New polling from Survation in the New Statesman today, in a hypothetical world in which Starmer didn’t stop ‘his friend’ Andy Burnham standing in Gorton and Denton:
Certain to vote: Green 25%, Labour 47%, Don’t Know 7%, Reform 21%
Among all voters: Green 17%, Labour 33%, Don’t Know 30%, Reform 15%
If Burnham had stood, he likely would have taken the seat. There’s always next time. Although the mayoral election to fill his vacancy would be a nail-biter…
HMRC data published today shows 864,000 self-employed workers and landlords will be forced into quarterly digital tax reporting when ‘Making Tax Digital for Income Tax’ goes live in April. The construction sector is the worst affected, with 251,000 businesses caught by the new rules. That is nearly a third of the total. One-man band plumbers, electricians, and bricklayers who are now required to file four times a year instead of one…
London accounts for the single biggest regional share at 167,000, boosted by 35,000 landlords-only, nearly three times the number in any other region. Across the country 118,000 people whose only qualifying income is from property will be pulled into the pointless regime for the first time.
The mandate applies to anyone with combined self-employment and property income above £50,000. Each will need compatible accounting software to submit quarterly updates to the tax man, so that’s yet another new recurring cost on top of the extra tedious admin. At least the accountants will be happy. And good luck getting on the phone to HMRC when this system inevitably hits the skids…
The plan:
Reform has launched the nigelcutmybills.com draw, with the party vowing to pay the energy bills of the winner’s entire street. You can tell they’ve got deep pockets over in Millbank…
Miliband’s suggestions to pubs clinging on for dear life: switch off your fridges overnight, serve warmer beer, and turn off the ovens. And the taxpayer has coughed up £350,000 to produce these measures…
DESNZ pumped that cash into Zero Carbon Services’ ‘energy and carbon reduction tool’ which was rolled out to 525 pubs, restaurants, and hotels during a year-long trial. The government claims it “delivered behavioural change focused energy saving plans tailored to participants through the digital tool, providing real-time alerts to reduce unnecessary electricity use”. Never mind the North Sea, never mind cutting VAT on energy bills, just serve warmer pints…
Rachel Reeves is set to beat the drum for even closer ties to Brussels in her Mais lecture this afternoon. Here is what she’ll say, for those who can’t bear to listen:
“In this changing world, Britain is not powerless. We can shape our own future. Our method is stability, investment and reform — through an active and strategic state. Today, I am making three big choices on the greatest growth opportunities for Britain in the decade to come: growth in every part of Britain, AI and innovation, and a deeper relationship with the EU.”
The government is planning a sector-by-sector audit to align UK regulations with the EU, starting with food standards, chemicals, and aerospace. There’s also a ‘youth mobility deal’ and a push to have British components counted as European under new EU content rules. Negotiations (terms of surrender) are expected to begin at a summit this summer. Any hope of achieving real growth has gone down the plumbing, so they are pulling the emergency EU lever…
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.”