Chris Whiteside's Blog

 The UK has announced a humanitarian response package for Ukraine. This will include £37 million which will support the UN and Red Cross to give vital help to Ukrainian people through winter, as well as partners focusing on the most vulnerable: women, girls, older people and people with disabilities.

Yesterday   the OECD PISA study named England among the highest performing Western countries in education   – whilst in Wales, Labour lets children down with their worst ever PISA test results, showing that only Conservatives can be trusted with our children's future.  Under Labour in 2009, Britain was  25th, 27th and 16th in international league tables for reading, maths and science. This has improved to rank 13th, 11th and 13th with our 15-year-olds performing above the OECD average in the international education league tables. We must not be complacent. the COVID pandemic created great difficulties for students and teachers alike. But these international comparisons show that British schools, particularly those in England, have responded to these challenges better done better than those in many other comparable countries. There is still more to work to be done, but we are making progress, ranking higher than Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Norway. However, Labour-run W

This lovely Sinfonia from the start of Act III of Handel's oratorio "Solomon," immediately precedes the story of the visit to King Solomon of the Queen of Sheba and has long been nicknamed "The arrival of the Queen of Sheba." Today is Advent Sunday, the first day in the Christian Church's year, and the official start of the lead-in to Christmas. Advent means arrival, and the Rector of St James' church in Whitehaven had this piece played at the start of her sermon this morning, to use the arrival of the Queen of Sheba as a metaphor for the arrival of the baby Jesus at Christmas, to which we look forward at Christmas.

 

Celebrating Small Business Saturday  Small and medium businesses make up 99.9 per cent of the 5.6 million businesses in the UK – they employ almost 17 million people and contribute £2.4 trillion to the economy.  That is why the Conservativves are helping small businesses succeed by cutting their businesses rates, cutting the cost of employing staff and keeping corporation tax low. We are also freeing up billions of pounds of Start Up Loans so new businesses are created every day.  By taking the long-term decisions to support these businesses we are supporting local jobs and helping to secure economic growth to fund public services.   We are doing this by: Cutting tax for small and medium businesses , allowing them to focus on their priorities. We have raised the employment allowance to £5,000 which delivers a £1,000 tax cut for small businesses – and we have secured a lower rate of corporation tax for smaller businesses through the Small Profits Rate, meaning smaller businesses do not

 

 

This evening I attended the AGM of Lancashire area Conservatives as Regional Chairman. It was a constructive and friendly meeting chaired by the outgoing area chairman, Sir Robert Atkins and, in the circumstances, a useful reminder that politics does not have to be unpleasant, destructive or extreme. The reason this was a useful reminder is that as I left the hotel where the meeting took place to drive to the next location I needed to be, I put my car radio onto BBC Radio 4 just as a very well-produced but deeply disturbing "Crossing Continents" programme was starting. BBC Radio 4 - Crossing Continents, Florida's political refugees The programme was about certain trends in US politics but trends in American politics, culture and society often spread to the rest of the world, and when I ask myself if it is possible that what was being reported in America could happen here in Britain, I have to answer, yes it could. Lucy Proctor presented a report on people in the USA who a

Today the Prime Minister   unveils over £29 billion of new investment in thriving UK sectors at the Global Investment Summit , creating thousands of new jobs and driving growth across the country.  Attracting global investment in new projects is vital to boosting long-term economic growth, creating highly-skilled jobs, and building a brighter future for families across the country.  Today the Prime Minister unveils £29.5 billion of new investment for thriving UK sectors at the Global Investment Summit, alongside Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, and the world's leading CEOs and investors. This investment – which is triple the sum raised at the last Global Investment Summit in 2021 – will create more than 12,000 new jobs and is a huge vote of confidence in the UK economy.  We are making the UK the best place to invest and do business with the biggest business tax cut in modern history, our culture of innovation and thriving universities – and today’s announcement shows our

It is not just Ukrainians who are suffering from Putin's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine. One man's folly is also costing the lives of thousands of Russians.

"For if one is remembered by a friend, one is never truly gone.”  Timothy Zahn : comment by Mitth'raw'nurudo, later known as Grand Admiral Thrawn, from the novel "Thrawn"

 

Nissan’s £2 billion investment is a huge vote of confidence in our automotive industry. And it secures Sunderland’s future as the UK’s Silicon Valley for electric vehicle innovation and manufacturing.  We’ll back businesses like Nissan every step of the way. 

Having been very busy yesterday I have just watched the new David Tennant and Catherine Tate story's first episode on BBC iPlayer. Best Doctor Who episode for years - strongly recommend it.

 

 

 

Here are twelve ways the Autumn Statement for Growth reduces debt, cuts tax and rewards hard work:  Cutting taxes for 27 million working people from January, rewarding hard work across the country.  We are cutting the main rate of National Insurance Contributions from 12 per cent to 10 per cent. For the average worker earning £35,000 a year, that means a £450 tax cut. Helping people keep more of their hard earned money (Source, HM Treasury,  Autumn Statement 2023 ,  22 November 2023,  link ). Cutting and simplifying tax for two million of the self-employed, supporting the country’s entrepreneurs.  We are abolishing an entire class of NICs and cutting the rate of the NICs top rate from nine per cent to eight per cent – a with an average total saving of around £350 for someone earning £28,000 a year ( Source,   HM Treasury,  Autumn Statement 2023 , 22 November 2023,  link ). Cutting business taxes permanently by £11 billion a year, delivering the biggest business tax cut in modern Britis

 

 

 

 

I must confess that I do not often agree with Labour MP Zarah Sultana, a fact which will doubtless come as no surprise to any regular reader of this blog. But I do think that she was absolutely right, as well as very brave, to condemn Labour's attack advertising against the PM earlier this year as, quote,  “playing on racist tropes of Asian men”. Zarah Sultana added that Labour officials " knew exactly what they were doing "  when they published a picture of the Prime Minister's  face alongside the claim he did not think child sex abusers should go to prison. The adverts,  published on the party’s X (formerly Twitter) account in April , highlighted the number of adults  convicted of sexually assaulting children under 16  who did not go to prison. “Do you think adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should go to prison?  Rishi Sunak doesn’t ,” the poster said. I will add - and this point is coming from me rather than Ms Sultana - that during most of the perio