No 10 claims delays at Dover not brought on by Brexit
On the Downing Road foyer briefing the prime minister’s spokesperson insisted that the delays at Dover seen over the weekend weren’t brought on by Brexit. He stated the issues had been all the way down to a mixture of things “together with a scarcity of French border management workers”. He went on:
So these should not scenes that we expect are necessitated by leaving the European Union.
We expect we have now operational procedures and processes in place that don’t must see these ranges of queues.
Requested whether or not the UK would really like the French to cease stamping travellers’ passports, the spokesperson stated:
Usually talking we have now an excellent relationship working with our French counterparts on these juxtaposed controls.
It’s for, clearly, particular person governments to resolve the right way to perform checks on the border. Our view is that these ought to be completed proportionately and sensibly given the nice working relationships that we have now.
Requested whether or not the federal government thought the French method to controls on the border was proportionate and wise, the spokesperson replied:
It’s not for me to cross judgment.
We did see important enhancements over the weekend the place they deployed extra workers which has considerably lowered congestion, and that’s welcome, and we’ll proceed to have discussions with our French counterparts to make sure that there may be adequate planning forward of any improve as we transfer into subsequent weekend.
The French authorities insists that Brexit is a significant factor. And consultants agree.
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In his speech this morning Keir Starmer stated that due to the UK’s current document of low progress in recent times “the typical British household is £8,800 poorer than their equivalents in different superior international locations”. The publish initially stated £1,800, as a result of I misheard the determine, however I’ve now corrected it. (See 10.41am.)
Starmer was quoting a determine implied by this report from the Decision Basis thinktank. In its press launch summarising the report, the RF stated:
Britain’s poisonous mixture of low progress and excessive inequality has left it trailing behind the comparable economies of Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands, with disastrous penalties for low- and middle-income households …
Evaluating the UK, to not the world’s most efficient or equal international locations, however to a bunch of 5 comparable nations – Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands – the report illustrates the dimensions of Britain’s challenges, but additionally catch-up potential. If the UK had the typical revenue and inequality ranges of those international locations, typical family incomes in Britain can be a 3rd increased – equal to £8,800 per family – and people of the poorest households 40 per cent larger.
Renationalising companies like vitality and rail can be pragmatic, says Corbyn’s former coverage chief
Andrew Fisher, head of coverage for Jeremy Corbyn when he was Labour chief, informed Radio 4’s World at One which it was “very foolish” for the social gathering’s management to rule out renationalistation of utilities on price grounds. Referring to Rachel Reeves’ feedback in an interview this morning (see 11.33am), he stated:
The rationale why personal corporations need water and rail and vitality in personal possession is as a result of they generate income out of it. They’re income producing belongings. So for those who take them into public possession, you then achieve that income producing asset. So it truly brings in cash.
That appears to me a really foolish factor for Rachel Reeves to have stated. The vitality corporations are making big income.
Fisher stated that Keir Starmer stated he would take a realistic, slightly than an ideological, method to renationalisation. (See 12.50pm.) Fisher went on:
Effectively, there’s a really sturdy pragmatic case for public possession of vitality, of water, of the railways, which is why all three of these issues are in public possession all through most of Europe.
Fisher additionally stated that Starmer’s concentrate on progress within the speech was probably problematic for Labour. He defined:
Clearly we’re in some extent the place we may dip into recession in the meanwhile … However by the point of the following election the economic system will in all probability be rising once more, as a result of economies decide up after recessions, they are typically pretty brief, after which the economic system revives. And the fear is that, if the Tories are delivering progress at that time, what else is Labour saying?
Earlier Fisher posted this on Twitter to point out the polls recommend the general public is in favour of renationalising utilities.
{Photograph}: Leon Neal/Getty Photos
That is from Rishi Sunak, the previous chancellor and Tory management candidate, who has been campaigning in Staffordshire.
Downing Road says the delays we’ve seen at Dover should not brought on by Brexit. (See 1.43pm.) However my colleague Lisa O’Carroll has written an explainer on the site visitors delays on the port and, in response to the query, “Is Brexit accountable?” she writes: “To a big diploma, sure.”
Who’s proper? Effectively, Lisa, clearly.
Right here’s an extract from her Q&A.
Criticising the French, as [Liz Truss, the foreign secretary] did, was to disclaim the implications of the arduous Brexit the UK Conservative authorities fought for and gained.
The port dealt with nearly 142,000 passengers over the weekend and every of these passports needed to be manually stamped due to Brexit, taking the typical time every passenger needed to spend at passport management from 48 seconds to 90 seconds.
Writing within the French English-language newspaper, the Native, the veteran commentator John Lichfield stated “strictly talking” the gridlock was not the fault of Brexit however “the fault of successive British governments who’ve failed to arrange for Brexit and failed to teach the British public on what Brexit means”.
And right here is her full article.
Jeremy Corbyn, the previous Labour chief, has implicitly criticised the speech given this morning by his successor, Keir Starmer. In a collection of tweets, Corbyn restated his name for the renationalisation of rail, vitality, water and mail (Labour manifesto commitments in 2019), saying Labour wanted to supply a “daring different”.
It is a price of dwelling disaster the place greed, income and inequality proceed to develop.
There are extra billionaires and extra individuals pressured into utilizing meals banks than at every other level in historical past.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) July 25, 2022
This scandal calls for quick motion.
The way in which ahead must be a radical financial different, together with public possession of rail, vitality, water and the Royal Mail.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) July 25, 2022
We should recognise that the majority employees have seen cuts in wages over the previous decade, while bosses take dwelling document pay and bonuses.
Now could be the time for a daring different to the poverty, distress and desperation confronted by tens of millions of households in our communities and workplaces.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) July 25, 2022
Labour ‘is dedicated to public possession of rail’, says shadow transport secretary
Louise Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, has stated that Labour is “dedicated to public possession of rail” – though her chief, Keir Starmer, didn’t sound notably eager on the coverage when requested about it this morning. (See 12.50pm.)
Our good Mayors are main the best way, placing passengers again on the coronary heart of our public transport system.@UKLabour is dedicated to public possession of rail and placing the general public again accountable for our bus community to drive down costs, enhance companies and meet internet zero. https://t.co/nUbQiJFowA
— Louise Haigh (@LouHaigh) July 25, 2022
What a dedication to public possession of rail would possibly imply in follow is just not particularly clear. Beneath the Tories the Northern Rail and east coast mainline companies have been renationalised as a result of their personal sector operators had been failing. And in the course of the pandemic, after the federal government agreed to tackle the monetary threat of rail franchises, the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics argued that in accounting phrases (by way of how debt is measured) the entire service had been nationalised.
Starmer’s economic system speech reveals he desires to ‘undertake Tory insurance policies wholesale’, SNP claims
And the SNP has accused Keir Starmer of adopting Tory insurance policies. That is from Kirsten Oswald, the SNP’s deputy chief at Westminster.
Keir Starmer’s rhetoric on the economic system and progress would carry an oz. of credibility if his social gathering weren’t the handmaidens of disastrous Tory insurance policies that are harming the UK economic system, hammering companies, and making us all poorer.
The fact is that whereas the Tory management candidates try to out-Thatcher Thatcher, Keir Starmer believes that Labour’s path again to energy is to undertake Tory insurance policies wholesale – whatever the harm they’re doing to the economic system.
On Brexit, freedom of motion, privatisation – you’ll be able to not put a chunk of paper between the 2 fundamental Westminster events.
Starmer’s opposition to nationalisation ‘neoliberal dogma’, says Momentum
Momentum, the Labour group set as much as help Jeremy Corbyn and his agenda when he was chief, has dismissed Keir Starmer’s feedback on nationalisation this morning (see 12.50pm) as “neoliberal dogma” slightly than good politics.
Public help for nationalisation:
🚆Rail: 64%
⚡️ Vitality: 60%
🌊 Water: 50%This is not good politics. That is neoliberal dogma.https://t.co/B7sO9QU33L
— Momentum 🌹 (@PeoplesMomentum) July 25, 2022
On the Downing Road foyer briefing the prime minister’s spokesperson additionally stated it had been Boris Johnson’s “sturdy want” for Ukraine to host subsequent yr’s Eurovision tune contest. Commenting on the choice to carry it within the UK as a substitute, after the European Broadcasting Union determined it coud not safely be held in Ukraine, the spokesperson stated:
It’s deeply regrettable {that a} Ukraine-hosted Eurovision won’t be attainable.
However we’re assured the BBC and UK will pull out all of the stops to verify it’s an occasion that celebrates and honours the nation, the individuals and the creativity of Ukraine.
The spokesperson additionally stated that in talks with the Ukrainian president, Volodymur Zelenskiy, final week, Johnson and Zelenskiy “agreed that wherever Eurovision 2023 is held, it should have a good time the nation and folks of Ukraine”.
Liz Truss has “no plans in the meanwhile” to document an interview with Andrew Neil, her marketing campaign says. (See 1.37pm.)
No 10 claims delays at Dover not brought on by Brexit
On the Downing Road foyer briefing the prime minister’s spokesperson insisted that the delays at Dover seen over the weekend weren’t brought on by Brexit. He stated the issues had been all the way down to a mixture of things “together with a scarcity of French border management workers”. He went on:
So these should not scenes that we expect are necessitated by leaving the European Union.
We expect we have now operational procedures and processes in place that don’t must see these ranges of queues.
Requested whether or not the UK would really like the French to cease stamping travellers’ passports, the spokesperson stated:
Usually talking we have now an excellent relationship working with our French counterparts on these juxtaposed controls.
It’s for, clearly, particular person governments to resolve the right way to perform checks on the border. Our view is that these ought to be completed proportionately and sensibly given the nice working relationships that we have now.
Requested whether or not the federal government thought the French method to controls on the border was proportionate and wise, the spokesperson replied:
It’s not for me to cross judgment.
We did see important enhancements over the weekend the place they deployed extra workers which has considerably lowered congestion, and that’s welcome, and we’ll proceed to have discussions with our French counterparts to make sure that there may be adequate planning forward of any improve as we transfer into subsequent weekend.
The French authorities insists that Brexit is a significant factor. And consultants agree.
Sunak challenges Truss to comply with interview with Andrew Neil, as he has completed
Rishi Sunak has challenged Liz Truss to comply with be interviewed by Andrew Neil, after it was confirmed that he’ll document an interview with Neil for broadcast on Friday. (See 1.20pm.)
Neil is broadly seen as probably the most ferocious political interviewer in British broadcasting in the meanwhile – partly due to his combative model, however largely as a result of he’s all the time remarkably nicely briefed, with the outcome that he can regularly depart his interviewees trying inept.
Sunak is thought to be a greater media performer than Truss, and this may occasionally assist to clarify why he has agreed to sit down down with Neil. However his determination to just accept the Neil invitation, and problem Truss to do likewise, can be indicative of his standing because the underdog within the contest. Candidates who’re nicely forward in an election (because the polling suggests Truss is) are sometimes reluctant to debate as a result of they’ve little to realize and far to lose.
The Truss marketing campaign has not stated but whether or not or not Truss will grant Neil an interview.
