The defence secretary has emerged as a frontrunner for the highest job. However how has he voted on key points?
Following the ‘will he, received’t he resign’ political circus, the mainstream media has moved on to fevered hypothesis about Johnson’s successor.
Leaping to entrance of the bookies’ favorite is defence secretary Ben Wallace, following YouGov polling which confirmed the MP for Wyre and Preston North is the favorite amongst Tory members to exchange Johnson as social gathering chief and prime minister.
Whereas Wallace has declined to say if he’ll run for Tory Occasion management, we thought it will be a superb time to take a look at the defence secretary’s voting file on key points.
In opposition to the regulation of fracking
A glance on They Work for You, which offers open knowledge on MPs’ votes from the UK parliament, reveals that on environmental points, Wallace typically voted towards monetary incentives for low carbon emission electrical energy era strategies. He additionally persistently voted for promoting England’s state-owned forests, and virtually all the time voted for brand spanking new excessive pace rail infrastructure.
The management favorite additionally typically voted towards measures to stop local weather change and customarily voted towards regulation of fracking to extract shale fuel.
On Dwelling Affairs, Wallace persistently voted for mass surveillance of individuals’s communications and actions, and customarily voted for a stricter asylum system, whereas virtually all the time voting for a stronger enforcement of immigration guidelines.
London-born Ben Wallace served within the British Military from 1991 – 1998, the place he achieved the rank of captain. The defence secretary has beforehand spoken of how he thwarted an IRA bomb plot as a younger soldier when he was on patrol in west Belfast.
On overseas coverage and defence, the Tory MP virtually all the time voted for changing Trident with a brand new nuclear weapons system, and has persistently voted to be used of UK army forces in fight operations abroad.
On the European Union, whereas Wallace virtually all the time voted towards UK membership of the EU, he was a Stay supporter within the 2016 EU referendum. For the reason that Brexit vote, he has typically voted towards a proper to stay for EU nationals and towards extra EU integration.
Voted for college tuition charges
On schooling, Wallace has persistently voted for college tuition charges, persistently voted for academy faculties, voted for elevating England’s undergraduate tuition price cap to £9,000 a 12 months, and persistently voted for ending monetary assist for some 16 – 19 12 months olds in coaching and additional schooling.
Discount in spending on welfare advantages
Wallace has virtually all the time voted for a discount in spending on welfare advantages and towards spending public cash to create assured jobs for younger individuals who have spent a very long time unemployed. He has persistently voted for lowering housing profit for social tenants deemed to have extra bedrooms – the coverage often known as ‘bed room tax.’ The Wyre and Preston North MP has additionally persistently voted towards elevating welfare advantages not less than according to costs, and towards paying larger advantages over longer intervals for these unable to work resulting from sickness of incapacity.
Different notable votes embrace persistently voting for the privatisation of Royal Mail, persistently voting towards restrictions on charges charged to tenants by letting brokers, and virtually all the time voting for proscribing the scope of authorized assist.
The Tory management frontrunner has additionally typically voted towards homosexual rights, typically voted towards legal guidelines to advertise equality and human rights, and, in typical Tory style, voted towards larger taxes on banks, banker’s bonuses and better taxation on the worth of costly properties.
Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a contributing editor to Left Foot Ahead
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