Luthori

[Ligbruderkrieg]

Government loses majority in both Houses; Labour to conduct “expanded” majority negotiations with RadDems and RadLibs.
17th, June 5670



Prime Minister Howe’s gambit for securing his first term in office seems to have failed, as the Miles-Howe administration lost its governing majority in both Houses of Parliament, leaving the opposition with a majority. Howe’s lead in the Chamber of Representatives has been reduced to the Labour-Green electoral alliance losing numerous strategic seats to the right-wing electoral bloc (Conservatives, Liberals, Moderates and Hosian Democrats), who together won 199 seats, 18 seats shy of forming a majority government, meanwhile the current administration only gathered 180 seats, leaving Parliament in a state of gridlock - with media organisation agreeing that the current situation is one of a Hung Parliament - where no majority is being immediately spotted.

This state of affairs will force political parties to begin negotiating and compromising their positions with other parties. In that field, Mr. Howe’s National Labour is more favoured to secure an agreement with the other, smaller political groups such as the Radical Democratic Party and the Radical Liberal Party, who both can give the current administration more leverage in passing policies in the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate. The counterpart from gaining more votes in both the Chamber and the Senate would be that the government’s program would either need to be moderated and watered down to please the Radical Liberals or toughened to please the Radical Democrats. Even with his weakened position in the Chamber of Representatives, Prime Minister Howe recognised that Labour being a part of the next government was “likely”, stating that the Conservatives would be “unable to govern with a government of chaos”. 

The Prime Minister remained optimistic about the state of negotiations with both the Radical Dems and the Radical Libs, he has reportedly met with both RadDem leader, Kate Andy and RadLib interim leader, former Institutional Secretary Gregory Bercow. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, Mr. Bercow and Mrs. Andy’s respective meetings seems to have “brokered goodwill between each party leader”, something that will be needed in order to form a governing coalition. Together, the four left-wing, non-communist political parties hold 219 seats in the Chamber of Representatives, guaranteeing a 2-seats narrow majority in the lower house and 104 seats in the Senate, meaning that that coalition would also hold a narrow majority in the Senate. 

Senate Opposition Leader, Sir Thomas Pales (CON) stated that the Conservative Party wished to come to “reasonable, sensible and common-sense” compromises with any government led by the National Labour Party, Mr. Pales, who is widely considered as one of the top contenders for the potential Conservative leadership race that’ll be triggered by the potential resignation of Mr. Thomas Hawkins as party leader. The Conservatives, who have secured 127 seats in the Chamber of Representatives feel vindicated, even though their electoral performance was widely assumed to be “disappointing” by electoral observers. Pales is only one of the many contenders for the Conservative leadership election, where other high-ranking Conservative politicians will try their chance at taking the highest office within Luthori’s oldest political party.

Moderation within the Tory Party isn’t new, Mr. Hawkins having moderated the party’s stances on numerous issues, best demonstrated with a tacit support towards the current social status quo, with euthanasia legalised, gay rights strengthened and other reforms passed during the Miles administration, such as the Senate’s electoral reform bill - passed by Parliament by high margins, even with Conservative opposition to the Bill. Mr. Hawkins stated - following the vote - that the Tories would do “everything” to see the Senate Appointment and Electoral Reform Act - overturned during a potential Tory-led government, this stance brought some degree of appreciation from the Conservative Party’s right-wing flank and the Hosian Democrats - but drew ire from moderate to reformist Tories, such as MP Albert Gallagher (also one of the contenders for the Tory leadership race) - who stated his support for the Miles admin’s proposals and would vote against his own party on that issue. Key Tory allies in the Moderates and the Liberal Party forced Hawkins to back down.

Currently, front-runners for the Tory leadership are the aforementioned Mr. Pales (64), Mr. Gallagher (41), Conservative Shadow Chancellor Margaret Harper (52), Shadow Home Secretary Joseph Brooke (57), former Trade Secretary under the Windbury administration, Steve Johnson (60) each running with the support of one of the Conservative Party’s numerous political factions to successfully secure the leadership and the prime ministership in the near future. Currently, Mr. Pales, backed by the moderate “Political Control” faction is ahead with 25.2% of intended votes, trailing behind with 21.9% of intended votes is Mrs. Harper, widely considered to be a "reactionary" response from the Tories’ base after 9 years of undisputed Labour and left-wing governance. Mr. Gallagher, backed by the reformist and liberal faction, the “Action Committee”, is currently polling third with 12.1% of intended votes. Regardless of who secures the leadership race when Mr. Hawkins finally resigns, it would have to deal with a divided party before going forward to face off against Labour.

[Ligbruderkrieg]

As Howe announced new government agreement; hints at future ministers already leaked to the press.
18th September, 5670



After numerous media outlets were hinted by the International Press Corps news agency of the possibility of the formation of a new Luthorian government tonight, this information was officially confirmed by 10 Crown Street, which released a statement where it was announced that left-wing political forces had aligned on a “common, modern” political agenda for the future of the nation. Flanked with the Radical Democrat leader, Mrs. Kate Andy, the acting Green leader, Mrs. Fiona Crawford and the acting Radical Liberal leader, Mr. Gregory Bercow, Prime Minister Howe announced, all smiling, the formation of a second government led by himself. According to the four leaders, a government coalition including the National Labour Party, the Green Party and the Radical Democratic Party was agreed upon - with the Radical Liberal Party providing confidence and supply to the new coalition. This arrangement provides a government majority to the expanded coalition, with 201 seats directly controlled by parties part of the governing coalition and the Radical Liberals providing 18 seats in support of the cabinet’s agenda. 219 seats, with a 2 seat majority - this government became the one with the least support for a government, due to being a minority government. 

Prime Minister Howe has been conducted in his functions as Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury by the Emperor, and after pre-official announcements from numerous media outlets, each using the International Press Corps and the Sunpark media organisations’ information, the nomination of some Cabinet ministers was known beforehand. The International Press Corps received coordinating reports that Mr. Howe would remain as Prime Minister, Mr. Oliver Hapron (Greens) was to be appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for the Environment, Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition in the new government - replacing former Green leader, Mr. Coverty as Deputy PM. Acting Green leader, Mrs. Crawford seems to have rejected a place within the Cabinet in order to focus on winning the Green Party’s leadership race, where she’ll be battling against the tandem of anti-Coverty candidates, Mrs. Umball and Mr. Peterson, running together to force a more “radical” direction for the Green Party in government. Mrs. Crawford seems to have taken into account the threat to the fragile unity within the Cabinet that this candidacy did pose to the left-wing movement’s stability in the short and medium term and has currently tried her hardest to find a way to stop them.

The IPC also stated that Mr. Robert Bobber (Labour - Blue) was to be appointed as Home Secretary. Bobber, a close ally of former Institutional Secretary Bercow when he was still in the Labour Party and a part of the “Blue Rats” political faction within the Labour Party, led by former Life peer Sir Kenneth Pattinson, widely considered to be a heavily conservative wing on social issues and a protectionist wing on economics, the appointment of Mr. Bobber as Home Secretary was seen as a total 180⁰ from the Prime Minister, with him disowning the “open and tolerant” line that Miles and himself introduced to the Home Office. Mr. Bobber is known in parliamentary circles, being the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee in Parliament, and being mostly known for criticising the Home Secretary, describing the Home Office’s policies during the Miles administration as being “childish, reckless and concerning”. Was Mr. Bobber’s nomination, a bone thrown to the conservative Labour voters to an otherwise overwhelming left-wing domination of the Cabinet or a ploy by Prime Minister Howe to kill off a potential competitor for the Labour leadership election, and destabilise the Blue Rats by taking off one of its potential leaders and throwing him in the wolves of politics.

Other possible Cabinet members that need to be confirmed by government sources are Pete Soulpage (Labour) as Foreign Secretary, replacing Mr. Thomas Coverty as Foreign Secretary, Mrs. Olympia Stanley (Rad-Dem) as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, spearheading the government’s long anticipated justice reform bill to Parliament. Mr. Patrick Johnson (Labour) as Secretary of State for Defence. Overall, through these rumoured appointments, we can observe that the Labour Party remains as a dominant partner in the coalition, with the Greens and Radical Democrats merely getting one Great Offices of State each. These partitions of government roles will, according to specialists, lead to trigger a political crisis and a dissolution of Parliament, which will likely lead to the election of the Tories and right-wing bloc forming a majority government on their own - with polling from the LEA for the Financial Inquirer, stating that a right-wing electoral bloc, faring in a snap election, would secure a majority government of +34.

[Ligbruderkrieg]

Strategic consortium of Luthorian corporations purchase Dorvish government bonds - first step in a long-term strategy of investments.
October 17th, 5670



A strategic consortium of five Luthorian corporations has announced that a strategic purchase of government bonds issued by the Dorvish government in 5669 would be made. This consortium was formed by corporations which each have an interest at entering the Dorvish market in the medium to long term - and that move, aimed primarily at securing goodwill from the Dorvish government in anticipation of that goal, seems to be the natural continuation. The Kingdom of Dorvik and the Luthorian Empire hasn’t had the best of relationships throughout their history, in recent times, as Luthori drifted away from the Continent to focus on her own ventures in Seleya and Dovani, relations, both diplomatic, economic took a turn for the worse. This state of affairs was worsened by the Dorvish becoming more and more isolated in global affairs, with other countries in Artania becoming far more reliable trading partners as the decades went by.

But, in recent years, a coordinated effort by both governments was made in order to mend bilateral relations and restart bilateral trade between the two monarchies. In 5666, Dorvish Vice State Chancellor, Mr. Kaspar Haselriede met with Luthorian officials, including former Prime Minister Kathy Miles in Fort William, in a bilateral meeting aimed at rekindling diplomatic and economic relations between both states. Numerous corporations were present in a sort of cross-country forum, where further collaboration between Luthorian and Dorvish corporations was discussed, notably these included Northern Oil, the Dorvish’s state-owned oil corporation, the formerly government-owned Luthori Petroleum (LP), Luthori’s largest semiconductor producer, Invergn Industries, Luthori’s tech sector was also represented by BlueLock Inc., Hallowsoft Electronics and RocksAI, whose rise to the top of the chain of tech corporations has been swift, but logical due to the success of their first (and first Luthorian) artificial intelligent chatbot, VestriAI. Other companies, representing both countries’ automobile, shipping, financial and others were also represented during these meetings.

What came off of these meetings were mostly promises about increased trade between Haldor and Fort William. According to the Luthorian independent report, “National Trading Board”, in the last four years, bilateral trade between the Kingdom of Dorvik and the Luthorian Empire rose by 17.4% in terms of Luthorian exports, with Dorvish-Luthorian trade passing from 23th to 17th, with a 5669 trade volume of £12.1 billion (from £9.93 billion in 5665). While details about Dorvish exports to Luthori aren’t known, Luthorian officials have stated that Dorvish - and more importantly, Artanian-Luthorian commerce was steadily rising, as Luthori expanded relations with both Dundorfian-speaking nations (Kingdom of Dorvik and Federal Republic of Dundorf). Mutual understanding of their interests between Haldor, Dunburg and Fort William seems to have facilitated dialogue leading to increased trade. 

Amid continued Luthorian diplomatic efforts to court Artanian nations, it seems that this move from this consortium was welcomed with opened arms by the Luthorian Foreign Office - as it helps enhance Luthorian diplomatic goals through building goodwill relationships between Luthorian corporations, Dorvish corporations and the Dorvish government, in a mutually beneficial relationship aimed at the development of Dorvish economic sectors and the renewal of the Artanian continent as an economic force, a force that has been lost over the times as Artania, as a whole descended into chaos due to the two successive Kundrati Wars and the development and enshrining of fascism in Eastern Artania. With both Kundrati and Dorvik reopening to the world, an opportunity has risen for the development and rebirth of the two former large economies in the continent. For now, Luthorian investors and corporations are looking eagerly towards the state of reforms in Kundrati - while the Luthorian Government hasn't yet reacted to the election of Stansislav Herasymchuk as President and the political fallout that followed.

Within the consortium of companies are, first, Luthori’s largest banking corporation, the Martwick-Alchester Banking Company (MABC), Luthori’s two largest producers of cars, the Alchester Motor Company (AMC) and the Olyster-Rohan Motor Company, the largest oil distributor, producer Luthori Petroleum and finally, in Luthori’s tech, none other than Hallowsoft Electronics. In order to build an agreement, each of these companies have an interest in Dorvik, the first aim to restore her presence throughout the Artanian continent, the second and third are aiming to have better working conditions with the Dorvish government when negotiations about a potential expansion of their production capabilities in Dorvik would be discussed, the fourth aims at building a workable relationship with the Dorvish on the oil market and finally, the last one just aims at encouraging exports of its electronics from Luthori to Dorvik in a much greater scale than currently. These interests, while different, are joining themselves in one clear objective, expansion of their worldwide capabilities. So, the decision of buying these bonds and investing into them wasn’t - and shouldn’t be surprising. 

MABC Group CEO, Mrs. Alexandra Jackson commented on the operation, stating that, in her view, Dorvik was a stable and reliable economy to invest into - stating that the consortium had invested into long-term and medium-term (15 and 10 years) bonds with a 4.25% interest rate. In her words, over £15.7 billion were invested into these bonds - with expectations being that the money invested by Luthorian corporations would help facilitate Dorvish economic growth and renewal. Like Badaran officials, Dorvish economic reliability was the main reason pushed forward by Luthorian investors after making their moves - and the fact that Mrs. Jackson stated that the consortium was “fully confident” in the medium and long term reliability of the Kingdom of Dorvik’s government was, again, a sign of this confidence, even though Dorvish economics and financial markets haven’t had the time of their prime.

[Ligbruderkrieg]

Former refugees reject Kundrati’s Law of Return: “How can we trust a state that has spent decades separating us?”
1st January 5673

Kundrati’s Law of Return, overturning decades of state-sponsored discrimination and racism, has been adopted by a large majority of the Kundrati legislature. While the successful passage of the Bill has been met with cautious enthusiasm worldwide, the effect of Kundrati-Luthorian communities has been mostly the opposite. These communities have been formed over the course of 100 years of fascist tyranny and rule, and established themselves as Luthorians, first and foremost, after decades of integration into Luthorian culture, politics, economics and others. These communities, most are descendants of refugees who fled Kundrati during the height of the Legion’s regime. According to the Luthorian Refugee Organisation, over 150.000 fled the nation in over 50 years towards Luthori and organised themselves as communities that reminded themselves of the legacy of the “Kundrati of Old”, before being, in their mind, corrupted by fascism and authoritarianism. Today, over 2 millions individuals currently state that they have some form of Kundrati descent, with the large majority having mixed Luthorian and Kundratijian heritage. These individuals form the vast community of “Kundrati-Luthorians” that have today, rejected the so-called “Law of Return” passed by the Legislative Assembly in Kundrati.

According to the Kundrati-Luthorian Association of Friendship, the Law of Return is basically meaningless without a “real, clear and moral” purge of the Kundrati nation - in their mind, the Kundrati state, in over 90 years ever since the Civil War, purposefully divided up the different communities of Kundratis inside of their own nations. “Delics, Selucians, Lurrians, all of them were collectively used by the Kundrati government as a way to cement its power through a policy of “divide and conquer” - Delics were empowered and encouraged to consider itself as a “master race” among the three, while Lurrians were mostly persecuted by the Kundrati state and the Delics. As a Lurrian-Luthorian, not a Kundrati-Luthorian as state officials might tell, I’m not sure if I want to return to a nation where my identity might be prejudiciable for me, after all, discrimination, even if no longer state-sponsored, still exists, and stating that it doesn’t exist after a century would be a total lie.”, stated Mr. Leopold Sagarra, founder and current head of the “Victims of Kundratijian Fascism” non-gov. organisation.

Even with reservations about the current state of equality in Kundrati, the Law isn’t universally popular either within former refugee circles, many of them fought in favour of Luthori and the former government in Etxea during the Second Kundrati War. Many of them (between 35 and 60 years old) still have dark memories of the war between Legionary Kundrati and the Coalition, and find it doubtful that Kundratis currently have a “change of heart”, according to numerous former veteran organisations, “Kundrati will merely return to her old ways in some way, later on.”, according to the 2KW Vets association’s President, Mr. Peter Flow, former Captain in the Imperial Luthorian Army who was deployed for 7 years between 5638 and 5645 in Kundrati for occupation duties: “Kundrati seems to be changing, but we saw that pattern of fake democracy following up on the Coalition’s withdrawal - former Legion officials formed a party and won a majority, again, putting the nation under de facto fascist rule. Plus, veterans like me do not have much of a good image of Kundrati, might I remember that Kundratis ran a guerrilla campaign against Luthorian troops deployed in the south of the country, targeted our forces on the field and targeted our bases - with one strike killing over 20 Luthorians. It’s simple and I’ve discussed of the law with many Lurrians, Delics, or even Selucians who didn’t go to their roots in Selucia, they want to hope for the best - but in recent times, Kundrati hasn’t given them much hopes in regards to the nations’ future.”

Indeed, these people want to hope, they want to believe that the “Old Kundrati” that they’ve spent decades fantasizing is becoming, once again, reality, but, many descendents of refugees do not hold that same hope - according to Professor Anna Stockdale: “Numerous refugees can’t or do not wish to believe what the current government in Kundrati is saying, for once, a clear reason being their lack of trust towards the people who discriminated against them, as this is the case with Lurrians and other minorities were targeted by the government. Although, the thing is, that currently, most of them identifies as Luthorians, first and foremost, most of them have been born, raised, educated as Luthorians, many of them have Luthorian as their first language, but still continues to have their tongue spoken - as a secondary language, mostly through their families and institutions created by the Lurrian, Delic and other Kundrati communities in Luthori to help Kundrati refugees who arrived in Luthori. Over time, these became institutions where the preservation of culture within these exile communities was placed at the forefront of their existence, with classes and programs aimed at helping Lurrian, Delic languages could be learnt and preserved.” According to Pr. Stockdale, these people have a “huge issue” with Kundrati, as she summed that: “Their sentiment is more like: How can we trust a state that has done nothing for us? Persecuted us? And where we will see a load of racism, just because we are, in fact, Luthorian?”. This sentiment raised other questions about the status of Luthorians in Kundrati, according to the Luthori-based Foreign News Inquirer, over 2.000 Luthorians currently remain in Kundrati, most of them having evacuated with the Luthorian diplomatic staff in 5650s, according to some, decades of government-backed propaganda and lies about the Luthorian people - and the occupation that has left scars over both states have “set in a context of mistrust within Kundrati for things Luthori-related, as in more recent events, the government in Kundrati used anti-Luthorian and anti-Kalistani rhetoric to back their claims, and it somewhat worked, as people found a perfect scapegoat for their problems and issues.

“The restoration of democracy in Kundrati is something that we can all take pride in, even if their democracy is fragile, it is still a welcomed development for the global world order. The hated Legionary and subsequent regime have been defeated by the forces of liberalism, but, regardless, there ought to be serious reform, of both Kundrati itself and a dramatic reduction in anti-Luthorian sentiment in the nation - and that, before even thinking of reconciliation, as that road isn’t even taken yet.”, these were the words of a foreign office official - who mostly summarised the point of view of most Luthorians on Kundrati.

[Ligbruderkrieg]

Shadow Home Sec. Brooke elected as Conservative leader.
24th, June 5670

FORT WILLIAM - The Conservative Party, ever since the 5670 general election, has been going through a crisis. With incumbent party leader, Thomas Hawkins’ inability to snatch away a victory against Prime Minister Howe’s Labour, who was considered as a “weak” candidate by pollsters and the electorate alike, but still managed to get appointed as Prime Minister by the Emperor after skilfully crafting his way to the Premiership, forming a government with the Radical Liberal Party, the Radical Democratic Party and the Green Party. Following this, Mr. Hawkins’ hold over the party after this second defeat in a row was shattered, with numerous newly-elected or senior MPs openly questioning Mr. Hawkins’ leadership qualities and calling for his resignation as party leader. Presumed candidates didn’t wait upon Mr. Hawkins’ eventual resignation (on April 7th, 5670) to make themselves heard. Already in January, following the 5670 general election, the Weekly Telegraph drew up a chart of potential future Conservative leaders, such as Shadow Home Sec. J. Brooke, Shadow Chancellor M. Harper, Senate Opposition Leader T. Pales and others.

Due to the lack of codified ruling in the party’s constitution, the Tories scrambled to even properly find a democratic way to elect their party leader - with Hawkins excluding using the 5302 Committee as a potential way to elect the leader. On April 19th, 5670, 12 days after Mr. Hawkins’ resignation, the Tories officially announced their rules for registration as a candidate for the 5670 leadership election: each candidate would need to be supported by at least 7 MPs in the Chamber of Representatives (out of 127 Tory MPs sitting in the lower house) and 3 MPs in the Senate (out of 84 Tory MPs sitting in the upper house), in short, they needed the support of 10 MPs out of 211 MPs in both Houses of Parliament to qualify as a candidate. 

Seven presumptive candidates secured enough numbers to qualify as a Conservative candidate, Mr. Joseph Brooke, Mrs. Elizabeth Harper, Mr. Thomas Pales, Mr. Gallagher, Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Mary Quelvy and Mrs. Claire August. These seven candidates were given 1 month and a half to campaign to smaller party representations in both Provinces and constituencies, before the Tory MPs were set to decide to narrow the electoral field to five candidates on June 3rd, 5670, with Mr. Johnson and Mrs. August eliminated, while dark horse candidate Mary Quelvy moved through to the second round. On the second ballot, organised the next day and aimed at narrowing the ballot to four candidates, Mr. Gallagher was eliminated after a close contest with Mr. Brooke and Mr. Pales for the left-wing conservative vote. Mr. Gallagher then supported Mrs. Quelvy in a bid to avoid that Mrs. Harper, who had constantly been polling at the number one spot win the leadership contest, Mr. Gallagher described Mrs. Quelvy as the “necessary stable hand that our party and the nation needs” while privately describing Mrs. Harper as a “dangerous reactionary dressed as a libertarian”. On the third ballot, Mrs. Quelvy’s luck finally ran out and she was eliminated in favor of more established candidates such as Mr. Brooke and Mr. Pales, while Mrs. Harper lost the number one spot in favour of Mr. Pales, who surged from the third to the first place after receiving support from losing candidate Johnson.

With Harper, Brooke and Pales on the second-to-last ballot, the MPs had one candidate to eliminate before the last showdown between 2 candidates, where the wider Conservative membership base would get the right to elect their leader, and subsequently, write Luthori’s political future, on this last ballot reserved for MPs, Mr. Pales, Senate Opposition Leader was eliminated, leaving only Shadow Home Sec. Brooke and Shadow Chancellor Harper as the two frontrunners for the Conservative leadership contest. After having been left 2 weeks to campaign in their final election rallies and having gathered the support of numerous candidates, with Mr. Brooke securing the support of Mr. Gallagher, Mr. Johnson and Mrs. Quelvy, while the right-wing flank of the Conservative Party rallied behind Mrs. Harper’s agenda, such as Mr. Pales and Mrs. August, who both announced their support for Mrs. Harper’s bid for the Conservative leadership. The two major tv media that are the LBC (public) and Channel 7 (private) organised two debates where the two candidates exposed their vision for the Conservative Party and for Luthori under a potential government.

Mrs. Harper’s vision of an ultra liberal Luthori (a field day for the Labour Party), where the State wouldn’t need to intervene massively in the market was opposed by Mr. Brooke’s moderate economic agenda, while opposing further entrenchment of the “socialistic” Labour agenda within the economy, he still nonetheless stated that, while liberalisation efforts would be made by his government - it would be made out of consensus with his different coalition partners. The two candidates agreed that the government’s “lackluster” funding into domestic security was “weakening” the nation, with both candidates being known for their “tough on crime” stance. One key element where the two candidates diverged however, was on social issues, Mrs. Harper was far more liberal-minded than her opponent, announcing explicitly that a potential Harper government (while going against the workers and poor people) wasn’t going to backtrack on both abortion and euthanasia, furthermore that these social advancement would be “...strengthened…” under her government. Mr. Brooke, for his part, remained vague, talking about “..official party doctrine…” in opposition to euthanasia and not giving a clear answer about the preservation of these rights. Finally, in an unusual twist, Mrs. Harper announced to be “favourable” in “further” environmental regulations in a bid to reduce Luthori’s CO² emissions.

Nevertheless, Mr. Brooke won with 52.7% of the vote, Mrs. Harper’s arch-conservative credentials and her ties with the Northminster political machine and wealthy billionaires made her too “controversial” to win in 5675. Brooke promised that he would “bring them [the Tories] back into government” in “less than five years”, Mr. Brooke also promised that his leadership would be one of “consensus” - where each faction of the Tory Party would work together in harmony. Furthermore, he announced that he wished to “decentralise both the party and the nation” hinting at future efforts aimed at reducing the influence of Fort William in national politics, by increasing the rights and prerogatives of provinces at the expense of the central government. Mr. Brooke stated that the “government cannot run your daily life…and cannot also answer to all the needs of the provinces that they can’t cover themselves…”.

[Ligbruderkrieg]

Howe lose majority as government collapses; as election set for April 8th, a breakdown of Labour's policies.
March 17th, 5673



Following the collapse of the Howe government - caused by an extraordinary budget crisis between coalition partners, leading to the Radical Liberal Party to leave the government in an uproar, causing the former Prime Minister to lose his majority in the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate. While the Howe cabinet was one that passed numerous piece of legislation - such as the Judiciary (Reorganisation) Act, 5671, speerheaded by former Justice Sec. Olympia Stanley in the Chamber of Representatives. 

This bill reformed the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, dismantling both institutions and creating a new, supreme law court, the High Court of the Holy Luthori Empire, this body, composed of 9 judges, will be acting the supreme appeal court for all criminal, civil and constitutionally-related subjects, the Court will be acting as an independent and specialised "review" court, rather than a guarantor of the respect of Luthorian constitutional law. Mrs. Stanley's bill also re-introduced the concept of "parliamentary sovereignty", in which no courts could potentially strike down a law passed by both Houses of Parliament, as Acts of Parliaments are the highest source of law. 

The bill also changed the nomination process of the highest court in the land, as an independent commission will be tasked with advising the Justice Secretary to appoint new justices, as the old appointment method where both the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition and an independent commission would get to appoint new justices was deemed "too politically-minded" and a potential "great risk" towards Luthorian democratic integrity and judicial independence, as the Court's role as a guarantor of Luthorian constitutional integrity could be persuaded by political factors to tilt the Court's decision towards one political side or another, for that same reason, the Court's term limits were outright dismantled by the Act, instead leaving judges appointed permantely - but also according to the law, judges are required to resign at 75.

Another law passed during this 3 years was the Human Rights Protection and Representation Act, 5672, a landmark bill aimed at codifying basic human rights into Luthorian law, as per with the Justice Secretary's humanitarian beliefs, this law's remarkable passage - with near total unanimity in the Chamber of Representatives (except from rebelling Tories, Communists, Nationalists and some HDA MPs) and with the then-Leader of the Opposition, Mr. J. Brooke, helping in passing the bill in due process. This piece of constitutional law was aimed at ending an issue created by the lack of a codified constitution, the preservation of human rights, while the Luthorian people undeniably possess individual and collective rights - there was no document officially detailing the collective rights enjoyed by Luthorians. The bill passed was detailing numerous rights such as the right to a fair trial, the right to life (except in case of self-defence and lawful execution), the right to property, the right to free and fair democratic process, the right to free speech, the freedom of thought and others.

Former Justice Secretary Stanley described the 50-page document as the "most important document" in Luthorian constititional law, the Leader of the Opposition Brooke, meanwhile described it as being "the most consequential event in recent Luthorian history" and mostly speerheaded alongside both the Justice Secretary and the Prime Minister, the passage of the Bill. Other minor bills, such as the Independent Budget Review Authority Act, 5672, establishing the Budget Review Authority (BRA), an independent body meant to provide impartial budget overview of the Luthorian Government, this Bill, speerheaded jointly by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Roger Matthews (Labour) and Shadow Chancellor Rick Sandstorm (Tories), was pushed forward after complaints that the Luthorian government's reports were "too political" and "aimed at helping a political agenda".

The Prime Minister and the Government also pushed their last major legislative act, the Minimum Wage Expansion Act, 5672, expanding the National Minimum Wage from £10.50 per hour towards expansion to £13.27 per hour. These modifications were promised by both Prime Minister Miles and Prime Minister Howe's Labour. The increase to £13.27 was considered to be one of the key reasons that encouraged the Radical Liberals to leave the Coalition in 5673, as they favoured, not an immediate reform and expansion of the minimum wage - but a gradual expansion of the minimum wage to £12.72 per hour - through 5 years (on average the MW rising 3.91% per year). The Bank of Luthori reported that it was "likely" that inflation would rise from this high increase, which was criticised by business leaders - and the Opposition alike, but increased the Government's popularity, at least for a time.

The Prime Minister and the Home Secretary also managed to pass the Online Safety and Security Act. 5671, opposed by both the Radical Liberals and Radical Democrats as an infringment on free speech and the internet's right to anoynmity - the Government having empowered both the Home Ministry's newly formed Online Safety Team (OST) and the National Communications Agency (NCA) as having the right and prerogative to investigate online data and accounts (provided with an account) - the Luthorian government also notified to online services that it was now mandatory to coerce the user into giving mandatory identity proof before an account's creation - although that amendment was repealed by the Online Anonymity Act, 5672, proposed to water down some provisions of the aforementioned bill.

With the failure of the Finance Bill, 5673 and the aforementioned resignation of all Radical Liberal members of government, Prime Minister Howe, unable to carry on the duties of the Prime Minister's Office while at the same time unable to secure the confidence of the Chamber of Representatives led him to ask Emperor Richard II to dissolve Parliament and set election for April 8th, 5673. The Bill failed to pass due to the opposition of the Radical Liberals, who opposed an tax hike for corporations (at about 30% [+2.5% the current level]) and increases on gambling and alcohol taxes, which have been massively unpopular as well. With his coalition imploding and general election incoming, PM Howe's unpopularity for trying to raise taxes is a very present issue for the Labour Party, as the Tories under Joseph Brooke seems to be closer at snatching the Premiership to the Labour Party. Anticipated at 121 to 143 seats, it is still enough to get proppled to the first place and overall, deal a negotiated settlement with other political formations to form a coalition government.

[Ligbruderkrieg]

Prime Minister Brooke? - the Conservative Party and right-wing bloc seizes the Premiership as Labour crashes in exit polls.
April 9th, 5673 - 12:54 PM

As it currently stands - it seems that Luthori will wake up with a Conservative Prime Minister being appointed tommorow (or in the next few days/weeks) by the Emperor. At 11.00 PM (Fort William Time), when polling stations have officially closed in the Grand Duchy of Northriding and the western part of the Grand Duchy of Shipleyriding, Luthorian media organisations have officially released their own exit polls, as it currently stands, it seems that the Conservative Party of Mr. Joseph Brooke has a slight lead over the Prime Minister's Labour Party. 

Both the public-owned Luthorian Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) and the privately-owned Channel 7's exit polls, project that Mr. Brooke's Conservatives would secure between 134 and 154 seats in the Chamber of Representatives, at the same time securing an approximate 37.2% of the national popular vote, according to current participation numbers released by the Imperial Electoral Commission (IEC) states that turnout was standing at 69.9% (75.483.190 out of 107.987.395) Right now, the Tories have gathered 28.079.746 votes, while Labour received 29.4% and around, as current numbers are yet confirmed, 22.192.058 votes, at least as of now. According to the Imperial Electoral Commission, over 79.4% of the total share of votes have been counted and recorded by the Imperial Electoral Commission.

