tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/amber-rudd-17827/articlesAmber Rudd – The Conversation2020-03-11T14:23:10Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1333792020-03-11T14:23:10Z2020-03-11T14:23:10ZSpinoza and ‘no platforming’: Enlightenment thinker would have seen it as motivated by ambition rather than fear<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319889/original/file-20200311-116255-1xyj5ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C10%2C1376%2C1230&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Baruch Spinoza, one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unknown artist via Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The recent “no-platforming” of social historian <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-51737206">Selina Todd</a> and former Conservative MP <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-51768634">Amber Rudd</a> has reignited the debate about protecting free speech in universities. Both had their invited lectures cancelled at the last minute on the grounds of previous public statements with which the organisers disagreed. </p>
<p>Many people <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/08/censoring-dangerous-ideas-is-itself-dangerous-no-platforming-prevent">have interpreted</a> these acts as hostile behaviour aimed at silencing certain views. But is this primarily about free speech?</p>
<p>The debate about no-platforming and “cancel culture” has largely revolved around free speech and the question of whether it is ever right to deny it. The <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/amber-rudd-oxford-university-event-cancelled-students-no-platforming-free-speech-gavin-williamson-a9381091.html">suggestion is</a> that those who cancel such events want to deny the freedom of speech of individuals who they take to be objectionable. </p>
<p>Most of us surely agree that freedom of speech should sometimes be secondary to considerations of the harm caused by certain forms of speech – so the question is about what kinds of harm offer a legitimate reason to deny someone a public platform. Since people perceive harm in many different ways, this question is particularly difficult to resolve.</p>
<p>But perhaps the organisers who cancelled these events were not motivated by the desire to deny freedom of speech at all. Todd and Rudd are prominent people in positions of authority – so cancelling their events, while causing a public splash, is unlikely to dent their freedom to speak on these or other issues at other times and in different forums. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/two-arguments-to-help-decide-whether-to-cancel-someone-and-their-work-128411">Two arguments to help decide whether to 'cancel' someone and their work</a>
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<p>But these acts have a significant effect on others, who may feel unable to speak on certain issues from fear of similar treatment. Perhaps the no-platformers cancelled Todd and Rudd, not because they wanted to deny them their freedom to speak, but because they didn’t want to listen to them. Perhaps they were motivated not by a rational consideration of potential harm, but by an emotion: the desire not to listen to something with which they disagree.</p>
<h2>Ambitious mind</h2>
<p>The 17th-century Dutch philosopher <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/spinoza/">Baruch Spinoza</a> has a name for this emotion: ambition. Nowadays we think of ambition as the desire to succeed in one’s career. But in the 17th century, ambition was recognised to be a far more pernicious – and far more political – emotion. As Spinoza wrote in his <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ethics-by-Spinoza">Ethics (1677)</a>, ambition is the desire that everyone should feel the way I do: </p>
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<p>Each of us strives, so far as he can, that everyone should love what he loves, and hate what he hates… Each of us, by his nature, wants the others to live according to his temperament; when all alike want this, they are alike an obstacle to one another. </p>
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<p>Spinoza sees the emotions, or “passions”, as naturally arising from our interactions with one another and the world. We strive to do things that make us feel joy – an increase in our power to exist and flourish – and we strive to avoid things that make us feel sad or cause a decrease in our power.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319890/original/file-20200311-116291-1lmmgiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319890/original/file-20200311-116291-1lmmgiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319890/original/file-20200311-116291-1lmmgiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319890/original/file-20200311-116291-1lmmgiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319890/original/file-20200311-116291-1lmmgiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319890/original/file-20200311-116291-1lmmgiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319890/original/file-20200311-116291-1lmmgiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319890/original/file-20200311-116291-1lmmgiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Handwritten manuscript of ‘Ethica’ by Baruch de Spinoza.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Biblioteca Vaticana</span></span>
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<p>We naturally desire and love what we believe others desire and love. It is therefore natural that we want others to love what we do and think what we think. For if others admire and approve of our actions and feelings, then we will feel a greater pleasure – with a concomitant increase of power – in ourselves. </p>
<p>Ambition is not simply wanting to feel esteemed – it is wanting others to love and hate exactly what we love and hate. It is the desire to cause others to think and feel exactly as we do. It is the desire to “avert from ourselves” those who cannot be convinced to do so – for those dissenters diminish our sense of self-worth.</p>
<h2>Disagreement a threat</h2>
<p>Spinoza would have recognised the desire not to listen to dissenting views as a species of ambition. Disagreement is perceived not as a reasoned difference of views, but as a threat: something that causes sadness and a diminishing of one’s power – something to be avoided at all costs.</p>
<p>Somebody who feels differently threatens our sense of the worthiness of our own feelings, causing a type of sadness. Spinoza stresses that we strive to “destroy” whatever we imagine will lead to sadness. Thus ambition leads to a desire to change people’s views, often through hostile, exclusionary, destructive behaviours. </p>
<p>Not only that, but someone in the grip of ambition is likely to be immune to rational argument. Spinoza argues that passions are obstructive to good thinking: reason – on its own – has little power to shift a passion that has a strong hold on us. </p>
<p>Most of us have had negative experiences on social media with people who disagree with us on politically charged questions. Instead of engaging with our arguments, they point out that we are immoral or unfeeling for holding a different view. Really, what our opponents find intolerable is our failure to feel the same about the issue as they do. </p>
<p>Refusing to hear an argument and seeking to silence it is a mild form of no-platforming, motivated not by the desire to quash free speech, but by ambition. Our failure to share in the political feelings of others leads them to experience a loss of power, and they respond by attacking the cause of the loss. Ambition makes rational debate impossible, even when our freedom to speak remains perfectly intact.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133379/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beth Lord has previously received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council for her work on Spinoza.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Douglas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s not a case of being afraid of different ideas, more that some people want everyone to think as they do.Beth Lord, Professor of Philosophy, University of AberdeenAlexander Douglas, Lecturer in Philosophy, University of St AndrewsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1230002019-09-08T20:02:25Z2019-09-08T20:02:25ZA dog’s Brexit: Johnson’s missteps about to send weary voters to another election as the EU divorce gets ugly<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291371/original/file-20190908-175668-o9ptoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In Boris Johnson's short time as prime minister, the Brexit mess has become only messier.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/EPA/Will Oliver</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the ongoing saga that is Britain’s attempted divorce from the European Union, Monday is shaping up to be the most significant day to date. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected once again to try to force a general election from a parliament that has him in a headlock.</p>
<p>Last week, opposition MPs and rebellious Conservatives voted to take back control of the parliamentary agenda from the government. They did so to block Johnson’s attempt to take the UK out of the EU without a deal to soften the blow. In this, they succeeded. But to break the deadlock, an election will have to come one way or another - and soon.</p>
<p>The resignation of work and pensions secretary <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/07/amber-rudd-resigns-from-cabinet-and-surrenders-conservative-whip">Amber Rudd from Johnson’s cabinet</a> is the latest blow to Johnson’s barely disguised attempt to leave the EU without a deal. Rejecting the deal currently on the table but coming up with nothing new of substance, Johnson’s strategy and tactics rested on bluster to scare the EU and rally the true believers at home. </p>
<p>Yet herein lies the problem with the crash-or-crash-through approach to politics: sometimes you just crash.</p>
<p>Johnson and the hard Brexiteers who took control of cabinet in July are the authors of their own misfortune. They have lost control of parliament through their reckless tactics.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/boris-johnson-political-vegemite-becomes-the-uk-prime-minister-let-the-games-begin-119467">Boris Johnson, 'political Vegemite', becomes the UK prime minister. Let the games begin</a>
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<p>Johnson won the leadership of the Conservatives just two months ago, promising to take <a href="https://news.sky.com/video/prime-minister-says-he-does-not-want-an-election-11800888">the UK out of the EU on October 31, “no ifs, no buts”</a>. This means that whenever it comes, the looming election will effectively be another referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU. </p>
<p>Whatever the <a href="https://www.conservatives.com/manifesto">pre-existing manifesto commitments</a>, the ideal outcome for Johnson and the hard Brexiteers was always to leave without a deal.</p>
<p>Rudd’s resignation tweet confirmed as much. The hard Brexiteer theory was that Brexit could only truly succeed if it was realised in its pristine form: severing all economic and political ties with the EU with immediate effect. </p>
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<p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49551893">But not everyone in the UK welcomed</a> such liberation from all that EU food and medicine. Nor were they warmed by the thought of the renewed Britain that the hard Brexiteers insisted would emerge from the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/03/no-deal-brexit-crashing-out-uk-europe">no-deal chaos</a>.</p>
<p>This is an electoral problem for Johnson and the Conservatives. Certainly, some leave voters are prepared to take the risks of a no-deal Brexit (assuming they have read the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gove-yellowhammer-spin-no-deal-brexit-a9071601.html">government’s own leaked advice</a> or <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-49597981/jacob-rees-mogg-dr-nicholl-as-irresponsible-as-dr-wakefield">not dismissed independent assessment because they didn’t like it</a>). But many of those who rejected that no-deal vision are Conservative MPs and voters.</p>
<p>Brexit has bent and contorted party loyalties. The radical push for no deal was a bridge too far for many Conservatives. It certainly was for Rudd and those 21 MPs who voted against the government on September 3 and were expelled for their troubles.</p>
<p>Conservative MP Dr Phillip Lee cited this radicalisation in the <a href="https://twitter.com/DrPhillipLeeMP/status/1168898191103864832">letter justifying his defection to the Liberal Democrats</a>. He wrote:</p>
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<p>…the Brexit process has helped transform this once great Party into something more akin to a narrow faction, where an individual’s “conservatism” is measured by how recklessly one wishes to leave the European Union. Perhaps most disappointingly, it has increasingly become infected with the twin diseases of populism and English nationalism.</p>
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<p>If this is how Lee feels, many other Conservatives are no doubt feeling the same.</p>
<p>Of course, for many voters, English nationalism and populism are not the disease, but the cure. In a rare moment of sincerity, Johnson meant what he said about being prepared to come out without a deal. But it was also designed to steal the new Brexit Party’s thunder.</p>
<p>Nigel Farage’s party secured the most votes in the <a href="https://election-results.eu/national-results/united-kingdom/2019-2024/">elections to the European Parliament held in May</a> (the deferred Brexit meant that the UK was still legally obliged to participate). These votes came principally from disgruntled Conservative voters, so doing something to win them back was important. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/aug/20/brexit-latest-news-boris-johnsons-backstop-offer-to-eu-dismissed-by-labour-as-fantasyland-wish-list-live-news">Blaming the EU</a> (especially the Irish) for no deal is a crucial plank in the hard Brexiteer strategy, <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2019/08/27/who-would-britons-blame-no-deal-brexit">but one that is backfiring</a>.</p>
<p>Despite the rhetoric about Britain, <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2019/06/18/most-conservative-members-would-see-party-destroye">most leave voters care less about maintaining the UK than getting out of the EU</a>. Nevertheless, Northern Ireland’s pro-UK Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) must still be counted among Johnson’s dwindling band of allies, even if their leader <a href="https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/arlene-foster-rules-herself-out-as-candidate-in-snap-general-election-38474924.html">Arlene Foster has declined to run in the imminent election</a>.</p>
<p>Brexit’s political chaos should be manna from heaven for the main opposition, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party. But the prospect of an election carries risks for Labour too. The idea of a Brexit borne on the tide of white, working class male revolt can be overstated.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, there are constituencies where a pro-Remain Labour MP represents pro-Leave constituents, and this creates an electoral dilemma. To come out as a “remain” party would please most of its urban professional support, but create a rift between remain- and leave-voting Labour supporters. </p>
<p>This has given rise to Labour’s <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-45640548">confusing ambiguity</a> on the issue in past months. It now supports a referendum if it wins an election for which it is currently blocking until Johnson asks the EU for another extension; <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/06/denying-boris-johnson-election-remainers-want-see-will-die-ditch/">which he refuses to do</a>. </p>
<p>In any case, the Labour party needs <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/current-state-of-the-parties/">to gain more than 70 seats</a> to gain a majority, given its own defections. This would require a major shift in public opinion from the 2017 election. The best hope for no-dealers is not therefore a Labour government, but some sort of temporary coalition between Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, disgruntled ex-Conservatives and the Scottish National Party (SNP). </p>
<p>Of all the major parties, the SNP has the clearest vision for the United Kingdom: it wants to leave it. The party leadership is open about its desire to remain in the EU (<a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2017/03/what-next-snp-voters-who-voted-brexit">even if an estimated 30% of their voters</a> might disagree). The SNP’s dilemma is whether to make an alliance with other parties in Britain ostensibly to block a no-deal Brexit government, but ultimately in order to secede from the UK. Given <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-black-box-of-brexit-identification-with-englishness-is-the-best-clue/">most Remain voters in England identify as “British”</a> this will be unpalatable to them. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/boris-johnson-has-suspended-the-uk-parliament-what-does-this-mean-for-brexit-122615">Boris Johnson has suspended the UK parliament. What does this mean for Brexit?</a>
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<p>In fact, Brexit is a misnomer in three ways: it is driven by a sense of English – rather than British – malaise. It’s <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorial/the-irish-times-view-on-mike-pence-s-visit-to-ireland-that-didn-t-go-very-well-1.4007912">transnational support from the Trump administration</a> suggests the international and domestic agendas that come with the no-deal project. It is not just about “exit”, but comes with a program for domestic change of a radically conservative variety.</p>
<p>While Brexit has spilled over into US politics, Ireland’s supporters in the US Congress could <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-14/pelosi-threatens-to-block-u-s-u-k-post-brexit-trade-deal">scupper plans for a post-Brexit free trade agreement between the UK and the USA</a>. Such an agreement is a key part of Johnson’s hard-Brexit strategy that underscores the transnational dimension to the politics of Brexit.</p>
<p>Whatever the drivers of Brexit, it is ultimately for the electorates in an increasingly divided UK to decide. It’s quite possible the forthcoming election will not alter the parliamentary arithmetic in any significant way.</p>
<p>But it’s the only way this arithmetic can change and so it must be embraced by a politics-weary electorate throughout the four nations of the UK.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123000/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ben Wellings does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As Boris Johnson’s tactics cause deep rifts within the Conservative Party, the UK faces a Brexit of radical conservatism - and plenty of risks.Ben Wellings, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1087042018-12-12T15:57:06Z2018-12-12T15:57:06ZConservative confidence vote: who are the potential leadership challengers?<p>Prime minister Theresa May’s position as leader of the Conservative Party is at its most <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36788782">vulnerable</a> since she took over the role in July 2016. Her MPs are voting on whether to oust her as leader, following anger over <a href="https://theconversation.com/brexit-vote-postponed-what-parliament-must-do-now-to-fix-theresa-mays-mess-108518">her decision to postpone</a> the parliamentary vote on her Brexit deal.</p>
<p>Should she lose this confidence vote, a leadership contest would be triggered. She would not be able to stand in that contest, so it’s worth considering which of her colleagues might put themselves forward for the top job. These are the main runners an riders:</p>
<h2>Boris Johnson</h2>
<p>Boris Johnson is perhaps the best known and most colourful of those who’d like to compete for the leadership. He was twice elected <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/may/02/london08.london">mayor of London</a> (holding office between 2008 and 2016) and has built up a high profile over the years as a media personality and then as an MP. </p>
<p>Significantly, he is the darling of the Conservative grassroots and has a broad public popularity that most other Conservatives can’t hope to replicate thanks to his eccentric image. However, he has also built up a significant level of opposition among MPs within his party who view him as untrustworthy, disloyal and lazy. And since it is they who will first choose leadership candidates, his chances look less good than they might first appear. Some MPs have even threatened to <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1015331/boris-johnson-12-mps-resign-conservative-party-leader-brexit-eu-chequers">resign the party whip</a> if he ever becomes leader. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250247/original/file-20181212-110253-2l0rwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250247/original/file-20181212-110253-2l0rwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250247/original/file-20181212-110253-2l0rwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250247/original/file-20181212-110253-2l0rwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250247/original/file-20181212-110253-2l0rwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250247/original/file-20181212-110253-2l0rwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250247/original/file-20181212-110253-2l0rwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Johnson has been running for the leadership for some time …</span>
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<p>Johnson is a divisive figure and has been accused of <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2016/02/21/boris-johnson-eu-brexit-supports_n_9286400.html?guce_referrer_us=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmluZy5jb20vc2VhcmNoP3E9Ym9yaXMram9obnNvbiticmV4aXQrcHNvdGlvbisyMDE2JnFzPW4mZm9ybT1RQlJFJnNwPS0xJnBxPWJvcmlzK2pvaG5zb24rYnJleGl0K3Bzb3RpJnNjPTAtMjYmc2s9JmN2aWQ9NTkyQ0Y1RDdGMjExNEUyMDk4RjZGMThCM0Y1RTE4NjQ&guce_referrer_cs=c5rHieg25Tgu_AEXrOJgPg&guccounter=2">changing his mind</a> about Brexit to further his own political ambitions. He failed miserably in his efforts to succeed David Cameron in 2016, and although May appointed him as her foreign secretary, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-44771278/boris-johnson-resigns-as-foreign-secretary">his resignation over her Chequers deal</a> suggested that he was never a loyal ally and that he ultimately retained a desire for the party leadership. </p>
<h2>Dominic Raab</h2>
<p>Dominic Raab succeeded David Davis as Brexit secretary in July 2018, but his tenure proved to be short-lived. By November he, too, had <a href="http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2018/11/15/raab-resigns-the-shabby-end-of-a-pitiful-career">resigned</a> due to his opposition to May’s final proposed deal for Brexit.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250240/original/file-20181212-110231-jf68r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250240/original/file-20181212-110231-jf68r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250240/original/file-20181212-110231-jf68r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250240/original/file-20181212-110231-jf68r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250240/original/file-20181212-110231-jf68r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250240/original/file-20181212-110231-jf68r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250240/original/file-20181212-110231-jf68r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Raab quit the cabinet over May’s Brexit deal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>While his resignation failed to prompt the prime minister’s departure – as may have originally been hoped – Raab’s apparently principled position won him some kudos from Conservative eurosceptic backbenchers. Relatively youthful and less well known than some of his leadership rivals, this could be both a strength and a weakness. He has fewer enemies and represents a fresh start, but he is also more of an unknown quantity. Wavering MPs may be unwilling to trust him with their support as a result. </p>
<h2>Amber Rudd</h2>
<p>Amber Rudd is seen as the great hope of Conservative Remainers. She raised her profile and gained credit for her prominent role in the televised Brexit debates during the summer of 2016. She also played a high-profile role during the 2017 general election campaign, and is largely seen as a May loyalist, who was recently brought back into the Cabinet after exiting as home secretary following the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/windrush-52562">Windrush scandal</a>. She has spoken out in support of a <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/brexit/amber-rudd-brexit-second-referendum-no-deal-peston/">second referendum</a> to approve any final deal. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250244/original/file-20181212-110256-j3d35i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250244/original/file-20181212-110256-j3d35i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250244/original/file-20181212-110256-j3d35i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250244/original/file-20181212-110256-j3d35i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250244/original/file-20181212-110256-j3d35i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250244/original/file-20181212-110256-j3d35i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250244/original/file-20181212-110256-j3d35i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rudd is back in the cabinet after a spell on the backbenches.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rudd’s explicitly pro-European views make Conservative eurosceptics hostile towards her. Although Remainers form a minority of Conservative MPs, Rudd could offer the prospect of delivering a calming and pragmatic soft Brexit option, which could win some support from across the parliamentary party. However, the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4586756/Is-Home-Secretary-Amber-Rudd-lose-seat.html">vulnerability</a> of her own marginal parliamentary seat would make hear a risky leadership option if a general election was held in the near future. </p>
<h2>David Davis</h2>
<p>Davis can certainly be classed as being at the “veteran” stage of his political career, but with this brings significant experience. An MP for over 30 years, a former leadership candidate in 2005, and having served in the government of John Major in the 1990s, Davis also has longstanding eurosceptic credentials and became the first Brexit secretary in May’s government. His supporters would see him a safe pair of hands.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250242/original/file-20181212-110237-1r927ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250242/original/file-20181212-110237-1r927ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250242/original/file-20181212-110237-1r927ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250242/original/file-20181212-110237-1r927ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250242/original/file-20181212-110237-1r927ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250242/original/file-20181212-110237-1r927ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250242/original/file-20181212-110237-1r927ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Davis was a key figure in the Leave movement but didn’t stick around in government.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, his resignation from Cabinet in the summer was seen as disloyal by some and there have been negative comments about his <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/juncker-says-weak-negotiator-davis-is-jeopardising-brexit-talks-2ksg8bdjn">poor negotiating skills</a> when dealing with the EU.</p>
<h2>Michael Gove</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250245/original/file-20181212-110237-z0szd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250245/original/file-20181212-110237-z0szd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250245/original/file-20181212-110237-z0szd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250245/original/file-20181212-110237-z0szd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250245/original/file-20181212-110237-z0szd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250245/original/file-20181212-110237-z0szd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250245/original/file-20181212-110237-z0szd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Another chance for Gove?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Michael Gove was originally a close ally of David Cameron and his Notting Hill set, and played a key role in getting the Conservative Party modernised prior to its return to power in 2010. He was a radical and reforming education secretary but his relationship with Cameron cooled when he was sidelined to the role of chief whip in 2014, and it further deteriorated when he took on a prominent role in the Leave campaign in 2016. The two men are <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/741812/michael-gove-regrets-mistakes-leadership-conservative-party-david-cameron">reported</a> to have never spoken since. </p>
<p>Gove also reversed his initial support for Johnson’s leadership bid in 2016 and then instead unsuccessfully put himself forward for the role. Although reappointed to cabinet in 2017, such manoeuvrings gained him a reputation of being treacherous and disloyal, and this may count against him should a leadership vacancy arise. He has stuck with May as environment secretary but turned down the job of Brexit secretary when Raab resigned.</p>
<h2>Sajid Javid</h2>
<p>Sajid Javid is a rising star within the Conservative Party and appears to encapsulate many of its key beliefs. He is a self-made man, born into a poor immigrant family, who rose through the social ranks to forge a successful career in banking before entering into politics. </p>
<p>An MP for less than ten years and appointed to the cabinet by Cameron in 2014, he has held a number of senior ministerial roles since, and currently occupies one of the great offices of state as <a href="https://theconversation.com/sajid-javid-the-son-of-a-pakistani-bus-driver-who-became-britains-home-secretary-95884">home secretary</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250267/original/file-20181212-110243-a6kjfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250267/original/file-20181212-110243-a6kjfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250267/original/file-20181212-110243-a6kjfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250267/original/file-20181212-110243-a6kjfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250267/original/file-20181212-110243-a6kjfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250267/original/file-20181212-110243-a6kjfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250267/original/file-20181212-110243-a6kjfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Javid is a rising star.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>He was a sceptical Remainer but has endorsed Brexit since. Britain has never had a BME prime minister and his Pakistani descent could help his party broaden its appeal among voters. The Conservatives have, in recent elections, struggled to win support within the BME community. </p>
<h2>Jeremy Hunt</h2>
<p>Hunt can be seen as a leadership dark horse and is currently one of the great survivors of British politics. He has endured numerous reshuffles and leadership changes to remain as one of the few continuously serving members of the Conservative cabinet since 2010. Although he campaigned for remain in 2016, he has loyally argued the Brexit case since and was rewarded earlier in 2018 when May <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44774702">promoted</a> him to foreign secretary after a long term as health secretary.</p>
<p>This new role has given him some firsthand insight into the Brexit process and its international diplomatic implications. Given this background and his apparent capacity for political survival at a senior level, he may have the potential to draw support from both wings of the party’s MPs.</p>
<h2>Wild cards</h2>
<p>These would appear to be the main contenders to succeed May, although outsider bets from the party’s eurosceptic wing such as Esther McVey and Penny Mordaunt have also been touted as having the potential and ambition to emerge from a crowded field. What is clear is that unlike May’s unchallenged accession in 2016, the next party leader is not an obvious choice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108704/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ben Williams is a member of the National Education Union, Amnesty International, an Associate of the Higher Education Academy, and also a member of the Labour Party. </span></em></p>The PM is in a tight spot, but can anyone else lead the nation into Brexit?Ben Williams, Tutor in Politics and Political Theory, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/958112018-04-30T11:02:03Z2018-04-30T11:02:03ZSajid Javid, Amber Rudd and the trouble with heading the Home Office<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216885/original/file-20180430-135825-bd2fno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=80%2C99%2C4041%2C2438&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Andy Rain</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“We don’t have targets for removal” seems a relatively innocuous <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2018/apr/29/amber-rudd-select-committee-questioning-video">statement</a>, but it was at the heart of Amber Rudd’s fall from grace. Rudd’s relatively short tenure at the Home Office is not untypical for that department. The Home Office has a long standing reputation for chewing up secretaries of state fairly quickly – of being a “career killer”.</p>
<p>One notable exception to this was Rudd’s predecessor at the Home Office, Theresa May. She headed the department for <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36767844">longer than anyone else</a> in modern times. May’s record stay in the Home Office between 2010 and 2016 compared to her successor’s fairly typical two years is somewhat ironic considering that it was arguably May’s fondness for immigration targets which in part laid the foundations for Rudd’s undoing.</p>
<p>However, in May’s defence, it was not the policy of having removal targets or the heavy focus of reducing immigration itself which led to Rudd’s removal. It is entirely possible that Rudd could have weathered the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/windrush-52562">Windrush affair</a> with little damage to her political reputation. Indeed, being tough on immigration can play well with certain elements of the selectorate that chooses the leader of the Conservative party. The evident injustice of targeting people who have lived and contributed to the country for decades could have been managed with a combination of tough talk (“the public expects us to enforce the immigration rules”) and marginally contrite language (“both the prime minister and I have apologised to those affected”).</p>
<p>Instead, what did it for Rudd was not being on top of her brief. It is unlikely that she deliberately mislead parliament on the issue of targets for removal. However, the number of times a secretary of state can return to parliament in order to put the record straight is very limited, and Rudd was pushing hard against that limit.</p>
<h2>Enter Javid</h2>
<p>Replacing Rudd with Sajid Javid seems a smart choice. Javid has been a fairly safe pair of hands in his previous positions. And, as a child of Pakistani immigrants, he has commented on Windrush that “it could have been me, my mum or my dad”. He therefore seems a sensible choice to deal with the fallout from that whole debacle. Rudd’s fall and Javid’s elevation has further damaged the gender balance of May’s cabinet, however, although in the context of the scandal that led to this change that is probably not going to make significant waves.</p>
<p>Javid is now faced with both short and long-term problems. Short term, he obviously needs to manage the Windrush mess. Provided he makes sure not to miss significant details in the documents sent to his office before speaking to parliament, he starts this process from a position of relative strength. His can now get on with putting “<a href="http://www.cityam.com/284534/no-cost-no-test-and-shift-burden-proof-amber-rudd-promises">these wrongs right going forward</a>”, as his predecessor put it, while not having to deal with being blamed for those wrongs.</p>
<p>Longer term Javid does have the rather trickier task of how to manage the government’s ongoing target of reducing immigration below 100,000 annually. How to do that as the child of immigrants, will take some careful footwork.</p>
<p>Looking further ahead, it’s clear that Rudd’s chances of succeeding May as leader of the Conservative party have now been fatally damaged, especially considering her tiny majority in her Hastings and Rye constituency. By contrast, Javid’s chances have significantly increased. He does need to avoid falling foul of the Home Office career killer reputation, which is no easy task. However, if he does manage that brief well, and does become the next leader of the Conservative party, he would also put further focus on the Labour party’s inability to move beyond the rather overfished “white male” leadership talent pool.</p>
<p>Turning to the prime minister, it is obviously never good to lose a senior member of the cabinet, especially over issues that can be traced back to May’s time in the Home Office. However, losing a home secretary is perhaps fairly small fry compared to losing a parliamentary majority, and May stayed in post even after doing that. As long as none of May’s rivals for the job are willing to take responsibility for Brexit, her position is likely to be secure.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95811/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin Pettitt is a member of Loughton Residents Association. </span></em></p>Theresa May lasted a long time, but this department chews up secretaries of state like no other.Robin Pettitt, Senior Lecturer in Comparative Politics, Kingston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/956772018-04-27T11:31:48Z2018-04-27T11:31:48ZHome Office deportation targets show how Britain’s immigration system is harmful by design<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216625/original/file-20180427-175058-lb5hyn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Under pressure: Home secretary, Amber Rudd. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Parliament TV</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>April has been a month of turbulence for the Home Office. The aftermath of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/windrush-52562">Windrush exposé</a> has shaken British politics to its core. And now Amber Rudd has <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43944988">resigned</a> as home secretary, days after <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/apr/26/amber-rudd-admits-home-office-set-local-targets-for-deportations">admitting</a> that her department had internal regional targets to remove illegalised people from the country – some from the Windrush generation who were already British subjects.</p>
<p>By setting targets, the intricacies of people’s histories are erased, and humans are reduced to statistics. For those applying for asylum, it means details of persecution are overlooked in favour of increasing removals.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/windrush-generation-the-history-of-unbelonging-95021">Windrush generation: the history of unbelonging</a>
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<p>For many immigrants, and anyone working on issues around immigration, the admission that targets existed should come as no surprise. The push toward reducing <a href="https://theconversation.com/britains-obsession-with-net-migration-makes-it-a-global-anomaly-67093">net migration</a> was a key objective under David Cameron’s Conservative government, driven by Theresa May during her time as home secretary. It provided a platform for bypassing the rights of immigrants. Everyday aspects of migration have now <a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-the-uk-governments-draconian-immigration-policy-explained-95460">become illegal activities</a> – from renting homes to having the right to work, the civil liberties of immigrants have been gradually eroded. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.open.edu/openlearn/people-politics-law/politics-policy-people/timeline-the-criminalisation-asylum#1">criminalisation of immigration</a> hit boiling point with the introduction of the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/22/contents/enacted">Immigration Act 2014</a>, which deleted a clause mentioned in previous legislation that protected long-term British residents from deportation. The Act contained a package of measures aimed at “maximising” voluntary returns through the creation of a very hostile environment for individuals. It was a deliberate erosion of the rights of ethnic and racial minorities. </p>
<p>One consequence of this has been a <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/547681/ICIBI-report-on-Removals-_December_2015.pdf">monumental increase</a> in the annual target of these so-called “voluntary” returns, from 7,200 in 2014-15 to 12,000 in 2015-16, detailed in a report by the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration. The immigration minister chaired weekly meetings on performance against targets across the whole system. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, when Rudd was questioned on these targets by the Home Affairs Select Committee on April 25, she <a href="https://news.sky.com/video/square-video-amber-rudd-targets-001mp4-11346848">confidently stated</a> “we don’t have targets for removals”. Less than 24 hours later, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/apr/26/amber-rudd-admits-home-office-set-local-targets-for-deportations">she admitted</a> to the use of targets, and the calls for her resignation got louder. She has since <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43902599">pledged</a> to get rid of any removal targets.</p>
<h2>A culture of callousness</h2>
<p>The use of targets has been well documented in the asylum system, with serious and damaging consequences for people seeking refugee status. In 2017, an asylum case worker wrote an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2017/apr/08/asylum-caseworkers-home-office-cuts-syria-war">anonymous letter</a> to The Guardian stating that, initial training for caseworkers involved establishing “credibility” – largely around ways to explain disbelief of applicants’ stories and write letters of refusal to applicants. This was combined with productivity targets attached to “end decisions”. In February 2018, three former caseworkers and whistleblowers <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/feb/11/lottery-asylum-system-unjust-home-office-whistleblowers">described the target culture</a>, which encouraged biased interviews with those seeking asylum and “cut-and-paste” refusal decisions.</p>
<p>The complex experiences of individuals fleeing torture, sexual violence and various other forms of trauma and threats – many of whom face physical and mental distress – are disbelieved and discredited to meet a callous target culture. Credibility is a vague constant in refusal letters where small details – such as minor inconsistencies in the use of language – are used to undermine the validity of applicant’s claims. To give just one example, a case we saw argued that credibility was in part undermined because the applicant confused “father” with “stepfather”. The applicant had known him since she was two years old. It’s an easy mistake in a second language, but one which builds a picture of someone who can be doubted.</p>
<p>When people seek asylum they are expected to give details of persecution in their first interview – something that can be very difficult for survivors of violence or trauma to do. From our experiences of working with people seeking asylum, it is clear that anyone who discloses experiences of violence, or who state that they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, in any later interviews are often disbelieved and their “credibility” is reduced. People are silenced from the outset, making refusals a staple diet of Britain’s treatment of refugees.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-an-asylum-seeker-have-to-do-to-prove-their-sexuality-38407">What does an asylum seeker have to do to prove their sexuality?</a>
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<h2>The death of compassion</h2>
<p>The human consequences of target cultures, inaccurate asylum case reviews and “cut-and-paste” refusals are a constant presence in the asylum system. Take the example below: a letter sent by the Home Office to an organisation which has been working with a man seeking asylum, who has attempted suicide four times. Rather than show compassion, the letter – a copy of which was passed to us anonymously – shows a drive to deport at any cost, passing responsibility to the already stretched adult social services. </p>
<p>This was the second letter the organisation received, because the first had the wrong file attached. Subsequently, so did the second. Only on the third occasion was the correct information included.</p>
<p>What we have here is human error, a consequence of structural failures which have let targets triumph over accuracy. It’s not the first either of us has seen, but this letter tells us something deeper about Home Office approaches to people seeking asylum: they do not care if this man attempts suicide. Like the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/yarls-wood-home-office-women-deported-more-quickly-hunger-strike-a8239611.html">evidence</a> that the Home Office were escalating deportations of women on hunger strike in Yarl’s Wood, it tells us that the Home Office’s compassion for the lives of migrants has itself died. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-befriend-women-detained-at-yarls-wood-their-life-in-immigration-limbo-is-excruciating-92905">I befriend women detained at Yarl's Wood: their life in immigration limbo is excruciating</a>
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<p>Under the UNHCR’s <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/uk/1951-refugee-convention.html">Refugee Convention</a>, all applications for asylum should be considered on an individual basis and relate to one of five forms of persecution. As such, the very existence of a culture of deportation targets is a fundamental contradiction to the rights of refugees – and the rights of migrants more broadly. </p>
<p>Neither of us is surprised by either the Windrush expose nor the admission of deportation targets – but everyone should be. The hostile environment is a deeply racialised process, with serious human costs. It is not accidental, nor does it operate in a vacuum. That means we can change it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95677/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victoria Canning receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>In 2014, Monish Bhatia received an Carnegie Trust award to research on impacts of destitution.
Affiliations:
European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control (Board Member)
The Scottish Refugee Council (Board Member)
Right to Remain (Committee Member)
</span></em></p>Home Office deportation targets reduce complex human stories to statistics.Victoria Canning, Lecturer in Criminology and Social Policy, The Open UniversityMonish Bhatia, Lecturer in Criminology, Birkbeck, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/954812018-04-24T13:13:59Z2018-04-24T13:13:59ZWindrush scandal: a historian on why destroying archives is never a good idea<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216118/original/file-20180424-57604-lrbqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=118%2C39%2C5082%2C3076&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sanwal Deen/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Archival practices rarely make headlines. Databases are sexy, archives less so – at least for most people. Whenever we do read about archives, it’s almost exclusively in the context of something disappearing. Apparently, we never know a good thing until it’s gone.</p>
<p>Most recently, it transpired that the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/17/home-office-destroyed-windrush-landing-cards-says-ex-staffer">Home Office apparently destroyed Windrush landing cards</a> eight years ago. These, it now seems, were crucial documents in establishing the legal status of Caribbean-born residents who arrived in the 1950s and 1960s. The question of exactly who is to take the blame for this action remains <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43809759">under debate</a>.</p>
<p>This is not the first time the government has had to admit to this kind of practice. A few months ago the Foreign Office admitted to its role in key documents “disappearing” from the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/26/government-admits-losing-thousands-of-papers-from-national-archives">National Archives</a>. Among them were papers on the colonial administration of Palestine, the Falklands, Northern Ireland’s Troubles and a score of other sensitive issues.</p>
<p>It’s unclear why the landing cards were destroyed. The Home Office says the decision was taken on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/17/home-office-destroyed-windrush-landing-cards-says-ex-staffer">data protection grounds</a> and that does seem to be a valid argument. Of course, that argument, too, can be, and frequently is, abused.</p>
<h2>Memory loss</h2>
<p>Perhaps we should all pay more attention to archives. As the Windrush case shows, their broader significance tends to only come to light when they stop working.</p>
<p>By definition, archives are the result of a selection process. They are dynamic and forever changing. Someone, somewhere chooses what goes in and what is left out. Someone decides who can have access to it, what is restricted and what is destroyed. Archival practices are complex, working with different layers of intentionality that do not always map onto each other. A social historian or climate scientist, for instance, might be interested in different kind of documents than the governing bodies of the archive deem worthy of keeping. A citizen looking to clarify her legal status may prioritise state archival practices that differ from the record-keeping intentions of ministries.</p>
<p>In this case, it’s very difficult <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/17/theresa-mays-hostile-environment-policy-at-heart-of-windrush-scandal?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">not to connect the dots</a> between the Home Office’s stated goal of a <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/9291483/Theresa-May-interview-Were-going-to-give-illegal-migrants-a-really-hostile-reception.html">“hostile environment”</a> for immigrants and the wilful destruction of landing cards. There is a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/18/whistleblowers-contradict-no-10-over-destroyed-windrush-landing-cards">very clear tension</a> between the aims of those collecting official records in this case, those regulating, limiting or preventing access to them, and those seeking access to them.</p>
<p>In extreme cases, access to a whole archive can be cut off. The post-1945 collection of the Hungarian National Archives has been in the process of “moving” for over a year (without a new building ready to accommodate the archives). Incidentally, it is not in the interest of the current Hungarian government for research to be conducted on post-war history which risks contesting its telling of the past. But one need not go to <a href="https://theconversation.com/europes-illiberal-states-why-hungary-and-poland-are-turning-away-from-constitutional-democracy-89622">a professed “illiberal democracy”</a> to encounter such practices: the archives of the international organisation UNICEF have been <a href="http://www.cf-hst.net/UNICEF-TEMP/CF-hst%20redesign/Guidelines.htm">“reviewing its archives and archival policies”</a> for years, without any sign of opening their collection for public access.</p>
<p>Archives are pertinent to the story that an institution or government wants to tell of itself. In some cases, that story can become too uncomfortable and archives are crucial tools to make those institutions accountable.</p>
<p>Archives are vital because institutional memory, as the practices of government departments reveal, is usually <a href="http://www.historyandpolicy.org/policy-papers/papers/intelligence-analysis-needs-to-look-backwards-before-looking-forward">extremely short</a>. Administrators, managers, directors move between departments and offices, leaving their knowledge behind. This regularly results in government departments going around in circles, “inventing” solutions to problems that have been attempted repeatedly in the past – and failed.</p>
<p>As the Windrush case shows, archival neglect can have severe impact on people too. During my own research, I was faced with the destruction of masses of polio patient files in Hungary. People lost the only remaining evidence of their hospitalisation, diagnosis and treatment from their childhood. As post-polio syndrome hit many of them, and with their parents deceased, they could only guess the medical interventions they had and the course of action they might need to pursue.</p>
<p>None of the above need be intentional –- but the little importance assigned to learning about that past and tending to the archives is. And this needs to be addressed, especially if we are talking about publicly funded organisations.</p>
<h2>Archives matter</h2>
<p>When we hear the word archives, we might imagine a big building where bespectacled historians and literary scholars mull over musty papers in silence. But archives are all around us: they might be in the cellar of a government office, a hospital’s filing room, a company’s computer, somebody’s attic. They might not even be <a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo25231630.html">documents or texts</a>. Archives can be collections of specimens like <a href="https://aeon.co/ideas/the-syrian-seed-bank-that-keeps-going-despite-the-war">seeds</a> or blood, fossils and minerals.</p>
<p>Users of archives might be similarly varied. From scientists and human rights activists and everyday people piecing together their family tree, to bureaucrats, journalists, architects and lawyers. </p>
