Forget the implosions across the Atlanic and Reform psychodramas - it's time to deliver for our children
Plus: The latest from The Lead North team, Hannah Fearn on Farage's baby boom plans, our latest ReformWatch + The Lead Digest of good reads and listens
While Musk and Trump tear strips off each other, and the Reform party sees yet another public meltdown from its most senior members - it would be all too easy to forget that there was actually some good news for struggling families this week.
While Zia Yusuf's resignation over the pathetic Burka ban question shows yet again how his former party is more concerned with stirring the undertones, and now overt tones, of racism than dealing with the real issues Britain faces today, and Trump and Musk’s d*ck-waving contest shows no signs of slowing down, it's tempting to be drawn into the ludicrous and vaguely entertaining political psychodramas on either side of the Atlantic.
But all these very public meltdowns do is distract from the real purpose and mission of government, and opposition parties, and that is helping people to get on and do something with their lives.
This week, the government announced that half a million more children will be eligible for free school meals. From September next year, any child whose parents receive Universal Credit will be able to claim free meals – regardless of their household income.
The plans, Labour say, will lift 100,000 children out of poverty, and save parents £500 a year. We can’t see a downside. Tangible, efficiently implemented policies like this one are exactly what working parents desperately need right now. With many families struggling for so long with the burden of raising children amid a brutal cost of living crisis, it looks like politicians are finally starting to listen.
“It is the moral mission of this government to tackle the stain of child poverty, and today this government takes a giant step towards ending it,” education secretary Bridget Phillipson said on Thursday.
Before his attention was diverted by internal party struggles, Nigel Farage was doing his best to tap into the anxieties of struggling parents, with his pledge to make it easier for couples to have more children. But, unsurprisingly, his promises were distinctly lacking in substance (Hannah Fearn wrote about why we’re not sold on Farage’s surface-level engagement with dwindling birth rates, which you can read below).
It’s both disingenuous and actively detrimental to encourage bigger families without a clear plan to tackle child poverty. Labour’s announcement isn’t a complete answer either. Increasing free school meals is not the silver bullet that will eradicate child poverty, and the Institute of Fiscal Studies has warned that the benefits of expansion may take years to be felt. But it’s a starting point, and bodes well for additional future measures that will make a real difference for parents. Phillipson confirmed this week that the government is now finally considering scrapping the two-child benefit cap, the arbitrary and politically nonsensical measure which prevents families from claiming benefits for any additional children born after April 2017.
4.5 million children in the UK are living in poverty. That’s 30 per cent of the most vulnerable members of society, and that figure is steadily rising. We will be keeping a close eye on the Chancellor’s spending review this Wednesday, but in the meantime we will be taking a moment to appreciate a small but positive step in the right direction.
And perhaps the multi-billionaires of the populist Trump and Reform regimes want to take a moment to reflect too on how for relatively modest sums in their war chests they could be making an actual difference to people’s lives, rather than the constant froth and bile they focus their energy on.■
A pub changing its name to reflect the rise of Reform might at first appear as a fun marketing gimmick.
But as we've revealed at The Lead there's more to what has been happening at The Talbot in Blackpool than a quick photo opportunity and raising a glass of John Smiths.
In this weekend's edition we're taking a moment to highlight some of the rigorous in-depth reporting we do at The Lead North, starting with the back-story behind the landlord of the UK's first Reform pub.
Co-owner Pete Flynn has a history of being declared as not fit to run a licensed premises. Yet his sky blue political masters seem more than happy to have their name plastered above the door - and potentially welcome his as a candidate for future elections.
As Michael Holmes reported for The Blackpool Lead, Mr Flynn defends his previous actions as 'heroic' despite being described as having a 'complete disregard for authorities'. You can see more of our watchfulness on Reform nationally too, with the ReformWatch feature later in this newsletter. [Link to it]
It's not just Reform we keep a close eye on, Leigh Jones at The Teesside Lead is the king of the Freedom of Information Request and he revealed this week how Tees Valley Combined Authority had sent staff to a property and development conference in Cannes, splurging £13,000 on travel and hotels, but not a single meeting had been held.
As Leigh reflects in the latest Teesside Lead edition, it makes you wonder if there's a good handle on how public money is being spent by Mayor Houchen.
And we're seeing our Lead North stories regularly picked up on by other media, although this can be a frustrating experience – when The S*n and the Mail plundered us revealing in The Southport Lead how Channel 4 had shelved an advertising campaign and apologised when it emerged they had been using Axel Rudakubana’s mugshot in social media adverts.
