Labour’s EU “reset” is charging ahead, with the party tasking a fleet of civil servants to deepen ties with Brussels. As Guido first revealed, a new EU surrender unit has been quietly established within the powerful Cabinet Office. Insiders say it’s already a 100-strong operation, though Labour has been keeping tight-lipped about the scale of this relentless push to reverse Brexit…
Tory MP Richard Holden asked a written question to Paymaster General Nick Thomas-Symonds, asking how many staff were in the unit and what the target headcount is for the ‘EU Relations Secretariat.’ Naturally, the Labour minister responded with the usual platitudes about the need “to reset the relationship with the EU”. When it came to answering the question he refused, instead offering the line that headcount details will be “published in the usual way.” No word on what that actually means. Holden tells Guido:
“Despite the waffly response, one thing is clear and transparent from Sir Keir Starmer’s Government: Labour have redeployed an army of civil servants to the Cabinet Office to reverse Brexit. They won’t tell us how many but it’s clear that while Sir Keir may have abandoned his plans for a second referendum, he’s determined enough to sneak us in via the back door.”
Lord Kempsell also tabled a question asking for the headcount and structure of organisational units in the Cabinet Office and No10. The Government claims it will publish those by the end of the month. All eyes on whether Labour will reveal the true extent of their push to rejoin the EU…
Media reports stat that the Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission has today announced that it has “found clear evidence of power abuse and acquisition of wealth” in the case of ousted Tulip Siddiq’s ousted aunt Sheikh Hasina. Hasina and her allies previously claimed that investigations conducted by the ACC were procedural attacks from the opposition…
ACC Director Akhtar Hossain adds in Dhaka:
“Investigations into various allegations of corruption against Sheikh Hasina are ongoing. Our investigation team is working on it, collecting documents from various offices. So far, we have gathered substantial information. We hope to share good news with you soon.”
Among ACC investigations currently underway is one initiated by allegations that City minister Siddiq and other members of Hasina’s family benefited from a £10 billion corrupt nuclear power deal brokered with Vladimir Putin.
For her part Siddiq denies all allegations. Yesterday Guido first reported that the Bangladeshi Financial Intelligence Unit requested access to her bank accounts and transaction history. The ACC is pushing ahead as the net looks like it is closing on ousted Hasina and those close to her…
The row is still raging over Starmer’s refusal to initiate a full inquiry into the rape gangs. Expect loggerheads at PMQs shortly…
Guido remembers the days when “the public has a right to know” was Labour’s favourite way to start a sentence. Tempora mutantur…
Presumably Labour believes these ten causes are all more worthy than the rape gangs:
Incredibly Labour is bound by its manifesto to an inquiry into the Battle of Orgreave. 40 years ago…
Things are going from bad to worse for Reeves as the grim economic outlook forces her to consider even deeper cuts to public service spending. Her fiscal ‘headroom’ has plummeted from a fragile £9.9 billion to a pitiful £1 billion, according to Sky News, as market reactions to Reeves’ Budget measures has left the economy faltering and borrowing costs soaring to 25-year highs. She only has herself to blame…
Reeves has pledged to fund day-to-day government spending solely through taxation, not borrowing, and sources close to the Treasury say she’s determined to stick to the fiscal rules she set back in October. She won’t budge on taxes during her spring statement on March 26, leaving the Treasury sweating over the risk that the Office for Budget Responsibility might call her out for breaking her own rules. Her only option is to slash public spending or cut the welfare budget, setting the Chancellor on a collision course with ministers who are already fuming that manifesto pledges are going up in smoke with more broken promises on the way. At least Reeves has experience in complaints management…
Sky News is reporting that Morgan will take his Uncensored YouTube channel with him – albeit with a four-year revenue sharing deal with News UK. After being sent packing from TalkTV to digital-only last year…
No more regular columns for the Sun and New York Post. Morgan says “owning the brand allows my team and I the freedom to focus exclusively on building uncensored into a standalone business editorially and commercially, and in time wideing it from just me and my content.” They really are all YouTubers now…
UPDATE: Guido’s analysis of how much Morgan was making from YouTube can be seen here. Good luck out there Piers…
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.”