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Epoch Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- Epoch Times
What Is the Reform Act, and How Will It Impact Poilievre?
In addition to selecting an interim Opposition leader in the House on May 6 while Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre remains without a seat in the House of Commons, Tory MPs also voted to invoke the federal Reform Act, which allows for a secret-ballot vote to review party leadership at any time. While many Conservative MPs have expressed their support for Poilievre, the legislation could haunt him as he gets ready for the next federal election. Previous Usage The At the outset of each session of Parliament, the MPs in each party vote on which provisions they want to apply to their caucus. If they vote in favour, the provisions apply until Parliament is dissolved. In 2021, the Conservative Party used the act to expel MP Derek Sloan The leadership removal provisions of the act have only been used once before, when it set in motion a leadership review of O'Toole and led to his The Conservatives had been defeated in the Related Stories 5/6/2025 5/10/2025 The Conservative Party had also been split over COVID-19 vaccines, as a number of MPs and senators had not received the vaccine and eventually discussed creating a 'civil liberties caucus' to speak up for Canadians facing job loss and restricted movement over their vaccination status. O'Toole, who was fully vaccinated, had not required his MPs to be vaccinated and suggested rapid testing should be offered as an alternative to vaccination. Conservative While O'Toole ejected Batters from the national caucus in November 2021 , it was not enough to quell a leadership vote. She The Liberal Party voted not to adopt the Reform Act at the outset of Parliament in 2021, meaning they could not vote to eject Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as leader when the party was down in the polls in 2023 and 2024. The NDP and Bloc Québécois also voted not to adopt the Reform Act at the beginning of the parliamentary session in 2021. Poilievre's Leadership Similar to O'Toole, Poilievre has said he intends to The Conservatives fared better in the 2025 election than they did four years earlier, winning an extra 25 seats and their largest share of the popular vote since 1988. Yet the Liberals won 170 seats, just three short of a majority, and in an upset , Poilievre lost re-election in his Ottawa riding of Carleton, which he had held for over two decades. Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy received 50.8 percent of the vote in the riding, while Poilievre received 45.8 percent. Alberta Conservative MP Prime Minister Mark Carney, who will ultimately determine when any byelections are held, has pledged not to hold up the process for political gain. 'I will ensure that it happens as soon as possible,' Carney said during a May 2 press conference. 'No games, nothing.' Poilievre's future as leader of the party is also helped by the fact that for a year and a half, the party was well ahead of the Liberal Party in the polls. It was the resignation of Trudeau, his replacement by Mark Carney, and U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and threats to Canada's sovereignty that tipped the scales in the Liberals' favour. Until Poilievre returns to Parliament as Conservative leader, the role of the Opposition leader in the House is being held by MP Many Conservative MPs
Sky News
29-04-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Sugar tax could be applied to milkshakes to tackle obesity
The sugar tax currently imposed on soft drinks could be applied to milkshakes as the government seeks to crack down on rising obesity levels. The government has opened a consultation to extend the tax to pre-packaged drinks containing at least 75% milk, including non-dairy substitutes with added sugar such as oat, soy, almond and rice milk. This will include pre-packaged cans of latte, flavoured milkshake drinks and cartons of milk alternatives bought in supermarkets. Ministers also want to lower the minimum amount of sugar allowed before the tax is applied in these drinks, as well as in fizzy drinks already included in the tax - known formally as the Soft Drinks Industry Levy. Extending the tax will hit 203 pre-packaged milk-based drinks currently available - 93% of sales, Department of Health analysis found. The original sugar tax on soft drinks was introduced in 2018 under the Conservative government and has led to a 46% reduction in sugar in those drinks, with 89% of soft drinks sold in the UK now not paying the tax due to reformulation. Modelling studies have found this may have prevented thousands of cases of childhood obesity and cut down on tooth decay. However, the government said UK sugar intakes remain about double the recommended level, which is why Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in the October budget there would be a consultation to extend it. The proposals are: • To reduce the minimum sugar content at which the tax applies from 5g to 4g of sugar per 100ml • To include milk-based drinks - but with a "lactose allowance" to account for milk's natural sugars • To also include milk substitute drinks with added sugars. The government says this could reduce daily calorie intake by 1.2kcal in 19-64 year olds and 2.1kcal in 11-18 year olds to achieve health and economic benefits of around £4.2bn over 25 years. 2:40 'Sucker punch' to stretched families The Conservatives said the extension is a "sucker punch" to households when Labour had "already pushed up the cost of living for families". Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told the BBC he was "sick to death of a government telling us how we should live" and said they should focus on educating people who can then make healthy decisions. Currently, the sugar tax is charged at £1.94 per 10 litres on drinks with 5g to 7.9g sugar per 100ml and £2.59 per 10 litres for drinks with 8g or more sugar per 100ml. For the 2023/2024 financial year, the sugar tax brought in about £338m, with 95% paid on drinks containing 8g or more sugar per 100ml. Milk and milk substitute-based drinks have been exempt from the sugar tax over concerns one in five teenage girls did not get enough calcium in their drinks. However, milk-based drinks only provide up to 3.5% of calcium for children aged 11 to 18 years, compared with 25% from plain milk and 38% from cereal products, including fortified white bread. Calls for sugar tax on food Industry body, the Food and Drink Federation, welcomed the consultation and said "significant progress" had already been made in reducing sugar in soft drinks and pre-packed milk drinks in the last three years. It added manufacturers are facing a series of pressures and called on the government to "create the right conditions for businesses to innovate and also be clear about their long-term goals to promote business confidence". Charity The Food Foundation also welcomed the consultation but said the government needs to be more ambitious and include food in the sugar tax "if the government is serious about improving diets, our health and the economy". The consultation will run from 28 April until 21 July, with businesses, charities and individuals encouraged to let their views be known.
