“Job taxes imposed by Rachel Reeves have been branded the “silent killer of British aspiration” after unemployment across the UK hit a near five-year high. Conservative shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride took aim at Ms Reeves following the release of official figures on Tuesday which showed the rate of joblessness rose to 5.2% – or over 1.8 million people – in the three months to December. The figure had stood at 4.1% – or over 1.4 million people – when Labour took office in 2024, promising economic growth. For those in work, wages are still rising faster than prices but the rate at which they are growing continued to slow. Sir Mel said: “In a year of economic incompetence, Starmer and Reeves have presided over a P45 Government that has seen 134,000 payrolled jobs vaporised. Unemployment has climbed to 5.2% – the highest it’s been since the pandemic, and the dream of a steady paycheque is slipping away for thousands. This decline is not an accident, it’s a choice.”” – Daily Express
Comment:
> Today:
“Rachel Reeves is resisting pressure from military chiefs to spend billions more on defence, The Telegraph understands. The Chancellor has rejected requests from the Ministry of Defence to increase its budget amid fears of a £28bn funding shortfall. Talks over the defence budget have now hit a roadblock, as Ms Reeves faces warnings from service chiefs that existing plans will not be enough to meet Britain’s spending commitments over the next four years. Sir Keir Starmer has set a target of spending 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence by April 2027, with an “ambition” to increase this again to 3 per cent after the next election. It was reported this week that Downing Street wanted to speed up this increase to hit 3 per cent by 2029. However, sources later insisted this was misinterpreted. It is thought the Treasury was concerned about any suggestion of going faster.” – Daily Telegraph
Comment:
“A rig skimmed across the surface of the Indian Ocean, a flag of blue and white stripes with a Union flag in the upper left corner fluttering behind it. For the men and women on board, it marked the end of 50 years in exile. The boat’s crew were a band of British Chagossians who have defied an exclusion zone to make a dramatic landing on the white, sandy beaches of their homeland. The “advance party” led by Misley Mandarin, the elected Chagossian first minister, has vowed to establish a permanent resettlement on Île du Coin, part of the coral atoll of Peros Banhos. “We, the people of the Chagos Islands, stand today on the soil of our homeland,” the party announced in a “Declaration of Return”, adding: “We are the advance party. Hundreds more are following. We have come home.” Captured on video wearing a Make Britain Great Again hat as the arrivals unloaded boxes of food and Starlink communications equipment, Mr Mandarin announced: “We are not visitors, we are belongers and we are here to stay forever.God save the King, God save the United States of America.”” – Daily Telegraph
“Nigel Farage unveiled Reform’s first ‘shadow cabinet’ as he pitched his party as the opposition to Labour. Declaring Reform no longer a one-man band, the leader announced that Robert Jenrick would become his chancellor-in-waiting. He made Richard Tice his deputy as well as the spokesman for business, trade and energy and Zia Yusuf his home affairs representative. Mr Jenrick’s fellow Tory defector Suella Braverman was named education and skills spokesman and handed responsibility for the equalities brief. Writing for the Daily Mail, he said it was time to boot out Sir Keir Starmer and his ‘rag-tag collection of sixth-form common room socialists’. ‘For far too long, politics in this country has been defined by short-termism, timidity and a refusal to confront the big questions,’ he said… Barely a month after leaving the Conservatives, Mr Jenrick was handed responsibility for the party’s approach to the economy. The former shadow justice secretary thanked Mr Farage for allowing him to ‘oppose the wrecking ball that is Rachel Reeves’.” – Daily Mail
Comment:
> Today: