It is a farce that yesterday the government put a Bill through the Commons to “ensure” budget responsibility. It requires the Chancellor to commission an OBR report and forecast when she makes fiscal announcements on spending and or taxes. It is a farce because the Chancellor has announced large additional spending plans on nationalised industries and on public sector wages, over and above the allowed for rises in the last OBR budget assessment. We have not been offered any OBR forecast or comment on the possible inflationary effects of the pay award or of the enlarged spending plans.
It is a farce because the Bill does not course impose any penalty for non compliance on the responsible Minister or government. There will only be budget responsibility if the Chancellor wants it and imposes it. She will decide. If she wants to be responsible she does not need an Act of Parliament to make her so. If she wants to be highly political and stuff more money into public sector wages and nationalised businesses she will be able to do so without penalty.
From the time of New Labour onwards there have been too many laws and targets purporting to bind the government, and not enough concerted and sustained Ministerial action to tackle the underlying problems. This kind of legislation is at best silly and at worst as with some of targets damaging.
September 5, 2024
Good morning.
This is a classic Blair / Brown tactic. Remember all the guff over the indendence of the BoE and financial prudance. Then we had Giddeon Osbourne’s creation the OBR. It is all designed to fool those that this government is doing something it isn’t. A bit like what happened over BREXIT 😉
Smoke and mirrors designed to make you look at one hand whilst they pick your pocket with the other.
September 5, 2024
Agreed Mark. It also has other negatives: extra costs, slower action and reduced flexibility to name three.
More to the point, the public will still (rightly) hold government responsible for state spending.Reeves thinks this wins her brownie points – it doesn’t.
September 5, 2024
Just an aside to government policy and the lunacy of net zero. I’m due to change my car. I had a ride to my local dealer expecting to buy one by next month only to be told it may be March next year depending on how many ZEVs they can shift.
Apparently they are behind on ZEV sales so the Hybrid model I want won’t be available until They catch up.
This is another loss to the treasury as they can’t collect any taxes on the new car.
Incidentally I’ve seen a very low mileage second hand one I may purchase.
Unintended consequences or not.
Milipede has handed all the windmills and mirrors contracts to mainly Danish and Chinese companies. Good well paid jobs only going abroad.
September 5, 2024
+1 Ian Wragg
The electric car nonsense will destroy the car industry. When American sanctions stopped Cuba importing new cars, a back street industry developed to keep their old cars running. These cars are now a tourist attraction!
Could Britain become a 21st century automotive Cuba? A Classic car looks like a good investment.
September 5, 2024
We believe Puerto Rico-on-Thames is the more likely outcome.
September 5, 2024
Indeed then we had Osborne’s “Office for Tax Simplification” and tax complexity doubled. He promised £1 IHT thresholds too – still just £325k now worth about £200k in real terms.
So Blair finally admits free movement “put real strains on our society”. His illegal counterproductive wars crimes on blatant lies not too good either nor his devolution and constitutional and legal changes either.
Isabell Oakeshott in the Telegraph:- Blair is still in denial about the mass-migration emergency
He now admits that free movement put ‘real strains’ on our society, but accepts no blame for today’s crisis.
September 5, 2024
The voting for Tory leader Robert Jenrick 28 Kemi Badenoch 21, Tom Tugendhat with 17, Mel Stride with 16 and Dame Priti 14 eliminated show what a dire 121 largely fake Tory MPs we have. Braverman not even standing – all candidates and prob. nearly all 121 MPs supporting the total scientific, environmental and economic insanity of Net Zero.
September 5, 2024
LL,
No one is interested. How can it object to its own policies Labour are following, ie net stupid, wrecking the economy further and faster etc. The election proved the party is done. They had 14 years but moreover 85 seat majority to change tack and deliver the change and hope the nation desired from a proper Brexit. They deliberately lied and like mass immigration never intended to deliver. The public have woke up to it witnessing with their own eyes the destruction of our nation. Public have already woken up to Labour. (Starmer’s. Ed)anti-semitc party already outed by leading Jewish groups who were given promises by (Starmer Ed) before election. Perhaps we should all fly out for the night for a rave in Ibiza.
Reply I am not posting anything with a nasty name for the PM in future. I have corrected this one but will delete any others.
September 5, 2024
Who is Braverman supporting?
September 5, 2024
We know one thing – the Tory leadership candidates are all losers.
The Sovereign Power legislating to curtail it’s Sovereign Power is not only impossible, but indicates the level of confusion and inadequacy of those individuals in power.
Who exactly are they trying to fool – they might fool themselves but nobody else surely?
September 5, 2024
Starmer:- the partial ban on arms exports to Israel is a “legal decision” claims Starmer. A political decision with two some tier legal claims used to hide behind. Lammy needs to be fired as does Miliband, Cooper, Rayner, Starsi Starmer…
September 5, 2024
They all are unfit for office, they are too self centred , me me me is their only way.
All stummer thinks as an answer is jail- thats the brain of a moron!
September 5, 2024
See David Starkey video on “Tony Blair’s legal reforms”
September 5, 2024
Long interview with Claire Coutinho Shadow Secretary of State of Climate Change and Net Zero on Mike Graham. But she is essentially the same as deluded Zealot Miliband. She uses the same language of “cleaning up the electricity supply by ….” (nothing dirty about CO2 tree food dear. You have a half maths degree from Oxford you must surely be able to understand that:- Net Zero is environmental, economic and climate lunacy? I do not want your or Sunak’s moronic “touch on the brakes” dear, I want a fully immediate handbrake turn now & well before we go off the cliff please. She supports Kemi who has also fallen for net zero lunacy. Kemi too has sort of a science degree (Computer Systems Engineering at Brighton) though alas not Cambridge Maths, Physics or Engineering – but enough to know that Net Zero and enforced “renewables” (there is not such thing as renewable energy) is disastrous con trick.
September 5, 2024
+1 tories …the same old same old
September 6, 2024
Kemi is approved by the WEF, so of course she supports the Net Zero lunacy.
September 5, 2024
Indeed lots of superficial distractions from this dire, even worse than I expected, government – like the Oasis ticket pricing systems, smoking in pub gardens, Milibands economic and environmental lunacy of more wind turbines and the Appalling David Lammy’s evil support for Hamas. What a dire Cabinet of Lammy, Freeze the pensioners Reeves & Miliband, two Tier Keir and Rayner Tory scum scum scum.
September 5, 2024
well said LL, I back that totally!
September 5, 2024
Yes, very well analysed. To which I would add the critical point made indirectly by Sir J.; this is the work of a socialist minister who is lacking in competence and experience. So, no change in government then, with the exception of accelerating the economy toward bankruptcy without responsibility.
No wonder the wealthy are selling up and moving out.
September 5, 2024
@Mark B – When you have mates not qualified for real work you have to find them ways to get on the gravy train it also opens up your own next avenue for payment for nothing.
September 5, 2024
It prompts me to speculate on the need for a Chancellor. Why no leave it to the OBR to set budgets. There are a whole string of Ofwats, Ofgems, etc who perhaps would prefer to govern in place of ministers, and many inadequate ministers who would prefer such an arrangement. It would after all bring them into harmony with the EU where bureaucrats govern and the elected play charards. You are witnessing the ritual emmolation of the Labour Party, convincing the electorate yet again that they are not fit to govern.
A similar farce is being played out in the rump conservative parliamentary party. They are desperately avoiding offering the Conservative membership a real Conservative to vote in as leader. They are in effect standing democracy on its head. The election of a leader should start and finish with the Conservative Party membership. The first task of such a leader should be to block head office selection of would be MPs. You then might achieve Conservative MPs promoting Conservative programnes in Parliament. The current circus is the slow death of Conservatism enacted for the sole benefit of the media. Be thankful that real conservatism has a new home in Reform.
September 5, 2024
@agricola – yup the Country is run by friends of friends all unelected and unaccountable, might as well go the whole hog get rid of the ‘talking-heads’ and save us at least a bit of the money waste.
The UK was never to be allowed to be a democracy, the reason that what passes for a talking shop fights and suppresses the people.
September 5, 2024
A,
What choice is given to the members?, what pro EU left wing remainer would you like? Front runner, EU remainer and freedom of movement Jenrick, or Badenoch who withdrew her own bill that passed House of Commons to scrap EU laws? Which was a central premise for voting to leave the EU!
September 5, 2024
Then we need to elect and sack the members of the OBR.
It does not actually matter whether the Civil Service or MPs govern us, but we, the Sovereign people need to be able to elect and sack whichever it is.
September 5, 2024
A final thought. Parliament has become largely the home of third rate violinists, who are scratching away in a discordant manner while the country burns to a pile of ash. You are well out of it SJR.
September 5, 2024
This government is a farce. On a daily basis ridiculous decisions are being made and idiots being wheeled out to defend them. Examples being the run on the pound from the weekend and Tuesday most weapons suddenly being denied to Israel by the luminary at the FO after advice – which didn’t bother any of our allies. Laughing stock of the G7 and beyond here we come.
September 5, 2024
I think the civil servants have told their minister that they might be asked to do something contrary to international human rights law. In spite of their obligation to obey instruction, they fear the defence “we were only following orders” won’t save them from prosecution. They are probably right.
September 5, 2024
What we are all now seeing is what having a large majority in the House of Commons really means.
Government can simply do as they like, ignore the usual protocols, guidance, and rules, and simply change them to suit what they require.
People may not like it, but that is what is happening, as we have a five year democratic dictatorship.
For their last 5 years the Conservative party wasted its time arguing amongst its self, and failed miserably to get things done and make progress when it had a good majority, hence the reason it was no longer supported by the population.
September 5, 2024
The present collapse of Britain did not happen within two months of a Labour government. We PAID them to do this to us ???
September 5, 2024
And of course it’s a red hole™, not a black hole. When for goodness sake are the pitiful residue of conservative politicians going to shout this from the rooftops. Go Labour, go broke.
September 5, 2024
@Corky – the number of faux Tories dropped from 358 to 121. So 121 out of 650 not really a quantity to be noticed let alone heard. And to think the residue of those that destroyed an 80 seat majority want a return to the continuity of this failure they created.
September 5, 2024
I just hope that most of those former MPs are stuck in the country the same way that I am. Or that if they are abroad their pensions wither to nothing in the ensuing crash.
Unspeakable evils are about to blight this country.
September 5, 2024
It’s a back-covering exercise.
When it all goes wrong the claim will be “we followed the experts'” or “a big boy made me do it.”
And it’s an attempt to ensure that no future Government will be able to stray from the left-wing policies of the Treasury/OBR.
An incoming Reform Government will need to have a Great Repeal Bill ready to go on Day One.
September 5, 2024
@ Donna
Spot on! On all counts!
The most scary is the inability of future governments to change anything! That was always key – the ability for future governments to change bad law etc!
September 5, 2024
Reeves deceives.
September 5, 2024
Labour is a lie, an act of propaganda and the Tories aid and abet that deceit. The OBR is designed as a veneer of accountability and fiscal responsibility, this of course is also designed to deceive.
I for one have had enough of this blatant deception by two parties who genuinely no longer give a toss about anything or anyone.
Those voting Labour and Tory deserve to be damaged by their actions knowing full well they’re themselves voting for a lie
September 5, 2024
Much truth in this, but Reform has no power and is very unlikely to get any certainly not for many years. Even if it does ever gain any how will their MPs and Ministers actually behave in office will some be bought off or become puppets of civil servants?
September 5, 2024
Ah. The Minister of No Responsibility!
September 5, 2024
We have a Cabinet that includes the:
Office of Budget responsibility, taking orders from Minister.
Office of Education teaching 16-18 maths who can’t get a basic pass GCSE.
Chancellor of the Exchequer reducing spending of taxes by stopping Winter Fuel Allowance.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, looks after The Kings’s investments.
Secretary of State for Defence, giving our weapons away to others.
Ministry of Justice, stop laughing everyone.
Secretary of State has overall responsibility for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, intends to cover the country with windmills.
Secretary of State for Transport, ever reducing HS2, paying railwaymen more for poorer services.
Secretary of State for Health oversight of failed NHS delivery and performance.
September 5, 2024
Not that different from the shadow cabinet
September 5, 2024
Not only is this the most extreme government we have had since the 70’s but also appears even more incompetent than the last one.
September 5, 2024
This government is determined to legislate the life out of the economy. The sad part is the government of Blair and Brown did exactly the same. Yet, not one of those restrictive new laws brought in during the previous Labour administrations that ended in 2010, were repealed by the 14 years of a Tory led administration. What does that say about the attitude of Party Politics in Westminster? The Westminster Uniparty is seen for what it is. A group of politicians bonding together from previously opposing parties to progress the internationalisation of rules and conditions around the Western world.
The international policies such as Net Zero, Gender blending, removal of freedom etc. are prioritised at the expense of national interests, and ‘that is a good thing’ according to the BBC anyway.
The Tories had 14 years to sort out the bias at the BBC and did nothing…that is a story for another day.
September 5, 2024
It is the same as the Conservatives making achieving Net Zero by 2050 legally binding, which law was passed without any opposition from anyone in the House.
I see one budget forecast explained to us by a Treasury minister was that if they hadn’t axed the Winter Fuel Allowance it would have led to a run on the pound and a crashed economy. I would have liked to have seen the OBR modelling for that one.
September 5, 2024
It is now quite clear that reeves and Starmer are lying over the supposed ‘black hole’. To the extent that there is any budget deficit at all you can argue there is a ‘black hole’. But it is a lie there was some sort of set of secret numbers which weren’t disclosed.
Insofar as we can discern any central philosophy of this government it is statism. More money for unionised public sector employees with no requirement for improved productivity and ever more laws and regulations to ban things and prevent people doing or spending their money as they wish.
It really is much worse than the Conservatives were. It was quite obvious that this would be so and people now complaining need to remember next time to vote accordingly.
September 5, 2024
It would have helped greatly had the Tories got out of the way in constituencies where Reform could have won but they were so arrogant and entitled that they believed they alone should rule or form opposition/coalition.
The blame rests entirely with the Tories. There was no way we could endorse slow-Labour or mass immigration running at 1,200,000 a year after suffering the pain of Brexit and delivering an 80 seat majority with the explicit instructions NOT to do this.
September 5, 2024
Sir John
You didn’t honestly expect the OBR audits were meant for Labour administration?
Its a bit like Sir Kier having Parliament ensure his personal wealth/pension become a special “tax unregistered” pension – immune from all the punishment and misery he will heap upon the rest of the UK’s citizens by act of Parliament. as the BBC says – ‘The legislation means Sir Keir is exempt from paying tax on pensions savings over £1m’. Living up to the 2 tier Kier title!
September 5, 2024
At least Labour are doing something. It might be sinister or half-witted or simply useless – but at least they are doing things. The last government did a good impersonation of a vacuum.
September 5, 2024
true – they cleaned up.
September 5, 2024
This legislation makes perfect sense. It is the beginning of the Far Left’s goal to emasculate Parliament, the representative of the people, and put the power into the hands of the unelected. Further such legislation is planned by this government.
We already see this with the BoE/MPC deciding monetary policy and the CCC/judiciary sabotaging our energy policy and hence economy with Net Zero policies which can only be described as lunacy.
Such legislation may not affect governments of the Far Left but will be in existence to curb any future elected Parliament’s actions should they try to enact legislation they consider to be not allowable.
September 5, 2024
Then let’s thwart them by demanding that we elect and sack Permanent Secretaries of each department has Ed on a manifesto for that department, in strict order – the Treasury first. Then each ministry prioritises its allocated spending.
The beauty of our uncodified Constitution is that we can respond to unforseeable developments as we choose, so we can counter and ENFORCE democracy, which is the right to sack you law-makers based on the majority will.
September 5, 2024
Such bills give the impression of action, whilst, as you say, doing nothing to tackle any real problem. Also they provide a stick with which lawfaremongers can beat the government.
September 5, 2024
Is there no merit at all in having a Chancellor so candidly reveal her stratagems, much like the Pardoner in Chaucer’s Canterbury tale of that name?
