Thursday, January 01, 2026
Another Brexit-blow to our economy
The paper says that the UK had hoped to secure a carve-out by Christmas on the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), but EU commissioners have confirmed this is not going to happen:
UK Steel says the exemption is unlikely to be in place before Easter, resulting in detailed paperwork for exporters in a repeat of Brexit when they were hit with paperwork on customs and standards of their goods.
The documentation requires exporters to provide a detailed paper trail of carbon emissions generated during the manufacturing process.
It will apply to scores of products made with steel and aluminium, including washing machines and car parts, under plans Brussels announced on Wednesday. It will also apply to fertiliser, cement and energy exports.
While the UK privately expressed hopes of a deal before Christmas, industry insiders say it was never in the realms of political reality.
The EU signed off the mandate on negotiations only in early December, making any deal outside a high-level political agreement involving all 27 member states, some of which have little interest in the UK, impossible.
A government insider said it would now be “prudent for businesses to prepare on the basis that the EU CBAM will be in force” from January, with support and information available from the Department for Business and Trade.
Make UK, the manufacturing trade body, said the paperwork would be “extensive” and hit businesses badly.
Frank Aaskov, the director of energy and climate change policy at UK Steel, said: “It is going to have significant negative impact. The paperwork is definitely significant. It will be quite a burden on SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises].”
Aaskov said the taxes, set, for example, at €13 (£11) a tonne for “hot rolled wire”, a raw material for construction, fencing and engineering, would be significant for the steel industry.
“That kind of steel costs about €650 per tonne, so it seems like a small cost, but the steel business is ruthless, with imports from China very competitive, and anything up to €5 per tonne can be the difference between getting a contract and losing a contract.”
While the taxes do not have to be paid until 2027 and could be cancelled until a potential deal next year, it adds to the nightmare the UK steel is already facing with the EU.
Under the bloc’s rules, talks will now proceed in two stages, the first a formal discussion to decide the terms of reference and the second on emissions trading systems.
Months ago the EU announced it would match Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel, doubling levies on imports from third countries such as the UK to 50%, in a decision condemned as an “existential threat” to the beleaguered British steel industry.
And a happy Brexit New Year to you all too.
Wednesday, December 31, 2025
Welsh Secretary digs in on undermining devolution
The broadcaster says that Jo Stevens spoke after Labour Senedd member Alun Davies said ministers in Cardiff were being "humiliated" by the UK government's stance on devolution:
Davies was one of 11 Labour backbenchers in Cardiff Bay who signed a letter attacking how funding for the Pride in Place scheme was going directly to local councils, bypassing Welsh ministers.
But Stevens said "my job is to make sure that we get more in Wales, not less, and I'm not going to turn money away".
Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth used a debate in the Welsh Parliament on Wednesday evening to accuse Sir Keir Starmer of "an abject lack of delivery for Wales".
In the debate Davies criticised how the country is funded and disagreements over powers with Westminster, saying it was "not fair that Wales is treated the way it is".
There is a split within Labour between Westminster and Cardiff on where power should lie in devolved areas.
A visit to Port Talbot on Thursday by Jo Stevens was the first opportunity for a member of the UK cabinet to respond to the criticism from Labour Cardiff Bay politicians.
Stevens said Pride in Place funding was "about making sure that people in Wales get what they need and what they deserve in order to make improvements to their lives".
"So if you open your door in the morning and there's a bus shelter that's broken or you haven't got enough bins in your town centre, people want these things fixed," she told BBC Wales.
"That's what they want, that's what their priorities are.
"And there is money going to every single local authority in Wales in order to do those sorts of things."
Stevens was asked what her message was to Labour Senedd members "causing her a bit of a headache".
"I met with all the Labour MSs last week, actually, and I spend a lot of my time out and about with Labour MSs all over Wales," she said.
"We are doing a job of work for the people of Wales, and I will be absolutely fully behind the First Minister, Eluned Morgan, as we go into the run-up to the elections next year."
