Anyone hoping the Labour Party will offer a solution to the HS2 funding confusion will be disappointed. As the government appears to backtrack on building the northern leg of the high speed rail service, the question of what Labour would do differently has now produced three different answers from three Shadow ministers in just 48 hours. Almost as if they have no idea what they’d do either…
On Sunday, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden told Laura Kuenssberg he wants to “see what [it] costs” to build the Manchester leg, and Labour will “make those decisions when it comes to the manifesto“. The usual ‘wait and see’ fence-sitting Labour rely on…
Yet last night the party offered newfound clarity on the issue, with Shadow Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds declaring on BBC Radio 4 “We will build HS2 in full…to Manchester and the eastern leg to Leeds.” A massive commitment. The Manchester leg is one thing; the eastern leg to Leeds was scrapped in 2021…
This morning, however, Shadow Treasury Minister Tulip Siddiq has immediately hit the brakes, telling Times Radio “maybe [Thomas-Symonds] knows something I don’t” about this multi-billion pound splurge, adding she herself would not commit to spending that much on a whim. So either a Shadow Treasury Minister doesn’t know about Labour’s latest spending plans, or Symonds went completely off the rails…
Speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC this morning, Pat McFadden stood up to defend Labour’s latest position of principle – targeting the families of public servants. McFadden thrice repeated Labour’s attacks on the Prime Minister’s wife, before Ferrari asked Pat to say whether politician’s wives and families were all fair game. McFadden did not deny the children could be targets…
The Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Pat McFadden, the man whom if Labour win will be the second-most senior Minister controlling the government’s purse strings. Surely a Scottish thrifty and responsible spender…
In 2009, McFadden was found to have charged £5,581 in legal fees and stamp duty to the taxpayer when purchasing his second home. Having purchased the property, it obviously needed furnishing. McFadden came cap in hand to the taxpayer once again, this time spending £4,807.41 on furniture.
Sparing no expense, he forked out £995 on a sofa, £995 on an oak veneer bed frame, £250 for an oak veneer bedside chest, £395 on a walnut veneer dining table, and £356 for leather dining room chairs. McFadden shopped mostly at either Habitat or Heal’s, although you wouldn’t know that based on the expenses sheet he published on his website during the 2009 scandal. According to the Telegraph, the brand names were often censored…
He also spent £969.47 on lights and curtains (£337.84 on John Lewis alone), £584 on a mattress, £263.50 on crockery and cutlery, £214.34 on other kitchenware, and £206.80 on the installation of a new TV ariel. Plus £71 on bins…
