A Sit Down: Nicolas, Solidarity and Governing in Minority

He's led one of Britain's most stable minority governments and reinvigorated the radical left, ruling with an iron fist over his cabinet and the presentation of unashamedly left policies, NicolasBroaddus will soon become the longest serving Prime Minister of the last 3 years, only bested by the reign of KarlYonedaStan.

Good afternoon. I'm Jayson Ball with the Independent and today I have the pleasure of speaking with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, recently returned from his trip to Ukraine, and gearing up for the Budget to be read before he fights for a second term in just under 4 weeks.

So welcome Nic, thanks for coming along, first things first I have to ask you, did you expect to return to British politics as Prime Minister after being semi-retired for quite a period of time?

I really can’t say I did. When I left things seemed very grim for leftism in Britain. The backslide I expected did happen, but the left weathered the storm and are now here resurgent. I cannot take credit for much of it, but this time I’ll fight even harder to keep pushing forward.

This term, and especially the last election, we have seen the left in Britain in an extremely powerful position, there have been almost no controversial votes, and this has been one of the most stable minority governments we have ever seen in the history of this country.

Do you take any of the credit for the work over the last term in working cooperatively with Labour, and ensuring that you never lose a vote, or is that more of a situational impact of the political calculus that has created this left wing dominance which finds little to disagree over?

I will point out that the Government actually did fail a handful of votes, notably one of my own bills on the privy council.

But no, it’s very much an active diplomatic and political process. We started this term with almost hostile relations with Labour, something I admittedly played a role in. However, I’ve managed to make amends, and now we work closely with the Opposition on most legislation.

There have been disagreements, and rather than get into heated debates in the commons that would result in no progress, I like to try to hash out any such differences in private first. This has quite often resulted in better legislation, and is part of why this Government has passed more legislation than any in several terms.

As you mention, the term began with very poor relations with the Labour Party, and this is the primary reason why we did not see a Rose 3. Now that those bridges have been rebuilt and amends made, do you believe that a Rose 3 Government is the most viable option after the election considering that both Solidarity and Labour jointly poll over 50%?

I think it's certainly an option, and I've offered preliminary talks to the Leader of the Opposition, something he refused until after the election, which I can respect. Regardless, I think it is clear that the current government can operate with the confidence of the House. It does not always need Labour necessarily to do it either, as some of our cooperation on transport policy with the Conservative Party earlier in this term showed.

While perhaps debates and motions in the Commons have shown an outwardly combative Conservatives, they've recently embarked a moderation of their platform and are seeking further pragmatic approaches between parties, as demonstrated by your work with them, it shows that you are able to cooperate in some instances.

So overall do you think that perhaps we are moving towards a far less angsty commons and further cooperative approaches?

I would certainly welcome that, though in recent weeks we have begun to see it trend in the other direction, with the farce of a lords committee called by the Duke of Abercorn. It certainly makes the calls for cooperating with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats on the budget seem absurd, how many times should we let the scorpion climb upon our back?

Speaking of scorpions, there was recently controversy in Sir model-kyosanto's Oral Questions, usually an unassuming affair, it turned into a non-stop attack on the Government regarding their attitudes to a recent Commons Bill, culminating in yourself needing to be called in. How do you think this reflects on the new Labour splinter party 'Unity' that is supposedly all about pragmatic and sensible approaches to politics?

I can't really say I understand what the Unity Party is about, much of the financial policy their announcement condemned was written by their deputy leader. To me the exchange seemed so heated because of perhaps some personal resentments, but it was a very strange one. I do not think Unity will find much success with the tactic of legalistically defining words over and over and ignoring colloquial meanings, followed by insulting the Leader of the House of Lords and being escorted out.

Moving on from inter-party relations for a moment, in terms of your legislative achievements this term, there have been many, but what would you highlight as the most significant to your agenda?

I've been asked this a few times, and I'll continue to answer with Land Reform. I view land management and reform as the crucial foundation to all the needed reforms in Britain. From building a modern high speed transport network, to combating the advance of climate change, to building necessary housing for all the people of Britain. We all come from the land, and so it always comes back to it in the end.

The upcoming Budget of course will be another flagship piece of legislation that you shall be presenting to the House very soon, not of course we aren't aware of dates but it would have to be in the next couple of weeks!

Do you have any insights you would like to share on what it may contain, and your work with other parties on it?

It will be sooner than you think perhaps. And I think I should like the budget documents to speak for themselves for the most part. We’ve been cooperating with the official opposition throughout the drafting process, which has generally made the process more efficient.

If I were to highlight one policy, we are expanding the taxes on fossil fuel production to cover royalties earned off such production by investors, closing a loophole to the tune of billions of pounds.