Davies told the Senedd on Wednesday he wanted "equality for our country within the United Kingdom", having earlier argued that policing powers should also be devolved to Wales.
"It is not fair that Wales is treated the way it is, and it is not fair that Welsh ministers are humiliated – and we saw it this afternoon – having to run to catch up because they don't know what's being said from London," he said.
"It's not fair that Welsh ministers need to try to explain that rail funding is fair when it's self-evidently not, that Barnett is fair when it is self-evidently not."
The Barnett formula is used by the UK Treasury to set funding for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Welsh government has said the formula should be changed because it does not meet Wales' needs.
Stevens is right of course about the priorities of people in Wales, but under the present settlement, it is not her job to deliver on them, it is the job of Welsh government.
Like previous Tory governments and, as revealed by the release of confidential papers yesterday, previous Labour governments as well, the Secretary of State for Wales and her fellow ministers do not get devolution and do not like giving up power and influence to devolved administrations.
Tuesday, December 30, 2025
Time to start learning from mistakes
The paper says that new analysis by Labour MP, Joe Powell found that at least 87 contracts across the public sector in the government’s own database involve companies criticised in the phase 2 report into the Grenfell fire, published in September 2024, though some contracts may have since expired:
Two large companies linked to the disaster – Saint-Gobain and Rydon Maintenance – appear in the public contracts database with contracts worth millions in the public sector.
Rydon, the main contractor for the refurbishment, was heavily criticised. The inquiry concluded that the company “gave inadequate thought to fire safety” and failed to ensure subcontractors and consultants properly understood their responsibilities.
Rydon’s team was found to be inexperienced and relied on subcontractors to highlight errors.
But the company also appears on multiple public contracts, including facilities management services for NHS trusts worth millions. Confirmed contracts include £6.6m with Oxleas NHS foundation trust and £4.3m with Avon and Wiltshire mental health partnerships NHS trust. The trusts did not respond to requests for comment.
In total the database showed 14 contracts with Rydon with unspecified end dates worth more than £5.5bn – though some of the contracts may have since expired. Rydon did not respond to requests for comment.
Powell has written to the NHS trusts involved, as well as Scottish Water, asking them to review their contracts. In his letter to Penny Dash, the chair of NHS North West London, Powell said the trust should review its contract with Rydon.
“It is essential that while we wait for the criminal justice process to conclude, those companies cited in the inquiry are not benefiting from any public funds,” he wrote.
Another of the companies, Celotex, then owned by Saint-Gobain, was found to have marketed its RS5000 insulation as safe for use on high-rise buildings despite knowing it was combustible – and it was used for 95% of the insulation on the tower. The company has said it was intended for use with non-combustible cladding.
During the inquiry, a former Celotex employee testified that they were made to “lie for commercial gain” and described the company’s actions as “completely unethical”.
The procurement data shows that Saint-Gobain continues to hold a £17.6m contract with Scottish Water that runs until 2029. It is no longer the parent company of Celotex, but was at the time of the fire. Scottish Water declined to comment.
A spokesperson for Saint-Gobain Construction Products UK said it comprised “a wide range of businesses, including Saint-Gobain PAM, a manufacturer of high-performance ductile iron pipes for infrastructure and water projects.
“Those businesses had no connection with the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, nor with Celotex Limited, which has not traded since December 2015. They were not referenced during the inquiry or subsequent government announcements, and their integrity has not been called into question.
“Saint-Gobain businesses have been manufacturing in the UK since 1846. They are a critical supply chain partner across numerous UK construction and infrastructure projects, valued employers, and contributors to the economic areas and local communities in which they operate.”
The Procurement Act 2023 gives local authorities, NHS bodies and other public organisations the power to exclude suppliers for poor past performance, including breaches of health and safety, labour or environmental law, or professional misconduct.
Powell said the powers needed to be used more proactively to protect public safety and public funds, rather than relying on voluntary caution by contracting authorities.
