Dear John,

As spooky season graces Westminster this weekend, the Government has been up to its usual tricks. 

Despite this week marking Sunak’s 1 year in office there seems little for him to celebrate as he remains haunted by both his own, and his party’s continued failure. 

Lucky for MPs, Parliament is now prorogued (yes, again) until 7 November. I’m sure during the break some might be looking to pump(kin) those numbers up if they’ve taken a glance at the latest polling. 

Anyway, it’s been a typical week in Westminster, so read on if you dare. 

Jeepers Creepers

A report published by the Government has warned that artificial intelligence has the potential to increase the number of cyber attacks, alongside diminishing public trust in online information by 2025. 

The report highlights the Government’s fear that as AI evolves so will its ability to gather dangerous information on things like nuclear and biological weapons, it could increase the accessibility of child abuse images, and could also increase threats of ‘deep fakes’ entering societal debate, just to mention a few. This is in part facilitated by AI’s growing ability to mimic bureaucratic language, an action that has previously been a challenge to those posing such threats.

However, in a speech on Thursday morning, Sunak stated that although “in a worst-case scenario, society could lose all control over AI, preventing it from being switched off” the intelligence still has potential… 

This Government is bad enough, let alone a deep fake alternative!

Although, some are already singing its praises including holiday rental company AirBnB, who are using AI to prevent guests from having house parties in their rented properties. Some might say party pooper whereas others welcome it, like AI as a whole it seems people remain divided on the issue.

Do you think AI is a threat to democracy?

By-election Bonanza Continues

Following Tory MP Peter Bone’s suspension from Parliament, Labour have called for a by-election (yes another one) in his constituency of Wellingborough in Northamptonshire. 

Considering the Tories current track record (they have lost the last 8 out a possible 9 by-elections), you can imagine that the word by-election sends shivers down Sunak’s spine, particularly since the poll would likely take place in February 2024, a major setback to Sunak’s plans for new year, new Tories.

The probability of a Labour victory seems relatively high following whispers from the Lib Dems that they would not put up much of a fight in the seat. However, the Tories do have a stronghold over the local council in Wellingborough, having won, yes you guessed it, a by-election, earlier this year.

So perhaps it's all to play for?

Twisted Transparency

Another week, another Home Office failure. 

The Suella Braverman-led Home Office has been hit with severe criticism from MPs across all parties following its decision to not publish data on the asylum seeker children who went missing in January. This decision was made due to the data no longer being ‘quality assured’. 

For context, at the beginning of this year it was reported that 200 asylum seeker children were missing from the hotels that they were originally placed into, with serious concerns that human trafficking was taking place. As a result the Government had been attempting to publish monthly data on the progress of finding these children, however the last update was recorded in June, with 154 children still missing. 

Not only does this statement provoke serious concerns around the safety and security of the children still missing, but also around the accuracy of the figures that have already been released. As we all know, it would not be out of character for this Government to stray from the truth in order to save even a sliver of their reputation. 

This issue only adds to the growing divide among the Conservatives, and leaves us wondering what kind of spell Suella has over Sunak, surely it’s her time to go. 

Brexit Corner

On Friday, Bloomberg reported that beauty exports from the UK to the European Union have fallen by more than £850 million since the EU referendum with Brexit red tape once again causing serious problems for the industry. 

The report was commissioned by the British Beauty Council, and sponsored by brands including industry leaders L’Oreal and SpaceNK, a clear indication of the struggles and discontent among beauty manufacturers. 

As UK Trade and Business Commissioner and CEO of Fashion Roundtable, Tamara Cincik rightly argues, “The government must not gloss over this issue. The message from the UK Beauty industry is clear: reducing checks through beneficial regulatory alignment with our largest market is the foundation to increasing much-needed trade.”

Maintenance Madness

A report published this week by housing charity Unipol revealed that students in England are having to spend almost their entire maintenance loan on rent. 

The average student rent has risen by 14.6%, yet maintenance loans have risen by just 5.2%, leaving many students with no choice but to illegally double up in rooms, work two jobs alongside their studies and there are even reports of some students eating only one meal the entire weekend. 

It once again fires up the debate that working-class students are being priced out of higher education, with many stating it has now reached a crisis point. The expectation that students should live below a basic standard of living is only further evidence of yet another broken system in Britain. 

As we have been highlighting with our Can’t Wait campaign, our unfit for purpose voting system keeps unfit for purpose governments like the one currently in power with a minority of votes, and without a change more people will continue to be pushed into poverty. Have you donated to our General Election crowdfunder yet? If not, you can find out more here.

Wimble-Done

Plans to extend Wimbledon Tennis ground have been approved by local council leaders this week, although not without criticism. 

Merton Council received over 2000 letters of complaint, including from the group Save Wimbledon Park who argued that the development, which is triple the size of the current tennis ground, would result in the felling of 100s of trees on Grade II listed parkland. Even local Tory MP Stephen Hammond described the plans as inappropriate. 

However, proponents argue that among other benefits, the new ground will strengthen the local economy by creating new jobs and increasing tourism. 

The debate between economic benefit versus environmental loss is not new, but at Best for Britain we remain deeply concerned about the the Government’s consistently anti-environment policy shift none of which are likely to have any economic benefit, from scrapping HS2 to attacking ULEZ and deciding trade with countries on the other side of the world is preferable to trade with our closest neighbours.

In case you missed it, we have launched a new supporter benefit. For every new supporter that signs up to give £10 a month or more, we will plant a tree in your name in our very own European Forest. Find out more here. 

And that’s it for this week. Have a great weekend, and join us next Saturday to hear from our new Press Manager Cameron Stocker! 

P.S Don’t forget to sign-up for alerts for the launch of our tactical voting campaign, Get Voting. 

Best wishes,
Georgia Wiltshire
Development Manager
Best for Britain