Sue Gray Is Not Coming Back To Work For Starmer As Ex-Chief Of Staff ‘Rejects New Role’

Posted on 12/11/2024 by Boris Clair

Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff Sue Gray is not coming back to work with the PM, HuffPost UK understands.

No.10 announced on October 6 that she was being made the prime minister’s envoy for nations and regions as part of a major Downing Street shake-up.

At the time, Starmer said he was “delighted” that she had accepted the newly-created role.

But it has now been confirmed that she will not be starting the job after all.

The prime minister’s spokesperson told reporters on Tuesday: “I can confirm she has now decided to not take up the role.

“Subsequent to that, we confirmed she was taking a break and I can now update she has decided not to take up the role following her break.”

They said she had already “played a vital role strengthening relations with nations and regions”, for which she had the PM’s thanks.

They did not say if she had been paid during her break between jobs.

No.10 said the envoy role will now be kept “under review”, adding: “Beyond that, respectfully, we won’t comment further on individual staffing matters.”

The comments come hours after a source close to the former chief of staff told the Financial Times: “Sue has taken a decision not to take the role. She’s going to focus on other things.

“She’s taken time to think about it properly, talking to stakeholders, but ultimately she’s decided she doesn’t want to do it.”

However, a cabinet minister told HuffPost UK that it had been No.10′s decision for her not to do the job.

Gray, who attracted national attention after leading the civil service’s partygate probe during Boris Johnson’s premiership, was appointed Starmer’s chief of staff when Labour was still in opposition.

She continued in the role after the election, but clashed with Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s director of strategy.

After weeks of No.10 turmoil, Gray was sacked and replaced by McSweeney.

She immediately went on what the PM’s official spokesman described as a “short” break and never returned to take up her new job.

In a statement in October, Gray said she was “pleased to accept the new envoy role.”

The PM also issued a statement saying he was “delighted she would continue to support our work”.

But the job change was seen by many as a demotion, especially as it was not clear exactly what the new role would entail – or if it would even be paid.

After weeks of silence from Gray, No.10 confirmed to HuffPost UK that she would not be coming back to work for the PM.

A Downing Street source then told the BBC: “We think she has made the right decision.”

Gray went on a “short break” after quitting as Starmer’s chief of staff, where she had been paid more than the prime minister with an annual salary of £170,000.

She did not attend a regional investment summit in mid-October, as she was taking “a bit of downtime” following an intense period in the spotlight, according to cabinet office minister Pat McFadden.

The Guardian reported on Tuesday that Starmer was planning to withdraw the job offer to Gray allegedly due to concerns about the media attention which could stop her from working effectively.

A government source told the newspaper: “Sue hasn’t been told for sure that the job is no longer on offer, but she has been warned that this is the direction of travel. The way some people are behaving towards her is really horrible.”

What Labour Must Learn From Trump’s Victory To Avoid The Democrats’ Fate

Posted on 08/11/2024 by Boris Clair

Donald Trump’s stunning US election victory has thrown up serious questions for Keir Starmer – and not just because of the disobliging comments he and other senior Labour figures made in the past about the president-elect.

The splintering of the Democrats’ traditional coalition of voters has sent a shiver down the spine of Labour strategists, who are already nervously eyeing the next UK general election in four years’ time.

Minority groups and the white working class, angered by what they saw as a collapse in their living standards under the Biden administration, flocked to Trump’s promise to “Make America Great Again”.

Throw in the fact that incumbent parties are being turfed out by disgruntled electorates across the western world – a trend Starmer benefited from on July 4 – and you can see why Labour bosses are anxious.

HuffPost UK spoke to a range of Labour insiders and polling experts to find out what lessons the party needs to learn from what happened across the Atlantic in order to avoid the same fate that befell their sister party.

First of all, it is important to stress that Trump’s victory was no fluke. He became the first Republican candidate in 20 years to win both the popular vote and the electoral college as a swathe of previously blue states turned red.

Despite receiving the endorsement of countless celebrities, Kamala Harris’ hopes of becoming her country’s first female president were scuppered by millions of ordinary voters who no longer believed the Democrats understood their concerns.

A senior Labour source told HuffPost UK: “The lessons for our party are obvious and unavoidable. It really is the economy, stupid.

“If people don’t feel better off, then incumbents don’t win elections. Democrats preached growth and a strong economy with stagnating wages and price inflation.

“The follow-through from that is the realignment, or more accurately the dealignment, of sectional interests. That is something that Labour needs to address. The Democrats’ coalition of Latinos, African-Americans and the white working class evaporated like snow off a ditch.”

One insider pointed out that the party had already experienced something similar in 2019, when traditional Labour seats in the Midlands and north of England – the fabled Red Wall – switched en masse to Boris Johnson’s Tories.

But he added: “There’s still an assumption by the left that black and Asian communities in Britain somehow are instinctively left-inclined and don’t want tough action on things like immigration.

“In the US, they voted in the same way as the wider population and that myth was well and truly shattered.”

In its analysis of Labour’s landslide election victory in July, the Labour Together think-tank warned that the party “has been cautiously hired, on a trial basis, liable to prompt dismissal if it deviates even slightly from its focus on voters’ priorities”.

The group’s chief executive, former Labour frontbencher Jon Ashworth, said the party forgets that message at its peril.

He told HuffPost UK: “If working people see their pay checks squeezed, they need to be convinced that you’ve got a plan to make them better off. What was pretty clear in America was that a lot of families felt worse off and blamed the Democrats.

“The challenge for Labour, as our report found, was that they need to remain completely focused of the cost of living, strengthening the economy and building a stronger NHS.

“Labour’s support at the election, while obviously broad, is potentially shallow. People certainly wanted change, but voters are very unforgiving if you don’t focus on those priorities.”

That was echoed by Emma Levin, associate director at pollsters Savanta.

She said: “One of the key lessons from the US appears to be one that Starmer’s Labour already know well; voters kick out incumbent governments if they don’t feel better off.

“Governments across the developed world are getting booted out of office, and in no small part because their citizens feel poorer. I think that’s as true in the US as it was here.”

Keir Starmer has a lot of work to do to convince voters that Labour gets their concerns.

A senior No.10 source said that by the time of the next election, Labour needs to show voters that it has delivered on four things – ending the cost of living crisis, improving the NHS, bringing down immigration and improving the UK’s infrastructure by building more homes and upgrading crumbling hospitals and schools.

“We have to get to the end of five years with a very clear sense of who we’re on the side of and what we’re trying to do,” he said.

“The Democrats started off with a message aimed at middle America but along the way they got too squeamish about immigration, and they only got to that late on. They sounded far too much like the party of east coast liberals and academia.

“For all the theorising people will do, what it does boil down to is that in big swathes of America and across the western world, people have been hit incredibly hard by the cost of living and think that their governments haven’t responded to it properly

“You not only need to deliver but you need to have a strong story about how you’re delivering and how you’re making life better for people.

“If you’re a government in the western world at the moment, your focus needs to be on what people really care about. It sounds obvious but it doesn’t always happen.”

To that end, former political journalist James Lyons has now started his role as Downing Street’s director of strategic communications.

His job will be to look to the long term and come up with ways for the government to convince voters that it is on their side.

According to Conleth Burns, associate director at the More in Common think-tank, the Democrats “took a lot of their voters for granted”, so it was hardly surprising that they turned to Donald Trump.

Another challenge for Labour is the fact that disaffected voters in the UK are not just turning to Reform UK, but also to the Greens and Gaza independents.

“You’ve got this insurgency both on the left and the right and being able to navigate that is key,” he said.

The most important thing, Burns said, is for Labour to make good on the promises they made in the election – most notably bringing down people’s gas and electricity bills.

