Dear John,

Coming to you with my first ever Weekend Wire. And what a busy week it's been.

A Rubbish Remake - 1 Star

This week's news agenda was dominated by the Tory Party Conference; an event which can only be described as a bit of a car-crash. We're talking half-empty auditoriums, a barely veiled leadership contest, frenzied in-fighting over tax-cuts and - as seems to be the norm these days - a lot of rather shameless lying. 

But of course, the biggest news to come out of conference was Sunak's decision to axe the second leg of HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester. There goes the UK’s most important economic and social regeneration project in decades. 

After allowing it to overshadow the entirety of the conference, Rishi finally put a stop to the painful will-they, won't they and made the announcement in his big speech on Wednesday. 

In a classic case of "jam tomorrow", the Prime Minister justified cancelling the second leg of the rail-line by making a bundle of un-costed promises safe in the knowledge that none can be achieved before the next general election. 

I don't know about you, but it sounds less like a "long-term decision for a better future" and more like short-term political opportunism.  

Aside from scrapping the second leg of HS2, the other two key announcements to note are Sunak's proposed ban on smoking and post-16 educational reforms. 

Together, the three policies are part of his broader plan to set himself up as an agent of change. It's almost as if he's forgotten who was in charge for the past 13 years. Well we certainly haven't. 

Our CEO Naomi Smith reflected on the Tory Conference, and its implications for the upcoming general election,  in a piece for the Metro this week. 

More Fibs about Freedoms

An equally ridiculous, but less reported upon, part of Rishi Sunak's speech was his claim that "post Brexit freedoms have enabled the government to cut red tape saving British businesses £1 billion per year". Unsurprisingly, this has led to backlash from a number of business leaders. 

Indeed, just three days prior to Sunak’s speech,  it was reported that new Brexit border controls on animal and plant products imported from the EU will cost businesses an estimated £330mn a year alone in additional red tape charges.

And that comes alongside another article reporting that UK exporters face hundreds of millions of pounds in EU carbon border taxes within the next decade.

Something’s not quite adding up here…

On The Fringes

Whilst the main conference events might have lacked support, there was some unexpected, and unwanted, energy buzzing around the fringes. Nigel Farage received a hero's welcome, and hundreds queued to listen to Liz Truss dish out her top tips on economic growth.

And if that wasn't a worrying enough indication that the Conservative party are moving increasingly to the right, then give Priti Patel's speech a listen. Not only does she pick on the “Tory hating Brexit-bashers, free speech deniers at the BBC,” but she then goes on to praise GB news as "defenders of free speech" and thanks their staff for "absolutely everything” they do. Did she miss the part where Ofcom launched a formal investigation into the conduct of GB News? 

For a deeper dive into the party's increasing alignment with the far right, then read Naomi Smith’s thought-provoking  piece in the Guardian.

An Urgent Plea For Action

The British Red Cross has released a report, warning that thousands of refugees are in danger of becoming homeless.

In August, the Government changed its 28 day ‘move-on’ policy -  the time given to refugees to move from asylum support to mainstream benefits or employment – leaving some people with as little as seven days to move out of their asylum accommodation. 

The Red Cross has concluded that the impact of the change in policy, coupled with the Government’s current drive to  clear the legacy backlog, means that more than 50,000 people could be left homeless by the end of 2023

That's all from me. Enjoy the sun this weekend and watch out for next week's instalment of Weekend Wire from our brilliant Content Executive Elsie. 

Until next time.

Martha Harrison 
Press Manager (print/online)
Best for Britain