Chris Whiteside's Blog

 

An increase in the National Living Wage   will come into effect tomorrow , 1 April , providing millions of workers with a pay rise of at least 9.7 per cent and helping to tackle the cost of living.  Despite turbulent global economic conditions, Britain' labour market has remained strong and unemployment low – so it is right that to support workers, especially those on low incomes, where this is possible.  That is why the government has announced that a National Living Wage increase will come into effect from 1 April, rising 9.7 per cent for those aged 23 and over, 10.9 per cent for 21 and 22 year olds, and 9.7 per cent for younger workers and apprentices. This change is the largest ever cash increase in the National Living Wage – boosting the pay for millions of workers. 

  It has been announced that  the UK will join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership .   This will be the biggest trade deal since Brexit – boosting UK exports by £1.7 billion, creating better paid jobs as we grow our economy.  Following 21 months of negotiations, the UK government has now we signed an agreement to become the first European country to join the CPTPP bloc. This will open up British businesses up to an area with 500 million people and a market worth £11 trillion. This deal will benefit British businesses of all sizes, in all corners of our United Kingdom, and help deliver on our promise to grow the economy.

"Keir Starmer said “we haven’t had economic growth for 12 years” . This is incorrect .  The UK economy has grown every year since 2010, except for one year: 2020." (Statement from Channel 4 Factcheck. You can find the full statement, including links to sources proving that the Labour leader was making an untrue statement, by clicking on the link below: FactCheck: Starmer incorrectly claims economy hasn’t grown for 12 years – Channel 4 News )

 

  Today the government  announced our multi billion pound plan, Powering Up Britain , strengthening our energy security by delivering cheap, clean, British energy and creating new jobs as we grow the economy. Putin’s weaponisation of energy has led to household bills soaring and economic growth slowing around the world. We stepped in to shield people by paying around half the typical energy bill, but we must go further to secure our long-term energy security and prosperity. So the government has announced a multi billion pound plan, "Powering Up Britain," to boost renewables, deliver the next generation of nuclear, make a world-leading commitment to Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage and reduce household bills by increasing energy efficiency.  Today’s plan secures the future of our energy system, increases our energy efficiency, bring bills down and harnesses the new jobs created on our path to net zero as we grow the economy. 

"We have seen what can happen when global energy supplies are disrupted.  That’s why we need an energy revolution.   Our Energy Security Plan will drive down households bills long-term, grow our economy and boost energy security - powering Britain, from Britain." (Prime Minister Rishi Sunak referring today to the "Powering up Britain" plan which has just been launched)

 

 

 

The Prime Minister confirmed the government's commitment to change the culture in policing, to restore confidence and trust in light of the findings of Dame Louise Casey’s report into the Metropolitan Police.  The abuse of power by people who are in a position of trust, revealed through the cases of David Carrick and Wayne Couzens as well as Baroness Casey’s report is shocking and wrong – as the Prime Minister has repeatedly underlined. That is why we are ensuring the College of Policing is currently updating the statutory Vetting Code of Practice for police officer that all forces legally have to follow, and all police forces are in the process of checking their officers against the police national database.  It is right that the government – alongside the Met Police and the Mayor of London’s Office – take the time to carefully consider the report and drive the changes needed to restore trust and keep people safe. 

 

The government has   announced £1.8 billion to boost energy efficiency and cut emissions from more than 115,000 homes and public buildings across England , saving households money on their energy bills whilst also growing our economy.  We know this is a difficult time for families, which is why the government is covering around half a typical household’s energy bill this winter, but more can be done to bring down bills in the long term.  That is why the government has announced we are investing £1.8 billion to upgrade more than 115,000 homes across England to improve their energy efficiency and save residents up to £400 on their bills. We have also awarded £409 million to reduce the carbon emissions of public sector buildings across England This scheme will help deliver on the Conservative promise to grow the economy and create better paid jobs, whilst supporting families across the country with the cost-of-living.