He said: “If Labour can’t deliver that, they are likely to be turfed out.”

Trump’s remarkable comeback as president will have huge political and economic repercussions for the next four years and beyond.

Keir Starmer must learn the lessons of how he did it if Labour is not to go the same way as the Democrats when voters in the UK next go to the polls.

5 Reasons Why Donald Trump’s Victory Is A Massive Headache For Keir Starmer

Posted on 06/11/2024 by Boris Clair

Keir Starmer wasted no time in congratulating Donald Trump on his “historic” victory in the US presidential election.

The former and soon-to-be-again president had not even reached the magic number of 270 electoral college votes before the Downing Street statement arrived.

“As the closest of allies, we stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of our shared values of freedom, democracy and enterprise,” the prime minister declared.

Nevertheless, Starmer and his aides will be well aware of the political jeopardy posed by another Trump presidency.

Here, HuffPost UK looks at the potential problems for the UK government emanating the maverick Republican’s return to the White House.

Economy

For a government which has made growing the economy its number one mission, Trump’s re-election could have serious repercussions.

Goldman Sachs immediately downgraded their forecast for UK economic growth for 2025 from 1.6% to 1.4% on the back of the US result, pointing to Trump’s vow to impose tariffs on goods entering America from abroad.

Such a move would also be extremely damaging for high-value British exports like Scotch whisky.

A spokesperson for the Scotch Whisky Association said: “As prime minister Keir Starmer has said, the UK and US stand shoulder to shoulder and are partners in enterprise.

“To deepen this partnership, the US and UK administrations should agree to maintain the zero-tariff trade of whiskies across the Atlantic.”

While the Biden administration has ruled out as US-UK comprehensive trade agreement, Trump has spoken in the past of his desire to get one done – although he conspicuously failed to do so the last time he was in office.

The price Trump would try to extract in return for a deal – such as allowing hormone-pumped American beef onto British supermarket shelves – may turn out being too high for Starmer to pay.

The PM’s official spokesman would only say: “We already enjoy a thriving economic relationship with the US. There are millions of jobs supported by this relationship, which is worth $1 trillion, and clearly we will be seeking to build on that.”

That may well prove to be easier said than done.

Defence

Trump has made no secret in the past of his desire for America’s Nato allies to spend more money on defence.

On this, at least, it appears that the new US administration could well make common cause with Starmer’s government.

The PM’s spokesman said: “The prime minister agrees that other Nato member states must pull their weight when it comes to defence spending.”

Labour said during the election campaign that they would return defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) when the financial circumstances allow.

But defence analyst Francis Tusa warned that may not be enough to satisfy Trump, who could call on Nato members to spend 3% of GDP on defence.

Writing on X, he said: “Equivocation/hesitation won’t be an option. If the UK is to retain any influence in Europe and Nato, holding back over defence is an epic fail – no-one will accept the UK holding back.

“This is likely a complete nightmare for Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves. They have their plans that they wish to pursue, but they face the likelihood that these plans will have to take 2nd/3rd place to defence/foreign relations, and that means that the budget follows.”

Ukraine

Unlike the UK, Trump’s commitment to Ukraine in its war with Russia is less than certain.

He has spoken in the past of being able to end the conflict on day one of his presidency, but that would entail Kyiv having to give up on territory seized by Russia.

Asked whether America’s future stance on Ukraine would affect the UK’s, the PM’s spokesman said: “We have been clear that the UK’s support for UK is, and always will remain, iron-clad.”

However, any weakening of America’s support for Ukraine would have severe implications for its ability to continue defending itself – and pose serious questions as to whether the UK and Kyiv’s other allies remain willing and able to provide it with the military and financial support it needs.

Climate

Trump has made no secret of his disdain for climate change, describing it as a “hoax” and “one of the great scams of all time”.

During his first term in office, he withdrew the US from the Paris climate agreement, while he has also vowed to “drill baby drill” for more oil.

