Nanny-state Labour can’t seem get enough of cracking down on the joys of life, all in the name of knowing what’s best for us. Reports now say Starmer is thinking of closing pubs early in order to avoid “harmful drinking”. Though in reality it will just cause harm to the hospitality sector, with pubs inevitably forced to shut up shop completely…
While the Department for Health says “This is categorically untrue,” Andrew Gwynne, the public health minister, said the Government was considering “tightening up the hours of operation” of bars and pubs. It’s just another U-turn from Labour. Before the election, they promised to do everything they could to “support pubs”. In their manifesto, they even rolled out a flashy “five-point plan” to stop closures and encourage pub ownership. Starmer himself was dropping hints about an alcohol duty freeze all in the aim of helping out the local boozers. Though with these new restrictions on the table, any chance of that support seems to have gone flat. A reminder of what our Chancellor Reeves once said (this June):
“Brits love our locals. Let’s back our landlords to keep our pubs going. We want to save the British pub because I know what an important institution they are in so many communities.”
This latest move will leave a bitter taste in Brits’ mouths…
King in the North Andy Burnham is keeping up his campaign against the Labour leadership’s supposed commitment to fiscal rules. As rumours abound that Reeves is planning to remove large spending projects from the government’s balance sheet to pretend they aren’t costs, it looks like he’s might get his wish…
Burnham said on the Today Programme he was glad to hear of a return to Labour’s high-borrowing strategy:
“I am very encouraged by those by those kind of noises that we’re we’re hearing, and if you remember that phrase “borrow to invest,” it was a favorite of Gordon Brown’s back in the day – because it makes sense… that’s how the Treasury needs to see investment.”
The mayor went on to press for a new land value tax “to capture some of that uplift that comes from the infrastructure.” Reeves has ruled out some tax rises – she can always make new ones…
As Labour continues back-patting in the Liverpool Exhibition Centre, over at local socialist haunt The Casa Bar the Cuba Solidarity Campaign gathered for a fundraiser to help bypass the US’ sanctions regime against the communist country. Apart from receiving supportive speeches from Labour MPs and the Cuban Ambassador, numerous union representatives pledged their support to the totalitarian state…
Prison Officers Association general secretary Steve Gillan turned up to announce his union, the largest of prison officers in the UK, would fund the campaign to the tune of £10,000. He added that the funding wasn’t discretionary: “We’re not going to specify how that’s spent… Viva Cuba.” Union dues well spent then…
No one picked up the irony of someone representing prison officers pledging funding for a country which is currently starving and torturing over 1,020 political prisoners. They were too busy getting raffle tickets with a prize of a Che Guevara mug or flights to Cuba to notice…
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy is keeping busy with her pronouncements at Conference. She told a panel today:
“Remember when Boris did his Brexit deal, the final one? Remember MPs had to vote on this Brexit deal? Are you certain that MPs voted on a Brexit deal? Because a lot of people think that we voted on a Brexit deal that day, and that to me was very very concerning because that level of information going out to the public – even politicians were talking about voting for a deal because that’s what the media were putting out there. We voted on an implementation agreement – the deal was already done… a couple of nights before. We cannot have this level of misinformation when we’re talking about one of the most important things that has happened to this country, but that’s what happens all the time.”
Ribeiro-Addy seems to have got confused about how the Brexit deal worked. The Free Trade Agreement agreed between the EU and the government on 20th December could not have entered into effect without express parliamentary approval ten days later. The Guardian helpfully explained at the time: “Parliament was recalled for an emergency one-day session to approve the EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement, concluded by Johnson and the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, on Christmas Eve.” Just because Bell didn’t bother to vote on it, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen…
Ed Miliband got a bit ahead of himself today, boldly claiming that Labour had “won the argument” on green policies. The classic Corbyn defeat line…
Not only has the GB Energy bill not actually been passed in parliament yet, (nor can ministers actually say how much it will cost), the plans have so far only shown to be hugely expensive. New clean energy projects will land taxpayers with a £10 billion cost, while Net Zero Watch research suggests a loophole in Government contracts could cost households up to £180 million a year. Meanwhile, oil and gas industry leaders warn Miliband’s plans spell disaster for UK investment and jobs in the energy sector, sending the UK down a path of worrying reliance on foreign imports. All the while Labour’s much-feared capital gains tax raid is deterring green energy investors, whom Labour are relying on, from bankrolling the plan. Not the first time Miliband has taken a misplaced victory lap…
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy is spending her Conference putting together a manifesto for censorial press regulation to help the Labour Party. The longtime socialist MP made clear at a panel this afternoon that press control would help Keir now that he’s enjoying a touch of press scrutiny:
“It’s in the Labour Party’s interest and in the Labour movement’s long-term interest to regulate the media properly instead of making short-term pacts and truces, and if it’s done right media reform could actually make Keir Starmer’s job a lot easier, and effective media reforms would make effective government much easier.“
Ribeiro-Addy says the crucial “soft-signal” of top-level interest in press regulation was the Labour frontbench’s support for the so-far unenforced Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013. That provision, known as the “press killer,” would force publishers to pay legal costs in defamation and privacy cases for both sides. The Tories killed it before leaving government this year – speculation abounds that it could return in some form under supportive Labour…
The MP’s other bright panel proposals include:
Bell stops short of suggesting the foundation of a state-run newspaper. Doubtless her proposals’ happy destruction of the free press would necessitate one…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”