The Prime Minister's left-wing coalition having collapsed in late March and early elections having been summoned for today, all polling indicated that an hung parliament would be the state upon which Luthorian politics would find themselves thrown into. Nevertheless, current reports states that the right-wing coalition (Conservatives, Hosian Democrats, Liberals and Moderates) is currently on track to secure an absolute majority (over 217 seats) - with the right-wing coalition winning between 222 and 234 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and between 107 and 113 seats in the Senate.

Again - while the Conservatives and their allies are currently on track to secure both Houses of Parliament - it's still not yet decided. Both the left-wing bloc and the right-wing bloc have a chance to secure the Luthorian premiership for the five next years - although, the Tories and their allies, after 3 years of a "coalition of chaos" as dubbed by the Leader of the Opposition seems to be the clear favourite. Mr. Brooke already, unilateraily declared victory - before even most medias even projected the winner. According to the Conservatives, Mr. Brooke remains "confident" that an absolute majority might be achieved for the right-wing bloc, as he promised that Luthori would see a "bold new age of liberalism" - as Labour and their allies had, in his words, destroyed Luthorian liberalism. Mr. Brooke remarked that a Conservative government would strive at "striking a balance" between the "restoration" of Luthorian liberalism and the preservation of the nascent Luthorian welfare state.

While critics points out to the "unreasonability" of "combining liberal and socialist economic theories in governance", the likely soon-to-be elected as Prime Minister remains optimistic about his policy proposals. Mr. Brooke is considered as being a "moderate" conservative, although he leans on the side of numerous factions within the Conservative Party - although not officially taking part in the rampant factionalism within the Party. 

Officially, Leader of the Opposition Joseph Brooke is not aligned with any faction officially existing within the Tory Party, this is officially. In fact, the Prime Minister shares ideological and personal connections with the "Political Control" Faction, considered as the moderate conservative faction that former Leader of the Opposition, Thomas Hawkins was a part of, he also shares ideological similarities with the liberal-minded Bridge Research Group and the constitutionalist Constitutionalist Conservative Group. These affinities seems to be placing Mr. Brooke firmly on the centrist side of Luthorian conservatism, with himself reffering to his ideological position as a "fiscally conservative but One-Nation conservative" - although many observers agreed that Mr. Brooke isn't ideologically similar to the paternalistic conservatism of the One Nation Tories, embracing modern liberal economic philosophy - even if he argues for a balancing method during his premiership.

Mr. Brooke is honestly, ideologically speaking, quite an enigma, and it isn't fully clear if we will see his real ideological identity before he is sworn-in by the Emperor as Prime Minister.

[Ligbruderkrieg]

New PM Brooke: "A new path is possible.", new PM as he makes headlines with conservative agenda.
June 7th, 5673 (backdated)



(Up) New Foreign Secretary, Sir Patrick Gent (Liberal), a follower of the "realpolitik" school of thought. (Matt Genrick for the International Press Corps; 09/11/5672)

As the newly-appointed Prime Minister of Luthori, Joseph Brooke already made headlines by his inaugural speech at 10 Crown Street. Flanked by his wife, Catherine Brooke and their three young children, the new Prime Minister outlined his vision for Luthori - completely ushering in a new era of liberalism in Luthori. Mr. Brooke seems to have placed himself firmly on the side of the liberal Bridge Research Group and the One-Nation conservative "Political Control" Faction - whose newsletter released a wholeheartedly supportive statement towards the Prime Minister. Furthermore, the Prime Minister's domestic agenda seems to be backed up by numerous nominations of liberal thinkers at numerous key economic posts and, Mr. Brooke' core statements about the need of "finalise the liberal dream" in this nation seems to be hinting the direction of the government towards that direction. Nevertheless, it seems that the Prime Minister has chosen a completely different approach when it comes to foreign policy.

Mr. Brooke has been officially appointed as Prime Minister of Luthori, after successfully negotiating a government coalition program and portfolio reparation between the Conservative Party and other right-wing political parties such as the Liberal Party, the Moderates and the Hosian Democrats. Prime Minister Brooke announced in his government, the nomination of all party leaders (Pat Trevalyn for the Liberals, Jacob Oliver for the Moderates and Augustus Fallon for the Hosian Democrats) as Deputy Prime Ministers within the new right-wing coalition government. According to Number 10, the agreement to make all party leaders and a Conservative, Deputy Prime Ministers, was aimed at "forgering trust and collaborative attitude between the different coalition parties". While Mr. Brooke nontheless announced that Mr. Trevalyn refused the post, instead proposing Mrs. Catherine Benedict, the former Liberal leader in the Senate as Deputy Prime Minister. A move, accepted by 10 Crown Street, as Mrs. Benedict was appointed as Secretary of State for Health, Social Services and Childhood Care in the new government.

For the new Prime Minister, he described the necessity of "securing a well-oiled and advantageous settlement between the socialistic economic policies made by the Labour-led governments and the economically liberal agenda of the Conservative Party and most of their allies (excluding the Hosian Democrats) - he stated that the new era of "compassionate conservatism" would usher in a new era of Luthorian economic thought and policy. Furthermore, the Prime Minister hinted at increased efforts towards fighting climate change, Mr. Brooke stated that it was the government's "role to act as a balancer between the needs of corporations and persons and the preservation of both Luthorian wildlife and environment". The Prime Minister announced that his government, in collaboration with other parties in Parliament, would study "increased measures" against climate change and would aim at increasing environmental regulations for corporations and the general populace, although Mr. Brooke reassured that these policies would be for the "benefit of all Luthorians" and that the policies enacted wouldn't be restrictive enough to be felt by most Luthorians.

The appointment of Tony Brown, "Political Control" faction leader as Chancellor of the Exchequer seems to be hinting towards a more fiscally conservative premiership, as while Mr. Brown remains an ideologically committed one-nation Tory, he holds similiarities with the Prime Minister, so as in their criticism of the Labour government for "reckless spending" during their administration. Mr. Brown once described the Chancellor's Office as one "of his lifelong dreams", and according to our political team, Tony Brown's policies in the Treasury would be focused towards greater emphasis on the role of the Treasury Department as the "fiscal head of the Luthorian government", by placing at the forefront of its policy, collaboration with the Bank of Luthori and other economic and fiscal independent authorities, so as to adequately audit and direct the government in fiscal policies. According to Mr. Brown, in an interview held in 5669: "A government with an inadequate Treasury Department, which aim is to audit and regulate political actions made by said government to preserve fiscal health, is a government where financial crisis is looming, and from this, we know the consequences." For Prime Minister Brooke, the Treasury Department remains the "backbone" upon which all Luthorian governments are built and today remains an "infailliable regulator for reckless actions from both the government and the markets".

The Prime Minister, other than announcing policies that will likely decrease conservative turnout at the next election, stated that there was a "uniquely Luthorian problem" with her democracy. He stated that, "strong governments in Luthori are more likely a thing of the past, as were independent counterbalances to the government's power", attacking, without much issues, the Labour Party's policy of reform of the Luthorian political system. While applauding the "necessary" reform of the judicial system - with the formation of the High Court of Luthori in 5671, in one of the many policies passed by the Labour-dominated Parliament. He spoke at great lengths of his fears about the "tyranny of the government" expanding in Parliament, to which, the Speaker of the Chamber of Representatives, the Hon' Tyler Penn (Labour) jokingly answered in social media:



According to the Prime Minister, the "travesty" of dissolving the Senate as a neutral and independent body aimed at auditing Luthorian government's decisions and checking and acting as a deterrent to the Imperial Diet (now Chamber of Representatives) by having members which are not witholden to the public through elections, but are responsible to the public through other methods such as guaranteeing the imparitality of the Chamber of Representatives, significantly decreased the power of parliamentary sovereignty, as by having two Houses of Parliament directly elected, entitled to terms signficantly decreased the "relevance" of the Senate as an institution. The Prime Minister announced that he would form a "cross-partisan committee" in the Chamber of Representatives, which will aim at "restoring the Senate, at how it was before, an independent unelected institution, that can regulate the behavior of the Chamber of Representatives as the primary house of parliament in our nation.

This statement about a potential return to the Senate was met with enjoyment from conservatives, but worried annoyance by both liberal and progressives alike. Liberal leader Trevalyn assured that there was "no way" that the Liberal Party would "support a reduction in the people's undeniable rights to choose their representatives in both Houses of Parliament", Moderate leader, Deputy PM and Secretary of State for Defence, Jacob Oliver also offered "cautious opposition" to a restoration of the former Senate, stating that the Moderate party "would welcome the change if pre-approuved by the Luthorian people in the form of a referendum". Only Hosian Democrats and right-wing Tories applauded the "bold move" from the Prime Minister. Infamous Identity Research Committee leader, Margaret Harper stated that the PM had made "something bold and that it deserved congratulations and our full committment". On the left, former PM Miles, whose Senate reform bill was the one responsible for creating the "new" Senate, came out of her retirement silence and commented on social media.



While the Prime Minister has hinted that his policies on the economic field would be moderate conservatism and his policies on the institutional stage would be of strict constitutionalism. His foreign policy, remains poised in the new philosophy of "realpolitik", with the appointment of Sir Patrick Gent as Foreign Secretary, the Administration's foreign policy seems to be a break of Labour idealism and a return to traditional Conservative pragmatism, although, Mr. Gent's philosophy goes further than traditional pragmatism, he stated for the liberal Global Policy Review, that ideological and pragmatic goals should be combined as one for the enhancement of Luthorian interests worldwide, Mr. Gent also stated that "foreign policy, while primairly ideological, should be decided by factors and given circumstances instead.

Prime Minister Brooke criticised the previous governments' cuts on military spending, taking over a repetitive conservative talking point that "enemies and rivals worldwide are strengthening their military capabilities, while Luthori remained "stagnant" and "exposed" to potential military strikes. He stated that: "A power's words and actions are always backed by its economic and military strength, that is how power is projected in our current environment. Our decision to cut down on military spending was a mistake, as our power projection was slimmed down due to these cuts, with our words being less seriously taken in foreign affairs." He assured that further military spending would be decided upon a compromise between government parties and proposed in tandem between the Foreign Secretary and the Defence Secretary.

To finish off, the Prime Minister ended his inaugural address by an hopeful note to a Luthori used to either socialist governance and weakness on the foreign front or free-market conservative governance, he stated that a "new way is possible for Luthori" and that his government was "committed" to make it become reality, for the benefit of all Luthorians.

[Ligbruderkrieg]

Editorial: The Prime Minister is right, we need a real reform of our institutions.
September 11th, 5673 (backdated), by Margaret Harper.

The Senate was a place of cautious leadership, not anymore - how did Labour destroy parliamentary democracy?

As everyone would know, the Labour Party was in office from 5660 to 5673, where they were replaced by a right-wing government led by my friend and colleague, and someone that I am proud to call “Leader”, even with our ideological differences remaining, that man being: Prime Minister Joseph Alfred Brooke. But, during their 13 years in office, the Labour-led administration led the charge towards both the weakening of our global presence and the dismantlement of Luthorian parliamentary democracy as we knew it. For the first, the government directly announced cuts into the military, which left it underfunded to carry out its duties effectively, moreover, it allowed the Foreign Office’s workforce to be cut by 10% according to estimates, leaving the government without the necessary experience and cautious leadership skills that these government employees had. While studying the matter of how Labour did destroy our credibility on the world stage and studying ways to restore it would be interesting, it isn’t, unfortunately, the main topic upon which this editorial will be focusing upon.

For centuries, Luthori has had one house, the Imperial Diet, after some changes to our constitutional order, Parliament was split between two Houses of Parliament, the first being the Imperial Diet (now Chamber of Representatives) aimed at representing the people through direct election of their representatives using the first-past-the-post electoral system, the other, becoming the Luthorian upper house, was the Imperial Senate (now Senate), it was aimed at being an House of Parliament focused on reviewing the actions undertaken by the then-Imperial Diet and act as the representative of both provinces and other important groups in Luthorian society. Thus was born Luthorian bicameralism, a form of parliamentary governance that would grow the seeds of current constitutionalist ideological philosophy. Today, the Senate has been “reformed” into an “undemocratic institution” according to former Prime Minister Miles, whose government spearheaded the dismantlement of Luthorian institutions for political gains, into a “new, representative, people’s house”, except using this gross populistic language to describe their fault, the Labour Party admitted that they wished to destroy Luthorian culture entirely, first by striking into her political roots, then by acting in other sectors of society too.

We’ll now look into why the Senate was so necessary for the preservation of the Luthorian democratic process and why its dissolution into a mere “Chamber of Representatives 2.0.” means for our nation.

