New data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows UK wage growth slowed in the three months to December to 7.3%, down from record highs of 7.8% in September. Public sector wage growth is at some of the highest levels since records began at 6.9%. That should suffice to convince the Bank of England to hold rates at 5.25% on Thursday…
Unemployment is unchanged still at lows of 4.2%, as is the employment rate at 75.7%. Vacancies dropped again, now for the seventeenth consecutive month. The rate of economic inactivity fell to 20.9% – one-in-five of the potential workforce…
It’s no secret that Khan’s ULEZ expansion is unpopular amongst the public, with blade runners ripping down the cameras and 795 crimes recorded relating to damaging the snappers. The crusade against the motorist wallet hitting scheme has reached new heights…
Labour HQ in Chipping Barnet has been adorned with a torn down ULEZ camera, with a rebellious video of the scene circulating on social media. Labour candidate Dan Tomlinson hasn’t commented on the defacement. Not quite the Christmas wreath Labour may have had in mind…
In the video the defiant song “Don’t Tell Me What To Do” plays in the background, leading punters to join a rallying cry against the Labour scheme, commenting “For the Few, Not the Many” and “Not the party of the working class”. The Uxbridge by-election proved putting the brakes on ULEZ might be a vote winner. Now Labour can see this on their doorstep…
SNP leader Humza Yousaf and David Cameron have been rowing about Humza’s recent meeting with Erdogan at COP28, which failed to include an FCDO official and therefore broke protocol. That’s because the Scottish government isn’t authorised to conduct foreign policy – even on Humza’s pointless trips to Brussels to “prepare the ground” for rejoining the EU, Foreign Office diplomats have to be present. That doesn’t stop the SNP spaffing cash on glory projects abroad…
The Scottish Government is currently financing nine “Scottish International Offices” to run as sham embassies abroad. Spend on the offices has risen from £7.6 million in 2019/20 to £9.1 million this year with ScotGov even openening a brand new “Scotland House” in Copenhagen. All while Scottish public service budgets are cut by the SNP…
On top of that the SNP spends £10 million annually on an “International Development Fund”, which operates programmes in Malawi, Rwanda, Zambia, and Pakistan. That isn’t the end of the SNP’s foreign affairs posturing – why does the SNP need a “Head of Trade Policy” when the Scottish Government has no trade responsibilities whatsoever?
Cameron has threated to withdraw FCDO support from Scotland for further meetings, which got a petulant response from Yousaf. He today complained that “for Lord Cameron, an unelected lord, to decide what the elected government of Scotland can do internationally I think is unacceptable and to threaten to curtail our international engagement is just petty“. Ignoring the basic principles of devolved government…
Guido uncovered Green Party candidate for Storrington Claudia Fisher’s dodgy past back in May, where she neglected to mention her multiple arrests as an Extinction Rebellion activist. Now elected the Green candidate, it appears the councillor is hiding more than just a criminal record…
Her Airbnb “superhost” profile shows she is quite the hypocrite. She brags about her love for travel and that her photo is from her time in India. Assuming she didn’t walk to India, she must have flown. Her profile also states she lives in Brighton, 45 minutes from Storrington – a long commute, presumably taken by car as it takes three trains to get to and from either area. No doubt the Greens wouldn’t be proud of her carbon footprint…
Fisher boasts of her three “huge” private properties on Airbnb, altogether 15 different listings. Despite the Green war on cars she also vaunts the free parking at her properties. Defying the Greens’ crusade against private landlords and Airbnb…
While Tory MPs plan their moves in response to the Rwanda bill, Sunak is stuck over at Dorland House giving evidence to the Covid Inquiry. His performance so far has been pretty clear and well delivered. Rishi pointed out that in the early stages of the pandemic “advice was put to the government, to the prime minister from SAGE, and advice was followed – pretty much imminently“. Far from No 10 trolleying and changing its mind constantly, “the scientific advice changed and the government obviously changed with it”. An important addition to the dud inquiry…
Rishi also caught himself referring to the tax burden being “historically high” before correcting himself and saying it’s “higher than I would like“. The last person in Britain to insist things are still going fine…
The ERG’s “Star Chamber” of legal experts has officially declared its position on Sunak’s Rwanda bill after briefing throughout the weekend that it won’t work without changes. It has now confirmed that the bill does not pass muster. Mark Francois said “the bill provides a partial and incomplete solution“. The expected result…
Francois suggests “it might be better to start again” and scrap the bill. The question now is how Tories will vote on the bill tomorrow – more meetings should take place tonight at around 6 p.m. to decide this. Policy Exchange is recommending that MPs support the bill tomorrow and have it “amended to address the relevant risks” later. The government will meanwhile release a summary of legal advice on the Rwanda bill later this afternoon. A rare move to curry favour…
Read the ERG’s key conclusions below:
