Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy MP stepped in for the Prime Minister at PMQs this week while Starmer was off at COP30 in Brazil. Luckily it was all smooth sailing… © PA Images
Rachel Reeves broke with convention this week, delivering a pre-Budget speech from Downing Street early on Tuesday morning to ‘set the scene’ for the upcoming Budget. Traditionally, this is the point in the calendar when chancellors go quiet, finalising decisions behind the Treasury’s closed doors while Westminster speculates in the dark. Reeves, however, opted for visibility, framing the speech as a statement of intent: that the 26 November Budget will be guided by “fairness and opportunity” and focused on what she called the public’s “priorities”, namely cutting NHS waiting lists, reducing national debt, and easing the cost of living. What Reeves notably didn’t do was rule out tax rises, which was an omission that certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed.
While speculation continues to brew on what exactly the Chancellor will unveil later this month, Tuesday’s early morning appearance was generally perceived as an exercise in expectation management or, depending on your preferred phrasing, a touch of softening up, a bout of pitch-rolling, or perhaps all three. Conservative counterpart Mel Stride labelled it as an “emergency speech from a chancellor panicking about the speculation she has fuelled", while the Liberal Democrat's Daisy Cooper dismissed the whole exercise as "pointless". In the meantime, media rumours continue to circle around what the Budget might contain, which includes: a potential levy on EVs, through a new 3p pay-per-mile charge; reform on property taxes; and whispers on lowering the ISA cash limit…to name a few.
So now we wait. The Budget arrives on 26 November, when all that talk of “fairness and opportunity” will be priced, costed, and it now seems increasingly likely, taxed. And if you’re (understandably) struggling to sift through the myriad of rumours of what's coming on 26th November…keep an eye out for our full Budget Rumours special in next Friday’s Weekly Roundup...
Elsewhere in government, attention has been firmly fixed on the Ministry of Justice, after a series of accidental prisoner releases, and a rather dramatic PMQs (see You’ve Got To Laugh for more) triggered a fresh wave of political embarrassment for the Labour cabinet. In short, two prisoners were mistakenly freed from HMP Wandsworth, including a convicted fraudster who later returned voluntarily, while the other, an Algerian sex offender, was rearrested just this afternoon. David Lammy has defended his decision not to provide full details to MPs on Wednesday afternoon, insisting, despite Tory protests, that Parliament had not been misled. The question on the increase of accidental releases has been dominating media headlines, spotlighting a system plainly stretched thin by overcrowding, underfunding and chronic staff shortages; challenges that, as the Justice Secretary did point out to James Cartlidge, certainly didn’t happen overnight.
$1 trillion – The cost of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s pay plan, approved by 75% of shareholder votes.
4% – The Bank of England’s current interest rate, after the Monetary Policy Committee voted by a majority of 5-4 to keep the rate unchanged.
38 – Years former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi served in Congress before announcing her retirement.
£14m – Government funding announced to support projects in quantum technology.
19 - Days until the Autumn Budget.
48 – Days until Christmas
Prince William and Keir Starmer have led the UK’s delegation to the COP30 Summit, which technically doesn’t even start until Monday, despite the myriad of speeches and events that have already taken place. Taking centre stage at the Earthshot Prize ceremony (alongside pop legend Kylie), Prince William has led the charge for the UK, with the Prime Minister basking in his reflected glory in a speech in which he announced the UK is “all-in”. Despite the strong words, the Brazilian Government were less than happy when the UK chose not to opt-in to a $125bn fund to protect rainforests announced by Brazil’s President (and COP30 host) Lula da Silva. With the world’s four biggest polluters – China, the USA, India and Russia – who make up 50% of the world’s annual CO2 emissions, all declining to attend… the conference is off to a difficult start, and it hasn’t even begun yet.
The Keep Britain Working Review has been published, detailing three decisive steps the Government can take to reset workplace health, including launching a three-year scaling of a Vanguard programme, working with interested companies to become early adopters to develop and refine workplace health approaches, establishing a Workplace Health Intelligence Unit to support Vanguards with early adoption, and rewiring the incentive system in time for the next Spending Review. Welcoming the review, the Government announced it will take forward the report’s Vanguard phase, to 'work with the businesses who have already stepped up to become a vanguard to test different approaches and build evidence for a better workplace'. Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden also announced the appointment of the review’s author Sir Charlie Mayfield to chair a Vanguard taskforce alongside McFadden and Science Sec Peter Kyle to 'bring together representatives from business, disabled people, workers representatives and health experts to shape and deliver this work.'
40,000 military homes will be modernised, refurbished or rebuilt with £9bn of new funding, according to a new Defence Housing Strategy announced this week. The £9bn announcement marks the biggest upgrade to service family housing in over 50 years. The plan also includes the “potential” to deliver 100,000 new civilian and military homes on surplus Defence land. The announcement has come at a time when the Government is under increased pressure on military accommodation following confirmation last week they plan to house asylum seekers at two military sites in East Sussex and Inverness.
A new curriculum will be introduced into schools from September 2028, after the Government responded to the recommendations of Professor Becky Francis’s Curriculum and Assessment Review. Under the new curriculum, primary pupils will 'gain vital skills like how to spot fake news and identify misinformation and disinformation' and learn more about the fundamentals of money. The Government will also introduce a new statutory reading test in year 8 and strengthen writing assessment in year 6. Arts GCSEs will be given equal status to humanities and languages, and a 'new core enrichment entitlement will offer all pupils access to civic engagement, arts and culture, nature and adventure, sport, and life skills to build resilience and opportunity.'