Whatever the reason, the fact that responsible contractors are continuing to benefit from public funds cannot reassure the victims of this disaster and the sooner the legal process is concluded, the better.
Monday, December 29, 2025
Former teacher testifies to Farage's behaviour at school
Ms Deakin raised her concerns after hearing reports of him bullying other pupils. She says that she conferred with colleagues in the staff room who corroborated accounts of harassment of fellow pupils and of Farage’s apparent fascination with the far right, including claims that he had been “goose-stepping” on combined cadet force marches:
Despite the chatter in the playground and staffroom, Farage was put on a draft list of prefects by the headteacher, David Emms, and his deputy, Terry Walsh. There was a meeting where strong views were aired, though Emms and Walsh were of the opinion that Farage was naughty, rather than being a malevolent racist.
“So when I heard that Farage’s name was on the finalised prefect list, I was appalled and that was why I wrote independently to Emms, because I felt strongly about it – I still do,” Deakin recalled.
Deakin’s letter of June 1981, first revealed by the Channel 4 journalist Michael Crick in a report in 2013, is uncompromising. She has never spoken before of this episode with the letter – written after Farage’s 17th birthday – emerging only as a result of her having given a copy of it to a senior teacher at the time, as was the practice at the school.
She wrote: “You will recall that at the recent and lengthy meeting about the selection of prefects, the remark by a colleague that Farage was a ‘fascist but that was no reason why he would not make a good prefect’ invoked considerable reaction from members of the [staff] common room.
“Another colleague, who teaches the boy, described his publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views, and he cited a particular incident in which Farage was so offensive to a boy in his set that he had to be removed from his lesson.
“Yet another colleague described how, at a [combined cadet force] camp organised by the college, Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night shouting Hitler Youth songs; and when it was suggested by a master that boys who expressed such views ‘don’t really mean them’, the college chaplain himself commented that, on the contrary, in his experience views of that kind expressed by boys of that age are deep-seated and are meant.”
The letter concluded: “You will appreciate that I regard this as a very serious matter. I have often heard you tell our senior boys that they are the nation’s future leaders. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that these leaders are enlightened and compassionate.”
The Guardian says that their reporters have now spoken to more than 30 school contemporaries of Farage who have given testimony of being on the wrong end of racist or antisemitic abuse or witnessing it at the school and yet Farage has not acknowledged or apologised for his alleged actions.
Sunday, December 28, 2025
Cap needed on political donations
The Guardian reports that these organisations have urged the government to show more ambition as it prepares to publish legislation early next year that will extend the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds:
In a letter sent this week to Steve Reed, the communities secretary, and Samantha Dixon, the democracy minister, 19 civil organisations said “a donations cap is the best way to protect our democracy and to rebuild voter confidence in the system”.
Its signatories include the Electoral Reform Society, Transparency International UK, Hope not Hate and the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition.
The call comes weeks after Nigel Farage’s Reform UK declared it had received £9m from the Thailand-based crypto investor Christopher Harborne, the largest donation made by a living person to a British political party.
As well as reducing the voting age to 16, ministers are planning to use the elections bill to reduce loopholes in political finance.
Last summer, the government said it would tighten the rules around political donations from shell companies and unincorporated associations and empower the Electoral Commission to issue much bigger fines – increasing the maximum from £20,000 to £500,000.
The campaigners’ letter called on the government to use the bill to ban political donations made in cryptocurrency, after similar action taken by Ireland and Brazil.
The Guardian reported this month that ministers were exploring doing so amid growing concerns that cryptocurrency donations endanger the integrity of the electoral system because it is difficult to establish where they come from. Farage’s party became the first to accept donations in crypto earlier this year.
Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, said in July that banning cryptocurrency donations was “definitely something that the Electoral Commission should be considering” and that it was “very important that we know who is providing the donation”.
However, ministers have so far shied away from legislating to limit political donations after last year assessing a proposal by the Institute for Public Policy Research for a £100,000 cap.
Like other major parties, Labour relies on private fundraising to fund its campaigns. Its biggest donors in recent years have included the former Autoglass boss Gary Lubner and the green energy entrepreneur Dale Vince.
The letter also called on ministers to legislate to introduce automatic voter registration, which is being piloted in Wales. The measure, which Labour officials have been exploring since they were in opposition, would mean voters are added to the electoral roll automatically without needing to actively register.
Campaigners say the move would improve voter turnout and increase electoral participation by renters and people from poorer socioeconomic backgrounds, who are less likely to be registered to vote.
Finally, the letter urged ministers to safeguard the Electoral Commission’s independence after the Conservatives legislated to allow ministers to set strategy and policy for the regulator.
The signatories warned that the Tory move “creates serious risks of interference and political capture” and that “while it may seem politically expedient to maintain this power while in government, it is essential that independence be returned”.
Campaign groups that signed the letter to Reed and Dixon included Generation Rent, The 99% Organisation, Make Votes Matter, the Black Equity Organisation and the website Byline Times.
With all the parties reliant on large donations I am not optimistic that any changes will be radical enough, but the government must listen to these campaigners if the integrity of our democracy and electoral systems is to be protected.
Saturday, December 27, 2025
The history of Britain's best large indoor market
I make a point nowadays of visiting markets whenever I go to a new place. I grew up revelling in the delightful chaos and colour of Birkenhead market, only to see it now relocated and constrained within sterile, shuttered bunkers without any real atmosphere. Swansea market, however, has so far resisted such modernisation and continues to convey the sort of bustling activity and liveliness which I have always associated with such destinations.
According to the council website, this is the third market to be located on Oxford Street, having opened over 50 years ago, but the history of Swansea market goes back much further.
The archive service tells us that the earliest covered market dates back to 1652, and was located under the shadow of the Castle, but the first purposely built market building was known as Market House and erected in 1774:
Market House was situated at the Castle end of Wind Street with the wonderfully named Butter and Potato streets leading down either side of the building with Island House in front which dates back to Medievel times.Market House was a low roofed, one floored building supported by pillars and had no outer walls. Surrounding streets were stood cheek by jowl and lack of space meant traders would spill over on each others pitches.
They record that by the 1870's Island house was demolished to make way for the new street trams and Market House followed suit:
Swansea had also outgrown its Castle located market and by the end of the 19th century expansion was needed as the town population mushroomed from around 13,000 in 1830 to over 90,000 by the 1890s.
The archives site tells us that the new market was much larger:
It boasted entrances on Oxford Street, Union Street and Orange Street. A modest rubble wall punctuated with chimneys ran alongside the Oxford Street face, enclosing the stalls and encircling an area measuring 320 by 220 feet (98 by 67 metres). A market house was situated in the centre with a prominent clock tower which was built with stone from the old market hall by the Castle.
However, by late Victorian times, massive improvements were urgently needed and, as the archives site records, the market was modernised and expanded:
On 22 June 1897 (the same day as Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee) a brand new red Ruabon brick-fronted building was opened to the public by the mayor, Councillor Howell Watkins. It covered the same two-acre site as its predecessor, but with a grand façade built around the Oxford Street entrance with two 60ft high towers greeting you to a new shopping experience. This time a roof covered the whole market, and was at the time the largest structure of glass and wrought ironwork in the UK.
In December 1897 electricity was introduced to the market and by 1900 the corporation's new power station at the Strand lit the whole building. History was in the making.
The second Oxford Street Market was an impressive and important building in Swansea's architectural history and housed an incredible 597 stalls by the end of the 1920s. As always many stalls sold fresh produce from the Gower peninsula which made the market very desirable to visitors and tourists. It was boom time.
The picture above shows the impressive frontage, but it was not to survive the second world war. The archives site takes up the story:
During the 3 Nights' Blitz of February 1941, the Luftwaffe devastated central Swansea. The bombs showed no mercy to the market.
The external walls remained, but the roof and interior was completely destroyed, leaving the iron structure in ruins. The market would have to be replaced along with the majority of the town centre, but as it was such a mammoth task to rebuild the town after the Blitz, the rebuilding of the market had to be put back by several years.
Nonetheless it was essential to keep supplying the people of Swansea with food in these testing times. Action was taken with a temporary market, set up on the upper floors of the bus garage in Singleton Street. The market stalls were reinstated in Oxford Street in October 1941 where it remained as an open-air market through the 1940s and 1950s. Temporary sites were at Whitewalls (the site of the present Primark store) and between Orange Street and Wassail Square (now the area covered by the Quadrant Shopping Centre).
Like a modern Phoenix from the ashes, and almost 20 years since the loss of the red-brick behemoth, our current market was opened on 18 May 1961 at 11.30am by the Mayor Councillor Sidney Jenkins JP, and the Chairman of the Estates Committee Alderman Francis Charles Jones, who said it was a historic occasion, "a day of accomplishment and pride."
Friday, December 26, 2025
Another u-turn just adding to the chaos
The paper says that under the plans, announced by chancellor Rachel Reeves last year, farmers were to be charged 20 per cent on agricultural assets above £1m from April 2026, but on Tuesday, Labour said it was raising the threshold from £1m to £2.5m, meaning that most farms would not have to pay it.
This u-turn follows months of protests and campaigning, with farmers fearing that family-run farms would be worst affected:
The climbdown comes after crunch talks between National Farmers’ Union (NFU) president Tom Bradshaw and the prime minister last week, The Independent understands, following a year of protests about the measures.
Gareth Wyn Jones, a farmer from North Wales who was one of the leaders of the protests against the tax, told The Independent the announcement was “great news”, while former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, who has also been very critical of the policy, welcomed the climbdown.
Meanwhile, a farmer whose father killed himself the day before last October’s Budget amid worries over the inheritance tax changes said the government’s climbdown was “the best Christmas present for a lot of farmers”, but he accused ministers of demonstrating “a complete lack of understanding and compassion” in relation to rural communities.
Jonathan Charlesworth, who found his father John Philip Charlesworth dead in a barn on their farm in Silkstone, Barnsley, said: “It’s a welcome U-turn that won’t bring back the lives lost over the last year or so due to the anxiety caused, but will hopefully prevent a flood of suicides running up to the commencement in April.”
He added: “The flip side is, it should have been researched and put out to review before any announcement was made.”
The higher threshold, which will take effect in April, will allow spouses or civil partners to pass on up to £5m in qualifying agricultural or business assets between them before paying inheritance tax, on top of existing allowances, Defra said.
In addition, farmers will get 50 per cent relief on qualifying assets above the threshold, paying a reduced effective rate of up to 20 per cent rather than the standard 40 per cent.
The number of estates facing higher inheritance tax will be reduced from around 2,000 under the original plans to around 1,100, meaning it will affect only the largest farms, according to the government.
Although this u-turn is very welcome, one can't help having the feeling that all of this embarrassment for Labour ministers could have been avoided if they had done their research in the first place and listened to those affected by the changes.
Instead, we get the impression of a government veering from crisis to crisis, never fully in control of their own agenda.
Thursday, December 25, 2025
Merry Christmas everyone
Wednesday, December 24, 2025
Reform under fire on special needs education
The paper says that the schools standards minister Georgia Gould has slapped down comments from Reform party figures, which have included claims of children being “naughty”, bad parenting and an overdiagnosis of SEND issues:
She fiercely rejected the idea of parents doing something wrong and warned such claims impact children’s sense of identity and belonging at school.
Asked about Reform, Ms Gould told The Mirror : “I've seen comments about over diagnosis, comments about parents being the issue, about these being just naughty children.
“I think that when I speak to parents and young people, those comments have a real world impact for how they feel about themselves and their communities, how children feel with their sense of identity and belonging at school. I completely reject the idea that this is something that parents are doing wrong.
