BEST
FOR BRITAIN'S
WEEKEND WIRE
Dear John,
Make sure your local Tory MP is
okay this week. Their colleagues are picking fights with nurses,
engaging in vaccine conspiracies, and earning praise from far-right
politicians the world over.
Get ready for Trade
Unlocked
The preparations for Trade Unlocked 2023 have continued apace this week, with the
announcement of some of the UK’s leading business and political voices
as conference panellists.
Among the speakers announced so far are International Chamber of
Commerce Chair Paul Drechsler, New Economics Foundation Chief
Executive Miatta Fahnbulleh, Virgin Group Chair Peter Norris, and
Trade Strategy and Brexit Leader at EY Sally Jones. Peter Foster, the
Public Policy Editor at the Financial Times, will be one of the
panel hosts.
Ahead of the big day on 20th June,
be sure you’re following Trade Unlocked on Twitter and LinkedIn so you catch all of our speakers and panels as they’re rolled
out, and keep an eye on the #TU23 hashtag for new updates from our
partners.
Tense evacuation in
Sudan
As a war and humanitarian crisis
unfold in Sudan, a temporary ceasefire was agreed this week for
foreigners to be allowed to leave the country. Foreign governments
have been racing against the clock to evacuate diplomats and
citizens.
It is believed that around 4,000
British citizens required evacuation at the start of the week, and the
UK Government has plans in place to evacuate citizens by sea and at
the Egyptian border should flights no longer be feasible, despite
claims that this backup could end in disaster. As of Friday morning,
close to 1000 had been flown out.
With chaotic scenes on the ground
and foreign governments bumping into each other to get getting their people out,
Sudanese citizens have been left to fend for themselves. Despite
the rapidly deteriorating
situation, the Home
Secretary claimed that there were no plans to establish a safe route
to asylum for Sudanese citizens fleeing the country, and many British
residents stuck in Sudan, including NHS doctors, were shut out of flights.
Last week, the Guardian’s Nesrine
Malik, herself born in Sudan, penned an informative yet sobering
account of the leadup to the fighting.
Sharp
rebuke
What’s a small £800,000 loan
between friends? Not much, if you ask now former BBC Chairman Richard
Sharp and Boris Johnson.
However, a report on the matter by
Adam Heppinstall KC, released Friday morning, begged to differ.
Heppinstall found that Sharp failed to disclose his conflicts of interests after
putting himself forward for the job following his assistance in
setting up a meeting that ultimately resulted in a loan of nearly £1
million to then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Despite resigning, Sharp has
maintained that everything was strictly above board, but that he did
not want to be a distraction. It’s exactly the kind of
self-sacrificing magnanimity that we’ve come to expect from Tory
allies who find themselves on the wrong side of accusations of
financial impropriety.
Anti-Asylum Bill goes to
Lords
This week, the Government’s
international law-breaking Illegal Migration Bill passed its final reading in the House of Commons by a margin of
289-230, sending the legislation to the House of Lords, where it is
expected to meet stiff resistance across party lines.
Ahead of the final reading this
week, a number of amendments making the Bill even more hostile to
people seeking asylum were tacked on, including provisions for age
verification checks to prevent alleged fraud (not the alleged fraud by the Border Force) and an amendment giving ministers the power to ignore
rulings from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). A separate Tory rebellion aimed at safeguarding children seeking
asylum led by Tim Loughton came to naught.
As their shameful legislation
bull-charged through the House, both Immigration Minister Robert
Jenrick and Suella Braverman threw more nativist red meat into the
media rounds. Braverman trotted out fuzzily-sourced claims that immigrants were
more likely to commit crimes, while Jenrick said asylum seekers have values at odds with British cultural mores,
earning a rebuke from Jonathan Gullis (don’t adjust your glasses), who distanced
himself from the remarks.
While lamenting this appalling
treatment of vulnerable people, Best for Britain CEO Naomi Smith also
warned that the ECHR amendment to the Bill was yet another instance of
the Government “coming for our rights and freedoms”.
EU bonfire fizzling
out?
Don’t look now, but judging by the
frothing fury of hardline Brexiters on Friday morning, the Government
may have done something semi-sensible.
According to reports that emerged overnight on Thursday, the bulk of the
much-maligned Retained EU Law Bill could be scrapped, with only about
800 of the 4,000 EU statutes earmarked for repeal. International Trade
Secretary Kemi Badenoch appears to have wised up to the fact that
businesses generally don’t appreciate having their regulatory
environment thrown into chaos so Tory ministers can get punchy
soundbites in The Telegraph.
One of these Telegraph-squawking
Tory MPs bemoaned that Badenoch was “having rings run around her” by
Remainers.
Still, Best for Britain CEO Naomi
Smith told Sky News that the jettisoning of even ¼ of the laws with this
Bill will “automatically remove workers' rights, food standards and
environmental protections” unless it is binned entirely.
You can use our helpful tool to write
to your MP and let them know what you think of this insane
plan.
Have we tried suing the
nurses?
The High Court this week ruled in favour of the Government’s legal challenge against
the nurses’ union, which argued that next Tuesday’s planned strikes
are unlawful because six months have elapsed since members were
balloted in November.
Legally speaking, the Health
Secretary has won this round, but the man who previously said striking healthcare workers aren’t working hard enough will
soon discover that suing the UK’s most trusted profession may not have been the slam-dunk he seemed
to think it would be.
Public sympathy remains firmly with
the Nurses despite Steve Barclay’s technical victory. The most recent
reported polling suggests public support for striking nurses is at 60%. RCN head Pat
Cullen said the ruling was “the darkest day” in the dispute so far and
challenged Barclay to return to the negotiating table.
Tory Bridgen falling
down
Let’s start with the good news:
North West Leicestershire no longer has a Tory MP (or, at least, an MP
who’s a card-carrying member of the Conservative Party).
The bad news: Andrew Bridgen is
still the MP for North West Leicestershire, despite finally being
expelled this week from the Conservative Party.He originally lost the
whip in January for posting messages online that called Covid
vaccination “the biggest crime against humanity since the
Holocaust”.
The worse news: Bridgen is now
making friendly overtures toward Lawrence Fox’s Reclaim Party, who
have ponied up thousands for consultancy fees and lunches according to
Bridgen’s register of interests.
Bridgen released a statement
claiming that he was enjoying his “newfound freedom” (from the Tory
Party). He’s been enjoying freedom from reality for far
longer.
India is
#1
The world’s got a new most populous
country.
According to the latest reports from the UN, India overtook China as the
nation with the most people this week, with 1.429 billion to China’s
1.426 billion. Despite statistical hurdles related to the pandemic,
the data showed that China now likely has close to 3 million fewer
people than its neighbour to the south.
However, the data showed that both
China and India were seeing a slowdown in growth compared to other
countries in the top 10, with China recording a population decline for
the first time since records began. Officials on both sides of the
border pointed to challenges related to large-scale growth and
emphasised efforts to combat population ageing.
That’s all from us this week. We
hope you enjoy your bank holiday weekend and mandatory allergen
labelling on food while we’ve still got them.
Best
wishes,
Tommy Gillespie
Press Officer, Best for Britain
