Green leader Zack Polanski has apologised for his retweet following the Golders Green attack and a furious response from Met Commissioner Mark Rowley. He says:
“Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter.”
Tail firmly between the legs there…
Only 3.3% of the people who have been dragged into the first batch of Making Tax Digital requirements have attended one of HMRC’s explanatory webinars. No one is ready for the coming carnage…
Making Tax Digital requires in-scope individuals to move from using the traditional Self Assessment portal and instead keep digital records in HMRC-recognised software and submit four quarterly updates per year, followed by a Final Declaration. It is dragging increasing numbers of self-filers into the system:
- From 6 April 2026: mandated where receipts are over £50,000. 864,000 in this group…
- From 6 April 2027: mandated where receipts are over £30,000.
- From 6 April 2028: mandated where receipts are over £20,000.
HMRC have been running – and advertising – webinars for different groups on the system since 10 April last year. Guido’s FOI Unit has found that up to 2 April this year there were only 15,069 attendees of any webinar for landlords and joint property owners, and only 13,436 attendees of any webinar for sole traders or landlords without an accountant or bookkeeper. That is 28,505 attendees in total which is 3.3% of this year’s additions to the system…
It is also 0.98% of the total 2.9 million to join the system by the end of the Parliament. HMRC says: “We are continuing to facilitate MTD educational webinars and have events currently scheduled up to the end of June 2026.” After that you’re on your own…
Labour is preparing a frantic last-minute operation to get the vote out in London. Rattled…
Take this communiqué emailed to Labour members in St Giles ward in Southwark and leaked to Guido. This should be safe for Labour…
Southwark has seen doorknocking visits from both Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham in recent weeks, which indicates the level of concern. Next week it’s Lucy Powell…
Highlights include only delivering to council estates and not to street addresses on polling day and trying to co-operate with the Greens at polling stations:
“If Labour is to retain all 3 seats in St Giles Ward at the election on Thursday then our Polling Day operation will be vital to that success. The Greens will be mounting a full-on campaign on the day to get their vote out. We have to match and better that. This means members will have to step up to the plate and devote as much time as they can on the day. There are two principal roles members can play on the day – polling station tellers and knocking on the door of Labour supporters to get them to vote.1. TellersThis is a vitally important role. In essence you sit outside one polling station and write down the numbers off electors polling cards as they come/exit to vote. The Greens will be here too but are usually friendly and you can share the data from one another during busy periods. The reason for doing this role is because every hour the numbers are collected and returned to our committee rooms and the identified Labour voters are crossed off our overall list. This means we don’t waste time knocking them up to vote later on the day and we can focus on those Labour voters who haven’t voted yet.There are 6 polling stations open from 7am to 10pm. This means 6.x 15 hours = 90 hours to get covered. Therefore we need as many members as possible to offer up their time whether for an hour or more and perhaps splitting between morning, afternoon and evening sessions. Without members volunteering to do this we will lose this critical part of our operations on the day which will result in a lower Labour turnout and the potential loss of seats.2. Knocking-UpDuring the day we will need members to knock on the doors of Labour promises to ensure they come out and vote on the day. As with tellers you can split your time to help out during different parts of the day. Again without this activity occurring it will result in a lower Labour turnout and the potential loss of seats.3. Early morning leaflet dropFor those insomniacs amongst you there will be an early leaflet drop reminding electors to vote between the hours of 5-7am. We will only be delivering this to the estates and not the street properties.All the above roles are not mutually exclusive so you can try your hand at all of them if you so wish. The main Labour Committee Rooms for the day will be based at [REDACTED] you can pop in and out of there all day and there will be drinks and refreshments on hand.Please volunteer as the more hands we get will make light work on the day.Please step forward and help secure our 3 Council seats for Labour!”
Team Streeting is briefing that he’s got the numbers in the PLP and is ready for a leadership fight. A man can dream. Here is what his manifesto might look like, based on what he’s said before…
- Return to the EU customs union
- Tax capital gains on the same basis as income.
- Replace inheritance tax with a lifetime gifts tax.
- Increase corporation tax.
- Slash the welfare budget to fund defence. Although later he insisted his words had been twisted…
- Set NHS employment targets: each Integrated Care Board accountable for getting patients back to work, with patient data linked to ONS pay records and benefit claims.
- Establish a new Ministry of Migration.
- A Labour Party that is “less factional”. Good luck…
- Introduce citizens’ assemblies to “create the conditions in which we achieve sustainable, lasting change with public support.”
- Maintain Mahmood’s immigration reforms. While claiming he is ‘uncomfortable’ with them to placate the left…
- Maintain the indefinite ban on puberty blockers for under-18s.
- Establish “a climate and sustainability office within a new prime minister’s department” and create a “real green investment bank.”
- Create a new inheritance tax and capital gains exemption for business owners who transfer their businesses to a trust for the benefit of customers and/or employees.
- Cap or scrap business property relief.
- Abolish Business Asset Disposal Relief.
- Require companies to publish “clear action plans for achieving gender balance and the widening of diversity.”
Pitching left and soaking up the right. Something something fiscal rules…
Guido hears Andy Burnham is exploring a few creative ways to get into the Commons. Anyone want to be the mayor of Manchester?
Labour sources say the PM-hopeful is offering ‘job-swaps’ to MPs in exchange for them standing down. He’d support their ascension to his mayoralty…
Jim McMahon’s name has cropped up. The sacked minister has a reason to work against Starmer and his Labour-heavy Oldham West and Royton seat works for Burnham. Andy only has one shot so he needs a super-safe seat…
Labour sources say Nandy in Wigan or Lucy Powell in Manchester Central are contenders but unlikely to take any deal. Powell in particular fancies herself a rising star…
Burnham’s term as mayor expires in May 2028. He needs to move fast – this year – otherwise it doesn’t make sense to blow up the mayoralty just before the term ends…
Speaking to Adam Boulton on Times Radio about kicking the Golders Green suspect, Heidi Alexander said:
“I thought that if I was in the shoes of that police officer, then if I’m honest, given the situation, and the fact that he had a backpack on his back, and they were worried about whether that might go off, I could, if I was a police officer, frankly, I could see myself having taken similar action.”
