“David Lammy has suggested that rejoining the EU customs union would boost economic growth, amid mounting calls from within Downing Street to undo Brexit. During an interview on Thursday, the Deputy Prime Minister refused seven times to rule out reversing Brexit, arguing that leaving the EU “badly damaged our economy” and that Labour should consider closer integration with Brussels. Mr Lammy said that rejoining the customs union was not “currently” the Government’s policy, but that it was “self-evident” that other countries had “seen growth” after doing so. His comments echo similar arguments from Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, who said on Wednesday that Labour should undo “the economic damage done by Brexit”, as well as Sir Keir Starmer’s own chief economic adviser and some senior figures close to No 10. Sir Keir pledged not to return to the single market or customs union in Labour’s manifesto last year, but is under increasing pressure from MPs and advisers to reconsider in light of dire growth forecasts. Mr Lammy, asked on the News Agents podcast whether he would like to see Britain rejoin the customs union, said: “That is not currently our policy. That’s not currently where we are. But you can see countries like Turkey with a customs union seemingly benefiting and seeing growth in their economy, and again, that’s self-evident.” – Daily Telegraph
Comment:
“Nigel Farage turned the tables on the BBC yesterday in a furious row about racism. The Reform UK leader has been dogged for weeks by questions from the corporation about alleged schoolboy racism, which he denies. At a dramatic press conference, he rounded on the BBC for ‘double standards’, pointing out that much of its output in the 1970s and 1980s would be considered racist, sexist and homophobic by today’s standards. He said that if the corporation wanted to apply the standards of today to the 1970s, it should issue an apology for broadcasting programmes such as It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, which is now seen as racist by many. Mr Farage suggested he would boycott the national broadcaster, adding: ‘I’m done with you. Until you apologise, I’m not speaking to you.’ A Reform source said he would be ‘taking a substantial rest from the biased broadcasting corporation’.” – Daily Mail
Comment::
“Nigel Farage has been handed the largest political donation by a living person in history from a cryptocurrency tycoon who stands to gain from Reform’s pledge to relax its regulation. In a major boost to Reform UK’s warchest before next year’s set of elections, the party was given £9 million by Christopher Harborne, a British-born businessman based in Thailand. Harborne eclipsed records for the biggest political donation outside money left in a will. Farage denied Harborne had asked for anything in return, given the Reform leader had promoted the deregulation of crypto. Soon after the donation was received, on August 1, Farage publicly promoted Tether, the cryptocurrency company in which Harborne bought a 12 per cent stake in 2016. “Does he want anything in return for his money? I promise you, absolutely nothing,” Farage said on Thursday. “He just happens to think that we’ve not made the most of Brexit, that we’re not getting into the 21st century technologies.” Ministers are set to ban cryptocurrency being used to donate to political parties or candidates over money-laundering concerns. Farage said the move was “aimed directly” at Reform, which became the only party to accept cryptocurrency this year…Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives received £4.6 million, excluding public funds given to political parties. The second-biggest donation in the most recent quarter, worth £1 million, was given to the Tories by Jeremy Elliott San, a software entrepreneur.” – The Times
Comment:
> Today:
> Yesterday: