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There was general agreement at the Institute for Government’s Annual conference last week that it would be a good thing for Britain if this year’s election campaign is not “dirty”.

This highfalutin notion was shot down in seconds with equally universal assumption by the assembled politicians and policy wonks that “that is not going to happen”.

A clean campaign would concentrate on policies and competence.

A dirty campaign is built around slurs, distortions and untruths, with those competing for votes slinging mud at each other.

A lot of factors, headed by booming social media, are coming together to suggest that this year we may see one of the dirtiest election campaigns ever.

The IFG delegates had to wait less than a day for their forebodings to come true. There might have been a lot to talk about at Prime Minister’s Questions.

The Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) bill struggling through parliament. The world order threatened by ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, Israel and the Red Sea.

Record NHS waiting lists are the public’s number one concern. The chancellor is contemplating two rounds of tax cuts.

But no, the leader of the opposition chose to exchange personal insults, much of it based on dubious content circulating on smartphones.

Rishi Sunak  during PMQs
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Rishi Sunak responds to Sir Keir Starmer during PMQs. Pic: Sky News Screengrab

Fair’s fair, Sir Keir Starmer started it this time, but Rishi Sunak had a well-stocked pile to fling back.

Starmer opened up referring to a couple of brief unofficial clips posted online. One showing the prime minister “collapsing in laughter when he was asked by a member of the public about the NHS waiting lists”.

The other “accidentally record[ing] a candid video for Nigel Farage“.

Sunak, who seldom passes up a chance to brand Starmer as a lefty London lawyer, shot back that he is “the man who takes the knee, who wanted to abolish the monarchy, and who still does not know what a woman is”.

Previously Starmer “chose to represent a now-proscribed terrorist group” Hizb ut-Tahrir, and “served” Jeremy Corbyn.

Keir Starmer during PMQs
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Sir Keir Starmer during PMQs. Pic: Sky News Screengrab

Both men knew that the insults they were sticking on each other were essentially unjustified distortions of the other, but that was what they chose to put on the national agenda at the most scrutinized moment of the political week.

Starmer has explicitly changed his party and his previous positions.

Under scrutiny, he has clarified and explained each of the specific acts detailed. It is a core principle of British justice that advocates are not surrogates for their clients.

Sunak was not laughing at the people he was talking to and spoke to them properly after the end of the clip.

The alleged greeting to Farage was repurposing an online meme which allows any name, in this case “Nigel”, to be put into the prime minister’s mouth.

Neither Sunak nor Starmer are classic alpha males.

Sunak comes across as a whiny or petulant geek, Starmer seems hesitant, overcautious and inclined to blame others.

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Starmer pushes PM on childcare. Pic: Sky News Screengrab

Perhaps this is why they feel the need to overcompensate by acting rough and tough. Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, also has his moments of fabricated machismo.

The leaders set the tone and their petulance has been picked up in the campaigning efforts of their underlings and supporters.

Prime minister Boris Johnson took up an online distortion that Starmer had failed, when he was director of public prosecutions, to take action against Jimmy Savile.

This prompted the senior Downing Street aide Munira Mirza to resign protesting that this was “not the normal cut and thrust of politics”.

It soon would be. Labour cited Johnson’s attack as justification for their later personalised digital poster attacks on Rishi Sunak including the smear that he “doesn’t think adults convicted of sexually abusing children should go to prison”.

Labour attack ad on Rishi Sunak
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Labour published an attack advert on social media targeting Rishi Sunak last year. Pic: Labour/X

Since then Keir Starmer has gone out of his way not to back down or apologise; following the code of the playground he promises to punch back hard against any attacks.

At the start of election year he rejected an invitation from Beth Rigby to take up Michelle Obama’s famous recommendation: “When they go low, we go high”.

Instead, he told Sky News’ political editor: “If they want to go with fire, we will meet their fire with fire”.

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‘We will meet their fire with fire’

Donald Trump crafts insults – Lyin’ Ted, Sleepy Joe, Ron DeSanctimonious – with cruel genius and gets away with fabulations.

There is only one Trump; honest political strivers should not try to copy him.

Opinion polls after personalised attacks usually show that support for both sides goes down, though more for the target than the attacker.

This should give all the party leaders something to think about, especially since public respect for politicians is at a record low and a low or differential turnout could be a major factor.

Starmer needs to mobilise enthusiasm for his leadership, not dent it. Sunak’s standing is already low and doesn’t want to drop further.

Labour's latest Sunak attack ad
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Labour’s attack advert targeting Sunak was published on the Conservative Home website earlier this year. Pic: Conservative Home

This government raised spending limits for the election campaign to £35m. Much of it will go on direct messaging to voters – which is harder to police than election broadcasts and billboards.