<p>Sometimes it feels like historians have to make the point that history matters – and which history matters – <a href="http://www.historyandpolicy.org/policy-papers/papers/history-matters-but-which-one-every-refugee-crisis-has-a-context">over</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/brexit-and-the-lessons-of-history-93513">over</a> again (even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2006/jul/09/featuresreview.review">Stephen Fry chipped in</a>), and few seem to be listening. But awareness of the stakes in maintaining an institutional memory should not be confined to academic debates. They concern all of us, and we might not realise it until it’s too late – or until the traces of our lives, as we know them, are gone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95481/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dora Vargha is affiliated with the Society for the Social History of Medicine as journal co-editor of Social History of Medicine. </span></em></p>The Home Office threw away landing documents that are now vital to people trying to prove their right to stay in the UK.Dora Vargha, Lecturer in Medical Humanities, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/947672018-04-11T15:31:00Z2018-04-11T15:31:00ZAusterity has had a negative impact on crime, says former police commissioner<p>Britain’s home secretary, Amber Rudd has received a <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6013787/amber-rudd-should-consider-quitting-over-violent-crime-epidemic-says-boss-of-one-of-britains-top-police-forces/">media mauling</a> over rising violent crime levels. Her launch of a new <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/serious-violence-strategy">Serious Violence Strategy</a> on April 9 was overshadowed by a row focusing on two linked issues. Were cuts in police numbers since 2010 under coalition and Conservative governments to blame for rising violent crime? And was Rudd ignoring her own officials who advised, according <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/08/police-cuts-likely-contributed-to-rise-in-violent-leaked-report-reveals">to a leaked document</a>, that the reduction in police numbers was a “likely” contributory factor in the increase in violent crime? </p>
<p>When, in a subsequent BBC interview, Rudd said Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) were responsible for reducing the number of police community support officers, and suggested this was a contributory factor to rising violent crime, she was <a href="https://twitter.com/DannyShawBBC/status/983243483950526464">further attacked</a> for seeking to shift blame to PCCs, which were very much a Conservative innovation.</p>
<p>I was the first PCC for Essex, standing on a Conservative ticket, and I gained a direct insight into the complexity of the many issues involved. None of them are simple. </p>
<p>My experience, though without question I was politically naïve, suggests that a bit more acknowledgement by government of the consequences and challenges of austerity might allow for more debate on the key issues. If more resources are available, which agencies including the police should receive them? And how can more effective working be encouraged between the police and the many other agencies that have a role to play including social care, health, education and housing departments? </p>
<h2>Funding strains easing</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5593547/Amber-Rudd-admits-NEVER-seen-leaked-Home-Office-report-violent-crime.html#v-1391289013358118200">Speaking</a> at the launch of the new strategy, Rudd rehearsed the government’s frequent argument that while the last Labour government funded strong growth in police numbers, crime rose steadily. The coalition government from 2010, with Theresa May as Home Secretary, not only cut resources to policing, but also sought fundamental reform of policing with a shift to local democratic accountability. And for several years across many types of crime, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/crime-statistics">crime rates fell.</a></p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fact-check-have-the-conservatives-protected-police-and-counter-terrorism-budgets-78782">Fact Check: have the Conservatives protected police and counter-terrorism budgets?</a>
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<p>By 2015, however, many of us were speaking about signs that crime was both changing and increasing. I also said openly that, locally, the funding of Essex Police had reached a <a href="http://www.heart.co.uk/essex/news/local/essex-pcc-calls-for-council-tax-funding-increase/">“perilous” level</a> and pushed hard to be allowed to raise more money from council tax. For most forces, about one third of funding comes from these local taxes. </p>
<p>I felt I had been elected to take responsibility for local decisions, and to have my local tax-raising powers tied felt wrong, especially when in Essex we pay far less for policing from council tax than in almost all other counties. </p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, I attracted sharp criticism from some national and local politicians, but in the 2015 November budget the reductions to police budgets stopped and then a gradual easing of the constraints on council tax rises started. In 2018-19 almost all PCCs have increased the <a href="https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2017/12/19/fact-sheet-police-funding-for-2018-19-explained/">policing precept</a>, or levy, within council tax by the maximum £12 a year allowed by athe government. This will make a significant difference to police funding, enabling some forces to recruit more than 200 extra officers. </p>
<p>But there is no easy answer to the question of how the police and others should spend their available money wisely to tackle serious violent crime. While serious violence of course has to be firmly and thoughtfully policed, I firmly believe it is not possible to “police and prosecute” our way out of this and other crime challenges. </p>
<p>There have been some profound changes in society over the past ten years caused for example by extreme pressure on social care budgets resulting from the rapid growth in the number of the elderly who need care and, quite differently, the exponential growth in the use of social media by young people. </p>
<p>The consequences of these many changes have to be addressed, and every department, agency, council or third sector organisation tackling them is facing the same dilemmas. Broken families, underachievement in groups of children at school, <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-homelessness-a-matter-of-choice-89706">homelessness</a>, addictions, domestic violence, the misuse of computers including the rise in online child abuse, the growth of gang cultures and the number of <a href="https://theconversation.com/knife-crime-is-a-health-risk-for-young-people-it-cant-be-solved-by-policing-alone-91871">people carrying knives</a> are complex problems, with inevitably complex, interlinked solutions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214263/original/file-20180411-566-1uc7kql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214263/original/file-20180411-566-1uc7kql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214263/original/file-20180411-566-1uc7kql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214263/original/file-20180411-566-1uc7kql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214263/original/file-20180411-566-1uc7kql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214263/original/file-20180411-566-1uc7kql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214263/original/file-20180411-566-1uc7kql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Complex challenges need interlinked solutions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?src=p01pYp02Ts9BcET9qltpPQ-1-13">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<h2>Not preparing for tomorrow’s challenges</h2>
<p>PCCs have to step forward to take responsibility for their local decisions. Every force will have different short and longer term needs and police leaders also have to balance today’s priorities against preparing for tomorrow’s. My judgement is that a failure to do this when resources were available in the years from 2000 to 2010 is a root cause of today’s policing problems – and incidentally why reform of policing was necessary. Much police technology, its estate, intelligence, training and professionalism, and its grasp of modern management had become inadequate. All that is changing, albeit in some cases too slowly.</p>
<p>The government has to be wary of too many centrally imposed priorities, especially if significant extra resources are not made available. These priorities range from domestic violence, child sexual exploitation, modern slavery, serious violence or less talked about but bitingly important, fraud. And over all of these, the threat of terrorism remains ever present.</p>
<p>On first read, the new “serious violence strategy” appears well researched and referenced and covers many of the relevant factors: early intervention, local community engagement and the need for effective partnerships. All these need local rather than national initiatives and government has to try to understand the complexities of local delivery. Particularly as too much national debate and media coverage of policing and crime, including serious violence, is London-centric.</p>
<p>So let’s be frank. More resources for the police and other agencies would help them get to grips with the underlying problems. But let’s also debate the essential need for better partnerships between organisations deploying modern technologies and the rich data sources now available. They must also be able to exploit and generate research evidence on what works. That’s what will start to make a difference to tackling knife crime among gangs, domestic violence, child sexual exploitation or modern slavery.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94767/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Alston was the Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex from 2012 to 2016. </span></em></p>The former Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex argues that more resources can help, but any available funds need to be spent by the right agencies in the right way.Nick Alston, Chair of the Policing Institute for the Eastern Region, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/786462017-05-31T21:47:36Z2017-05-31T21:47:36ZMissing May: she was damned if she did and damned if she didn’t join the debate<p>Jeremy Corbyn’s late decision to participate in the BBC’s election debate injected some interest and potential excitement into an event that had risked being ignored.</p>
<p>With the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-gain-tory-victory-theresa-may-general-election-8-june-yougov-opinium-polls-a7709961.html">polls narrowing</a> in Labour’s favour and with the party leader having performed well in the campaign so far, he hoped to maintain the momentum and increase pressure on the Conservatives. Despite speculation throughout the day about the intentions of Theresa May, the prime minister stuck with her original decision to stay away and send the home secretary, Amber Rudd, to represent the Conservatives in her place. Corbyn and Rudd also faced the representatives of the Scottish National Party (SNP), the Lib Dems, Greens, UKIP and Plaid Cymru in the debate.</p>
<p>The six questions put to the politicians by the invited audience were fairly predictable, covering living conditions, Brexit and immigration, public finances, national security, climate change and leadership. There were no real surprises, with Corbyn and other left-leaning politicians – Caroline Lucas of the Greens, Angus Robertson of the SNP and Leanne Wood of Plaid Cymru, as well as Tim Farron of the Liberal Democrats – repeatedly condemning the government for its cuts to welfare and public services.</p>
<p>Paul Nuttall of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) came under frequent attack from other leaders, while making his party’s stock points on Brexit, the necessity of immigration controls, and terrorism.</p>
<p>Rudd generally found herself in the position of defending the government’s record, although she also launched a number of attacks on Corbyn, particularly over what she called his “fantasy economics” and his votes against anti-terror laws. Corbyn came under occasional attack from Nuttall on terrorism. Pressed by the moderator, Mishal Husain, Corbyn also stumbled in defining what he meant by a “fair” immigration system.</p>
<p>Corbyn didn’t make the most of his late entry into the debate, although he didn’t make any obvious gaffes either. Of the smaller parties’ leaders, Lucas performed best, setting out a clear liberal-progressive vision of a fairer society, based on freedom of movement, opposition to Trident, and combating climate change. But it will probably have little effect, as the Greens are leaking votes to Labour, which now appears to be attracting the bulk of the anti-Conservative vote in England and Wales.</p>
<p>Was May right not to turn up? She received inevitable and trenchant criticism from the other leaders, particularly from Farron at the end, although not so much from Corbyn. That was perhaps surprising given the fanfare that surrounded Corbyn’s late decision to take part. He might have been expected to make more of May’s weakness in staying away.</p>
<p>In reality, May was damned if she did and damned if she didn’t. By not taking part, she was accused of running scared from the voters. But if she had turned up, she could have been accused of dancing to Corbyn’s tune, being seen to follow his lead in participating rather than following her own judgement. It would have been mocked as another u-turn.</p>
<p>As it was, the format of the debate would not have played to May’s strengths. She would have been angrily assailed by the other leaders and found herself having to shout to make herself heard or completely drowned out. She doesn’t have the type of combativeness in debate that Rudd possesses and used to some effect here. All in all, despite some embarrassing barbs about her non-appearance, May was probably better off sticking with her original decision.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78646/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Quinn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>She faced criticism for not taking part in the BBC head-to-head, but the PM would have struggled had she done another late U-turn.Tom Quinn, Senior Lecturer, Department of Government, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/704562016-12-16T09:40:00Z2016-12-16T09:40:00ZIndian students at British universities is a tradition we should cherish and protect<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/150294/original/image-20161215-13644-2fywkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Group photo of female students studying at Maria Grey College, London, 1905 - 1907.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image supplied by Brunel University London Archives</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/dec/12/uk-halve-international-student-visa-tougher-rules">recent reports</a> that the Home Office is considering cutting international student visas by nearly half, it’s clear that the government is <a href="https://theconversation.com/amber-rudd-gives-us-another-ill-informed-and-imprudent-attack-on-international-students-66590">keen to stick to its promise</a> to crack down on numbers of international students.</p>
<p>In her speech at the Conservative Party conference earlier this year, the home secretary Amber Rudd revealed government plans to create “two-tier visa rules” which would affect “poorer-quality universities and courses” in a bid to limit the number of international students coming to study in the UK.</p>
<p>Then there was Theresa May’s recent trip to India, which was dominated by the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37891734">row over visas</a>. This was in part because when May was in the role of home secretary she introduced tighter immigration rules – halving the number of Indian students in Britain. </p>
<p>The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/07/theresa-may-visa-offer-india-citizens-uk">expressed his country’s dissatisfaction</a> saying that if Britain wanted post-Brexit trade, it needed to reciprocate by opening its doors to India’s youth. Ever since, Indian newspapers have tracked how visa regulations are making the <a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/education/will-trump-brexit-send-international-students-to-france-germany/story-dLGKsNc1vV2ER9chxi4YiJ.html">UK a less attractive option for Indian students</a>. </p>
<p>For UK universities seeking closer ties with Indian partners, the government’s stance and recent announcement are unfathomable – and have been condemned by many <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/dec/12/uk-halve-international-student-visa-tougher-rules">university vice-chancellors</a>. This is because not only do Indian students have a long tradition here in the UK – but also because it sends out a completely opposite message to the one universities are trying to promote: one of welcoming international students.</p>
<h2>Historical ties</h2>
<p><a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=sfGOAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=Dhunjeebhoy+Naoroji&source=bl&ots=eTPqQckDn6&sig=qvmb2a1bQ1w7m5ebHh2LHm0u6jQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwip0tKnldPQAhUCJ8AKHU9xBa4Q6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=Dhunjeebhoy%20Naoroji&f=false">Indian students</a> first came to study in Britain in the 1840s. They were Christian converts attending theological colleges or young Bengalis completing medical training. At first only a handful arrived each year – but from the 1870s numbers began to swell. </p>
<p>Most came to study law or medicine or prepare for the Indian Civil Service exams. The majority were Hindus from Bengal or Bombay – but there were also disproportionate numbers of Muslims, Parsis and Christians. By the interwar years as many as 1,800 Indian students were in the UK at any point.</p>
<p>Most Indian students were attracted by the <a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/lytton-report-indian-students">prestige associated with degrees or qualifications</a> awarded in Britain – and, as long as Britain maintained its vast empire, its universities and institutes were considered the pinnacle of postgraduate education. </p>
<p>Some professions in India were not even open to applicants without a British qualification. For example, between 1853 and 1922, it was only possible to sit the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=sfGOAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=Lahiri+Indians+in+Britain+Indian+Civil+Service+examination+1922&source=bl&ots=eTPrScmJo2&sig=ds8ngaiJc53blvRXb8iRIvbL7gM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjGgMuulfbQAhVlCcAKHUaaD2UQ6AEILzAD#v=onepage&q=Lahiri%20Indians%20in%20Britain%20Indian%20Civil%20Service%20examination%201922&f=false">examinations for the Indian Civil Service in Britain</a>. Similarly, to be an advocate in the Indian courts during the Raj (with the right to defend or prosecute criminal cases) required a call to the Bar in Britain.</p>
<h2>Student support</h2>
<p>Of course, the large numbers of Indian students in imperial Britain required adequate support. And the India Office in London took responsibility for receiving and settling newly-arrived students via a philanthropic organisation called the <a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/national-indian-association">National Indian Association</a>. Founded in 1870, its aim was to spread knowledge of India in Britain and foster friendly relations between Indians and Britons.</p>
<p>Young Indian students were invited to attend its lectures, social gatherings and sightseeing tours. At these events, they mixed freely and forged friendships with British college students, wardens and professors, as well as former colonial officers and earlier Indian migrants.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/150328/original/image-20161215-26074-1k4br8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/150328/original/image-20161215-26074-1k4br8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/150328/original/image-20161215-26074-1k4br8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=792&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/150328/original/image-20161215-26074-1k4br8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=792&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/150328/original/image-20161215-26074-1k4br8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=792&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/150328/original/image-20161215-26074-1k4br8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/150328/original/image-20161215-26074-1k4br8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/150328/original/image-20161215-26074-1k4br8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gandhi as a law student in London.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some of the most famous Indians in recent history were students in Britain. Best known is <a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/mohandas-karamchand-gandhi">Mohandas Gandhi</a> who spent three years at Inner Temple in London from 1888 preparing to be a barrister. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/srinivasa-ramanujan">Srinavasa Ramanujan</a> was also a student in Britain. During World War I, he studied theoretical maths at Trinity College, Cambridge. And a recent film biopic, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0787524/">The Man Who Knew Infinity</a>, highlighted his struggle with racial bigotry, English food and ill-health due to the cold and damp climate – <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-man-who-knew-infinity-a-mathematicians-life-comes-to-the-movies-50777">even though he flourished intellectually</a>. Sadly, his experience echoed that of many students from colonial India.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/150322/original/image-20161215-26074-wq5du7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/150322/original/image-20161215-26074-wq5du7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/150322/original/image-20161215-26074-wq5du7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/150322/original/image-20161215-26074-wq5du7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/150322/original/image-20161215-26074-wq5du7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/150322/original/image-20161215-26074-wq5du7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/150322/original/image-20161215-26074-wq5du7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/150322/original/image-20161215-26074-wq5du7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Srinavasa Ramanujan at Cambridge.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other Indian students in imperial Britain may have been less well-known, but that doesn’t make them any less important to our history – including the sizeable numbers of women who came from India to study in the UK. </p>
<p>As the author <a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/atiya-fyzee">Atiya Fyzee</a> wrote while training to be a teacher at Maria Grey College in London in 1907:
“Whichever educational institution I go to, I always find some or other Indian girl”. Her own studies were funded by a scholarship from the colonial government directed at women teachers. </p>
<p>Because female students were considered more of a curiosity than their male counterparts they appear to have received a warmer reception from the British public. After studying at Leeds University in the 1930s, <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/1204906">Iqbalunnisa Hussain</a> recorded the generous hospitality offered by professors, her fellow students and members of the local community.</p>
<h2>Writing history</h2>
<p>A great deal is known about Indian students in the colonial period from their own writings. Highly literate and articulate, they wrote letters, diaries, speeches and memoirs that described their impressions and experiences – and these original sources have drawn the attention of many historians. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/150297/original/image-20161215-13663-1y0e05b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/150297/original/image-20161215-13663-1y0e05b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/150297/original/image-20161215-13663-1y0e05b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/150297/original/image-20161215-13663-1y0e05b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/150297/original/image-20161215-13663-1y0e05b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/150297/original/image-20161215-13663-1y0e05b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/150297/original/image-20161215-13663-1y0e05b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/150297/original/image-20161215-13663-1y0e05b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indian staff and students at Cambridge University, 1907.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But they are also relevant to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/oct/04/rudd-announces-crackdown-on-overseas-students-and-new-work-visas">current debate over visas</a> for overseas students. This is because they point to the overwhelming benefits – as well as the challenges – of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/nov/27/international-students-life-after-brexit-universities">welcoming international students</a> to UK universities. They can also help us to understand how those challenges may be overcome. </p>
<p>Indian students have been drawn to study in Britain since the colonial period. And if we forfeit that legacy now, our universities and our communities will be all the poorer for it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70456/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Siobhan Lambert-Hurley receives funding from The Leverhulme Trust.</span></em></p>Visa regulations are making the UK a less attractive option for Indian students.Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, Reader in International History, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/702962016-12-14T09:45:54Z2016-12-14T09:45:54ZBanning extremist groups is more political symbolism than effective counter-terrorism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149713/original/image-20161212-26080-p3bwy8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Natasa Adzic/shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the first time in the UK, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/12/neo-nazi-group-national-action-banned-by-uk-home-secretary">the government has moved to ban</a> a right-wing, neo-Nazi group called National Action. On December 12, the British home secretary, Amber Rudd, laid an order before parliament proscribing this relatively minor group, which has gained attention in recent months for its glorification of violence – notoriously <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/12/neo-nazi-group-national-action-banned-by-uk-home-secretary">celebrating</a> the murder of MP Jo Cox – and the extreme tenor of its online posts. As Rudd <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/neo-nazi-group-facing-uk-ban-is-racist-anti-semitic-and-homophobic-says-home-secretary-10693258">said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>National Action is a racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic organisation which stirs up hatred, glorifies violence and promotes a vile ideology, and I will not stand for it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The proscription order is expected to come into force on December 16 following a debate in parliament, which always approves the home secretary’s request for the addition of new groups to the UK’s list. </p>
<p>Being added to the UK’s list of proscribed organisations has significant implications for National Action. It is a criminal offence to belong, or profess to belong, to such an organisation, and to support, or solicit support – financial or otherwise – for a banned group. This was the offence for which Anjem Choudary was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37284199">convicted earlier this year in relation to the Islamic State</a>. Other activities, including speaking at meetings promoting a proscribed organisation, or wearing symbols of support are also banned. </p>
<p>Prior to the addition of National Action, the UK had proscribed a total of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/538297/20160715-Proscription-website-update.pdf">84 groups</a> – eight of which were added since the start of 2015 alone – a figure higher than the equivalent lists in <a href="https://www.nationalsecurity.gov.au/Listedterroristorganisations/Pages/default.aspx">Australia</a> (23), <a href="https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/ntnl-scrt/cntr-trrrsm/lstd-ntts/crrnt-lstd-ntts-eng.aspx">Canada</a> (54) and <a href="http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm">the US</a> (61). </p>
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<p>This power to ban groups is used widely around the world, and is a practice with roots going back through to both the ancient Roman Law known as <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4436540?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">“power of life and killing”</a> and to when people were outlawed in pre-Magna Carta Britain. </p>
<h2>Nebulous organisations</h2>
<p>Our <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1057%2Fbp.2014.8">own research</a> has argued that the power to ban groups has questionable value for reducing the threat of terrorism. Instead, more attention needs to be given to the processes through which politicians and others seek proscription and depict it as an important tool for increasing national security.</p>
<p>This scepticism dovetails with the work of other researchers, such as the legal scholar <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p54191/pdf/ch142.pdf">Russell Hogg</a>, who doubt that contemporary terrorist groups are appropriate targets for “listing” because they tend not to exist as coherent organisations with a fixed identity and an identifiable membership. This might be less problematic in the case of National Action which <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/national-action-british-neo-nazi-group-to-be-classed-as-terror-organisation-and-banned-first-time-a7468136.html">appears to have</a> many of the trappings we might expect of a modern political organisation such as a website, social media account, regional branches and a hierarchy with its leadership. </p>
<p>Yet the history of “terrorist groups”, across the political spectrum, is one populated by examples of <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7934656.stm">fragmentation</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/28/al-qaida-syria-nusra-split-terror-network">group splits</a>, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/muslims-against-crusades-banned-by-theresa-may-6259904.html">re-branding</a> and <a href="http://thediplomat.com/2016/11/an-alliance-between-islamic-state-and-lashkar-e-jhangvi-in-pakistan-was-inevitable/">new alliances</a>. So as a tool of counter-terrorism, proscription is far from perfect in capturing the rapid transformations of organisations deemed to be “terrorist”. And it is, of course, possible that those associated with National Action will simply now switch their allegiance to other far-right organisations.</p>
<h2>Liberties curbed</h2>
<p>Other concerns relate to the implications of proscription for rights and liberties – particularly those cherished in a liberal democratic society such as the freedoms of speech, association, dissent and resistance. Although some might argue that these freedoms should be limited in extreme circumstances such as where the threat of violence is present, groups such as National Action are often banned not for any violences they have committed, but as Rudd said, for their “vile ideology” and “stirring up of hatred”. </p>
<p>This use of counter-terrorism powers to curb expression and association – often with very limited scrutiny given parliament’s usual straightforward approval of proscription orders – provokes significant concerns for the vitality of liberal democracy. As the MP Douglas Hogg noted <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmhansrd/vo021030/debtext/21030-09.htm">in a House of Commons debate</a> in 2002, which led to the banning of the groups Jemaah Islamiyah, Abu Sayyaf, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and Asbat Al-Ansar: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Let us never lose sight of the fact that we are curtailing civil and political rights and that we are extending the criminal law to British citizens who may or may not be our constituents. It is very easy to be unjust in the context of a crisis, an emergency or terrorism.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>More for show than effectiveness</h2>
<p>But this brings us back to the question of whether proscription is effective. If banning groups such as National Action makes us safer, might it be acceptable to step on some people’s civil liberties? The problem, unfortunately, is that there isn’t a great deal of evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of listing groups as a counter-terrorism tool. In fact, banning National Action could even be counter-productive: raising their profile and attractiveness to potential recruits. This was the fear expressed by the <a href="http://thecitizenng.com/fg-explains-why-it-opposes-terrorist-label-on-boko-haram/">Nigerian government</a> prior to the US decision to list the group Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation in 2013. </p>
<p>In light of this, the banning of organisations such as National Action has arguably far less to do with those groups themselves, or even with national security. Instead, as we have argued in <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/review-of-international-studies/article/legislating-for-otherness-proscription-powers-and-parliamentary-discourse/83A7463C78C47A7A1D51FE235207ABB9">our research</a>, the purpose is largely a symbolic one, aimed at drawing a dividing line between “us” and “them”. </p>
<p>Proscription operates as a means for politicians to show that something is being done. It is a way of demonstrating that there is a stark difference on the one hand between liberal, open and responsible states like the UK, and illiberal, irrational terrorists on the other.</p>
<p>If this is the case, the effectiveness of banning National Action might be far less important than the communication of a message that groups such as this are unwelcome in contemporary British society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70296/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For the first time, parliament plans to ban a right-wing extremist group, called National Action.Lee Jarvis, Reader in International Security, School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication , University of East AngliaTim Legrand, Lecturer, National Security College , Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/665902016-10-06T10:42:59Z2016-10-06T10:42:59ZAmber Rudd gives us another ill-informed and imprudent attack on international students<p>The home secretary, Amber Rudd, has outlined plans for a new student immigration system that would make it harder for graduating students to work in the UK. In her <a href="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/10/full-text-amber-rudds-conference-speech/">speech at the Conservative Party conference</a> Rudd revealed government plans to create “two-tier visa rules” which would affect poorer quality universities and courses. This would essentially mean that “lesser” UK universities will be discouraged from recruiting international students. </p>
<p>This is not only yet another misguided and myopic attack on overseas students, it is also an insult to the rich diversity of universities on display within UK higher education. Because the fact is, universities excel in different academic areas. Yes, a few are outstanding across the board, but many post-1992 institutions which converted from polytechnics provide <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/sep/03/polytechnics-became-universities-1992-differentiation">exceptional teaching</a> in particular subject areas – and <a href="http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/international/international-students-the-facts/by-university/">excellent international students</a> are attracted to those programmes. </p>
<p>Then there is also the small issue of finances. A <a href="http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/non-eu-higher-education-students-impact-uk-economy/">recent briefing</a> from the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory revealed that in 2014-2015, tuition fee income from non-EU students made up almost 13% of UK universities’ total income. </p>
<p>There is no limit on how much universities can charge non-EU students for their courses – but it has been estimated that <a href="http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/International/Pages/international-higher-education-in-facts-and-figures-2015.aspx">the average fee</a> for a classroom-based undergraduate degree in the 2014-15 academic year was £12,100 for a non-EU student. And many post-1992 universities are reliant on income from international students as a significant source of revenue. Just how the government propose universities replace the income generated by international student tuition fees, is as yet unclear.</p>
<h2>International economy</h2>
<p>What is clear, is that the government has failed fundamentally to understand the value of international students to British society. Non-EU students in the UK are thought to generate around <a href="http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/International/Pages/international-higher-education-in-facts-and-figures-2015.aspx">£11 billion annually in export revenues</a> alone. This includes tuition fees and other personal expenditure – international students often spend a lot on food and goods while residing in the UK.</p>
<p>The government’s proposal also fails to recognise the longer-term link between international student mobility and a successful domestic “knowledge economy” – because international students are tomorrow’s knowledge workers. </p>
<p>It is also a fact that creativity in industry relies fundamentally on international mobility. Just look at the success of Silicon Valley’s multi-billion dollar technology industry, which is dependent upon immigration. And many of its workers had immigrated as international students, before being headhunted to work in a particular firm. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140581/original/image-20161005-20119-jxvbzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140581/original/image-20161005-20119-jxvbzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140581/original/image-20161005-20119-jxvbzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140581/original/image-20161005-20119-jxvbzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140581/original/image-20161005-20119-jxvbzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140581/original/image-20161005-20119-jxvbzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140581/original/image-20161005-20119-jxvbzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">International students are good for the economy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The success of British industry is no different – it relies on creativity and knowledge transfer and exchange. And it is very shortsighted to think British schools and pupils will produce all the knowledge, creativity and insight that we will ever need. </p>
<h2>Cultural diversity</h2>
<p>International students’ diverse backgrounds and experiences also enrich the entire student body, not to mention society more broadly. They engage in a two-way cultural exchange that is of mutual benefit to both international students and domestic students – and to wider communities. </p>
<p>Although not a primary task of British universities, we are nevertheless trying to create citizens that are <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-cultural-diversity-can-help-to-boost-body-confidence-61719">cosmopolitan and open-minded</a> in outlook. And there are immeasurable benefits to be had from interacting with students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. If British universities are to be “world class”, then they have also to be “in the world”, in the fullest possible way. And they need international students to fulfil their potential in both a practical and philosophical sense. </p>
<p>Of course, it is not the case that international students are an unquestionable “good”. If we take a global perspective, there are some compelling social reasons for at least reflecting on what happens to international students when they return home. International students are nearly always the most privileged members of their home societies – and being educated in the UK only enhances and reinforces that privilege. </p>
<p>Consequently, British universities are rarely a force for “social mobility” in students’ home countries, and from a “development” perspective, we should be aware of the undermining and devaluing impact that UK qualifications might have on local education systems overseas. There are also neo-colonial implications of educating the next generation of leaders in other parts of the world. However, from a purely UK standpoint, we must continue to encourage and support applications from overseas applicants to our universities. </p>
<h2>Fixing the figures</h2>
<p>When it comes to immigration figures, the University and College Union and Universities UK have called for the government to <a href="https://theconversation.com/drop-students-from-migration-stats-to-save-historic-ties-and-uks-international-reputation-35703">no longer count international students</a> within its statistics. The Australian government, for example, makes this separation, and classifies international students as “temporary migrants”, which, unlike “permanent” migrants, are not subject to caps or quotas but are “demand driven”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140582/original/image-20161005-20119-1l50v2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140582/original/image-20161005-20119-1l50v2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140582/original/image-20161005-20119-1l50v2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140582/original/image-20161005-20119-1l50v2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140582/original/image-20161005-20119-1l50v2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140582/original/image-20161005-20119-1l50v2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140582/original/image-20161005-20119-1l50v2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Just another way of fixing the figures?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Documents/2014/international-students-immigration-debate.pdf#search=international%20student%20fees">recent survey</a>, 59% of people agreed that the government should not reduce international student numbers – even if that limits the government’s ability to cut immigration numbers overall – only 22% took the opposing view. The study also found that the majority of people did not understand why international students would even be included in total immigration figures. </p>
<p>So given that there is no public desire to reduce the number of international students in the UK, it would instead seem they have become a target – because the government has no better ideas for reducing immigration. It feels like a “quick fix” and is not, I would suggest, the way to go.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66590/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Johanna Waters has received funding from the ESRC to explore British transnational education in Hong Kong. </span></em></p>International students’ diverse backgrounds and experiences enrich the entire student body, and society more broadly.Johanna L. Waters, Associate Professor in Human Geography, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/626522016-07-20T12:13:40Z2016-07-20T12:13:40ZHow to build a low carbon industrial strategy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131226/original/image-20160720-31119-1mzb7d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C342%2C2915%2C1994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Blowing in the wind.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wessexarchaeology/5125528250/in/photolist-8NVEYJ-JD1KsA-8NVEYG-76WhcJ-JMYvr2-8NVEYE-nyKcze-8NVEYA-Awt6J1-edrwbv-8NVEYQ-oYYa8i-czxej-vMHks-pVGwot-fwcocp-5xLoX3-eeriub-8gf1iv-4zpySn-qZYZQD-dqeuC2-oYV6n9-6rYxde-8toTPP-7omwX5-AyDSoP-9WbSGq-AyDQ8M-cUwMFo-zAM9jk-7JHtyB-HCGTmp-axYiaG-dX4wh5-9Wr7hS-eXueF-9Kd4bh-qHwxqX-bXoFtw-pVwKS8-9UzypW-cUwMd5-iB3mTg-65FVM-qZUeF1-6tUqeB-7Nf5zi-65FV7-q96ifY">Wessex Archaeology/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Britain now has a combined <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/statement-from-greg-clark-secretary-of-state-for-business-energy-and-industrial-strategy">Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy</a>. It is an intriguing combination of motivations and intent, but whatever follows must be a low carbon industrial strategy, which battles climate change while fostering economic development. </p>
<p>Reactions to the closure of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-energy-climate-change">Department of Environment and Climate Change</a> have <a href="https://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/our-reaction-scrapping-decc-andrea-leadsoms-appointment-new-head-defra">been mixed</a>. Amid the fears, though, some see an <a href="https://theconversation.com/life-after-decc-how-climate-policy-can-thrive-without-a-government-department-62639">opportunity for climate policy</a> to reach beyond energy policy and realise the wider economic benefits <a href="http://www.ukerc.ac.uk/news/back-to-the-dti-the-merger-of-decc-and-bis-is-a-new-opportunity-to-integrate-energy-and-industrial-policies-.html">of a low carbon transition</a>.</p>
<p>Early indications are that the government will remain committed to tackling climate change. Greg Clark’s first statement as Secretary of State for the new department <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/statement-from-greg-clark-secretary-of-state-for-business-energy-and-industrial-strategy">was encouraging</a>. And the Committee on Climate Change’s recommended fifth carbon budget aiming for a 57% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 on 1990 levels has <a href="http://renews.biz/103512/lords-pass-fifth-carbon-budget/">now passed</a> through both the House of Commons and Lords. </p>
<p>But how could a low carbon industrial strategy help to realise the <a href="https://theconversation.com/paris-agreement-on-climate-change-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-52242">Paris agreement’s</a> broad aim to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5C?</p>
<p>Well, constructing an industrial strategy that responds to the challenges of climate change and the economic challenges of a post-Brexit Britain is a huge task. The previous market-driven, <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/eda7ebb6-1f44-11e5-aa5a-398b2169cf79.html#axzz4Er9vr2C0">non-strategy for industry</a> was at odds with a <a href="http://archive.intereconomics.eu/year/2015/3/which-industrial-policy-does-europe-need/">growing body of study</a> and <a href="https://www.oecd.org/eco/Industrial-Policy-for-a-sustainable-growth-path.pdf">international trends</a> towards more interventionist policies. A good start would follow this five-point plan: take a missions-oriented approach; strive for a renewable and circular economy; take a whole-system perspective; take a long-term view; and focus on improving well-being rather than just GDP growth. </p>
<h2>Mission critical</h2>
<p>A missions-oriented approach understands that state intervention is not just about fixing markets, but also about creating markets. As University of Sussex Professor <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mariana-mazzucato-185270">Mariana Mazzucato</a> points out in a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/417991/T15091_Mazzucato_report_summary_-_final.pdf">report for Innovate UK</a>, many of the most successful private enterprise initiatives started life as public policy enabled investments funded by public agencies. Think <a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/03/26/149404846/the-birth-of-silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</a>, GPS and US shale gas – <a href="https://home.cern/topics/birth-web">even the internet</a>. </p>
<p>The state took an entrepreneurial role in these examples, and found great success. Failure is inevitable in entrepreneurship, but that should foster a portfolio approach not a complete abandonment of the idea.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131227/original/image-20160720-31151-hh58e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131227/original/image-20160720-31151-hh58e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131227/original/image-20160720-31151-hh58e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131227/original/image-20160720-31151-hh58e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131227/original/image-20160720-31151-hh58e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131227/original/image-20160720-31151-hh58e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131227/original/image-20160720-31151-hh58e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131227/original/image-20160720-31151-hh58e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The world’s first web server: Tim Berners-Lee’s CERN computer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/arenamontanus/866395299/in/photolist-4qZaVM-dgwRFS-4roqPb-68xzF-8ayvw4-m7KKhH-ofut47-q5PKmP-CD1Md-4roEYY-dgwMpy-5RvGZo-dgwNYG-92dkbA-7iMqZY-8gY8nr-azKMEb-4ro8uw-dgwLLn-dgwLnH-dgwL3B-hHZuQG-gmStzf-dgwR83-4roQSA-gy9Dtz-eVn7Yv-ofnZqv-2jyv8Z-52ix5b-9sMjSd-9sMkiU-FVAvqw-eVywr1-5tm3dG-7ipSA2-rooQ5B-djP3uG-bB8yYV-47CUdC-f22rF-7ZxLBY-ecKHLx-68GSxw-3dzyyR-def8A-gy9Cqn-gya98g-gya7bv-67676n">Anders Sandberg/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The appropriate “missions” should be collectively agreed. An approach where the voices of industry, civil society and the public sector are heard will make sure the outcomes sought are fair.</p>
<h2>Renewables and the circular economy</h2>
<p>The reality of climate change places the need to create a renewable and <a href="https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy">circular economy</a>, where material resources are circulated through recycling and reuse, rather than just following a linear path from extraction to disposal. A concerted effort is needed to drive the adoption of renewable energy technologies and a radical improvement in how efficiently materials are used and recycled. We might focus on light-weighting and durability in product design, perhaps by <a href="http://energy.gov/eere/vehicles/vehicle-technologies-office-lightweight-materials-cars-and-trucks">using more magnesium alloys and aluminium instead of steel in vehicles</a>. Reuse and recycling at end of life also creates opportunities for new businesses and industries. </p>
<p>WRAP, the <a href="http://www.wrap.org.uk/">Waste & Resources Action Plan</a> established in 2000, estimates that circular economy initiatives could create 210,000 jobs in the UK by 2030. A recent <a href="http://bookshop.europa.eu/en/changing-gear-in-r-i-pbKI0216237/">report on research and innovation policy</a> for the EU Commission found that the green sector outperformed average economic growth in both gross value added and employment between 2000 and 2012. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131127/original/image-20160719-8008-1oejfqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131127/original/image-20160719-8008-1oejfqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131127/original/image-20160719-8008-1oejfqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131127/original/image-20160719-8008-1oejfqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131127/original/image-20160719-8008-1oejfqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131127/original/image-20160719-8008-1oejfqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131127/original/image-20160719-8008-1oejfqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Siemens planned offshore wind turbine plant in Hull.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Siemens UK</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Long-term perspective</h2>
<p>A successful low carbon industrial strategy must take the long view. The goals of rebalancing an economy, meeting carbon emission reduction targets, and normalising those circular economy practises require systemic changes that will take decades to play out. This is hampered by a lack of continuity in policy, and by business practices that promote short-term profits over long-term sustainability. We will need a cross-party consensus on low carbon industrial strategy and on corporate governance changes.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://thewrightreport.net/report.html">Wright Review of advanced manufacturing in the UK</a> recommended regular reviews of industrial strategy with a ten year horizon. Giving such a process an institutional basis, similar to the newly created <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/national-infrastructure-commission">National Infrastructure Commission</a>, would go a long way towards providing the stability that long-term investment needs. A new “Industrial Strategy Commission” could also be the body that coordinates the collective process of choosing missions.</p>
<p>Worker representation in board rooms, as Prime Minister Theresa May has already proposed, has <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-07-12/theresa-may-right-to-copy-germany-with-blue-collar-boardroom">well documented benefits</a>, depending on <a href="https://theconversation.com/theresa-may-prime-minister-the-ball-is-in-her-court-on-workplace-democracy-62388">how exactly it is implemented</a>. Perhaps most importantly it curbs the tendency of boardrooms to prioritise short-term shareholder profits over <a href="http://rooseveltinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Ending-Short-Termism.pdf">long-term investment strategies</a>. </p>
<h2>Think in systems</h2>
<p>Innovative low-carbon and high-tech industries prosper when part of a system. The vision of a lone genius inventor may have romantic charm, but in reality innovation is a process that – through research, development, early adoption and wider dissemination – relies on skills education, knowledge exchange networks, infrastructure and deliberate market creation. </p>
<p>A low carbon industrial strategy needs to focus on creating the systems of support these activities need. It does not need to start from scratch. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/innovate-uk">Innovate UK</a>, the public agency that invests in private sector innovation and academic-industry partnerships, already takes a missions-oriented approach. And the <a href="https://www.catapult.org.uk/about-us/about-catapult/">Catapult Centres</a> bring together business, engineers and scientists to collaborate on late stage research and development on priority areas. </p>
