Connect with us

Published

on

Lee Anderson has said he regrets not voting for the Rwanda bill and would take back his old job as deputy Tory party chairman if asked.

The outspoken MP told The Telegraph he should have been “brave” and sided with Rishi Sunak instead of abstaining.

His plan had actually been to vote down the bill and he resigned from his government position in order to do so.

Politics Live: Sunak faces Starmer for first time since call to quit

But it later emerged he had abstained, with the Ashfield MP saying he walked out of the “no” lobby because Labour MPs were laughing at him.

Mr Anderson, who believed the bill needed to be strengthened, told the newspaper that with hindsight he should have “accepted democracy” and voted in line with the government.

He previously said that he ended up abstaining because, when he went to vote against the legislation, “the Labour lot were giggling and laughing and taking the mick and I couldn’t do it”.

More on Lee Anderson

Elaborating on the moment he changed his mind, he said: “It wasn’t anything to do with running away or being scared.

“It was a reminder that actually I was letting my colleagues down and I’m not going to give you the satisfaction, that sort of stuff.”

Mr Anderson, a former coal miner, was once a Labour councillor before switching his allegiance to the Tories during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

He quit his party role last week alongside fellow deputy chairman Brendan Clarke-Smith, saying he was unable to vote for something he did not “believe in”.

He said he was “acting on a point of principle” when he quit – but that he would “of course” return to his old role if approached by Mr Sunak.

Read More:
Reform leader denies offering Lee Anderson money to defect to his party
Who is Lee Anderson? Tory MP who said food bank users ‘can’t cook properly

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Sir Simon Clarke should keep quiet’

In the interview, he also weighed in on the recent infighting sparked by Sir Simon Clarke’s broadside against the prime minister.

The former cabinet minister has told Mr Sunak to stand down or risk a “massacre” at the next election, but senior Tories have lined up to criticise his remarks.

Mr Anderson said there was “no chance” of the prime minister being replaced before the next election, playing down reports that “several” no confidence letters had been submitted.

He told colleagues plotting against the PM to “stop being silly”, saying “our only chance to win the next election is by keeping Rishi in Number 10”.

He went on to say he would not “knife the Conservatives in the back” by joining Reform UK, which is to the right of the Tories.

And he said he would vote for Donald Trump in a US election if he was American, because he “couldn’t vote” for Joe Biden.

Continue Reading

Politics

NY Supreme Court allows Greenidge to keep mining, but challenges remain

Published

on

By

NY Supreme Court allows Greenidge to keep mining, but challenges remain

The state Department of Environmental Conservation botched the permitting process, but it still gets a do-over.

Continue Reading

Politics

UK economy grows by 0.1% between July and September – slower than expected

Published

on

By

UK economy grows by 0.1% between July and September - slower than expected

The UK economy grew by 0.1% between July and September, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

However, despite the small positive GDP growth recorded in the third quarter, the economy shrank by 0.1% in September, dragging down overall growth for the three month period.

The growth was also slower than what had been expected by experts and a drop from the 0.5% growth between April and June, the ONS said.

Economists polled by Reuters and the Bank of England had forecast an expansion of 0.2%, slowing from the rapid growth seen over the first half of 2024 when the economy was rebounding from last year’s shallow recession.

And the metric that Labour has said it is most focused on – the GDP per capita, or the economic output divided by the number of people in the country – also fell by 0.1%.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Pic: Reuters

Reacting to the figures, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said: “Am I satisfied with the numbers published today? Of course not. I want growth to be stronger, to come sooner, and also to be felt by families right across the country.”

“It’s why in my Mansion House speech last night, I announced some of the biggest reforms of our pension system in a generation to unlock long term patient capital, up to £80bn to help invest in small businesses and scale up businesses and in the infrastructure needs,” Ms Reeves later told Sky News in an interview.

“We’re four months into this government. There’s a lot more to do to turn around the growth performance of the last decade or so.”

New economy data tests chancellor’s growth plan

The sluggish services sector – which makes up the bulk of the British economy – was a particular drag on growth over the past three months. It expanded by 0.1%, cancelling out the 0.8% growth in the construction sector.

The UK’s GDP for the most recent quarter is lower than the 0.7% growth in the US and 0.4% in the Eurozone.

The figures have pushed the UK towards the bottom of the G7 growth table for the third quarter of the year.

It was expected to meet the same 0.2% growth figures reported in Germany and Japan – but fell below that after a slow September.

Read more from Sky News:
Chancellor vows to rip up financial red tape
Massive winter fuel payment ‘cut’ no one ever talks about

The pound remained stable following the news, hovering around $1.267. The FTSE 100, meanwhile, opened the day down by 0.4%.

The Bank of England last week predicted that Ms Reeves’s first budget as chancellor will increase inflation by up to half a percentage point over the next two years, contributing to a slower decline in interest rates than previously thought.

Announcing a widely anticipated 0.25 percentage point cut in the base rate to 4.75%, the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) forecast that inflation will return “sustainably” to its target of 2% in the first half of 2027, a year later than at its last meeting.

The Bank’s quarterly report found Ms Reeves’s £70bn package of tax and borrowing measures will place upward pressure on prices, as well as delivering a three-quarter point increase to GDP next year.

Continue Reading

Politics

US gov’t job could allow Elon Musk to defer capital gains tax

Published

on

By

US gov’t job could allow Elon Musk to defer capital gains tax

The ‘DOGE’ department proposed by Elon Musk could allow the Tesla CEO to divest many of his assets and defer paying taxes.

Continue Reading

Trending