‘Level up’ the country by scrapping benefits cut and backing pay rises, Boris Johnson told
Boris Johnson is being urged to “level up” Britain by backing pay rises for workers, scrapping his proposed cut in Universal Credit and tackling child poverty.
The challenge comes from TUC leader Frances O’Grady in a call to the government to protect workers from further pandemics, climate change and the tech revolution.
In her TUC conference speech, Ms O’Grady will claim workers would be nearly £6,000 a year better off now if wages had continued to grow at their rate before the 2008 financial crash.
Frances O’Grady will claim workers could have been nearly £6,000 a year better off now
Her speech comes after the TUC published analysis claiming 660,000 jobs – many in “red wall” constituencies in industrial heartlands – are under threat unless the prime minister speeds up climate change moves towards “net zero”.
Ms O’Grady’s speech, on the first full day of the part-virtual TUC conference, comes ahead of a debate calling on the government to outlaw “fire and rehire” in which the new Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, will make her public debut.
On the final day of the three-day conference, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will address delegates in a dress rehearsal of his party conference speech two weeks later.
Challenging Mr Johnson to deliver on his promises to level up Britain, Ms O’Grady will say: “Ministers tell us they’re going to level up Britain.
“But levelling up means nothing if they freeze key workers’ pay, slash Universal Credit, and the number of kids in poverty soars.
“So, I have a challenge for the prime minister. If levelling up means anything, it must mean levelling up at work and levelling up living standards.”
Sir Keir Starmer is also set to address the conference
The pandemic should be a “catalyst for real change”, she will say, resulting in an economy that “helps working families and communities thrive”.
In a warning for the future, Ms O’Grady will say the UK “must be better prepared for crises”.
“Climate chaos is here already and the longer we put off getting to net zero, the more disruptive it will be,” she will say.
“New tech offers new opportunities – but also poses old threats to jobs. And the market will not save us.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
In full: PM presents ‘vision’ for ‘levelling up’ the UK
And on the need to fix staff shortages and boost living standards, she will say: “Ministers may scratch their heads about how to protect supply chains and fill vacancies.
“Well, here’s a novel idea – let’s make that industry deliver decent conditions, direct employment and a proper pay rise.
“And let’s be clear. After decades of real wage cuts and falling living standards, no one can seriously say working people don’t deserve a pay rise.”
Earlier, another TUC leader said freezing public sector pay and giving NHS workers less than they deserve is “picking the pockets” of the mainly female workforce who have given their all during the pandemic.
TUC president Gail Cartmail said the fact women effectively work the first 64 days of the year for free “makes my blood boil”.
The cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), which halted production for nearly six weeks at its sites, cost the company roughly £200m, it has been revealed.
Latest accounts released on Friday showed “cyber-related costs” were £196m, which does not include the fall in sales.
Profits took a nose dive, falling from nearly £400m (£398m) a year ago to a loss of £485m in the three months to the end of September.
Money blog: Apple launches £220 iPhone ‘sock’ today – fans are divided
Revenues dropped nearly 25% and the effects may continue as the manufacturing halt could slow sales in the final three months of the year, executives said.
The impact of the shutdown also hit factories across the car-making supply chain.
Slowing the UK economy
The production pause was a large contributor to a contraction in UK economic growth in September, official figures showed.
Had car output not fallen 28.6%, the UK economy would have grown by 0.1% during the month. Instead, it fell by 0.1%.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
How cyber attack ‘effectively hacked GDP’
Read more from Sky News:
Telegraph future in limbo again as RedBird abandons £500m deal
Reacting to JLR’s impact on the GDP contraction, its chief financial officer, Richard Molyneux, said it was “interesting to hear” and it “goes to reinforce” that JLR is really important in the UK economy.
The company, he said, is the “biggest exporter of goods in the entire country” and the effect on GDP “is a reflection of the success JLR has had in past years”.
