“Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt are weighing up last-minute cuts to income tax or national insurance to boost economic growth and the Conservative Party’s electoral fortunes. The prime minister and chancellor have taken the surprise decision to consider tax cuts for low and middle earners before the autumn statement on Wednesday, having been handed billions of pounds of additional spending power. While the move would fuel inflation, Hunt and Sunak could attempt to offset the impact by squeezing welfare payments and making cuts elsewhere. They are also considering delaying until the spring budget a widely expected reduction in inheritance tax, after accusations that halving the 40 per cent rate would constitute a handout to the rich during a cost-of-living crisis.” – Sunday Times
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“Householders near new electricity pylons and substations will receive up to £1,000 off their annual bills under plans to be unveiled by Jeremy Hunt in the Autumn Statement. The Chancellor will make the announcement as part of a drive to slash the time it takes to deliver energy infrastructure as Britain transitions to net zero. The news comes as the Chancellor puts the final touches to Wednesday’s statement, which is widely expected to include an inheritance tax cut and investment tax cut for businesses. Mr Hunt has billed it as an “Autumn Statement for growth”. However, in a striking intervention ahead of the fiscal event, the Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch said the Treasury was not the right department to lead economic growth.” – Sunday Telegraph
“Inflation works like a tax – eroding the power of the pound in your pocket, reducing the value of your savings and pushing up mortgage costs through the rise in interest rates that follow. Now we need to turn to growth, which is exactly what my Autumn Statement this week is all about. Not long ago everyone thought Britain would be in recession. Not only are they wrong, the EU’s economy is shrinking while Britain is not. This week, we go further to boost Britain. First, we need to make sure those who can work do work. I’ve already announced a new Back to Work Plan to get over a million people into work, with tough new sanctions for those who refuse a job. As well as £4.5 billion for British manufacturing so the UK can lead the world with skilled, higher-paid jobs in new industries built to last.” – Sunday Express
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“Labour’s “soft touch” approach to benefits sanctions would cost taxpayers billions of pounds, the Conservatives have claimed. Sir Keir Starmer’s party pledged to end “punitive sanctions” against welfare recipients in policy documents that form the basis of its general election manifesto. But a Tory analysis said reversing Universal Credit sanctions for those who avoid attending job coaching sessions could leave a shortfall of more than £2 billion over the course of the next parliament. Last week, Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, and Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, announced the biggest welfare shake-up for a decade, which will see unemployed benefits claimants who refuse to seek work stripped of free prescriptions and discounted travel.” – Sunday Telegraph
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“Tory MPs have proposed an anti-red tape law to be tabled in the Commons tomorrow. It comes amid concerns over officials pushing for more regulations and would introduce a requirement for the amount of red tape to either stay the same or be cut each year. A source said: ‘In Whitehall you don’t get promoted for cutting regulations – you get promoted for introducing them.’ Thirty Tory MPs signed the amendment to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill. They want a return of the ‘one in, one out’ rule introduced by the Coalition government in 2011, which cut red tape for each regulation added. John Penrose, the Tory MP who tabled the amendment, said: ‘Every pound of red tape costs has the same effect on economic growth as a pound taken through tax.'” – Mail on Sunday
“Rishi Sunak will station Home Office officials in Rwanda as he tries to see off an escalating Tory rebellion over his small boats policy, The Telegraph can reveal. The decision to deploy UK officials to support the African nation’s asylum system will be seen as vindication for Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, who pressed for the move while in government. It comes as Conservative MPs on the Right of the party warned the Prime Minister that he is facing electoral “catastrophe” – including the Tories being reduced to a “rump” of 60 seats – if he fails to tackle illegal migration. One backbencher said they believed “dozens” of letters of no confidence in Mr Sunak had already been submitted to the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs.” – Sunday Telegraph
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“Home Office ministers are considering granting an “effective amnesty” to migrants who arrived in Britain illegally and have been left in limbo, facing the prospect of deportation to Rwanda. Tens of thousands of people have arrived illegally since the government’s Illegal Migration Act received royal assent in July. The act imposed a duty on the home secretary to remove them without considering their asylum claims, meaning they have spent the past five months in limbo. Following the Supreme Court’s decision to rule the Rwanda policy unlawful, the Home Office is considering granting them access to the asylum system because of concern that it would otherwise be open to legal challenge.” – Sunday Times
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“In her first interview since leaving the Home Office on Monday – and firing off a devastating letter a day later in which she accused Mr Sunak of reneging on a secret deal she struck with him before supporting him as leader – Mrs Braverman describes her sacking as ‘a bit odd’ because Downing Street had agreed she should write the article. Mrs Braverman, who received the call from the Prime Minister on her way into Parliament at breakfast time on Monday, reveals that Mr Sunak told her the article ‘wasn’t the right thing to do’… Shortly after her sacking, Mr Sunak dropped the bombshell of David Cameron’s return to Government as Foreign Secretary, which allies of Mrs Braverman believe was arranged before The Times article as part of a long-term plan to remove her.” – Mail on Sunday
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>Today: ToryDiary: Our survey. After a few months of flickering optimism, eight in ten panellists still expect Labour to win the next election.
“David Cameron could face the humiliation of being summoned to stand before MPs in the Commons chamber to answer questions as the new Foreign Secretary. Senior MPs are considering invoking the historic procedure of calling Lord Cameron before the Bar of the House to ensure that he is fully accountable to the elected Commons. The extraordinary move was mooted amid fury from many MPs that he would otherwise answer only to the unelected House of Lords – not the Commons. Embarrassingly for the former Prime Minister, summoning someone to the Bar of the House – a white line which marks the formal boundary of the Commons chamber which non-MPs cannot cross – has been deployed to issue reprimands.” – Mail on Sunday
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“A controversial new law aimed at ending prosecutions linked to Northern Ireland’s troubled past will face legal challenges this week. The new legislation offers a conditional amnesty to those accused of killings during the so-called Troubles and will stop future civil cases and inquests. But survivors of terrorist attacks and families of those killed during the conflict have said the law denies them their last chance of securing justice in the courts. Instead the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act will lead to the establishment of an Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR). Victims of the conflict have lodged applications for judicial review of the law.” – Mail on Sunday
“Sir Keir Starmer has said Jeremy Corbyn’s time as a Labour MP has come to an end. The party leader slammed his predecessor after he refused to call Hamas a terrorist organisation in an interview. Corbyn, an outspoken critic of Israel, continually avoided the question when asked on TalkTV’s Piers Morgan Uncensored show this week. The Labour boss told The News Agents podcast: “He won’t stand as a Labour MP at the next election or any election. “His days as a Labour MP are over. We have a changed party.” The Labour whip was removed in October 2020 over his response to the equalities commission report on anti-Semitism but he remains a party member. He now sits as an Independent MP.” – Sun on Sunday
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“Sadiq Khan misled the public about the “benefits” of Ulez in radio and newspaper advertisements, a draft report leaked to The Telegraph reveals. The advertising watchdog launched an investigation earlier this year after hundreds of people complained that the Mayor of London’s transport authority exaggerated the extent to which the ultra low emission zone would “clear up” the capital’s air quality. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is set to criticise Transport for London (TfL) for “misleading” claims about the expansion of the Ulez zone reducing levels of poisonous nitrogen dioxide (NO2) particles. The ASA draft recommendations will come as a huge embarrassment for both TfL and Mr Khan, the organisation’s chairman, after £9 million was spent on a “marketing blitz” ahead of the controversial Ulez expansion.” – Sunday Telegraph
“Liberal Democrats are embroiled in a dirty tricks row after a trans rights campaigner was picked to fight a Commons seat over the man who ‘actually won’ the selection contest. Sir Ed Davey’s party faces calls to explain how Helen Belcher is now a would-be MP despite coming second to local councillor Adrian Abbs in a members’ ballot. Mr Abbs was told he had beaten Ms Belcher for the new Reading West and Mid-Berkshire seat by one vote – only to learn he had been disqualified over claims he broke party rules and that Ms Belcher, made an OBE for services to the transgender community in the New Year’s Honours List, was the official candidate. Mr Abbs told the MoS last night: ‘To exclude me from a contest I actually won is ridiculous.'” – Mail on Sunday