Economy Minister defends the government’s handling of the energy crisis
Labor accused the government of “going out of office” during a series of crises.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is reportedly taking a week’s vacation in a luxury villa on the Costa del Sol.
His journey comes as millions of households see the cost of living rise from next year during the energy price crisis, the elimination of the temporary increase in universal credit, supply chain problems and higher taxes.
Shadow chief secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “In the face of a crisis she created, the government has given up her resignation.
“The Prime Minister has been on vacation, no one knows where the Chancellor is, and this morning we learned that the Economics Department has stepped into the realms of the imagination.”
Their comments came after Kwasi Kwarteng, Secretary of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said on Sky News that he was working closely with Chancellor Rishi Sunak to help companies weather the energy price crisis.
An anonymous source from the Treasury Department denied this claim, saying of Mr. Kwarteng: “This is not the first time the secretary has made up things in interviews. To be clear, the Treasury Department is not involved in any talks. “
Commenting on the dispute, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said, “If the Treasury Department isn’t in talks with BEIS to help our vital industries during this Conservative government’s energy crisis, why on earth isn’t it?
“What is the Chancellor actually doing?”
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UK Will Override NI Protocol If EU Proposals Are Not Enough – Government Source
A government source told PA news agency that Britain would trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol – which effectively suspends parts of the deal – if EU proposals announced on Wednesday amount to “tinkering on the sidelines”.
The EU will present four papers on how the protocol could work better. It is expected to propose a “national identity” exemption from EU law for third-party meat to allow UK sausages to be sold in Northern Ireland.
Lord Frost wants to ask for further concessions.
Liam JamesOctober 10, 2021 5:06 p.m.
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Great Britain on a new collision course with the EU via Northern Ireland
Brexit Minister Lord Frost will call for “substantial” changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol, including the role of the European Court of Justice in regulating the agreements in Northern Ireland.
The EU is expected to announce an end to the so-called Sausage Wars on Wednesday by proposing that chilled meats can continue to cross the Irish Sea after the current grace periods have expired, but Lord Frost plans to double up and ask for more concessions .
“Without new agreements in this area, the protocol will never have the support it needs to survive,” he is expected to say in a speech to the diplomatic community in Lisbon on Tuesday.
Ireland’s Foreign Secretary Simon Coveney asked whether British ministers “really want an agreed path forward or another breakdown in relations?”
Liam JamesOctober 10, 2021 4:43 pm
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The health inequality between rich and poor has more than doubled
The gap in life expectancy between rich and poor in England has widened into a “growing gap”, according to one report.
The difference in expected lifespan between the richest and poorest areas has more than doubled since the early 2000s, The Guardian reported, citing an analysis of official data from the think tank King’s Fund.
“The data shows a growing gap in health inequalities,” said Veena Raleigh, fellow at the organization.
Lamiat SabinOctober 10, 2021 16:15
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“Energy crisis could lead to more winter deaths” – McDonnell
John McDonnell has warned that the winter energy crisis could contribute to more Covid-related deaths.
The former shadow chancellor said he feared that, unless the government takes action, “alongside the worrying risks of high Covid infection rates and the spread of winter flu, there is a threat of an increase in winter-related deaths”.
However, he raised serious doubts about the ministers’ abilities by calling Boris Johnson’s administration “immobile”.
Lamiat SabinOctober 10, 2021 3:53 p.m.
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£ 3 million wasted on an asylum camp that was never used, Labor says
Ministers “spent recklessly” after spending £ 3 million on a “prison-style” asylum seeker camp that was later scrapped.
Figures obtained from Liberty Investigates show that late last year millions were paid to a construction company to install rented transport cabins on the grounds of the Yarl’s Wood remodeling center in north Bedfordshire.
The plan was to house 187 people for 13 weeks, but the units were never used.
Shadow Immigration Minister Bambos Charalambous said: “This is a shocking example of incompetence and waste by the Home Office.
