Russia adviser Fiona Hill’s alarming conclusion | Letter

Fiona Hill’s assessment of the Russian threat to Britain is a classic example of how a seemingly rational argument based on a false premise and scanty evidence can lead to a mad conclusion (Russia is at war with Britain and US is no longer a reliable ally, UK adviser says, 6 June). It is especially alarming that this conclusion was reached by one of the three principal authors of the recent strategic defence review.The false premise is that Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is the first step to make Russia “a dominant military power in all of Europe”. Evidence that Britain is already under attack is provided by “the poisonings, assassinations, sabotage operations … cyber-attacks and influence operations .

Ministers to offer olive branch on welfare plans to avert Labour rebellion

Ministers are to offer mutinous Labour MPs an olive branch on the government’s welfare plans to help avert a major rebellion in a crucial vote early next month.Liz Kendall, the welfare secretary, wants to reassure angry MPs who have threatened to rebel over fears that sick and disabled people will be hardest hit.The Guardian has been told she will put “non-negotiable” protections for the most vulnerable benefits recipients on the face of the welfare reform bill when it is published next week, providing additional support to those with the most severe conditions who will never work.But with Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, ruling out a U-turn on disability benefit cuts and government aides insisting there will be no substantial change to the bill, it is unclear whether the tweaks will be enough to prevent a rebellion that could even risk a defeat.Labour MPs are demanding big changes to the proposals first put forward in March in the welfare green paper, including a rethink on eligibility for personal independence payments (Pip) for disabled people and benefits for carers

Does Labour’s spending review signal a return to austerity?

Rachel Reeves usually avoids any mention of the word “austerity” in connection with her fiscal policies, but on Wednesday, she decided to tackle the argument head on.“In this spending review, total departmental budgets will grow by 2.3% a year in real terms,” she told MPs as she announced the next stage of her spending review.“Compare that to the Conservatives’ choice of austerity … Austerity was a destructive choice for both the fabric of our society and our economy, choking off investment and demand and creating a lost decade for growth, wages and living standards.”The chancellor argues that her decision to lift departmental budgets by 2

Sadiq Khan warns ministers not to ‘pit our towns and cities against each other’

Ministers must not “stumble into the trap of pitting our towns and cities against each other”, Sadiq Khan will say, as he delivers a blistering attack on the Treasury’s decision to sideline London in this week’s spending review.In a state of London address, the capital’s mayor will urge ministers to stop treating investment as a zero-sum game between north and south – arguing that some of the worst deprivation in the country is within London’s borders.“I’ve seen first-hand how parts of our city suffer from some of the worst poverty and deprivation in the country,” he will say. “As someone who grew up on a London council estate, I know help for our communities should be based on need not geography.“A child blighted by a lack of support and opportunity in Newham or Lewisham is just as deserving as a child born into similar circumstances in Newcastle or Leeds

Demob-happy IFS director tears into Rachel Reeves’s spending review

You can only conclude that Paul Johnson is demob-happy. The director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies is off to run an Oxford college in a couple of weeks and seems determined to go out with a bang. Normally, the scourge of chancellors and all things Treasury is quite measured in what he says. Borderline wonkish in his forensic analysis of financial statements. Choosing his words carefully as he peels back the political spin to deliver his verdict on the true state of the public finances

Wales needs a green future, not Nigel Farage’s coalmine fantasy | Letters

In south Wales on Monday, the leader of Reform UK offered a Farage mirage of reopened coalmines and blast furnaces (Nigel Farage’s pitch for Welsh elections: bring back coalmining, 9 June). When questioned, he did not acknowledge the practical absurdity of such restorations; he responded with the conman’s alibi – they are “ambitions” and “nothing is impossible”.Welsh knowledge of the destruction of industries is tragic, profound and recent. By pretending that past can be reversed with just “a change of mindset”, Nigel Farage is showing contempt for the experience and intelligence of the people of Wales.Like all communities that have endured rapid and massive economic change without proper preparation or compensation, they need the realism and security of a productive green future, not the cynical dishonesty of a Trump tribute act