Former chancellor Hammond’s PE firm eyeing government contractor Amey September 19, 2021 Former chancellor Philip Hammond’s private equity firm is scheming to buy one of the government’s largest private sector contractors for £300m. According to Sky News, Buckthorn, the private equity firm who employs Hammond as a partner, has moved to acquire Amey. Buckthorn has submitted a bid for Amey as part of an auction being organised [...]
Former BoE chief economist Andy Haldane to lead levelling up agenda September 19, 2021 Former Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane has been appointed by Boris Johnson to head up a new taskforce charged with leading the government’s levelling up agenda. Haldane will be head of the new Levelling Up Taskforce, which will sit in a revamped housing ministry under Michael Gove that will be titled the Department [...]
Sadiq Khan says ‘London will always lag behind’ rest of UK on vaccines take-up September 19, 2021 Sadiq Khan has said London will “always lag behind” the rest of the UK on vaccines take-up as the capital continues to trail all other English regions. The mayor of London today said London’s older and more transient population made vaccinating the capital more difficult, but defended the rollout as more advanced than in Paris [...]
Sunak to launch battle plan to cut borrowing at budget September 19, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak will outline plans to put the UK’s public finances on a more sustainable path at the budget next month, according to reports. Sunak is expected to set new targets for the government to stop borrowing to fund day to day spending within three years, according to the FInancial Times. The proportion of [...]
Man of the match: Former saboteur Michael Gove expands Whitehall empire dramatically September 19, 2021 One-time saboteur Michael Gove dramatically expanded his Whitehall empire this week, after emerging as one of the big winners in Boris Johnson’s Cabinet reshuffle. Gove, who was given the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, has seen his department renamed the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities – underlining its central roll in [...]
Liz Truss ignores security spat with France as she says UK is simply ‘hard-headed’ September 19, 2021 New Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has launched a strong defence of the UK’s security pact with the US and Australia amid a deepening diplomatic row with France.Truss said the agreement – which will see the UK and US co-operate to develop a new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines for the Australian navy – showed Britain’s readiness [...]
Johnson to push Biden on reopening UK-US travel during White House visit September 19, 2021 Boris Johnson is expected to push US President Joe Biden on the looming humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the potential of reopening UK-US travel and climate change during a visit to the White House. The Prime Minister will head to Washington during an environment-focused trip to the US, where he will urge world leaders to take [...]
Alok Sharma says there is ‘no immediate concern’ about winter energy shortages September 19, 2021 Alok Sharma has insisted there are “no immediate concerns” about potential energy shortages this winter amid warnings of a second winter of discontent. The Cop26 president, who sits in cabinet, said today that “we don’t see any risks going into winter”. Business and energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is set to hold crunch discussions with the [...]
Independent Scotland would have to find extra £8.5bn in savings September 17, 2021 An independent Scotland would have to find a whopping £8.5bn in additional savings upon leaving the Union, a new report from the Institute for Government has found. Before Covid-19 struck, the Scottish deficit stood at 8.0 per cent, but the IfG warned that it was unlikely that Nicola Sturgeon’s government would be able to borrow [...]
All new London buses to be zero-emission Mayor says September 17, 2021 Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has announced that new Transport for London (TfL) buses will be carbon neutral, as the UK prepares to host COP26. TfL said in a statement that by the end of next year, ten per cent of London’s bus network will be zero-emission as the network has committed to only [...]