“The government’s asylum system lacks compassion and competence. Your procrastination has wasted millions of taxpayers. “
Lamiat SabinOctober 10, 2021 3:14 PM
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Patel needs to get clean because of the Channel Crossing Crisis – Labor
Priti Patel “needs to be clear about her strategy” to tackle the number of people migrating to Britain in small boats, said Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds.
It comes after a French minister accused Britain of not paying any of the £ 54 million it pledged earlier this year to prevent thousands of people from making the dangerous journey across the English Channel in small boats.
Mr Thomas-Symonds told Sky News that the fact that more than 1,100 people entered the UK on Friday and Saturday shows that withholding money from France “clearly isn’t working.”
In 2021, more than 17,000 people entered the UK this way.
The Labor MP said: “The Interior Minister needs to get clean because every single person who risks their life in this dangerous sea crossing of the English Channel is one too many.”
He added: “I always thought that the Home Secretary would have to take a different approach.
“While coastal patrols are of course extremely important, preventing people from getting out on the water and risking their lives, that is of course extremely important – but I’m afraid the Home Secretary is overlooking the fact that nobody in northern France becomes a refugee .
“We must also fight the people smugglers and these hideous criminal gangs further from the coast.”
Lamiat SabinOctober 10, 2021 2:30 p.m.
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Iain Duncan Smith ridiculed for equating the pandemic with lightning
Tory MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith was ridiculed online for writing people should go back to their jobs as he claimed during World War II.
The former labor and pensions minister said wartime workers “kept coming back to the office – even when Hitler’s bombs rained down.”
Regarding “too many” officials these days, he said, “Instead of facing this challenge, as the war generation would have done, they desperately raised their hands – before locking the doors and running home on course.
“When I think of all the brave officials who went to work in the 1940s, determined to do their part despite the threat of falling bombs, I wonder what happened to us as a nation.”
People on Twitter pointed out the differences between the pandemic and lightning.
Lamiat SabinOctober 10, 2021 1:45 p.m.
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Pollster warns against overestimating the prime minister’s strength by ignoring average ratings
Focusing on successive polls rather than an average rating “often distorts the truth” and risks overestimating the strength of Boris Johnson’s position, a senior research manager at Opinium has suggested.
He added: “Australia literally overthrew a prime minister (arguably two) for falling behind on ‘X number of polls’.”
Andy GregoryOctober 10, 2021 1:14 p.m.
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Opinion: Conservative conference was a Tory Disneyland where Boris Johnson is Mickey Mouse
Considering her first visit to the Conservative Party Annual Conference Jordan Tyldesley writes: “For those who haven’t been there, the conference is like Tory Glastonbury.
“It’s a place where like-minded people can socialize and imagine a country where ardent right-wing approval is the norm. It’s kind of compact Tory Disneyland and of course Boris Johnson takes on the role of Mickey Mouse.
“Within these boundaries, MPs and delegates are protected from the disapproval that reigns in full crowds just a short walk away. The event hall is a political market where you can shop for ideology, ideas and intellectualism, but also for cheese toasties and Tory souvenirs.
“Boris, Boris, Boris” t-shirts are being sold, but except for one serious fangirl making rounds around the venue, they don’t seem popular. “
Andy GregoryOctober 10, 2021 1:06 p.m.
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Labor attacks the government “out of office” amid an apparent internal dispute
A dispute appears to have arisen between the Treasury Department and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy [BEIS]after Business Secretary Sky News said he was working closely with Chancellor Rishi Sunak to help businesses cope with the energy crisis.
An anonymous Treasury Department source not only denied this allegation to Sky News, but launched a personal attack on Kwasi Kwarteng, saying, “This is not the first time the BEIS secretary has made up things in interviews. To be clear, the Treasury Department is not involved in any talks. “
The spit drew a devastating reaction from senior Labor politicians who accused the government of “ousting them”.
Andy GregoryOctober 10, 2021 12:48 PM