Dear John,

Parliament is back into the full swing of things… or at least it is for a couple more days before it goes back into recess next week for party conference season.

You could be excused for thinking that this week in politics with talk of alleged spies and escaped prisoners was more akin to a lavish James Bond plot than the running of a competent Government. But no, it’s just another week in Westminster.

Regardless, it’s Weekend Wire time. Here’s all the news and views:

Disappointment’s plenty after the G20

This week offered Rishi Sunak the chance to change the narrative away from crumbling schools to fixing Britain's crumbling reputation on the global stage. He decided not to take it though, as his visit to the G20 in India ended up being another disappointment to add to a growing list.

Sunak set out on this visit with briefings suggesting he would be focusing on tougher language against Russia. Following this, he then spent the rest of the visit making very little progress on the long awaited India-UK trade deal that Boris Johnson said would be done by October 2022. Not quite an oven-ready deal, but definitely past it’s sell-by-date.

On the topic of trade, a bad visit was made worse by the announcement of a new trade corridor linking Europe, the Middle East and India. Why is this notable? Well, the UK’s name was nowhere to be seen as part of the deal. So much for this Government’s vision for Global Britain, ey? 

If that wasn’t bad enough for Sunak, he was reportedly snubbed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a meeting at his residency in New Delhi. It's another humiliating blow for Rishi Sunak. Oh well, at least his relationship with the other world leaders is going well…

From Paris to Justin

Labour leader Keir Starmer is reportedly set to swap London for the Louvre and take his top team over the channel for a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. Such meetings are not unprecedented with David Cameron meeting with Barack Obama in 2009 as well as Tony Blair meeting with Bill Clinton before his own 1997 election win. 

Starmer is also expected to swap his home constituency of Camden for Canada while he travels out there to a Conference. Rumours are that as part of the trip, he may end up having a short meeting with Justin Trudeau. Back to Sunak’s relationship with world leaders again…

Board of Trade

There have been reports that the Government is looking to ‘revamp’ the Board of Trade. Why is this significant? For those of you who don’t know, this is a group of people convened by the Secretary of State for International Trade (who acts as its President) which theoretically gives a sense of purpose and direction to the UK Government over the state of play in the world of trade.

The UK Trade and Business Commission, which Best for Britain acts as the Secretariat, sent a letter to the Secretary of State about the board. This is off the back of a report that the Commission published in June (making no less than 114 recommendations to the Government about trade policy!). 

The letter has been sponsored by big names from the worlds of politics and business and has been signed by over 80 people. The main recommendation is that the UK Board of Trade should be independent - a bit like how the OBR acts to the treasury. If you want to know more, the letter was covered on Sky News. Let’s hope the new board of trade doesn’t make anyone bored of trade!

If you do want to read more analysis about EU-UK trade, other deals with countries around the world and much more, don’t forget to check our UK Trade and Business Commission’s website.

Triple Lock Trouble

The Tories are facing further challenges over the future of the triple lock scheme for mensions, with many believing a potential ‘break’ from the policy could be proposed in the upcoming Autumn Budget.

As a quick recap, the pension triple lock is a government promise to raise publicly funded pensions by the level of earnings, inflation or 2.5%, whichever is highest. However, ever since the atomic event of Trussonomics and THAT mini-budget the policy has become rather expensive (like virtually everything else).

Whether it’ll be introduced to save the treasury some money - we’ll see. This is a Government of case famed for its commitment to fiscal discipline!

Rebel Rebel

He’s just Ken, living at number 10

Thanks for tuning into another weekend wire. I hope you all have a lovely weekend & enjoy what seems to be the end of the summer weather.

Best wishes,
Ben Stead Lewis
External Affairs Officer
Best for Britain