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Articles by Dawn Butler
Mayors are out of control
Tom Brake is chief executive of Unlock Democracy Last month’s Budget granted England’s mayors more power over the money their regions raise. The question is, will the public be any more in control than when Whitehall was in charge? The Chancellor announced £285 million for new Good Growth funds and areas preparing for devolution, alongside a £1.5 billion borrowing facility for mayoral authorities.
Reform slumps into third place behind the Tories in another poll
Reform UK has placed third in another poll of UK voting intentions, in a further blow to Nigel Farage. Reform UK has fallen into third place behind the Tories in a YouGov poll for Sky and The Times published today. The survey puts the hard right party on 20%, seven points behind Andy Burnham’s Labour and one point behind the Tories.
Barnsley workers go on strike after Reform council privatises 6 nurseries
Nursery workers in Barnsley have gone on strike over plans by the Reform UK-led council to transfer six nurseries to private providers. So much for Reform being the party of ‘working people’, Farage’s party has decided to privatise the nurseries, which will damage services for vulnerable children and leave staff with worse pensions.
Reform UK Scotland’s deputy leader accused of fuelling Islamophobia over claim he finds burqas ‘extremely intimidating’
Reform UK Scotland’s deputy leader Thomas Kerr has been accused of fuelling Islamophobia and misogyny after saying he finds women in burkas “extremely intimidating”. Speaking to The National, chief executive of Muslim women’s charity Amina, Marian Ahmed, has condemned Kerr’s comments, accusing him of deliberately singling out Muslim women.
Dawn Butler MP: It’s Time the Law Caught Up With AI
Dawn Butler is MP for Brent East and Chair of the London Parliamentary Labour Party Artificial intelligence is advancing at extraordinary speed. It offers enormous opportunities, from medical breakthroughs to scientific discoveries that could transform our lives. But we cannot allow ourselves to be so caught up in the possibilities that we lose sight of the real risks. I am clear that as AI rapidly develops, protecting our digital rights must be our priority.
Royal financial privileges show that we are not in it together
This week, after perfunctory scrutiny, the UK parliament approved a core Sovereign Grant of £99.9m (from 2027/28) for the King, a 93% increase from the £51.8m for 2024/25 and 65% higher in real terms than in 2016/17. The increase will take place against a background where the average real wage has hardly moved since 2008. Some 13.4m people, including 4m children, live in poverty. 25.3m people, including 14.9m working adults and 7.7m children, live below minimum income standard.
Fabian’s column: Burnham’s vision for mayors needs an accompanyng vision for councils
At Labour conference, we heard more of the Prime Minister’s vision for the country with mayors at its heart. Burnham has a clear concept of place, seeking to drive growth in every postcode and end Britain’s stark regional imbalances. It builds on his speech in Manchester on good growth and devolution before he became prime minister, and the groundbreaking ‘rewiring the state’ cabinet statement after. But Burnham’s vision for mayors demands an accompanying vision for councils too.
Jamie Stone MP explains how to spot a quality politician
Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, Shrivenham. This is where the UK’s future defence leaders are trained up. You want to become a General, an Air Marshal, or an Admiral? Well it simply is not going to happen unless you pass a gruelling training session here. It’s not for the faint hearted. So here I was, before the last General Election, with a number of MPs gathered around a big table at Shrivenham as the ‘scenario’ was explained to us – a deuced ticklish one.
How Andy Burnham can fund defence spending without cutting welfare
The first duty of any government is to keep the country secure and its citizens safe. And right now, you would be hard pushed to find anybody who didn’t think more money should be spent on doing just that. Under the last Tory government defence spending was slashed by 22% between 2010 and 2017 before it began to tick upward again, both as a percentage of GDP and in real terms.
This is how the Chancellor can increase the personal allowance and lift millions out of hardship
Prem Sikka is an Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the University of Essex and the University of Sheffield, a Labour member of the House of Lords, and Contributing Editor at Left Foot Forward. Chancellor John Healey is set to present his first budget. Like his recent predecessors, he wants to see sustained economic growth which has remained elusive. The UK economy grew by an annual average of 3% between 1993 and 2007.
Reform drop to third place in latest poll in blow for Farage
Nigel Farage’s woes are continuing as Reform continue to slide in the polls, with the latest finding that his party has now dropped to third place behind Labour and the Tories. The poll, carried out by More in Common, found that support for Reform has dropped to 22%, its joint-lowest in 18 months. That puts them behind the Tories who are on 23%, and 4 points behind Labour who are on 26%. Meanwhile, the Lib Dems are on 11%, with the Greens on 8% and Restore Britain on 6%.
Think tank linked to Reform UK calls for abolition of state pension
The Centre for a Better Britain, a think tank linked to Reform UK, has released a new report which calls for the state pension to be scrapped and for several key taxes to be abolished. The think tank has said that the state pension, which everyone receives as long as they have paid national insurance contributions, should be replaced with an income and asset-based system. This means people’s retirement income would come more from their savings than from government spending.
