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- California State Assembly Passes Controversial Transgender Youth Bill National Review
- US: California State passes bill penalising parents with losing custody of their children for opposing their gender transition OpIndia
- California passes bill punishing parents who don’t ‘affirm’ trans kids in custody battles: ‘Utter madness!’ Fox News
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Tag Archives: punish
Ted Cruz asks Stanford to punish students who heckled Trump-appointed judge – Fox News
- Ted Cruz asks Stanford to punish students who heckled Trump-appointed judge Fox News
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The US should break up monopolies – not punish working Americans for rising prices | Robert Reich
Job growth and wages are slowing. Employers added 223,000 jobs in December, the labor department reported on Friday – lower than the average in recent months.
Average hourly wages rose by 4.6% in December, according to Friday’s report. That’s a slowdown from 4.8% in November.
All this is music to the ears of Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, because the Fed blames inflation on rising wages. The Fed has been increasing interest rates to slow the economy and thereby reduce the bargaining power of workers to get wage gains.
At his press conference on 14 December announcing the Fed’s latest interest rate hike, Powell warned that “the labor market remains extremely tight, with the unemployment rate near a 50-year low, job vacancies still very high, and wage growth elevated”.
But aren’t higher wages a good thing?
The typical American worker’s wage has been stuck in the mud for four decades.
Most of the gains from a more productive economy have been going to the top – to executives and investors. The richest 10% of Americans now own more than 90% of the value of shares of stock owned by Americans.
Powell’s solution to inflation is to clobber workers even further. He says “the labor market continues to be out of balance, with demand substantially exceeding the supply of available workers”.
But if the demand for workers exceeds the supply, isn’t the answer to pay workers more?
Not according to Powell and the Fed. Their answer is to continue to raise interest rates to slow the economy and put more people out of work, so workers can’t get higher wages. That way, “supply and demand conditions in the labor market [will] come into better balance over time, easing upward pressures on wages and prices,” says Powell.
Putting people out of work is the Fed’s means of reducing workers’ bargaining power and the “upward pressures on wages and prices”.
The Fed projects that as it continues to increase interest rates, unemployment will rise to 4.6% by the end of 2023 – resulting in more than 1m job losses.
But fighting inflation by putting more people out of work is cruel, especially when America’s safety nets – including unemployment insurance – are in tatters.
As we saw at the start of the pandemic, because the US doesn’t have a single nationwide system for getting cash to jobless workers, they have to depend on state unemployment insurance, which varies considerably from state to state.
Many fall through the cracks. When the pandemic began, fewer than 30% of jobless Americans qualified for unemployment benefits.
The problem isn’t that wages are rising. The real problem is that corporations have the power to pass those wage increases – along with record profit margins – on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
If corporations had to compete vigorously for consumers, they wouldn’t be able to do this. Competitors would charge lower prices and grab those consumers away.
Corporations aren’t even plowing their extra profits into new investments that would generate higher productivity in the future. They’re buying back their shares to boost stock prices. Through the end of 2022, American firms announced stock buybacks exceeding $1tn.
A rational response to inflation, therefore, would not increase unemployment in order to reduce the bargaining power of workers to get higher wages.
It would be to reduce the pricing power of corporations to pass those costs along to consumers along with rising profit margins, by making markets more competitive.
Corporate pricing power is out of control because corporations face so little competition.
Worried about sky-high airline fares and lousy service? That’s largely because airlines have merged from 12 carriers in 1980 to four today.
Concerned about drug prices? A handful of drug companies control the pharmaceutical industry.
Upset about food costs? Four giants now control over 80% of meat processing, 66% of the pork market, and 54% of the poultry market.
Worried about grocery prices? Albertsons bought Safeway and now Kroger is buying Albertsons. Combined, they would control almost 22% of the US grocery market. Add in Walmart, and the three brands would control 70% of the grocery market in 167 cities across the country.
And so on. The evidence of corporate concentration is everywhere.
It’s getting worse. There were over a thousand major corporate mergers or acquisitions last year. Each had a merger value of $100m or more. The total transaction value was $1.4tn.
The government must stop putting the responsibility for fighting inflation on working people whose wages have gone nowhere for four decades.
Put the responsibility where it belongs – on big corporations with power to raise their prices.
One possibility: any large corporation in an industry dominated by five or fewer giant corporations that raises its prices more than the Fed’s target of 2% should be presumed to have monopoly power, and slammed with an antitrust lawsuit.