Also last week the Prime Minister visited Wales and announced the locations of two new freeports in Wales , boosting Welsh jobs and investment as we grow the economy.  Spreading investment across the United Kingdom is central to our plan to grow the economy and our decision to establish two Welsh freeports will help secure a brighter future for the people of Wales. That is why the government has announced that Wales will get two new freeports with one in Anglesey and another at the Celtic Freeport site in South Wales. The new sites will bring forward almost £5 billion in private and public investment and create over 20,000 new, high-skilled jobs, backed by up to £26 million each in UK Government funding delivering on our pledge to grow the economy and level up the whole of the UK

Last week   the Seafarers’ Wages Act received Royal Assent and is now law , boosting the pay of seafarers with close ties to the UK and cracking down on unfair practices.  Thousands of seafarers regularly entering UK waters should enjoy better pay protections and following the P&O Ferries case in 2022, we promised we would work swiftly to implement our nine-point plan for seafarers.  This new law is a key strand of our nine-point plan for seafarers, designed to protect those working on vessels operating an international service from being paid less than the National Minimum Wage. It will also require authorities to charge operators of vessels who do not provide evidence they are paying their seafarers the equivalent to the National Minimum Wage. Our maritime sector is world-leading thanks to the thousands of hardworking seafarers working tirelessly to maintain supply chains and this Act ensures these workers are protected and rewarded.

 

 

Andrew Bridgen now sits as an Independent having been suspended from the parliamentary Conservative party , a decision I entirely support. As I wrote here in another context, I strongly disapprove of anyone who uses inappropriate comparisons to the Holocaust to describe something they disagree with, and that applies whoever the person doing it is, whether in the Labour party or on the political left, or whether they are Conservatives or on the right. If somebody making that kind of grotesque and offensive comparison, and repeating ridiculous conspiracy theories put out by Kremlin propagandists, the Conservative party is entitled to say, if you are spouting things like that, you cannot represent us. Penny Mordaunt said of some of the conspiracy theories he has repeated "If he believes them, I pity him" and I agree with Penny. However, Bridgen remains an elected MP, and things he says in parliament are a matter of public interest. They should not be censored. The latest edition...

 

 

Sir John Elliot Gardiner is one of my favourite conductors and I often listen to performances which he conducted - here is an example.   I was not in the least surprised that he was chosen to conduct some of the music which will be performed at the King's Coronation. However, I imagine that I was not the only person who was taken aback when a radio interview about the coronation turned out to be a full-on broadside from Sir John aimed at "the powers that be" including the government and the BBC. In particular, Sir John was very exercised at the proposal by the BBC, since suspended but, unfortunately, not one which can be taken for granted to have been abandoned, to axe the BBC Singers. The BBC Singers is a wonderful choir and it would be a grotesque act of cultural vandalism to shut them down. As of this moment  149,583 people have signed the petition against the closure of the BBC Singers. I am one of the: if you would like to add your name you can do so by clicking on t...

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak  welcomed Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Downing Street yesterday for talks on strengthening the close partnership between the United Kingdom and Israel. The two leaders welcomed the signing of the UK-Israel 2030 Roadmap this week, which will drive our bilateral relationship forward and commit £20m in funding for joint science and technology projects over the next decade. They expressed their backing for a modern free-trade agreement with cutting-edge service provisions and said their teams would work to progress this at pace. The leaders discussed shared security and defence challenges, including Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and the threat posed by Iran to regional stability. The Prime Minister set out the UK’s analysis of the situation in Ukraine and the importance of continued international support to defend their sovereignty. On Iran, they discussed the UK and Israel’s significant concern about Iran’s destabilising activity, an...

This week   the Prime Minister hosted Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama at Downing Street , discussing our shared ambition to deepen the UK-Albania relationship and tackle issues such as illegal migration and our plan to stop the boats.  As NATO allies the UK and Albania have a shared interest in addressing global and regional threats and strengthening our bilateral relationship. The Prime Minister hosted Edi Rama at Downing Street and again welcomed the significant contribution of the long-standing Albanian community in the UK. The leaders discussed increased operational cooperation, including joint upstream communications to deter illegal people smuggling gangs from travelling in boats and welcomed progress to date, with around 800 illegal migrants returning to Albania since December. By tackling our shared issues, such as illegal migration, together we have a better chance of dismantling the criminal gangs that threaten human life in the Channel.

Don't forget that the UK switches to British Summer Time in the early hours of tomorrow morning and we lose an hour's sleep tonight.

 

 

I have been exceptionally busy this past fortnight, with the final burst of meetings as we wind up CCC and a lot going on in my work and personal life. Consequently there have been fewer posts than usual, and some have arrived late, and I have been very slow in going through and releasing perfectly legitimate comments.  Please accept my apologies for this. I hope to catch up with the backlog this weekend or early next week.

Overheard during a discussion yesterday just after the last meeting of Cumbria County Council (I'm not going to tell you the name or party affiliation of the councillor who said it and this quote should not be assumed to be an endorsement of anything other than the PM and the Windsor Framework, which I absolutely endorse.) "I feel rather sorry for what Boris Johnson and Liz Truss have done to themselves - they've made Steve Baker look like the voice of sanity."

 

 

"The Windsor Framework is a turning point for Northern Ireland.  It is a dramatic step forward for the people of Northern Ireland and we should take it with a good heart." (Steve Baker MP on twitter, in a tweet which also included this graphic)

Originally this post contained a quote about free speech and respect from J.K. Rowling.  There are plenty of things about which I disagree with her, but she is absolutely right to stress the need to handle disagreements in a constructive way and respect those we disagree with. Unfortunately the image I originally linked seems to have disappeared and I cannot trace it, so here is another free speech quote.

" THIS HAS TO STOP. THIS *HAS* TO STOP. YOU CAN TAKE ISSUE WITH THE GOVERNMENT’S IMMIGRATION AND ASYLUM POLICIES WITHOUT COMPARING THEM TO AUSCHWITZ BIRKENAU!!!" ( Daniel Sugarman , who is Public Affairs Director of the Board of Deputies of British Jews although his tweet was in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the Board of Deputies, responds to tweets with a photoshopped image of Suella Braverman. The original image shows her with two Rwandans, and the all three of them are laughing and obviously sharing a joke. In the photoshopped versions the two Rwandans have been cropped out and the Home Secretary has been photoshopped onto various misleading or highly inappropriate backgrounds, including the Auschswitz-Birkenau extermination camp.)

At the height of the pandemic I posted a piece called  Sunday reflection: life finds a way  about a fir tree which had miraculously recovered from injuries I had expected to be terminal and suspected had been inflicted by my daughter's "Killer Bunnies." Something - I suspected my daughter's pet rabbits as the only other animal in Cumbria capable of inflicting that kind of damage on a tree would be a deer, and it's unlikely any deer could have got into the garden - had a really good go at the lower trunk of the tree in about 2019, stripping off a lot of bark and doing enough damage to weaken the base of the fir tree and make it keel over. I had propped it back up by tying the upper part of the tree to the adjacent fence and IIRC took appropriate measures to contain the loss of sap but had not expected the tree to survive. It did survive, and managed to repair it's base sufficiently to still be upright in March 2020 although the cords I used to tie it in that po...

 

 

Also this week on improving defence and security, the Prime Minister confirmed a £5 billion boost in defence investment   alongside the launch of the Integrated Review Refresh 2023, setting out how the UK will tackle new threats from Russia and China, protect our economy and compete at the cutting edge of technology. The last two years, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the increasingly concerning actions of China, have shown the importance of being ready and able to respond when challenged. That is why the Prime Minister has confirmed £5 billion of new investment in defence and a new ambition to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP as part of the launch of the 2023 Integrated Review Refresh, which sets out how we will protect our interests in an increasingly volatile world. Today the Prime Minister will also join a trilateral meeting in the USA on the next phase of the AUKUS pact.  This funding will fortify our national defences, from economic security to technolo...

  This week the Prime Minister announced that  the first generation of AUKUS nuclear submarines will be built in the UK and Australia and based on British designs , putting the commitments to global security in the Integrated Review Refresh into practice and creating thousands of jobs that will grow the economy. The AUKUS partnership to build the world’s most advanced nuclear-powered submarines demonstrates the enduring commitment to freedom and democracy that we have set out in our Integrated Review Refresh, which is backed by a £5 billion increase in defence spending as we continue to grow the defence budget to 2.5 per cent. That is why, as the UK government announced the Integrated Review Refresh, the Prime Minister met with American President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to announce plans for the most advanced nuclear-powered submarines the world has ever known – which will be based on world-leading British designs and built initially in Barrow-...

 

"Children can't be treated as the spoils of war, they can't be deported". "This type of crime doesn't need one to be a lawyer, one needs to be human being to know how egregious it is." International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan explaining the decision yesterday of the court to issue arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Children's Commissioner  Maria Lvova-Belova, on charges of the forced deportaion of Ukrainian children to Russia. Even if Vladimir Putin is never forced to stand trial - which is sadly likely although you never know what changes the future may bring - this arrest warrant is justice, because Putin himself has flagrantly abused international legal channels such as Interpol to try to arrest his opponents and critics such as Bill Browder on flagrantly trumped-up charges for which it was patently obvious that there was no evidence. There is far more evidence to support the charges which the...

 

 

 

 

 

Figures released today show   near record numbers of people in work   – giving more people the security of a job as we grow the economy, halve inflation and get debt falling. The Conservative priority to grow the economy, halve inflation and get debt falling relies on a strong workforce across the UK – meaning more people have the security of their own income. The latest figures show that the number of payroll employees rose by 98,000 in February 2023 to 30 million. The number of employees on payroll now stands at 1,040,000 above pre-pandemic levels – with the employment rate increasing between November and January 2023. 

 

 

 

Over the past 25 years, governments and opposition parties in every part of the British political spectrum have tried to come up with a successful, fair and compassionate policy on immigration. Tried and failed.  Nobody has come up with a perfect policy on this subject - least of all the more radical anti-establishment parties who loudly accuse all the establishment parties of having failed on the issue but whose own ideas, if they have any at all, range from the disastrous to the utterly impractical. Much of this post will be about what the Conservatives are currently doing to address this extremely difficult issues, but as an illustration of the chasm between rhetoric and reality it is worth considering the record of the main opposition party and the difference between what they are saying now and were saying shortly before they last won an election and what actually happened when they were last in power. When Labour were last in power their handling of immigration was marked by ...

 

New   figures show Britain has frozen more than £48 billion in Russian assets alongside our allies , as part of the effort to de-fund Putin’s war machine and bring a fair peace in Ukraine.  The Conservative government, with strong cross-party support from most of the political spectrum, is determined to hold Russia to account for its unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine and ensure Putin’s barbaric venture ends in failure. New figures show that, alongside our allies in the Russian Elites Proxies and Oligarchs Task Force, we have blocked or frozen more than £48 billion worth of Russian assets, putting unprecedented financial pressure on Putin and his cronies. Together we stand united in defending global democracy and fighting against authoritarianism. 

 

 

Yesterday the government   set out record investment plans for Britain's transport network , investing £40 billion in transformational transport schemes to unlock economic growth and boost job opportunities across the UK.  Transport is a down payment on the country’s future and a key driver of economic growth. Even in this tough economic climate we are investing £40 billion over the next two years to improve the UK’s transport network. This includes delivering HS2 in the context of inflationary pressures and the need to balance the books and reduce debt. This new plan allows us invest record sums in our transport network whilst helping to halve inflation, grow the economy and reduce debt. 

I have an urgent need to travel today, so I will be paying great attention to this advice from Cumbria police:

Today  Prime Minister  Rishi Sunak will take part in the UK-France Summit  to assert our staunch commitment to European security, discussing new approaches to joint challenges, and this will including working with our friends and neighbours in France stop the boats and break the criminal gangs who are putting lives at risk. Our deep history, our proximity and our shared global outlook mean that a firm partnership between the UK and France is not just valuable, it is essential. Today the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, and other ministers will attend the UK-France Summit with President Macron to reassert our commitment to European security, supporting Ukraine and bolstering our energy sovereignty. They will also discuss our shared commitment to tackling illegal migration, as we deliver on the Prime Minister’s pledge to stop the boats. As we face new and unprecedented threats, it is vital that we fortify the structures of our alliance so we are ready ...

This week the government announced the funding of vital new projects in the Research and Development sector, boosting economic growth and attracting high-skilled jobs.  Innovation and technology can help to raise productivity and wages, transform healthcare, reduce energy prices and ultimately create jobs and economic growth in the UK. We are investing in new science and technology projects across the whole country, including £40 million for research institutions to boost the impact of their social and economic research and £1.6 million to boost the UK’s space capabilities. By putting the UK at the forefront of new research and technologies, we are harnessing the new jobs and economic growth that R&D brings in local areas. 

 

The performer of this classic song from "Fiddler on the Roof", Chaim Topol, died yesterday at the age of 87.     Israeli actor and singer Chaim Topol, best known for his performance as Tevye in the musical and film Fiddler on the Roof, has died in Tel Aviv. Topol always held a very unique place in 20th century music – few singers owned one role in quote such an iconic way.  It was a role he brought to the world in the hugely popular 1971 film, and then in over 3,500 stage performances over 50 years.

 

The government has announced today that   27 areas across England will receive a share of £30 million in extra funding to support communities to tackle loneliness , providing opportunities for people to volunteer, learn new skills and connect with their neighbours. Loneliness blights many in communities up and down the country and opportunities to engage with neighbours or develop new skills can be a lifeline, bringing people closer together. That is why we have launched our Know Your Neighbourhood Fund, which is investing £30 million to support projects in 27 local authorities, with successful projects providing volunteering to help parents and carers, delivering training for young people to become sports coaches, and supporting vulnerable residents with one-to-one assistance. This boost will help deliver volunteering opportunities for local residents, growing social networks and supporting communities to tackle loneliness. Civil Society Minister Stuart Andrew said: "During t...

The government continues to help households with the cost of living. Now, I want to be grown-up here, this is not sustainable as a long-term policy. For most of us, they are taking our own money in taxes and then giving it back to us, which does not make long-term sense.  But these are not normal times and we are going through a very severe short-term crisis, severely exacerbated by international factors beyond Britain's control such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  In this emergency situation, it makes sense for the government to use its' greater financial leverage to help us all out in the short term. In the long term, such aid will have to be restricted to those who most need it. While the policy is in place it is also important for all of us to make sure we are getting what we are entitled to under the policy. You can find out more about what you may be entitled to by clicking on the link  below: Help for Households - Get government cost of living support

 

 

 

Conservatives believe in equality of opportunity for all, so everyone across our United Kingdom – no matter their gender, race, or background – can reach their full potential.  We are proud of our record as champions of women in all aspects of British life, from supporting more women to reach the top table of Britain’s biggest companies and politics, to strengthening protections for victims of domestic abuse, and cracking down on perpetrators of violence against women and girls.  We are committed to gender parity in all aspects of society and will continue to ensure women’s voices are heard as we build a fairer, more equal Britain.   We are removing barriers which hold people back : Acting to see a steep rise in the number of women in work, taking female employment to a record high, meaning more women earning a decent wage.  Since 2010, the number of women in employment has increased from 13,616,000 to 15,663,000 last year, and reached record highs pre-pandemic (ONS,...