Month: October 2023

Despite intense lobbying, 20 Republicans refused to vote for the right-wing Ohio congressman.

The Trump ally abandoned plans for another vote until Wednesday morning.

Congress’s lower chamber has had no Speaker since Kevin McCarthy was ousted two weeks ago in a right-wing revolt.

Without a leader, the House is unable to pass any bills or approve White House requests for emergency aid. That includes potential help for Israel amid its war with Hamas.

Mr Jordan earned 200 votes in the first ballot on Tuesday, but he needs 217 to secure the Speaker’s gavel.

The Democratic nominee, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, earned more votes – 212 – than Mr Jordan, but Democrats are the minority party in the House, so it was not enough.

Mr Jordan vowed to “keep working” and expressed confidence he would ultimately emerge victorious.

“We’re making progress. I feel good about it,” he told reporters. “We’re gonna keep going.”

Mr Jordan can only afford to lose four Republican votes in a chamber that his party controls by 221-212.

The House Judiciary Committee chairman initially said a second vote was planned for Tuesday, but later said it would instead take place at 11:00 (15:00 GMT) on Wednesday.

Republicans who refused to pick Mr Jordan voted instead for Kevin McCarthy, the former Speaker who was ousted on 3 October, or picked other candidates.

Three even voted for Lee Zeldin, a New York congressman who retired from the House in January this year.

A bloc of New York Republicans who voted against Mr Jordan cited his opposition to benefits for survivors of the 9/11 attacks, among other political issues.

But another New York Republican, Elise Stefanik, called Mr Jordan “a patriot, an America First warrior who wins the toughest of fights”.

Mr Jordan has a record of feuding with members of his own party. He is a founding member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, a group once labelled “legislative terrorists” by former Republican Speaker John Boehner.

Mr Jordan held meetings after Tuesday’s vote with some of the Republicans who voted against him.

Several, however, suggested they would not budge, and some indicated the number of votes against Mr Jordan might actually grow.

Colorado Republican Ken Buck said the Ohio congressman had still not acknowledged former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.

Another Republican who voted against Mr Jordan, Mario Diaz-Balart, of Florida, said he did not feel “pressure at all” to change his vote.

He added that any effort to “intimidate” him would end any negotiations. “If that’s the case, that’s where you lose me,” he said.

Oregon’s Lori Chavez-DeRemer, another of the anti-Jordan holdouts, suggested granting interim Speaker Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, additional powers to allow the House to function during the impasse.

Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican who supports Mr Jordan, told the BBC he was surprised at how many people had voted against him.

Revelling in the Republican dysfunction, Democrats are depicting Mr Jordan as an extremist.

California’s Pete Aguilar described him as “a vocal election denier”.

California Democrat Nancy Pelosi – a two-time former Speaker – told reporters Mr Jordan had clearly underestimated resistance to him.

Republicans, she told reporters, were “taking lessons on mathematics and how to count”.

In a news conference, Democratic minority leader Mr Jeffries offered to work with Republicans to find a Speaker that could suit both parties.

“There have been ongoing informal conversations that have been undertaken over the last few days,” he said.

“There’s a possibility those can accelerate now that Jim Jordan clearly does not have the votes for Speaker.”

If support for Mr Jordan collapses, the next potential Speaker candidate is Minnesota’s Tom Emmer, who is the third highest-ranking Republican in the House.

The last Speaker, Mr McCarthy, needed 15 rounds of voting over four days in January to win the gavel.

Fierce resistance to Ukraine war funding among Republican hardliners, including Mr Jordan himself, contributed to the unprecedented vote that led to Mr McCarthy’s ouster this month.

The speakership is second-in-line to the presidency after the vice-president.

The SNP leader made the announcement during his closing speech at his party’s conference in Aberdeen.

The Scottish government had previously proposed raising council tax rates by as much as 22.5% for homes in higher bands.

But Mr Yousaf has pledged they will remain at the current levels when councils set their budgets for 2024-25.

He described the proposed freeze as evidence of “the SNP delivering for people when they need it most”.

Mr Yousaf did not set out how the government would make up the budgetary shortfall for councils who would have raised taxes.

The levy generates about 13% of local government funding, with most of their cash coming from Holyrood funding.

Council tax had either been either frozen or capped at 3% since the SNP came to power in 2007, with the Scottish government providing local authorities with extra funding in return.

But councils have been allowed to use new powers to set their own rates for the past two years, with most areas seeing rises of between 4% and 7% this year – although residents of Orkney say their bills increase by 10%.

The SNP had a long-standing commitment to scrap and replace council tax and Mr Yousaf said he remained committed to reforming local taxation.

Cosla, which represents local authorities, said it had not been warned about the council tax freeze in advance.

“This has longer term implications for all councils right across the country, at a time when we know there are acute financial pressures, and where we are jointly looking at all local revenue raising options,” a spokesperson said.

Mr Yousaf also said his government would spend an additional £300m on tackling NHS waiting lists in the next three years and raise arts and culture funding by £100m over the next five years.

The first minister, whose has family members are trapped in Gaza, called on the UK government to create a refugee resettlement scheme for those caught up in the conflict.

He said Scotland would be “willing to be the first country in the UK to offer safety and sanctuary to those caught up in these terrible attacks”.

He condemned the Hamas attack in Israel and the “collective punishment” of people in Gaza and called for the UK government to support medical evacuations of injured civilians from Gaza.

The tearful Mr Yousaf issued an emotional call for unity as he said there was “no room” for hatred of any kind in Scotland.

Following the SNP’s heavy defeat to Labour in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election, the first minister told party members they could “either spend time feeling sorry for ourselves”, or “roll up our sleeves and work harder than ever before for the people of Scotland”.

He urged delegates to unite behind the party’s independence strategy, based on winning a majority of seats at the next general election, to help build a “sustained majority” for Yes.

Mr Yousaf said independence was “neither untested nor unobtainable” as he insisted a united SNP could “make it happen”.

The most eye-catching announcement in what was a policy rich speech was the decision to freeze council tax next year.

That means that whoever you are, wherever you live, your council tax bill will not increase in the 2024/25 financial year.

That is a far cry from the possibility of big tax rises for those in more expensive proprieties – an idea that the Scottish government and councils have been consulting on.

Humza Yousaf did not spell out how the freeze would be funded at a time when councils are under major financial pressures. That is to be negotiated with local government.

The announcement has taken councils by total surprise despite them striking a recent agreement with the Scottish government on joint-working.

It should be seen as a political response to the electoral pressure the SNP is under, as demonstrated by their defeat in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election.

Party sources say they want to recover popularity by focussing more on key issues of public concern like the cost of living and the NHS.

There was a time when the SNP sought to abolish council tax. Humza Yousaf now talks about reforming it to make it fairer. But in the short term it will just not be allowed to increase.

Other key announcements included plans to issue the first ever Scottish government bonds on the international bond market to raise funds for infrastructure projects, and plans to “anchor a new offshore wind supply chain” in Scotland with up to £500m in funding over five years – with the government aiming to ensure vital parts such as turbines are made at home instead of being imported from abroad.

The SNP leader said issuing the first ever Scottish government investment bonds by 2026 – subject to “due diligence and market testing” – would help enhance Scotland’s global standing.

“This will bring Scotland to the attention of investors across the world,” he said.

“We will also demonstrate the credibility to international markets that we will need when we become an international country.”

The first minister also announced a pilot scheme for £1,000 to be given to domestic abuse survivors fleeing their partners as part of a £500,000 “fund to leave” which will be distributed to Women’s Aid groups for pilot schemes in Glasgow, South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire, Edinburgh and Fife.

Mr Yousaf said the government will commit £400,000 to the redevelopment of Union Street in Aberdeen city centre, as well as supporting the Eden Project in Dundee, the Clyde Mission in Glasgow and improvement works in the St James Quarter in Edinburgh.

He pledged ministers will invest an extra £100m in each of the next three years to cut NHS waiting lists by an estimated 100,000 patients by 2026, when the next Holyrood election is scheduled to take place.

The number of patients on hospital waiting lists in Scotland has increased to 667,746, quarterly figures to June showed. That was up from almost 625,000 in February.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman came in for criticism during the speech as Mr Yousaf criticised the UK government’s immigration policy.

