At DPMQs Claire Coutinho focussed on energy and the North Sea. Aberdeen South by-election is tomorrow…
Coutinho asked Lammy why Ed miliband was still in post seeing as he is refusing to engage with No10 or take Starmer’s calls:
“Last week, the prime minister asked the energy secretary to help fund the defence of our country, and he ghosted him. Let me repeat that. The energy secretary refused to meet the prime minister on a matter of national security. Why hasn’t he been sacked?
Lammy’s response was: “Stop reading the papers.” Is Labour going to ban them too?
Andy Haldane, Burnham’s recent adviser on the economy who has not taken up a No10 job, told Andrew Marr on LBC:
“The market now suspects that this is a traditional tax-and-spend socialist government with better TikTok videos…
imposing windfall taxes on oil & gas or on banks or upping capital gains tax would […] repeat the mistake that Rachel made […] The Achilles heel, the fiscal Achilles heel of this government thus far has been its unwillingness and/or inability to cut public spending.”