Restore Britain campaigners chased out of Camden by locals
Supporters of the far-right Restore Britain were chased out of Camden by anti-racism activists as they tried to campaign for the upcoming Holborn and St Pancraas by-election. Around 15 supporters of Rupert Lowe’s party had gathered near Camden Town tube station on Saturday morning to campaign for Restore Britain’s candidate ahead of a by-election which is taking place following the resignation of former Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Dawn Butler MP: As AI develops at an eye-watering pace and abuse increases, we need a digital bill of rights
Dawn Butler is the Labour Party MP for Brent East Abuse on the social media platform X has taken an even darker turn lately. Users began exploiting its AI tool, Grok, to create sexually explicit “nudified” images of women without consent after users posted innocent photographs. This vile trend exposed just how fragile human protections are, especially in the social media world, in an age of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence.
Dawn Butler: ‘The far-right is getting organised. And so are we’
WE ARE now in the fight of our lives. The hard truth is this: the far-right is getting organised across Britain, its threat is bigger than ever before, and it risks tearing our country apart. The far-right may mean different things to different people but ultimately it is the politics of oppression, ethnic cleansing, nationalism anti-immigrant sentiments, welfare chauvinism, fascism, racism, all the hallmarks of what we are being fed. The voices of division are getting louder.
Black history is British history — Chartist Original
Black History Month is a time to honour the struggles and incredible achievements of those who came before us — but this year, we did so against a troubling backdrop. In September, over 100,000 people marched through London in a rally led by Tommy Robinson.
Dawn Butler MP: Why Sarah Pochin’s apology doesn’t cut it Original
I was shocked by Reform MP Sarah Pochin’s recent comments, in which she complained about adverts being “full of black people, full of Asian people.” For her to say “it drives me mad” makes me think she reacts with anger every time she sees a Black or Brown face on television. She said the adverts “don’t reflect our society,” and “your average white person, average white family” is not “represented anymore.” Such a bizarre and false claim is dangerous coming from a Member of Parliament.
Dawn Butler MP: To truly deliver on the promise of economic growth the government needs a proper plan for London
Dawn Butler is the Labour Party MP for Brent East Yesterday’s Spending Review was a long time coming. After years of chaos and economic instability under the Tories, the Chancellor has set out a long-term vision for how our country can grow, prosper and deliver on its potential over the next three years. Growth is at the heart of the Chancellor’s plan, and I welcome the investment in our NHS. This is in sharp contrast to the shopping list of unfunded commitments we saw from the previous government.
Dawn Butler MP: Social media companies abandoning the use of independent fact-checkers is a danger to society
This week, I read the very concerning news that Meta is abandoning the use of independent fact-checkers on Facebook and Instagram, replacing them with X-style “community notes”. This effectively means that the accuracy, misinformation and disinformation of posts will be left to users, instead of moderators. I was absolutely startled to see many of my worst fears play out in real time.
Dawn Butler MP: How I helped Labour Prevent Another Windrush Scandal
When a constituent approached me about their eVisa, which is an online record of immigration status, it served as a warning about a potential risk of a repeat of the Windrush scandal. It led me to fear that people with indefinite leave to remain in the UK would be refused re-entry after the 1st of January 2025.
What we need to learn from Donald Trump’s election victory
Dawn Butler is the Labour MP for Brent Central I am still in the early stages of processing the news of a Donald Trump victory in the US election. I understand that there has been a spike in Google searches of ‘how can I reverse my vote’. The thing is, that is democracy. We are very fond in the UK of saying the electorate is never wrong. I think that if the number of people who are seeking to reverse their vote is true then maybe misguided might be a better word to use in this situation.
Dawn Butler MP: We need more of Jacinda Ardern’s authenticity in British politics
'I know from my own experience that centring women is not easy to do.' Political tributes and commentary have been flooding in about Jacinda Ardern following her resignation – a woman who has undoubtedly been unafraid of being her authentic self and to lead on the world stage in her own style – compassionate, empathetic, intelligent, and principled. She hasn’t felt the need to emulate the macho, egocentric primarily male politicians that dominate the world stage.
Dawn Butler MP: Why Rishi Sunak is not the answer people so desperately need
Rishi Sunak, as a young student joyfully exclaiming that he has no working-class friends. What is wrong with the working class? Dawn Butler is the Labour MP for Brent Central Recently, I’ve been thinking long and hard about the video of our new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, as a young student joyfully exclaiming that he has no working-class friends. What is wrong with the working class?
Dawn Butler MP: There is nothing more aspirational than fighting alongside a trade union
'Trade unions are the aspirational vehicle for working class people. They are how workers organise to have a good rate of pay, good sick pay, a decent retirement, and a reasonable work-life balance.' Dawn Butler is the Labour MP for Brent Central The next time you hear a Conservative MP say they believe in aspiration, ask them why they don’t support the right to strike.
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