“Jeremy Hunt is to revive the idea of an industrial strategy after it was scrapped by his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng, who said, while business secretary, that he wanted to move away from the “brand”. The chancellor, and business secretary Grant Shapps, will bring forward a more detailed vision for supporting growth areas following last week’s autumn statement, which imposed £55 billion of spending cuts and tax rises. Hunt identified five growth industries — digital, life sciences, green technology, financial services and advanced manufacturing — and announced plans for investment zones around universities…Hunt and Shapps are expected to produce details of investment incentives and regulatory changes. They may reconstitute an external advisory panel of the kind dismantled last year.” – Sunday Times
“The big positive of Thursday’s package, though, was that most of the pain is deferred, thus mainly avoiding hitting the economy further when it is already in recession — the triple whammy I spoke of a couple of weeks ago. Markets have to take that deferred pain on trust, and so far they are mainly doing so….Overwhelmingly, though, the picture we have had of the economy is one of weakness and deep underlying problems, not strength. Productivity growth is expected to be weaker, not least because of the performance of business investment, which is not expected to return to pre-referendum levels until the late 2020s.” – Sunday Times
“Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, last week signalled that Rishi Sunak’s administration intends to break from the approach adopted by Boris Johnson and remove the vast majority of trade barriers with the bloc. In private, senior government sources have suggested that pursuing frictionless trade requires moving towards a Swiss-style relationship over the next decade. However, they insist this would not extend to a return to freedom of movement. “It’s obviously something the EU would never offer us upfront because they would say you are trying to have your cake and eat it but the reason I think we will get it is because it is overwhelmingly in the businesses interests on both sides,” one said. Switzerland has access to the European single market through a series of bilateral agreements.” – Sunday Times
“Rishi Sunak has made a surprise trip to Ukraine to meet Volodymyr Zelensky. The PM was pictured shaking hands with the president, who praised Britain’s help in fighting the Russians. Mr Sunak announced the UK was to provide Ukraine with £50 million worth of weapons, including anti-aircraft guns to shoot down Russian drones. The Ukrainian leader in turn praised Britain for its ongoing backing in the war with Russia. “Since the first days of the war, Ukraine and the UK have been the strongest of allies,” he said.”With friends like you by our side, we are confident in our victory. Both of our nations know what it means to stand up for freedom. Sunak was in Ukraine to “confirm continued UK support”, a No 10 spokesperson said.”Britain knows what it means to fight for freedom. We are with you all the way,” Mr Sunak tweeted.” – Sun on Sunday
“A public information campaign encouraging us to cut energy usage by 15 per cent is to begin before Christmas. The aim is to save each household £400 a year. Cutting consumption by 15 per cent is expected to reduce the nation’s domestic energy bill by £28 billion. Advice will include turning down thermostats by 2C, reducing the flow rate of boilers and installing energy-efficient lightbulbs. In April the cap on average household bills is set to rise by £500 to £3,000. The government’s programme of energy bill subsidies will end in 2024. The efficiency campaign, to be announced by Grant Shapps, the business, energy and industrial strategy secretary, represents another government U-turn: Liz Truss blocked a similar scheme when she was prime minister. “We’re not a nanny-state government,” said one of her ministers at the time.” – Sunday Times
“Alok Sharma, the UK’s president of Cop26, spoke in clear frustration of having to defend commitments agreed last year from sustained attack by other countries. “We had to fight relentlessly to hold the line,” he said. “We had to battle to build on the key outcomes of Glasgow.” He listed commitments that he championed that were removed at the behest of laggard countries and fossil fuel producers: “Peaking emissions by 2025 is not in this text. Follow-through on the phasedown of coal is not in this text. The phasedown of all fossil fuels is not in this text,” he said. “The text on energy was weakened but is at least in. 1.5C was weak, and it remains on life support.” – Observer
“Ministers have vowed to be ‘ruthless’ in axeing NHS red tape to save tens of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money and free up resources for patient care. Health Secretary Steve Barclay is planning major reforms to slash the number of bureaucrats and cut hundreds of targets so doctors and nurses can be liberated from ‘time-sapping admin’ and focus on patients. The initiative comes after he and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt launched an NHS review which is expected to recommend scrapping vast numbers of benchmarks that hospitals are expected to meet. Former Health Secretary Mr Hunt has previously described NHS performance targets as ‘Stalinist’, likening them to the ‘politburo handing down tractor targets which were always met but never delivered’. The review could see NHS England, the body which manages the health service, shedding a third of its pen-pushers -“ Mail on Sunday
“Housing Secretary Michael Gove has launched a crackdown on poor housing conditions by demanding every council and housing authority provide details of how they plan to tackle damp and mould following the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak…Since the inquest’s conclusion Mr Gove has written to every English council leader and social housing provider as he warned that deaths like that of two-year-old Awaab Ishak must ‘never be allowed to happen again’. It follows the sacking of Gareth Swarbrick, the chief executive of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) which was in charge of the home, after he flat-out refused to resign despite the inquest’s findings the poor conditions were the direct cause of the toddler’s death.” – Mail on Sunday
Other political news and comment:
“Civil servants, courtiers and a top Tory launched a secret operation to stop Boris Johnson calling a snap election, a new book reveals…Senior royal and Westminster figures believed asking Her Majesty, 96, for a poll would have put her in a perilous position that risked sparking a political row. Mr Johnson was considering going to the country earlier this year as his premiership imploded with resignations and allegations piling up. But a new book about his downfall, The Fall Of Boris Johnson by Sebastian Payne, claims “a magic triangle” of Establishment figures would ensure the PM could never put the Queen on the spot. Tory shop steward Sir Graham Brady, Cabinet Secretary Sir Simon Case and Her Majesty’s Private Secretary Sir Edward Young had an emergency plan.” – Sun on Sunday
“In a sweeping constitutional overhaul, the Labour leader has told the party’s peers that he wants to strip politicians of the power to make appointments to the Lords as part of the first-term programme of a Labour government. Starmer said that the public’s faith in the political system had been undermined by successive Tory leaders handing peerages to “lackeys and donors”. It is understood that Labour will hold a consultation on the composition and size of a new chamber as well as immediate reforms to the current appointments process. Final proposals will be included in the party’s next election manifesto.” – Observer
Labour in brief