Recall the Pardoner, much like any modern day Chancellor, stands like a cleric at the pulpit preaching against avarice but only to gain the congregation’s money; he does not care for the correction of sin or for their souls.
September 5, 2024
When a Tory squeaked in the chamber someone in the lords objected. Someone demanded a judicial review. Legislation was constantly held up. How come there is nothing of the so called scrutiny going on whilst the awful government run a wreaking ball through the country.
Also getting rid of the remaining life peers will achieve nothing. The danger comes from filling the lords with failed politicians who would be better placed in Parkhurst.
Sir John, you are sorely missed.
After being hounded by the Limp Dems during the election with a rain Forrest of leaflets through my door. My new MP doesn’t even acknowledge the receipt of an email let alone answer it.
September 5, 2024
I don’t think the hordes of ‘failed politicians’ will vote for removal!
September 5, 2024
Of course they won’t. They will never vote to curtail their own extravagance. That’s why those that govern continue to suck the life blood out of the nations finances and its people. I cannot see an end to it. How much are they on. Not a care in the world for any of them.
September 5, 2024
Isn’t this a case of more mist and mirrors?
HMG is doing something, no matter how pointless – that’s worth at least 2 days top spot on the news.
It sounds very important and democratic if you don’t look too closely at the whole thing as our host has done.
Just one more example that we have a a government so vacuous that they have to pull tricks and stunts – mere theatre to hide what they really up to behind the scenes.
September 5, 2024
The Starmer/Reeves hate attitude to Pensioners and to Wealth Creators is disgusting ; the drop in their opinion rating spells out the truth . We cannot possibly put up with 5 years of this disgrace .
September 5, 2024
Roy you are so right.
Let’s look at the facts:
Government spending est for 2024 is 1,226 billion pounds
Winterfuel cancellation saves ?1.6 billion pounds ie 0.13% of the planned spend
And the mythical 21 billion BLACK HOLE is 1.71%
Rounding errors
And they expect us to believe them…if we do, then we deserve all that they are about to dump upon us
September 5, 2024
@Michael McGrath – Ah, but there is no one in the HoC able to speak out, like the rest of us they could be locked up for being right wing terrorists. Although in all honesty do they know basic maths or what balancing a budget is, after all tax is income to those with the law on their side to raid your wallet
September 5, 2024
Quite so, Sir John.
September 5, 2024
Today in Parliament
“Rayner won’t set deadline for removing all unsafe cladding
Angela Rayner has admitted there is no “definitive timeline” for the removal of unsafe cladding from residential buildings, seven years on from the Grenfell Tower fire.”
All those that installed this unapproved cladding were aware of the risk, its well documented (it has been banned by those outside of the EU that control their own just Laws just as the UK used too) but it was cheap EU Manufactured product. They the installers/developers/owners of these facilities were able to self-certificate it to be fit for purpose – on no basis other than they said so.
My opinion – on the basis they assumed full responsibility so no cost should come back to the Taxpayer; no cost should fall on the tenants.
September 5, 2024
257 illegal economic /criminals arrived in the UK yesterday from the safe country of France
September 5, 2024
Royal Society understates Net Zero cost by £500billion. The cost of decarbonising the grid looks unaffordable. £960 billion is £38 billion per year, at a time when we are cutting winter fuel allowance to save less than £2 billion per year. Setting these painful facts out clearly would certainly be politically inconvenient for the Government.’
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/breaking-news-royal-society-understates-net-zero-cost-by-500-million/
Responsibility?
September 5, 2024
The OBR regularly gets things wrong…. and then produces a detailed report which helpfully explains how and why it gets things wrong.
There must be a better way.
https://obr.uk/forecast-evaluation-reports/
September 5, 2024
“It (Bill to “ensure” budget responsibility) requires the Chancellor to commission an OBR report and forecast when she makes fiscal announcements on spending and or taxes.”
So, presumably the OBR’s approval would be necessary before the Chancellor’s fiscal announcements on spending and taxes could become policy and implemented?
This procedure clearly doesn’t apply to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero who has decided we are to have decarbonised electricity by 2030 BEFORE knowing how to actually achieve it as evidenced by his letter to the Director of the National Grid ESO asking how Net Zero electricity can be achieved:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66cda5c1e39a8536eac0532e/sos-chris-stark-letter-clean-power-2030.pdf
Is the “sos” in the file title short for “Secretary of State” or “Save our Souls” ? Perhaps the latter as this needs to be done in just 5 years….
September 5, 2024
I recently signed up to the CnEVPost Newsletter, a Chinese newsletter about their car industry.
It makes truly shocking reading. In August alone they built 1m EVs ! Obviously using coal-powered power stations.
They are without doubt going to wipe out the European industry and severely damage the US and Canadian one. We are ambling towards an economic disaster and our politicians are complicit in letting it happen.
September 5, 2024
Well if they wipe out the European EV industry thats a win for us, isn’t it?
September 5, 2024
I’ve no doubt that our governments knows …but they just don’t care, we’re hitting our net-zero targets and the UN is happy
September 6, 2024
That’s the UN’s objective. To level down the western early-industrialised countries and transfer wealth and opportunities to the “deserving” 2nd and 3rd world countries.
September 5, 2024
To bring cheer to us all
From the Telegraph
Germany could adopt Rwanda plan paid for by UK
Migration commissioner says it could be part of wider EU move to use existing asylum facilities in African nation.
Joachim Stamp, Germany’s migration commissioner, proposed using Rwanda as a third party country for migrants amid growing pressure on the coalition government to restrict and deter asylum seekers from entering the EU. It could be part of a wider move by the EU
Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, said: “Germany’s decision to adopt the Conservatives’ Rwanda scheme is more evidence of support within the EU of the need for a meaningful deterrence.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met in Berlin to discuss ?? Is that what 2TK was offering?
So many open goals from the 20% dictators and no one to challenge them, the faux Conservative leadership want more continuity more failure so are keeping quiet. All sitting MP’s that vote for this shower need removing as soon as possible
September 5, 2024
So we’re funding the French to send their immigrants to the UK and funding the groundwork for Germany to send their immigrants to Rwanda ….I believe that we the UK still contribute funds to the EU Asylum, Migration & Intergration Fund (AMIF) …millions
September 5, 2024
home-affairs.ec.europa.eu, 04/09/2024 ‘Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, 2021-2027’
Except if you can provide a proper reference, I am afraid, dear Glen, you’re, as usual, talking rubbish.
September 5, 2024
‘Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has pledged £84m for projects in Africa and the Middle East to stop illegal migration “at source”‘ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czvxp9d5lrko
September 5, 2024
Labour’s cabinet are sad bunch of cynical jokers who claim the moral high ground based on a Robin Hood illusion whilst setting the ground for robbing the country of aspiration to entrepreneurs.
Glad to see SJR can see how silly they really are.
September 5, 2024
Today only 95 tories voted against the second reading of the Great British Energy Bill …..where’s the opposition !
September 5, 2024
is that 95 out of 121 voted against, or did the missing 26 agree or abstain?
September 5, 2024
94 Tories and 1 DUP voted against
https://votes.parliament.uk/votes/commons/division/1839
September 5, 2024
I agree with e van on smoking.I have recently been to a hotel where outside by the pool in many different areas people were smoking.I was coughing all the time unable to get away from them.Why do people think that they have the right to make others passive smokers
The time ,professional help , expensive medication that these smokers demand for their drug taking habit should not be allowed.If all knew the spin offs due to smoking and the damage caused to all organs and vessels it may discourage starters.
They think they want a cig but in fact ,the body craves for it.
September 5, 2024
Speaking of budgets and responsibility … Isabel Oakeshott has just tweeted out
‘REVEALED on @TalkTV: the public has *no right to know* where asylum seekers are housed and how much taxpayer money is spent on luxuries for their flats/hotels, in case it “damages their mental health and safety,” according to a landmark ruling by Information Commissioner 🙄😲’
*Why* are we not allowed to have an interest in how and where our own money is being spent?
This is outrageous!
September 5, 2024
There is only one answer. If you have the brains and the skills emigrate. This country really is done for. And it didn’t just happen in the last 8 weeks.