<p>Low carbon industrial strategy is not just about promoting innovation in new sectors and low carbon technologies. The <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/11941578/The-perfect-storm-that-has-brought-Britains-steel-industry-to-its-knees.html">troubles of the UK steel industry</a> and the government’s <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/04/28/sajid-javid-mauled-over-claims-that-he-halted-closure-of-tatas-u/">somewhat panicked response</a> are an instructive case study in neglecting unpopular industries that are nonetheless of national importance. </p>
<p>A strategic and systemic policy process would recognise these kinds of industries as part of indispensable supply chains and reimagine <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/system/files/a_bright_future_for_uk_steel_2.pdf">their role in future low carbon and circular economies</a>.</p>
<h2>Aim for well-being</h2>
<p>Finally, policy goals should focus on <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/beyond-gdp">improving well-being</a>, rather than being driven by a dogmatic pursuit of GDP growth. <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-of-happiness-can-trump-gdp-as-a-guide-for-policy-57004">The idea</a> is catching on in the UK where the ONS now gathers <a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing">statistics on well-being</a>. This idea is important for low carbon industrial policy because such a strategy will have big effects on providing meaningful work, improving quality of life and protecting the natural environment. Policies should be evaluated on their success in improving employment, preventing environmental damage, reducing poverty and improving social cohesion.</p>
<p>A low carbon industrial strategy built on these five points could push the UK economy in the direction of a low carbon future that, as Theresa May would say, <a href="http://www.theresa2016.co.uk/we_can_make_britain_a_country_that_works_for_everyone">works for everyone</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62652/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Busch receives funding from ESRC under the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy and from NERC under the Resource Recovery from Waste programme. </span></em></p>A five point plan to give Britain an approach which tackles climate change while fostering growth.Jonathan Busch, Research Fellow in Ecological Economics, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/568212016-03-24T18:13:08Z2016-03-24T18:13:08ZThe end of coal: good riddance or dangerous gamble?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116409/original/image-20160324-17849-14c2kf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fife no more</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gee01/2991864474/in/photolist-5yo65f-5yiGVa-99Vyvs-99SqoZ-99VyCQ-fQ7sG-fQ7sF-hhpex-hkj8L-NTP86-8aqrEn-guyXZi-eh2H9h-5fiHAv-5fTvLD-fAbsei-etuChR-5ShkAu-fQNB1S-iaDjVg-fzfnJN-4P7Kzy-5gq9Wx-99Vys5-NTNUg-obiuNS-fTNZ6P-NTfPG-7SXmvd-7SXmoL-egwhRW-ehmJ3c-4ZT9Ep-7SU5Sx-6gvsmo-65dUws-7SXmsj-tWnQ4s-6dR2ig-fkXyf-fkXyg-RZ2W7-79Lev3-79LiWo-4ZB43E-pRPGwn-6UNQ5G-qccbBg-6dR2PF-64EAzN">Graeme McLean</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Scotland has become the first part of the UK to stop burning coal to supply electricity following <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/24/longannet-power-station-closes-coal-power-scotland">the closure</a> of Longannet, its largest power station, on March 24. It is a sign of the times, with the rest of the UK’s coal-fired power stations on death row after energy secretary Amber Rudd <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-announces-plans-to-close-coal-power-stations-by-2025">announced</a> late last year that they will all be forced to close by 2025. </p>
<p>For many reasons, it is hard to mourn the demise of coal-fired power. Around 12,000 miners <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11533349">are killed</a> around the world each year, most of them digging for coal; abandoned mines <a href="http://www.springer.com/la/book/9781402001376">cause</a> widespread water pollution; and coal-fired plants pollute the air <a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/coalvswind/c02c.html#.VvPHzLyoIdU">with</a> the likes of nitrogen and sulphur compounds, as well as the highest greenhouse-gas emissions of any major source of energy generation. In the absence of carbon capture and storage, a technology which would be ready more quickly if the government <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/GRI_LSE_CCS_web.pdf">backed it properly</a>, plant closure may therefore seem sensible – even while we should help those that lose their jobs and regret the loss of skills from the workforce.</p>
<p>That would be all there was to say were it not for a few harsh realities of electricity supply. There are two reasons why coal-fired power plants have survived so long. Coal is cheap; only since the US shale-gas boom has it been consistently beaten on price. And coal-fired plants are particularly suited to providing power on demand at short notice, as well as providing crucial stabilisation services for frequency and voltage across the grid. </p>
<h2>Power on demand</h2>
<p>If we are unable to dispatch electricity on demand, we must expect blackouts. To do away with coal-fired power before alternatives are available is bold, to say the least. Gas-fired plants can play the same role, of course, but we have not been building them in the UK in recent decades. And the economics for doing so have been made very difficult by the <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-power-capacity-idUKKBN0TT2TK20151211">capacity-auctions system</a> that helps to fund them, which has also seen many existing plants mothballed. As for nuclear power, it is <a href="http://environmentalresearchweb.org/blog/2010/09/how-carbon-free-is-nuclear-1.html">low-carbon</a> but provides electricity at a constant rate and therefore can’t be increased to track demand. Besides, the <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/efc78d5a-f114-11e5-9f20-c3a047354386.html#axzz43opZDdUj">ongoing fiasco</a> over Hinkley C – and by extension nuclear new-build in general – hardly makes it look a great contributor to energy security in the foreseeable future. </p>
<p>Among the renewable sources, the only one that offers equivalent dispatchable power is biomass combustion – burning mainly wood – but it also entails <a href="http://www.pfpi.net/air-pollution-2">air-quality challenges</a> and its sustainability is <a href="http://events.imeche.org/ViewEvent?code=S1812">debatable</a>. Hydropower is seasonally limited, while wind and solar are incapable of dispatchable output. The consequences are not just for the future, either – to compensate for the reduced coal-fired and gas-fired power, National Grid <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/11/diesel-farms-built-subsidies-national-grid-auction">has been</a> quietly allowing energy companies to set up “diesel farms” of temporary generators in England to provide extra power in peak, <a href="http://www.ippr.org/files/publications/pdf/mad-maths_Dec2015.pdf?noredirect=1">even though</a> it’s more damaging than coal. </p>
<p>But can’t we just store renewable energy, whenever it is generated, and dispatch it at times of high demand? Let’s be clear: we have the technology – it’s the affordability and scale that are challenging. Of the myriad <a href="https://www.ice.org.uk/media-and-policy/policy/electricity-storage-realising-the-potential">potential storage technologies</a>, none are as yet close to being able to store electricity at comparable scale and cost to our only grid-level storage technology: <a href="http://energystorage.org/energy-storage/technologies/pumped-hydroelectric-storage">pumped-storage hydropower</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116412/original/image-20160324-17857-1bx60kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116412/original/image-20160324-17857-1bx60kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116412/original/image-20160324-17857-1bx60kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116412/original/image-20160324-17857-1bx60kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116412/original/image-20160324-17857-1bx60kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116412/original/image-20160324-17857-1bx60kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116412/original/image-20160324-17857-1bx60kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116412/original/image-20160324-17857-1bx60kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Foyers pumped storage facility near Inverness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inverness_trucker/7955401702/in/photolist-pUtGtQ-jYXbQm-jYXaZy-jYUvWV-d7Zv8S-jYVnfx-9VPR5A-jYVpKH-d7ZvLj-jYVp1X-jYVonx-pHbsLq-8P2gAv-xQYmEC-pjRkto">Glen Wallace</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But pumped storage can only do so much. Let’s assume the UK could muster sufficient wind power to meet one third of our typical <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/449134/ECUK_Chapter_3_-_Domestic_factsheet.pdf">daily electricity consumption</a> (40 GW to 45 GW). In the absence of dispatchable power on demand, to offset the kind of three-day calm period that is common during spells of high pressure in winter, we would need to be able to store around 1,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) of power. Yet pumped storage hydropower in the UK only totals 30 GWh, from four stations. </p>
<p>If we are going to manage without Longannet and all the other gas-fired and coal-fired power stations, we would need at least 970 GWh of storage – more than a hundred pumped hydropower stations of comparable size to those we already have. This would be unlikely to cost less than £100 billion. And do we even have 100 plus upland catchments we’d be happy to impound and manage for this purpose? Even if most of the UK uplands were not (rightly) zealously protected conservation areas, it seems implausible that the UK could find sufficient sites. </p>
<p>Add the important caveat that you lose energy sending it back and forth to a storage facility, <a href="http://energymag.net/round-trip-efficiency/">between 10% and 35%</a> depending on the technology. This means that relying on renewables and increased storage means you would need substantially more total generating capacity than at present. </p>
<h2>The voltage issue</h2>
<p>So far we have only talked about power quantity, whereas power quality is also crucial. To keep voltage within <a href="https://electricalnotes.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/importance-of-reactive-power-for-system/">prescribed bounds</a> requires “reactive” (or “wattless”) power. Coal-fired power-stations have long been the mainstay of this activity – not least in Scotland. It has to be done regionally, so you can’t make up for this with coal power from elsewhere. Wind turbines cannot provide reactive power control. Since nuclear is being phased out in Scotland, gas-fired power is again the only alternative. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116413/original/image-20160324-17840-8q1jcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116413/original/image-20160324-17840-8q1jcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116413/original/image-20160324-17840-8q1jcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=687&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116413/original/image-20160324-17840-8q1jcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=687&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116413/original/image-20160324-17840-8q1jcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=687&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116413/original/image-20160324-17840-8q1jcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=863&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116413/original/image-20160324-17840-8q1jcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=863&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116413/original/image-20160324-17840-8q1jcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=863&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Danger, danger …</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&searchterm=overhead%20cable&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=143651419">LisaS</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So as we close plants such as Longannet, we can expect serious problems with voltage control. This bodes ill for the electrical appliances and devices on which we all increasingly rely. With the closure of Longannet, Scotland thus becomes the first area of the UK to take a serious gamble with reactive power. It will take not just good management but a serious amount of good luck for the fossil-fuel funeral wake not to be spoiled by flickering or failure of the lights. </p>
<p>In short, we may be heading into dangerous territory. The UK needs to get a strategy together for building new gas-fired or coal-fired power, fitted with carbon capture and storage technology, before the situation deteriorates any further.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56821/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul's team at the university receives funding from the UK research councils (NERC, EPSRC) and the European Commission (FP7, H2020). He would like to thank retired energy consultants David Watson and Iain McKenzie for their comments on this piece.</span></em></p>Longannet, the last coal-fired power plant in Scotland, has closed. It might be good news for climate change, but it also signals major problems ahead.Paul Younger, Professor of Energy Engineering, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/437462015-06-23T20:31:49Z2015-06-23T20:31:49ZTories are backing the wrong horses when it comes to energy<p>What will become of UK energy policy now that the Conservative Party holds all the levers? The government has already <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33227489">given clear indications</a> of its plans to pare back onshore wind in recent days. June 24 is the turn of offshore wind, when energy secretary Amber Rudd gives one of her first keynote speeches at the <a href="http://www.renewableuk.com/en/events/conferences-and-exhibitions/global-offshore-wind-2015/">Global Offshore Wind Conference</a>. </p>
<p>Rudd <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2015/may/11/amber-rudds-appointment-as-climate-secretary">has been</a> described as “really green” in the past, but that is unlikely to reassure the offshore wind industry. With the government apparently committed to nuclear and shale gas and oil, renewables companies are wondering if they still have a place at the table. Here’s how the policy landscape looks to us. </p>
<h2>Damage onshore</h2>
<p>The government’s first big energy decision was confirmed with <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33227489">the announcement</a> that the renewables-obligation subsidy scheme would be closing next April 1, a year earlier than planned. Confidence in the renewables industry has been wrecked as a result, though it goes further than that: the companies supporting renewables are the big power companies. The move is arguably as much a move against them as anyone. </p>
<p>Relations with the Scottish government have been damaged, with Nicola Sturgeon and others <a href="http://www.thenational.scot/news/perverse-tory-plans-to-cut-windfarm-subsidies-put-scottish-power-at-risk.4271">describing the decision</a> as “wrong-headed”, “perverse” and “downright outrageous”. Scotland has backed onshore wind for more than a decade as a cheap and proven source of low-carbon electricity. <a href="http://www.scottishrenewables.com/news/early-end-onshore-wind-support-could-cost-3bn-inve/">According to</a> industry body Scottish Renewables, the decision will cost Scotland alone up to £3bn in investment and put at risk many thousands of highly paid jobs. </p>
<p>The move will also hit consumer utility bills. Keith Anderson, chief operating officer of Scottish Power, <a href="http://www.snp.org/media-centre/news/2015/jun/cameron-must-look-again-onshore-wind-proposals">has estimated</a> it will cost consumers between £2bn-3bn in more expensive electricity generation. This will increase the risk of <a href="http://www.nea.org.uk/policy-and-research/publications/2014/monitor-2014">fuel poverty across the UK</a> (which is much higher in Scotland than England).</p>
<h2>Anxiety offshore</h2>
<p>Even before the election, offshore wind was not a good place to be. The sector has seen many projects mothballed and a number of key players drop out altogether in the face of a subsidy regime that is insufficient. Offshore is <a href="https://theconversation.com/scottish-wind-could-fix-uk-energy-woes-dont-let-westminster-blow-it-31532">already now much smaller</a> than originally envisaged. It remains an expensive option in the UK even compared to new nuclear, and although <a href="http://cleantechnica.com/2015/02/28/offshore-wind-costs-continue-fall-study/">costs are falling</a>, it is not being deployed on the scale necessary to reduce costs to the point that it is commercially viable. If the subsidies are now cut, it will become a dead duck. </p>
<p>Compare Denmark, where the industry is <a href="http://www.energypost.eu/danish-offshore-wind-getting-better-time/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=linkedin&utm_source=socialnetwork">now seeing</a> costs fall dramatically through learning by doing. While the industry has benefited from highly competitive support mechanisms, deployment has been greatly facilitated by having 20% local ownership of projects. Shallower waters have helped too, but the UK could still learn from the Danish approach. Danish offshore wind costs are significantly less than the projected new nuclear build costs at <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/nuclearpower/11404344/Hinkley-Point-new-nuclear-power-plant-the-story-so-far.html">Hinkley Point C</a> in Somerset in the UK, the country’s first new nuclear plant since the 1990s. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86162/original/image-20150623-19386-qjf65x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86162/original/image-20150623-19386-qjf65x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86162/original/image-20150623-19386-qjf65x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86162/original/image-20150623-19386-qjf65x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86162/original/image-20150623-19386-qjf65x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86162/original/image-20150623-19386-qjf65x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86162/original/image-20150623-19386-qjf65x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86162/original/image-20150623-19386-qjf65x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sheringham Shoal wind farm off East Anglia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/statkraft/14719851109/in/photolist-oqK5Un-oqK5Ag-oqKcYG-oqK5wi-pMJFrR-8TVwdi-qqYv2C-qjArKQ-nB4S62-gfnBKs-deS1aJ-kYzgxV-qjtdZ6-qgXLYe-bPtiy-kU4mZR-kYzh7F-9GEtLm-c93qvh-cqbvvb-deRZeN-c2jS53-qNZuBD-qt2xJ4-q8T7wm-pTHdPu-qP9tV4-rG5TCb-qKpe41-6YiWvR-q87qwz-3Krm3b-oActKT-kYzgTz-mfuXT8-diuucV-diutb7-rwtydP-8qzTQ1-qEhFE6-kYAKpJ-9L88X7-ptrCnN-ccJdMs-qjGP5a-pNGvPx-diuuBZ-kU51wn-pS9Fdo-oAaua1">Statkraft</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Bright nuclear future?</h2>