Recovery
The company said operations were “pretty much back running as normal” and plants were “at or approaching capacity”.
Production of all luxury vehicles resumed.
Investigations are underway into the attack, with law enforcement in “many jurisdictions” involved, the company said.
When asked about the cause of the hack and the hackers, JLR said it was not in a position to answer questions due to the live investigation.
A run of attacks
The manufacturer was just one of a number of major companies to be seriously impacted by cyber criminals in recent months.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Are we in a cyber attack ‘epidemic’?
High street retailer Marks and Spencer estimated the cost of its IT outage was roughly £136m. The sum only covers the cost of immediate incident systems response and recovery, as well as specialist legal and professional services support.
The Co-Op and Harrods also suffered service disruption caused by cyber attacks.
Four people were arrested by police investigating the incidents.
Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have scrapped plans to break their manifesto pledge and raise income tax rates in a massive U-turn less than two weeks from the budget.
The decision, first reported in the Financial Times, comes after a bruising few days which has brought about a change of heart in Downing Street.
Read more: How No 10 plunged itself into crisis
I understand Downing Street has backed down amid fears about the backlash from disgruntled MPs and voters.
The Treasury and Number 10 declined to comment.
The decision is a massive about-turn. In a news conference last week, the chancellor appeared to pave the way for manifesto-breaking tax rises in the budget on 26 November.
She spoke of difficult choices and insisted she could neither increase borrowing nor cut spending in order to stabilise the economy, telling the public “everyone has to play their part”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘Aren’t you making a mockery of voters?’
The decision to backtrack was communicated to the Office for Budget Responsibility on Wednesday in a submission of “major measures”, according to the Financial Times.
The chancellor will now have to fill an estimated £30bn black hole with a series of narrower tax-raising measures and is also expected to freeze income tax thresholds for another two years beyond 2028, which should raise about £8bn.
Tory shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said: “We’ve had the longest ever run-up to a budget, damaging the economy with uncertainty, and yet – with just days to go – it is clear there is chaos in No 10 and No 11.”
How did we get here?
For weeks, the government has been working up options to break the manifesto pledge not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT on working people.
I was told only this week the option being worked up was to do a combination of tax rises and action on the two-child benefit cap in order for the prime minister to be able to argue that in breaking his manifesto pledges, he is trying his hardest to protect the poorest in society and those “working people” he has spoken of so endlessly.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Ed Conway on the chancellor’s options
But days ago, officials and ministers were working on a proposal to lift the basic rate of income tax – perhaps by 2p – and then simultaneously cut national insurance contributions for those on the basic rate of income tax (those who earn up to £50,000 a year).
That way the chancellor can raise several billion in tax from those with the “broadest shoulders” – higher-rate taxpayers and pensioners or landlords, while also trying to protect “working people” earning salaries under £50,000 a year.
The chancellor was also going to take action on the two-child benefit cap in response to growing demand from the party to take action on child poverty. It is unclear whether those plans will now be shelved given the U-turn on income tax.
A rough week for the PM
The change of plan comes after the prime minister found himself engulfed in a leadership crisis after his allies warned rivals that he would fight any attempted post-budget coup.
It triggered a briefing war between Wes Streeting and anonymous Starmer allies attacking the health secretary as the chief traitor.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Wes Streeting: Faithful or traitor? Beth Rigby’s take
Read more: Is Starmer ‘in office but not in power’?
The prime minister has since apologised to Mr Streeting, who I am told does not want to press for sackings in No 10 in the wake of the briefings against him.
But the saga has further damaged Sir Keir and increased concerns among MPs about his suitability to lead Labour into the next general election.
Insiders clearly concluded that the ill mood in the party, coupled with the recent hits to the PM’s political capital, makes manifesto-breaking tax rises simply too risky right now.
But it also adds to a sense of chaos, given the chancellor publicly pitch-rolled tax rises in last week’s news conference.
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024