Dear John,



Welcome back to another instalment of Weekend Wire!



It is the last weekend of the Westminster summer holiday, so as parliamentarians gear up for the Sunday Scaries, I am here to bring you the top news and Government lows from the last week of the silly season. 



Putting the matter to bed 



Proving that Nadine Dorries was not making her way around the world in 80 days, she took the 79th day since quitting to submit her resignation letter <[link removed]>. Not daring to risk any postage delays, she opted to publish it straight into the Mail on Sunday and hoped Sunak would get the message. 



Clocking up to 1,800 words, Nadine’s letter is longer than St. Paul’s letter to the Phillippians <[link removed]> but she does have a side hustle as a historical fiction writer and could be flexing her authorial muscles while her Boris novel is stalled by legal delay <[link removed]>. The pen is, after all, mightier than the sword. 



Dorries scathingly accused the Tory leadership of a “democratic deficit which the mother of parliaments should be deeply ashamed of”. And Nadine should know all about democratic deficits. The good people of Mid-Bedfordshire haven't had parliamentary representation since June.







Five job Shapps 



The long-speculated September reshuffle was more of a tremor than a seismic shift on Thursday. Grant Shapps was appointed defence <[link removed]> secretary, as a replacement for long-serving Ben Wallace, and Claire Coutinho is the new energy security secretary <[link removed]>. 



It has been quite the year for Shapps. Secretary of State of Defence marks his fifth job since September 2022. Most candidates for a role would get quite the grilling about rapid job hopping, but dubbed as a great mate of Sunak, his lack of military experience didn’t seem an issue in getting him the keys to the nuclear subs. 



What remains to be seen is whether his new portfolio will put an end to Grant’s Tik Tok career <[link removed]>, as earlier this year the cabinet minister refused to shut down <[link removed]> his account despite its ban on parliamentary devices. 



The mini-reshuffle has turned attention to Keir Starmer, as rumours intensify for a Labour team shake-up as soon as next week. We’ll keep you posted!



Concrete evidence of broken Britain







Just days before children were expected to go back to school, the Government announced the immediate closure of over 150 schools due to crumbling concrete <[link removed]>. 



The potentially dangerous Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) has left some schools with no choice but to delay the start of the new year, with some students forced to return to online lessons. Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, called the crisis “calculated neglect <[link removed]>”. 



It is not only schools that are at risk of collapse. The Mirror reported in February that more than 30 NHS hospitals and buildings <[link removed]> are at risk and The Times reported that RAAC and asbestos were creating the “perfect storm” in both schools and hospitals across the UK <[link removed]> in June.



Levelling-Yuck



Sunak wasted no time, but plenty of jet fuel, on Tuesday by taking a chopper straight from London to Norwich <[link removed]> to announce the scrapping of pollutant rules. It means that housebuilders will no longer have to pay for the pollution they cause under changes to the neutrality scheme <[link removed]>. 



The amendment, which is part of the upcoming Levelling-up Bill, scraps the EU rules that limit nitrogen and phosphorus in waterways by obliging developers to prevent or offset their waterway pollution. Instead, taxpayers will be footing the £140m bill for developers' pollution. 



Unsurprisingly the scheme was welcomed by housebuilders, with some companies' market value shares closing the day almost 6% up <[link removed]>. The Guardian reported <[link removed]> that housebuilders Persimmon, Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey were among the biggest gainers on the FTSE100 on Tuesday. 



While unlocking new housing in the UK should be a priority, the changes mark another Government assault on UK waterways and divergence from EU environmental protections.



Brexit Corner



Fifth time’s a charm 



While the UK Government may keep promising to have a world-class border system up their sleeve, they seem more keen on practising the art of suspense. This week the Government announced the fifth delay to the introduction of post-Brexit checks <[link removed]> on food, plant and animal produce arriving in Britain, tacitly admitting that Brexit checks will increase the cost of food. 



The response has been mixed <[link removed]>: businesses have welcomed the extra time to prepare for the checks but the postponement is another example of the lack of clarity and certainty the Government have offered business post-Brexit.







Much a brew about nothing 



A study from the British Beer and Pub Association revealed that staff shortages over the bank holiday weekend led to a huge £22m loss for pubs across the UK <[link removed]>. 



With 61% of hospitality businesses experiencing staff shortages post-Brexit <[link removed]>, British pubs are reducing opening hours and unable to operate at full capacity. 







As a result, the industry body UK Hospitality <[link removed]> joined the UK Trade and Business Commission <[link removed]> in calling for an expansion of the Youth Mobility Scheme. Check out the Commission’s further 114 recommendations to protect British businesses post-Brexit in the report, Trading our way to prosperity: a blueprint for policy makers <[link removed]>.



Tough on crime, tough on funding 



The Government’s themed weeks over the summer have been a great opportunity to reflect on how almost all public services are failing after 13 years of Tory rule. Crime week is no different: a litany of damning crime statistics and unconvincing Tory promises to fix their own mess. 



This week Suella Braverman told the police that they must pursue leads on all crimes <[link removed]>, prompting the awkward question, weren't they supposed to be doing that already? 







The Prime Minister announced a ban <[link removed]> on “zombie-style knives” with more powers to seize and destroy them and promised to force killers to appear at their sentencing, while Labour accused ministers of turning a blind eye to crime <[link removed]>. 



Despite announcements, the Government has been unable to escape the impact of their chronic underfunding. Since 2010, half of all police stations have closed <[link removed]>. Only 3.9% of burglaries <[link removed]> in England and Wales were charged last year and half of all theft cases are closed within 48 hours without a suspect <[link removed]>. The awful list goes on… 



Britain can’t wait for the current Government to fix this crime crisis, watch Carole’s story <[link removed]> and sign Best for Britain’s open letter demanding one that will.



On that note, that’s all from me! Have a great weekend and a smooth start to September. We’ll be back next week with Niall McGourty, Best for Britain’s Director of Communications! 



All the best, 



Emily Reed

Senior Policy Officer

Best for Britain



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