POLITICS CORNER

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on the matter of the suspended Reform MP.
The Metropolitan Police has launched an investigation into suspended Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe over an allegation of "verbal threats". Reform reported the Great Yarmouth MP to police on 6 March over alleged threats of physical violence against the party's chairman Zia Yusuf. A spokesperson for the Met Police said the force had launched an investigation "into an allegation of a series of verbal threats made by a 67-year-old man". Writing on social media, external, Lowe said he was "unaware of the specific allegations" but denied "any wrongdoing".

Also, see THIS for a worrying report on teenagers not getting disabled benefits.
2 hours ago
Teenagers with incurable conditions are among hundreds a week being stripped of disability benefits after their 16th birthdays. Nearly a third of those who received Disability Living Allowance (DLA) in childhood had claims for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) rejected when trying to move to the adult benefit, BBC analysis has found. Disability charity Scope said a "complex, adversarial and difficult to navigate" system contributed to the rejections.
I understand the need to reduce government spending in the fight to rebuild our economy but are we targetting the right people?

[Whyperion]

Teenagers with incurable conditions are among hundreds a week being stripped of disability benefits after their 16th birthdays. Nearly a third of those who received Disability Living Allowance (DLA) in childhood had claims for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) rejected when trying to move to the adult benefit, BBC analysis has found. Disability charity Scope said a "complex, adversarial and difficult to navigate" system contributed to the rejections.
I understand the need to reduce government spending in the fight to rebuild our economy but are we targetting the right people?

Would it just be not simpler all round to roll over - or maintain - the payment , but with additional support as they can be guided into the work or further education system as they get older. When our public transport system is still difficult to get around effectively by many disabled persons and our road system restricted as a choice becoming less feasible for others how are they expected to get to work, and our housing does not provide specific properties suitable for others who have disabilities.
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Trump Tariffs - There managed to be a trade war with Canada / US adding in more and more tariff rates, increasing prices for electricity (and then reducing it) . Quite simply the US is at economic war with Canada today, and I can see US increasing its (dirty) electricy generation to avoid buying anything from Canada in the future. Oh and my ISA dropped another 1.5percent overnight so that is £100 off in 14 days.
Trump Peace - I have no idea what the thought about the weapons/intelligence on/off is all about. If they can get the rough ceasefire soon though that should be good for the people of ukraine - and occupied land will have to remain disputed and not ceeded.

Update on Trump Tariffs : ISA down another 2.5 percent making it 4 percent in 24hrs. Wonder how US citizens feel on this blip

[PanBiker]

The answer to Ukraine is simple. Russia needs to stop it's incursion with a ceasefire and withdraw back beyond their recognised borders. It won't happen as they don't recognise Ukraine's right to exist and still consider all of the area to be their territory.

Similar to Israel and the West Bank and Gaza, although that is a religion based conflict.

[Stanley]

Putin isn't going to stop fighting as long as he's making slow but steady progress in the Kursk incursion and in Ukraine itself as is the case at the moment.
Starmer is under pressure over disability benefits just as he was over winter fuel payments and I suspect with the same result.
The big problem is the self-imposed Fiscal Rules that were adopted to give the electorate confidence that Labour wouldn't simply tax, borrow and spend if elected. A good idea at the time but now a handicap.

[Stanley]

THIS BBC report caught my eye.
Baroness Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman have accused the Covid inquiry of an "establishment cover-up" after their second attempt to be given an official role in the inquiry was rejected. The couple claimed they were the targets of a "politically motivated witch hunt" after the inquiry's chairwoman, Baroness Hallett, refused their application to be made "core participants". PPE Medpro, a firm led by Mr Barrowman, was awarded government contracts worth more than £200m after Baroness Mone recommended it to ministers. If approved, the official status would have allowed the couple to access inquiry documents, make statements and apply to ask questions of witnesses. Baroness Hallett first rejected their approach in February, saying it came 468 days after the deadline for applications, and she did not accept they had a large enough role "in the matters to be investigated by the inquiry". She had previously said her main focus is on the approach of ministers and the government, rather than Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) suppliers.
My interpretation of these matters is that if people like this are squealing, the inquiry might be getting close to some uncomfortable truths. If this is the case, more power to their collective elbows!

