Monday, September 16, 2024
A quiet conference
The Guardian reports that low interest is challenging organisers of the Conservatives annual get-together, with business day tickets still not sold, speakers reluctant to engage and attenders dialling back their time:
The experience of losing power is a brutal business. The ministerial cars disappear, the armies of advisers disperse and the utterances of newly former ministers cease to dominate the airwaves. Now the Conservative party is suffering from another symptom of its dramatic ejection from office: a somewhat suppressed level of interest in its party conference, usually the jewel in the crown of the Tory calendar.
Figures involved in organising events and talks at the conference report it has been a struggle in the wake of the Conservatives’ historic defeat. Organisers are pushing back deadlines and offering to help chase reluctant speakers for fringe events, a source close to the party has told the Observer.
Unlike last year, the Conservatives are no longer offering their own dedicated streaming platform for those who wish to watch the fringe events live, which some regard as a sign of a lack of interest. Previously those interested in viewing the events had to obtain a pass. This year, the fringe will be less exclusive, with most talks simply going “straight to YouTube”.
One source, who wished to remain anonymous, added that many former senior Tories said they would not be attending this year. And while Labour’s “business day” tickets sold out in hours, with the great and the good of the corporate world keen to rub shoulders with the new government, the Tories are still trying to sell theirs – despite conference season starting this weekend with the Lib Dems in Brighton.
It’s not just Labour’s landslide victory that has fostered this lack of interest. The upcoming leadership contest has caused apprehension that internal party matters will dominate the conference, according to Jon McLeod, a partner at the strategic communications consultancy DRD Partnership. “I’ve been a lobbyist for 30 years,” he said. “I first went to the Tory conference in ’94. I’m not going this year – it’s the first time in 30 years I’ve not been.
“Not out of any mean-spiritedness – it’s partly because they’ve got the leadership parade and it’s difficult to work out materially what the candidates want.
“Businesses don’t feel very grateful to the Conservative party for the last five years of instability. There is not much appetite to hear four cats mewing.”
It seems you reap what you sew in politics.
Sunday, September 15, 2024
Calling them out
That is something that main stream leaders like Sunak and Starmer have notoriously failed to do for fear of alienating their target audience, thus allowing misinformation and harmful propaganda to persist unchallenged.
This article in the Guardian details one of those events that need more publicity so that the public can see the sort of people that Reform MPs are consorting with.
The paper says that Farage has embarked on another trip to the US, where he is speaking at an event alongside a leading far-right Austrian politician whose party has opposed sanctions against Russia:
The event on Friday evening in Chicago is the Reform leader’s third visit to the US in little more than two months since he was elected MP.
Farage is listed as the main speaker at a benefit event for the Heartland Institute, an Illinois-based rightwing thinktank which is a denier of human-created climate change. Its president, James Taylor, who is also speaking, has called climate change “a sham”. Tables at the dinner cost up to $50,000 (£38,000) each to reserve.
It has now emerged that another speaker listed at the dinner is Harald Vilimsky, a veteran figure in Austria’s far-right Freedom party, who leads the party’s representation in the European parliament.
In 2016, the Freedom party signed what was described as a cooperation pact with President Putin’s United Russia party. While the Austrian party says this is no longer in operation, it has been accused of sympathy with Russia.
However, the Freedom party has argued against sanctions on Russia, and Vilimisky has expressed opposition to the idea of Ukraine potentially joining the EU.
During the UK election, Farage faced criticism for his own views about Russia after he said that the EU and Nato “provoked” Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine by expanding eastwards.
Farage, who was elected to represent Clacton in Essex on 4 July, went to the Republican national convention in Milwaukee two weeks after the general election, and spoke at an event in Arizona in August, events his aides said had been booked long before he was elected.
This is no longer about Farage's absences from Clacton but the sort of people he consorts with and the views he holds that appear to be opposed to the best interests of the UK.
This article in the Guardian details one of those events that need more publicity so that the public can see the sort of people that Reform MPs are consorting with.
The paper says that Farage has embarked on another trip to the US, where he is speaking at an event alongside a leading far-right Austrian politician whose party has opposed sanctions against Russia:
The event on Friday evening in Chicago is the Reform leader’s third visit to the US in little more than two months since he was elected MP.
Farage is listed as the main speaker at a benefit event for the Heartland Institute, an Illinois-based rightwing thinktank which is a denier of human-created climate change. Its president, James Taylor, who is also speaking, has called climate change “a sham”. Tables at the dinner cost up to $50,000 (£38,000) each to reserve.
