“Rishi Sunak will today call on European allies to exceed this year’s level of support for Ukraine in 2023 as the UK pledges hundreds of thousands of new ammunition rounds to Kyiv. The Prime Minister, who is in Latvia to meet other members of the UK Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), will announce a £250million contract that will ensure a constant flow of critical artillery ammunition to Ukraine throughout next year…The Prime Minister is set to tell other JEF members to build on the global support for Ukraine in 2022 through continuing lethal aid, economic resilience and political backing. Leaders will discuss the defensive capabilities now needed by Mr Zelenksy’s forces, including further air defence.” – The Daily Mail
>Today:
“Rishi Sunak will speed up plans to regulate Netflix in the wake of fury over Harry and Meghan’s documentary. The PM will bring back plans to give telly watchdog Ofcom the power to fine streaming services for breaking strict broadcasting rules. Netflix is currently exempt as it is based in the Netherlands. The maximum fine for a breach of the code will be £250,000 or an amount up to five per cent of their revenue – whichever is higher. It also means shows could be forced to carry warnings or disclaimers over controversial content. Netflix was accused of misleading viewers in Harry & Meghan after a photograph used in the documentary’s trailer was later shown to have been taken at a Harry Potter film premiere.” – The Sun
“Rishi Sunak has carried out a “coup” on the Conservative Party and is imposing “centre-left” policies, the head of a grassroots Tory pressure group has claimed. The Prime Minister is under fire from MPs who accuse him of abandoning free-market economics and failing to control illegal immigration. Key figures on the right of the party have warned that Reform UK, founded by Nigel Farage, could eat into its vote if it does not do more to attract staunch Brexiteers. Peter Cruddas, a Tory peer and close ally of Boris Johnson, who is funding the Conservative Democratic Organisation, told The Observer: “There is a conduit for right-leaning, centre-right people to find a new home and that’s the Reform party, especially if Farage comes out and says he is going to lead the Reform party.”” – The I
“City of London heads have backed the government’s financial services reforms as necessary to keep London competitive outside of the EU, even if the unwinding of safeguards from the last financial crisis increases risk. However, many of the FT’s City Network — a 50-strong group of senior executives — did not believe that chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt’s “Edinburgh reforms” were significant enough to yield a second “big bang” for the City of London. On December 8, Hunt unveiled the biggest set of city reforms for decades, including to post-2008 rules on bank ringfencing, where lenders separate their retail activities from their riskier investment banking arms…The document contained more than 30 proposals focused on repealing retained EU law…” – The Financial Times
“Booze duty will be frozen until August in a major win for pubs and brewers, The Sun can reveal. Hated alcohol levies were due to be hiked on February 1, but Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will delay that move for an extra six months until August 1. Alcohol duty was due to rise by RPI inflation early next year – which would have seen a seven pence hit on a pint of beer, 38p on a bottle of wine and more than £1.30 hike to the price of a bottle of spirits. Taxation of alcohol has been in chaos since September’s mini-Budget when short-lived Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced a freeze on alcohol duty, only for Hunt to scrap it when he took over the Treasury in October. Now he is due to announce he will delay the pain and set new duties on booze at next year’s Budget…” – The Sun
“Rishi Sunak should sack Suella Braverman if he wants to win the next general election, an outgoing government adviser has said. Nimco Ali accused the Home Secretary of “normalising” the politics of Nigel Farage with her “crazy rhetoric” on small boat crossings. A close friend of Carrie Johnson, Ms Ali was brought in two years ago by Priti Patel to help with tackling violence against women. But she effectively resigned live on air earlier this month by saying she was on a “completely different planet” to Mrs Braverman…she warned the Prime Minister that he was “not going to win with Suella as his Home Secretary.”…“She’s basically feeding into this Nigel Farage stuff and when you start to normalise these things it’s really hard to put it back in its box,” Ms Ali said.” – The Daily Telegraph
“The minister in charge of tackling widespread strike action has suggested nurses will be granted a bigger pay rise at a later date if Christmas walkouts are avoided. Oliver Dowden urged unions to call off strikes and promised the Government could “give people the pay rise we would dearly love to give them” once the UK had a “stronger economy”. He said inflationary pressures prevented the Government from offering nurses the 19 per cent pay increase they had requested, and defended ministers’ claims that doing so would cost households £1,000…He added that it was “not fair” that the armed forces are being brought in to cover for striking workers. Military personnel, who cannot legally strike, are being drafted in over Christmas to fill in for some striking workers…” – The I
