Gove admits Treasury doesn’t know how it will fund Right to Buy scheme June 13, 2022 The government does not know how it will fund its newly announced Right to Buy scheme, housing secretary Michael Gove has admitted. Gove today said the Treasury has “agreed that it will be funded”, but that the government is not in “a position yet to say entirely how” that will happen and that ministers now [...]
Johnson says income tax cuts will only come after inflation falls June 13, 2022 Boris Johnson has said he will only bring in promised income tax cuts after the UK’s current bout of inflation has weakened. The Prime Minister today said the government wants to cut taxes “as fast as we can”, but that the priority is taming an “inflationary spike that we need to get through right now”. Johnson [...]
Johnson says changes to Northern Ireland Protocol are ‘trivial’ June 13, 2022 Boris Johnson has downplayed planned UK changes to the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol as a “trivial adjustment” amid EU fears they will breach international law. Foreign secretary Liz Truss will today publish new legislation, which is expected to unilaterally override the protocol, despite warnings from the Irish government that this will represent a new low-point [...]
Keir Starmer to be investigated by Westminster watchdog over earnings and gifts June 13, 2022 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is being investigated by Westminster’s standards watchdog over potential breaches of parliamentary rules for declaring gifts and earnings. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has revealed that it opened an investigation into Starmer last week for potentially breaking two rules. The commissioner’s website says the Labour leader is being probed on [...]
Sadiq Khan sends letters to London Tory rebels calling for TfL support June 13, 2022 Sadiq Khan has sent letters to London Tory MPs who voted against Boris Johnson in last week’s leadership vote to ask them to lobby for improved Transport for London (TfL) funding. In an attempt to drive a further wedge between Johnson and his backbenchers, Khan said the MPs should “lobby the Prime Minister and the [...]
WTO to hold first major ministerial meeting in five years on Monday June 12, 2022 The World Trade Organisation (WTO) will hold its first ministerial meeting in five years tomorrow, with the UK’s international trade secretary saying that “freedom and fairness are now more important than ever”. WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala will lead the meeting in Geneva with 100 trade ministers from across the world, with the organisation hoping to [...]
Trade body hits out at government plans to break summer strikes with agency workers June 12, 2022 A potential government plan to break a series of summer strikes by allowing employers to hire agency staff has been criticised as the “wrong policy” by a recruitment business body. Neil Carberry, Chief Executive of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), said the newly touted plans puts “agency staff and agencies in a completely unfair [...]
NI Protocol changes will not break international law, minister says June 12, 2022 New UK legislation to unilaterally change the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol will not break international law, Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis has insisted. Lewis said the government’s plans, which will be brought forward to parliament tomorrow, are “lawful and correct”, despite comments from EU leaders saying any unilateral change to the protocol will break international [...]
UK legal smoking age should increase every year, says government review June 9, 2022 The UK should increase the legal age someone can buy cigarettes every year until they are virtually illegal, according to a new government-commissioned review. The review, by Dr Javed Khan, said that the UK should create a “smoke-free generation” with people born after a certain time unable to legally buy cigarettes. New Zealand has a [...]
PM declares end of high tax and spend as he says govt will ‘get out of the way’ June 9, 2022 Boris Johnson has indicated a major reset in the direction of his government, with the Prime Minister declaring the end of Covid-era “corporate welfare” and that now is the time to “stop spending and start cutting taxes and cutting regulation”. Johnson said “the overall burden of taxation is now very high”, after himself increasing the [...]