It’s fair to say, therefore, that his views on our warming planet are pretty far apart from those of Starmer and Ed Miliband, the energy and net zero secretary.

Downing Street today tried to put a brave face on things, pointing out that Starmer will travel to the Cop 29 summit in Baku next week to make clear that the UK is ready to assume “global leadership” on tackling climate change.

But without the support of America over the next four years, that fight will become even harder to win.

The Trumps Don’t Like Labour

Despite both Starmer and foreign secretary David Lammy’s attempts to curry favour with the president-elect – the pair held a two-hour dinner with Trump in New York in September – there remains a lot of bad blood.

During the campaign, Donald Trump Jr succinctly explained his family’s views on the UK government when he told ITV: “It’s absolute lunacy what I see going on in the UK right now.

“They’re jailing people for misgendering someone. Honestly it’s disgusting and they should be ashamed of themselves.”

The Trump campaign also accused Labour of “interference” in the election because party activists crossed the Atlantic to campaign for Kamala Harris.

In his statement welcoming Trump’s victory, Starmer said the “UK-US special relationship will continue to prosper on both sides of the Atlantic for years to come”.

But the next four could well turn out to be very rocky indeed.

Tuition Fees Cap To Rise To £9,535 A Year In Bid To End University Financial Crisis

Posted on 04/11/2024 by Boris Clair

The cap on tuition fees will rise to £9,535 a year from 2025, education secretary Bridget Phillipson has announced.

It is the first time the charges have gone up in more than seven years and comes amid warnings the university sector is facing a funding crisis.

The move, which kicks in next April, will be welcomed by higher education bosses, but is likely to spark anger among students and their families.

It is also embarrassing for Keir Starmer, who pledged to scrap tuition fees when he ran to be Labour leader in 2020.

Phillipson told MPs “this is not a decision I take any pleasure in”, but insisted she had no choice given the state of university finances left by the last Tory government.

She said: “We will fix the foundations, we will secure the future of higher education so that students can benefit from a world-class education for generations to come.

“That is why I am announcing today that in line with the forecast set out in the Budget last week, from April 2025 we will be increasing the maximum cap for tuition fees, in line with inflation, to £9,535, an increase of £285 per academic year.”

She added: “Increasing the fee cap has not been an easy decision, but I want to be crystal clear that this will not cost graduates more each month as they start to repay their loans.

“Universities are responsible for managing their own finances and must act to remain sustainable. But members across this house will agree that it is no use keeping tuition fees down for future students if the universities are not there for them to attend.”

The secretary of state also announced that maintenance loans for students will rise by around 3%, which is worth an extra £414 a year.

Shadow education secretary Laura Trott, who was only appointed to her role this morning by new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, said: “Last week we had a Budget that declared war on business, on private sector workers and farmers.

“It seems today that the secretary of state wants to add students to that list. Not content with putting up the cost of living for everyone with an inflationary Budget, and pushing down wages with a National Insurance increase, we are now in a situation where students will suffer from the first inflationary increase in a number of years at a time when students can least afford it.”

Green Party MP Ellie Chowns said: “Tuition fees have forced universities to prioritise profit over education and put many at risk of bankruptcy, while students face extortionate interest rates – except for those wealthy enough not to need a loan.

“They have been a disaster and should be scrapped, not increased.”

‘Why Would Anyone Believe A Word You Say?’ Sky News Presenter Roasts Chancellor Over Tax Rises

Posted on 03/11/2024 by Boris Clair

Rachel Reeves has been skewered by a Sky News presenter for massively hiking taxes just months after saying she had “no plans” to do so.

Trevor Phillips asked the chancellor why “a reasonable person would believe a single word you say” in future.

Reeves was shown a video of her from June 11, three weeks before the general election, where she said: “I don’t need to become chancellor to know what a mess the government have made of public finances, of public services and the fact that the tax burden is at its highest level in 70 years.

