View from Westminster
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Thursday, February 8, 2024 |
|
|
Official: 'The £28bn is stood down' |
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have briefed political editors on changes to Labour's green prosperity plan. The target is still to decarbonise the UK electricity supply by 2030, but the plan to insulate millions of homes has been scaled back. As has the cost. "We will not reach the £28bn. The £28bn is stood down," journalists were told. The plan is now costed at £5bn a year instead of £28bn, and will be funded by an extended windfall tax on oil and gas instead of by borrowing. I wrote about the U-turn before it happened, welcoming a necessary change that allows the party to argue for its green policies rather than for a meaningless number. |
|
|
Which MP was born Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke in 1980? |
Answer at the bottom of today's email |
|
|
| The leader of the House of Commons told the prime minister to 'reflect' on his trans 'joke' after Brianna Ghey's family denounced him |
|
|
| He also reveals that he still speaks to the disgraced former PM 'on occasion' |
|
|
| Taxpayer initally met the cost, until SNP politician admitted his children used the device to stream football on family holiday in Morocco |
|
|
What else you need to know today |
- The Home Office has announced new plans to make things that are illegal more illegal, such as climbing on war memorials, wearing masks at demos and using fireworks and flares
- Biteback Publishing announced a publication date for Liz Truss's book, Ten Years to Save the West, subtitled Lessons from the Only Conservative in the Room: 16 April
- On Labour's green U-turn, I was on Jeremy Vine's Radio 2 show (from 9'50") debating it with John McTernan, Tony Blair's former political secretary, who thinks it is a "stupid decision"
|
|
|
Why could the state of our teeth become an election issue? |
|
|
Two-thirds of children did not see a dentist last year, and pressure on health services generally is likely to be an electoral problem for Rishi Sunak... Read more |
|
|
A look back at the week in Westminster |
Two embarrassments and a U-turn |
The Commons has adjourned for the February recess, and returns, along with this newsletter, on Monday 19 February. This will give software engineers time to carry out some emergency repairs to the artificial intelligence engine that powers the prime minister. Rishi Sunak's empathy circuits blew twice this week. Once when Piers Morgan offered him a £1,000 bet that no asylum seekers planes would take off for Rwanda; and once at Prime Minister's Questions when he made a flippant reference to the trans debate as the mother of Brianna Ghey, the murdered trans teenager, visited parliament. The week off will also give Keir Starmer time to review Labour's campaign messages, after today's big green U-turn. At last, it should be possible to ensure that all shadow ministers say the same thing about Britain's bright green clean-electricity future. See you on the 19th. |
|
|
"I believe that Starmer will emerge, after winning the election, as a quiet, methodical radical who, if things go well, may be one day compared to Clement Attlee." |
|
|
"My wife and I met at a 'Make a Jelly in the Shape of a US President' class, and I knew she was the one, from the moment I set Eisenhower." Paul Eggleston |
Quiz answer: Kemi Badenoch |
|
|
Join the conversation or follow us |
|
|
Download the free Independent app |
|
|
Please do not reply directly to this email You are currently registered to receive The Independent's View From Westminster newsletter. To unsubscribe from The Independent's View From Westminster newsletter, or to manage your email preferences please click here. This e-mail was sent by Independent Digital News and Media Ltd, 14-18 Finsbury Square, London EC2A 1AH. Registered in England and Wales with company number 07320345
Read our privacy notice and cookie policy
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment
Keep a civil tongue.