Reshuffle day two: Jesse Norman sacked as Treasury minister September 16, 2021 Boris Johnson continues his reshuffle today, after a major shakeup to his top team yesterday afternoon. Johnson will fill dozens of ministerial roles that sit under the secretary of state in each department. 17.56 International trade minister sacked Trade minister Graham Stuart has been sacked, along with two others in the latest announcement. Stuart had [...]
Exclusive: Outsourcers told Michael Gove no-deal Brexit planning is stalling industry October 10, 2019 Whitehall has come under pressure from some of its most prominent public service providers for slow decision-making, as time and resources are increasingly directed towards no-deal Brexit planning. Three sources with knowledge of the matter told City A.M. that de facto no-deal Brexit secretary Michael Gove has been urged to “get a move on” so [...]
Tory by-election candidate says levelling up agenda includes outer London November 28, 2021 The Conservative candidate in an upcoming by-election has claimed the government’s levelling up agenda includes poorer parts of outer London. Old Bexley and Sidcup candidate Louie French told City A.M. that Boris Johnson’s flagship agenda, generally thought to only encompass the Midlands and the North, “completely” includes economically deprived areas of the capital and that [...]
Levelling up: UK aims to create ‘global city’ in every part of country by 2030 February 2, 2022 The government will offer every English region the chance to have a “London-style mayor” in a bid to create a “globally competitive city” in every part of the UK by 2030, a landmark paper into Boris Johnson’s levelling up policy today revealed. Johnson’s trademark policy will see the government commit to increase public research and [...]
Global Britain: Covid and Brexit offer an ‘opportunity to reset’ relations on union January 23, 2022 A Lords committee said this week that the challenges caused by Brexit and the pandemic present an “opportunity to reset relationships” between the UK Government and devolved nations. The upper house’s Constitution Committee published a report on Thursday, calling for a shift in how the union operates, shoring it up for the 21st century. Among [...]
The rallying cry of levelling up has been cash-strapped and watered down February 3, 2022 People deserve to live in a country where life is not a postcode lottery, says Michael Gove in the foreword of the much awaited flagship plan for levelling up unveiled yesterday. This is one of those recycled truisms we hear again and again in politics. The same could be said for much of the white [...]
Britain’s productivity has been battered by the scarcity of affordable homes in cities February 15, 2022 Londoners are feeling the squeeze. The Bank of England has forecast the biggest annual fall in living standards for at least three decades: energy costs are surging, and rents are going up by 5.5 per cent. The high cost of housing leads to a worse quality of life in familiar ways, through lower disposable incomes, [...]
Scottish independence: UK minister says Scots could have a second referendum if backed by 60 per cent August 27, 2021 Scots could have a second independence referendum if polling consistently shows support for one at 60 per cent, according to the UK’s Scotland secretary. In the first time a minister has hinted at what the bar could be for a fresh vote, Alister Jack told Politico: “If you consistently saw 60 percent of the population [...]
Boris Johnson’s political headache isn’t over as the threat to the Union rears its head again March 2, 2022 Boris Johnson has often been both the Houdini and the Heineken politician over the past decade. But if he survives the latest party-gate scandal he may unwittingly walk into a much bigger domestic political headache, with more than just his career on the line – the future of the union. Of course he will do [...]
Nation-wide metro mayors: A plan for regions to pull their own bootstraps up December 13, 2021 When the prime minister appointed Michael Gove to head up a rebranded Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in September’s reshuffle, it was a significant statement of intent. Gove is one of Whitehall’s biggest hitters, having run three major government departments, and is brain cell for brain cell one of the cleverest and most [...]