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Alex Wickham: Exclusive by @LucyGJWhite...

Exclusive by @LucyGJWhite Reform makes plans for early election A person close to Reform says the party has become increasingly concerned Andy Burnham might call an election to take advantage of the recent decline in Nigel Farage’s fortunes triggered by revelations about the party’s finances They express concerns that Reform won’t be ready and has yet to create policy in key areas like foreign affairs, defence and education, and that it’s missing spokespeople on important beats As a result Reform is rapidly drawing up a skeleton manifesto and speeding up candidate selection, running assessment centres over the summer, they say Reform will also try to regain some impetus from Burnham by launching an attack on small-boat crossings next week A Reform official confirms the party is speeding up candidate selection and that work is ongoing to produce a manifesto, but insists they’re optimistic about their chances should Burnham call an early election

Alex Wickham: BP’s decision to sell its North Sea...

NEW by @Joe_Mayes @MitchellFerman @EllenAMilligan BP’s decision to sell its North Sea business leaves a pivotal decision for Andy Burnham and marks a critical moment for Britain’s dwindling oil and gas industry North Sea producers have criticised Tory and Labour governments since the 2022 windfall tax, arguing investing there is no longer competitive Trump wants Burnham to change tack and the new PM let the president believe he would in their first call But the reality is it’s politically contentious with environmentalists and Labour MPs opposing new drilling. That’s now been made even harder by the wildfires in Europe Despite his rhetoric it appears Burnham is in reality just looking at doing what Keir Starmer likely would have done eventually, ie tie-backs, Jackdaw and Rosebank, rather than any major change in policy That risks upsetting both sides: Trump, trade unions and the oil and gas industry for whom it might not be enough, and the green-minded side who don’t want any more drilling BP’s move “should be a defining moment for the new prime minister,” says Russell Borthwick, chief executive of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce. “This decision is another stark reminder that confidence in the UK continental shelf has been badly shaken after years of policy uncertainty, punitive taxation and mixed messages about the future of the industry.”

Alex Wickham: Andy Burnham’s social care speech signals...

Andy Burnham’s social care speech signals that a major new policy will come in autumn 2027 at the earliest, indicating tax rises will likely be needed to pay for it He says Louise Casey will expedite her review so it’s completed a year from now. The review will consider how to pay for a new social care policy. Casey is launching a national conversation about it From the fiscal perspective this suggests no new policy until at least autumn 2027 and therefore that Burnham and John Healey will not need to find new money for it at this year’s budget Asked about tax rises, he says he thinks it’s possible to do “much more” within existing budgets but that “difficult decisions” will be required. That suggests he accepts tax rises are likely needed to pay for the policy. He recommits to Labour’s manifesto pledges There were no real details today about what sorts of options Burnham and Casey are looking at, but a cast iron commitment to fix social care He says “it is a major dereliction of public duty” that successive governments have not fixed social care, calling it “shameful.” Says “social care in England is as unfair as American healthcare” He says people may be feeling deja vu, criticising 22 social care reviews in the last three decades, but vows “this time we are going to do it” Burnham says he’ll look at how to improve working standards for care workers, and hold talks with other parties to try to build a consensus (although the Tories and Reform say they won’t support new tax rises)

Alex Wickham: Exclusive by @ChaplainChloe...

Exclusive by @ChaplainChloe Labour MPs warn Andy Burnham he’ll lose their support if he makes “punitive” welfare cuts. It’s the first warning to the new PM from the party’s left After Burnham’s comments about cutting the welfare bill on Monday, one MP says he has to be careful not to repeat Keir Starmer’s mistake of focusing on savings rather than fairness. Without proper engagement with MPs he risks having cuts blocked by the party, they say Another Labour MP, Kim Johnson, says she’s concerned the appointment of John Healey as chancellor “signals a return to a ‘warfare, not welfare’ approach” “If the new leadership believes it can revive the failed politics of welfare cuts instead of asking the wealthiest to pay their fair share, it will be repeating not only Keir Starmer’s mistakes but fourteen years of Tory austerity,” Johnson said. “If the first instinct of a new leadership is to target disabled people and low-income families rather than challenge the wealth and inequality at the top of society, then nothing has been learned” John McDonnell says welfare reform “must be based upon a strategy of providing positive support to people rather than punitive sanction”

Pat Condell: Yeah, sure...

Yeah, sure. This is the man who said there was no evidence that Muslim rape gangs operated in London. It later emerged that he had read police reports to the contrary. He knew very well that Muslims were raping children in London, yet when repeatedly asked about it in the London Assembly he pretended not to understand the question. In a sane country an elected official who behaved like that would go to prison. The police have now identified more than four thousand historical cases they intend to investigate where the Muslim mayor said there were none, while telling us over and over that we should celebrate diversity - as if there’s any diversity in a Muslim ghetto. The mayor gets chauffeured everywhere in an armour-plated vehicle to protect him from the diversity, while reciting his favourite mantra that diversity is our strength. And a lot of stupid white people believe him, until diversity robs them at knifepoint or rapes their daughter and they find out what it really means. Diversity is such a strength that women can’t go out for an evening without being harassed or molested or worse by diversity with its penis out. If you’re walking in central London, don’t glance at your phone for a second too long or diversity on a bike will snatch it away. Maybe you’ll take the tube, if diversity isn’t urinating on the train. Or catch a bus, if diversity isn’t taking a dump at the bus stop. And then lunch, if diversity isn’t brawling in the food court. And afterwards some shopping, if diversity isn’t rampaging through the store assaulting and looting. In London, and in every other city in Britain we now take immigrant lawlessness for granted. Nobody feels safe on public transport any more, especially not at night. And hardly a day goes by without another stabbing or another rape by another imported tyre-swinger. But crime is falling? No, London is falling. Of course recorded crime will fall if the police, known for their double standards, choose not to record it. The population of London is now barely one third white because white people are moving out to get away from the violent diversity. In a generation or so at this rate London will be indistinguishable from Karachi or Lagos, and this Pakistani Muslim mayor can’t wait to see it happen.
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