Politicians Braced for Backlash as Europe Turns Against Austerity

THE OBSERVER: Voters sick of endless belt-tightening are threatening a backlash that could sweep their political leaders from power if they do not listen to the growing chorus for change

At the end of last month, 5,000 people marched through Dublin to protest against the imposition of a €100 (£80) household tax that the Irish government was already struggling to collect from voters sick of austerity measures imposed on a stagnating economy.

It was a small demonstration by the standards of some that have taken place across Europe in recent months – in places such as Syntagma Square in Athens, or in Spanish cities during the general strike that took place just before the Dublin protest – but numbers on the streets are not everything these days.

As polls in Ireland revealed last week, support for the coalition government's policies is collapsing, while backing for Sinn Féin – which is calling for a "no" vote in next month's referendum on the EU fiscal compact that would bind member states other than the UK, which opted out, to budget deficits of 3% or less in perpetuity – has propelled it into the rank of Ireland's second most popular party after Fine Gael. Whether there will still be a fiscal compact to vote on, when the Irish go to the polls, is a moot point. The likely winner of the second round of the French presidential elections next Sunday, the Socialist, François Hollande – who some polls put nine points ahead of the incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy – has said he would revise the deal.

In recent days, the Dutch coalition government has been brought down by the departure of Geert Wilders's far-right Freedom party, which was unwilling to sign up to a budget in line with the EU's belt-tightening package, even though the Dutch government has been one of the most aggressively in favour of imposing harsh austerity measures on members such as Greece and Portugal. Indeed, opinion polls in the Netherlands suggest that if elections – set for September – took place today, parties opposing the austerity regime might, both to the left and far right, win up to a third of seats. » | Peter Beaumont | Sunday, April 29, 2012

Benedict Brogan: Cutting Britain's Defence Budget to Pay Other Bills Is a False Economy
THE TELEGRAPH: Benedict Brogan believes both the main parties are missing the point of maintaining a nuclear deterrent

A free people, George Washington said, must be constantly awake against the insidious wiles of foreign influence. At any moment, from any quarter, trouble may pounce to put the sovereignty of the nation under threat. Defending the realm demands eternal vigilance.

Yet in this particular kingdom we are nodding off, distracted by the agonies of a financial crisis and the positioning of leaders vying for power. A time of great uncertainty abroad is met by political indifference at home.

From climate change and resource shortages, to cyber-warfare and disorderly states, to Islamist terrorism and international criminal networks, the dangers are multiplying. And then there are the unknown unknowns, the things we don't know that we don't know that kept Donald Rumsfeld up at night. Thirty years from now, who is to say that Russia will not have reverted to its expansionist ways, or that a nuclear-armed Caliphate of Waziristan will not be parked where Pakistan used to be?

Which is what makes British foreign policy, and our capacity to implement it, such a vital part of what a government does. It remains essential to us that our diplomatic effort be played out in the international premier league.

Listen to the whispers coming out of the chancelleries of Europe or the US state department, however, and the talk is of relegation. Britain is slipping down the rankings as Gordon Brown focuses on a domestic fight for survival. Ominously, there is no sign that the prospect of having David Cameron in charge will do anything to reverse the trend.

As so often with a national share price, it is a concatenation of decisions and behaviours that drives it downwards. Financial mismanagement, the prospect of a debt downgrade, an inability to produce the necessary resources in Iraq or Afghanistan, loose talk of defence cuts and an end to Trident, speculation about giving up our permanent seat on the UN Security Council, the threat of legal action against serving intelligence officers, and confusion over the Iraq inquiry have helped contribute to a steady loss of credibility.

The strength of our commitment to future defence is this week's wobble. Having frittered away billions since 1997, Mr Brown, with the tacit support of the Conservatives, is eyeing up those cash-draining Cold War programmes. It is tempting to detect the hand of his friends in the unions behind the well-timed leaks about cost over-runs on the two planned aircraft carriers, while the top brass fall over each other to volunteer the weapons programmes of rival services for the chop. >>> Benedict Brogan | Wednesday, July 01, 2009