“Any parent - I would do the same - would want to get what's best for their child and I think we should be working alongside parents, listening to them and changing things together, not blaming them for the system failures we're seeing.”
In recent months, Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice has spoken out multiple times about the SEND system. He has claimed there has been an “over-diagnosis” of kids with SEND and said it was “insane” to see children wearing ear defenders in classrooms.
The Boston and Skegness MP also suggested some parents were trying to make money through the SEND system. He said middle class families were “playing the game” by allegedly trying to save VAT on private school fees by getting an exemption through the SEND system.
Earlier this year, Nigel Farage similarly claimed there is an overdiagnosis of mental illness and other general behavioural disabilities within children that is “creating a class of victims”.
Dr David Bull, Reform's chairman, was later criticised by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson for claiming that “many of these kids are naughty kids, bad parenting”.
Day after day, Reform demonstrate just how unfit for government they really are.
Tuesday, December 23, 2025
Has Starmer declared war on the lobby?
Heale explains that Downing Street has announced a major overhaul of the ‘lobby’ briefing system:
Currently, accredited political reporters are invited to twice-daily briefings with No. 10 spokesmen. But Tim Allan – the newly-appointed executive communications director – wants to change all that. He plans to scrap afternoon briefings and host ‘occasional’ morning press conferences in place of morning briefings. ‘Content creators’ are to be invited along too. Allan claims these changes will ‘better serve journalists and to better inform the public about government policies.’
Naturally, most lobby journalists disagree.The current and outgoing chairmen of the parliamentary press gallery have declared that they are ‘furious’ at the changes, unceremoniously announced, without consultation, just before the Christmas recess. In a statement, David Hughes and Lizzy Buchan pointed out that ‘Downing Street has promised more ministerial press conferences – but they will obviously control the timetable for those and will no doubt seek to choose who they take questions from.’ Such questioners are usually chosen well in advance, in contrast to lobby briefings which offer every journalist an equal chance to probe No. 10.
So, what is Keir Starmer’s team thinking? They are concerned that their message to the public is not currently being heard. Allan is one of those who has been pushing the ever-expanding New Media Unit, which aims to meet voters where they are in 2025: increasingly, online. It follows that briefings should therefore be opened up to influencers who can help ‘micro-target’ government messaging. The lobby, by extension, is regarded as less of an influence than it once was. Some of Starmer’s allies regard it with disdain, complaining that journalists are obsessed by gossip and hounding ministers from office. Curbing opportunities for interrogation therefore makes sense.
Complaints about political journalists are nothing new in Whitehall. The last time that Downing Street declared ‘war on the lobby’ was under Boris Johnson in early 2020, when selected journalists were banned from briefings. Back then, Labour was happy to pose as the champions of press freedom. ‘Those gaining access to such important information should not be cherry-picked by No 10’, said Tracy Brabin, the-then Shadow Culture Secretary. Eighteen months into this embattled government, the mood has clearly changed. It fits with a wider authoritarian bent too, with military chiefs now gagged, ID cards adopted and jury trials scrapped.
Some of what Allan is proposing seems sensible. He is right to call for more specialist reporters and offer them additional background briefings. The expansion of new media means there is a decent case for content creators to attend lobby briefings, with the likes of Guido Fawkes and GB News obtaining their own accreditation in recent years. But pretending that a hand-picked ministerial press conference offers the same level of transparency as the existing set-up is clearly disingenuous.
Were today’s changes to be announced at the beginning of an administration, they might have been seen as a sign of strength and wisdom. Yet with Starmer’s polling at record lows, they smack of deflection and shooting the messenger. The government’s communications might be poor – but much of their policy offer has been equally unsound. Curbing access for political journalists is unlikely to end Starmer’s woes – nor win back a public clearly souring on him either.
Once a government adopts a siege mentality like this then we know it is in trouble.
