After spirited campaigning by pro-justice figures Labour has U-turned on its plans to scrap a courts archive which is crucial to journalists. Lammy’s MoJ took issue with software used by Courtsdesk on some small occasion and tried to scrap the whole thing…
Courtsdesk is a golden goose for court and crime reporters because it has access to records that are otherwise unavailable to journalists. Labour was trying to have the five-year archive deleted forever…
The MoJ has paused its deletion order. The Tories are claiming victory, and said:
“Under pressure from campaigners, journalists, survivors and the Conservatives, Lammy is no longer hitting the delete button on court records. Courtsdesk has provided a vital service, and it is right that this vital database should be preserved. If we are going to stop the rape gangs and expose other patterns of criminal behaviour, we need comprehensive and accurate data.”
Sunlight is the best disinfectant…
Another U-turn is imminent from the government on business rates – but for pubs alone. It’s not even ten days into January yet…
Labour MPs and some Cabinet ministers have been raging at the large rate hikes faced by hospitality businesses, caused by the removal of pandemic-era reliefs and the Valuation Office Agency’s re-evaluation of rate charges. Adding thousands to bills…
Starmer said the government was looking at “further support” earlier this week. Treasury analysis of the changes has led the department to reconsider and explore valuation changes among other measures. Here’s an idea – reverse the last two Budgets…
Firms have been told not to make their worries public while the government works out what to do. Hotels are unlikely to get targeted support because people have more sympathy for pubs. They will pass on a hike in business rates to their customers…
After briefings over the weekend that Starmer is now in favour of U-turning on the two-child benefit cap Bridget Phillipson has given the strongest indication yet that the cap will go. Morgan ‘the McIavelli’ McSweeney is said to be the primary opposition to a U-turn…
Phillipson said on Times Radio that a reversal is “on the table” and her ‘Child Poverty Taskforce’ “will be setting out further measures to tackle child poverty using every lever available to us.” Asked if she was pushing for a change on Sky News she said:
“Look we’re having lots of conversations about what more we need to do, but to be to be clear this was not something a Labour government introduced. It’s not something a Labour government would have introduced – it was a Conservative measure. The challenge that we have is that this is you know a situation that we find ourselves in with the public finances about how we stack everything together and how we make sure we secure the economy.”
Seeing as Farage has just pledged to lift the cap alongside other dirigiste measures – to be discussed at a press conference today – Labour’s slow pace is handing points to Reform. The government’s excuse for successive and expensive U-turns is that the economy has ‘stabilised’ now. No one buying that…
Labour is charging through government so far. Downing Street is hilariously already embroiled in a bitter turf war between Sue Gray and the ‘McIavelli‘ Morgan McSweeney. You usually save this stuff for later in the cycle…
It’s not just internal battles coming thick and fast. Labour is deploying U-turns on pledges at a high rate. Guido has compiled a helpful rolling list:
More major U-turns are set to appear further down the line. Guido will provide live updates as they come…
Labour’s casting around for cash to fund its political projects is descending into farce. They’re struggling to keep a straight face on the media round…
Just two months ago Starmer made a big song and dance about the elderly’s inability to pay their heating bills, which he described in a campaign video as “awful” and “the biggest thing in the world” which “eats away at people“. Darren Jones sent a formal complaint over rumours that the Winter Fuel Allowance would be means tested last year. Meanwhile, Wes Streeting told the BBC just a few weeks ago:
“One of the things that we have committed to is, obviously the cap on care costs is due to come in, I have wanted to give the system the certainty this side of the election of knowing we are not planning to come in and upend that and scrap that.”
Means testing benefits is fine, deceiving the public over what your priorities are isn’t…
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.”