China to punish internet users for ‘liking’ posts in crackdown after zero-Covid protests
Hong Kong
CNN Business
—
Internet users in China will soon be held liable for liking posts deemed illegal or harmful, sparking fears that the world’s second largest economy plans to control social media like never before.
China’s internet watchdog is stepping up its regulation of cyberspace as authorities intensify their crackdown on online dissent amid growing public anger against the country’s stringent Covid restrictions.
The new rules come into force from Dec. 15, as part of a new set of guidelines published by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) earlier this month. The CAC operates under the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission chaired by leader Xi Jinping.
The new rules have gained attention on social media in recent days and will take effect just weeks after an unprecedented wave of public anger started sweeping the country. From Beijing to Shanghai, thousands of demonstrators protested in more than a dozen cities over the weekend, demanding an end to the country’s draconian Covid restrictions and calling for political freedoms.
Internet users are taking screenshots of content related to the protests to preserve them and using coded references in messages to evade censors, while the authorities are scrambling to scrub the internet of dissent.
The regulation is an updated version of one previously published in 2017. For the first time, it states that “likes” of public posts must be regulated, along with other types of comments. Public accounts must also actively vet every comment under their posts.
However, the rules didn’t elaborate on what kind of content would be deemed illegal or harmful.
“Liking something that is illegal shows that there is popular support for the issue being raised. Too many likes ‘can start a prairie fire,’” said David Zweig, professor emeritus at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, referring to a Chinese expression about how a single spark can start a far larger blaze.
“The threats to the [Chinese Communist Party] come from an ability to communicate across cities. The authorities must have been really spooked when so many people in so many cities came out at the same time,” he added.
Analysts said the new regulation was a sign that authorities were stepping up their crackdown on dissent.
“The authorities are very concerned with the spreading protest activities, and an important means of control is to stop the communications of the potential protesters including reports of protest activities and appeals of joining them,” said Joseph Cheng, a retired professor of political science at the City University of Hong Kong.
“This cyberspace control is an important lesson absorbed from protest activities like the Arab Spring,” he said, referring to protests that washed over Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and the eastern province of Saudi Arabia in 2011.
“What is important to note is that in the wake of the [China] protests, we will likely see more aggressive policing of Chinese cyberspace, especially if the protests expand,” said Isaac Stone Fish, founder and CEO of Strategy Risks, a China risk consultancy firm based in Boston.
In recent years, China has gradually intensified its censorship of social media and other online platforms, including launching crackdowns on financial blogs and unruly fan culture. This year, the country’s strict zero-Covid policy and Xi’s securing of a historic third term have sparked discontent and anger among many online users.
But under the increasingly strict internet censorship, many voices of dissent have been silenced.
According to the regulation, all online sites are required to verify users’ real identities before allowing them to submit comments or like posts. Users have to be verified by providing their personal ID, mobile phone, or social credit numbers.
All online platforms must set up a “vetting and editing team” for real-time monitoring, reporting, or deleting content. In particular, comments on news stories must be reviewed by the sites before they can appear online.
All platforms also need to develop a credit rating system for users based on their comments and likes. Users with poor ratings dubbed “dishonest” will be added to a blocklist and banned from using the platform or registering new accounts.
However, analysts also questioned how practical it would be to carry out the newest rules, given that public anger is widespread and strict enforcement of these censorship requirements would consume significant resources.
“It is almost impossible to stop the spread of protest activities as the dissatisfaction continues to spread. The angry people can come up with all sorts of ways to communicate and express their feelings,” Cheng said. “The major deterrent lies in the perception that the (Communist) Party regime is still in control and the sanctions are severe.”
Chongyi Feng, an associate professor in China Studies at the University of Technology Sydney, said that it is “extremely difficult” now for the Chinese public to voice their grievances and anger.
“Cyberspace policing by Chinese authorities is already beyond measure, but that does not stop brave Chinese citizens from challenging the regime,” he said.
Russia warns humanity at risk if West seeks to punish it over Ukraine
By Pavel Polityuk and Simon Lewis
KYIV/KRAMATORSK (Reuters) – Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said attempts by the West to punish a nuclear power such as Russia for the war in Ukraine risked endangering humanity, as the near five-month conflict leaves cities in ruins and thousands homeless.
Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most serious crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when many people feared the world was on the brink of nuclear war.
U.S. President Joe Biden says Russian President Vladimir Putin is a war criminal and has led the West in arming Ukraine and imposing crippling sanctions on Russia.
“The idea of punishing a country that has one of the largestnuclear potentials is absurd. And potentially poses a threat tothe existence of humanity,” Medvedev, now deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, said on Telegram on Wednesday.
Russia and the United States control about 90% of theworld’s nuclear warheads, with around 4,000 warheads each intheir military stockpiles, according to the Federation ofAmerican Scientists.
Medvedev cast the United States as an empire which hadspilled blood across the world, citing the killing of NativeAmericans, U.S. nuclear attacks on Japan and a host of warsranging from Vietnam to Afghanistan.
Attempts to use courts or tribunals to investigate Russia’sactions in Ukraine would, Medvedev said, be futile and riskglobal devastation. Ukraine and its Western allies say Russian forces have engaged in war crimes.
Putin launched his invasion, calling it a “special military operation”, to demilitarise Ukraine, root out what he said were dangerous nationalists and protect Russian speakers in that country.
Ukraine and its allies say Russia launched an imperial-style land grab, sparking the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two.
After failing to seize the capital Kyiv early, Russia is now waging a war of attrition for Ukraine’s Donbas region, parts of which are controlled by Russian separatist proxies.
On Sunday, Putin claimed his biggest victory when Ukrainian forces withdrew from Luhansk province. Russian forces then launched an offensive to take neighbouring Donetsk province. Donetsk and Luhansk comprise the Donbas.
Russia says it wants to wrest control of the eastern and heavily industrial region on behalf of Moscow-backed separatists in two self-proclaimed people’s republics.
HEAVY SHELLING
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian military said it had so far staved off any major Russian advance into the north of Donetsk, but pressure is intensifying with heavy shelling on the city of Sloviansk and nearby populated areas.
It said Russian forces were bombarding several Ukrainian towns with heavy weaponry to enable ground forces to advance southward into the region and close in on Sloviansk.
“The enemy is trying to improve its tactical position…(They) advanced … before being repulsed by our soldiers and retreating with losses,” the Ukrainian military said in its evening note.
Other Russian forces, it said, aimed to seize two towns en route to the city of Kramatorsk, south of Sloviansk, and were also trying to take control of the main highway linking Luhansk and Donetsk provinces.
“We are holding back the enemy on the (Luhansk/Donetsk) border,” Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai told Ukrainian TV. Later, he said Luhansk was still not entirely occupied by Russian forces and that Russia had sustained “colossal losses.”
“They will continue to try to advance on Sloviansk and Bakhmut. There is no doubt about that,” he said.
Sloviansk Mayor Vadym Lyakh told a video briefing the city had been shelled for the last two weeks.
“The situation is tense,” he said, adding that 17 residents had been killed there since Feb. 24.
Russia’s defence ministry says it does not target civilians and on Wednesday said it was using high-precision weapons to take out military threats.
Ukraine has repeatedly pleaded with the West to send more weapons to repel the invasion that has killed thousands, displaced millions, and flattened cities.
“At last, Western artillery has started to work powerfully, the weapons we are getting from our partners. And their accuracy is exactly what is needed,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said In his nightly video message.
‘NO SAFE AREAS’
In the Donetsk city of Kramatorsk, which Russian forces are expected to try to capture in coming weeks, Ukrainian soldiers and a handful of civilians ran errands in green-painted cars and vans on Wednesday. Much of the population has left.
“It’s almost deserted. It’s spooky,” said Oleksandr, a 64-year-old retired metal worker. He was unlikely to follow official advice to evacuate, he said, despite an increase in missile strikes.
“I’m not looking for death but if I encounter it it’s better to be at home,” he said.
Outside the Donbas, Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv was being subjected to “constant” longer-range Russian shelling, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Ukrainian TV.
“Russia is trying to demoralise Kharkiv but it won’t get anywhere,” he said. Ukrainian defenders pushed Russian armoured forces well back from Kharkiv early in the war, and Terekhov said around 1 million residents remained there.
South of Kharkiv, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk said the region had been battered by missiles and shelling, while on the southern coast the port of Mykolaiv was also being heavily shelled, Oleksandr Senkevych, its mayor, told a briefing.
“There are no safe areas in Mykolaiv,” he said. “I am telling the people… that they need to leave.”
