“The UK narrowly avoided entering a recession at the end of last year, official figures reveal, after economic growth was flat in the final three months of 2022. However, the economy did contract in December, as feared – by 0.5% – following a growth figure of 0.1% in November and 0.55% in October. Negative growth in the fourth quarter would have signalled recession, after the economy shrank by 0.3% in the third quarter, according to the figures from the Office for National Statistics. A technical recession is generally defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. With the cost of living crisis eating into household spending power and many small businesses struggling to stay afloat, few economists expected a strong performance in the run-up to the festive season.” – The Guardian
“The…Labour party on Friday secured a convincing win in a parliamentary by-election in West Lancashire, retaining the seat with a significantly increased majority after a big fall in the vote share for the ruling Conservatives. Labour’s Ashley Dalton will become the seat’s MP after receiving 62.3 per cent of the vote, up 10.2 percentage points from the share secured by Rosie Cooper at the 2019 general election. Dalton beat Conservative candidate Mike Prendergast by a margin of 8,326 votes, as the Tories’ vote share fell 10.9 percentage points to 25.4 per cent. Turnout dropped to 31 per cent from 72 per cent at the 2019 general election. The by-election was triggered by Cooper’s resignation from parliament to become chair of the Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.” – The Financial Times
>Today:
“Rishi Sunak has insisted he does not support the death penalty as he distanced himself from the views of his new Conservative party deputy chairman. Lee Anderson backed capital punishment because of its “100 per cent success rate” in preventing reoffending, the latest in a series of provocative comments. But Sunak said on a visit to Cornwall: “That’s not my view, that’s not the government’s view.” The prime minister said that instead of bringing back hanging the Tories had “tightened up sentencing laws for the most violent criminals; they spend longer in prison”… Claire Coutinho, the children’s minister, said she was a “big fan” of Anderson and insisted he was “a very good thing for the party”, but disagreed with his views.” – The Times
>Today:
>Yesterday:
“Dominic Raab has said it is possible to set high standards without staff being bullied, insisting he has “behaved professionally at all times”. In an interview with The Telegraph, the Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary said he would “engage” with the inquiry into his conduct as he defended his management style. The interview comes after weeks of speculation over Mr Raab’s future following allegations of bullying from civil servants, with increasing concern among some in Whitehall about the time the inquiry is taking. Anonymous briefings have often not provided detailed evidence but instead focused on Mr Raab’s intense management style. The most recent claims have seen him accused of “hard staring” at staff and of committing “micro-aggressions”.” – The Daily Telegraph
“Dominic Raab has pledged to end state-sanctioned “drug-dealing” in prisons by creating “abstinence” wings and drug-free units in every jail. In an interview with the Telegraph, the Justice Secretary said the over-reliance on methadone to treat offenders with heroin and other opiate addictions had led to claims that the state had become the “biggest drug-dealer” in prisons. He warned that while the use of the heroin-substitute enabled prisons to control offenders, it often left them…more likely to reoffend if they then left jail without kicking their addiction. “When we did a roundtable on drug rehabilitation, one prison governor said to me that the biggest drug dealer in prisons was the state because of the over-reliance on methadone,” said the deputy prime minister.” – The Daily Telegraph
“Suella Braverman has watered down Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats” after committing only to a “dramatic reduction” in the number of migrants crossing the Channel. The home secretary refused to give a timeframe for achieving the target, one of the government’s five priorities. A record-breaking 45,756 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats last year and internal Home Office forecasts have predicted that about 65,000 will attempt it this year. More than 1,500 have crossed so far this year, with the latest crossings on Wednesday when 189 reached the UK in four boats despite freezing temperatures. In an interview with ITV News, Braverman said she was “very confident” that the government’s plan to stop illegal immigration would lead to a sharp drop in crossings.” – The Times
“Ukraine is unlikely to receive British fighter jets until after the war with Russia is over, the Defence Secretary has said. Ben Wallace was hoping to calm speculation over the issue after President Zelensky finished his speech in London on Wednesday by saying “thank you in advance for powerful English planes”. Speaking at a joint UK-Italy ministerial press conference…Mr Wallace was quick to underline that although the UK will be the first nation to start training Ukrainian pilots on Nato-standard aircraft, “Britain hasn’t said it is necessarily going to send fighter jets to Ukraine”. Any battlefield impact of the moves would likely be “post-conflict”, he said… The Defence Secretary was keen to establish political wiggle room after…Mr Zelensky’s request for “wings”…” – The Daily Telegraph
