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Crony War
Rachel Reeves, the shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, has made an intervention calling for an end to the government’s “outsourcing obsession”. She’s accused the government of handing £2bn of coronavirus contracts to Conservative friends and donors and wasting hundreds of millions of pounds on faulty equipment that can’t be used. Ailbhe has interviewed Ms. Reeves exclusively for the New Statesman, and on this episode of the podcast Ailbhe joins Stephen and Anoosh to discuss the cronyism controversy, and the former shadow work and pensions secretary's return to the front benches. Then, in You Ask Us, they clear up some of the confusion surrounding factionalism and in-fighting within the Scottish National Party.
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Ailbhe's interview with Rachel Reeves MP
Stephen argues that the apparent polling surge for the Green party matters more for the Liberal Democrats than the Labour party.
James Meadway writes that long-term Covid could mean long-term Conservative rule.
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You can follow Stephen Bush on twitter @stephenkb. Anoosh Chakelian is @Anoosh_C and Ailbhe Rea is @PronouncedAlva.
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Topics in this episode:
coronavirus
covid-19
government spending
outsourcing
government contracts
the labour party
the conservative party
Scotland
the SNP
People mentioned in this episode:
Rachel Reeves
Boris Johnson
Keir Starmer
Michael Gove
Ed Miliband
David Cameron
Nicola Sturgeon
Alex Salmond
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