[Youngian]

Sunak isn’t proposing to raid pensions. That aside where is the substance in this proposal? The Long Term Asset Fund sounds like a different name for government guilts which pension funds buy anyway. Something Gordon Brown would dream up to avoid mentioning government spending.

[Crabcakes]

I see Johnson has his priorities right - undermining any pretenders to the throne

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... SApp_Other

[kreuzberger]

What is it with this Dishi sobriquet? Ladies, "shake you naked and eaten alive" ain't going to happen with an eleven year old.

[Tubby Isaacs]

£2bn cuts due in the budget apparently.

[Nigredo]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... e-tax-rate

He's eyeing up a tax rise as well.

[Crabcakes]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... e-tax-rate

He's eyeing up a tax rise as well.

It sounds to me like he's trying to knacker Johnson's levelling up plan (such as it is) knowing full well he'll take the heat for it AND was the one to announce the NI tax hike so will cop it for that as well.

While it's delightful to see Johnson thoroughly outmanoeuvred and the beginnings of the implosion as the Tories decide they'd like to be the bullshitter in charge rather than one of the bullshitter's meat shields, I don't think having Sunak as PM would be any better. An image-obsessed, greed-driven multimillionaire is hardly likely to make choices that will help anyone who doesn't have 6 figures in their bank account before the decimal point.

[mattomac]

Problem is he has to front this, he played well on the social care thing as he forced Johnson to announce with how he was going to provide it.

Regardless of levelling up agenda he has to front this.

No doubt my pay packet is going get lower.

[davidjay]

£2bn cuts due in the budget apparently.

Was always going to happen. The Tories ain't never gonna raise taxes by any considerable level.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The cuts would be as well as raising taxes.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Might be a clue here.

[mattomac]

Why would the UK economy be in such a fragile state unable to cope with a pandemic?

[Watchman]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... investment

More as an aside than a political comment; the photograph at the top of this article is the view of the town hall, from Market Street, in the Peoples Utopian Republic of Loughborough.

Filed by your Loughborough correspondent

[Andy McDandy]

Business rates make up a lot of local government funding, following 11 years of central government contributions being slashed.

Obviously, the best solution would be to reinstate the central funding, but any alteration of the business rate system would have to be carefully managed.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Important thread here,

Short version- Sunak is going with projections he knows are out of date now so that it makes things look worse in the short run (and helps justify cuts), allowing for a miraculous looking rebound nearer election time.

I get that David Amess's assassination has put politics in limbo now, but Labour need to get on to this.

[Boiler]

Wasn't it dubious data that made Healey go to the IMF, when it turned out that the correct data showed he had no need to do so?

[Tubby Isaacs]

That's right. The UK only needed half the loan, as it happened.

Labour paid it back early enough for Labour to get in the lead in the polls late 1978. With Callaghan's personal lead over Thatcher, they could have won the election then

[Boiler]

If only Jim had listened to his advisers and called a GE in late '78...

[Tubby Isaacs]

Did Rishi leak this to curry favour with Tory MPs?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... on-economy

Confidential documents leaked to the Observer reveal an extraordinary rift between Boris Johnson and his chancellor, Rishi Sunak, over the potential economic effects of moving towards a zero-carbon economy, with just weeks to go before the crucial Cop26 climate summit.

As Johnson prepares to position the UK at the head of global efforts to combat climate change and curb greenhouse gas emissions as host of the Glasgow Cop26 meeting, the documents show the Treasury is warning of serious economic damage to the UK economy and future tax rises if the UK overspends on, or misdirects, green investment.

[Andy McDandy]

With many of the big hitters pulling out, COP26 looks like becoming the commonwealth games of conferences.

[The Weeping Angel]

That's right. The UK only needed half the loan, as it happened.

Labour paid it back early enough for Labour to get in the lead in the polls late 1978. With Callaghan's personal lead over Thatcher, they could have won the election then

Callaghan had access to private polling which showed the lead was narrower and the chances are in a hypothetical General Election it wouldn't have been 1, a minority Tory or Labour government, 2 A Tory government with a small majority or 3 A Labour government with a small majority.