“We don’t need higher taxes, what we need is growth and I don’t want to, and I have no plan to increase any taxes beyond what we have already set out.”

But last Wednesday, she announced £40 billion worth of tax rises, partly to fill the £22bn “black hole” Labour says it was left by the last Tory government.

Phillips told her: “You specifically said you already knew everything you needed to know, yet on Wednesday you raised taxes by £40 billion.

“Why would a reasonable person believe a single word that you say in the next 15 minutes and that you’ll stick to it?”

Reeves replied: “I was wrong on June 11. I didn’t know everything, because when I arrived at the Treasury on July 5, I was taken into a room by the senior officials and they set out the huge black hole in the public finances, beyond which anybody knew about at the time of the general election.

“The previous government hid it from the country, hid it from parliament and indeed they hid it from the official independent forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility.

“And so when I went into that Budget last week I had to put our public finances back onto a firm trajectory because we saw in the previous parliament what happens when government loses control of the public finances, and the first commitment we made in our manifesto was to bring stability back to the economy.”

Why GP Surgeries Could Be ‘Tipped Over The Edge’ By Labour’s New Budget

Posted on 01/11/2024 by Boris Clair

GP surgeries could be “tipped over the edge” by Labour’s new Budget, according to a union representative.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has chosen to hike up Employers’ National Insurance contributions in her efforts to raise £40bn of funds and plug the “black hole” left by the Tories in the public purse.

The NHS – which has just received a £22.6bn cash injection in the Budget – is exempt from that tax rise, along with other public sectors.

But GP surgeries, care homes and hospices are not exempt, even though they provide NHS services, because they are privately owned partnerships.

Speaking to Times Radio today, the chair of the BMA Council Phil Banfield warned: “For some GPs, this will tip them over the edge. And we’ve seen over 1,000 practices close in the last 10 years.”

He added that he believes “the government was unaware of how much this would catch out GPs” and so he is hoping for further discussions with the health department.

Banfield said for GPs – who have a contract with the government – “the only way to absorb costs is to reduce the number of staff and at a point at which you’re trying to increase the number of appointments and increase access have more GPs and nurses”.

He added: “This achieves the complete opposite. So I don’t think it will take too long for the government to realise that they need to do something urgently about this.”

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, looks up as she holds up the traditional red ministerial box containing her budget speech, as she poses for the media outside No 11 Downing Street, before departing to the House of Commons to deliver the budget in London, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) — Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, looks up as she holds up the traditional red ministerial box containing her budget speech, as she poses for the media outside No 11 Downing Street, before departing to the House of Commons to deliver the budget in London, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, told Times Radio this morning: “Yes, [GPs] will have to pay national insurance contributions as employers, but how much they pay will depend on their size.

“And you know, many GP practices are small organisations, and so they will pay less than some of the bigger businesses that we’re asking to contribute more at this Budget.”

Smaller GP surgeries may be shielded from paying more tax because of the changes to thresholds for Employment Allowance.

However, there are worries that some public bodies doing more than half their work in the public sector will not eligible for that allowance, as stated by government guidance.

Health secretary Wes Streeting also pointed to the £600m extra put aside for social care and suggested more discussions about the employer tax hike for GPs were on the table.

But care groups think that will not be enough due to increased staffing costs.

Dr David Wrigley, GP and deputy chair at the British Medical Association, said the impact would be “monumental” on X, especially since so many of those institutions are already “on a financial tight rope”.

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said: “The government must scrap this GP penalty immediately.

“After years of the Conservatives disgraceful neglect, our primary care services are in crisis and this could push many to reduce the number of staff they employ or just decide to shut up shop.

“Instead of investing in our GPs and their staff, the government has put more pressure on them in a move that will make it even harder for patients to see a GP when they need to.”

This row comes as nearly 100 progressive politicians, including independent MPs like Jeremy Corbyn and MPs from the Green Party and Plaid Cymru, banded together to declare that Labour’s Budget punishes the “working people” they claim to support.