He condemned Ms Braverman for warning of a “hurricane” of migration coming to the UK and said that with independence Scotland could decide its own immigration policy.

Referencing a viral social media post from the Tory conference, he said: “Suella Braverman’s most compassionate moment came when she stood on the tail of a guide dog.”

Taking aim at Labour, the first minister told delegates he had “no idea what Keir Starmer stands for”.

Humza Yousaf’s speech went down very well with those in the conference hall. There were whoops, standing ovations and applause aplenty.

But there’s no denying SNP conference is smaller (and perhaps feels a bit flatter) than previous years.

Not only has the conference been moved to a smaller hall than last year, but there were still quite a few empty seats for Mr Yousaf’s speech.

Aberdeen can be a long journey for many delegates, and attending any political party conference isn’t cheap.

But the SNP will hope that a quieter conference won’t mean fewer activists willing to put a shift in for the party at the next election.

The SNP’s new independence strategy, agreed by delegates on Sunday, has ditched Nicola Sturgeon’s plan for a de facto referendum.

However, arriving at the conference on Monday, she gave her “full unequivocal support” to the new plan.

In his keynote speech Mr Yousaf thanked Ms Sturgeon, who he credited with having “transformed Scotland”.

The top line of the party’s manifesto will be “vote SNP for Scotland to become an independent country”, the conference was told.

“And that’s because independence is about building a better Scotland,” Mr Yousaf said.

“It’s about raising living standards. It’s about protecting our NHS. Above all, it’s about a stronger economy.

“An economy that works for everyone who lives here.”

The small city of Heihe sits along China’s border with Russia. Local tourists come here to peek into neighbouring Blagoveshchensk, just across the river, but there are not many of them.

A tour boat sits idle on the water, pumping out happy-sounding Chinese songs in an attempt to attract customers, but with nobody buying tickets it doesn’t look like it’s going to move all day.

Across the water, a Russian coastguard ship is parked, and officers pass the time doing exercises on deck in the autumn sun.

When Vladimir Putin visited Beijing for the opening of the Winter Olympics at the beginning of last year, he and Xi Jinping announced a new “no limits” partnership between their countries.

Now, with Russia’s leader back in the Chinese capital, China’s state media has been hailing the fruits of this relationship.

In one way, it has been beneficial for both governments. They can reassure one another when they are frozen out on the world stage, and images of their handshakes are useful to try to show their own people that all is normal, with such powerful friends standing together. However, business activity in their border zones does not appear to live up to the political rhetoric.

A newly-built bridge into Blagoveshchensk from Heihe was celebrated as the symbol of a new era in cross-border trade yet you can observe it for an hour and not see a single vehicle driving in either direction.

In the heart of the city, behind the small clusters of tourists taking photos across the river, two large multi-storey shopping centres have been closed due to a lack of patronage. One shut just months ago, and we’re told the other has been empty for seven years.

Some of the former stallholders are parked in front of the first building selling Russian gifts and gadgets out of the backs of their cars.

“Business isn’t good. There aren’t enough tourists,” one woman says.

“After Covid, the borders haven’t been open for long. There aren’t enough Russians coming across. They’re poor and they’re at war.”

Others selling goods nod along as she says this.

In a street nearby, a woman in a small shop is selling hats made in China, using Russian fur. She says they were once very popular with both Russian and Chinese customers but that recently her business has been struggling.

“You can’t compare now to the past,” she says. “Just take a look at the streets. They’re empty. In the past they were filled with potential buyers.”

There is however, one group which is more upbeat about Russia-China trade: the lorry drivers waiting to enter the riverboat port.

“I’m carrying soybeans, wheat and barley, all from Russia, and it’s busier than before,” says one driver.

“I’m transporting sand and coal from Russia. Others are moving containers with food,” says another.

And the entrance to the port does look busy, with all manner of materials being hauled in and out. Cranes are lifting steel frames, coal and sand off ships and lowering them on to the waiting lorries.

The drivers say that crossing between the countries by boat is cheaper than using the new bridge, which could partly explain why it’s more used.

Other businesspeople in Heihe say that new Russian tariffs on some Chinese goods have dampened the trade atmosphere.