During the 2019 campaign, the Conservatives spent over a million on Facebook, much of it on messages disparaging Jeremy Corbyn.

Both Labour and Conservatives are already spending over a million a month on Facebook advertising.

Then there is what partisan supporters choose to put up on social media independently.

Labour has already advised its supporters to use humour.

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Even without explicitly taking sides humourists such as Coldwar Steve and Trumpton, liked and retweeted, can make some political weather, often by lowering the tone.

Political propagandising is much more equal opportunity than it used to be. Anyone can post.

On the other hand, the newspapers and other mainstream media no longer have a near monopoly.

In 1997 when The Sun ran its famous “Nightmare on Kinnock Street” and “Will the Last Person to Leave Britain Please Turn Off the Lights” attacks on Labour, the paper’s circulation was 3.9 million.

The Conservative Party display their new poster campaign by driving them past the Houses of Parliament in central London.
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The Conservative Party’s poster campaign attacking Gordon Brown during the 2010 election. Pic: PA

Read more from Sky News:
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Post-Brexit trade talks with Canada paused amid row over beef and cheese

The last official figures released were 1.2 million in 2020.

Poster launches used to be major events in political campaigning, but who would bother with them today?

There are some worthwhile lessons to be learned from the classics.

The Saatchi brothers are celebrated for their attacking of billboards: Labour isn’t working, Labour’s tax bombshell and Labour’s Policy on Arms (showing a combat soldier surrendering hands up).

Each of these were masterpieces of wit and effort compared to the Conservatives’ adoption of the BBC newsreader caught giving the finger for “Labour when you ask for their plans to tackle immigration”.

The Saatchis’ best work riffed with precision on policy rather than personal insults.

When the Conservatives tried that with their “New Labour, New Danger” demon eyes poster it misfired; it was difficult to convincingly portray Blair as a devil when other Conservative sources were attacking him as an inexperienced Bambi.

The Conservative Central Office unveiled their latest pre-election campaign weapon, a poster depicting Tony Blair with demonic eyes.
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The Conservative Central Office’s 1996 poster depicting Tony Blair with demonic eyes. Pic: Conservative Central Office

Labour boobed depicting Cameron as a cute bicycling chameleon.

The most effective attacks at PMQs cut directly to the political issues facing the voters, rather than scuffling around in their past record for something compromising.

Mrs Thatcher struck directly and seemingly spontaneously at Michael Foot: “Afraid of an election is he? Afraid? Frightened? Frit?”.

“Weak, weak, weak,” Tony Blair gutted John Major. “You were the future once.”

Sunak, Starmer and their teams of advisors have yet to produce anything as authentic.

Something which would crystallise the political moment.

Instead, they and we can look forward to a year in the dirt as they scrabble around trying to find it.

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Spending review 2025: The key announcements

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Spending review 2025: The key announcements

Rachel Reeves has set out her spending review in the House of Commons.  

It outlines how much day-to-day funding government departments will get over the next three years, until 2029, which is used on things like wages.

It also covers a department’s investment (also known as capital) budget over the next four years, until the end of 2030. This money is used to pay for things like new infrastructure projects.

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The last spending review was held during the COVID-19 pandemic, and before that, in 2015.

Here’s what’s been announced:

Department winners and losers

Sky News’ data and economics editor, Ed Conway, has crunched the numbers to see which government departments have benefited after the spending review, and which have seemingly lost out.

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Ed Conway analyses the spending review

In the chart below sets out which departments are getting the biggest increase in their day-to-day budgets.

The second chart maps the biggest increases in capital spending.

Defence

Spending review

A major recipient of funds is the Ministry of Defence. Defence spending will rise from 2.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 2.6% by 2027. This equates to an £11bn uplift and a £600m uplift for security and intelligence agencies.

Within that there’ll be £4.5bn of investment in munitions made across the country and more than £6bn to upgrade to nuclear submarine production.

The department is one of the biggest winners of the spending review.

In total, an extra 3.8% will be spent from this year to the end of 2029, when the spending period ends.

Much of that increase will be capital spending – a rise of 7.3%, whereas day-to-day spending will only go up 0.7% in the same period.

Ms Reeves said it was because of cuts to foreign aid that such defence rises are possible.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office was among the biggest losers, with spending set to fall 8.3% in total over the next three years.

Its capital spending will drop 6.8%, with day-to-day spending down 6.9%.

NHS

Spending review

The chancellor announced an extra £29bn a year will be spent on the NHS, an annual rise of 3% on current levels.

She says she is increasing the NHS technology budget by almost 50%, and £10bn to bring the “analogue health system into the digital age”.

The department in control of the NHS, the Department of Health and Social Care, is also a “real big winner”, Ed Conway says.

Day-to-day spending will rise 2.8%, while there will be no increase in capital expenditure.

Asylum and border security

Spending review

The chancellor says border security funding will increase, with up to £280m more per year by the end of the spending review for the new Border Security Command.

She said the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will end hotels being used to house asylum seekers by 2029.

The chancellor says funding she has announced today, including from the transformation fund, will also cut the asylum backlog, see more appeal cases heard and “return people who have no right to be here”.

This will save the taxpayer £1bn a year, she claimed.

As a result of these savings, the Home Office will have 1.4% less to spend by 2029, compared to this year.

Broken down on a day-to-day basis, it’s a 1.7% drop but a 0.7% rise in capital expenses.

Education and training

Spending review

The chancellor confirmed that free school meals will be extended to over half a million more children and said that the policy will lift 100,000 children out of poverty.

Nearly £2.3bn a year will go to fix crumbling classrooms. A further £2.4bn will be spent on rebuilding 500 schools.

Another record investment amount was announced by Ms Reeves for training and upskilling – £1.2bn a year by the end of the spending review will go to support more than a million young people into training and apprenticeships.

School-based nurseries have been given £370m. The core schools budget is rising by £3.5bn a year.

Housing

Spending review

Government funding of social and affordable housing has been allocated £39bn, over the next 10 years – which Ms Reeves called the “biggest cash injection into social housing in 50 years”.

She says she is providing an additional £10bn for financial investments, to be delivered through Homes England, to help unlock hundreds of thousands more homes.

Energy

Spending review

A commitment to nuclear power was reiterated, with £30bn allocated.

Of this, £14.2bn is being poured into the Sizewell C nuclear power station – which was announced earlier this week – on the Suffolk coastline.

Another £2.5bn will be invested in a new small modular reactor programme.

Science and technology

Spending review: science and technology

The chancellor says she wants the country’s high-tech industries in Britain to continue to lead the world in the years to come.

Research and development funding will go to a record high of £22bn a year by the end of the spending period.

Artificial Intelligence

The chancellor has backed “home-grown AI” with a £2bn investment.

She says the technology has the potential to “solve diverse and daunting challenges” and create “good jobs”.

Transport

Spending review

The chancellor announced £15bn for new rail, tram and bus networks across the West Midlands and the North. She’s also given the green light to a new rail line between Liverpool and Manchester.

She says investments in buses, train stations, metro lines and transit will be made in places including Rochdale, Merseyside, Birmingham and West Yorkshire.

In London, Ms Reeves says there will be a “four-year settlement” for the Transport for London and a “fourfold increase” in local transport grants by the end of this parliament.

As expected, the £3 bus cap has been extended to March 2027. It had been £2 up to the end of 2024.

Justice

The Ministry of Justice

To fund 14,000 new prison places, £7bn will be invested, with £700m a year going to reform the probation system.

In order to reach the goal of 13,000 more police officers in England and Wales, £2bn will be allocated.

Nations

On the nations of the UK, the chancellor announced:

• Scotland has been allocated £52bn
• Northern Ireland has been allocated £20bn
• Wales has been allocated £23bn.

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Ballymena protests: It is hard to see where the violence will end – and it could go on for weeks

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Ballymena protests: It is hard to see where the violence will end - and it could go on for weeks

The ugly, violent side of this Northern Ireland town was on full display once again last night.

Angry mobs went on a rampage through the streets of Ballymena for a second evening as riot police from across this country were drafted in to push back against an escalating ambush.

Hours of blaring sirens were punctured by the relentless sound of bricks and petrol bombs landing on police vehicles.

A person stands in front of a fire in a Ballymena street. Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

The main roads became a war zone with fires in the middle of the carriageway, cars ablaze and the crunch of broken glass at our feet as we walked the streets.

Masked and hooded young men were blasted with the water cannon as tensions boiled over in a strained, fragile community.

This has been rumbling for days and began when a vigil, held for a girl who was the victim of an alleged sex attack was, according to police, hijacked by anti-immigration mobs.

Authorities say “racist thugs” used the incident to plot their attacks on foreign people living locally.

More on Northern Ireland

A vehicle on fire near Clonavon Terrace, Ballymena. Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

One family with three children were said to have hidden in their attic on Monday night as yobs ransacked their home.

Another man told me how he had to drag his 84-year-old mum from her home of 40 years “kicking and screaming” as it was simply not safe anymore.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said.