“This budget is austerity in another name,” their open letter to Starmer says.

It adds that the investment in schools and hospital buildings have been “undermined by a swathe of public sector cuts, cruel attacks on the worst-off, and a dogmatic refusal to redistribute wealth and power”.

“These are not ‘tough choices’ for government ministers, but for ordinary people who are forced to choose between heating their home and putting food on the table.”

Budget Analysis: Voters Could End Up Paying The Price For Rachel Reeves’ Big Gamble

Posted on 30/10/2024 by Boris Clair

Rachel Reeves is not, by nature, much of a gambler.

She has managed to become the UK’s first ever female chancellor through a combination of political ability, sound economic judgement and caution.

But in the Budget, she decided to bet everything on the government being able to grow the economy – and the “working people” Labour have sought to protect could end up paying the price.

Reeves stunned the Commons by announcing that she was hiking taxes by £40 billion – an astronomical sum even bigger than what had been predicted and which will take the tax burden to the highest level on record.

Capital gains tax, inheritance tax and – most significantly – employers’ National Insurance are all going up as the chancellor seeks to clear up the financial mess she says the last Tory government left behind.

Tens of billions of pounds will also be borrowed as the government turns on the spending taps.

Much of the cash will be spent on improving the NHS and schools, moves which are likely to be popular with most voters.

But look at the small print and it’s clear to see why economic experts – and plenty of Labour MPs – are nervous.

Economic growth – the government’s number one mission, don’t forget – over the next five years is set to be lower than previously forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Inflation and interest rates are also set to rise, according to the OBR, further damaging household incomes.

Treasury sources acknowledge this is a sub-optimal situation, but are pleading for patience from voters.

One said: “Do we want those growth forecasts to be higher? Yes. But we’re not going to be able to turn around 14 years in one Budget. This is our first Budget in our first term.

“What the chancellor has set out is an honest Budget in response to the scale of the challenge we face.

“We’ve had to take difficult decisions on tax in order to bring back stability to the economy.

“We’re not immune to the consequences of our decisions, but the consequences of not acting would have been to lose control of economic stability.”

But there was an ominous warning from the highly-respected Institute for Fiscal Studies, whose director Paul Johnson said: “Somebody will pay for the higher taxes – largely working people.”

With the Labour government’s popularity already cratering barely three months after the election, a major financial hit to those who helped put them in office is the last thing Reeves and Keir Starmer need.

The chancellor desperately needs her big Budget gamble to pay off.

How Brits Are ‘Bracing Themselves’ For The Budget As Rachel Reeves Looks To Raise £40 Billion

Posted on 25/10/2024 by Boris Clair

It is not an overstatement to say that this week’s Budget is likely to be the most consequential event of this parliament.

Every decision the government makes between now and the next general election, for good or ill, will be influenced in some way by what Rachel Reeves announces at lunchtime on Wednesday. No pressure then, chancellor.

This is what we know so far. The Budget – called ‘Fixing The Foundations To Deliver Change’ – seeks to raise £40 billion, the vast majority of it through tax rises plus some spending cuts, including £3 billion from the welfare bill.

With Labour having promised not to increase taxes on “working people” before the election, income tax, VAT and the employees’ rate of National Insurance are all off-limits.

That means Reeves has her eyes on inheritance tax, capital gains tax, pension allowances and – most controversially – the employers’ rate of NI to help her balance the books.

A Treasury source told HuffPost UK: “We are dealing with the £22 billion hole in the public finances left by the Tories, and it’s worth stressing that is this year, next year, the year after that and the year after that. It’s a huge problem and we’ve got to address it.

“What we are doing is resetting the public finances and putting them on a firmer footing.

“We’re also acutely aware that we were elected on a platform of change. People voted to change things and for things to get a little bit better. So there will be more money for the NHS to cut waiting lists and more money for long-term investments like building schools, roads and other infrastructure.”