It has now emerged that another speaker listed at the dinner is Harald Vilimsky, a veteran figure in Austria’s far-right Freedom party, who leads the party’s representation in the European parliament.
In 2016, the Freedom party signed what was described as a cooperation pact with President Putin’s United Russia party. While the Austrian party says this is no longer in operation, it has been accused of sympathy with Russia.
However, the Freedom party has argued against sanctions on Russia, and Vilimisky has expressed opposition to the idea of Ukraine potentially joining the EU.
During the UK election, Farage faced criticism for his own views about Russia after he said that the EU and Nato “provoked” Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine by expanding eastwards.
Farage, who was elected to represent Clacton in Essex on 4 July, went to the Republican national convention in Milwaukee two weeks after the general election, and spoke at an event in Arizona in August, events his aides said had been booked long before he was elected.
This is no longer about Farage's absences from Clacton but the sort of people he consorts with and the views he holds that appear to be opposed to the best interests of the UK.
He is perfectly entitled to hold those views, but why doesn't he spell them out more starkly to his electors the next time he is in Clacton.
Saturday, September 14, 2024
Nice work if you can get it
They say that Ross Kempsell – now Lord Kempsell – is listed as the sole director of the firm Hyannis Strategy, which also has a contract with news channel GB News, which the ex-Tory leader is due to join as a presenter and commentator:
The elevation of Lord Kempsell, Mr Johnson’s former spokesman and tennis partner, to the House of Lords attracted claims of cronyism from Labour. He took up his seat in July last year.
Lord Kempsell, who was reportedly involved in “Operation Save Big Dog”, the fight to keep Mr Johnson in office in the wake of the Partygate scandal, is also a former journalist and friends with Carrie Johnson..
Last week the The Independent revealed that the woman Mr Johnson made Britain’s youngest peer has a plum new job at an environmental consultancy chaired by the ex-PM.
Charlotte Owen, now Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge after she entered the Lords at just 30 years of age, has been appointed vice-president of the company Better Earth.
There is no suggestion Lord Kempsell has done anything wrong.
Companies House shows Hyannis Strategy, formerly Good Night and Good Luck Media, has assets of more than £2m and just one director, who is named as “Mr. Ross Kempsell”.
The £2m figure is for accounts for the year up to the end of October 2023. The previous year’s accounts show assets of £1.
Lord Kempsell’s register of interests in the Lords list the company’s current clients as the Office of Boris Johnson Limited, the Policy Exchange think tank, and GB News.
It is understood that the accounts listed at Companies House are for PR work done before Lord Kempsell took up his seat in the Lords and do not include PR work for Mr Johnson.
The register of interests shows Lord Kempsell is also the CEO and founder of a business called Maple Research Limited as well as the founder of Arcani Intelligence Ltd, which is described as providing media advice and business intelligence.
He is also a senior adviser at WJL Partners LLP and a member of the media advisory board of Grayling, a PR and public affairs agency.
The register also shows he visited Israel last year with part of the costs paid for by Jamie Reuben, a property developer and major Tory donor, who previously funded Mr Johnson’s leadership campaign.
Charlotte Owen, also enobled by Boris Johnson has become the vice president of the green consultancy of which the ex-PM is a co-chair (UK Parliament)
A visit to Bahrain was paid for by the government of Bahrain, which also hosted him in the Royal Box at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, while a trip to Doha paid for in part by the government of Qatar.
Lord Kempsell also received a ticket and hospitality from Turkish Airlines and the Turkish government to attend the Champions League final at Wembley.
Lord Kempsell and Lady Owen both appeared on Mr Johnson’s controversial resignation honours list, which prompted a political storm with Labour calling those listed a “carousel of Boris Johnson’s cronies”.
Last week The Independent revealed that Lady Owen had become the vice-president of the green consultancy of which Mr Jonnson is co-chair, despite not having a background in environmental work.
Sometimes it does help to know the right people.
Friday, September 13, 2024
Nanny State?
There is no better illustration of this than the agenda being set out by Keir Starmer and his health secretary to stop us harming ourselves in an effort to save the NHS.
As the Guardian reports, plans to ban junk food ads and to stop children buying high-caffeine energy drinks are among radical public health measures being drawn up by ministers to prevent illness:
Junk food advertisements will be banned from television before the 9pm watershed, the government has announced. Online ads for products that are high in fat, salt and sugar will be banned altogether. Both measures, which are intended to help tackle childhood obesity, will come into force in a year’s time.
Plans to ban children from buying high-caffeine energy drinks, which form part of the same public health drive and appeared in Labour’s election manifesto, are expected to be announced next month.
