TUC president and POA leader STEVE GILLAN speaks to Ben Chacko on the eve of Congress 2026
THE race to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister has descended into a grotesque lurch to the right, with Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak trying their utmost to outdo each other with ever-more divisive, nonsensical and damaging policies.
The two Tory leadership contenders have both outlined tax cuts that would further enrich the wealthy at a time of immense inequality and hardship, and have rolled out Thatcherite union-bashing policies which are so draconian that they prompted threats of a general strike from union leaders.
Yet perhaps most concerning is the concerted “war on woke” that has come to define this race-to-the bottom leadership contest.
Italians reject controversial judiciary reforms in a referendum that boosts the left, reports NICK WRIGHT
DIANE ABBOTT warns that Shabana Mahmood’s draconian asylum proposals fuel racist scapegoating and risk demoralising Labour’s base – potentially paving the way for Farage to No 10
CLAUDIA WEBBE argues that Labour gains nothing from its adoption of right-wing stances on immigration, and seems instead to be deliberately paving the way for the far right to become an established force in British politics, as it has already in Europe


