Dear John,



It’s been a busy week so let’s get right to it, shall we?



Sunak’s net-zero conscience



The week’s news agenda was turned upside down on Tuesday evening when the BBC caught wind <[link removed]> that the Prime Minister was preparing to ditch key climate commitments in his desperation to divide the nation ahead of the next election on an issue where most people agree.



In a hastily arranged press conference on Wednesday, Sunak confirmed that he was indeed doing just that, u-turning on schemes to prevent NEW petrol cars and gas boilers specifically. Not content with doing his part to make the planet boil, Sunak made our brains boil in a speech which claimed:



- He’s doing what’s difficult while doing what’s politically easiest

- He's being honest while lying about scrapping policies which never existed <[link removed]>

- He’s taking responsible long term decisions while shafting future generations

- He wants the consent of the British people, when almost no one voted for him to be Prime Minister

- The decision was not about slogans while standing in front of his new election slogan <[link removed]>



Completely coincidently (seriously it is completely unconnected to what Sunak announced) Liz Truss had the gall to show her face on the anniversary week of her catastrophic mini-budget which hiked mortgage and rent bills by around a third for millions of people.



In a speech <[link removed]> laden with her trademark combination of arrogance and awkwardness, Truss washed her hands of the debacle and called on Sunak to delay climate action specifically when it came to cars and heating. Labour’s press office summed the dynamic up well with the image opposite.



Our CEO Naomi Smith was BBC’s Politics Live <[link removed]> on Wednesday to pick over the train wreck







Starmer’s French Connection







Keir Starmer might be forgiven for acting like he already has one foot in Downing Street, and to be fair, the French seem to be doing the same.



On Monday, the ‘Prime Minister in waiting’ tour brought Keir and his top team to Paris <[link removed]> to rub shoulders with business leaders and press the flesh with French President Emanuel Macron.



While there was no joint press conference following the talks, it was widely reported <[link removed]> that improving the current shambolic Brexit deal was top of the agenda.



Coincidently, their meeting was closely followed by the publication of a paper <[link removed]> from European Ministers positing what some have described as an ‘onion model’ for the EU with an inner circle with outer rings envisioning associate EU membership for countries like the UK. Be still my beating heart.



Starmer’s statesman credentials were optically burnished by the King’s visit to Paris two days later resulting in this Anglo-Gallic love-in <[link removed]> on the streets of Paris.



Brexit Corner



The Divergence Dance



Hopes were raised at Best for Britain Towers on Thursday evening when footage emerged <[link removed]> of the Labour Leader stating that if he won power, Labour would not seek to diverge from EU standards and protections.



As divergence from our largest market increases prices for British businesses and consumers, and as beneficial alignment is a key recommendation from our cross-party commission <[link removed]>, you can imagine our excitement at this admission of common sense.



Inevitably, the Government and right-wing media jumped on his comments with a shrillness we haven’t seen in quite some time, playing all the hits; including ‘Brexit Betrayal’, ‘Remoaner plot’ and everyone's favourite, ‘Brexit hasn’t been done properly yet’. Cue Labour spinners falling over themselves <[link removed]> to explain that Starmer was referring exclusively to things like food standards and environmental protections. We’ll take it… for now.



Thank EU for the music



Fresh Best for Britain research <[link removed]> was published last weekend highlighting new ways that the Brexit deal is shafting our (genuinely) world leading music industry.



Where previously <[link removed]> we found that the number of UK musicians playing festivals in the EU had fallen by around a third this year compared to pre-Brexit, it appears the same is true in the opposite direction with 40% fewer European acts at festivals like Glastonbury, Latitude and Reading & Leeds.



To reverse this trend, we’re campaigning for simpler visa and customs arrangements for creative industries and a reciprocal youth mobility scheme for under 35s.







Bored of Trade? Time for a revamp.







Last week we heard rumours that the Secretary of State for Business and Trade was limbering up to unveil her new look UK Board of Trade, now with celebrity fashion designers and music moguls. Skilled though they undoubtedly are, at Best for Britain we believe that the Government doesn’t need another group telling them how brilliant they are.



Disasters like the Brexit deal and the disadvantageous agreements struck with Australia <[link removed]'not,actually%20very%20good'%2C%20MPs%20hear&text=The%20UK's%20flagship%20post%2DBrexit,secretary%20George%20Eustice%20has%20said.> and New Zealand <[link removed]> demonstrate that the UK Board of Trade should be independent, able to impartially report on UK trading performance and analyse the pros and cons of new trade deals. That’s why last week the UK Trade and Business Commission along with 82 leading British Businesses called on her to do just that in a letter organised by Best for Britain.



Unfortunately for us she pressed ahead with her superficial revamp <[link removed]>. Unfortunately for Kemi, her non-announcement was completely eclipsed by the leak of Sunak’s diabolical scheme to do whatever Liz Truss tells him to do (sad trombone).



The exorcism



After decades of polarising nations and injecting his poison into the global body politic, Rupert Murdoch has stepped down <[link removed]> as chairman of Fox and News Corp two organisations responsible for many open sewers in the US and UK masquerading as news outlets. Does this mean that we are at last free of his malign scaremongering and divisive agenda? Sadly, the genie may be out of the bottle on this one.



It’s the most wonderful time of the year



The speeches, the stalls, the prepared photo ops and the inevitable lurgy, yes, the party conference season is upon us and that heading was definitely sarcastic. Best for Britain will be on the ground at all, bending the ears of policy makers and decision takers on the virtues of electoral reform and improving EU/UK ties starting with Lib Dems in Bournemouth this weekend.  Well, I say we’ll be at them all but our Conservative Party conference passes have yet to arrive. Can’t imagine why that might be.







As we say in Belfast, where this edition of Weekend Wire was penned, ats us nai. Georgia will be with you next week. Have a great weekend.



Best wishes,

Niall McGourty

Director of Communications

Best for Britain



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