factor to the disaster.
We found South Yorkshire Police (SYP) fundamentally failed in its planning for the match, in its response as the disaster unfolded and in how it dealt with traumatised supporters and families searching for their loved ones.
There is considerable evidence of the defensive approach adopted by SYP to the investigations and inquiries that followed, as it attempted to deflect the blame. This included allegations about the behaviour of supporters, which have been repeatedly disproven.
For the first time, we examined the actions of West Midlands Police (WMP), which had been tasked with investigating the disaster and supporting the Taylor Inquiry. We found this investigation to be wholly unsatisfactory and too narrow. We also found evidence to indicate that the actions of two senior WMP officers were biased in favour of SYP.
Speaking about the new report, IOPC Deputy Director General Kathie Cashell said: “I would like to thank everyone who supported our investigations by sharing their very personal accounts of what happened in 1989 and the years that followed, and to pay tribute to the courage they have shown in revisiting those events.
“The 97 people who were unlawfully killed, their families, survivors of the disaster and all those so deeply affected, have been repeatedly let down—before, during and after the horrific events of that day.
“First by the deep complacency of South Yorkshire Police in its preparation for the match, followed by its fundamental failure to grip the disaster as it unfolded, and then through the force’s concerted efforts to deflect the blame onto the Liverpool supporters, which caused enormous distress to bereaved families and survivors for nearly four decades.
“They were let down again by the inexplicably narrow investigation into the disaster conducted by West Midlands Police, which was a missed opportunity to bring these failings to light much sooner.
“What they have had to endure over more than 36 years is a source of national shame.”
We carried out 161 separate investigations into 352 complaints and conduct matters. More than 100 of the complaints related to the actions of senior officers at SYP and WMP, who were integral to either the policing of the match or involved in the aftermath of the disaster.
Our findings include that:
the SYP Chief Constable at the time, would have had a case to answer for gross misconduct, had he still been serving, for his part in attempting to minimise culpability and deflect blame for the disaster away from SYP and towards Liverpool supporters
nine other SYP officers would have had a case to answer for gross misconduct, if still serving, for their role in preparing for and policing the match, their handling of the response to the disaster as it unfolded or their part in the defensive response and attempts to deflect the blame
a WMP assistant chief constable and detective chief superintendent would have had cases to answer for gross misconduct, had they still been serving, in relation to their roles leading the investigation into the disaster, including for alleged bias towards police and against supporters
92 complaints about police actions have been upheld or individuals would have had a case to answer relating to the planning and preparation of the match, the investigation by WMP into the actions of SYP, what officers said in the aftermath of the disaster and officers’ behaviour towards families and survivors
327 statements from officers were found to have been amended, over 100 more than had previously been uncovered, as part of a defensive approach SYP adopted to control the evidence submitted to the Taylor Inquiry and WMP
Where we have not been able to uphold a complaint or give an opinion that an officer would have a case to answer, the outcomes do not seek to challenge the accounts of those who complained.
Where evidence was missing, contradictory or otherwise incomplete, we were unable to meet the necessary legal requirements to uphold complaints or justify an opinion that an individual would have had a case to answer for misconduct.
Ms Cashell continued: “Today’s publication is the culmination of lengthy processes, including the longest inquests in English legal history and a number of criminal trials, which our investigations supported.
“As I have expressed to those closely affected, this process has taken too long—those who campaigned for so many years deserve better.
“It is important to remember that the forces we investigated are different to the ones they are today. Policing has seen many changes since 1989 and now, thanks to the tireless campaign of the families and survivors, the Public Office Accountability Bill will introduce a legal duty of candour for all public officials.
“I hope this report serves as a timely reminder of what happens when organisations focus on protecting their reputation rather than admitting their mistakes and acting to put things right.
“If a legal duty of candour had existed in 1989, it could have helped ensure that all relevant evidence was shared fully and promptly.
“The families of those who were unlawfully killed would have experienced a far less traumatic fight for answers about what happened to their loved ones. Had that duty existed, our investigations may not have been necessary at all.”
Women who say they weren’t given fair notice about a rise in State Pension age will NOT receive compensation, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall confirmed yesterday.
Angela Madden, chairwoman of Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) said: “The Government has made an unprecedented political choice to ignore the clear recommendations of an independent watchdog which ordered ministers urgently to compensate Waspi women nine months ago.
