Some communications officials at the centre of government – well versed with the media grid – were bemused after Burnham went on so strongly about Freedom of Movement with the EU last weekend in interviews. Which naturally became the topline for some days…
Burnham’s loose tongue meant that the news from his ‘100 days’ interviews was all about the EU. He did say other things. No10 has been scrabbling at the two Lobby briefings this week to roll back his comments and insist they are only his personal views…
There is pity for John Healey, the Chancellor who has been accused of ploddery and incompetence, that the Budget week media focus has been blown off course by the PM. One government source said: “If not for that more attention might have been paid to John’s announcements like ‘we will make gherkins and marmalade cheaper‘“. There are simply too many national conversations to be had instead…
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As Burnham calls for an “honest discussion” about a return to freedom of movement with the EU, the EU scheme meant to wind down after Brexit is still waving in thousands of people from outside Europe. Is anyone checking the door?
Some 6,709 non-Europeans got visas through the EU Settlement Scheme in 2025, almost five years after the June 2021 deadline. That includes 1,124 Indian nationals, 855 Somalis and 791 Pakistanis. Over the three years to December 2025 there were 78,785 applications from non-Europeans, with 33,658 granted…
Virtually all of them came through the EUSS ‘Family Permit’ – spouses, ‘durable partners’, dependent children, and parents of EU citizens here. So long as they can show the relationship started before Brexit, there is no cut-off at all. A BBC investigation found 365 sham marriages used to game the scheme between March 2018 and September 2021. One Ghanaian woman was allowed to stay despite not turning up to her own ‘wedding’…
DWP figures from February show 9.2% of Universal Credit claimants have EUSS settled status. The Home Office claims it has “no evidence” of abuse and says the Withdrawal Agreement legally obliges it to keep taking late applications. 365 sham marriages not enough evidence…
Burnham now says he will “never move ahead of the British public when it comes to Brexit”. How much worse will it get with full Freedom of Movement?
Robert Jenrick asked Ed Miliband in the Commons:
“We represent communities 15 miles apart, decent, hardworking people who are finding life very tough at the moment. In that context, how would he justify to working people and pensioners spending £6 billion on foreign aid whilst freezing the tax-free person allowance and cutting the state pension?”
Tory MP and former ‘DFS’ Andrew Mitchell turned to Jenrick and accused him of being a “neanderthal,” according to co-conspirators in the Chamber. Mitchell deputised for Cameron – stuck in the Lords – on Foreign Office matters in the Commons…
Miliband referenced that remark and retorted:
“I would say to him, I think the answer came from the person who used to be in his party, the party he used to be in, which is that the money we spend on foreign aid is absolutely about preventing the problems from elsewhere in the world coming here to his constituency and mine. You know, he is at one of the same time the person who complains about small boats, which is partly caused by fragile states uh and then says that we shouldn’t be taking action to prevent it.”
A Stella Creasy classic line there…
Miatta Fahnbulleh’s own department has found that 61% of the public oppose Britain producing less of its own oil and gas if it means buying more from abroad. The DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker, published this morning, shows opposition is up from 57% last year. Those strongly opposed rose from 37% to 43%, and just 13% back cutting oil and gas production…
The statement was: “How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement? The UK should produce less of its own oil and gas, even if that means we need to buy more fuel from other countries.” DESNZ removed its question on whether the public thinks Britain is on track for net zero by 2050 because it “may act as a proxy for other attitudinal questions”…
Other figures are worse for net zero zealots. 60% now rate the UK becoming self-sufficient and not buying fuel from other countries as very important, up from 49% a year ago. Energy from low-carbon sources came last of the four priorities tested, with only 38% rating it very highly important, down from 44% in 2024. This was after DESNZ added “e.g. renewable energy” to the option to help it along…
47% of homeowners are unlikely to install an air source heat pump, up from 35% in Winter 2021. Support for renewables has slid from 87% in Autumn 2021 to 79%, and strong support has dropped from 54% to 44%. Only 42% would be happy with a solar farm nearby, down from 54% in 2022…
On bills, 62% expect net zero to push up their living costs in the next year or two. Looking ten years ahead, 49% still expect costs to rise, against 26% who expect them to fall. So much for £300 off…
DESNZ also rewrote its pylons question this year, asking whether people would “support” new local infrastructure rather than whether they would be “happy” about it, so the result can’t be compared with previous years. Either way – Labour’s North Sea licence ban looks lonelier by the day…
There is a reported split in government as Miatta Fahnbulleh briefs against Rosebank oil field approval while Healey wants more drilling. Splits abound…
Responding to Tom Tugendhat in the Commons, Miliband said:
“What we have always sought to do in relation to Chagos is seek to find a way forward which which protects our base at Diego Garcia. That is the most important thing and I would have thought that is shared across this house.
As has become clear in the current US administration, we won’t get consent for the current arrangements, but we continue to work with the US and Mauritius to safeguard our security interests.”
Good luck…
Robert Jenrick told a rally on Monday:
“They say Chancellors are either undertakers or bookies. This one is an ostrich – and when the Chancellor buries his head in the sand, the rest of us, we’re left staring at his you know what.”