To that end, the chancellor announced on Thursday that she is changing the way the government measures debt, thereby allowing her to borrow an extra £50bn while still sticking to her pledge to bring overall debt down.

That money will be ploughed into public services which, Reeves claims, the Tories were planning to starve of the funds they need.

However, a poll carried out by Savanta and seen by HuffPost UK will make for worrying reading for the chancellor as she puts the finishing touches to her Budget speech in No.11 this weekend.

It shows that 48% of voters believe she should prioritise cutting taxes, compared to 43% who would rather see more money for public services.

However, more than half (55%) say it is more important for the government to invest in public services, with 32% saying it should be cut.

Meanwhile, just 20% of people believe the Budget will have a positive impact, with older people particularly gloomy about what it will mean for them – a result, most likely, of the row over the means testing of the winter fuel allowance.

A total of 80% of of over-55s think it will have a negative impact on their finances, compared to just 6% who believe it will be positive.

Those aged between 18 and 34 are more optimistic, however, with 40% thinking the Budget will be positive for them, with 28% taking the opposite view.

Even Labour supporters appear to be dreading Wednesday, with 41% of those who voted for the party in July believing it will be negative for them, compared to 33% who think it will be positive.

Emma Levin, associate director at Savanta, said: “Significant swathes of the electorate are bracing themselves for Labour’s first budget in 15 years.

“In particular older people appear nervous, amid rumours of many wealth taxes rises, compared to a relatively sanguine younger population.

“Concerningly for Rachel Reeves, even Labour voters think the Budget is going to have a negative impact on their lives. This may be exactly the mood music Labour HQ is going for ahead of a ‘painful budget’, but it’s clear the public want investment in public services as a priority.”

Nevertheless, allies of the chancellor remain confident that the measures announced in the Budget will eventually pay off both economically and politically.

One said: “It will be an honest Budget. Rachel will be very clear that we’re not going to be able to fix 14 years of failure in one Budget.

“This is a 10-year project. She’s having to make difficult decisions now to deliver long-term growth and prosperity.”

With the new Tory leader being announced just three days later, senior Labour figures also see the Budget as effectively the start of the next general election campaign.

“It will set out the clear divide for the whole parliament,” one Treasury source told HuffPost UK.

“Do we either do nothing, stick with the status quo, continue with more austerity, more cuts and more decline, or do we change and do things differently, asking those with the broadest shoulders to pay a bit more tax and start investing in long-term projects?

“This is where it will start to get difficult for the Tories.”

‘Nobody In America Gives A S**t’: Trump Slammed Over Labour ‘Election Interference’ Claim

Posted on 23/10/2024 by Boris Clair

Donald Trump’s claim that Labour is guilty of “blatant foreign interference” in the presidential election has been virtually ignored in America, it has emerged.

One senior US-based journalist claimed “nobody gives a shit” about the complaint his campaign team lodged on Tuesday night.

In it, they accused Labour of recruiting activists to send across the Atlantic to campaign for Trump’s Democrat rival, Kamala Harris.

The Republican nominee’s team also pointed out that Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and his director of communications, Matthew Doyle, “attended a convention in Chicago and met with Ms Harris’s campaign team”.

The complaint to the US Federal Election Commission stems from a now-deleted LinkedIn post by Labour’s head of operations Sofia Patel, which claimed almost 100 current and former party officials were heading to campaign for the Democrats in battleground states.

Speaking to reporters on his way to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHoGM) in Samoa, the prime minister insisted the row would not derail the UK’s relationship with the White House if Trump becomes president again.

He said: “I spent time in New York with President Trump, had dinner with him and my purpose in doing that was to make sure that between the two of us, we established a good relationship, which we did, and we’re grateful for him for making the time.

“We had a good, constructive discussion, and, of course as prime minster of the United Kingdom I will work with whoever the American people return as their president in their elections which are very close now.”

