Politics Unpacked

Debating the UK's position in the EU: Matt Chorley is joined by Brussels Correspondent Bruno Waterfield, Columnist Melanie Phillips and the Times' Chief Political Correspondent Michael Savage. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Philip Aldrick:Global markets have been in meltdown but one man who may be smiling is the chancellor. Government borrowing costs have fallen to an all-time low, which make servicing the nation’s £1.5 trillion of debt cheaper. Over the next five years, Capital Economics estimates lower market interest rates and lower inflation will hand George Osborne a £20 billion windfall. He’s struggling to make the books balance through tax and spending policy. Instead, he’s getting a helping hand from the most unlikely of sources.Natasha Clark:The polls are all we have to try and figure out what's going to happen with the EU referendum. But the polls lately have been showing us drastically different answers; there have been 22 percentage points between some polls for results in support of Remain, and around 13 percentage points difference for Leave. Pollsters say that the phone and internet polling will show us different answers, possibly because people are more likely to want to say that they want to remain in... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Opinion podcast is now the Red Box Podcast from The Times. Columnist Robert Crampton, Media Editor Elizabeth Rigby and Deputy Political Editor Sam Coates joins host Matt Chorley.Robert Crampton:The Labour Party cannot achieve a coherent position on Trident while Jeremy Corbyn is leader. The moment he said he would never use the nuclear deterrent as a future PM was the moment Labour lost the next election. Party pragmatists should focus on toppling Corbyn, not cobbling together a futile compromise on Trident renewal. Elizabeth Rigby:Freedom of Information: Tony Blair [bitterly regretted] introducing FOI laws; Chris Grayling said FoI was being misused 'as a research tool to generate stories for the media' and now David Cameron is carrying out a review with one intention – to limit access to government information. Entirely antipathetic to voters’ demands for more openness not less, the backlash has been swift, ferocious and near universal. Will Cameron abandon the fight? Probably and so he... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Matt Chorley is joined by Chief Leader writer Giles Whittell and columnists Jenni Russell and Phil Collins. Giles Whittell:Hillary Clinton is going to be the next president of the United States. Of course a lot of people are going to spend a lot of time analysing this [Tuesday] morning's Iowa caucus results, but the facts are these: Trump and Cruz are unelectable in a national race. Only one mainstream Republican has a chance of squeezing past them. That is Marco Rubio. He has already torpedoed his image with Latinos by betraying them on immigration reform. Bernie Sanders is a socialist. Hillary beats Bernie, and then beats whoever the GOP puts up. Simple.Jenni Russell:Is David Cameron simply the luckiest prime minister ever, or is there an element of skill in his performance which we rarely credit? He beat the SNP and crushed the LibDems. Now Labour is distracted and divided and even the Eurosceptic threat is evaporating as they are consumed by vicious internal fights. With no coherent... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matt Chorley is joined by Assistant Editor Anne Ashworth and columnists Giles Coren and David Aaronovitch. Anne Ashworth:Pension tax reliefs for the higher-paid have already been reduced and more cuts are coming. The justification for this reform is fairness: the higher-paid have had it too good. But if you make company pension scheme membership less attractive to executives, this make it less likely that they will support these schemes - which will hurt the less well-off. This is just another Treasury tax grab, disguised as redistribution. Giles Coren:A survey commissioned by the Labour party has revealed that, "A disproportionate number of members who have joined since the 2015 general election are ‘high-status city dwellers’ pursuing well-paid jobs”. Most of them are from North London. So Corbyn and McDonnell rode to power on a crest of people exactly like me, except with the politics of Rik out of the Young Ones. One Labour MP has suggested that, "Members with properties valued at over a... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's panel we have columnist Rachel Sylvester on the rise of Russia (in Labour), political reporter Callum Jones on Labour’s obsession with Twitter and columnist Matthew Parris on why an Oxford college might be right to tear down a statue of Cecil Rhodes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Opinion podcast is back with a brand new host. Red Box editor Matt Chorley is joined by panelists Hugo Rifkind, Oliver Kamm and Lucy Fisher. Hugo Rifkind:The Tories are sleepwalking into disaster on the EU. For David Cameron, with ministers freely campaigning on both sides, if he loses, he loses, and if he wins, he still loses. Cameron has asked his government to remain civil on Europe, which is a thing no Conservative ever has been before. And what happens after the vote, to those on the losing side? Will they really still have a future?Oliver Kamm:The transformation of Labour from a party of government to an irrelevant sect continues apace. The lack of respect, let alone support, for Jeremy Corbyn among Labour MPs is palpable but still worse is the incredibility of the leadership’s views. On economic policy and defence, Corbyn & John McDonnell are far out of line with the position of the party both historically and in its current stance. Electoral retribution is guaranteed and extinction... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Philip Webster is joined by Robbie Millen, Philip Aldrick and Patrick Kidd in this 2016 preview special.Robbie Millen:In or Out? Leave or Remain? I have all sorts of firm views about relatively trivial issues yet on the greatest issue facing Britain I flip flop around in the no-man’s land of the undecided voter. I don’t want to be a “don’t know” that’s why I’m looking forward to the EU referendum and the debate it ought to provoke. Philip Aldrick:Interest rates will finally go up - but we will have to wait until after the Brexit referendum, which the ins will win. Perversely, those rates will increase into a slowing economy. The chancellor will tighten the screw with more tax rises in the march budget. House prices will come off the boil. And there will be a small financial crisis in emerging markets that everyone will panic about before it blows over.Patrick Kidd:Next year one of the main political parties will change its leader, but it's more likely to be David Cameron going than Jeremy... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Philip Webster is joined by Ann Treneman, Stewart Wood and Daniel Finkelstein in this end-of-year special as each panelists picks a topic to debate from the past year.Ann Treneman:It's been a terrible year for getting it wrong. The Westminster Bubble called the election wrong, the Labour leadership wrong and it still can't quite believe what's happened in Scotland. But, just say, that Jeremy Corbyn is right and that he will increase Labour's vote, as happened in Oldham. Is Britain heading towards an American situation where half of the electorate passionately believe one thing, and the other half passionately believe the other? Is the Bubble capable of acknowledging that politics has changed, possibly if not forever, then for the time being?Stewart Wood:2015 was the year when politics changed fundamentally in Britain. It saw the rise & further rise of politics outside the traditional Westminster cartel – from the social movement that underpinned a triumphant SNP to the Corbynista movement that... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Philip Webster is joined by Rachel Sylvester, Libby Purves and Hugo Rifkind. Rachel Sylvester:David Cameron once said his Party had to stop banging on about Europe but now the rest of premiership is going to be defined by a referendum on Britain's relationship with the EU. The polls are narrowing and ministers who wants to stay in are increasingly worried that people will vote to leave. The essay crisis prime minister got the grades he needed in the referendums on AV and Scotland, and the general election but is complacency going to make him fail the biggest test?Libby Purves:The fear of ‘radicalization’ into actual violence is reasonable; so is public political correctness, which is basically just politeness. But they’re leading us too far down a dangerous path. Hate-speech laws haven’t helped. We need to accept that as long as you don’t incite or perform violence or discrimination, you can believe what you like, and insult other people’s behaviour and beliefs. That's a British value... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.