[Whyperion]

Apart from an attack on Benefits, A Reduction in the Real amount allocated for state education in schools per pupil for 2025-2026 Labour are doing really well. It might be asked why the ?Amount? ?Number of Claiments? has gone up since Labour came to government (I still think increasing State Pension Age ignored the realities of frailties after age of 65 resulting in no significant total savings). It might be "mental illness" - how is that arising , is it a vicious circle of lack of opportunity and an oppressive planning regeime ? I would like better analysis , and also medical evidence that people really are living with conditions that preclude an effective role in the workplace (does that workplace even exist anymore ? - retail nearly gone, meaningful manufacturing , gone, light office work-computers have replaced and confused.

Trumpeconomics - another .75 percent fall overnight, so that is 5percent off an ISA value since January ( I note US figures suggest 10percent off their indexes - put down by some Republicans as "a correction"

At least Trump has got Ukraine to accept terms for a ceasefire.

[Whyperion]

NHS England.
I must admit I didnt quite understand it
Formation of "executive agencies" reduces civil service headcount and changes up the pension calcualtions and pots it comes from. Pushing them back to the department wont make much difference (unless there was real duplication)The Agency ialso allowed the minister to stand away when things went wrong (eg PPE procurement generally). In part too the devolved powers to Wales and Scotland made it sensible to think of England in its own way, with different views on Prescription Charges and Health Treatments Postcode Lotteries.

It does seem its demise is welcome by commenters and professionals in the NHS sector generally. Job Losses ? maybe but I hope redeployments mean that payments for loss of office will be few for the taxpayer to pay

[Whyperion]

General UK Economic Performance for January 2025
Overall growth down 0.1percent

Retail isnt mentioned as such (services have a tiny increase)
Construction Down 0.2percent - the weather was blamed, but we have weather every year
Making Stuff Down 0.9percent. No apparent reason international situation blamed but Trump etc didnt really kick in in the full month?
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Personally I think the flip/flop of say HS2 construction and other rail and road in the planning stages has not helped for long term confidence. It is difficult to see where the next "big ticket" orders are coming in at, and subcontracting say part of our railway carriage making to Japan/Italy and so on with slightly lower wages and employment at new , tech , facilities in NE England has not really kept up with the heavy industry loss.

At one time I thought HS2 would take away all the construction jobs leading to higher bid costs for skilled workers and consultants in a overheating economy when it was first announced. now maybe it needs to be an essential part ,for now, of sustaining some kind of growth (though there are limits on how many times you can build a HS2 - scotland here we come ?)
At some time in the near future there will be some uplift in what is made - Ships and Subs in Barrow if the Russian Sabotage keeps away, Rolls Royce mini nuclear power capacity, offshore and onshore wind, some NS oil exploitation.
Should Thatcher have done a "Britain First" - our making of cars, ceramics, steel has been allowed to drift to (cheaper) overseas in the hope that "services" of banking (money laundering??) , insurance and tourism would somehow make up for it.
What should Reeves do in the light of this information - quite simply abandon the "balanced budget" dogma. The unwarrented costs of NHI changes that has paniked entire sectors, bumped up govt and local govt costs unneccesarily and raised net trivial should be re-assessed , the large cut of a smaller cake needs to become a smaller cut of a larger cake which actually wieghs out, over a couple of years , a bit more. IF it is done now costs can drop, prices can come down a smidge and interest rates fall which will get local projects on hold back on again accross the country. I sound like a stuck record - I have been saying this for the last 13 years here and since the early 80s elsewhere.

[Stanley]

Oh Dear! See THIS BBC report.
Conservation charities have accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of making "misleading" claims that rare spiders had stopped a new town from being built. Sir Keir has spoken about what he believes is unnecessary "blocking" by regulators and other bodies which he says is holding back housebuilding. The government has pledged to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years. He has used the example of Ebbsfleet in Kent, where he said the "dream of home ownership for thousands of families" had been "held back by arachnids". A rare species of spider known as the "distinguished jumping spider" was found in the area, which was given environmental protections to restrict building. Those protections meant 1,300 homes could not be built. But more than 4,000 homes have been built in other parts of Ebbsfleet and thousands more are planned. Kent Wildlife Trust has accused Sir Keir of an "oversimplification" and said he has "misrepresented this complex issue".
Was someone lax in their fact checking?
Incidentally I note that Starmer has listened to the advisers who told him that the rolled up sleeves look signals action and competence....

[Whyperion]

I thought the Rolled up sleeves was when you went to medical facilities (Sunak did the same) and both did when campaigning.

[Stanley]

I was glad to see THIS report this morning of opposition to some benefit cuts....
Updated 2 hours ago
Ministers are considering abandoning plans to freeze some disability benefits, the BBC understands. Initial reports had suggested Personal Independence Payments (PIP) would not rise in line with inflation for a year, but many usually loyal Labour MPs have voiced strong opposition in meetings in No10, as well as to party whips and ministers. The eligibility criteria for PIP will be tightened with the government expected to cut billions of pounds from the welfare budget, but dropping the freeze could avoid a potentially damaging vote in the Commons. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall will set out details of reforms to welfare in a green paper next week.
It was perhaps a cut too far!

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report....
3 hours ago
Regulators are being summoned to No 10 on Monday to meet Chancellor Rachel Reeves as the government moves to slash bureaucracy and cut the cost of regulation for business by a quarter. The government will also announce plans to streamline environmental permitting and cut red tape it says blocks new housing and infrastructure, as well as unveil 60 regulator-agreed measures to boost economic growth. Her actions come alongside plans to scrap or slim down some regulators, and follow Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announcing last week that NHS England would be abolished. The Conservatives said Labour's taxes and trade union red tape were harming growth and called on Reeves to set out a "real plan". Eight regulators including Natural England and the Environment Agency will meet the chancellor on Monday.
'Slashing red tape' is I suppose a laudable strategy. But I can't help wondering whether these people are confusing activity with action..... I suppose we'll find out for sure in the financial statement......

[Whyperion]

As I said elsewhere there is a need for regulation. The BBC brings up a few proposals

alongside 60 measures agreed upon by watchdogs "following weeks of intense negotiations" that are designed to make it easier to do business in the UK.

Those measures include:
Fast-tracking new medicines through a pilot to provide parallel authorisations from healthcare regulators
Doesnt seem a bad idea - depends at what point any negative side effects appear ; but a review of "postcode lotteries" and approved but rather expensive needs sorting too
Reviewing the £100 cap on individual contactless payments
Could increase fraud, could be £250 as compromise, or one can still use PIN number entry so I dont really get how it holds growth back

Simplifying mortgage lending rules to make it easier to re-mortgage with a new lender and reduce mortgage terms
I thought the industry was holding that back, seems reasonable otherwise

Setting up a 'concierge service' to help international financial services firms navigate regulations
no idea how that will really help but OK

Civil Aviation Authority permitting at least two more large drone-flying trials for deliveries in the coming months - which the government said has already cut travel times for blood samples between hospitals from 30 minutes down to two minutes
Im not sure about two mins blackburn to burnley. ofherwise is hardly a regulation.

The government has already announced plans to fold another quango, the Payments Systems Regulator, into the Financial Conduct Authority.
again makes sense for that or put it in the Bank of England

On Monday, Reeves will announce the abolition of the Regulator for Community Interest Companies, which will be folded into Companies House.
seems to make sense

[Stanley]

See THIS opinion from Kemi Badenoch.
Kemi Badenoch has said it is "impossible" for the UK to meet its net zero target by 2050 - a goal set by a previous Conservative government. The UK is legally committed to reaching net zero by 2050 under a law passed by Theresa May in 2019. It means the UK must cut carbon emissions until it removes as much as it produces, in line with the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Badenoch said net zero cannot be achieved by 2050 "without a serious drop in our living standards or by bankrupting us". The Conservative leader did not set out a replacement for the target, but her words mark a sharp break from years of political consensus.
I hold no brief for her but I suspect she is right. Nobody is mentioning it, it is the elephant in the room, but the rest of the world seems to have given up on net zero. At the very least, this possibility should be up for debate.

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest. Trump's tariff impositions on Canada and even more, his repeated assertion that Canada would be better off as the 51st state of America, are having an effect. Mark Carney's first visit as PM was not to the US but to France, from there he goes to UK and after that to the northernmost city in Canada thus emphasising Canada's links embedded in its history with France, Britain and the indigenous people of the Arctic.
My assessment is that Tariffs and Isolationist policies have always failed the US in the past and they will do so again. This could be Trump's Achilles Heel.

[Whyperion]

At the end of the day Trump wont be brought down by Black Americans being excluded and separatist policys of a KKK rebooted Republican Party but by the remant of big business that needs is cheap(er) mexican and canadian trade . question is when.