To begin, an argument that I see being thrown a lot of time when debating this topic, is that the Senate was somehow “inherently undemocratic”. Unfortunately, this argument holds next-to-no value in terms of proper parliamentary and judicial terms. The Imperial Senate Act, 5430, stated that the Senate was composed of 200 peers, 40 bishops and 300 elected representatives. These representatives were elected, but not directly. Through the provinces, these representatives were aimed at representing Luthorian principalities, grand duchies and autonomous regions. The Act stipulated that the Senate was aimed primarily at granting representation to the Luthorian provinces through enabling their respective parliament to elect representatives to serve in the Senate. These parliaments were, first and foremost, elected by citizens of these provinces, the Orange Assembly is elected by the people of the Principality and then would, as the representative of the province’s population, accordingly to the law, elect, through proportional method to ensure relative fairness and ruling out the potential for a majority to be drawn in the Senate, their Senators. So, in a way, this argument falls flat as we’ve seen here that, although indirectly, Senators were in fact elected by the citizens. But, even if these Senators were elected, isn’t the fact that the Senate was unelected its greatest strength?

Arguably, it can be seen as that. The Senate was unelected, so wasn’t responsible directly towards the electorate, allowing for further scrutiny towards the Chamber of Representatives, where most Members of Parliament (MPs) were mostly concerned about scoring political points to strengthen their re-election bid. Due to this, numerous laws were proposed to the Chamber of Representatives, passed the House and then, when sent to the Senate, were either heavily amended, or outright rejected. The Senate was filled with people that didn’t have an electorate to please, so was more able to “check” the abuses made by the Chamber of Representatives in terms of legislation. The existence of this neutral and unelected body created stability in a heavily unstable political environment, with numerous Prime Ministers pushing through “reform” Acts to our political institutions, that in their mind, both strengthened our democracy and our institutions, but in fact, they were wrong. Luthorian democracy wasn’t strengthened by the fact that Luthorians could now vote in one more election, hell, most of them don’t even care about the Senate election, for most Luthorians, they vote primarily for the Chamber of Representatives while the Senate is an afterthought. How can we reasonably say that our democracy is in a much better shape than it was in the beginning of the century? We cannot indeed.

The thing is, through this opinion piece, I am seemingly one who opposes reform, one who wishes for the establishment of an absolute monarchy like in Kalistan or the one advocated by the extremist Orange Order. But no, I am a sensible conservative and I am not opposed to the concept of reforming the Senate, but I am heavily opposed to the weakening of our democratic institutions and to the destruction of traditional Luthorian culture. From this piece, I am not merely criticising how the Labour Party completely destroyed the parliamentary dynamic that had been standing since 5430, I am also proposing another solution. As it stands now, the Senate is full of politicians, elected directly by the people, with most Senators actually dreaming on entering the Chamber of Representatives as an MP instead of focusing on their Senate career, for my part, I propose that, first, the Senate be made completely unelected and restored to its pre-SAEA status, from there, I would propose that all MPs entering the Senate be made unelected, not even by the legislature, so as to have a completely unpartisan and unbought House of Parliament. From there, the system of appointment as a Senate peer would be simple. 100 Lords would remain hereditary - with sons and daughters eligible to succession of their parent’s seat in the Senate, from there, a minimum of 200 representatives would become Life Peers - appointed by the Emperor through advice of the Prime Minister and acceptance from a Senate committee dedicated at looking through an impartial arm, the nominations made to the Senate through the Prime Minister. Moreover, no official political party having a delegation in the Chamber of Representatives would be granted official recognition as a Senate parliamentary party, basically, it means that no political party would be able to form a group in the Senate, weakening party affiliation and strengthening cross-partisan groups and collaboration between different and ideologically divergent Peers. Finally, to reflect on these new changes, as the name “Senate” became a synonym with “instability”, I would propose the renaming of the Senate as the “House of Peers”, where its members would non-partisan, impartial, unelected and would be able to successfully audit the Chamber of Representatives upon its behavior and conduct.

[Ligbruderkrieg]

2 dead and 37 hospitalisations after food poisoning in Northriding cluster; FSA’ standards put into question.
Friday, October 9th, 5673 - by James Broden



In the Grand Duchy of Northriding, since Monday, a cluster of food poisoning cases has been creating itself around the small towns of Heffenshire, Townburg, located in the suburbs of the Grand Duchy’s capital city of Northminster. According to the provincial food safety agency’s head, 2 persons have died due to these food poisoning cases, and over 37 people have been admitted to the numerous hospitals in Northminster after having consumed FeelGood’s lasagna product. According to the FSA, the necessary control upon FeelGood’s assembly lines in Fleming, Northriding wasn’t properly conducted by FSA agents, casting new doubts upon the agency’s diligence and effectiveness in their work. According to sources within the Northriding Government, the two individuals who unfortunately passed away were both seniors, one having just retired (65) and the other, an elderly woman (86) who succumbed to the disease caused by the food poisoning, furthermore, according to the health authorities in the region, 13 children have been admitted in “life-threatening” conditions due to the aforementioned effects.

Northriding’s minister-president, Lyce Brown reaction to the crisis was one of “extreme anger”, in an interview to the Guardian yesterday, the minister-president blamed both FeelGood’s “unlawful” production practices and the FSA’s weak response to the incident, he stated that “13 children are in the hospital and potentially close to dying because one government agency couldn’t do its proper job and inspect if the sanitary condition in that factory was satisfactory enough to allow selling”, meanwhile, in Fort William, the FSA defends itself from any wrongdoings in their investigations.

“We are upholding the highest standards in terms of hygiene and sanitary standards in our inspection. On the case of the factory in Heffenshire, our inspectors stated the required health and hygiene standards set have been “more than surpassed”, indeed, in previous investigations, we found no real issues with the food safety standards in that factory.”, stated FSA’s chief, Bryan Poll in a statement today. Footages of the factory are telling a different story, far from the statements of the FSA, the environment in the factory was described as “alarming” by unions, the hygiene levels were described as “lacking” and numerous workers didn’t respect the food safety standards set by the FSA.

Through an administrative decision today, the factory in Heffenshire has been closed (put under prohibition to operate) until further notice, all of its workers having been placed under “temporary unemployment” status, where the government would help corporations to pay up the salaries of its employees, covering up to 75% of the entire salary. Health Secretary Peter Duffin announced that the central government would direct the Food Safety Agency to conduct “extensive investigations” into the factory, so as to reveal what was wrong there. In Fort William, small-scale protests have erupted over perceived government “cover-up” on the incident, protestors are asking for the resignation of Food Safety Agency’s chair Poll and the indictment of further unhealthy practices in the food processing industry.

This shocking news comes within the context of the Brooke ministry’s first months in office and this crisis is sure to disrupt legislative plans that the government might have considered, as this public health crisis calls for greater commitment from the federal government on the health security of its citizens, and this passes by, further legislative proposals to either increase the prerogatives of the FSA or generally increase regulations over the agri-food industry.

By the @IndependentObserver.