In the coming months, the government plans to introduce a strengthened tobacco and vapes bill, which is likely to extend the indoor smoking ban to pub beer gardens.
Ministers are also looking at expanding water fluoridation to improve dental health, and giving councils enhanced powers to block the development of fast-food outlets near schools to tackle obesity. Further measures are being looked at, with government officials canvassing the public health sector for policy ideas.
This amounts to a massive power grab by the UK government, direction and control, rather than persuasion and education. It is the same old Labour.
Thursday, September 12, 2024
Renters Rights Bill long overdue
The paper says that this latest addition to the bill goes further than Labour promised while in opposition, being designed to keep a lid on the rapid increase in rents that has contributed to the housing crisis, especially in the south of England:
The bill will also stop landlords barring tenants from keeping pets unless they have good reason to do so, and will force them to give four months’ notice before evicting someone because they need to sell the property, house a family member or move back in.
Further measures published on Wednesday include banning landlords from evicting a tenant in the first year of a tenancy and compelling them to give at least two months’ notice before raising the rent.
They add that the move is designed to dampen the rampant rent rises in the private market and stop people being priced out:
In the year to July, average private-sector rents in England increased 8.6%, while in London that figure was 9.7%. Recent figures from Rightmove suggest there are now 17 households bidding for each advertised rental property.
All this is very welcome, however, even though it is still early days, it would be good too to hear what the government's plans are for leasehold properties, which are another source of unfairness in the housing market.
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Over half of pensioners will heat their homes less this winter
An opinion poll carried out on behalf of the Liberal Democrats has found that over half (55%) of UK pensioners who were asked say they will likely heat their homes less this winter due to the withdrawal of the Winter Fuel Payment, while four in ten (39%) say they will cut back on essentials.
The poll also found that two-thirds (65%) say they will take cost-cutting measures due to the government’s announcement to withdraw the Winter Fuel Payment support with one in five (19%) saying that they will eat less this winter.
As Ed Davey says, the decision to cut the Winter Fuel Allowance, which was ratified by the House of Commons yesterday, will put untold stress on pensioners, with many facing a heartbreaking choice between heating and eating this winter. He adds:
“While we understand the dire state the Conservatives left the public finances in, now is not the time to be cutting support to some of the most vulnerable people in our society."
Fifty two Labour MPs abstained from voting on the regulations, indicating the level of discomfort amongst the governing party. The pressure is on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to find a compromise which will help the two million pensioners that Age UK calculate will be most badly hit by this decision.
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Red Flags
The paper says that the analysis by Transparency International UK billed as the most in-depth look yet at public procurement during the crisis, warns that systemic bias, opaque accounting and uncontrolled pricing resulted in vast waste of public funds on testing and personal protective equipment (PPE).
They add that the review of more than 5,000 contracts across 400 public bodies identifies 135 high-risk contracts with a value of £15.3bn where investigation is merited due to the identification of three or more corruption red flags, which include a lack of competition, delays or failure to release information on procurement, and conflicts of interest in the award of contracts:
The report by Transparency International UK finds:
* At least 28 contracts, worth £4.1bn, went to those with known political connections to the Conservative party. This amounts to almost a tenth of the money spent on the pandemic response.
* Fifty-one contracts, worth £4bn, went through the “VIP lane”, a vehicle through which certain suppliers were given priority, of which 24, worth £1.7bn, were referred by politicians from the Conservative party or their offices.
* £1bn was spent on personal protective equipment from 25 VIP-lane suppliers that was later deemed unfit for use. The VIP lane was found to unlawful by a high court judge in a 2022 ruling.
* Eight contracts, worth £500m, went to suppliers that were no more than 100 days old.
* The UK government awarded more than £30.7bn in high- value contracts without competition – equivalent to almost two-thirds of all Covid contracts by value.
* The Department of Health and Social Care wrote off £14.9bn in public money over a two-year period – equivalent to the government’s total spend on personal protective equipment.
In response, a spokesperson for the Conservative party pointed to a National Audit Office report that found that ministers had properly declared their interests. “Government policy was in no way influenced by the donations the party received – they are entirely separate,” he said.
The Labour chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has said she will appoint a Covid corruption commissioner to examine an estimated £7.6bn worth of Covid-related fraud, with particular focus on the billions wasted on useless PPE.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) is investigating PPE Medpro – a company led by Douglas Barrowman, husband of the Conservative peer Michelle Mone – which was awarded government contracts worth more than £200m. Barrowman and Lady Mone deny any wrongdoing.
But researchers warn of a potential higher cost to the public purse than that acknowledged by Reeves as a result of the previous administration’s widespread and “often unjustifiable” suspension of procurement checks and safeguards.
