After Jo Coburn’s departure Young will start in June. The BBC says:
“Vicki is well known to audiences as the BBC’s Deputy Political Editor, a role she has held since 2020, and brings her impressive experience presenting and covering UK politics to the weekday politics show.
Vicki has covered eight General Elections, numerous international summits, and has been a presenter on the BBC News Channel and Westminster Hour on Radio 4. During her career she has reported on some of the most complex stories in recent times from Brexit to the coronavirus pandemic – keeping audiences informed and up to date.”
Congratulations…
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander has just approved the Development Consent Order for Luton Airport. This paves the way for an expansion of the cap on passenger numbers from 18 million to 32 million by the 2040s. 77,000 more flights annually…
The Planning Inspectorate’s environmental objection has been overruled. Someone get the tissues for Ed…
An enlarged terminal and second terminal construction are on the cards. Takeoff…
Labour continues to spin hard that it is getting “Britain building” with its eyebrow-raising last minute conversion to growth-hype policy. There’s not much evidence of Labour-led growth projects actually happening, however…
Far from declaring war on the environmental “green tape” holding up economic growth – remember the infamous bat tunnel – Labour MPs are actually hard at work blocking new projects across the country. Take this morning’s decision from King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Council Planning Committee, which barred the expansion of a significant pig and poultry farm in Methwold, Norfolk. The company behind it employs 3500 people in East Anglia. It’s a local job-creating project worth tens of millions of pounds…
None other than Labour MP Terry Jermy turned up to deliver a long anti-growth speech, praying-in-aid Natural England, wetland conservation, rare flora, and other conventional environmental talking points. He told the Committee:
“It is fair to say that these applications are amongst the most contentious affecting South West Norfolk ever seen. And I say that they are contentious for very good reasons. If planning permission were to be granted, I am resolute in my belief that these developments will blight the lives of local people and the environment for many years to come. The strength of feeling against these applications can be best summed up by the clear facts highlighted in your planning officers report. Your Council has received significant objections from five different parish councils, namely Methwold, Feltwell, Northwold.”
Environmental consultants essentially said there were no possible mitigations to the ecological impacts. It won’t be long until people tire of Labour’s growth gaslighting…
BP has officially pulled the plug on its low-carbon mobility team, signalling the latest retreat from the costly green energy fantasy. CEO Murray Auchincloss said it was “commercially unviable” to keep pumping resources into electric, hydrogen, and other so-called “low-emission” vehicle technologies. In February BP scrapped it’s five-year-old plan to become a major renewable energy player and slashed its green energy budget by 70%. Red Ed’s green dream is getting the cold shoulder…
Trump has frozen funding for Biden-era green projects, while the EU is starting to water down its ambitious green regulations. Analysts point to high interest rates, inflation, and more urgent political issues – like wars and security threats – as the reason behind green stock plummeting last month. Meanwhile, the OBR predicts net zero taxes on energy bills will rise by 60% as the cost of subsidising renewable energy is expected to hit £20 billion by 2030. It ain’t cheap being green…
In bombshell news Downing Street cannot say if Starmer’s Cabinet has seen fictional Netflix TV drama ‘Adolescence.’ Education secretary Phillipson was at the first “festival of childhood” this morning to continue talking about the drama. Apparently the show has portrayed a “defining issue of our time” and more male teachers are needed to provide stronger role models, “illustrated by the Netflix series Adolescence.” Pass the sick cup…
“It’s clear the behaviour of boys, their influences, and the young men they become, is a defining issue of our time. That’s why this week the Prime Minister convened a roundtable on rethinking adolescent safety.”
At today’s Lobby briefing to journalists Starmer’s spokesman could not guarantee that all the Cabinet had seen the show, despite Starmer spending hours watching it himself, displaying the “distressing” content to an underage audience, and developing policy off the back of it. Worse – Starmer hasn’t even told his ministers to watch it. Despite having instructed schools to show it to children…
There is currently a row over Downing Street’s spin last night that its negotiating work had lowered tariffs from Trump: “We don’t want any tariffs at all, but a lower levy than others vindicates our approach.” This was lapped up last night by Lobby hacks who hailed the Starmer-Trump White House meeting as an unmitigated triumph. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp jumped on that one this morning…
When Starmer’s spokesman was asked to defend that claim at midday the line had changed: “It’s up to the US to set out the reasons behind their tariff decision…. It’s a fact the UK received the lowest rate… direct questions to the US on their calculations.” The US has an elucidation of its own…
The explanation from the White House is: “The numbers have been calculated by the Council of Economic Advisers … based on the concept that the trade deficit that we have with any given country is the sum of all trade practices, the sum of all cheating.” I.e. nothing to do with negotiations…
This is why there is no rate lower than 10%, which is the base rate. Some charm offensive…
Speaking to Sky News off the back of Rachel Reeves’ Air Passenger Duty hike, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said:
“Labour is dependent on those Red Wall seats, and yet every move she makes poisons economic growth and damages the UK’s recovery… it’s the Chancellor who stumbles from policy misstep to policy misstep… I think her policy decisions are incredibly stupid.”