UK News and Discussions

[Time_Traveller]

Truss axes national security council, sparking ‘talking-shop’ concerns

Fri 23 Sep 2022 19.53 BST

Liz Truss has scrapped the national security council and merged it with two Boris Johnson-era foreign policy committees in a structure that Labour warned risked diluting the government’s security focus.

Created in 2010 under the coalition, led by David Cameron and Nick Clegg, to better coordinate security policy after the disaster of the Iraq war, the NSC is now to be replaced by a broad eight-strong foreign policy and security council (FPSC).

The NSC brought together senior ministers with spy chiefs and the head of the armed forces to focus on security matters and continued under Theresa May, although it met less frequently when Boris Johnson was prime minister.

John Healey, the shadow defence secretary, said there was a risk that the new committee could become “another Whitehall policy talking-shop”. Britain, he argued, “needs a hard-headed security council ready to act”.

Lord Ricketts, a former national security adviser, said he feared the change would “pull ministers even further towards short-term crisis management and mean that even less time is spent on strategic cross-government thinking – at a time we need that more than ever”.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... p-concerns

[wjfox]

Labour has my vote. ✓

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Keir Starmer unveils green growth plan to counter Liz Truss’s tax cuts

Sat 24 Sep 2022 22.00 BST

Keir Starmer will pledge to deliver a new era of economic growth and permanently lower energy bills by turning the UK into an independent green “superpower” before 2030, through a massive expansion of wind and solar energy.

Announcing details of the plan exclusively to the Observer, the Labour leader says he will double the amount of onshore wind, triple solar and more than quadruple offshore wind power, “re-industrialising” the country to create a zero carbon, self-sufficient electricity system, by the end of this decade.

Starmer says the move – far more ambitious than any green policy advanced by the Tories and the most far-reaching of his leadership so far – would release the British people from the mercy of “dictators” such as Russian president Vladimir Putin over energy bills.

It would also, he says, cut hundreds of pounds off annual household energy bills “for good”, create up to half a million UK jobs, and make this country the first to have a zero-emission power system.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... s-tax-cuts

[Time_Traveller]

Labour has my vote. ✓

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Keir Starmer unveils green growth plan to counter Liz Truss’s tax cuts

Sat 24 Sep 2022 22.00 BST

Keir Starmer will pledge to deliver a new era of economic growth and permanently lower energy bills by turning the UK into an independent green “superpower” before 2030, through a massive expansion of wind and solar energy.

Announcing details of the plan exclusively to the Observer, the Labour leader says he will double the amount of onshore wind, triple solar and more than quadruple offshore wind power, “re-industrialising” the country to create a zero carbon, self-sufficient electricity system, by the end of this decade.

Starmer says the move – far more ambitious than any green policy advanced by the Tories and the most far-reaching of his leadership so far – would release the British people from the mercy of “dictators” such as Russian president Vladimir Putin over energy bills.

It would also, he says, cut hundreds of pounds off annual household energy bills “for good”, create up to half a million UK jobs, and make this country the first to have a zero-emission power system.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... s-tax-cuts

This is the most common sense Starmer has said for awhile. Will keep an eye on this too.

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

Catholics Outnumber Protestants for First Time in Northern Ireland
by Dominic Glover
September 23, 2022

Introduction:

(Courthouse News) — Census results released on Thursday in the United Kingdom have revealed that Northern Ireland’s Catholic population now outnumbers the Protestant community for the first time in the country’s 101-year history.

According to the data collected last year nationwide, 45.7% of Northern Ireland’s population are Catholic or have a Catholic background. This compares to 43.4% stating they are Protestant or from a Protestant background.

Conclusion:

The (polling) data supports the view that the younger generation regard the debate over Northern Ireland’s status as a civil and political question, rather than pertaining to religious identity.

Such a shift is equally noticeable among Northern Ireland’s political parties. The new generation of Sinn Féin’s leadership have proved themselves willing to be far more critical of the Catholic Church’s historic influence over Ireland. Equally, public schisms between the Democratic Unionist Party and the Free Presbyterian Church – traditionally sister organizations both founded by the Reverend Ian Paisley – have become more common in recent years.

In short, Northern Ireland’s complicated and sensitive politics are increasingly hard to simply map onto religious identity. Though the demographic shift announced this week is hugely significant in terms of future political direction, it has also been a long time coming. The more uncertain decline of sectarianism is perhaps of greater importance, as it points towards a polity that can maintain cross-community relations and prevent a return to violence.

Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/catholi ... -ireland/

[caltrek]

What a Falling British Pound Means for the Future and the U.S.
by Rob Wile
September 26, 2022

Introduction:

(NBC News) The British pound plunged to a record low against the U.S. dollar Monday.

It happened after the British government announced it would cut taxes and invest in industry in order to boost growth.

The pound, historically one of the strongest currencies in the world, fell to as low as $1.04 before bouncing back to approximately $1.07. For most of the past few decades, the pound averaged a price of about $1.50 against the dollar.

While a falling pound will be good for British exporters, traders are betting that the budget, unveiled by the new prime minster, Liz Truss, will lead to higher inflation — and have sent the value of the the country's currency plummeting in response.

Britons were already feeling the impact of the pound's decline before its most recent move. British drivers are now paying $5.45 more on average — equivalent to 5 pounds more — to fill up their cars since the beginning of the year as the pound has steadily fallen, The Associated Press reported Monday.

Read more here: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/busin ... rcna49 428

[wjfox]

From 2pm, Keir Starmer is giving his first speech at Labour's party conference in Liverpool.

Livestream –

[joe00uk]

From 2pm, Keir Starmer is giving his first speech at Labour's party conference in Liverpool.

Certainly after today, Labour is much more a government-in-waiting than simply "the opposition". When even the IMF has to issue a statement warning the UK about its reckless policies, you know it's (probably) over the Tories.

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

This is Truss and Kwarteng’s crisis, not yours – but you’re already a lot poorer because of them

In 25 years of reporting, I have never seen a financial crisis so utterly avoidable, and dragging so much human misery in tow

Wed 28 Sep 2022 18.25 BST

British politics is being reshaped this week – but not because of Keir Starmer. After only 22 days as prime minister, Liz Truss is already facing her demise. Party conferences, those jamborees of suited choreography and confected excitement, look utterly irrelevant beside the financial meltdown engulfing the country. Yet politics and finance are, in this moment, deeply bound up with each other. This crisis was largely manufactured by our failing political class and it will now determine their terms of trade. For the rest of us, the result threatens to be austerity 3.0: the third big wave of spending cuts to follow the third crisis in the last 12 years, with even more social wreckage and human misery in tow.

I covered my first financial crisis 25 years ago, in 1997, and I have never before seen one so entirely avoidable as this is. It began with the Tory leadership election in the summer, when Liz Truss promised tax cuts of £30bn in order to win the keys to No 10. It picked up last Friday, as Kwasi Kwarteng unveiled his “plan for growth”, which turned out to be a further £15bn of handouts – and mainly to people who didn’t need them.

It wasn’t just bad economics, it was bad faith. And when it bombed in the next day’s papers, the chancellor promised yet more tax cuts. This was on top of the emergency support on energy bills, costing £60bn for just this winter. The difference being that the energy package was essential and temporary, while these permanent tax cuts were supposed to buy voters and influence party donors.

What was intended as mere bribery has turned out to be a gigantic financial bomb. The pound dived so far that it won a new name: shitcoin. (One wag mused on Reddit: “Apparently britbongs use it to purchase crumpets and tea, but other than that doesn’t have any usage.”) Lending rates in the markets soared, so Halifax and other big mortgage firms had to pull some of their products. The Bank of England essentially lost control over interest rates, while pension funds and other investors began scrabbling around for cash. Finally, today, the Bank started buying government bonds in a bid to quell panic.

A week is a long time in financial wreckage. Thanks to Kwarteng and Truss, you have just got a lot poorer. If you’re a homeowner on a standard variable mortgage or looking to renew, your bills have spiralled. If you have a money-purchase pension or a nest-egg Isa, you probably don’t want to check your balance. Prices for pretty much anything from overseas – from food to T-shirts to cars – have just gone up.

Institutionally, the Treasury’s credibility has been ruined and the Bank of England’s monetary policy destroyed.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... sis-poorer

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Holy shit lol.

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

So, after doing a "massive U-turn" on policy, Trus now argues that she has "acted decisively.'

I know that I don't live in Great Britain, but as somebody who does speak English as his first language...

[wjfox]

[Time_Traveller]

Channel migrants face ‘ban’ on claiming asylum in UK

October 04 2022

Migrants crossing the Channel will reportedly face a ban from claiming asylum in Britain under plans due to be announced by the Home Secretary.

At the Conservative Party conference, Suella Braverman will use her first major speech since taking on the role to set out the proposals, according to The Times.

The new laws – which go further than the Nationality and Borders Act which came into force in June – would impose a blanket ban on anyone deemed entering the UK illegally from seeking refuge, the newspaper said.

The announcement will mark the latest attempt by the Government to curb the growing numbers of Channel crossings after its flagship policy to send migrants on a one-way trip to Rwanda stalled amid legal challenges.

So far this year more than 33,500 people have arrived in the UK after making the journey from France.

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news ... 38633.html

Cuella De Ville is at it again.

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Labour up to 52% now!