Telegraph
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Badenoch: Tories will do a ‘bit better' than wipeout at local elections
The Conservatives are aiming to do 'bit better' than a local election wipe-out, Kemi Badenoch has said. In an attempt to manage expectations ahead of polling day on May 1, the Tory leader said she expects this year's contest to be 'extremely difficult' for her party. She urged disgruntled voters not to treat it as a 'protest vote' amid the threat from Reform UK, warning: 'This is not show-business. This is not a game.' It comes after she dismissed Nigel Farage as a reality TV star in an interview with The Telegraph, insisting that government is not an episode of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here. The council seats up for grabs at the local elections in May were last contested in 2021, when Boris Johnson achieved sweeping success. The victories have been attributed in part to the successful rollout of the Covid jab by the Tory government, delivering a so-called 'vaccine bounce'. Launching her party's local election campaign on Thursday, Mrs Badenoch admitted that she expects the Conservatives to suffer losses when voters return to the polls this year. She said the Tories would lose 'almost every single' council 'like we won in 2021' if the party's devastating results at last year's general election were mapped onto the seats on offer in May. Echoing words of warning from Nigel Huddleston, the party's co-chairman, she told supporters in Beaconsfield: 'The last time we fought these local elections was four years ago. As Nigel said, in 2021 we were riding high during the vaccine bounce. 'This year will be different. It will be the first time since the general election, the greatest defeat in our party's history, that we fight these seats. And if you match that general election result of 2024 onto this coming May, then we don't win the councils like we won in 2021, we lose almost every single one. 'But I think we're going to do a bit better than that, but we know that these elections will be extremely difficult, but we also know why they matter.' Earlier, Mr Huddleston said: 'Let's be realistic. We are coming off an exceptionally high watermark. Back in 2021 we got 65 per cent win rate. We won 65 per cent of the seats that were up for election. That is unprecedented. It's about 30 per cent higher than we would normally get.' The dangers of 'protest voting' Challenged on the threat posed by Reform, Mrs Badenoch warned voters against treating the local elections as a 'protest vote'. But she admitted the Tories 'do have a challenge on the Right', adding: 'We need to spend this time rebuilding trust. The public are shocked not by the fact that we're not doing well, but the Labour Government isn't doing well, and so the protest votes are going to Reform. 'But at the end of the day, this is not a protest vote. These are local elections. People are voting for who is going to get rid of their bins and their waste and their rubbish.' Asked to set out the ideological differences between the Tories and Reform, she said: 'We don't just make announcements. We have a plan. Loads of other parties just tell people what they think they want to hear. We think through and make sure that we are providing a credible plan that can be delivered.' She added: 'This is not show-business. This is not a game. This is about people's lives. This is not for us. It is for all those people out there who need credible politicians.' Last week, The Telegraph revealed that Mr Farage's party is set to win control of, or be the largest party on, eight councils compared with the Conservatives' 10, according to the first major survey to predict the vote on May 1. It showed for the first time how support for Reform has grown since the general election, with the party set to upend the political status quo at the local elections. Initially, some 21 county councils were set to hold elections on May 1. However, some of the ballots have been delayed by Angela Rayner's local government reforms, which is expected to put a dent in Mr Farage's success.
Telegraph
02-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Kemi Badenoch: I will not accept Chagos deal just because Trump backs it
The Conservatives will not drop their opposition to the Chagos Islands deal even if it is backed by Donald Trump, Kemi Badenoch has said. The president of the US on Thursday suggested that he will approve Sir Keir Starmer's plans to hand over the archipelago to Mauritius, despite some expecting he would oppose it. The deal is controversial because of the UK-US military base on one of the Chagos Islands, Diego Garcia. Marco Rubio, Mr Trump's secretary of state, has in the past criticised the plans. But Kemi Badenoch insisted that the Chagos Islands 'surrender' remained not in the UK's national interest, regardless of whether Mr Trump backed it or not. Asked if she would abandon her opposition to the deal if the US president gave it the green light, the Tory leader told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: 'I don't work for the American president. This is about the UK national interest. It is not in our national interest to give away the Chagos Islands and pay for the privilege of doing so. That is taxpayers' money.' Mr Trump told journalists in the Oval Office on Thursday: 'We're going to have some discussions about that very soon, and I have a feeling it's going to work out very well. 'They're talking about a very long-term, powerful lease, a very strong lease, about 140 years. Actually, it's a long time. 'And I think we'll be inclined to go along with your country. Yeah, I think it's a little bit early. We have to be given the details, but it doesn't sound bad.' The Prime Minister refused to say last week whether the deal, rumoured to cost the UK around £9 billion, would be funded from the Ministry of Defence budget. Sir Keir announced last Tuesday that he planned to increase Britain's defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027, but critics said the boost would be diluted if it had to include the cost of the Chagos deal. Mrs Badenoch said on Sunday: 'That is money which the Prime Minister seems to have confirmed is coming out of the defence increase that he has just announced. That's terrible. 'He did not deny it when he was asked so we will not stop our opposition to the surrender of the Chagos Islands. We will continue.' David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, said that any deal on the archipelago would not happen if Mr Trump did not support it. The deal had been signed off by Joe Biden's administration, but Mr Trump's team asked to look at it again.