[Tripps]

Nearer to home. .

There was an extraordinary meeting of Pendle Council last night. I watched most of it. Councullor Tom Whipp got a note from his dad, and wasn't there. There was a proposal (I think), and a lot of talk - mostly as usual, from Councillor David Whipp. They had a vote and it was passed nem con.

The sound - and my hearing - was not good quality. I've no idea what was agreed. Perhaps someone closer to the local political scene could explain it all.

[Whyperion]

Tripps - is it about merging to the East Lancs Super Council ?

______________________________________________________________________-
Welfare (Sickness) Reform.
The Govt has generally kicked the can down the road to effectively 2026/2027 and the three years after that.
one proposal rattling around , but not enshrined - For adults under the age of 22, ministers are considering preventing access to universal credit top-up payment for health conditions, alongside more support to get people into work.

This does seem peverse. Sort out who is really too sick to economically contribute and provide a proper support system to them. I dont know why 16-21 year olds should necessarily suffer - this is the age they should be in further education or apprenticeships anyway and employers - inc the health service . govt departments need to ensure that all jobs advertised are suitable for filling by someone with a long term health condition ( i mean surgeons can operate even with parkinsons disease if assisted by AI robots to eliminate unwanted tremors ).

The one thing it probably wont save is money. Getting people well takes time and effort - my friend with long covid has forced herself over three years to get up and be able to walk four miles a day, but at age 65 she does not look well , like some of the 59 year old women in BBC reporting and so on.

Is the "increase in sickness benefits £££ and number" simply the flip side of the increase in working age before state pension that has got to Women , and lesser extent, men ?

[Stanley]

David, no doubt it will become clear!
See THIS BBC report on Liz Kendall's crackdown on benefits.
The government has unveiled sweeping changes to the benefits system, aimed at saving £5bn a year by 2030. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said the overhaul would create a more "pro-work system" to encourage people to take up jobs, while protecting those who cannot work. The changes will make it harder for people with less severe conditions to claim disability payments. Extra benefit payments for health conditions will also be frozen for current claimants and nearly halved for new applicants. And people aged under 22 could be prevented from claiming universal credit top-up payments for health conditions.
I seem to have been hearing the mantra 'getting people back into work' forever but have not noted any serious attempt to slow down the rate at which the major capital holders are raking in the cash. There are so many other ways of mending the public finances without heaping more austerity on those least able to pay. The shade of Ramsay McDonald looms in the background......

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on the state of the Covid Inquiry.
Matt Hancock has defended government deals to buy personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic, saying the country was in a "desperate situation" at the time. In a bad-tempered session at the Covid inquiry, the former health secretary repeatedly criticised the line of questioning describing it as "naive", "hostile" and "inappropriate". He said he was "not at all surprised" when a so-called VIP lane for PPE suppliers with a political connection was set up, describing it as "standard practice". At one point, the chairwoman of the inquiry, Baroness Hallett, intervened, telling Hancock it was her job to learn lessons for any future pandemic.
This inquiry is not going well. Being a sceptic, I believe that the reason why it is getting bad tempered is that it is getting very close to some uncomfortable truths about the sourcing of PPE and the profits made.

[PanBiker]

No profits made by Sally and her friends and hundreds of other machinists around the country who sewed thousands of PPE items for hospital staff during the pandemic, scrubs aprons, theatre hats, laundry bags etc. All done voluntary and coordinated on a county basis around the country. Material was crowd funded and also paid for by direct donations from individuals. I drove quite a few miles around East Lancashire and Yorkshire collecting rolls of cotton material to keep the lassies sewing. I ran the iron across the finished items and packed them for distribution to the hubs. No one seems to mention that aspect of propping up where the government failed to meet demand.

[Stanley]

Indeed Ian and thanks for raising it here! My main memory of the time is how keen the government were to shift attention to the clapping for hospital staff. That didn't cost anything, and the money was going elsewhere! Ask Baroness Mone and her husband. See THIS link.

See THIS BBC account of a report from the PAC....
1 hour ago
The government still does not know how many buildings in England have dangerous cladding, the costs of removing it, or the length of time it will take, according to a committee of MPs. In a report, the Public Accounts Committee, which scrutinises the use of taxpayers' money, cast doubt on whether the government would hit its own target of resolving the building safety crisis by 2029. It concluded that a new plan aimed at speeding up progress was "insufficiently ambitious and at risk of not delivering what is promised". The housing ministry said it had been taking "tough and decisive action after years of dither and delay" which would speed up the "unacceptably slow" pace of work.

See THIS BBC Verify report on the planning system.
The number of housing projects granted planning permission in England in 2024 hit a record low, according to new government figures. Just over 30,000 projects - ranging from single homes to large housing developments - got the go ahead, the lowest full-year figure since records started in 1979 and a further fall from 2023. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has pledged to deliver 1.5 million new homes before the next general election and a rise in planning applications would be one of the first positive signs.
Why am I not excited.....?

[Whyperion]

Counting Numbers of Planning Applications is Meaningless. A Full analysis of housing units by size and tenure is more meaningful. Peabody in SE London sit on vacant/developable sites some with PP and no sign of any work coming along , with the extended fast metro transit built in the recent past managing to miss part of the area and a fast bus link proposed managing to replace a more comprehensive route that will actually increase with walking overall journey times. and this in an area of a Labour Mayor.

"We must go further and faster to create an agile and productive state that works for people," said Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Treasury" (today) I tend to think the ability to achieve something is in inverse proportion to the amount of words and reports expended on trying to reach that (or any) goal

[PanBiker]

It's fairly plain in Barlick that looking at the housing stock built, probably since the 1960's so over the last 60 years. The vast majority are larger family homes, 4 bedroom etc and out of the range of most first time buyers. No additional major social housing to speak of and no additions to the underlying infrastructure of the town. Sports Centre and Swimming pool excluded, (although they used a school playing field for that), thinking more of drainage and waste water treatment since they tend to build on flood plains and shove more than one toilet in most new builds, Fine and dandy but you need to also expand the services. No additional medical support, doctors, nurses, (health centre) for an expanding population, school provision for the kids. The list could go on..

Joni Mitchell's prophetic song comes to mind.

[Whyperion]

It's fairly plain in Barlick that looking at the housing stock built, probably since the 1960's so over the last 60 years. The vast majority are larger family homes, 4 bedroom etc and out of the range of most first time buyers. No additional major social housing to speak of and no additions to the underlying infrastructure of the town. Sports Centre and Swimming pool excluded, (although they used a school playing field for that), thinking more of drainage and waste water treatment since they tend to build on flood plains and shove more than one toilet in most new builds, Fine and dandy but you need to also expand the services. No additional medical support, doctors, nurses, (health centre) for an expanding population, school provision for the kids. The list could go on..

Joni Mitchell's prophetic song comes to mind.

Ahh, but there have been a nice increase in some places of "retirement Villages" and nursing homes for the elderly (single) people. Should there be more flats for younger single people ? Barnoldswick does not really have the immigrant pressures on it - that for the europeans at least has been coped with by creating HMOs in single rooms of larger houses . Having said that I thought every authority had to do a ""local housing needs assesment" based effectively on the last census.

Oddly a few days ago I bumped into a person with clipboard in hand - turns out was from (agent for I guess) department of local govt and housing (whatever name is) doing a survey of housing conditions - internal and external - only problem was the database had sent her to two (as it was of same age and style) buildings one of which demolition had started on 4 days earlier.

[Stanley]

See THIS comment on the current row in the Reform Party....
Nigel Farage called the behaviour of suspended Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe "disgusting" and "contemptible" in private WhatsApp messages seen by the BBC. In the messages, which were sent after Lowe criticised the Reform leader in a Daily Mail interview, Farage accused him of "damaging the party just before elections". Reform has always denied there was any connection between Lowe's suspension and his criticism of the party. In his Mail interview on 5 March, Lowe called Reform a "protest party" led by "the Messiah". He was suspended on 7 March and reported to police over claims he had made threats of violence against party chairman Zia Yusuf. Reform said it had also received allegations of bullying in Lowe's MP offices. Lowe strongly denies all the allegations. He has since accused Farage, external of a "malicious witch hunt" and being motivated "to remove me because I dared to ask questions". Responding to the latest development, external on social media, Lowe said: "These messages unquestionably prove that the Reform leadership has zero integrity. "Nigel Farage must never become prime minister."
I can agree with Lowe's last comment but on the whole the row leaves me cold. Kemi will be enjoying it though......