Ruth Foster and Jamie Pow review this week’s political week in 5 points.

There is no Planet B

On Friday millions of people – mostly school students – took to the streets on a global strike for climate change. These strikes that took place in an estimated 150 countries, including Northern Ireland, are possibly the largest environmental protests in history.

Strikes took place across Northern Ireland, with the largest being in Belfast, where crowds gathered at Cornmarket before making their way down to City Hall where there were calls for more action to combat global warming. SDLP, Sinn Féin, Alliance and Green Party politicians and councillors were present at the rallies in Belfast and Derry, while the UUP and DUP allegedly did not reply to invitations to join the protestors. Instead the parties told the press that young people should be in school.

This was a sentiment shared by UK Energy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng, who said that he could not “endorse children leaving school” to take part in these protests. Organisers have estimated that across the UK, 200 events took place with 500 organisations and 1,000 companies supporting the strikes.

16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg is the leader behind this global movement, who began the weekly school strikes last year to demand more action from her government on climate change. In this past week Thunberg was in Washington DC, speaking before Congress and meeting with US lawmakers, telling the Senate climate task force that they are “not trying hard enough.”

Another march has been planned for 27 September to coincide with the United Nations Climate Action Summit, where world leaders will gather to discuss the 2015 Paris climate agreement.UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has acknowledged what he calls the “fantastic leadership” of young climate activists, as he calls on governments to take stronger action against what he calls a climate change “emergency.”

The UN Climate Change Summit will begin on Monday 23 September.

 

UK Supreme Court judges enter hot political climate

Normal business has been suspended in the UK Parliament since 10 September – not because MPs are on strike, but because Parliament is prorogued for five weeks. The government defended this unprecedented move on the grounds that it will facilitate a new legislative programme. This domestic agenda will be unveiled in a Queen’s Speech on 14 October – the conventional way of opening a new session of Parliament.

However, the timing and length of the prorogation leaves many questioning the government’s motives. Critics have accused Boris Johnson’s administration of trying to avoid parliamentary scrutiny ahead of the UK’s scheduled departure from the European Union on 31 October.

This week the matter ended up in the UK’s highest court – the Supreme Court. Its judges will rule on whether or not the current prorogation is lawful. “As we have heard (in oral hearings), it is not a simple question, and we will now carefully consider all the arguments that have been presented to us,” declared Lady Hale, president of the Court.

The case against the government is backed by former Prime Minister John Major. His lawyer noted the failure of the current Prime Minister to submit a witness statement to the Court. Indeed, the government’s own lawyer, Lord Keen, raised eyebrows by arguing that even if Boris Johnson lied about his reasons for proroguing Parliament, it was still the government’s right to do so.

Even among government ministers, there appears to be little attempt any more to deny the centrality of Brexit to prorogation that critics allege. Dominic Raab, now Foreign Secretary, offered a case in point on the BBC this morning:

A ruling is expected this week.

 

Temperatures rise in the Labour Party

The government has had a pretty miserable few weeks. Six votes lost in the Commons in six days. Multiple Cabinet resignations– including the Prime Minister’s own brother. Over 20 Conservative MPs expelled from the parliamentary party. Heckling on a weekly basis. And stark warnings that talks with the EU are “going backwards.”

So you would think that the Leader of the Opposition would be bouncing into his party conference with a spring in his step, unable to believe his luck. In reality, the Labour Party is kicking off its annual conference in Brighton in a state of crisis. Its National Executive Committee initially tabled a motion that would have abolished the position of Deputy Leader currently held by Tom Watson. After an uproar – including threats of a split – the motion was dropped. But it’s been enough to highlight stark divisions and mutual suspicions within the Labour leadership.

More fundamentally, the party is torn over Brexit. Many senior MPs, including Tom Watson, Emily Thornberry and Keir Starmer, favour a second referendum on EU membership, with Labour unequivocally backing Remain. Jeremy Corbyn, however, wants to be neutral in any future public vote. Party members will vote on a motion to determine Labour’s policy on Monday. They have already voted on other policy motions, including one committing the party to abolishing private schools.

The stakes will be high when Jeremy Corbyn makes his conference speech on Wednesday. Polling by Ipsos-MORI recorded the lowest net satisfaction score of any Leader of the Opposition (minus 60) since data was first collected in the late 1970s – beating his own previous record. If Mr Corbyn wants to reverse the trend, he’ll first need to convince his own party.

 

The fall of King BiBi

In this past week, Israelis took to the polls for the second time in five months.