Waspi campaigner Jan Fulster told BBC Breakfast she feels feels “very let down” by the government. “We’d expected that the government would do the decent thing,” she said.
She adds she was shocked by the decision not to pay compensation because many senior Labour figures had been supportive of the Waspi campaign while in opposition.
“It just feels as if it’s all been a lie,” she says.
WASPI’s response to the Minister’s statement:
“The Government has today made an unprecedented political choice to ignore the clear recommendations of an independent watchdog which ordered ministers urgently to compensate WASPI women nine months ago.
“This is a bizarre and totally unjustified move which will leave everyone asking what the point of an ombudsman is if ministers can simply ignore their decisions. It feels like a decision that would make the likes of Boris Johnson and Donald Trump blush.
“The idea that an ‘action plan’ to avoid such mistakes in future should be the result of a six-year Ombudsman’s investigation is an insult both to the women and to the PHSO process.
“An overwhelming majority of MPs back WASPI’s calls for fair compensation and all options remain on the table.
“Parliament must now seek an alternative mechanism to force this issue on to the order paper so justice can be done.”
UNITE General Secretary Sharon Graham, said: “@GOVUK’s decision not to compensate the @WASPI_Campaign women despite the Ombudsmen’s recommendations is a disgrace.
“Ministers are making the wrong choices – they need to turn back now because voters will not forgive them.”
Labour MP John McDonnell said yesterday: “I am not in Parliament today as I have the flu that’s going round & I am just feeling too ill but having heard of the government’s rejection of any compensation for the Waspi women I believe they will consider this to be a betrayal & I doubt if they will just go away quietly.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivered a speech in the Downing Street garden today on fixing the foundations of our country
When I stood on the steps of Downing Street – just over there – two months ago. I promised this government would serve people like you.
Apprentices. Teachers. Nurses. Small business owners. Firefighters. Those serving our community and our country every day.
I promised that we would get a grip on the problems we face. And that we would be judged by our actions, not by our words.
I said before the election – and I say it again really clearly today: Growth.
And, frankly, by that I do mean wealth creation…
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is the number one priority of this government.
That’s why, in our first few weeks, we set up the National Wealth Fund –
because we want every person and every community to benefit.
It’s why we’ve unlocked planning decisions –
Because we are going to build 1.5 million new homes.
It’s why we’ve set up Great British Energy –
To create good jobs and cut people’s bills.
And it’s why we ended the national strikes that have crippled our country for years.
Because I defy anyone to tell me that you can grow the economy…
when people can’t get to work – because the transport system is broken.
Or can’t return to work – because they’re stuck on an NHS waiting list.
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And these are just the first steps towards the change that people voted for.
The change I’m determined to deliver.
But before the election I also gave a warning.
I said change would not happen overnight.
When there is deep rot in the heart of a structure, you can’t just cover it up.
You can’t tinker with it or rely on quick fixes.
You have to overhaul the entire thing.
Tackle it at root.
Even if it’s harder work and takes more time.
Because otherwise what happens?
The rot returns.
In all the same places.
And it spreads.
Worse than before.
You know that – I know that.
That’s why this project has always been about fixing the foundations of this country.
But I have to be honest with you. Things are worse than we ever imagined.
In the first few weeks, we discovered a £22 billion black hole in the public finances.
And before anyone says ‘oh this is just performative’.
Or ‘playing politics’.
Let’s remember.
The OBR did not know about this.
They didn’t know.
They wrote a letter saying they didn’t know.
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Even just last Wednesday, we found out that
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We borrowed almost £5 billion more than the OBR expected in the last three months alone.
That’s not performative – that’s fact.
But as well as the things we’ve discovered, we’ve also seen shocking scenes across the nation.
A mindless minority of thugs – who thought they could get away with causing chaos.
Smashing up communities and terrifying minorities.
Vandalising and destroying people’s property.
Even trying to set fire to a building – with human beings inside it.
And as if that wasn’t despicable enough.
People displaying swastika tattoos.
Shouting racist slurs on our streets.
Nazi salutes at the cenotaph –
The cenotaph – the very place we honour those who gave their lives for this country.
Desecrating their memory….
Under the pretence – and it is a pretence – of ‘legitimate protest’.
Now they’re learning that crime has consequences.
That I won’t tolerate a break down in law and order under any circumstances.