Police officers are using a water cannon to disperse protesters engaged in serious disorder. Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

On Tuesday, many displayed posters on their windows in a desperate bid to ensure their house did not become a target. Others draped union jack flags on full display.

“British residents,” one piece of paper stated.

There is a feeling among the crowds here in Ballymena that the police branding them racists has escalated this row further.

Police officers use a water cannon as the protest enters a second night. Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

In a horrifying twist, we got word in the middle of the night that another house had been firebombed.

When we arrived at the scene, it was a charred shell. The property was completely gutted.

Neighbours described how several hundred “protesters” had gathered outside before hounding the foreign occupants out. One woman was pacing up and down, crying in distress at what happened.

PSNI vehicles form a barricade at Clonavon Terrace, Ballymena. Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

Another man, who lived a few doors, down hinted that this community had “had enough” of “people moving in”. He lambasted the media and refused to engage any further.

As I drove out of Ballymena at 1.30am I witnessed other families dragging suitcases full of their belongings through the streets. They were flanked by riot police, armed with shields, who helped them to safety in a late-night escape.

Read more from Sky News:
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Details of spending review emerge

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Aftermath of ‘racist thuggery’ in Ballymena

It is hard to see where this ends.

The talk here is that this unrest is only just beginning.

It could go on for weeks – and already there are questions about the pressure that will pile on police who will be desperate to de-escalate this mess.

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Ballymena protest: Fireworks, petrol bombs and glass bottles thrown at riot police as serious disorder deepens

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Ballymena protest: Fireworks, petrol bombs and glass bottles thrown at riot police as serious disorder deepens

Fireworks, petrol bombs and glass bottles have been thrown at riot police as unrest in Ballymena continued for a second night.

Water cannon and plastic baton rounds were used to disperse hundreds of protesters in the Co Antrim town – with officers wearing armour and carrying shields.

Several blazes were reported in the worst-affected areas, with cars set alight and house windows smashed. Police sirens continued to blare throughout the town past midnight.

A protester throws a bin into a fire burning in the street. Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

A person stands in front of a fire in a Ballymena street. Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

Clothes belonging to at least one protester caught fire during the disorder.

Some properties displayed signs about the nationality of the residents inside – including one saying “British household”.

Sky correspondent Connor Gillies, who is in Ballymena, says some families have had to barricade themselves into the attics of their homes as the clashes worsen.

“The talk here in this town is that it could go on for weeks yet,” he added.

More on Northern Ireland

The violent disorder started on Monday, following a peaceful protest supporting the family of a girl who was allegedly sexually assaulted in the area over the weekend.

Police officers use a water cannon as the protest enters a second night. Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

People watch as a vehicle burns during the protest in Ballymena. Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

Two 14-year-old boys were charged with attempted rape and were remanded in custody when they appeared at Coleraine Magistrates’ Court on Monday. The charges were read to them by a Romanian interpreter.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said on Tuesday that it had made a third arrest in connection with the alleged rape, and is continuing to urge anyone with information to come forward.

The 28-year-old man has since been unconditionally released from custody following questioning.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson described the scenes in Ballymena as “racist thuggery” and said the force was “actively working to identify those responsible” for the “racially motivated disorder”.

Mr Henderson said people from ethnic minorities have “felt fear” – and there will be a significant policing operation in the town in the coming days to reassure the community.

At least 15 police officers were injured on Monday.

The protest has entered its second night, with fires burning on the streets of Ballymena. Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

PSNI vehicles form a barricade at Clonavon Terrace, Ballymena. Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

A 29-year-old man was arrested during the unrest on Monday night and charged with riotous and disorderly behaviour, attempted criminal damage and resisting police.

Mr Henderson said other arrests are expected following the examination of video footage.

Local MP Jim Allister said tensions over immigration had been building for some time.

Mr Henderson said there was no intelligence suggesting the disorder was orchestrated, but added that some at the protest were “clearly intent on violence” and had prepared petrol bombs and masonry to use as missiles.

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Smoke is billowing into the sky during the protest. Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

Police officers are using a water cannon to disperse protesters engaged in serious disorder. Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

A vehicle on fire near Clonavon Terrace, Ballymena. Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

Downing Street said there was “no justification” for the violence.

Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said: “The disorder we saw in Ballymena is very concerning.”

He added: “Obviously, the reports of sexual assault in the area are extremely distressing, but there is no justification for attacks on police officers while they continue to protect local communities.

“PSNI and the justice system must be allowed to carry out their jobs and our thoughts are with the victims of the assault as well as the police officers who were injured.”

Hilary Benn, secretary of state for Northern Ireland, said on X that the “terrible scenes of civil disorder” seen on Monday and Tuesday night “have no place in Northern Ireland”.

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