And yet China has been helping out its partner, hit by sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine, by piping more Russian natural gas into its north-eastern province of Heilongjiang.

In addition, Xi Jinping’s administration has swung most of the Chinese population behind Vladimir Putin’s war effort.

It has done this via state-controlled media, which do not speak about an “invasion” or even a “war” in Ukraine but rather a Russian operation that is justified to counter the expansionary tendencies of Nato and, in particular, the United States.

To gauge the success of this propaganda strategy, you only have to speak to people on the street in Harbin, the regional capital of Heilongjiang.

A century ago, it was dominated by Russian people and Russian culture, but even the descendants of these families have now left. It is a completely Chinese city these days with only remnants of its Russian past.

In front of the beautiful Russian Orthodox cathedral, tourists arriving from other Chinese provinces pose for pictures.

“Russia and China have a good friendship,” one woman says.

The man next to her adds: “Putin is a responsible leader. A man with a sense of justice.”

Another, visiting with his friend, says: “Putin is a man with iron fists. He’s tough, and tough is good.”

But does he know why Russia’s leader is at war with Ukraine?

“Ordinary people like us shouldn’t comment on that,” he replies.

Russia’s war could be assisting Beijing’s geostrategic aims by eating up Nato resources and – in the eyes of some – promoting a view that association with the US brings potential danger and even chaos.

Officially, Vladmir Putin is in China this week to attend the forum considering the progress of Xi Jinping’s pet project, the Belt and Road Initiative. It is a global transport infrastructure programme linking China with countries to its west, but which has been criticised for, at times, locking poorer nations into debt traps.

When the leaders of China and Russia meet on the sidelines of this conference, they will celebrate the strengthening of their ties, as they attempt to build a broader coalition against the West with other like-minded governments.

And you can see the benefits of this, for them.

However, there is still a long way to go for China’s trade with Russia to match its trade with many of the same Western countries that are decried as ideological enemies.

The first minister will make the announcement during his keynote speech to the SNP conference in Aberdeen.

It comes after delegates agreed a new independence strategy based on winning the majority of Scotland’s 57 seats at the next general election.

Mr Yousaf will vow to put the economy at the centre of the party’s constitutional campaign.

Mr Yousaf will tell the conference that the Scottish government will invest an extra £100m in each of the next three years to cut waiting lists by an estimated 100,000 patients by 2026, when the next Holyrood election is scheduled to take place.

“This additional funding will enable us to maximise capacity, build greater resilience in the system and deliver year-on-year reductions in the number of patients who have waited too long for treatment,” he is expected to say.

The SNP leader will also outline plans to build a “sustained majority” for independence.

The SNP lost heavily to Labour in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election and have seen an MP defect to the Tories in recent weeks.

However, support for Yes has remained largely unchanged at about 49% in recent polls, when undecided voters are excluded.

Mr Yousaf is expected to urge the party to move on from talking about the mechanics of independence to discussing the motivations for it, to help build a “sustained majority” for Yes.

The top line of the party’s manifesto will be “vote SNP for Scotland to become an independent country”, conference has been told.

The first minister is expected to say: “And that’s because independence is about building a better Scotland.

“It’s about raising living standards. It’s about protecting our NHS. Above all, it’s about a stronger economy. An economy that works for everyone who lives here.”

The SNP’s new independence strategy, agreed by delegates on Sunday, has ditched Nicola Sturgeon’s plan for a de facto referendum.

However, arriving at the conference on Monday, she gave her “full unequivocal support” to the new plan.

The former first minister said she had been watching the conference “from afar” and denied taking attention away from her successor.

“I don’t think there is any doubt from what I’ve seen about who is in charge of this conference and it’s Humza Yousaf,” she said.

Mr Yousaf gave an emotional speech to the conference on Sunday amid concerns for family members trapped in Gaza.

And on Monday the first minister cut short a walkabout of conference stands to take a call from his mother-in-law.

He has repeatedly called for a ceasefire and for humanitarian aid to be allowed into the region.

Mr Yousaf’s wife, Nadia El-Nakla urged world leaders to “give the children of Gaza a chance of life” as she spoke of her “complete despair” in a speech to party delegates.

She expressed fears the city where her family has a home was being “obliterated” by the Israeli military.