And I will not listen to those who exploit grieving families, and disrespect local communities.
But these riots didn’t happen in a vacuum. They exposed the state of our country. Revealed a deeply unhealthy society. The cracks in our foundation laid bare –
Weakened by a decade of division and decline.
Infected by a spiral of populism…
Which fed off cycles of failures
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Stuck in the rut of the politics of performance.
And I saw the beginning of that downward spiral firsthand.
Back in 2011.
When riots ripped through London and across the country.
I was then Director of Public Prosecutions.
And when I think back to that time.
I see just how far we have fallen.
Because responding to those riots was hard – of course it was.
But dealing with the riots this summer was much harder.
In 2011, I didn’t doubt the courts could do what they needed to do.
This time – to be honest with you – I genuinely didn’t know.
Let me tell you this. Every day of that disorder – literally every day – we had to check the precise number of prison places we had and where those places were.
To make sure we could arrest, charge and prosecute people quickly.
Not having enough prison places is about as fundamental a failure as you can get.
And those people throwing rocks, torching cars, making threats.
They didn’t just know the system was broken.
They were betting on it.
Gaming it.
They thought – ‘ah, they’ll never arrest me.
And if they do, I won’t be prosecuted.
And if I am, I won’t get much of a sentence.’
They saw the cracks in our society after 14 years of populism and failure – and they exploited them.
That’s what we have inherited.
Not just an economic black hole.
A societal black hole.
And that’s we have to take action and do things differently.
And part of that is being honest with people – about the choices we face. And How tough this will be. And frankly – things will get worse before they get better.
I didn’t want to release prisoners early.
I was Chief Prosecutor for five years.
It goes against the grain of everything I’ve ever done.
But to be blunt – if we hadn’t taken that difficult decision immediately.
We wouldn’t have been able to respond to the riots as we did.
And if we don’t take tough action across the board. We won’t be able to fix the foundations of the country as we need.
I didn’t want to means test the Winter Fuel Payment. But it was a choice we had to make.
A choice to protect the most vulnerable pensioners. while doing what is necessary to repair the public finances.
Because pensioners also rely on a functioning NHS.
Good public transport.
Strong national infrastructure.
They want their children to be able to buy homes.
They want their grandchildren to get a good education.
So we have made that difficult decision –
To mend the public finances.
So everyone benefits in the long term –
Including pensioners.
Now that is a difficult trade off.
And there will be more to come.
I won’t shy away from making unpopular decisions now…
If it’s the right thing for the country in the long term.
That’s what a government of service means.
This shouldn’t be a country where people fear walking down their street.
Their TVs showing cars and buildings being set on fire.
This shouldn’t be a country where the Prime Minister can’t guarantee prison places.
This shouldn’t be a country where people are paying thousands more on their mortgage.
Or waiting months for hospital appointments they desperately need.
Where our waters are filled with sewage.
Where parents worry that their kids won’t get the opportunities they did.
Where nothing seems to work anymore.
So, when I talk about the inheritance the last government left us…
The £22 billion black hole in our finances…
This isn’t about a line on a graph.
That’s about people’s lives.
Your lives.
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This government won’t always be perfect, but I promise you this:
You will be at the heart of it…
In the forefront of our minds…
At the centre of everything we do.
That’s why I wanted to invite you here today.
To show that decent, hard-working people who make up the backbone of this country belong here.
This government is for you.
A garden and a building that were once used for lockdown parties…
Remember the pictures just over there? With the wine and the food.
Well this garden…
And this building…
are now back in your service.
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Those things happened precisely because the government itself lost its focus.
on the hopes and ambitions of working people.
During those recent riots, I made huge asks…
of the police and of the criminal justice system –
People already stretched to the limit.
They knew I was making big asks of them.
And I’m not going to apologise for it.
But let me tell you this – they delivered.
They deserve our gratitude.
And that’s why I went to Southport…
To Lambeth…
To Belfast…
To thank them personally. To shake the hands of the first responders who rose up to the ask I made of them.
They deserve a government that trusts them.
Supports them.
And works with them.
That is the sort of government we will be.
One that works with people, not does things to them.
One that believes in hard graft, not gimmicks.
Honest about the challenges we face…
And working tirelessly to fix them.
That is how we will always work.
Now, next week, parliament returns. The business of politics will resume. But it won’t be business as usual.
