The International Development Committee today released its report into the UK’s international investment body, British International Investment (BII). It includes some strange recommendations.
The committee, which is led by Labour MP Sarah Champion and includes Corbynites Kate Osamor and Navendu Mishra, criticised the board of the BII for failing to devote enough resources to “gender lens investing”. The report included a separate section criticising the BII for its investments in attractive low-tax jurisdictions, which result “significant lost revenue for countries in the ‘Global South’.” And more cash for actual production…
Only one of the BII’s three priorities is to actually make smart investments and create jobs, the other two being climate change and “inclusive development”. What more do the politicians want?
The report complained that in 2021, “BII invested in just 15 fragile and conflict-affected states, with only Nigeria receiving more than one per cent of BII’s total investment during that year”. If only war-torn countries had more startups…
It criticised that BII investments still had exposure to fossil fuels, in conflict with the government’s climate goals, and demanded that the BII elaborate an exit plan for those investments. The BII retorted that to do so would be to lose taxpayers’ money.
The committee goes so far as to propose that the FCDO abandons its “arm’s length” approach and takes more control over the BII board to bring in crucial “public sector representation”. Those brilliant investors…
Fresh from accusations of stifling local democracy, Labour’s candidate selection machine has generated yet more controversy. The Rother Valley CLP has selected Dominic Beck as its candidate. Dominic has been a Rotherham councillor since 2011. In 2014 a report found 1,400 Rotherham girls were victims of child sexual exploitation; the council cabinet, of which Beck was a member, rejected the report. In 2015 he was forced to resign after an independent report uncovered yet more incompetence.
The Labour Party has been quick to dismiss these concerns. Neighbouring MP Sarah Champion celebrated Beck’s win, with his resignation apparently slipping her mind. This is perhaps not surprising when Beck himself has been keen to avoid scrutiny…
Beck’s selection has been met with anger from voters. In a letter to the local paper, one resident described the selection as a “betrayal” of victims, adding “it is an insult to the electorate and puts the Labour Party even deeper into the sewers”. Keir Starmer has admitted he failed grooming victims before. It seems he hasn’t learnt his lesson.
Hat-tip: Charlie Peters
Liz Truss today provided journalists with the honest yet disappointing update that negotiations on a UK-US trade deal would not start in the “short to medium-term”. Naturally Labour MPs were quick to jump on this admission with criticism. Gareth Thomas called it a “huge failure“, Sarah Champion argued “This failure lies squarely with Truss”, Karl Turner asked “What’s gone wrong?” and Marsha de Cordova took it as reason to claim “The PM has already failed at her job”. Damning…
Those lines are quite a pivot from hyperbolic statements they made on the dangers of a US trade deal. Gareth claimed “the NHS will be at risk… never mind the chlorinated chicken & the increase in US agricultural imports that could hit our farmers hard”, Sarah said “No thanks” citing concerns over food safety and animal welfare, Karl insisted it would involve “flogging our NHS off” while Marsha called it a “disaster for working people”. They have only become keen on the deal they opposed now it is off…
Despite much of the chattering classes embarking on self-flagellation, Britain’s American trade prospects remain good. The United States remains the UK’s largest trading partner, while the UK is second only to Germany on their list. Katy Balls points out that Liz has cleared the Cabinet of protectionist voices, whilst aiming for a backdoor to a US trade deal through the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans Pacific Partnership with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Japan. It’s not all doom and gloom.
The Department for Work and Pensions has given a clearer signal than anyone that Boris’s Government is abandoning the nanny state prudishness of Theresa May’s… by encouraging Universal Credit claimants to enter the burgeoning British stripping scene.
In a post on the department’s website, the DWP suggested ‘Dances in adult entertainment establishments’ as the kind of work UC claimants could look for, and ‘Striptease Artist’ as a phrase those looking for work could use to search online. The post also suggested ‘bingo attendant’ three times, suggesting the author had balls on the brain…
The author of the post was clearly an expert in stripping, offering such knowledge of the profession as it “not needing formal academic entry requirements” because “training is received typically on-the-job”. Guido’s intrigued by the employee’s implication that you can take academic qualifications in stripping….
UPDATE: Labour’s former Women & Equalities shadow frontbencher Sarah Champion responded to this story “I cannot believe our Government now advocate for sexual exploitation”. To which Amber Rudd, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Minister for Women and Equalities replied “I had this advert removed as soon as I was made aware of it. It should never have been listed and I’m looking into why it was. Claimants should never be pointed towards those jobs.”
Sarah Campion, who represents the overwhelmingly Leave backing seat of Rotherham told PoliticsLive today that she would back a No Deal Brexit over a second referendum.
“If it came to it, I would take no deal, if that meant we could leave, because we have to leave”
If it came to a choice of leaving without a full trade agreement, and not leaving at all, there are many other Labour MPs who would do the same…
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