<p>The Tories have long backed new nuclear power as the panacea to combat the looming electricity crunch that is <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-coalitions-attitude-to-renewables-and-scotland-is-a-risk-to-national-security-27666">often talked about</a> in energy circles. Yet new nuclear is proving so challenging <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11546271/New-UK-nuclear-plants-under-threat-as-serious-anomaly-with-model-found-in-France.html">across the world</a> that delivering even one new station will be no easy task. </p>
<p>As Hinkley Point C has <a href="https://theconversation.com/george-osbornes-latest-nuclear-deal-is-another-step-in-the-wrong-direction-35054">already illustrated</a>, the financial costs of new nuclear are enormous, and construction overruns look inevitable. The government also faces an impending legal challenge by the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/11119631/Austria-to-launch-legal-challenge-if-EU-approves-British-nuclear-plan.html">Austrian government</a> over the up to £25bn of state aid required to bring the project to fruition. This could <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/22/uk-nuclear-ambitions-dealt-fatal-blow-by-austrian-legal-challenge-say-greens">delay completion</a> by up to four years. Meanwhile Greenpeace <a href="http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/2780807/greenpeace_energy_to_launch_legal_challenge_to_uk_nuclear_subsidies.html">is suing</a> the European Commission for <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/11148193/Hinkley-Point-nuclear-plant-to-cost-34bn-EU-says.html">allowing the state aid</a> to go ahead. </p>
<p>In sum, it might well be 2030 before we see the plant generating any new electricity for UK consumers – about seven years later than intended. This is a big problem for Rudd. Hinkley Point was promising to generate up to 7% of the UK’s electricity demand by 2023, at a time when big coal-fired stations <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-32016538">in Scotland</a> and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32806766">England</a> are closing. New and significant investment in energy infrastructure is needed before 2020 but it is currently unclear where this new generating capacity is going to come from. </p>
<h2>Fast-track fracking</h2>
<p>David Cameron has also <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/26/david-cameron-rejects-fracking-ban-shale-gas">made clear</a> the government’s commitment to shale gas and its desire to repeat the US revolution here. It promises new tax revenues, jobs and a more secure gas supply. Yet these benefits must be balanced against the need to protect land and water supplies and manage <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/26/fracking-trespass-law-changes-move-forward-despite-huge-public-opposition">hostile public opinion</a>. </p>
<p>One widely overlooked issue is the infrastructure, which will take time and money to build. Fracking in the US requires an oil price to be at least $60 per barrel to be economical, and in some areas up to $100. With <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/market_data/commodities/default.stm">Brent Crude</a> in the new era of mid $60 per barrel, is fracking economically feasible? <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-30869873">Evidence</a> from the US suggests not.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86282/original/image-20150624-31476-ge97cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86282/original/image-20150624-31476-ge97cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86282/original/image-20150624-31476-ge97cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86282/original/image-20150624-31476-ge97cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86282/original/image-20150624-31476-ge97cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86282/original/image-20150624-31476-ge97cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86282/original/image-20150624-31476-ge97cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86282/original/image-20150624-31476-ge97cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fracks very much.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=143515695290612220000&searchterm=fracking&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=208265362">larryrains</a></span>
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<p>Earlier this year the Commons environmental audit committee <a href="http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2015/01/mps-brand-fracking-incompatible-with-uk-climate-targets/">questioned</a> whether fracking was compatible with UK climate-change targets. With the <a href="http://www.theccc.org.uk/tackling-climate-change/reducing-carbon-emissions/carbon-budgets-and-targets/">fifth carbon budget</a> due soon to set targets beyond 2027, this presents Rudd with another conundrum. The <a href="http://www.cop21.gouv.fr/en">UN climate change conference</a> in Paris later this year may well prove a very challenging conversation for the government. It is hard to escape the conclusion that this central strand of the government’s new energy agenda has some serious credibility issues. </p>
<h2>The big picture</h2>
<p>Put this all together and the government’s emerging approach to wind looks very unwise. New nuclear looks a very costly and unreliable drain on the government’s budget, while fracking looks expensive, incompatible with emissions targets and probably uneconomic at current oil prices. It remains to be seen if these technologies will yield any long-term and positive outcomes for the country. If the government gets it wrong, the consumer could be saddled with soaring electricity and gas bills for years to come. If ever we needed some sign of reprieve for UK renewables, it is now.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43746/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With wind braced for more cutbacks, government backing of nuclear and fracking will end in tears.Peter Strachan, Strategy and Policy Group Lead and Professor of Energy Policy, Department of Management, Robert Gordon UniversityAlex Russell, Head of Department of Management and Professor of Petroleum Accounting at Aberdeen Business School, Robert Gordon UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/431312015-06-12T15:18:01Z2015-06-12T15:18:01ZThe only way to meet green energy targets is to hand some power back to Scotland<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84825/original/image-20150612-1478-1dgbvnx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Would you please tell me when my light turns green?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=143410346789021370000&searchterm=green%20energy&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=176560250">stockphoto-graf</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While the G7 leaders <a href="http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2412091/climate-change-dominates-g7-agreement-as-leaders-back-full-decarbonisation-vision">have been pledging</a> to stop using fossil fuels by 2100, we’re still waiting to hear the details of the Conservative government’s plans for renewable energy. The party’s <a href="https://www.conservatives.com/Manifesto">manifesto commitment</a> to “end any new public subsidy” for onshore wind farms does not bode well, however. </p>
<p>And virtually the first smoke signal issued by Amber Rudd, the new UK energy secretary, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/renewableenergy/11641088/Wind-farm-subsidies-facing-the-axe.html">was that</a> there could be an early end to the onshore wind subsidies paid to wind farms that have been built in previous years. This pleased many Conservative MPs and Scottish Conservatives, who <a href="http://www.scottishconservatives.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Scottish-Manifesto_GE15.pdf">were even more</a> viscerally opposed to onshore windfarms in their election manifesto than their counterparts in other parts of the UK. </p>
<p>Industry, especially the electricity industry, does not want subsidies scrapped for existing or future onshore wind farms. Neither do NGOs involved in tackling climate change. Onshore wind is clearly the cheapest low-carbon form of electricity generation. With existing wind-farm owners threatening to sue and Scottish energy minister Fergus Ewing insisting that the Scottish government be consulted as a big contributor to UK wind overall, the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/renewableenergy/11666295/Stay-of-execution-for-onshore-wind-farms-as-subsidy-axe-delayed.html">latest reports</a> are that the UK government has postponed an imminent announcement to consult first. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84832/original/image-20150612-1441-1jcd991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84832/original/image-20150612-1441-1jcd991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84832/original/image-20150612-1441-1jcd991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84832/original/image-20150612-1441-1jcd991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84832/original/image-20150612-1441-1jcd991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84832/original/image-20150612-1441-1jcd991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84832/original/image-20150612-1441-1jcd991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84832/original/image-20150612-1441-1jcd991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Whitelee wind farm near Glasgow.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gavinkwhite/8578394673/in/photolist-95ptWt-8fvyiY-8fsa2R-8fvyPL-8fsawZ-8fvtzm-8fvrzu-aCdjfW-8fsitt-8fvu8Q-8fvwLo-8fse2D-8fvAEA-8fsgB8-8fvvb5-aCdkVS-aCaFW2-e598iq-e53szv-e597uy-aCaEW2-73LfVm-73GiEX-aCaEgc-e53vSr-e53vjg-78SEqL-78SEQY-78SFwd-aCdjRY-aCdkzL-73GgYV-73LfvL-73GgGK-7ptMXu-7QRsim-7QReBW-7QN6kD-73LdWs-73Lf4f-7ppV9H-93ZqxT-5b8nWS-e53wpP-bdeUVi-bdeXpM-bdf27K-5s3fGf-4VTYnA-943tZd">Gavin White</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The Scottish dimension</h2>
<p>Conservative policy certainly puts the Scottish government in a bind. On one hand it needs to pursue its <a href="http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0044/00441628.pdf">green-energy targets</a> both to protect its left flank and to appease large sections of the Scottish energy industry. On the other hand the problem exposes the Scottish government’s reliance on English money to fund renewables in Scotland. </p>
<p>Yet at the same time, Scottish policy is central to <a href="http://www.nationalgridconnecting.com/hitting-the-renewables-goal/">UK-wide EU targets</a> for 15% of energy to be renewable by 2020 (requiring about 30% renewable electricity). <a href="http://www.renewableuk.com/en/renewable-energy/wind-energy/uk-wind-energy-database/">Almost two-thirds</a> of the consented (but not yet commissioned) UK windfarm capacity is sited north of the border. The Scottish government’s <a href="http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Business-Industry/Energy/RoutemapUpdate2013">own target</a> is to source the equivalent of 100% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. <a href="http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0044/00444530.pdf">By 2014</a> almost 50% of Scottish electricity generation came from renewables, predominantly wind and hydroelectricity (compared to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/415998/renewables.pdf">19% for the UK</a>). </p>
<p>There is now sufficient capacity either installed, under construction, or given firm premium-price contracts to reach about two-thirds of the Scottish 2020 target. But even if all of the consented Scottish onshore wind farms that are still looking for funding are also implemented, the target would still only be 90% met – meaning that the <a href="http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/Scottish-offshore-wind-farms-to-be-world-s-third-largest-a89.aspx">two consented</a> offshore wind projects in the Moray Firth need to go ahead too. </p>
<p>Yet during and since the independence debate, the Scottish government has carefully avoided the proposition that it should be given a portion of the UK renewable funding pot to spend on low-carbon energy. The pot was <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/24/uk-renewable-energy-subsidies-capped-at-200m-a-year">capped last autumn</a> at £200m a year, and is funded by income from the electricity bills of UK consumers. </p>
<p>Behind this Scottish-government reticence lurks a fear that in future, Scotland would have to fund its renewable subsidies from the pockets of Scottish electricity consumers. Given that fewer than 10% of UK consumers are in Scotland, and that more than 25% of UK renewable energy incentives <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/271794/2901475_HMG_Scotland_EUandInternational_acc2.pdf">have been spent</a> on Scottish renewables, such a change could end up severely limiting future Scottish renewables deployment.
This helps to explain why the Scottish government has merely demanded that it be made a statutory consultee when changes to renewable policies are being made at Westminster. </p>
<h2>Amber gambit?</h2>
<p>Cynics might argue that Amber Rudd’s kite-flying about seeking an early end to subsidies for onshore wind under the old <a href="https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/renewables-obligation-ro">renewables-obligation</a> scheme (which ends in 2017) is to show her wind-turbine-hating Tory colleagues that, in practice, being anti-onshore-wind is not so popular. She can then disavow the kite and, ultimately, be congratulated for her munificence by announcing the continuation of a policy of funding onshore wind until 2020. </p>
<p>She would say that the manifesto policy of ending subsidies was only for wind farms that had not yet been given planning consent, and could roll out extra funding for new projects under the new <a href="https://emrsettlement.co.uk/about-emr/contracts-for-difference/">contracts-for-difference </a>scheme to be implemented by early 2021. </p>
<p>But this loses sight of the bigger challenges. These revolve around greenhouse gas reduction, where the Scottish government is <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-33058391">already being berated</a> for not keeping up with its targets. We need to make substantial progress towards decarbonising heat and transport, which means supplying a lot more of it through electricity. This requires green power well beyond the current 100% target. </p>
<p>That is because we need to encourage electric cars and also supply low-carbon heat through heat pumps and district heating, not to mention having more green power to export south of the border. It would take longer and be more expensive to do this solely through offshore wind farms. Really Scotland needs to continue to embrace onshore wind and (also in the future) ground-mounted solar photovoltaics if its targets are to be achieved speedily and economically.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84831/original/image-20150612-1471-3uj3de.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84831/original/image-20150612-1471-3uj3de.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84831/original/image-20150612-1471-3uj3de.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84831/original/image-20150612-1471-3uj3de.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84831/original/image-20150612-1471-3uj3de.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84831/original/image-20150612-1471-3uj3de.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84831/original/image-20150612-1471-3uj3de.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84831/original/image-20150612-1471-3uj3de.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Solar farms for Scotland?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=14341036713437723000&search_tracking_id=orUtb5AF1hgPUEKdsyVn8Q&searchterm=solar%20pv&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=12579676">Martin D. Vonka</a></span>
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<h2>A workable solution</h2>
<p>In order to finesse away Tory opposition to future onshore wind farms in the UK, some authority over renewables financing could to be given back to the Scottish government – it has such power under the old renewables-obligation scheme, but not under contracts for difference. A compromise could emerge whereby the Scottish government took decisions over how to spend a part of the low-carbon incentives, and developers of renewables projects in Scotland could have a choice whether to fund projects out of that pot of money or the (bigger) Westminster fund. </p>
<p>Of course Scottish Renewables, the industry association, would be worried about how such legislation is drafted, fearing that here may be a drift towards stopping Scottish schemes being funded at all by Westminster. But provided it is drafted correctly, the Scottish government’s new statutory rights of consultation would most likely be a barrier to any slippage. This would mean that the UK’s policy of reducing carbon emissions could be defended at least in Scotland, if not in England and Wales.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43131/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David received funding from the ESRC for the project 'Delivering Renewable Energy Under Devolution' (2011-13).</span></em></p>Tough Tory manifesto commitments and hatred of wind farms from the right will make it hard for the new government to meet its EU renewables commitments. Scotland might be able to help.David Toke, Reader in Energy Policy, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.