As Keir Starmer gears up to deliver his “Plan for Change” speech on Thursday—a thinly-veiled attempt at a reset after a tumultuous first five months in government—the writing’s on the wall for Labour’s pledge to deliver the fastest-growing economy in the G7. The promise, once trumpeted as the party’s flagship economic mission, now looks set to be quietly shelved…
This morning building safety minister Alex Norris repeatedly refused to commit to Labour’s economic growth targets. Speaking on Times Radio, his response was littered with ‘I don’t knows,’ and claims about the government being not interested in “short-term sugar hits.”:
A blistering report from the CBI reveals Labour’s Inheritance Tax shake-up will put more than 125,000 jobs on the chopping block and wipe a staggering £10 billion from the economy. Meanwhile, business leaders continue to launch a fierce barrage of attacks on Reeves’ Budget, warning that her tax hikes will wreak havoc on the economy. It looks like Labour have given up on their promise to be the party of “growth”…
Labour’s attempts to reassure the world that they’ll will get along great with Trump now he’s set to return to the White House continue to fall flat. They just can’t help themselves…
Labour minister for energy consumers Miatta Fahnbulleh appeared on LBC this morning, and was swiftly reminded of her past comments branding Trump a racist. Ferrari posed the simple question: “Is Donald Trump still a racist?”. She refused to say he wasn’t four times…
Instead, she launched into a waffle about “working with the US” and doubled down on her past remarks, proudly declaring she always speaks her mind. She even compared herself to the late former Deputy Prime Minister: “I’m a little bit of a John Prescott in that regard.” Eh?
After four months in government, Labour are still refusing to say how many SpAds they have. They’ve been on probationary contracts since July, though were expected to sign the dotted line last week…
Lord Kempsell asked a written question on how many SpAds are employed by the government, to which a Labour minister refused to answer:
Though the SpAd headcount has always been published in an annual report, it’s never been treated as a state secret. It should be routinely available through FOIs or to parliamentarians. SpAds are on the public payroll after all…
Just a few months ago, Starmer was crowing about “open and transparent” governance. Transparent as mud…
A whopping 100 ministers are members of at least one or more trade union, according to the timely publishing of ministers’ interests. As of July, Starmer has 111 ministers – meaning over 90% are union members. Though not a single one is a member of the NFU…
The government has literally had to add a new subsection “Trade Union Memberships” in the register due to the overwhelming number of union members. Only a handful of Tory ministers were union members when they were in government. Guido gives you a breakdown of the most popular unions. Naturally, they’re the most militant ones:
- GMB: 56
- UNITE: 31
- UNISON: 27
- Community: 24
- USDAW: 20
Talk about not biting the hand that feeds you. No wonder Labour’s handing out pay rises like candy…
Guido recalls when Labour dangled the prospect of “the dream of owning their own home” to capture the hearts and votes of young people. Yet, like most of their pledges, that promise has swiftly been dashed. After Reeves’ high tax-and-spend budget, house prices are set to soar nearly twice as fast as inflation over the next five years, leaving wages in the dust. JLL‘s latest forecast predicts a staggering 20% jump in house prices by 2029. The lofty days when Labour claimed they’d deliver the “biggest boost to affordable housing in a generation” are already over…
Meanwhile, homebuyers are bracing for a staggering 148% hike in their stamp duty bills, courtesy of Reeves’ stealthy property tax grab. The average stamp duty bill in England is projected to rocket from £2,979 this year to £7,391 by the end of this parliament. Labour pulling up the housing ladder behind them…
Amid the Budget comms and market meltdown, it didn’t escape co-conspirators that eco-loon Chris Packham “reached a settlement with the government” over his legal challenge which claimed the previous (Tory) Government had acted unlawfully by delaying net zero policies. Acted sensibly, more like…
The new Government has decided to capitulate to Packham and has agreed to meet him to discuss “future progress addressing climate breakdown”. The truth is that it doesn’t matter what Reeves promises to spend or cut in the Budget, if Miliband has already promised the earth to Packham…
Packham was represented by class action specialists Leigh Day, the law firm with extensive links to the Labour Party and one of the chief purveyors of the class action tidal wave of which Guido has been warning in recent months. The think tank Adam Smith Institute released a report on lawfare last week noting that the enormous class action boom was starting to have real world impact on the UK’s economy and business. The combination of class action lawfare and net zero apocalypticism will do far more long-term damage than any confected budget ‘black hole’ tinkering. Don’t say you weren’t warned…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”
