Katy Balls

London

Deputy Political Editor at The Spectator

@Spectator political editor. @theipaper columnist. All views are Balls - [email protected] Podcast 👇

Articles

‘We’re going to a more radical place’: Wes Streeting on his plans for the NHS

1 week ago | spectator.com.au | Katy Balls |Michael Gove

A copy of a leading article from The Spectator is stuck to the wall of Wes Streeting’s office in the Department of Health. ‘Is Wes Streeting the Hamlet of the Health Service?’ we asked in October, warning against the perils of inaction. ‘We were so riled by it we stuck it there to hold ourselves to account,’ Streeting explains.
Reform vs Labour: who’ll win the battle for the north?

1 week ago | spectator.com.au | Katy Balls

When MPs and peers were recalled to parliament for an emergency debate on renationalising British Steel, one man was the talk of the terrace: Nigel Farage. Out by the river, a Labour peer congratulated the Reform leader for ‘leading on everything’. After all, Farage had been in Scunthorpe days earlier calling for steel nationalisation.
‘We’re going to a more radical place’: Wes Streeting on his plans for the NHS

1 week ago | spectator.co.uk | Katy Balls |Michael Gove

Text size Small Medium Large Line Spacing Compact Normal Spacious Comments A copy of a leading article from The Spectator is stuck to the wall of Wes Streeting’s office in the Department of Health. ‘Is Wes Streeting the Hamlet of the Health Service?’ we asked in October, warning against the perils of inaction. ‘We were so riled by it we stuck it there to hold ourselves to account,’ Streeting explains. ‘We’re going further than your prescription, though. We thought it was insufficiently...
Reform vs Labour: who’ll win the battle for the north?

1 week ago | spectator.co.uk | Katy Balls

Text size Small Medium Large Line Spacing Compact Normal Spacious Comments When MPs and peers were recalled to parliament for an emergency debate on renationalising British Steel, one man was the talk of the terrace: Nigel Farage. Out by the river, a Labour peer congratulated the Reform leader for ‘leading on everything’. After all, Farage had been in Scunthorpe days earlier calling for steel nationalisation. Since I started covering British politics for The Spectator ten years and six prime...
'We’re back to Brexit’: Uncertain US trade deal is giving MPs déjà vu

1 week ago | inews.co.uk | Katy Balls

On Friday, Rachel Reeves finally received the news of her dreams – economic growth. After months of recession warnings, new GDP figures show that the economy expanded by a whole 0.5 per cent in February. While it’s still fairly small fry, it beats the gloomy forecasts from economists – and is fuelling hope in Whitehall that some of ministers’ rhetoric on growth may finally be cutting through. The question – is that progress about to be wiped out by the orange man on the other side of the pond?
How Starmer plans to weather Trump’s storm

2 weeks ago | spectator.com.au | Katy Balls

Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, Keir Starmer has struggled to set the agenda. The latest attempt came with the Spring Statement, but events soon overtook that when the US President announced his mass tariffs, which could derail Rachel Reeves’s spending plans. It is not yet 100 days into Trump’s secondterm, and ministers have already had to adjust rapidly to the new normal.
How Starmer plans to weather Trump’s storm

2 weeks ago | spectator.co.uk | Katy Balls

Text size Small Medium Large Line Spacing Compact Normal Spacious Comments Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, Keir Starmer has struggled to set the agenda. The latest attempt came with the Spring Statement, but events soon overtook that when the US President announced his mass tariffs, which could derail Rachel Reeves’s spending plans. It is not yet 100 days into Trump’s secondterm, and ministers have already had to adjust rapidly to the new normal. Even without the...
Keir Starmer plots retaliatory tariffs

3 weeks ago | spectator.com.au | Katy Balls

How will the UK respond to Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’? After the US President announced a batch of new tariffs yesterday, including a 10 per cent blanket levy on imports from the UK, ministers are discovering the pros and cons of the new normal. Supporters of Keir Starmer have taken comfort that the White House has imposed the lowest rate on the UK.
Keir Starmer plots retaliatory tariffs

3 weeks ago | spectator.co.uk | Katy Balls

How will the UK respond to Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’? After the US President announced a batch of new tariffs yesterday, including a 10 per cent blanket levy on imports from the UK, ministers are discovering the pros and cons of the new normal. Supporters of Keir Starmer have taken comfort that the White House has imposed the lowest rate on the UK. China faces total effective tariffs of 54 per cent, and the EU will be on levies of 20 per cent.
Who should get the credit for the climbdown on two-tier sentencing?

3 weeks ago | spectator.com.au | Katy Balls

In Westminster, politics is often a zero-sum game. There is a winner and a loser. But this week, two politicians from opposing sides found themselves being praised for the same thing: the Sentencing Council climbdown. After a long standoff with the government, the independent body stalled plans to bring in new rules on sentencing criminals from ethnic minorities, which were widely criticised as ‘two-tier justice’.