“Suella Braverman has been sacked by Rishi Sunak. The Prime Minister asked the Home Secretary to leave the Government and she accepted, a Government spokesman said. The sacking kickstarted what is expected to be a major Cabinet reshuffle.” – Daily Telegraph
>Today: ToryDiary: Reshuffle Live Blog. Sunak fires Braverman
“Suella Braverman has said weekly pro-Palestinian marches that have “polluted” the streets with hate “can’t go on”, as the Government considers toughening up protest laws. The Home Secretary claimed London’s streets had been used to “valorise terrorism” and “further action” was necessary to ensure members of the public do not feel threatened and intimidated. Rishi Sunak will meet Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, as soon as Monday, and ask him whether Saturday’s disorder could have been avoided had existing laws been used to limit the pro-Palestinian march.” – Daily Telegraph
>Today: Calista Toner on Comment: Why Conservative students should support Israel and counter anti-semitism on campus
>Yesterday: Video: “I’ve never seen any Home Secretary do what Braverman did”, says Cooper
“Rishi Sunak has ordered a major tightening on protest laws after Central London was blighted by a day of hate…The Sun understands the clampdown would see: New laws drawn up to stop yobs climbing on statues, scaffolding and bus stops during protests. The law around fireworks, smoke bombs and flares tightened up. The threshold at which cops can ban marches and protests due to safety concerns lowered. The law on glorifying terrorists like Hamas is also to be tightened as cops say it is too vague to enforce currently.” – The Sun
“Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, said that arrests were “incredibly important” to quell a sense that people were “at liberty” to shout antisemitic chants. “The problem with not acting swiftly enough is you don’t end up with people experiencing the consequences,” he told the BBC. Officers in the Met’s operations hub were using facial recognition to retrospectively pick out offenders at the pro-Palestinian march.” – The Times
>Yesterday:
“But there is more to Sunak’s Braverman decision than the Westminster politics with which this article, too, has been preoccupied to date. What voters make of her and of pro-Palestinian protests is what we journalists call a developing story – and pollsters to whom I’ve spoken say that public concern about them was rising before he said this weekend’s march shouldn’t go ahead and she wrote her Times article. For once again, the British people are seeing Islamist extremism abetted by woke weakness — as they have intermittently for a quarter of a century, from 7/7 through the Manchester bombings to the maiming of Salman Rushdie to the hounding of a Yorkshire teacher, and the de facto application of a blasphemy law.” – Paul Goodman, The Times
Other comment
“Inheritance tax and stamp duty could be cut in the Autumn Statement following positive projections about the state of public finances. The cuts are being considered by Jeremy Hunt after he was told that he has more fiscal ‘headroom’ than expected. Despite this, they may still end up being pushed back to the spring Budget if they are deemed unaffordable. Mr Hunt has been assessing his options for the November 22 statement after the Treasury’s independent fiscal watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), said his ‘headroom’ had grown to between £13 billion and £15 billion.” – Daily Mail
>Today: Columnist Anthony Browne: The Autumn Statement takes place next week. We need to cut the high marginal rates of taxation
“Ministers have drawn up large benefit changes for people who are unable to work due to health conditions, the BBC has learned. The changes, affecting hundreds of thousands of people from 2025, would save £4bn from the welfare budget. The proposals would see many more people forced to find work despite suffering from a range of physical and mental health conditions. The Department for Work and Pensions said reform would be gradual.” – BBC
“The UK’s investment screening powers are to be pared back to make them “more business-friendly”, the deputy prime minister has said, less than two years after they were introduced. Oliver Dowden will launch a review this week aimed at “narrowing and refining” the National Security and Investment Act, which allows the government to scrutinise and ultimately block takeovers. In an interview with the Financial Times, Dowden said he wanted to ensure “government regulation keeps up with the dynamism of the private sector” and that the state applies “as little regulatory burden as necessary.” – Financial Times
NHS “failing to improve” despite budget increases
“The NHS has opened a review into why it is treating no more patients than before the pandemic despite having higher budgets and more staff, as the Treasury presses it to improve productivity before the autumn statement. The management consultancy McKinsey has been brought in by the NHS to ensure that health chiefs are “doing everything possible to boost productivity” as hospitals resist savings targets they consider unrealistic.” – The Times
Spanish Conservatives protest over Catalan deal
“Hundreds of thousands of people have protested across Spain against a deal struck by Pedro Sánchez, the Socialist leader, to grant an amnesty to hundreds of Catalan separatists over their alleged involvement in an illegal failed independence attempt. Sánchez, the caretaker prime minister, made the agreement to try to retain power, but the move involving Carles Puigdemont, a separatist leader, and others has prompted outrage.” – The Times
Timothy: Ministers must do what it takes to get the Rwanda plan off the ground
“If the police do not enforce the law, reform the police and change the law. If legally-binding targets skew policy and encourage judges to make law, scrap those targets. If quangos are over-powerful, transfer their power to more accountable organisations. If administrative law is making it impossible to get things done, change judicial review. If human rights laws kill the Rwanda policy, and render immigration and border control notional, leave the European Convention.” – Nick Timothy, Daily Telegraph
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