Reuters was unable to immediately verify battlefield reports.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Zelensky demands world leaders punish Russia after deadly mall strike
“The person who carried out this strike knew for sure that he was aiming a missile at an ordinary shopping center,” Zelensky said, denying Russia’s claim that the mall, in the city of Kremenchuk, was not in use.
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Tuesday said that the missiles hit hangars storing Western-donated weapons and ammunition, causing a fire at the shopping center. According to Ukrainian authorities, Russian forces launched at least one Kh-22 missile that hit the Amstor mall, engulfing it in flames.
“More than 50 people were wounded, dozens more are missing … fragments of bodies were found,” Zelensky said. “We need to act urgently to do everything to make Russia stop the killing spree.”
He urged the Security Council to strip Russia of its permanent seat, label Moscow a state sponsor of terror and establish a tribunal to investigate its forces for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron called the mall strike a “war crime” and said Russia “cannot and should not win” the war in Ukraine.
Witnesses in Kremenchuk described scenes of “horror” and “hell” after the explosion from the missile ripped through the building.
Tanya, 50, a salesperson at the Amstor mall — who spoke on the condition that her last name and the name of her business not be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation in Ukraine — said that people in the shopping center had only a few minutes to react to air raid sirens warning that a Russian attack could be imminent.
Tanya said she received an alert on her telephone and was gathering up merchandise to close the store when the blast wave threw her from her chair.
“A couple of seconds later and everything went dark — there was only the light of my computer,” she said. “I felt around me, and there was glass everywhere.”
“People were shouting, ‘the roof, the roof!’ because I think in some part it had already fallen, and there were pools of water on the ground,” she said. “We had to get out before the supports collapsed.”
Tanya said she didn’t know how many people were in the building. But she said the strike came at a time when people often stopped off at the grocery store in the mall on their way home from work.
Shortly after she got out, fire engulfed the area where she had been, she said.
A two-minute clip of closed-circuit TV footage from a park near the mall in Kremenchuk, released Tuesday, shows a view of the strike — with debris flying into a pond, and terrified adults and children running for shelter or throwing themselves into the water. The blast can be clearly seen.
Anna Vasenko, press officer for the Kremenchuk police, was among the first people to arrive at the mall after the explosion, which was about a mile from her office. The scene, she said, was “beyond words.”
“There was black smoke that made us choke — everything was black smoke, everything was on fire,” she said. “It was a horror — blood, tears — it was just hell.”
“Here was a hell that just 15 minutes before was full of life.”
Thebault reported from Washington. Mary Ilyushina in Riga, Latvia, and Karina Tsui in Washington also contributed to this report.
correction
An earlier version of this article said that at least one Russian missile had been fired from Russia’s Caspian region, according to Ukrainian officials. They said at least one missile had been fired from Russia’s Kursk region. The story has been corrected.
Soros Urges Europe to Levy Heavy Taxes on Russian Gas to Punish Putin
- George Soros said Europe may have more bargaining power than it thinks it has in dealing with Russia.
- The billionaire called on Europe to levy a “hefty tax on gas imports.”
- Soros also Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could trigger World War III and lead to the end of civilization.
Europe may have more bargaining power than it thinks when it comes to dealing with Russia.
That’s according to billionaire George Soros, who has urged Europe to use its position as a major consumer of Russian natural gas to take a tougher stance against Russia, Bloomberg reported.
The hedge-fund tycoon, who was speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Tuesday, said he sent his views to Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, per the news outlet.
“Europe is his only market,” Soros wrote to Draghi on May 23, Bloomberg reported, citing a copy of the text.
In 2021, the developed economies of Europe were by far the largest importers of Russian natural gas, collectively accounting for almost three-quarters of the country’s total exports, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
“If he doesn’t supply Europe, he must shut down the wells in Siberia from where the gas comes,” Soros continued, according to the news outlet. “It takes time to shut them down and once they are shut down, they are difficult to reopen because of the age of equipment.”
Soros also called on Europe to levy heavy taxes on gas imports. “Russia would never regain the sales it has lost,” he wrote, per Bloomberg.
The philanthropist and donor to liberal political causes said at a dinner at the WEF on Tuesday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could trigger World War III, which civilization may not survive.
“We must mobilize all our resources to bring the war to an early end. The best and perhaps only way to preserve our civilization is to defeat Putin as soon as possible,” he said, per AFP.
Soros said he wrote to Draghi as the Italian leader is one with “initiative” and “imagination,” Bloomberg reported.
Before taking office as Italy’s prime minister in February 2021, Draghi was the president of the European Central Bank for eight years. In his tenure as Europe’s top central banker, he is credited with saving the euro from collapse during the eurozone’s debt crisis that peaked between 2010 and 2012.
Canada Now Willing to Punish Crimes Committed on the Moon
More than 50 years ago, Apollo astronauts left 96 bags of their own waste on the surface of the Moon. But they didn’t exactly fear getting hit with a fine for littering, as space—the Moon included—has been a largely lawless region. Canadian law makers are hoping to change that.
Canada amended its criminal code on Thursday to allow for the prosecution of crimes committed by Canadian astronauts during trips to the Moon or on the lunar surface itself. Foreign astronauts who threaten the life or security of a Canadian astronaut can also be punished by Canadian law, according to broadcaster CBC.
Canada’s criminal code had already included crimes committed by its astronauts aboard the International Space Station as punishable by law. But the recent amendment now accounts for the Canadian Space Agency’s participation in the upcoming Artemis program, through which NASA intends on sending people back to the Moon’s surface later this decade, and possibly as early as 2025.
The Artemis 2 mission, in which a crewed Orion capsule will travel to the Moon and back without landing, will include a Canadian astronaut. Canada is also contributing a robotic arm to the Lunar Gateway, a planned outpost in orbit around the Moon. The European Space Agency, as well as Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency, are also taking part in the Artemis program.
As these international collaborations take shape in the midst of an evolving industry, it has become more crucial to reconsider the laws currently in place when it comes to governing space. As it stands, space is loosely governed by the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which was penned in light of the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The treaty hasn’t been updated since, and article six of the Outer Space Treaty states that nations will supervise the activities of their citizens in space.
U.S. and UK to punish Putin’s elite friends if Russia invades Ukraine
WASHINGTON/LONDON/MOSCOW, Jan 31 (Reuters) – The United States and the United Kingdom are prepared to punish Russian elites close to President Vladimir Putin with asset freezes and travel bans if Russia sends troops into Ukraine, the White House and British government said on Monday.
Britain urged Putin to “step back from the brink” after the Russian buildup of troops near Ukraine stoked fears of war, and warned any incursion would trigger sanctions against companies and people close to the Kremlin. read more
“The individuals we have identified are in or near the inner circles of the Kremlin and play a role in government decision making or are at a minimum complicit in the Kremlin’s destabilizing behavior,” White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters.
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British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said planned legislation will give London new powers to target companies linked to the Russian state. Neither government revealed who was in their sights for sanctions.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the British warning “very disturbing,” saying it made Britain less attractive to investors and would hurt British companies.
“An attack by a given country on Russian business implies retaliatory measures, and these measures will be formulated based on our interests if necessary,” Peskov said.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, London has become the haven of choice for a river of money from Russia and other former Soviet republics. Transparency advocates have long called on Britain to be tougher about illicit financial flows.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was due to speak to Putin by telephone late on Monday or early Tuesday and travel to Ukraine on Tuesday.
“What I will say to President Putin, as I’ve said before, is that I think we really all need to step back from the brink, and I think Russia needs to step back from the brink,” Johnson told reporters.
At a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Monday, requested by Washington, Russia’s U.N ambassador said the West’s assertion that it had amassed 100,000 troops near Ukraine had not been confirmed by the international body and there was no proof it was planning military action. read more
He said U.S. talk of war was “provocative,” that Russia frequently deployed troops in its own territory, and that Ukraine’s crisis was a domestic issue.
China’s ambassador to the United Nations said China did not view Russia’s troops near the border as a threat and urged all parties to not aggravate the situation.
A view shows Russian BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles during drills held by the armed forces of the Southern Military District at the Kadamovsky range in the Rostov region, Russia January 27, 2022. REUTERS/Sergey Pivovarov
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Although Russia, which seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and backs pro-Russian rebels fighting government forces in east Ukraine, denies planning further incursion, it is demanding sweeping security guarantees including a promise NATO never admit Ukraine.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to speak by phone with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, a state department spokesperson said.
RUSSIAN MONEY ABROAD
Opponents of Putin have long urged the West to clamp down on Russian money, though oligarchs and Russian officials continue to flaunt wealth at Europe’s most luxurious destinations.
