Regretting those donations…
UPDATE: Rayner responds that she resigned her Unite membership several months ago, so cannot be suspended. Her membership was still on her registered interests as of May…
Labour’s biggest union backer Unite has voted to suspend Angela Rayner’s membership and ‘re-examine’ the union’s relationship with Labour. Unite’s general secretary Sharon Graham posted:
π¨ π¨π‘ππ§π π£π’ππππ¬ ππ’π‘πππ₯ππ‘ππ π©π’π§π π§π’ π¦π¨π¦π£ππ‘π ππ‘ππππ π₯ππ¬π‘ππ₯ ππ₯π’π π¨π‘ππ§π π ππ πππ₯π¦πππ£@unitetheunion is crystal clear it will call out bad employers regardless of the colour of their rosette. @AngelaRayner has had everyβ¦ pic.twitter.com/iMa2XLp0IY
β Sharon Graham (@UniteSharon) July 11, 2025
In a win for savers, the FT reports that Rachel Reeves has delayed plans to slash the cash ISA allowance from Β£20,000 to Β£5,000. The Chancellor was all set to unveil the βreformsβ during her Mansion House speech on Tuesday. Then came the backlash…
Nearly a third of Brits have a cash ISA. Guidoβs been warning about the risks from the start – with top mortgage lenders saying the move would drive up borrowing costs, and money-saving experts such as Martin Lewis calling it a βmistakeβ. Though the plans aren’t officially dead, ministers are now talking about βindustry consultationβ…Β
Guido analysis showed that forcing cash ISA savings into the markets during Trumpβs tariff-fuelled turbulence would have left savers Β£31 billion worse off. A sigh of relief for saversβ¦
Former National Grid CEO Nick Winser – who describes his role as “providing independent advice to DESNZ Ministers on electricity network issues” – has been thinking aloud.Β The energy industry is struggling to adapt to Britain’s changing politics…
At a recent sector conference, Guido hears the big wig lamented a “worrying” political move away from “climate change denial, to climate change βdonβt careββ.Β According to trade journal Utility Week, he reportedly pointed to the rise of the Reform Party and that infamous Tony Blair Institute report…
He said: “we need to be very careful not to be too distracted by noises“.Β Reform is certainly more than just noise…
Winser is estimated to have earned around Β£11 million during his time as CEO of National Grid. He also told a Lords committee back in February he is a “huge fan” of the clean power by 2030 objective and dismissed bill hikes for consumers as a result of going down the ‘renewable path’ as “really very low”.Β An independent adviser in step with Labour…
Reeves, Starmer and the rest of the Cabinet have scuttled off to Chequers for an βaway dayβ today, just as fresh ONS figures reveal the economy shrank by 0.1% in May. Economists had forecast a 0.1% rise. Reeves now calls the numbers βdisappointingβ…
Co-conspirators may remember back in 2022 when Reeves declared that βanything less than an emergency budgetβ after the Toriesβ own ‘away day’ – following a 0.1% GDP dip – would mark total “failure”. She clearly thought that figure was a bit more than “disappointing” back then…
Emergency budget on Monday then?
As Guido noted, the knives were out yesterday following the unsurprising defection of former Rossendale and Darwen MP Jake Berry to Reform.Β Most reactions were a bit flat: “oh, hasn’t he already gone”…
Insiders point to the upcoming potential creation of a directly elected mayor of Lancashire. Angela Rayner is overseeing the reforms in the government’s programme on English devolution.Β Ironically, Labour is creating a mayoralty that Reform will have a very strong chance of winning…
The establishment of the mayoralty is controversial. It is currently unclear whether Labour will create the post from central government powers – or leave the decision to local authority leaders in the county. The new Reform UK leader of Lancashire County Council Stephen Atkinson, a former Conservative, has called for a public referendum on the matter.Β If that all goes ahead it could be game on for Farage’s party, but candidacy for such a powerful post would not be uncontested inside Reform…
On Wednesday night it was reported that only 50 migrants per week would actually be returned in Starmer’s vaunted ‘one in, one out’ deal with France. That is 2,600 per year – or a percentage rate of 6.5%. As Guido revealed, Starmer was hoping for 40%…
Now Labour canβt even confirm if 50 migrants per week will be returned. Home secretary Yvette Cooper was pressed on Sky News this morning on the numbers. She said:
βThe numbers are not fixed, even for this pilot phase that we are starting now. So this will be a programme that we roll out step-by-step, and we will provide updates as we go. But we are going to do this in a steady way.β
Meanwhile, nearly 700 small boat migrants crossed the Channel yesterday as Starmer rolled out the red carpet for President Macron. An embarrassment…
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:
βShe doesnβt have a passion for cooking.β
