More in Common has provided some helpful polling of over 4,000 adults between 30 May to 9 June for Reeves ahead of the spending review. It’s unlikely to calm any nerves in the Treasury…
- Only 30% of Britons expect the Labour government to improve public finances.
- Just 15% believe the spending review will benefit the country – including only a third of 2024 Labour voters.
- 52% think the UK is returning to austerity. Despite Labour ministers being a pains to say it’s not…
- 54% believe the government is deliberately targeting the vulnerable. Ouch…
- 67% still think the UK economy is in a bad state.
- 49% would not support tax rises; only 22% would. Reeves has already rolled the pitch for that one…
- Most popular departments for spending cuts: DCMS, followed by the FCDO. Bad news for Lisa Nandy…
- Perceived party unity has declined: Labour (-23%), Conservatives (-16%), Reform (+11%). Cabinet infighting over the spending review hasn’t helped Labour’s ‘unity’ image…
- 54% say the Government is too focused on blaming Conservatives; 40% of Labour voters agree.
- 45% support reversing PIP eligibility changes, while 21% oppose it.
- The majority of the public felt there should be no limit on eligibility for the winter fuel allowance or it should be above £50,000.
Labour’s well-worn line of ‘restoring the public finances’ not pulling the wool over Britons’ eyes…
Guido’s coverage of BBC Verify and the launch of his very own Verify Unit have clearly caused shockwaves over in Broadcasting House – it has started a live feed. The Verify unit is now trying to prove to licence fee payers that its staff are doing work…
At 09:49 the Verify “Live editor” (who makes no mention of such on her public profiles) announced that the team had “just finished our morning meeting.” Early start…
The editor added that on the agenda was fact-checking Trump and “geolocating and chronolocating videos to track the scale of the Los Angeles protests.” What that means is checking where and when a video the team saw on X may have happened…
To that end the BBC has “verified footage of protesters smashing windows at the LAPD headquarters – one of them can be seen using a skateboard. This is most likely to have been filmed on Sunday evening as it’s nighttime footage which first appeared online on Monday morning.” Fascinating…
The live feed, in which each different Verify hack has a go, features fascinating behind-the-scenes details. In the section titled “How does BBC Verify authenticate videos and photos?” it is explained to readers that if a “clip has not previously appeared in search results that it a good indication that it is new.” Total Verify staff: 61…
In a short piece about Trump, apparently top of the agenda for Verify today, the BBC manages to misspell Colombia as “Columbia.” Total Verify staff costs: £3.4 million…
As this story goes to pixel BBC Verify’s new live feed has 3,000 live viewers, while the BBC’s video updates on Greta Thunberg being given sandwiches by the IDF has 20,000. Uphill battle…
Reeves has just finished a toe-curling interview with GB News‘ Chris Hope after U-turning on the winter fuel cuts. She refused to apologise for the policy that cost Labour 11 points in the polls and now will only save £50 million…
The government has confirmed that more borrowing won’t pay for the U-turn, leaving the only obvious option: further tax hikes in the autumn. Asked whether she would rule out tax rises, Reeves said:
“We will set out all of the policies in the budget that is normal. But we wanted to announce today the level at which the winter fuel payment will be paid because announcing it now means that we can put the processes in place.”
Gone is the concern that without the cuts there would be a “run on the pound”…
The winter fuel allowance U-turn reduces nominal savings from the cut to £450 million over some years, down from £1.51 billion. That is only the headline figure…
Ironically the government has previously sheepishly boasted about its pension credit take-up campaign adding an additional annual £200 million bill to the taxpayer. This year’s nominal saving from the u-turn is £250 million. Combine that with the take-up and you are looking at circa £50 million in total saving…
The winter fuel issue was Labour’s first massively unpopular move on coming into office – it came up constantly during the local elections and YouGov polling previously showed the cut to be the single most influential element in Labour’s declining poll lead. Labour got 33.7% of the vote at the general election and is now down to 22.6%. Seeing as only £50 million will be saved this year each percentage point lost by Labour since the general election saved Treasury coffers approximately £4.5 million. At least Labour avoided that run on the pound…
The saving doesn’t even buy one HS2 bat tunnel. Never in the history of the Labour party has so much polling advantage been sacrificed to save so little cash…
The US has issued a stark warning against the UK building the Chinese mega-embassy after David Lammy and Yvette Cooper overrode security concerns to force through the 20,000 square metres building on the Royal Mint Court site. Intelligence services had warned that it could grant China access to vital communication cables…
Now Trump has personally warned Starmer against giving the mega-embassy the green light, and a senior US official has told The Sunday Times: “The United States is deeply concerned about providing China with potential access to the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” Labour’s love for Beijing could derail any ongoing US-UK trade talks…
Guido thought it worth noting that Starmer directly raised the issue of the mega-embassy during a meeting with Xi Jinping in Rio de Janeiro last November. He said:
“You raised the Chinese embassy building in London when we spoke on the telephone. We have since taken action by calling in that application now we have to follow the legal process and timeline.”
Walking into the dragon’s mouth…
UPDATE: Influential US congressional committee the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party now attacks Labour’s mega-embassy gift to Xi Jinping.
“If reports are accurate, placing a PRC embassy of unprecedented size over sensitive cabling that supports US and UK financial systems would pose an unacceptable risk to our institutions.”
Nigel Farage is holding a press conference in Port Talbot to launch his pitch towards the Senedd. Briefings over the weekend on what Nigel’s plans are for the country:
- Reform will bring back coal mining in Wales.
- It will end its “nation of sanctuary” status.
- Port Talbot coal-fired blast furnaces should be reopened and electrification stopped.
- New regional technical colleges in Wales.
- Ban on immigrants getting social housing before locals.
Watch the speech and questions live…
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.”
