Sunak “to increase warm home discount and cut tax”
“Rishi Sunak is drawing up plans to increase the warm home discount by hundreds of pounds before cutting taxes to help with the cost-of-living crisis. The chancellor will take a two-pronged approach: a package to help with energy bills in July followed by general tax cuts in the autumn. From October the warm home discount will give three million of the poorest households in England and Wales £150 off their bills. Treasury officials have drawn up a range of options, including a one-off increase of £300, £500 or even £600 to help households to cope with soaring energy prices.” – The Times
- Tory clamour to act now on cost of living crisis – The Guardian
- Chancellor “plots 1p income tax cut a year” – The i
- Ministers “warm to energy windfall tax” after polling finds it “wildly popular” – Daily Telegraph
- Unemployment falls to lowest level in nearly 50 years – Financial Times
>Today: Columnist Ryan Bourne: Beware these new Keynesians who claim more spending is always the answer – whatever the state of the economy
>Yesterday: Stephen Crabb on Comment: The Government must show it remains committed to helping low-income families
Conservative MP arrested on suspicion of rape
“An unnamed Conservative MP has been arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault. The Metropolitan Police confirmed a man was in custody over allegations dating back to between 2002 and 2009. The Conservative Party said he had been asked by the chief whip not to attend Parliament while an investigation is ongoing. The man also faces allegations of an abuse of position of trust and misconduct in a public office.” – BBC
- Anger of innocent Tory politicians who fear ‘names will fly around’ – Daily Mail
- Police ordered to revisit drug case of Labour MP Stephen Doughty – The Times
EU “to offer concessions” over the Northern Ireland Protocol…
“The EU will offer Britain new concessions on the Northern Ireland Protocol, but has threatened a trade war if Boris Johnson refuses to agree a compromise. The Telegraph understands that the European Commission will propose tweaking the bloc’s own laws to ease checks between mainland Britain and the province in order to end the long-running row over Brexit rules. According to sources, Maros Sefcovic, the EU’s chief negotiator, set out the olive branch in a call with Liz Truss after weeks of acrimony between the pair. Details of their conversion emerged after the Foreign Secretary vowed on Tuesday to introduce new powers to tear up the post-Brexit solution and suspend border checks in the Irish Sea.” – Daily Telegraph
- The Good Friday Agreement is in peril if Brussels doesn’t budge – Theresa Villiers, Daily Telegraph
- Britain must hold firm – Leader, Daily Telegraph
- M&S chair attacks ‘pointless’ post-Brexit rules for Ulster – The Guardian
- Farage slams Government for ‘betraying’ people of Northern Ireland – Daily Express
- Post Brexit businesses across the UK have not just coped with change, but used the opportunities it has brought – Penny Mordaunt, Daily Express
…but Truss to introduce legal changes in case a deal is not reached
“Liz Truss has said a new law would be introduced to change the post-Brexit trade deal for Northern Ireland. The foreign secretary insisted the bill would be legal under international law. Boris Johnson’s government agreed the trade deal – which governs how goods enter Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK – with the European Union in 2019 after the Brexit vote. But a row over its impact on trade has created a block on forming a devolved government in Northern Ireland.” – BBC
- These moves are not about scrapping the Protocol, but making it work – Liz Truss, Daily Telegraph
>Yesterday:
- ToryDiary: Lewis confirms a truth-and-reconciliation approach to legacy issues in Ulster
- WATCH: Truss says legislation will be introduced “during the coming weeks to make changes in the Protocol”
Johnson tells Cabinet to focus on crime
“Priti Patel was blasted over poor police pay as she faced rank and file officers today, after Boris Johnson had vowed to get touch on crime…Earlier the Prime Minister had played up the Government’s crime fighting credentials as he vowed to get tough on violent crime. He said ‘crime crime crime is what we want to focus on’ and vowed to ’round up’ drugs gangs and cut violent crime as he chaired a Cabinet meeting in Downing Street.” – Daily Mail
Border crossings continuing but Elphicke predicts Rwanda policy will work
“Border Force has deployed “ferry-style” vessels to pick up Channel migrants, as the new Rwanda policy failed to deter a surge in crossings….Natalie Elphicke, the Dover MP, said she was confident that once the Rwanda policy – where migrants are taken on one-way ticket to Africa, to claim asylum there – was operational, it would act as a deterrent, alongside the tougher penalties and restricted benefits for illegal entry. “What is certainly being heard is that the people-smugglers are now communicating that the window to cross may close,” she said. “That does mean the deterrent effect and the determination to go ahead with the policy is being clearly communicated to them.” – Daily Telegraph