>Today:
>Yesterday:
“Britain will continue to follow European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rulings on asylum cases, a senior Rishi Sunak ally has said. Oliver Dowden, the Cabinet Office minister, said the UK will “always abide by the rule of law” after Suella Braverman launched a bid to toughen up the Government’s stance. The Home Secretary is pushing for legislation that would remove the influence of the ECHR when considering the appeals of irregular migrants. She has sided with Tory rebels who fear the Government’s latest plan to crack down on small boat crossings and boost deportations does not go far enough. The Prime Minister has promised to bring forward a new law to “make unambiguously clear that if you enter the UK illegally you should not be able to remain here”.” – The Daily Telegraph
>Today:
“Britain needs to be better prepared for unexpected crises such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters and pandemics, ministers said as they unveiled a new national resilience strategy. Under plans being announced by the Cabinet Office the government will appoint a head of resilience to prepare for “black swan” events that are extremely rare but potentially devastating. They will warn businesses, local authorities and public sector bodies that they need to plan for such events as part of a “whole society” approach. The public inquiry into the UK government’s handling of the Covid pandemic is expected to highlight failures of planning that led to a chronic shortage of PPE and a lack of frontline data on the spread of the coronavirus.” – The Times
“The Communities Secretary is moving to ban artificial lawns in housing developments as he continues his war on plastic. Michael Gove’s proposals mean that local authorities will be able to block housebuilders from laying fake grass. The plans…are part of Mr Gove’s consultation on an updated version of the National Planning Policy Framework, which is used by councils when determining planning applications and producing local plans. The changes are being introduced to try to reduce waste and improve environmental standards. They come amid calls from campaigners for the Government to intervene and introduce restrictions on plastic lawns, which have surged in popularity due to their increasingly realistic appearance and low maintenance.” – The Daily Telegraph
“Gary Neville sparked fury yesterday by comparing striking UK workers with migrant labourers in Qatar. The football pundit launched the bizarre rant during ITV’s coverage of the World Cup final, saying that British ministers were ‘demonising’ public sector staff. He claimed the conditions for striking nurses and railway workers were like those faced by Qatar’s huge foreign labour force…Tory MP Mr Clarke tweeted: ‘It is beyond ridiculous that he is given free rein by ITV Sport to overtly politicise a major sporting event. Quite apart from the fact every nurse is receiving a pay rise of £1,400, to compare workers’ rights in Qatar with the UK is grotesque.’…Campaigners have claimed that as many as 6,500 migrant labourers working on…the Qatar World Cup have died.” – The Daily Mail
“The first thing we need to establish is that the census data did not show that millions of Brits have ceased being Christian but rather that they’ve stopped describing themselves as Christian, something they almost certainly weren’t to begin with. Christianity used to be part of the package of being British, like tea and Shakespeare. As Britain changed, becoming multicultural and secular, it was inevitable that people would rewrite their labels along with it. Yet Christianity is not, and never was, a collection of inherited customs, like carols or putting an angel on a tree. It’s a religion – a set of beliefs that, with grace and hard work, are meant to transform the believer. And always central to its narrative is the idea of Christians as outsiders in a fallen world.” – The Daily Telegraph
“Labour would reduce the numbers of migrants arriving in Britain but scrap new Tory laws aimed at curbing the small boat crisis. Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said she would expect to see the “unusually high” net migration figure come down…But she repeatedly refused to commit to slashing the number of illegal Channel crossings…Labour also unveiled plans to allow asylum seekers to work after six months in the UK even if their claim had not yet been processed. Ms Cooper said net migration is running at high levels because of the routes opened up for people from Ukraine, Hong Kong and Afghanistan. “We would expect those numbers to come down in future years and it is right that they should do so,” she told the BBC.” – The Daily Telegraph
“A solicitor who admitted professional misconduct after his firm deducted money from compensation awarded to sick miners has been selected as a Labour parliamentary candidate. Jerry Hague was fined £5,000 in 2010 after appearing before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal on charges after the biggest misconduct investigation into the legal profession. He was chosen this month to contest Bolsover, a Derbyshire seat with many former pit villages that was held for 49 years by Labour’s Dennis Skinner until it fell to the Conservatives in 2019. Hague’s website says he has a “record of . . . supporting mining communities”… Several Labour MPs were highly critical of similar deals between law firms and mining unions.” – The Times