Brits overestimate costs of making homes greener July 6, 2023 Brits vastly overestimate both the cost and time to install green upgrades in their homes, according to a new study from Barclays and Ipsos.
Public ‘expect’ council staff to work full five-day week, Michael Gove says July 4, 2023 Michael Gove has said people “expect” council staff to be working a full five-day week, amid a row over the government telling a local authority to cease a four-day week trial. The levelling up secretary has said he is a “strong believer” in the rule that council employees should be working Monday to Friday. It [...]
Tories urge Sunak to cut migration amid record Channel crossings July 4, 2023 A group of Tory MPs have launched an alternative Conservative manifesto urging Rishi Sunak to slash migration figures amid a record number of Channel crossings in small boats. The New Conservatives group say their 12-point plan would see net migration down by around 400,000 before the next election and warn the PM “risks eroding public [...]
Cleverly hails ‘close and friendly’ UK-EU ties after Brexit in landmark Brussels speech July 3, 2023 James Cleverly hailed the “close and friendly” cooperation between London and Brussels in a speech to EU parliamentarians. The foreign secretary said the “level of trust” between him and European Commission diplomat Maros Sefcovic was part of the reason the Windsor Framework was secured. He accepted that it had taken “slightly longer” than many would [...]
Sue Gray: Partygate investigator broke Whitehall rules with Starmer talks July 3, 2023 Partygate investigator Sue Gray broke civil service rules “as a result of the undeclared contact” between her and the Labour Party, according to a Whitehall investigation. The former senior civil servant is due to take up the role as opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff after being cleared to start the job in [...]
Javid: Truss ‘ignored’ Treasury warnings on balancing books – and Britain ‘paid consequences’ July 3, 2023 Liz Truss “ignored” warnings from the Treasury orthodoxy meaning the country “paid the consequences” for her disastrous mini-budget, Sajid Javid has said. The former chancellor said the focus in HMT on “balancing the books in the medium term” was a good thing, and without that the UK “would have constant financial crisis”. Speaking at an [...]
Council trialling four-day work week ordered to ‘end experiment immediately’ July 3, 2023 A council undergoing a four-day work week trial has been ordered to stop the experiment by a minister over concerns about local residents not getting value for money. South Cambridgeshire District Council was the UK’s first local authority to launch a trial of a shorter working week for employees, and said it planned to extend [...]
‘Lean in’ to artificial intelligence, education secretary urges firms June 29, 2023 Businesses need to “lean in” to the power of artificial intelligence (AI), education secretary Gillian Keegan has said. The education secretary told City A.M. indulging in fears about AI wiping out jobs and opportunities was unproductive. Asked whether she was concerned about the impact of the new technology such as ChatGPT and Bard altering or [...]
Dorries and Rees-Mogg ‘waged campaign to undermine’ privileges committee probe into Johnson June 29, 2023 Boris Johnson allies Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg were among MPs who attempted to undermine the privileges committee’s investigation into the ex-prime minister. Eight current and former MPs – Dorries, Rees-Mogg, Lord Zac Goldsmith, Mark Jenkinson, Michael Fabricant, Brendan Clarke-Smith, Andrea Jenkyns, and Priti Patel – were involved in a “campaign waged outside Parliament… to [...]
Johnson’s ‘unambiguous’ breach over Daily Mail column shows need for reform, Tory peer warns June 27, 2023 Boris Johnson’s “unambiguous rule breach” over his Daily Mail column shows the urgent need to reform the approach to post-ministerial jobs, the government has been warned. Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) chairman Lord Eric Pickles wrote to deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden with his concerns today. The Conservative peer said the former prime minister’s [...]