Kwarteng orders petrol firm to pass on fuel duty cut to drivers
“Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng tonight warned petrol firms they could face legal action following concerns they are not passing on the 5p per litre fuel duty cut to hard-pressed motorists. In a letter to industry leaders, the Cabinet minister informed them he had asked the competition watchdog to ‘closely monitor’ fuel prices. And Mr Kwarteng said he had been ‘reassured’ the Competition and Markets Authority would ‘not hesitate to use their powers’ if they found law breaches.” – Daily Mail
Gideon attacks u-turn on food offers
“A Tory MP has criticised the government’s about-turn on banning promotional deals on unhealthy food, warning Boris Johnson that he will never level up Britain when so many are overweight. Jo Gideon, who represents Stoke-on-Trent Central, told MPs that they were “wrong” to think dropping the ban would help with the cost of living. She added that “the cost to our health, the NHS and the economy is too great” to delay the plans….A ban on “buy one, get one free” deals on unhealthy food due to come into effect in October was delayed for at least a year by Boris Johnson due to the rising cost of living.” – The Times
Inflation increases to nine per cent
“Prices are rising at their fastest rate for 40 years as higher energy bills hit millions of households. UK inflation, the rate at which prices are rising, jumped to 9% in the 12 months to April, up from 7% in March. The surge came as millions of people saw an unprecedented £700-a-year rise in energy costs last month. Higher fuel and food prices, driven by the Ukraine war, are also pushing the cost of living up, with inflation expected to continue to rise this year.” – BBC
- The Bank of England’s task of taming inflation just got harder – Financial Times
- Beating inflation will require more than rate rises – Leader, Financial Times
- This nightmare of surging inflation and taxation is a direct consequence of the retreat from Thatcherism – Madeline Grant, Daily Telegraph
- There is little sign so far of inflationary wage rises – Leader, The Times
>Yesterday: Columnist Andy Street: How thinking green, and levelling up, can insulate against future cost-of-living shocks
Other political news
- Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton by-elections will be held on June 23rd – The Guardian
Wallace: Ukraine shows us the power of nationhood
“Ukraine’s enemies seek to deny its nationhood precisely because that unifying idea is its most powerful asset. The Russian Army was sent out on the false prospectus that Ukraine did not really exist – only to be shattered by the stubborn resistance of the Ukrainian people, who insist that it does. That should give us pause to reconsider assumptions about the future of our own countries. For many years, the nation state proved to be the most successful and durable medium for free, democratic life. Given that it is serving the same function for a people in deep crisis right now, is it really time to leave the concept behind?” – Mark Wallace, The i
- Is Germany’s leader so soft on Russia because he’s an ex-Marxist who savaged Nato and bowed to Moscow? – Hubertus Knabe, Daily Mail
Finkelstein: We need a return to neutral policing
“The fault here does not just lie with the police. People who believe in liberal democracy forgot the principle of equality under the law and the importance of operational independence of the police when Johnson was their prey. The danger of forgetting this has been shown with the equally dispiriting investigation of Starmer. For an advanced liberal democracy to be engaged in tit-for-tat politically inspired police investigations is shameful. And those who argue it is appropriate for police to act differently with Starmer and Johnson because they are powerful figures are being naive. Departure from neutral policing will, in the end, always favour the powerful over the less powerful.” – Daniel Finkelstein, The Times
- Labour braced for 20 staff to be quizzed over Starmer’s lockdown curry – The Sun
- Starmer’s Beergate defence sunk faster than a bottle of San Miguel – Leader, The Sun
News in brief
- Take back control. A plan B for Northern Ireland – Fraser Nelson, The Spectator
- Why does Russia hate Britain so much? – Gabriel Gavin, Unherd
- There’s no evidence of a climate crisis in the UK – Kathy Gyngell, Conservative Woman
- Defunding the illiberal National Union of Students doesn’t go far enough – Marc Glendening, CapX
- Since when did Stonewall side with bullies? – Julie Bindel, The Critic