City access to the Chancellor: 80 per cent of Rishi Sunak’s meetings are with banks and financial services firms February 8, 2022 As the government is looking to ease rules and regulations for the City of London, it has been revealed that Chancellor Rishi Sunak met with dozens of financial firms, banks, consultancy firms, hedge funds and lobby groups in recent months. According to new analysis, published by the Independent, around 80 per cent of all businesses [...]
BP brushes off calls for windfall tax amid deepening energy crisis February 8, 2022 BP chief executive Bernard Looney has rejected growing calls from the Labour Party for a windfall tax on North Sea fossil fuel operators.
Explainer-in-brief: Gloria Gaynor and the other new aides of No10 February 8, 2022 After a slew of aides at No10 quit last week amongst the turmoil of the Sue Gray report, Downing Street has spun the resignations as Boris Johnson “taking charge” of staffing problems. Steve Barclay will take the vacant role of chief of staff. He’s an old ally of Rishi Sunak and looks ready to steady [...]
Ofgem boss to face grilling from MPs as price cap comes under fresh scrutiny February 8, 2022 MPs will put the consumer price cap under scrutiny in Westminister today after Ofgem’s decision to hike energy bills to nearly £2,000 per year.
Boris Johnson faces calls to apologise over Jimmy Savile smear from own party after Starmer abuse February 8, 2022 Tory MPs are urging Prime Minister Boris Johnson to apologise for the Jimmy Savile smear he levelled at Sir Keir Starmer after police had to rescue the Labour leader from a mob. Sir Keir was bundled into a police car for protection near Parliament on Monday as he faced baseless allegations of “protecting paedophiles” and [...]
Time for a plan for growth, not endless Westminster tittle-tattle February 8, 2022 In the grand scheme of political endorsements, “not a complete clown” sits somewhere between Lyndon B. Johnson describing President Gerald Ford as a nice guy who played too much American football without a helmet on and Churchill describing Clement Attlee as a sheep in sheep’s clothing. What makes it unusual is that the man offering [...]
Shunting civil servants around the UK will never deliver what enterprise can February 8, 2022 You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose. Advice from the past that seems pertinent to a government committing levelling up into law. What was a slogan is now “12 national missions” published in a white paper last week, to provide a central mission for government to deliver economic parity to all regions of the [...]
More than 250 hospitality bosses call for VAT freeze as diners hit by rising costs February 7, 2022 Restaurant bosses from big names including JD Wetherspoon and Greene King have signed a letter to the Chancellor calling for a VAT freeze at 12.5 per cent. In an open letter to Rishi Sunak, more than 250 hospitality businesses have called for a re-think of plans to hike the VAT rate back to 20 per [...]
Boris Johnson brushes away speculation of rift with Sunak February 7, 2022 Boris Johnson has moved to calm speculation that Rishi Sunak is maneuvering to unseat him, saying that he has no doubt about the chancellor’s personal loyalty. The Prime Minister also said Number 10 and the Treasury were “working together in harmony” on a visit to a Kent hospital today alongside Sunak. Johnson has launched a [...]
Rishi Sunak’s cost-of-living hand out is a classic example of short-term, overburdened Treasury brain February 7, 2022 Last week, as the cake crumbs were cleared away and the fizz went out of the champagne, there was a serious announcement from the chancellor, Rishi Sunak. There had been an energy crisis looming, prices set to soar, and the government knew that this would feed into a damaging narrative that the cost of living [...]