Donated clothes helped Starmer’s ‘look their best’, Lammy claims September 15, 2024 Donated clothes given to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria were to help them “look their best” to represent the UK, David Lammy has argued. Speaking to the BBC, the foreign secretary said in countries like the US, leaders “have a huge budget paid for by the taxpayer so that they look [...]
Lammy: West won’t be bullied by Putin over Ukraine missile talks September 15, 2024 The West will not be bullied by Vladimir Putin’s threat of all-out war with Nato if Ukraine is given permission to use Western weapons to strike inside Russia, David Lammy has said. The foreign secretary said talks were continuing with the US and allies about giving Kyiv permission to use UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles to [...]
Government accused of trying to hide ‘horrific’ impact of winter fuel squeeze September 14, 2024 Sir Keir Starmer’s government faced accusations of trying to hide from the “horrific” impact of the decision to strip winter fuel payments from millions of pensioners. More than 80 per cent of people aged 80 and over will lose out, as will more than 70 per cent of pensioners. Even among those who should still [...]
Government must ‘offer hope’ to attract investment, CBI chief to argue September 12, 2024 The government must “have and offer hope” in order to attract global investors to bet on and back Britain, the chief executive of the Confederation for British Industry (CBI) will argue. In a rejection of No10 and the Treasury’s gloomy economic language, Rain Newton-Smith will use the CBI’s annual dinner in Glasgow to call for [...]
Major NHS reforms will ‘take a decade’, Keir Starmer warns September 12, 2024 A series of major reforms to the NHS will “take a decade” and won’t be “universally popular”, Sir Keir Starmer has warned in a speech about the future of the UK’s healthcare system. The Prime Minister pledged that his Labour government “will always make the investment in our NHS that is needed… even in difficult [...]
In defence of political donors September 12, 2024 Labour’s cronyism scandal has rightly led to calls for greater transparency around donors but let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. If anything, we need more private money in politics, says Henry Newman Politics is sometimes called show business for ugly people. Aesthetics isn’t the only supposed difference between Westminster and Tinseltown. British [...]
Reform NHS to get Brits back at work and driving growth, Starmer to say September 12, 2024 Reforming the National Health Service (NHS) will help get the British public “back to health and work” as well as “driving economic growth”, Keir Starmer will say.
‘Hard to justify’: IFS calls for Reeves to limit pension tax-free lump sum September 11, 2024 Rachel Reeves is rumoured to be considering a shake-up of pension tax reliefs in the October Budget as she seeks to address a challenging fiscal inheritance.
Economists are not concerned by the lastest GDP figures. They should be September 11, 2024 The growth party was always going to end sooner or later. In the first half of 2024, the economy exceeded expectations month after month, making the UK the fastest-growing economy in the G7. One statistician at the ONS even said the economy was growing “gangbusters“. Alas, nothing lasts forever. Figures out this morning showed that the [...]
GDP unexpectedly stagnates in July following strong first half of 2024 September 11, 2024 The figures returned the UK to growth after GDP was flat in June and represent a positive start to the second half of the year.