Southport MP Patrick Hurley expressed his upset, on behalf of the families, and the broadcaster acted. Jamie Lopez outlined in his latest edition how tough it is for independent titles, like ourselves, when stories are followed up and not credited.■
Unlike many of the Reform leader's obsessions – falling birth rates are real. But his solutions fail to engage with complexity of the issue, as Hannah Fearn explores:
The centre isn’t holding. As parties and policies drift further to the right, and radical talking points become manifesto pledges, The Lead is committed to keeping making sure the far right doesn’t go ignored. We plan to keep an eye on the movements of Reform UK – and we’ll be reporting back to you here, with our new ReformWatch section – appearing each week in our weekend edition.
We can’t really start anywhere else than the former Reform chairman and ‘election mastermind’ Zia Yusuf handing in his notice as the party imploded in a row over the question asked in the Commons over the Burka ban. We recommended this read from John Rentoul in The Independent as he picks apart what happened, when and what it means and there’s also a good piece from Chris Mason at the BBC if you keep hearing Zia’s name and wondering why it matters.
The now Reform-led Kent County Council has had seven out of 10 meetings put on hold while councillors find their feet. This includes some legally-required committee meetings such as the Governance and Audit committee which are essential to setting a budget and keeping finances in check. At the same time, Kent council has become the canary in the coalmine for Farage’s US-style DOGE copycat, the imaginatively named DOGLE [Department for Local Government Efficiency] which is meant to help reduce local government spending. It is, in fact, costing the council an extra £37,000 in Special Responsibility Allowance.
DOGLE has also been confirmed for Lancashire. Conservative group leader at County Hall, Andy Riggott has, however facetiously, welcomed the plan, in the hopes it will shine a light on the gulf between Reform’s rhetoric during the local elections and what they find and do once elected, as he told The Lancashire Lead this week. Progressive Lancashire leader Azhar Ali called it “undemocratic”. Labour’s Samara Barnes asked what the policy says about the level of trust Reform UK has in its local politicians.
Also in Lancashire, numerous councillors (from Reform as well as the Greens, Lib Dems, Conservatives and independents) have decided not to share information about property ownership in their register of interests. The effect of this is that the public now knows less about its representatives’ interests, while the apparent need for the decision also points to the increasing toxicity in politics. The Lancashire Lead asked for a formal statement detailing the reasoning for the decision – an apparent change from four years ago – but have yet to hear back. (Reminder: We’ll be closely following the new Reform administration in Lancashire with our dedicated title The Lancashire Lead. Make sure you subscribe to stay in the loop.)
Up in Scotland, Jamie McGuire – the Scottish Labour councillor for Renfrew and Braehead – has now defected to Reform. The 24-year-old is the first Labour councillor to do so, amid a surge of Tory defectors.
Get in touch on X, Bluesky and Instagram if you spot anything worth reporting.
The Lead Digest
An in-depth piece from the BBC explores Denmark’s left-wing Social Democrat Party’s hardline approach to immigration policy. It does a really good job of showing how political lines are becoming increasingly blurry. Read more.
Following The Lead's exposure of the ‘Reform pub’ in Blackpool as a Neonazi gig venue, The News Agents went to visit co-owner Nick Lowe for a short interview. Hilariously, the Leave voter complained that Farage and co hadn’t told the truth about Brexit. “If they’d explained everything about Brexit,” he said. “I’d probably have voted Remain!” Watch the full video.
With news of new investment in Liverpool-Manchester rail links (HS2 by another name, or at least some of it) the ever-optimistic James O'Malley explains why, in spite of everything, he still believes Britain needs to spend big on HS2. Read his full argument.
And finally. Remember the Honky-Tonk Man? No? He was one of the worst characters in the Golden Age of WWF wrestling, disliked by everyone but the boss. The Bulwark finds certain similarities between him and VP JD Vance. Give it a read.
Thank you for reading our weekend edition of The Lead, it’s great to have you with us.
If you enjoy receiving The Lead then consider becoming a paid subscriber to access additional, exclusive, content and support our mission to bring your insights and perspectives beyond the mainstream headlines on people, policy and place. Any story tips or things you think we should be covering then get in touch: natalie@thelead.uk.
Natalie, Luke, Ella, Ed, Zoe, and The Lead team