Of the £1tn-worth of contracts signed in the three years from February 2020, government data shows that £48.1bn was spent in relation to the pandemic, largely on Covid testing and PPE, and a third (32%) of that spending raised serious concerns.
The report, entitled Behind the Masks, acknowledges that there had been a need to act quickly as Covid took grip, but the authors claim there was an unjustifiable disregard for publishing the details of contracts and an unhealthy reliance in government on uncompetitive procurement even as the impact of the crisis on the health system subsided.
Almost two-thirds of all high-value Covid contracts by value lacked competition. A year into the pandemic, UK contracting authorities were still frequently making awards without competition even as countries in the EU such as Italy were reverting to competitive bidding.
It is claimed that the so-called VIP and high-priority lanes – which triaged offers of assistance that came via officials, MPs, members of the Lords and ministerial offices – enabled unqualified politicians to fast-track the reviewing of offers from PPE and testing suppliers – a practice said to be unique to the UK’s pandemic response.
A proper official investigation is long overdue.
Monday, September 09, 2024
Tory Leadership dirty tricks?
The paper says that suspicions surround former work and pensions secretary Mel Stride who, while seen as a decent chap, is not seen as a serious candidate to replace Rishi Sunak, somehow managed to get enough Tory MPs to put him on the original ballot and then got 16 votes, one more than Priti Patel in the first round – meaning the former home secretary was the one who was eliminated. This was achieved even though Mr Stride has not even had an official leadership campaign launch yet:
Essentially, Tory leadership vote fixing is the practice by one of the frontrunners of lending votes to a much less popular candidate who can then be moved up to take out a more serious rival.
This can happen because the Tory MPs get to decide who the final two are before members vote in an open contest.
There have been strong allegations of this happening before. Infamously, MPs supporting Boris Johnson supposedly switched to Jeremy Hunt to ensure he kept Michael Gove out of the final two in 2019. Mr Gove was seen as the bigger threat to Mr Johnson.
Politics is notoriously a dirty game so it wouldn't be a surprise if these rumours turned out to be true. What is surprising is that any news outlet thinks that the Tory Party is still relevant and that their leadership election is worth writing about.
Sunday, September 08, 2024
Delayed justice could cost lives
The paper says that the Inquiry into the 2017 fire, which claimed 72 lives, blamed “decades of failure” by those in power and "systematic dishonesty" from building firms for the tragedy, and as a result police are under pressure to speed up the criminal probe into the Grenfell disaster as families have already waited seven years for the Inquiry's findings.
Shockingly, the Metropolitan Police has said it needs from 12 to 18 months to study the report before any criminal charges are brought, while Lord Macdonald, a former Director of Public Prosecutions has warned that criminal trials may not start before 2029, with verdicts only being returned the following year.
Potential offences include corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, perverting the course of justice, misconduct in public office, health and safety offences, fraud, and offences under the fire safety and building regulations:
"Unless processes are massively expedited, justice is a very long way away," he (MscDonald) told the Guardian. "The criminal justice system is still suffering terribly from austerity cuts, which did enormous damage.
"The upshot is that it now takes years for cases to come to trial after charge. Criminal cases arising out of Grenfell are likely to be many and complex.
"The Crown Prosecution Service is speaking of charging decisions in 2026. This is probably optimistic. But even if it is right, on current trial schedules, it could be two or three years later before trials can be heard. Some are potentially talking about 2028, 2029."
Emma O'Connor, a disabled resident who escaped the tower but lost two friends on the night, told the Mirror that more lives could be destroyed by delays.
She said: "What you're doing by delaying this even longer is putting us through trauma and still letting [manufacturers] make money and another Grenfell will happen.
"Another Grenfell can and will happen. They've been able to make money selling this dangerous cladding. It's not fair on lives that could be destroyed like ours were.
"[The Met Police] said [charges would be brought] in 2026 and I was willing to accept that but now this is coming out. It's too long [to wait till 2029 for criminal trials]. They've got all the evidence they need.
"I don't know how much more evidence they need to keep it watertight. It's not good enough."
Deputy PM Angela Rayner has backed the police to bring forward criminal prosecutions swiftly. She said on Thursday: “We can’t have a situation where justice is delayed because that is justice denied, so as quickly as possible the Met Police will carry out their investigation and we’ve got to support that process.”
What is also disturbing is that many buildings are still at risk because government ministers in England and Wales have dragged their heels in forcing owners to remove dangerous cladding. Isn't it about time that was sorted out.
Saturday, September 07, 2024
Unease grows within Labour ranks
The papers says that frontbenchers believe the government will have to announce extra support in the budget or even earlier to cushion the blow for some of the people worst affected by the cut:
The new Labour intake’s WhatsApp group had had a string of messages about the issue, MPs said. Labour backbenchers have been spooked by the volume of correspondence they have received, with one saying they had gone from receiving a trickle of emails from worried constituents to a flood this week.
“It’s going to save us £1.5bn but that won’t be worth the political hit we’ll take this winter,” the MP said. “The rightwing press will be full of stories about elderly people sitting in A&E or on buses because they can’t afford their fuel bills and it’s the only way they can keep warm.”
Another Labour MP said: “I don’t think there is a Labour MP who isn’t worried. We’re talking to our constituents, reading our emails, this weekend we’ll be in our constituencies. I’ve had more people stopping me in the street than over Brexit. Pensioners just pleading that we don’t do this.”
A third Labour MP who represents a marginal seat said they had received about 200 emails on the issue, many of them along the lines of: “I’ve just voted Labour for the first time but never again”. A fourth MP said they were getting “absolutely tonnes” of correspondence and added: “Of all the emails I receive it’s the one [issue] where they are absolutely not coordinated. They are not part of a campaign.”
The Lords’ secondary legislation scrutiny committee warned this week that the move “may cause potential inequalities between low-income pensioners claiming benefits and low-income pensioners not claiming benefits, and it is not clear whether [the Department for Work and Pensions] has assessed this risk”. It added that the policy’s quick implementation “precludes appropriate scrutiny”.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, told the BBC on Thursday he had “concerns” and would be making representations to the government before the budget.
Some MPs have noted that local and regional newspapers are covering the cut extensively, including by pointing out how many thousands of local people will be directly affected. “It’s a cut people notice straight away, directly out of their pocket, it’s the most damaging kind,” a fifth Labour MP said.
They may only have been in power for two months, but in that time they have a chance to set the tone for the rest of their term. Do Labour really want to be remembered for penalising poor pensioners who cannot afford to heat their homes? If they don't sort this quickly, it will blight the rest of their term in government.
Friday, September 06, 2024
Ex Labour Shadow Chancellor wades in on winter fuel payments
The Guardian reports that confirmation of the vote comes amid growing unease within the party about backing the plans. They say it will take place next Tuesday after the Conservatives submitted a motion to annul the government’s change to regulations – a change that ordinarily would not be subject to a vote:
Balls said on Thursday he thought the government needed “an escape route” from the policy and described it as “a mess”.
“They need to find a creative way to do what they said they were going to do, close the in-year black hole, and find an alternative way to do it which could either be modifying what they’re doing on the winter allowance or finding some other way to close the black hole,” he said on the Political Currency podcast.
In a sign of unrest in the parliamentary party, a number of Labour MPs have signed an early day motion asking for the change to be reconsidered and given more time to be communicated.
The motion was submitted by the new Labour MP for Poole, Neil Duncan-Jordan, who previously worked for the biggest pensioner pressure group, the National Pensioners Convention. The Guardian understands that MPs have attended briefings given by Duncan-Jordan on the implications of the change.
Two other new MPs have signed Duncan-Jordan’s motion, which is not binding on the government and is essentially symbolic. They are the Stroud MP, Dr Simon Opher, a former GP, and Chris Hinchliff, the MP for North East Hertfordshire. Others who have signed the motion include leftwing Labour MPs such as Clive Lewis and Kim Johnson.
Remarkably, the MP for Swansea West, a former CEO of the Resoluton Foundation, who has been particularly vocal about poverty has gone to ground on this issue. We will see how he votes on Tuesday.
Thursday, September 05, 2024
Wales underlines the problems Labour face in meeting its English housing targets
This is something that ministers cannot rely on the private sector to enable. If the UK government is serious about providing homes where they are most needed then they will have to provide significant amounts of public subsidy and ensure that local councils and housing associations are sufficiently resourced to build the social housing that is required. They will also need to invest in infrastructure.
The Welsh Labour Government has already learnt this lesson. They have been in government here for over twenty-five years and yet there is an escalating housing crisis, so much so that homeless families with children are sitting in temporary accommodation behind other homeless families on council waiting lists because there is not enough social housing to go around and it is taking too long to build more.
Now the BBC report that fewer than half the 20,000 homes promised by Welsh Labour in its manifesto at the last Senedd election have been built. Audit Wales have found that the Welsh government could fall more than 4,000 homes short of its target by March 2026:
Ministers have already said rising prices had threatened to stop them creating all the low-carbon social homes they wanted in this Senedd term.
According to the latest estimate, the plan will cost around £1.8bn.
But Audit Wales estimates an extra £580m to £740m will be needed.
Its report says progress has been “slow and more expensive than initially expected”.
Up to 9,197 homes have been delivered so far, with 10,000 more in the pipeline.
That falls just short of the target, but the report estimates that without the additional funding, only between 15,860 and 16,670 homes will be delivered
“If the Welsh government is to meet the 20,000 social homes target by March 2026 it will need to spend significantly more than planned,” the report says.
It adds that there is a “high probability” that some of the “riskier schemes” will not happen, regardless of how much is spent.
Inflation, outside the Welsh government’s control has driven up the cost of building new homes.
In response, the Welsh government has paid for councils to buy or lease more homes, which also count towards the 20,000 target.
However, not all those homes are new or low carbon.
Auditor General Adrian Crompton said a lack of capacity in the planning system and complying with environmental regulations had delayed progress.
He said: “It (the Welsh government) is going to have to spend significantly more than it has currently planned for, and secondly, it’s going to need to deliver all the schemes in its pipeline of plans – and we think there’s quite a high risk some of those schemes won’t deliver in time or at all, regardless of the level of funding available.”
A Welsh government spokesperson said: “There are a range of factors impacting housing supply, not least the recent sustained period of record inflationary pressures, which has made achieving the target even more challenging.
“Tackling homelessness and delivering more homes is a key priority for this government and we have set a challenging target and allocated record levels of funding to housing supply in this Senedd term, with more than £1.4bn invested so far.”
These are the same sort of problems that the new English housing minister is going to face in meeting their target. Perhaps they should come across the Severn Bridge for a briefing.
Wednesday, September 04, 2024
Is it war in Downing Street?
The Independent reports that the veteran mouser faces fresh competition for his following the news that Keir Starmer is bringing a new kitten home.
The paper says that the Prime Minister has let his children get the kitten after “a long summer of negotiations”, meaning Larry will welcome a long-awaited recruit:
The prime minister said he had come around to getting the new family pet after his children had pleaded with him to get a dog, he revealed in a BBC 5 Live interview with Matt Chorley.
The Siberian kitten will join Larry who has become something of a celebrity figure over the last decade, often appearing in the street amid important political moments.
The cat will be the third in Downing Street after Sir Keir and his family moved into No 10 when he became prime minister with their family rescue cat, named JoJo.
Asked what the reaction had been from Larry to the news of a second new addition to Downing Street’s feline population, Sir Keir revealed the problems of living with pets in the high-security environs of No 10.
“The problem we’ve got, which is the same for JoJo the cat, is that the only door out of our new flat is bomb-proof,” he said.
“Therefore, getting a cat flap in is proving a little bit difficult. But our daughters persuaded us that the problem isn’t any bigger for two cats than one. And therefore, we’re now getting this kitten.”
The PM made the revelation as he was asked for an update on claims he made during the election campaign that his children were lobbying him to get a German shepherd dog.
He replied: “Well, those negotiations have been going on. There’s been a long summer of negotiations, back and forth, different options.
“But now we’ve gone for – and this is an agreed after long negotiations, I said we’d get in the room and sort it out – we are now getting a kitten instead of a dog.”
He later added: “This is a Siberian kitten, which is being picked up today by my daughter and so that’s where it ended up.”
Social media users responded in great spirit to the news but expressed concern over whether Larry had been consulted on taking another feline under his wing.
One person wrote: “Hopefully @Number10cat will keep his role as chief mouse of the treasury... I don’t believe he’s given consent for a reshuffle...”
An account dedicated to Larry reacted to the news and affirmed: “The kitten will REPORT to Larry the Cat.”
The 17-year-old cat is thought to be in his final years, having already outlived the average lifespan for a tabby, and Downing Street officials have reportedly prepared a “media plan” to announce his eventual death.
Sarah Elliott, central veterinary officer for Cats Protection, said the charity was “pleased to hear there will be another feline voice in Downing Street”.
“As the junior member of the growing cat coalition at Downing Street, the prime minister and his family will need to take plenty of time to slowly introduce the new addition introduce the new addition to JoJo and Larry,” she said.
“The kitten will be joining a busy household, so they will also need to make sure they have lots of positive experiences around new people. Kittens are full of fun and mischief, all of which can be quite exhausting, so they need plenty of time to rest.”
Ms Elliott said Siberian kittens need to get used to grooming from an early age to ensure their long coats remain tangle-free and stressed the importance that JoJo gets microchipped.
She added: “Young kittens can be exhausting for older statesmen like Larry, so he’ll also need a safe, quiet area to retreat to when the energy of a younger member of the team gets a bit too much.”
At least they didn't get the dog.
Tuesday, September 03, 2024
Hyperbole won't win argument over winter fuel payments
The BBC report on remarks by the leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell, who is adamant that the government will not reverse its decision to scrap winter fuel payments:
About 10 million pensioners not receiving pension credit will lose the payment of up to £300 from mid-September, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves blaming a £22bn "black hole" in public finances for the decision to restrict the allowance.
MPs and charities have criticised the move in recent days, with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats pushing for a Commons vote.
But Lucy Powell told BBC Breakfast she could not see a scenario in which Ms Reeves abandons her plan, and warned there could have been a "run on the pound" had the government not taken action on public finances.
Ms Powell acknowledged that losing the payment would make things even tighter for pensioners, but defended the government for taking "really difficult decisions" such as targeting winter fuel payments.
"The reason we are doing that is because the deficit was much higher than anyone thought, spending was higher than anyone thought," she said.
"If we hadn't taken that action we'd have seen a run on the pound, the economy crashing and the people who pay the heaviest price for that are the poorest, including pensioners and those on fixed incomes. That stability is really important for living standards."
She said Labour's commitment to the state pension triple lock and focus on economic stability would protect pensioners in the long term.
Putting to one side the fact that Labour are relying on the LiberaL Democrats policy of a triple lock on pensions to mitigate their policy, what Powell is saying is quite clearly nonsense.
As Richard Murphy points out here, there are many ways that the so-called £22 billion could be found, without cutting vital suppor services for the vulnerable.
This includes the Treasury taking out an an increased overdraft facility as it did in March 2020, or the Bank of England and Treasury could have agreed to do £22 billion of new quantitative easing.
Murphy says that to make that easier the government could have cancelled the quantitative tightening programme, which wholly unnecessarily sold £33bn of gilts between April and June this year without a penny going to the government to fund spending:
Alternatively, a new bond of £22bn could simply have been issued. That would have been easy to do. The City would have bought it, without the bat of an eyelid, most especially if the quantitative tightening programme had been cancelled.
Alternatively, a new bond of £22bn could simply have been issued. That would have been easy to do. The City would have bought it, without the bat of an eyelid, most especially if the quantitative tightening programme had been cancelled.
The next option for finding £22 billion would be to simply have the Bank of England cut its base rate by at least 2%. The economy desperately needs this. There is no way it can grow with rates anywhere near where they are. This would save more than £22 billion a year.
Finally, a wide range of tax increases on the wealth alone are available. Capital gains tax rates could be increased. Useless inheritance tax reliefs could go. Pension tax relief could be cut. VAT could be charged on financial services. See https://taxingwealth.uk/ for more.
My point is that cuts were wholly unnecessary, in my opinion.
Would the financial markets have agreed with me? I think so. They don't like quantitative tightening and would love to see it gone.
They would like rate cuts: they have no desire for the stress they have caused.
They could also easily find £22 billion for a new bond, with ease. They'd rather do that than see more quantitative tightening.
And they want the growth that Reeves is deliberately destroying with her cuts.
And everyone now thinks tax increases are inevitable now.
In other words, was there really likely to have been an adverse reaction to an honest suggestion from the government that it needed more funding that would have in any way spooked the markets? No, of course, there was not.
Nor was there anything to push interest rates up in any of this - most especially if quantitative tightening had been abandoned - which would have helped them fall.
And would exchange rates have collapsed when it is obvious that the trend in interest rates is downward worldwide? No, of course not, not for the tiny sums involved in real-world terms. That claim by Reeves - which is how she generates a bogus claim of inflation risk - is absurd.
Let's get real here: why would markets have wanted to create such an issue over such a small sum? There is no logical reason for them to have done so.
There would be absolutely no gain for them from doing that. In particular, pushing up UK interest rates as Reeves suggests likely (beyond the levels the Bank of England has already inflated them to) reduces the value of City bond holdings, and I can't see anyone wanting that.
And exchange rates are ultimately not influenced for long by short-term interest rate changes. They change because of altered trading conditions e.g. Brexit, and changes in productivity. I am not saying rates have no influence, but let's not overstate it.
So, the two real questions to ask are, firstly, who told Reeves she would crash the markets unless she cut the winter fuel allowance and left children in poverty, and, secondly, why was she daft enough to believe them?
If it was her advisers who told her the economy was in peril when it so obviously was not, she should sack them.
Time for a rethink by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Monday, September 02, 2024
Labour under pressure on winter fuel allowance
The Observer reports that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is under fresh pressure this weekend over controversial plans to limit winter fuel allowance to the poorest pensioners, amid claims that it will cause “severe hardship” to millions of elderly people.
The paper says that they have learned that the country’s leading charity for older people, Age UK, has written to Reeves with a specific proposal it believes will be fairer and that would prevent around two million pensioners being deprived of a payment it says they badly need:
The UK chancellor revealed plans in July to introduce a means test for the winter fuel payment, where only those on pensions credit would qualify, as part of a push to plug what she said was a £22bn black hole in the public finances left by the previous Conservative administration.
But many Labour MPs have reported being bombarded with complaints from constituents furious at the plan, which was not in Labour’s election manifesto. Last week, on a visit to Scotland, Reeves was told by a group of anxious Labour backbenchers that they did not believe the plans were fair.
The issue is likely to be raised by both Labour and Tory MPs when parliament reconvenes after the summer recess on Monday.
In a letter to Reeves, Age UK has put forward a detailed plan suggesting that, rather than limiting winter fuel payments to those on pension credit, the allowance should also be paid to two million more pensioners – those on a range of other benefits including housing benefit, council tax support, attendance allowance and carers’ allowance.
Confirming the move, Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: “Age UK has written to the chancellor, explaining why we oppose the means-testing of winter fuel payment and asking her to take action to safeguard the estimated two million pensioners who, as things stand, are set to lose it and who will experience severe hardship as a result.
“We think that, if the policy is to be introduced at all, then it shouldn’t happen so quickly, and if it is to happen in the future, the pool of pensioners entitled to winter fuel payment needs to be made far wider. There are different options for how to achieve this, but there’s no time to do any of them – or to make a big difference to pension credit take-up either – in the few months left this year.
“It’s important to understand that by aligning the means-testing of the payment with pension credit, the government is removing it from all pensioners whose annual incomes are above about £11,500 if they are single and £17,500 if they are a couple.
“We accept that the state of the public finances means that people of all ages who can afford to contribute more should be asked to do so, but surely no one can reasonably suggest that a widow living on her state pension and a tiny occupational pension, taking her income to a meagre £13,000 a year, is someone who ought to be in that category. And yet this is the result of the government’s decision. They need to think again.”
This compromise is important, so let's hope that the Chancellor is listening.
Sunday, September 01, 2024
Broken promises
The paper says that announcements by Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, that she would not cap costs for older people’s care and Stephen Kinnock, the care minister, that he would scrap a fund giving training for 37,000 care workers, have alarmed the social care sector.
Writing in the Observer, the chief executives of Care England (CE), the Homecare Association (HA) and the National Care Forum (NCF) say ministers have chosen to prioritise the NHS over social care, while failing to recognise they are interdependent:br>
Labour’s manifesto included pledges to introduce a National Care Service and other elements of “deep reform” in its manifesto. Reeves will deliver her first budget on 30 October and has blamed the Conservatives for leaving a £22bn black hole in the public finances, but the leaders say that social care faces a set of problems that require urgent attention.
“For decades, successive UK governments have failed to take responsibility for a growing social care crisis. This government must not continue that pattern,” write Prof Martin Green of CE, Vic Rayner of NCF, Dr Jane Towson of HA and Suhail Mirza, non-executive director of Newcross Healthcare. “Yet, in a little over one month in office, the government has done [and] said little to suggest that social care under their watch will fare much better, a view reinforced by the deafening silence on social care in Sir Keir Starmer’s speech on 27 August. We urge the government to change course.”
Care homes and homecare providers have been operating with staff vacancies of more than 100,000 for several years, making it increasingly hard for families of older people and those with disabilities to find help. Carers can often make more money in supermarkets and staff turnover is high.
Although vacancies have fallen, most of the posts have been filled by care workers from overseas, something which has become increasingly difficult since immigration controls were introduced in March to ban them from bringing partners or children. The number of British social care workers has fallen by 70,000 in the past two years.
Skills for Care, which tracks the workforce, says that another 430,000 social care workers will be needed in the next decade to deal with the UK’s ageing population.
“It will be vital for the UK to train its own workforce to meet these numbers and, to do that, the sector has to be one attractive to those who are or will become part of the wider labour market,” the leaders say.
The shortage of care workers means that family members feel they have to give up work to look after their relatives, while some older patients cannot be easily discharged from hospital.
The leaders say it is “long overdue to see social care as a partner to the NHS, deserving the parity of esteem that has long been denied it”.
This is an issue that cannot be put off for too long if the mess that the health service is in to be sorted out.