Starmer also insisted that UK political activists travelling to America to campaign in presidential elections is nothing new.

He added: ”“Of course as prime minister of the United Kingdom, I will work with whoever the American people return as their president in the elections that are very close now.”

Daniel Knowles, Midwest correspondent at the highly-respected Economist magazine, insisted the story had barely registered in the US.

Writing on Bluesky, he said: “Sorry but nobody in America gives a shit about a few Labour activists door-knocking or whatever. The Trump complaint is entirely cynical, and one of dozens of random speculative press releases I was sent yesterday. I’m not surprised British media is as ever just fucking delighted for a local angle.

“The story here isn’t ‘is door knocking actually an illegal contribution’ etc. The legitimate UK angle to cover is, ‘Donald Trump will pick massive fights with the British government over nothing if it wins him a nice headline’. Which we know, from his conduct in office.”

Sorry but nobody in America gives a shit about a few Labour activists door-knocking or whatever. The Trump complaint is entirely cynical, and one of dozens of random speculative press releases I was sent yesterday. I’m not surprised British media is as ever just fucking delighted for a local angle

— Daniel Knowles (@dlknowles.bsky.social) October 23, 2024 at 12:17 PM

Shadow Scottish secretary John Lamont described the controversy as “a diplomatic car crash by this Labour government”.

He said: “There’s now somebody who could potentially be the next president of the United States who’s lodged an official complaint with the American authorities about the Labour party, the Labour government, and their involvement in their election.

“If Donald Trump were to win for the election in a few weeks, how on earth is the prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, going to rebuild that relationship with one of the most important countries in the world, not least from a diplomatic perspective, but also from a trading perspective?”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “It is common practice for campaigners of all political persuasions from around the world to volunteer in US elections.

“Where Labour activists take part, they do so at their own expense, in accordance with the laws and rules.”

Trevor Phillips Suggests Labour’s Manifesto Included ‘Terms And Conditions’

Posted on 20/10/2024 by Boris Clair

Sky News’ Trevor Phillips called out the government on Sunday morning by saying Labour’s manifesto had “terms and conditions” attached.

With less than two weeks to go until chancellor Rachel Reeves unveils her first Budget, the public are nervously waiting to see how she tries to raise £40bn in spending cuts and tax rises while also trying to avoid austerity measures.

Labour also promised before the election not to increase taxes for “working people”, particularly when it comes to VAT, income tax and National Insurance contributions.

In a clash with health secretary Wes Streeting, presenter Phillips asked how the “working people” label applies to the self-employed.

“Of course self-employed people are working people,” the cabinet minister replied, adding that when he thinks about the term, he means those who are on “low to middle incomes”.

Phillips asked: “Why is it then that in the legislation you’re going to introduce tomorrow on workers’ rights, you don’t redefine to include the self-employed?”

Streeting said that they have a “different working arrangement”.

The presenter asked: “So just in the same way you told us there would be no rise in National Insurance, but suddenly there’s rises in National Insurance for employers, it’s just possible there might be rises in taxes for the self-employed, because they’re not workers?”

The minister replied: “We will keep our manifesto promises, despite the pressures, we will not increase income tax, National Insurance or VAT on working people – that was the commitment we made before the general election.”

Phillips cut in: “Every expert says you’re breaking the pledge.”

Paul Johnson of the think tank Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) already said last week that putting up NI in any way would be a manifesto breach.

The health secretary claimed Labour had been criticised for not being radical enough in their manifesto in the run up to the general election, and that’s because they knew it had to be feasible to deliver on it.

As they spoke over each other, the presenter hit out: “You know what I want to do now? I want to say, I take that answer but terms and conditions apply.”

“What do you mean? Absolutely not,” Streeting said, saying Labour are going to deliver on every pledge they made in their manifesto.

WellnessMaster

Get The Latest News on Holistic Wellness

Category Archives: labour party