If you’ve been following Israeli politics lately then you’ll know that a second election was called when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was unable to form a coalition government with his right-wing Likud party, after the party won 35 seats in the Knesset. Unable to form the magic number of 64 lawmakers to form a coalition and present this government to Israeli President Rivlin, a bill was passed to dissolve the 21st Knesset and hold another round of elections last week. Netanyahu was only able to gather support for 60 seats for a potential coalition, one short of a majority in the Knesset due to former ally turned opposition Avigdor Lieberman refusing to bring his right wing secular party, Yisrael Beiteinu, into the government.

Confused? You’re not the only one. Thankfully American journalist Yair Rosenberg posted this just ahead of the polls closing to answer any questions that might arise.

In the run up to this election Netanyahu’s main opposition remained the same – the newly formed centrist Kahol Lavan (Blue and White). Kahol Lavan was formed by Benny Gantz, a former IDF general, and Yair Lapid, a former journalist and Minister of Finance with the Yesh Atid party, which merged with the Israel Resilience Party in February to form Kahol Lavan. Meanwhile, Netanyahu was once again fighting not only for his political life but for his political immunity. The political strongman is currently facing indictment in three corruption cases on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. As Prime Minister, Netanyahu would have a mandate to use political power to evade a trial and effectively destroy the Israeli High Court of Justice.

It’s no surprise then that Netanyahu pulled out all the stops while campaigning ahead of polls opening on Tuesday. This included claiming that Israel’s Arab population were threatening to “annihilate” the rest of the country through an automated popup message to anyone who was accessing his official Facebook page, raising the possibility of military action against Iran and Gaza, and announcing plans to annex the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea. These plans were condemned by other Middle Eastern nations, while Facebook penalised the official Netanyahu page over hate speech violation.

These efforts appeared to be futile when the exit polls on Tuesday night revealed that Netanyahu’s Likud party was behind Kahol Lavan by 25,000 votes. Final results placed Kahol Lavan ahead with 33 seats to Likud’s 31 seats, and with voter turnout up to nearly 70% from 68.5% in April. However, since no clear coalition can be formed (Gantz had previously promised to not go into government with Netanyahu, and neither party can create a majority with their traditional smaller allies), Israel is now in a political deadlock. Lieberman, Netanyahu’s former Defence Minister, is now positioned to be a kingmaker after his Yisrael Beitinu party won nine seats this past Tuesday.

One of the biggest shocks of this election was the number of Arab Israelis (also known as Palestinian citizens of Israeli) who voted, despite Netanyahu’s racist scaremongering over the years that encouraged the rest of the population to vote to keep them out (a classic case of ‘ussums’ and ‘themmuns’ – sound familiar?). Figures are now suggesting that 61% of Arab Israelis, who account for a fifth of the country’s population, voted this past Tuesday – up 12 points since the previous vote in April. For the first time in Israel’s history the Joint List – a political alliance of the main Arab-dominated political parties in Israel – are at the centre of the coalition-building process, as each party meets with President Reuven Rivlin before he selects his candidate for Prime Minister.

What happens next is uncertain. There are already talks about the possibility of a third election if a coalition cannot be formed, while Netanyahu’s position within Israeli politics – or outside of a trial – remains even more uncertain. After 10 consecutive years of leading the country Netanyahu’s biographer, Anshel Pfeffer, wrote that one thing is certain – “the Netanyahu magic has been broken.”

 

And a fall from grace

Sticking with the subject elections, Canadians will be heading to the polls on 21 October. The incumbent Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, was already facing a close race as he set his sights on a second term as Canada’s Prime Minister. However, he faced a setback to his reputation this week after a photo emerged of him wearing blackface makeup at a school party. As if that wasn’t bad enough, things got worse when other blackface photos emerged, leading Trudeau to admit that he can’t remember how many times he has worn blackface makeup.

Trudeau offered an immediate apology for his behaviour in the 1990s and early 2000s, acknowledging that it was racist and that he was ignorant because of “the layers of privilege” that he possesses. The episode is particularly embarrassing for the Liberal Prime Minister given the importance he has attached to issues of inclusivity and diversity, with a tone that has sometimes been interpreted as sanctimonious.

With another four weeks of campaigning still to go, it is difficult to say whether or not the revelations will have any influence on the election itself (early indications are that it hasn’t shifted the polls). The NDP and Greens stand the most to gain from disaffected left-leaning voters, but the first-past-the-post electoral system may leave many still backing Trudeau’s Liberals. The Conservatives led by Andrew Scheer are hoping to capitalise on broader economic dissatisfaction to regain power in Ottawa, but a reasonably strong Canadian economy presents an obstacle.

Justin Trudeau’s approval ratings were already sliding before the blackface scandal. If he is returned as Canada’s Prime Minister, it will be against a different backdrop to the ‘sunny ways’ of his 2015 victory.

 

You might also enjoy these recent articles at Northern Slant: 

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