Sir Keir Starmer ‘badly needs a holiday’ – it’s no surprise after unrelentingly gloomy news
No wonder Sir Keir Starmer is going abroad “for a few days” over New Year. The economic news here in the UK is unrelentingly gloomy.
The prime minister’s spokesman says the latest GDP figures show “the challenge of fixing the economy and public figures is huge and won’t happen overnight”.
Too right. The figures suggest the economy is flatlining and there was no economic growth in July, August and September this year: in other words, since the 4 July election.
But is it the Tories’ fault, as Number 10 claims: the “£22bn black hole” and all that? Or is Rachel Reeves’ budget that’s to blame, as the Tories insist?
Well, the poor growth figures surely can’t be blamed on the budget, because that wasn’t until 30 October, though gloomy predictions may have contributed.
And the “black hole”? Labour ministers constantly blame that for everything from unpopular tax rises to overcrowded prisons, a “broken” NHS and polluted rivers.
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Why has growth ground to a halt?
But it’s not just the disappointing GDP figures that will have Sir Keir heading for the sun lounger. (And, to be fair, the summer riots did wreck his August holiday plans.)
The CBI, which represents scores of UK firms, claims the economy is heading for “the worst of all worlds” and Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey last week expressed alarm over the budget tax hikes.
Cue Tory outrage: shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith slammed “a recession made in Downing Street” and shadow chancellor Mel Stride claimed: “The warning lights are flashing.”
Richard Holden, the shadow paymaster general, even called the chancellor a “modern-day Grinch”, the mean-spirited character who stole a whole town’s Christmas gifts.
The reason: the Tories claim charities will hand over a total of £6.3bn in national insurance payments to HMRC next year, 45% of the near-£14bn donated by the public.
More ominously, Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies warned after the GDP figures that the chancellor may need to “come back for yet more money” next autumn.
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Hold on, though. The chancellor did tell the CBI last month she wouldn’t need to raise taxes again.
Well, yes, but Sir Keir wouldn’t repeat her pledge at Prime Minister’s Questions.
When he appeared before the Liaison Committee of senior MPs last Thursday, the prime minister said: “One of the biggest mistakes, I think, of the last 14 years was the idea that everything could be fixed by Christmas.”
OK. We get the message. Fixing the economy and restoring growth will take time. Even Kemi Badenoch agrees, it seems.
She’s told an interviewer she won’t “rush out” policies and there’s no “quick fix” for the Tories.
“I don’t have as much time as I would like,” she says. Really?
“Four years even, in my view, is not enough time to do what we want to do,” she says, “which is a revolution in terms of how the state works and how our society functions.”
So as we approach the turn of the year, both main parties are asking voters to be patient in 2025. Good luck, as they say, with that.
Bad economic news, bad poll ratings… It was reported at the weekend that Sir Keir “badly needs a holiday” owing to the “relentless strain” of the job, according to friends.
Don’t forget the sun cream, prime minister!
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Nigel Farage has confirmed he wants to deport women asylum seekers back to the Taliban in Afghanistan if he becomes prime minister.
The Reform UK leader’s position on the topic has not been clear, with him previously saying he would send women back to the fundamentalist regime that took over after western militaries withdrew, before now saying he would.
Mr Farage was speaking to Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby at the Reform UK party conference in Birmingham.
Politics live: Govt responds to Farage wanting early election
When asked if he would “detain” women and children and “send them back”, the Clacton MP said “yes”.
Challenged on when he said in August that he was not “discussing” women and children, Mr Farage claimed this was a reference to his desire to seeing men detained on arrival in the UK.
At the time he said he was “very, very clear” on the “deportation of illegal immigrants”, adding: “We are not even discussing women and children at this stage – there are so many illegal males in Britain, and the news reports that said that after my conference yesterday were wrong”
Speaking today, Mr Farage claimed that the UK has a “duty of care” if a four-year-old arrives in a dinghy, for example – but not so for women and men.
“For clarity, those that cross the English Channel will be detained and deported, men and women,” Mr Farage went on.
“Children, we’ll have to think about.”
The Reform leader also rowed back on his pledge to stop all boats within two weeks if he is elected prime minister.
Speaking to the conference yesterday, Mr Farage said: “You cannot come here illegally and stay – we will stop the boats within two weeks of winning government.”
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Watch Farage face questions on his tax affairs
But speaking to Beth Rigby today, he changed tack – saying “the passing of legislation” would be required.
He said the boats would then be stopped within two weeks, or sooner.
In the interview with Rigby, Mr Farage tried to claim he did not say he would end the boats within two weeks of “winning government”.
But the video of his speech, as well as the transcript released by Reform UK, clearly show him saying: “We will stop the boats within two weeks of winning government.”
When asked why he wouldn’t be able to stop the boats within two weeks of winning government, Mr Farage said it was impossible and “no one” can prevent them crossing the Channel.
The Reform UK leader said the law he wants to introduce will be called the Illegal Migration Act once it is passed by parliament.
He confirmed his agenda includes leaving the European Convention on Human Rights, shutting down asylum hotels and housing people at RAF bases instead, as well as deporting Channel migrants.
Mr Farage also claimed that deportation flights would also begin within two weeks of the law changing, and this combination of factors would stop people from wanting to travel from France.
This strategy all depends on Reform UK winning the next general election – which Labour does not have to call until 2029.
However, Mr Farage says he believes the government will collapse in 2027 due to economic pressure and other factors.
Reform are currently well clear of Labour and the Conservatives in the polling, and are targeting next year’s Welsh, Scottish and English local election to try and win more power in councils and national assemblies.
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