Because we can’t go on like this anymore. Things will have to be done differently.
We will do the hard work to root out 14 years of rot. Reverse a decade of decline. And fix the foundations.
Between now and Christmas, we will carry on as we have started. Action not words.
We will introduce legislation and take decisions to protect taxpayers’ money.
To take on the blockers by accelerating planning. to build homes and boost growth.
We’ll move forward this autumn with harnessing the full potential of AI for growth and the public good.
We’ll bring rail service into public ownership, putting passengers first.
The biggest levelling up of workers’ rights in a generation to give people security, dignity and respect at work.
And Great British Energy will be owned by the taxpayer, making money for the taxpayer. Producing clean energy and creating good jobs.
That is our focus for the rest of the year.
But I will be honest with you. There’s a budget coming in October. and it’s going to be painful.
We have no other choice given the situation that we’re in. So those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heavier burden. And that’s why we’re cracking down on non-doms.
Those who made the mess should have to do their bit to clean it up. That’s why we’re strengthening the powers of the water regulator and backing tough fines on water companies that have let sewage flood our rivers, lakes and seas.
But just as when I responded to the riots – I’ll have to turn to the country and make big asks of you as well.
To accept short term pain for long term good.
The difficult trade-off for the genuine solution.
And I know that after all that you’ve been through – that is a really big ask and really difficult to hear.
That is not the position we should be in. It’s not the position I want to be in. But we have to end the politics of the easy answer that solves nothing.
But I also know that we can get through this together.
Because the riots didn’t just betray the sickness. They also revealed the cure.
Found not in the cynical conflict of populism. But in the coming together of a country.
The people who got together the morning after. All around the country. With their brooms, their shovels, their trowels. And cleared up their community.
They reminded us who we really are.
I felt real pride in those people who cleaned up the streets.
Rebuilt the walls. Repaired the damage.
And I couldn’t help thinking about the obvious parallels.
Because imagine the pride we will feel as a nation.
When, after the hard work of clearing up the mess is done.
We have a country that we have built together.
Built to last.
That belongs to every single one of us.
And all of us have a stake in it.
Our hard work rewarded – a dozen times over.
Because we’ll have an economy that works for everyone.
An NHS not just back on its feet, but fit for the future.
Streets that everyone feels safe in.
No longer dependent on foreign dictators…because we’re producing our own clean energy right here.
And giving every child – wherever they come from. Whatever their background.The chance – to go as far as their talent will take them.
I won’t lose sight of that prize. I won’t lose sight of what we were elected to do.
And most importantly – I won’t lose sight of the people that we were elected to do it for.
Change of public mood creates challenge for the next government
The results of the latest British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey, published yesterday by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), reveal that there have been significant changes in the public mood since the last election in 2019.
As a result, the next government, whatever its partisan colour, will find itself with many policy and political challenges ahead.
Much of the change in the public mood has been occasioned by the fallout from the pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war, including the impact on inequality, the health service, Brexit, and immigration.
At the same time, the experience of the last few years has served to undermine confidence in the country’s system of government.
Inequality, cost of living, and housing
Debates about inequality during the pandemic have seemingly created a public that is now more concerned about the level of poverty. At the same time, more people say they are ‘struggling’ on their current income.
73% now believe there is ‘a great deal’ of poverty in Britain, up from 68% in 2019.
70% say that their income has failed to keep up with prices over the last twelve months.
26% say they are ‘struggling’ on their current income, compared with 17% in 2020.
However, the experience of living at home more during lockdown may explain why fewer people now support more houses being built in their neighbourhood, despite the difficulty that many currently have in finding affordable accommodation.
41% support more houses being built in their local area, down from 57% in 2018.
The NHS and tax and spend
The post-pandemic growth in NHS waiting times have resulted in record levels of dissatisfaction with the health service. The same is true of social care, which also came under great pressure during the pandemic.
The proportion dissatisfied with the NHS is, at 52%, slightly more than double what it was in 2019 (25%).
As many as 57% are dissatisfied with the provision of social care, up 20 points on 2019 (37%).
Even though taxation is now at a record high, at present, at least, many people still seem to regard the state of the NHS as a more pressing problem than the level of taxes.
46% say that, if forced to choose, the government should increase taxes and spend more on ‘health, education and social benefits’.
This is down somewhat on the 53% who expressed that view in 2019, but is still well above the 31% figure recorded in 2010 at the end of the last period of Labour government.
Brexit and immigration
Record levels of immigration since the pandemic have reversed a previous trend towards more liberal attitudes towards immigration. Together with doubts about the economic benefits of Brexit, they have also resulted in a change of attitudes to the EU.
In 2019, 47% said that migrants who come to Britain are good for the economy. This edged up further to 50% in 2021 but, in the most recent reading, this has fallen back to 39%.
45% said in 2019 that migrants enrich Britain’s cultural life, while 48% did so in 2021. Now the figure is 38%.
In 2019, 51% thought that the economy would be worse off as a result of leaving the EU. Now 71% believe the economy is worse off as a result of Brexit.
Faced with a range of options for Britain’s relationship with the EU, in 2016, 41% said that Britain should be outside the EU, as did 36% in 2019. Now the figure stands at 24%.
Supporters and opponents of Brexit continue to have different political preferences. 45% of supporters think of themselves as a Conservative, while 49% of opponents identify as a Labour supporter.
Trust and confidence in government
Between them, these policy concerns, together with the political instability of the last couple of years, have undermined levels of trust and confidence in how Britain is governed, a change that has occasioned increased support for constitutional reform.
As many as 45% ‘almost never trust governments of any particular party to place the needs of the nation above the interests of their own political party’, up from 34% in 2019 and a record high.
After falling from 79% in 2019 to 61% the following year, once again 79% believe the present system of governing Britain is in need of ‘quite a lot’ or ‘a great deal’ of improvement.
A record high of 53% now say we should change the Commons voting system ‘to allow smaller parties to get a fairer share of MPs’. 60% of Labour supporters take this view, whereas 73% of Conservative supporters believe we should keep the current system ‘to produce effective government’.
A record low of 45% believe that England should be governed as now from Westminster rather than have regional assemblies (26%) or an English Parliament (23%).
Gillian Prior, Interim Chief Executive at the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), says: “The last four years of parliament have left their imprint on public opinion.
“From the NHS to immigration, from inequality to tax and spend, people’s attitudes have been affected by the experience of a pandemic, a cost of living crisis, and political turmoil.
“The period has left them asking themselves just how well they are being governed. Irrespective of its partisan colour, the next government will have much to do if it is to meet people’s concerns about the many difficulties they feel the country has been facing.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson admits guilt at last – but serial liar refuses to resign
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak have both been fined by the Metropolitan Police for breaching Covid regulations.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the following statement yesterday:
Today I have received a fixed penalty notice from the Metropolitan Police relating to an event in Downing Street on 19th June 2020, and let me say immediately that I have paid the fine and I once again offer a full apology.
And in a spirit of openness and humility, I want to be completely clear about what happened on that date.
My day began shortly after 7am, and I chaired eight meetings in No10, including the Cabinet Committee deciding Covid strategy, I visited a school in Hemel Hempstead, which took me out of Downing Street for over four hours.
And amongst all these engagements, on a day that happened to be my birthday, there was a brief gathering in the Cabinet Room shortly after 2pm, lasting for less than 10 minutes, during which people I work with kindly passed on their good wishes.
And I have to say in all frankness, at the time, it did not occur to me that this might have been a breach of the rules.
But of course the police have found otherwise and I fully respect the outcome of their investigation.
I understand the anger that many will feel that I myself fell short when it came to observing the very rules which the Government I lead had introduced to protect the public, and I accept in all sincerity that people had a right to expect better.
Now I feel an even greater sense of obligation to deliver on the priorities of the British people:
strengthening our economy,
creating jobs and opportunities,
levelling up the whole United Kingdom,
now, of course, ensuring that Putin fails in Ukraine, and easing the burden imposed on hard-working families caused by higher energy prices.
I will take forward that task with due humility, but with maximum determination to fulfil my duty and do what is best for the country I serve.
Whether this short statement, which addresses transgressions commited on just ONE day during lockdown, will be enough to save his political life is now in the hands of Conservative MPs, and Conservative MPs alone.
If it was left to the people of the country to decide Johnson’s fate – those millions of people who stuck to the Covid rules imposed by this government – there can be little doubt Johnson would be finished.
The Prime Minister said it himself: people had a right to expect better.If he had a scintilla of honour, Johnson would resign without delay.
