“Rishi Sunak is to prioritise the interests of millions of car owners with a series of measures that will provoke environmentalists and curb the power of local councils. In a package expected to be announced at the Tory conference on Monday, the prime minister will set out his “plan for motorists” that will limit the number of 20mph speed restrictions and favour drivers over bus passengers. The move would be hugely controversial, setting ministers on a collision course with local authorities, who rely on their powers to keep bus lanes traffic free. Sunak’s plan is the latest in a recent series of contentious policy ideas, such as his watering down of net zero targets, designed to revive his government and create clear dividing lines with Labour.” – The Guardian
>Today:
“Rishi Sunak has said Britain should be incredibly proud of its record on multiculturalism in comments that contradict his home secretary. He said Britain had done an “incredible job of integrating people into society” and described the country as “a fantastic multicultural democracy”. The prime minister repeatedly declined to say whether he agreed with the views of Suella Braverman, who on Tuesday…cited Leicester as one of the cities across Europe where multiculturalism had failed because it “makes no demands of the incomer to integrate” and allows people from different nationalities and ethnicities to live “parallel lives”. Sunak accepted that “there’s always more progress we can make”, but his comments were in stark contrast to Braverman…” – The Times
“Axing the Manchester leg of HS2 rail line would free up cash to fix potholes, Rishi Sunak hinted yesterday. The PM denied betraying northerners by threatening to scale back the project. He insisted getting value for money was his main concern, while helping peop le get about by car was more important. During a round of BBC radio interviews, he said: “The journeys people use most often, all your listeners probably right now, the majority of them in their cars trying to get to work, take kids to school and all the rest. “Making sure that for our roads, the potholes are maintained well, making sure that our bus services are running well, that’s all important.” Repairing pothole-riddled roads became a major battleground in this year’s local elections.” – The Sun
“Rishi Sunak has accused Keir Starmer of stoking a “class war” by maintaining his vow to add VAT on to private school fees if Labour wins the next election, a move that Sunak said would “punish” affected parents. The prime minister said Labour’s approach “illustrates that they don’t understand the aspiration of families like my parents who were working really hard”. Sunak said his parents “wanted to do something for their kids that they thought would make a difference to them. Labour’s approach to that is to clamp down on it.”… The attack on Labour’s policy came after the opposition party clarified that it intended to raise about £1.5bn through tax changes such as adding VAT to school fees, without stripping them of charitable status as Starmer…had previously suggested.” – The Guardian
“Imagine a policy that, with a stroke of a pen, would pile more pressure on schools and cause fresh pain for a million parents. Imagine, at a time when state education is overburdened and families are trying to survive this era of high inflation, doing something to actively worsen their plight. That is exactly what Labour is seeking with its continued class warfare on private schools. For two years it has been one of Sir Keir Starmer’s flagship goals: scrapping charitable status for half of the 2,500 private schools in England and Wales, while adding 20 per cent VAT to school fees. The pledge is one of the very few tax rises Labour is open and willingly championing – the £1.7bn it would raise represents a new significant revenue stream.” – The I
“Six cabinet ministers are set to lose their seats at the next general election as support for the Conservatives in the suburbs of southern England crumbles, polling for The Times and Times Radio shows. Seat-by-seat analysis of voting intention by the Stonehaven research and strategy consultancy suggested that the Labour Party would win a comfortable majority of 90 seats and 39 per cent of the votes if the next general election were held tomorrow. Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, was among the ministers who would be unseated by the Liberal Democrats The MRP poll used demographic and other data to build a constituency-by-constituency projection showed that support for the Conservatives would collapse to 26.3 per cent of the vote, from 43.6 per cent won…in 2019.” – The Times
“The tax burden is on course to rise by more under this parliament than during any other since the Second World War, the Institute of Fiscal Studies has said. The tax burden is on course to rise from 33pc of GDP in 2019 to 37pc by next year, the IFS said, which is the biggest leap during a parliament since comparable records began and likely the largest jump outside of war time. Families and businesses will be paying more than £100bn extra in tax by next year compared to the last election, the think tank said. The increase in the tax burden is one and a half times the rise seen during Tony Blair’s first term in office, which held the previous post-war record. It is nearly 13 times the jump seen during the first term of the Coalition Government…” – The Daily Telegraph
>Today:
“Britain has no choice but to work with China to combat the threat of dangerous artificial intelligence (AI), the deputy prime minister has said, while also calling for a new form of global non-proliferation agreement to regulate the technology…Oliver Dowden said countries needed to deal with the threat posed by artificial intelligence in a similar way to nuclear technology in the 1950s. And he warned that this meant that the West could not go it alone in an attempt to set the ground rules for AI and had no choice but to operate in tandem with China…He said: “The UK and the USA may be two of the three largest tech markets in the world, but China is the other one.” Dowden and Rishi Sunak want to use the summit…to kick-start negotiations on a new global agreement regulating…AI.” – The Times
“Eco “zealots” are the biggest threat to tackling climate change, the Energy Secretary has said. In her first interview since taking the role last month, Claire Coutinho said voters in many European countries were “revolting” against net-zero policies because their leaders had pushed the issue too hard. She told the Spectator, however, that she does not have a heat pump or an electric car and drives a second-hand Fiesta instead. Ms Coutinho, a former aide to Rishi Sunak, was brought in as Energy Secretary to water down some of the more onerous net-zero commitments… Ms Coutinho said she believed her reforms would help save the net-zero commitment. “The biggest threat to the cause isn’t the climate change deniers, it’s the zealots who are turning people off,” she said.” – The Daily Telegraph
“Agricultural land in England is at risk of being forested over by big conglomerates under the guise of combating climate change, the UK’s farming minister has warned. Mark Spencer told the Financial Times in an interview that the UK had to take care not to let too much farmland be turned over to tree planting and other carbon offsetting schemes for the sake of corporate “greenwashing”. “We need to be wary of what we’re using land for and we can’t allow that sort of greenwashing,” said Spencer. “If we’re not careful Shell and British Airways will buy all the land in England and just plant trees on it to offset their carbon [emissions].” Land agents have seen an increase in buyers looking for land for rewilding, tree planting and other environmental schemes…” – The Financial Times
“Conservative red tape has cost Britain up to £143 billion, economists backed by Liz Truss have claimed. The former prime minister’s Growth Commission accuses a succession of Tory prime ministers of piling regulation on business in a “Blairite” stifling of competition. Regulation is given “remarkably little scrutiny” by ministers who are more concerned about being seen to take action than about the long-term economic impact of the rules they set, a report claims today. Reforms should be designed to encourage competition in sectors ranging from banking to music streaming, while making it easier to build hotels or supermarkets, it recommends. Douglas McWilliams, the economist who co-chairs the commission, insisted that he did not want to strip back health or consumer protections…” – The Times
“Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers could switch allegiance to Labour at the next election, the media mogul’s biographer has predicted. Michael Wolff said the print baron may decide to back Sir Keir Starmer’s bid for No 10 if it looks like he is going to be “a certain winner”. Mr Murdoch’s company News UK owns four print titles in Britain – The Sun, The Sun on Sunday, The Times and The Sunday Times. All those newspapers have backed the Tories at the last four elections and losing any of their support would be a major blow to Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister. The Sun rowed behind Sir Tony Blair with a famous 1997 front page in which it branded the Conservatives “tired, divided and rudderless”. Mr Wolff…predicted his papers could switch allegiance again.” – The Daily Telegraph