“Putin’s cronies will no longer be able to use their spouses or other family members as proxies to evade sanctions. Sanctions would cut them off from the international financial system and ensure that they and their family members will no longer able to enjoy the perks of parking their money in the West and attending elite Western universities,” said a senior Biden administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Britain has already imposed sanctions on about 180 people and 48 entities since Russia annexed Crimea, including six people it says are close to Putin. The sanctions allow Britain to bar individuals from entering and to freeze their assets.
Still, Britain has in the past taken a softer line on Russia’s business elite than the United States – for instance sparing Igor Sechin, one of Russia’s most powerful men as CEO of oil producer Rosneft, whom Washington sanctioned in 2014.
The European Union, many of whose members are in NATO, has also threatened “strong political consequences and massive economic costs” for Russia over any new incursion into Ukraine. read more
Some NATO countries, including the United States and Britain, have sent arms to Ukraine, although they have ruled out sending troops there to fight.
Poland said it had offered neighboring Ukraine tens of thousands of munitions, and was awaiting a reply. The White House on Monday accused Russia of surging troops into Belarus, which is hosting Russian drills and borders both Poland and Ukraine.
Europe’s dependence on Russian energy supplies weakens the West’s hand. A top EU official said the future of a key gas pipeline from Russia was on pause.
The United States has asked top gas producer Qatar and other major exporters to study whether they can supply more to Europe. read more
U.S. President Joe Biden said he planned to designate Qatar a major non-NATO ally. read more
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Reporting by Steve Holland in Washington, Guy Faulconbridge in London and Dmitry Antonov in Moscow; Additional reporting by William James in London and Michelle Nichols at the UN; Writing by Kevin Liffey and Frank Jack Daniel, Editing by Toby Chopra and Rosalba O’Brien
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Voters punish scandal-hit Boris Johnson’s party with crushing loss in ‘safe’ seat
LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party on Friday lost control of a parliamentary seat they have dominated for nearly 200 years, in a shock election result seen as a voter backlash against a British leader beset by crises and scandal.
The centrist Liberal Democrats won the North Shropshire seat by nearly 6,000 votes, overturning a 23,000 vote Conservative majority from 2019 with a huge swing.
The defeat was described as ‘a kicking’ for the Conservatives. It will ratchet up the pressure on Johnson from his lawmakers, who are in mutinous mood as they fear the party’s reputation and electoral prospects are now suffering under Johnson’s leadership.
“Tonight, the people of North Shropshire have spoken on behalf of the British people. They have said loudly and clearly: ‘Boris Johnson, the party is over’,” Liberal Democrat candidate Helen Morgan said in her victory speech.
“Our country is crying out for leadership. Mr Johnson, you’re no leader.”
The shock result comes at a time when Johnson is facing criticism on several fronts, including over reports his staff held parties last Christmas when the country was in lockdown.
Nationwide opinion polls show his ruling Conservatives falling behind their main rivals, the Labour Party.
“Voters in North Shropshire were fed up and they gave us a kicking and I think they wanted to send us a message,” Conservative chairman and lawmaker Oliver Dowden told Sky News, which is owned by NBC News’ parent company, Comcast.
Johnson said he understood the frustration felt by voters over what he described as “a constant litany of stuff about politics and politicians.”
“Of course I take personal responsibility.” he told reporters.
Doubts about Johnson’s leadership have been stoked further by public outcry over lawmakers’ second jobs, criticism of the way Johnson funded the lavish refurbishment of his flat, and a surge in Covid-19 cases.
The vote for the North Shropshire area, one of 650 seats in Britain’s parliament, was called outside of the regular election cycle because the incumbent Conservative resigned after he was found to have broken rules on paid lobbying.
The government attempted to prevent that resignation by changing rules designed to stop corruption in parliament, but was forced to backtrack after the move provoked an outcry about integrity and trust under Johnson’s leadership.
The Conservatives had won every previous election for the mostly rural area of central England since the constituency was created in its current form in 1983.
So-called by-elections are often used by voters to punish the ruling party, but the scale of the Liberal Democrat victory will be taken as evidence of deep public dissatisfaction.
Johnson still maintains a large majority of the seats in parliament after a comprehensive 2019 election win built on a promise to ‘Get Brexit Done’ that united traditional right-leaning Conservative voters with a swathes of new supporters.
North Shropshire was a pro-Brexit, staunchly Conservative area. Analysts say Friday’s heavy defeat may further undermine Johnson’s authority over lawmakers already in open revolt over plans to introduce Covid-19 passports.
Britain’s next nationwide election is due in 2024.