“Britain will slash bureaucracy, boost broadband coverage and improve transport links in a post-Brexit industrial strategy, the Prime Minister will announce tomorrow. Theresa May also wants to introduce a fund to invest in smart energy technologies, artificial intelligence, robotics and the 5G mobile network. In a Green Paper, she will set out the ten pillars that underpin the strategy, including getting firms to identify any red tape that can be cut after Britain leaves the EU. The industrial strategy, which aims to create better paid jobs, was due to be unveiled by the Cabinet today in the North West.” – Daily Mail
Comment:
“Theresa May is to declare war on educational ‘snobbery’ by setting up a network of prestigious ‘builders universities’ to train a post-Brexit generation of manual workers. The Prime Minister believes too many families push non-academic children towards university degrees when they could follow better-paid careers by learning a trade. The move will form part of the Government’s long-awaited industrial strategy, which will earmark billions of pounds for training schemes, research and development and cutting-edge robot technology to get ‘the whole economy firing’, according to Mrs May. But the most striking proposal in the consultation – being launched by the Prime Minister at a regional Cabinet meeting in the North-Weston Monday – is an attempt to bridge the historic ‘prestige gap’ between academic and vocational careers.” – Daily Mail
“Theresa May’s “modern industrial strategy”, launched today, must avoid the ignominious fate of its predecessors. One by one they failed. Diagnosis of Britain’s problems is not difficult; treatment is harder. How can a government close the productivity gap, improve our low investment levels, heal the north-south divide, overcome our habitual pattern of inventing but not exploiting new ideas, and create an economy that “works for everyone”? I do not presume to know all the answers, but I trust that the prime minister and Greg Clark, her business secretary, have begun by learning a lesson from the history of industrial strategies, Labour and Conservative: top-down solutions will not work; bottom-up ones might.” – The Times (£)
>Today: Peter Aldous in Comment: The Government should retain a stake in the Green Investment Bank
>Yesterday: Caroline Fairbairn in Comment: If the Government gets its Industrial Strategy right, we can help make the economy stronger and fairer
“EU leaders have warned Theresa May that Britain remains barred from negotiating new trade deals as she prepares to visit Washington to open talks with Donald Trump on an “early” agreement. Mrs May said that she would speak to the new president about Britain’s “future trading relationship” when she visited the White House on Friday. Downing Street said later that the two leaders would “discuss how we can deepen our already huge economic and commercial relationship to the benefit of both of our countries, including our shared ambition to sign a UK-US trade deal once the UK has left the EU”.” – The Times (£)
More Trump:
Comment:
Editorial:
>Today: ToryDiary: The canting, self-righteous, liberal enemies of Trump who shouted “liar” at him – and failed
>Yesterday:
“Conservatives will this week use a Supreme Court judgement over Article 50 to expose the confusion and infighting in Labour over Brexit. Government ministers expect on Tuesday to lose an appeal in the court, meaning Theresa May will be forced to give Parliament a vote before she triggers Article 50, which begins formal talks with Brussels. However, the Tories believe that they can turn the court ruling to their advantage amid continued chaos in Jeremy Corbyn’s party about whether to support or oppose the vote.” – Daily Telegraph
More Brexit:
Devolved governments:
Analysis:
Comment:
“The Defence Secretary is expected to be summoned to the Commons to answer questions about a Trident missile misfire after Theresa May refused to say whether she knew about the incident in the weeks after it occurred. Sir Michael Fallon is set to face demands to announce an inquiry after it was claimed that the launch of an unarmed Trident II D5 missile from a British submarine off the coast of Florida in June malfunctioned. Mrs May, the Prime Minister, declined four times on Sunday to say whether she knew about the incident, which is said to have happened just weeks before a Commons vote on the future of the Trident nuclear deterrent.” – Daily Telegraph
Comment:
Sketch:
>Yesterday: Video: WATCH: The Prime Minister won’t say whether or not she knew about a Trident malfunction
“Tory MP Chris Philp said trade unions had “abused” their right to strike by undertaking “completely unreasonable” industrial action as part of an ongoing dispute with Southern Railway. As a result, he has brought forward draft laws which would require all industrial action on critical national services to be proportionate and reasonable in order to be deemed legal. Mr Philp said: “A High Court judge would weigh up what it is the strikers are striking over on the one hand versus the impact on the public on the other to make sure it is reasonable and proportionate.”” – Daily Telegraph
“Rural enterprises will be among the biggest losers in the most radical reform of business rates for a generation. Riding schools, livery yards, stud farms, vineyards and livestock markets are facing some of the steepest business rate rises in England, according to league tables seen by The Times… Glyn Davies, the Tory MP for Montgomeryshire, warned that the punitive rates risked destroying rural communities. “I think there’s going to be an uprising,” he said.” – The Times (£)
Editorial:
“Lord Ashcroft has told friends that he will follow through on considerations of donating £50,000 a year to the Conservatives in a sign of his support for Theresa May. The peer, a former Conservative party treasurer, was for years the largest single donor to the party but ceased his financial support during David Cameron’s time in No 10. He indicated last October at the Tory party conference in Birmingham that he was thinking about funding the party again after Mrs May became leader. The pair “go way back”, friends say, pointing out that he has a home in Maidenhead, the Berkshire seat that the prime minister represents.” – The Times (£)