Dear John,

Welcome back to another instalment of Weekend Wire!

School is in session, or at least most of them as the DfE kindly pointed out, and parliament too! So let me walk you through the news and olds from the first week back. 

Sizzling September

We’re feeling the heat! For the first time, we've seen four consecutive September days with temperatures soaring above 30C (86F), breaking a record previously set in 1898, 1906, 1911, and 2016. Northolt in West London reported a balmy 30.2C, while Wisley in Surrey might have experienced the hottest day of the year with a provisional 32.6C. Stay cool and safe out there!

Concrete Crisis Crumbles

As the school term kicks off, the concrete crisis continues. Approximately 100,000 students attend these 147 schools, and nearly 10,000 of them are facing a delayed start to their school year. 

A recent Guardian analysis has revealed that a staggering 109 of the 147 schools affected by the reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) debacle are nestled comfortably in Conservative constituencies. That's a whopping three-quarters! And if that wasn't enough to raise eyebrows, 36 of these schools are in the seats of government frontbenchers, with 13 of them being cabinet members.

Essex seems to be the epicentre of this concrete calamity, with 53 schools on the list, accounting for over 30,000 students. This is almost a third of all affected pupils. Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary, might be feeling the heat as eight schools in her Saffron Walden constituency in Essex are affected.

The RAAC crisis isn't just an English affair. Scotland has 35 primary and secondary schools affected, with some already shut due to safety concerns. Meanwhile, in Wales, two schools on Anglesey have been identified with RAAC issues and will temporarily close for inspections.

The government conveniently published the list of affected schools minutes before the first PMQs of the term. The PM came out guns ablaze, which ended up in some friendly fire. Oh how we love some conservative on conservative action. Former cabinet minister Priti Patel urged him to commit to fully funding the costs associated with getting children back into school. She even hinted that the DfE might receive an "invoice" from her county council for the interim costs they're shouldering. Looking at the front benches, if you paid attention to Penny Mordaunt’s facial expressions, you could tell that she wasn’t too impressed.

Leadership contest soon?

Labour Line-up Lowdown

Keir Starmer's reshuffling of the Labour frontbench has sent ripples through the party's ranks. 

Hilary Benn, who worked closely with us at Best for Britain through the UK Trade and Business Commission and as Co-convener, he chaired a number of evidence sessions relating to the impact of the Government’s Brexit deal on Northern Ireland and led the Commission’s first ‘seeing is believing’ site visit, bringing British politicians and business leaders to Belfast and the port of Larne to gather evidence on how the Northern Ireland Protocol was working in practice.

While leading the Commission, he was a strong voice in opposition to the Government’s international law breaking Northern Ireland Protocol Bill which was eventually scrapped following strong lobbying by Best for Britain. We can think of no one better for the gig.

Elsewhere, Liz Kendall, who once lost to Jeremy Corbyn in the 2015 leadership race, now oversees the work and pensions brief. Peter Kyle, has been tasked with shaping Labour's tech policy as the shadow science minister. Darren Jones, the former business committee chairman, also ascends to a full cabinet position.

Brexit Corner

A New Horizon Beckons

The government  announced the return to the EU's flagship scientific research scheme, Horizon Europe. After a three-year hiatus due to disagreements over the Northern Ireland Protocol, UK-based scientists and institutions can now tap into the whopping £81bn (€95bn) fund.

In a rare moment of clarity, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated, "We have delivered a deal that enables UK scientists to confidently take part in the world's largest research collaboration programme."

Vivienne Stern, Chief Executive of Universities UK, expressed the collective sentiment, noting a "unanimous sigh of colossal relief" from scientists. The scale of projects funded by Horizon, such as the one mapping the human brain involving 500 researchers across 16 countries, is simply unparalleled by national funding mechanisms.

This move is the result of years of work from many organisations including Best for Britain.

Best for Britain supporters wrote to the Prime Minister, MPs and the media demanding that the UK rejoin Horizon and highlighting the damage that being outside the scheme was doing. 

Your support has enabled us to keep up the pressure, through our campaigning, by lobbying decision makers and through the UK Trade and Business Commission which continues to provide a platform for British businesses, researchers and innovators, gathering expert evidence and making recommendations to policy makers - including rejoining Horizon!

While this week's news is a step in the right direction, there's still work to be done. The restrictions on EU or other foreign national scientists wanting to come to the UK remain a concern. Michelle Donelan, the secretary of state for science, innovation, and technology, defended the government's stance on immigration. If you’d like to support Best for Britain's work please feel free to make a donation of any size.

On that note, that’s all from me! Stay curious, and see you next week.

All the best, 
Elsie Gisslegard
Content Executive
Best for Britain