The Government’s new Financial Inclusion Strategy was also published, setting out a national plan to ‘boost access to savings, credit and financial education for those most at risk of being left behind.’ Thousands of people at risk of experiencing homelessness will be able to open bank accounts for the first time through a new pilot between Shelter and five major banks (Lloyds, NatWest, Barclays, Nationwide and Santander) – enabling Shelter to support people without a fixed address.
A new Telecoms Fraud Charter has been signed by leading telecoms providers, setting out a series of ambitious fraud prevention commitments to go ‘further and faster to prevent fraud’. The Charter will contain actions focused on: cross-industry data sharing; strengthening SMS protections; preventing scam calls and spoofing; improving customer awareness; better support for victims; and improved collaboration with industry and law enforcement.
Euro-Atlantic security 'will be significantly strengthened in the High North and Baltic Sea’ after the UK and allies from across the region agreed to ramp up their military cooperation. The new agreement will include an enhanced partnership with Ukraine, which is expected to see the Joint Expeditionary Force deliver training for the Ukrainian armed forces, and closer collaboration on protection of critical underwater infrastructure, drones, battlefield medicine, and methods for countering disinformation.
Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch delivered a speech at the Royal Academy of Engineering aimed at setting out her stall ahead of the upcoming Budget. She used the speech to highlight that "one in three hospitality businesses are trading at below break even"; criticised the windfall tax on oil and gas businesses’ profits, called on the Government to scrap the Carbon Tax, Family Farm Tax and Family Business Tax, announced that a Conservative Government would give young people a £5,000 First Jobs Bonus and double the apprenticeship budget, and urged the Government to ditch the Employment Rights Bill.
Leader of the Opposition in the polls Nigel Farage also took to the podium for a speech on the economy, in which he rowed back on the pledges made in his party’s manifesto at the last election, stating that “substantial tax cuts” were no long realistic, given the “dire state of debt and our finances”. Labelling Reform UK as the party of small business, risk takers, and “alarm clock Britain”, he confirmed they would remove the two-child benefit cap for British working couples, remove IHT from family farms and family-run businesses, and scrap all net zero subsidies. He lamented that Brexit had been “squandered” and had not been used to “sensibly” deregulate, adding that he would bring ministers and advisers with “real business expertise” into his Government. He also repeated his prediction that an election will be held in 2027, predicated by an “economic collapse”, with the economy in an “even worse state than any of us in this room can even predict.”
It's all change in Whitehall, with some major announcements made this week among the top echelons of the Civil Service. Energy Security and Net Zero Perm Sec Jeremy Pocklington is off to the Ministry of Defence to replace David Williams. DESNZ Second Perm Sec Clive Maxwell will step up as Interim Perm Sec at the Department whilst a recruitment process takes place. The Home Office also announced this week that Professor William Webster has been appointed the new Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner.
Perceptions of division in the UK have reached their highest point since trends began in 2020 as culture war tensions grow, according to a new survey by Ipsos in collaboration with King's College London. According to the research, 84% of the British public now say the country feels divided, which marks an increase from 79% two years ago and 74% five years ago. Half of the public today say the culture in the UK is changing too fast, compared with 35% five years ago, and half (48%) also say they would like their country to be the way it used to be - an increase from 28% in 2020. The apparent increased yearning for nostalgia reflects an uneasiness about the pace of cultural change in the country, with tensions rising particularly around immigration.
45% of Britons have little confidence in the UK prison service, according to a new YouGov poll. Whilst 28% have no confidence at all, 17% report that they have a fair amount of confidence, and only 2% have a great deal of confidence. These figures may not seem surprising, after an embarrassing fortnight for the Government in which three prisoners were accidentally released, with two of them trying to voluntarily turn themselves in.
The Autumn Budget represents a growth bargain for Government and businesses, according to a new publication by the Tony Blair Institute. The report warns that if the Chancellor opts for a larger revenue-raising step by increasing income tax or VAT, ‘she should make clear that it is temporary and conditional: a short-term measure to stabilise the public finances, not a permanent shift in direction.’ Recommendations include: changing the way fiscal policy is assessed and debated through the OBR being directed to publish two forecasts at each fiscal event; reforms to the tax system, labour-market, planning and infrastructure, and tech-enabled business support; and reforms to social security and public services.
Deputy PMQs proved a humiliation ritual for David Lammy and Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge. Cartlidge, armed with the knowledge of another mistaken release of a foreign national sex offender, used almost all of his questions to ask Lammy if this had taken place, intent on trapping him in a corner. The only issue was that Cartlidge counted his questions wrong, and so used his precious last one to simply repeat the question for the fifth time, rather than landing the hammer blow he had been building up to. This forced him to raise the accidental release in a Point of Order, which ministers are not required to answer anyway, earning only a scolding from the Speaker for his troubles.
Cartlidge’s only saving grace was that Lammy performed little better – his ever-increasing furious righteousness as he avoided the question was as transparent as it was cringeworthy, and his later excuse that he was waiting for the Met Police to make a statement was weak at best. This was in addition to the fact that, despite beginning the session with a solemn statement about Remembrance Sunday, he turned up without a poppy, only to miraculously gain one midway through PMQs (presumably ripped off the lapel of an unwilling Labour backbencher by a zealous MoJ PPS). Perhaps Keir and Kemi aren’t so bad.
Wednesday’s childish PMQs preceded actual childishness, as the annual Youth Parliament took place on Thursday. In the interest of impartiality (and so it doesn’t look like we’re bullying children), we will let others speak for us: as PM, Gordon Brown called it “a symbol of the politics we should all strive for”, while yesterday, former minister Tom Harris said he regretted voting to create Youth Parliament more then he regretted his vote for the Iraq War. Watch a compilation of the ‘highlights’ here, which begins with a stirring Churchillian speech to take you into the weekend.
