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. 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 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. 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 secretary, as a replacement for long-serving Ben Wallace, and Claire Coutinho is the new energy security secretary. 

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, as earlier this year the cabinet minister refused to shut down 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. 

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”. 

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

Levelling-Yuck

Sunak wasted no time, but plenty of jet fuel, on Tuesday by taking a chopper straight from London to Norwich 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. 

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. The Guardian reported 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

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. 

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

As a result, the industry body UK Hospitality joined the UK Trade and Business Commission 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.

Tough on crime, tough on funding 

The Prime Minister announced a ban 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. 

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

Britain can’t wait for the current Government to fix this crime crisis, watch Carole’s story 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