There has been another confirmation that Team Burnham is pursuing an Exit Tax. From Tim Shipman’s Spectator column:
“A Burnham adviser says O’Neill and Haldane’s presence is important, not just for their ideas but because of the credibility they bring. ‘They give you blue-chip credentials to do different things in government. They give you the air cover that you need with the establishment to actually think differently. You can have a different fiscal rule set-up, you can have a different regionalism agenda.’ At the micro level, there is talk of equalising capital gains tax rates with income tax, and charging an exit tax for billionaires who leave the country, but whether Burnham has decided on these measures is unclear.”
Burnham’s people have failed to quash rumours of such a tax, which would likely tax the unrealised capital gains of those who emigrate. Basically a tax on inflation…
There is also confirmation there for those who had doubts that Haldane and O’Neill’s presence on Team Burnham is just cover for more leftist policymaking.
If an Exit Tax were to be imposed many entrepreneurs just wouldn’t start a business in Britain. Those that did wouldn’t be able to attract international talent while others would leave quickly, while valuations were still low to build their business elsewhere. Not to mention everyone leaving prior to the Budget at which it is implemented…
Reeves says she has “more to do” as Chancellor:
“I’m really proud of my record, and I think in those two years, if you look at first of all those key macro-numbers on inflation, on interest rates, on economic growth, the fact that wages have risen faster than inflation for every single month that I’ve been Chancellor of the Exchequer…
“The fact that for the first time since 2019 we’ve got government borrowing between 5 per cent of GDP, 4.2 per cent in the last year, reflects the choices I’ve made…
“I’m proud of my record, yes. I’ve got more to do. In the Budget this year, we’ve got plans around fiscal devolution for example, further reforms to business rates that I set out earlier this week using revenues from properly taxing low-value imports from overseas, for example. So yes, there is more to do, but all of that has to be anchored around that stability that I’ve returned to the economy.”
Although she later admitted that “whoever is Chancellor” in three weeks will inherit the gift of her perfectly stable economy…
Trump was asked what he thought of Andy Burnham during Mark Rutte’s visit to the White House:
“I don’t know anything. I see that he was, I guess, the mayor of a town. I hear he is extremely liberal, extremely. So that means he probably won’t open up the North Sea.”
Good start…
The Labour government’s summer internship scheme is blocking the children of full-time trade union officials. A rare policy win from Labour…
Government now restricts the scheme to working class individuals. This is defined by their parent’s profession when the applicant was aged 14, using ONS and Social Mobility Commission classifications…
Parliamentary questions pursued by Tory parliamentarians have clarified what technical class a “trade union official who works for a local authority under 100% facility time” is: “Under the simplified National Statistics Socio-economic classification (NS-SEC) framework, this occupation is classified as analytic class 3: Intermediate occupations.” Unless they’ve worked out a loophole…
This means, for example, that Rayner’s son, Ryan (now 28) couldn’t take advantage of the scheme. When he was 14 Rayner was a Stockport Council trade union pilgrim. Tory shadow Cabinet Office minister Mike Wood said: “What an embarrassing own goal. Labour’s incompetence knows no bounds: they can’t even wage a class war properly.” Quick Andy – do something….
Timestamps embedded in Andy Burnham’s leadership campaign site source code reveal his team set up the site on 6th May, even before the local election bloodbath that terminally damaged Starmer’s premiership. Obviously he knew which way the wind was blowing and wasn’t wasting any time…
It was also eight days before Josh Simons stood down to make way for Burnham’s candidacy in Makerfield. Which gives an idea of the timeline in the lead up to their pact.
The source code shows he previously considered “For the People” as his slogan, identical to the one used by Kamala Harris’s doomed presidential campaign. At least Burnham’s plot to grab the top job is likely to work…
Badenoch said at her speech on Monday morning: “We are absolutely ready to fight a general election. We say the results in Aberdeen South: 50% of the vote. Because we can unite the country… It’s about uniting the country, for God’s sake, behind a centre-right agenda.”