I suppose a large concern that many people is will this increased revenue allow you to reduce deficit spending at all? Or is reducing the deficit even something we should be considering at present considering the economic situation we find ourselves in both domestically and globally?

Reducing our debt to GDP ratio is of course something we keep in mind, and the budget we present will be sharply reducing it over the next few years. Theoretically we would also be running a surplus within a few years, but we will likely increase investment over time as well. The point is not whether we are currently running a deficit, but whether we are getting further into debt or not. We are not getting further into debt, in fact the opposite is true.

Considering this, how prepared does this Budget make Britain to deal with the looming global recession, considering we have seen high rates of inflation, stagnant and negative economic growth, and are now seeing the collapse of certain overstrung financial institutions in the United States?

I think it builds off the necessary immediate action of our emergency budget, by reinforcing the aspects of the state that support the people in areas related to cost of living. Things like grid nationalisation, my agriculture reforms to bolster domestic production and lower consumer prices, restoring and expanding universal school meals, all are part of how our Government is trying to reduce the burden on everyday people. Those making immense profits off the suffering, such as the grid operators, will no longer be allowed to continue in these actions, as public services must be run for the public good.

Obviously state intervention has been a trademark of the past year, we have seen railways nationalised, energy nationalised, telecommunications infrastructure nationalised, and the Royal Mail nationalised. This is naturally seeing huge amounts of investment into the economy, and perhaps is much like Kevin Rudd's world renowned response to the Global Financial Crisis which saw Australia has the only western economy to avoid recession through massive state investment.

So this is all very promising for the average person who is working, paying taxes and seeing their money being invested back into them, and going off that how do you think you will go with voters then as we etch ever closer towards the election?

It has, and it's been the right answer. I know some worry of reckless nationalisation, but we have taken pains to act only where necessary and will have a positive impact. The Royal Mail is a fantastic example, as estimates show it will pay itself off within a decade, all while lowering prices for the people of Britain. As for how we will go with the voters, I think the polls have shown Solidarity is the most popular party in Britain. We will be showing our plans for our next term of government in the election, and I will happily use this opportunity to reaffirm my comments in the Water Authorities Bill debate: Solidarity will bring water into public ownership. England has seen some of the worst management of water resources in the world since privatisation, and it is far past time to right that wrong.

You have been the most popular party in Britain since July 2021, almost 2 years, do you worry that voters may begin to grow tired of Solidarity dominance in politics at all, can voters continue to expect that fresh and new ideas will continue to keep popping up?

I think if we let ourselves grow stagnant, yes, voters could tire of it, but I don't intend to allow that. I haven't forgotten the radical spirit of the radical socialist party, and we will continue to push the limits of democratic politics in the pursuit of what you could call 'our most moderate demands.

Looking back to your time in the Radical Socialist Party, and how that compares to Britain today, what would you say has changed which has allowed for Solidarity and left wing politics to become successful and mainstream?

I think voters got to see what the right wing policies brought to them: higher bills and worse wages. I would also say there might have been some other reasons behind the decline of the RSP, but not something worth discussing in this interview.

Moving on then, recently the Government has been attacked ruthlessly by former Labour Deputy Leader Muffin, from allegations of plagiarism, to exposing the hollow promises of reversing Brexit from the Deputy Prime Minister, and putting bill after motion after debate out in a seeming attempt to spite you.

What do you make of this seemingly personal vendetta the Leader of the Loonies has against you, and is it impacting the morale of your colleagues?

It has been a nuisance, I know a few cabinet colleagues have been bothered by it, particularly as it feels like a sort of betrayal in some ways. I had not considered the Marquess to be particularly socialist, but I certainly did not get the feeling they were as right wing as they are now demonstrating. I do wonder what the point is pretending to be a party about satire and local issues when all you do is pursue personal grudges.

The Monster Raving Loony Party had very surprising showings in the recent elections in the devolved legislatures, and have maintained relatively stable polling for Westminster too, are you worried at all that their influence may be greater after the next election?

I think any presence is a bit embarrassing, yes, but I think it is likely. I find myself glad that voting on the Amendments Committee is weighted to party seats.

Well, with that I think we are almost out of time.

Thank you for coming along today Nic, it was great to have you!

Of course, thank you for having me, I'm always happy to talk to press, and I've enjoyed some of your pieces lately. The piece on the lords committee was particularly good.

Many thanks

That was Prime Minister NicolasBroaddus speaking to the Independent about his term.

Join us later on in the week when we speak with the Deputy Prime Minister about the European Union, the Social Liberals, and more.