Should we trust Sunak or the next PM to fix the Country's problems? (title revised 24/10/22)

[honeybee13]

I think staff shortages are going to be an issue. A family member works in a care home kitchen and they can't get enough people for the kitchen or the home.

Where I am in France atm, hospitality businesses and anyone who needs extra seasonal people can't get enough summer staff and various hiring fairs are running. It's been much harder to hire since covid but there could be other factors. Seasonal workers know they're in demand and are asking for better terms than were commong before the pandemic.

What isn't being talked about very much in the UK press is the new UK tariffs on food and goods coming in from the EU which is going to increase prices. They're expecting some smaller EU companies who traditionally bridge the gap in supply to give up on the UK market.

 

[unclebulgaria67]

Yes there are employers reporting staffing shortages. Even warehouses are now struggling and starting to pay weekly bonuses.

With 600k net migration, makes you wonder what is happening. 

Perhaps Government needs to be thinking of allowing more work visas for migrants ?

 

[honeybee13]

That's a good point.

I haven't seen a split of the reasons for people being in the UK, I know a fair number of immigrants are students or their family members. It would be interesting to see a chart.

[unclebulgaria67]

Work visas stats link

/assets/static/govuk-opengraph-image-dade2dad5775023b0568381c4c074b86318194edb36d3d68df721eea7deeac4b.png

Why do people come to the UK? To work - GOV.UK

WWW.GOV.UK

If the work force has increasingly got older on average and less people being born, my guess is that older people are leaving work quicker than any replacements are found. And even if older workers went part time which is a popular option, then there are hours that may need be covered by recruitment. 

[honeybee13]

Thank you for the stats, very comprehensive. I didn't see students, their dependents or refugees mentioned but I'll go and have a look for that.

I think you could be right about older workers, covid seems to have persuaded people who could afford early retirement to take it. I know people of various ages who like doing a three or four day week since covid and also don't want to go into an office more than once or twice a week. They're lucky enough to have the kind of job that can accommodate it.

Some of these must be the people the government wants to get back into work/offices.

[unclebulgaria67]

 Student stats link

Wow! 487000 students from abroad

 

[honeybee13]

Legal blogs aren't normally funny but parts of this made me chuckle. Karma could be working.

How the intervention of Boris Johnson has affected the stand-off between the Cabinet Office and the Covid Inquiry – The Law and Policy Blog

DAVIDALLENGREEN.COM

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1st June 2023 Yesterday this blog set out how the Covid Inquiry may have set an elegant spring-trap for the Cabinet Office. In essence, the Cabinet...

 

[honeybee13]

So the Cab Office has picked a fight with the inquiry it set up and has brought a judicial review. I can't see it ending well.

[honeybee13]

Two of the Times journos have tweeted information that I haven't seen in an article yet. Henry Zeffman says Johnson has only submitted information from his phone since it was changed  in 2021. Just after he set up the inquiry.

And George Grylls has got hold of questions sent by the inquiry to Johnson. It seems quite revealing of what they may have seen already.

the

[honeybee13]

There have been a couple of articles suggesting that Johnson sold out the UK over a dinner to discuss the UK-Aus trade deal, with fine wines. I think Truss was involved at the time.

Here is a clip of some Aussie TV presenters talking about the deal.

 

[honeybee13]

Someone on Twitter has reworded Sunak's slogan.

[unclebulgaria67]

There is a Government.uk page that lists number of small boats and numbers of people. Numbers are down, but the reason for this may be down to the weather being too good.  If the beaches on either side of the channel have more locals and holidaymakers etc around, it makes it more difficult for large numbers of people to get into the boats to make the crossing. As they will be spotted and reported/stopped.

So if the weather's stays good, I suspect the numbers will remain low compared to last year. But wait until the Autumn and I think you will see more boats crossing with large numbers.

[honeybee13]

John Bercow vs Farage on Brexit.

 

[unclebulgaria67]

Another article that points to problems with UK's financial position. Central Government cut funding to local authorities and they then made decisions which have led to bankruptcy.

Woking council declares bankruptcy with £1.2bn deficit | Local politics | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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Previous Tory leadership embarked on risky investment spree involving hotels and skyscrapers

 

 

[honeybee13]

This doesn't sound right to me. Taxpayers' money going on early campaigning for the GE.

Concern at plan for taxpayer-funded campaign to promote Sunak priorities | Politics | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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Exclusive: plan to bolt PM’s five pledges on to a range of campaigns seen as too political within Whitehall, source says

 

[honeybee13]

Is this the start of a downturn in animal welfare standards that some of us been worried about?

Block battery eggs coming into UK, say animal welfare groups | Animal welfare | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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RSPCA accuses government of ‘race to the bottom for animal welfare standards’ with post-Brexit trade deal

 

[theoldrouge]

Oh dear seems to me animal welfare will be the last thing we have to worry about if Labour (which is still rammed with Corbinites) gains power 
 

More than a dozen members of Labour's front bench call for Britain to scrap its nuclear deterrent despite the threat of Putin unleashing his own arsenal 
 

More than a dozen members of Labour's front bench call for Britain to scrap its nuclear deterrent | Daily Mail Online

WWW.DAILYMAIL.CO.UK

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Shadow Scotland secretary Ian Murray (pictured), and shadow Foreign Office ministers Catherine West and Fabian...

 

[honeybee13]

There's talk in the City of Sunak calling an early election, possibly this autumn. It's not clear where the information is coming from but these rumours often turn out to be true.

[unclebulgaria67]

Latest on election, is that Sunak may not call election until late in 2024.

From what I am seeing on the ground and I speak to dozens of people running and working in businesses every week, the UK is heading into a recession. With interest rates increasing and costs of living already difficult to manage, the next year is going to be a challenge for so many across the country.

[honeybee13]

Even The Spectator thinks the Tory party is losing it.

The Tories are heading for electoral evisceration | The Spectator

WWW.SPECTATOR.CO.UK

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‘Whoever wins in September, the party will be stuck. Even in power it remains incapable of generating and delivering credible policies, incapable of using...

 

[honeybee13]

After a week of pressure from all sides, Nadine Dorries seems to have resigned.

[unclebulgaria67]

Really good video on the RAAC building issue that is in current media reporting.

 

[honeybee13]

Mark Carney made a speech about Brexit at the Progress Action summit in Montreal.

 

[honeybee13]

Sunak seems to have broken the ministerial code by using a Tory party conference slogan for his recent speech.

 

Rishi Sunak reported over 'very clear breach' of ministerial code in climate speech - Mirror Online

WWW.MIRROR.CO.UK

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Ministers aren't allowed to use publicly-funded resources to spread political messages - like the slogan that appears both on the PM's lectern and the...

More on this from the Times.

https://archive.ph/ioeeS

[honeybee13]

Three or four days ago, Beth Rigby on Sky told Sunak he had no mandate apart from some MPs and that if he wanted to make long term decisions for the country, he should call a GE.

Sunak says absolutely no one wants a GE. The petition started around the time he said that now has over 250,000 signatures...