“Energy companies that force-fitted pay-as-you-go meters in the homes of vulnerable customers have refused to say how they will identify and compensate those hit by the scandal, Grant Shapps has said. The energy secretary wrote to suppliers after an undercover investigation by The Times found British Gas had sent third-party debt collectors to break into customers’ homes to fit pay-as-you-go meters. Shapps ordered companies to set out their plans to identify those customers who may have had meters wrongfully installed and provide redress. Shapps said that a number of companies had “failed to address” the issues he had raised in his letter and referred them to Ofgem, the energy regulator. He described the response of the companies as “simply not good enough”…” – The Times
“He’s been “cancelled” since penning an abusive column about the Duchess of Sussex but Jeremy Clarkson has proved a surprise hit with farmers. Clarkson has even won the backing of a Government minister who said the presenter is a good ambassador for British farming. Defra minister Mark Spencer gave a public endorsement of the TV presenter’s attempt to turn the 1,000 acres of Oxfordshire land he bought in 2008 into a profitable farm. A second season of Clarkson’s Farm, the Prime Video series documenting Diddly Squat Farm’s struggles, launches on Friday. And many farmers are keen for a fresh dose of Clarkson’s travails. Andrew Loftus of Loftus Farms…told i: “Clarkson is very divisive figure…but I’ve watched every episode with my family and loved it…”” – The I
“Nadine Dorries has tearfully announced that she will be standing down as a Conservative MP at the next election, citing the “sheer stupidity” of ousting of Boris Johnson as the reason. The former culture secretary, who said her decision had followed “much soul-searching”, warned that the Tories’ poll ratings under Rishi Sunak were “terminal”. It takes to 18 the number of Conservatives who have said they will not be fighting to retain their seats. Earlier on Thursday, Jo Gideon said she would not be standing again in Stoke-on-Trent, which she won narrowly in 2019. Ms Dorries’ announcement comes just a week after she started a new presenting job with a show on Talk TV, Friday Night with Nadine.” – The Daily Telegraph
“Key Liz Truss ally Sir John Redwood will lead a backbench charge demanding the Chancellor deliver targeted tax cuts in next month’s Budget, i can reveal. The former Cabinet member is working on proposals for the Conservative Growth Group, a new caucus within the Tory party created to pressure the Government into developing more pro-growth policies. Sources told i that the veteran MP, who has consistently called for the overall tax burden to come down since Ms Truss was forced out of office, will be developing policy proposals to take to the Treasury in the coming weeks. It puts the newly founded group on a collision course with the Chancellor, who has insisted there will be no tax cuts while the Government’s focus is on halving inflation this year.” – The I
“Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has called on public sector workers to take into account the central bank’s view that inflation will “fall very rapidly” when asking for pay rises. Under pressure from MPs to comment on the strike action that has hit the health service, schools, transport and the civil service, Bailey told the Treasury select committee on Thursday that it was important to recognise that inflation will fall this year when setting public sector pay. The central bank predicts it will drop from 10.5 per cent to 4 per cent by the end of 2023…[He] stressed that public sector pay was not his responsibility and that he was not advocating a particular settlement for different groups of workers, but that he agreed…that there were economic effects of higher pay settlements.” – The Financial Times
“A former Labour MP who submitted fake expenses to help fund his cocaine habit has been sentenced to four years in prison. Jared O’Mara, 41, who was MP for Sheffield Hallam from 2017-19, ran up thousands of pounds in debt to a drug dealer, a court was told. Judge Tom Bayliss KC told O’Mara that he abused his position as an MP to commit a series of “cynical, deliberate and dishonest” frauds. He experienced financial difficulties “caused by a hedonistic lifestyle fuelled by the consumption of large amounts of vodka and, of course, cocaine”. O’Mara was convicted this week on six charges of fraud after trying to claim about £24,000 from the taxpayer to fund his extravagant lifestyle…The judge rejected the argument that O’Mara had reduced culpability for his crimes…” – The Times
“Scotland’s prison service has abandoned Nicola Sturgeon’s self-identification policy for new prisoners, announcing that it would base decisions on where to send them entirely on their biological sex. In a major climbdown following the scandal of a transgender rapist being placed in a female jail, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) said it would disregard a prisoner’s gender identity when making initial decisions about whether to send them to a male or female jail. The shift, affecting newly convicted or remanded trans offenders, marks a major reversal of previous prison service policy in Scotland, which was heavily influenced by trans activists… Trans prisoners in Scotland had previously been told they would be “allocated” based on their gender identity…” – The Daily Telegraph
>Yesterday: