Angela Rayner’s trade unionist credentials are in question as the Deputy PM refuses to commit to respecting the picket line. What has happened to our Ange?
In a written parliamentary question Tory Lord Jackson asked MHCLG if Rayner “will undertake Ministerial meetings in her Ministerial offices in (1) Marsham Street, and (2) 70 Whitehall, during periods of industrial action by staff or contractors in those respective office locations.“ I.e. cross the picket line…
Housing minister Baroness Taylor has replied stating that “it is a matter of public record that the Deputy Prime Minister is a proud trade unionist” but “the details of ministerial routines are not shared for security reasons.” A classic bogus excuse…
Rayner was posting videos from inside departmental offices while strike action was ongoing in April this year and has happily got into a row with Unite after the union voted to suspend her. If she wants to use her new DPM office on 70 Whitehall during frequent strike action she will have to get used to some old-fashioned scabbery…
Guido hears the teething problems within the Corbyn-Sultana Your Party project continue. Other than sparring over the name of the party itself and whether Corbyn was even joining it in the first place, issues remain over the group’s leadership and mission. Who does what, what’s this all for, how does it work…
Sources say Team Corbyn is in charge of the website and data handling. On policy, Sultana’s allies are keen to promote a broader ideological agenda on LGBT rights and so on, while Comrade Corbyn wants to focus on Gaza, “nationalising everything” and inequality. The Corbyn side of things is run mostly via WhatsApp.
Likewise, Sultana is interested in a centralised party with a traditional membership structure and a clear policy agenda; Corbyn wanted a more grassroots, ‘community led’ group. Which might explain his initial reluctance to publicly throw his weight behind his comrade…
In a sign of the nascent “Let Keir be Keir” direction Downing Street is taking, growth has been abandoned by the PM. A monster budget is hurtling down the track…
Speaking to broadcasters from a school in Milton Keynes today Starmer spoke on the budget:
“In the autumn, we’ll get the full forecasts and obviously set out our budget. The focus will be on living standards and we will build on what we’ve done in the first year of this government. We’ve stabilised the economy and that means interest rates have been cut now four times. And for anybody watching this on a mortgage, that makes a huge difference um on a monthly basis to how much they pay. In the first year, we’ve raised wages as well, both in the private sector plus the minimum wage, which means people have got a bit more money coming into their pocket. And so at this stage, that’ll all be set out in the budget, but the focus will very much be on living standards and making sure people feel better off.”
So stabilised is the economy that there is a brand new £41 billion “black hole” to be filled with tax rises. On that Starmer said “some of the figures that have been put out are not figures that I recognise, but the budget won’t be until later in the year.” He doesn’t have to recognise them for them to be true…
With his pitch towards “living standards” and bigging up state intervention Starmer forgot to mention the G word. Nowhere in his remarks did growth feature at all. Guido remembers when Starmer repeatedly declared: “Growth is the defining mission of my government.” He must have forgot…
Construction activity in the UK has fallen by the most in more than five years. No-one tell Angela…
S&P Global’s monthly purchasing managers’ index for construction dropped to 44.3 in July – down from 48.8 in June. That is the lowest since May 2020 and worse than all forecasts…
Blamed are “site delays, a lack of tender opportunities and a reluctance from customers to commit to contracts.” Staffing fell for the seventh month in a row, new orders fell at the second-highest rate since 2020. There is increasing nervousness in Labour circles about the party’s obvious ongoing failure to reach its 1.5 million homes by 2029 pledge…
The LibDems are calling for the “stringent oversight” of YouTube adverts for the sake of “online safety“. Writing for LBC today, the party’s ‘spokesperson for Science, Innovation and Technology’ Victoria Collins has demanded the government hands even more powers to Ofcom, with greater fines and pre-vetting of content on the table. As if Ofcom isn’t already busy enough policing the rest of the internet…
“The Government needs to get hold of this problem by ensuring Ofcom treats YouTube advertising with the same stringent oversight as it does for TV and radio… Fines for platforms that fail to protect consumers should not just be a slap on the wrist; they need to act as a genuine deterrent. For those who break rules, the proceeds of fines should be used to support the victims of online harms.
Rogue advertisers are all too happy to exploit the loopholes of the current system. As YouTube’s influence continues to grow, so does the potential for harm…”
It’s no coincidence this sort of thinking is rearing its head, with YouTube now the second most-popular media service in the UK…
Yesterday Darren Tierney – not a statistician – was appointed new permanent secretary for the struggling Office for National Statistics. He’s finally got his exit…
Tierney has served as director general in the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Constitution Group (formerly ethics) since 2021. Sources say he was holding a struggling department together…
The now-perm sec was one of three pillars keeping the Cabinet Office – the engine of the Civil Service- afloat while Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald does nothing of any use. Guido reported back in June that Tierney was trying to leave…
Tierney had a wide brief and frequently popped up in ministerial and high-level political dealings. Sources say that Director General Matt Collins and Deputy National Security Adviser Jonathan Black are also eyeing an exit. Dark tidings for Labour out of recess…
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.”