Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse for the Cuban communist regime now on the brink of collapse after its Venezuelan oil supplies were cut off, there’s a surprise from the United Kingdom. One Jeremy Corbyn is on his way…
Jezza is joining the Nuestra America convoy to Havana tomorrow to protest President Trump’s intentions for the island, which look to be much the same as those he had for Iran. Kneecap is also joining…
A sitting Labour MP is coming along: Richard Burgon of course. His proximity to Corbyn is interesting on this trip given he had the Labour whip restored last year and is supposed to be behaving himself…
The convoy claims it will bring 20 tonnes of food, medicine and solar-power equipment to prop up the Cuban government. And that makes the point, doesn’t it…
Attorney General Richard Hermer has waded into the Trafalgar Square Muslim prayer row, telling The Guardian:
“Nick Timothy has said that mass prayer in public places is an act of ‘domination’. But when he and Kemi Badenoch were questioned about his appalling views, they seemed to only have an issue with Muslim events. Timothy and Badenoch’s comments beg the question – would they have a problem if I as a Jewish man, were praying in public? Or is it just Muslim prayer they find offensive, and contrary to ‘British values’? The Conservative Party, like Reform and Tommy Robinson, is seeking to divide Britain. Instead, they should be celebrating our brilliantly welcoming and diverse country.”
Starmer attempted to salvage a car-crash of a PMQs by calling for Timothy’s sacking. Now his best mate Hermer is getting involved. Badenoch says Timothy isn’t going anywhere…
New ONS figures show government borrowing hit a whopping £14.3 billion in February. More than double the forecasts, and the second-highest level for February since records began. Far above the £7.4 billion predicted by the OBR…
All this is before the Iran war started. Look at the ten-year bond yield since March…
Uh-oh…
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Labour is considering lowering the cost ceiling for processing Freedom of Information (FoI) requests, using ‘spiralling administrative costs’ as the latest excuse to limit government transparency. Obviously blaming China wasn’t good enough…
According to briefings in the FT:
“The soaring number of requests comes against a backdrop of heavily constrained Whitehall budgets… the cost threshold for complying with a request is set at £600 for central government and £450 for other public bodies, with staff time charged at a flat rate of £25 an hour. This equates to 24 hours of work, or 3.5 working days, for Whitehall departments and 18 hours of work for other government agencies.”
Lowering the cost ceiling would effectively let departments turn down what they claim would be more complex or time-consuming requests without having to find a specific exemption. In reality, it would inevitably be a useful way to bury inconvenient and embarrassing material from the public. This is a government which makes the hilarious claim it has “strengthened many transparency and disclosure standards“. Total nonsense…
Kemi Badenoch at the 1922-ConHome bash last night:
“I did praise [Burnham] for his stamina, it was amazing. All I had to do was sit back and lie there. I didn’t have to do anything at all…”
