The Briefing Room

Work and Pensions Secretary, Amber Rudd, this week announced that the next stage of the Universal Credit roll-out is to be scaled back amid concerns about the controversial new benefits system. So what were the origins of the Universal Credit policy and can its flaws be fixed? CONTRIBUTORS Roy Sainsbury - Professor of Social Policy at the University of York Baroness Philippa Stroud - former govern...

In October, the IPCC, the UN body that reports on climate change, issued a stark warning. It said that if the world wanted to avoid catastrophic environmental damage, we needed to reduce carbon emissions by almost half in the next 12 years. So what needs to be done now if that target is to be reached? What's the position in China, the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide? And how important is...

Theresa May has been back in Brussels to attend a meeting of EU leaders, a day after surviving a leadership challenge at home. Her mission: to try to extract some form of concession from the other 27 EU member states that might persuade MPs in Westminster to support the withdrawal agreement the UK has concluded with the EU. Few commentators give her much chance of success. It still seems likely th...

In France a wave of protests has brought the country to a standstill in recent weeks. The original cause of the anger - the government's plan to raise the rate of tax on diesel - has now disappeared. President Macron responded this week to the mood in the country by withdrawing the tax, due to be introduced next year. The question now is whether that will temper the anger of the Gilets Jaunes, the...

Theresa May is urging her MPs to accept the deal she has struck with Brussels on the UK's withdrawal from the EU. The trouble is that few in Westminster believe this is a vote she can win and Brussels has said no further negotiations are possible. With the vote due on December the 11th the Prime Minister has less than two weeks to get MPs to change their minds. If Parliament does reject the deal,...

Is Brazil embracing a more conservative political future? In the wake of economic crisis, corruption scandals and rising levels of violent crime, Brazilians are shunning the left wing politicians who have run the country for the last two decades in favour of a right wing outsider: Jair Bolsonaro. In the first round of Brazil's presidential election, Bolsonaro won 46 per cent of the vote and appear...

Air pollution is creating big problems. Scientists say it is a leading cause of climate change, which will be the subject of a major report to be released next week by the IPCC, a UN body that is studying the issue. Another problem is damage to health. Scientists believe that air pollution harms the quality of our lives, and shortens them too. So how bad is the air in the UK? And what can be done...

At its annual conference in Liverpool this week, the Labour party set out plans to nationalise a large range of industries that previous governments had sold off. The industries it wants to bring back into public ownership include water, rail, energy and the Royal Mail. But how would Labour’s ideas work? And what would the process be for implementing them? David Aaronovitch and his guests discuss....

How could a new referendum on Britain's relationship with Europe work? As pressure mounts on Theresa May to seal an agreement on Brexit, there are growing calls for a further referendum on the issue. From across the political spectrum, MPs, trade unions and campaigners are demanding another vote on the terms of the deal, or lack of one. In the Briefing Room, David Aaronovitch examines the mechanic...

The Tories are split, Labour is split and some people think it just can’t go on. Once more there is serious talk about the formation of a new political party. This has been tried before and recent history seems to say that the odds of success are not good. But what about now? Have the prospects changed? What might a new party look like this time? And what chance of success would it have? CONTRIBUT...

November's midterm elections in the US are the first chance for voters across the country to pass judgement on President Trump's administration since the 2016 election. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs and a third of the Senate. If the Democrats win control of the House, they would not only be in a position to halt President's Trump's legislative agenda; they would al...

The prime minister, Theresa May bemoaned the state of the housing sector in a speech earlier this year. She said the national housing crisis was one of the biggest barriers to social mobility in Britain today. She acknowledged that property prices have put home ownership out of reach for millions of people. And she pointed the finger at the failure to build enough of the right homes, as she put it...

Greece exited its bailout programme last week. It's the culmination of nine years of reliance on huge loans from international finance bodies and stringent budget cuts. Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras, heralded it as a day of liberation. In the course of the country's economic crisis, youth unemployment rose to nearly 50 per cent and 40 per cent of the working age population was left at risk o...

This week Turkey's currency plummeted to its lowest level ever against the US dollar. The lira's steady descent this year was accelerated by the imposition of increased tariffs on steel and aluminium by the United States. President Trump, it seems, is personally angered by the continued detention in Turkey of an American pastor, who's been held for nearly two years on suspicion of spying. The curr...

This month exam results are published, and millions of young people will be hoping that they will do well enough to get into their chosen university. But students don't only need good grades to succeed - they also need money. Ever since the expansion of higher education in the late 20th century, the way we pay for universities and their students has been through many changes. But now, the system i...

In May, what was billed as the biggest ever overhaul of train timetables led to widespread rail disruption - why has this new timetable caused such rail chaos this summer? Since then, passengers travelling on the services of two rail franchises - Govia Thameslink and Northern - have suffered weeks of cancellations and delays. The overhaul was aimed at improving punctuality and boosting capacity, b...

Imran Khan has claimed victory in Pakistan's election - but what will he be able to change? Khan is better known internationally for his exploits on the cricket field than in the political arena. On the surface his ascent to power represents significant change. Politics in Pakistan has been dominated for decades by two families: one, of Nawaz Sharif, the last man to be elected prime minister, the...

Dominic Raab, the recently appointed Brexit Secretary has been in Brussels this week - his first visit since replacing David Davis, who resigned after the cabinet had apparently agreed on a document that represented a UK proposal for its future relationship with Brussels. The Chequers document was the basis for the White Paper presented by the government last week, but the White Paper was undermin...

Should NATO plan for a future without the United States? President Trump has long complained that some European members of the organisation have been getting a free ride from the USA after failing to meet their commitment to spend two per cent of their national income on defence. At the NATO meeting on Wednesday he raised the ante, saying he wanted the two per cent to be raised to four per cent. T...

What will Britain's relationship with the EU look like after Brexit? On Friday the cabinet meets in Chequers and the Prime Minister needs to unite her ministers to coalesce around a single approach to negotiations with the EU. What might that approach look like? Is the so-called Norway option back on the table? What would that mean and how might it work? Contributors Catherine Barnard - Professor...

How well equipped is Britain today to defend itself both at home and overseas? Britain's armed forces are struggling to maintain numbers. According to the National Audit Office there is a shortfall of more than 8,000 among military personnel and there is a significant shortage of personnel with skills in critical areas. The Army is at its lowest level since the days it was preparing to confront Na...

Does the new Italian government really pose a danger for the Eurozone and the European Union? There has been much to-ing and fro-ing in Rome this week as the two parties which finished up ahead in Italy's election in March have tried to persuade the president to approve their coalition government. The parties are unlikely populist allies: the anti- establishment Five Star Movement and The League,...

One year into his presidency, can Emmanuel Macron succeed in reforming France where his predecessors have failed? The Briefing Room visits Paris to find out what President Macron stands for and whether his reforms are likely to take root. Does En Marche - the political movement which helped President Macron get elected - have what it takes to change the face of French politics. David Aaronovitch i...

Why do we get through so many Home Secretaries? It may be one of the great offices of state, but many British politicians regard the job of Home Secretary with dread. As one former holder of the post put it "there grew a view that the Home Office was a graveyard for politicians". After the resignation of its latest incumbent, Amber Rudd, what is it about the Home Office that makes it such a challe...

Some 8 million tons of plastic end up in the oceans every year, where it can be lethal to marine life. Governments and businesses have vowed to take action to curb it. But Just how serious is the problem of plastic waste, and what can be done to tackle it? David Aaronovitch is joined by: Susan Freinkel, author of 'Plastic: A Toxic Love Story' Jan Piotrowski, environment correspondent for the Econo...