“October’s sharp drop in the CPI rate to 4.6% means Rishi Sunak can claim victory in his pledge to halve inflation by the end of this year. And he has wasted no time in doing that. In a statement just released, Sunak says: “In January I made halving inflation this year my top priority. I did that because it is, without a doubt, the best way to ease the cost of living and give families financial security. Today, we have delivered on that pledge.” Mathematically, Sunak is correct – CPI was 10.7% when he made his pledge. However, as flagged earlier, the drop in inflation is mainly driven by cheaper energy costs compared with a year ago (when European countries were scrambling to fill their gas storage ahead of the winter).” – The Guardian
“Suella Braverman has accused Rishi Sunak of betraying the nation by backtracking on a secret deal to ignore European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) rulings. In one of the most scathing departure letters from a Cabinet minister in recent history, the former home secretary claimed the Prime Minister had dodged “hard decisions” on how to “stop the boats”. She said Mr Sunak’s approach to tackling illegal migration across the Channel had seen him use “wishful thinking as a comfort blanket” and amounted to “irresponsibility”. Mrs Braverman condemned his attempts to make the Tories appealing to voters and demanded a return to an “authentic conservative agenda”, in what some may see as a threat of a future leadership challenge.” – The Daily Telegraph
Editorials and Comment:
>Today:
>Yesterday:
“Rishi Sunak will press ahead with plans to send migrants to Rwanda regardless of the outcome of a ruling by the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The UK’s most senior court will decide the fate of the Rwanda scheme by ruling whether the government’s policy to deport migrants to Rwanda is lawful. The verdict will prove critical for Rishi Sunak’s flagship pledge to “stop the boats”. Should the Supreme Court approve the plans, 370 migrants who came to the UK in small boats could be sent to Rwanda by January. However, ministers will have drawn up a series of contingency plans, should the ruling go against the government, with options including elevating the Rwanda deal to a treaty ratified by parliament and passing emergency legislation to disapply human rights laws.” – The Times
“Lord David Cameron was singled out for a special welcome when he attended his first cabinet meeting in more than seven years on Tuesday morning. Having assembled his reshuffled front-bench team, Rishi Sunak, prime minister, asked his new foreign secretary to update colleagues on the imminent state visit of the president of South Korea, a signal that Cameron had got straight down to work. Although Cameron, the former prime minister and Conservative party leader, found himself on the other side of the long, tapered table topped with green baize, he was flanked by figures familiar from his last stint in office… In the intervening years, some of Cameron’s former backroom aides have entered frontline politics.” – The Financial Times
>Yesterday:
“Jeremy Hunt is eyeing £2 billion of further welfare savings as he banks £4 billion from previous benefit reforms to help fund tax cuts next week. The chancellor is considering using October’s inflation figure to set the increase for working-age benefits next year, instead of the September figure traditionally used, as he tries to find room for manoeuvre in what he insisted would be an “autumn statement for growth”. The Treasury has long been considering real-terms cuts to benefits, and the October figures due on Wednesday are expected to show inflation falling below 5 per cent, down from 6.7 per cent in September…Treasury sources insist that full upgrading in line with inflation remains on the table, with a decision depending on the cost of other measures.” – The Times
“Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch has signed a major pact to boost trade with Florida. She struck the deal with the governor Ron DeSantis with the US state’s GDP standing at over £1.1 trillion – roughly the same size as Spain. The deal will make it quicker and easier for Brit firms to do business with the space sector targeted. Florida is home to the NASA Kennedy Space Centre and has huge potential for the UK’s space industry to develop… Ron DeSantis said he was honoured “to strengthen the economic partnership between our state and the United Kingdom”. The UK has signed deals with seven US states with a combined GDP of £3.3 trillion. Ms Badenoch has been pushing for more state-by-state mini deals to boost trade and create more jobs.” – The Sun
“Michael Gove has been forced to cancel an open-invite meeting in his constituency this weekend over concerns for his security. The levelling-up secretary was due to hold an advice surgery for his Surrey Heath constituents where residents could turn up without an appointment, but instead there will be a booking system. Gove was bundled out of Victoria Station by police last weekend after being surrounded by pro-Palestine protesters who were marching through central London during the Armistice Day protests. He was met with chants of “shame on you” and surrounded by police, who escorted him to safety. He was understood to have been travelling by car to his home in London but crowds blocked the route and he decided to continue on foot.” – The Times
“Tory MPs put Rishi Sunak on notice today in a damning letter warning the PM against isolating the right. Co-Chairs of the New Conservatives Miriam Cates and Danny Kruger said Mr Sunak’s fresh Cabinet risks alienating “the coalition of voters who brought us into power”. They accused the PM of looking as though he chose to “abandon the voters who switched to us last time” in the “hope of shoring up support elsewhere”. And they vowed to launch a major fundraising drive to support the re-election of right wing Tories… Around 24 MPs are members of the New Conservatives. The group campaigns to reduce migration, stop the boats and stop wokery in Whitehall and schools. They’ are among dozens of Tory backbenchers furious at the PM for sacking Suella Braverman…” – The Sun
“Sir Keir Starmer is ready to sack shadow frontbenchers who defy the Labour line to back a ceasefire in Gaza on Wednesday. The party is expecting Sir Lindsay Hoyle to select a Scottish National Party (SNP) amendment to the King’s Speech, which would force a vote on whether or not to back a ceasefire. However, Starmer will table his own motion in a bid to keep party unity… The Times reported last week that shadow frontbenchers could be given a route to keep their jobs by being allowed to abstain… Forcing shadow ministers to pick a side was described as putting them between “a rock and a hard place” by one MP, as they would in some cases have to resist intense lobbying from their constituents and oppose the ceasefire call, or vote for the motion and resign or be sacked.” – The Times