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Dear John,
It’s been business as usual in
Westminster this week, with resignations aplenty, inflation rising and
lucky for us another car-crash interview from a Tory MP to include in
our new cringe column below - we knew we could count on the Government
for something!
Beyond Westminster, representatives
from both sides of the House travelled to Davos this week for the
World Economic Forum, including Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron who
rubbed shoulders with the new Argentine PM Milei.
Meanwhile back at No.10, Sunak had
yet another Tory rebellion on his hands over the Rwanda vote, only for
the majority of them to end up backing the bill after all. At this
point you’d think he’d want to call a General Election just to save
himself the ag…
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On Wednesday evening, Sunak
experienced a fleeting moment of success with his human-rights
breaching Rwanda bill passing in the House of
Commons.
Despite Tory Rebels such as Lee
Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith talking the talk, even going so far
as to resign from their positions as Deputy Conservative Party Chairs,
unsurprisingly, they failed to walk the walk, with Anderson abstaining
due to Labour MPs heckling him in the
lobby… and Clarke-Smith
voting in favour.
Nevertheless, 11 MPs on the hard
right of the party, including Suella Braverman, Robert Jenrick and
Miriam Cates stuck to their word by voting against the bill, believing
that it was not yet legally robust enough to succeed.
So what happens next? Well, Sunak
is still facing an uphill battle as the bill enters the House of Lords
where it is expected to face stiff opposition from peers worried about
the Bill's apparent aim to skirt international law.
In terms of his position as PM and
Conservative Leader, he seems weaker than ever, especially following
his performance at PMQs this week where he failed to deny claims that
the Home Office had lost contact with more than 4000 individuals who
they plan to deport to Rwanda. So on second thoughts, perhaps we were
a bit premature calling this a success for Sunak.
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Labour landslide
& that record swing |
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Last weekend The Telegraph published a YouGov survey declaring that the
Conservatives are set for a 1997 style wipe out at the next General
Election, retaining just 169 seats as Labour sweeps to power with
385.
Interestingly, the survey was
funded by a group of Conservative donors called the Conservative
Britain Alliance, working alongside Lord Frost. I couldn’t possibly
comment on the motives behind them putting such a poll into the field,
but when we consider what we know from both our own polling, and many others, it is the Don’t Know
voters who will decide the next election, out of the ‘don’t knows’,
38% previously voted for the Tories and only 11% voted Labour, and so
a Labour victory is not a given.
Later in the week, research on the new constituency boundary changes undertaken for the
BBC, ITV News, Sky News and the Press Association determined that
Labour needs a national swing of 12.7% to win with just a small
majority, considerably higher than the 10.2% achieved by Tony Blair in
1997 - this alone reaffirms that the path to No.10 for Labour is
filled with many hurdles, despite what some may report.
It also reaffirms the crucial role
tactical voting will play at the next election, which is why we need
your help to reach as many people as possible in marginal
constituencies with our tactical voting site getvoting.org, even £5 would help, so if you can, do
consider donating to our election crowdfunder here.
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U-turn for EU settlement
scheme
Yet another
Government U-Turn, and yet another example of the Government’s
mishandling of Brexit. The Home Office has reversed its decision made
in August last year that barred EU citizens who were living in
the UK pre-Brexit from making late applications on the grounds of
‘lack of awareness’., as
reported in The Guardian.
With
a lack of explicit guidance from the Home Office, it isn’t hard to
imagine the difficulty faced by EU citizens who have lived in the UK since before
Brexit who have a lifelong right to remain here under the Brexit
withdrawal agreement. That’s even before we mention Brits in the
EU.
As we
at Best for Britain have advocated for some time, the next Government
must go further to implement a UK-EU visa system that works for the
UK. Read more here.
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Dallying in
Davos
It wasn't only Lord
Cameron frolicking in the Swiss Alps this week, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt
and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves were also in attendance at the
World Economic Forum to outline their plans to the international
business community.
Reeves outlined Labour's plans to restore Britain’s
reputation as a place to do business, outlining that private sector investment
is a major component of Labour’s growth strategy, the Shadow
Chancellor even made a jab at Hunt for arriving two days after
her.
When
Hunt finally arrived, he hinted about his plans to make further tax
cuts, which he claims will
encourage the economy to grow. Where have we heard that
before?
The Lib Dems were
quick to call Hunt out stating that, “People have been left poorer by
years of economic mismanagement under this government, and none of
Jeremy Hunt's vague promises can change that fact.” - and they aren’t
wrong.
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Tomlinson Terror
In what can only be described as
an absolute car-crash of an
interview, Tory
Minister Michael Tomlinson had a wonderful time with Kay Burley on Sky
News this week, where she quizzed him on his favourite football
team.
If you can bear the cringe, it’s
well worth a watch.
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Thérèse trips up
During a debate on the Rwanda
Bill, Thérèse Coffey’s best efforts to
humiliate those on the opposing bench backfired, when she made an
enormous geographical blunder much to the amusement of Shadow Home Sec
Yvette Cooper.
Perhaps you should spend this
weekend brushing up on your map skills Thérèse!
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And on that amusing note, that’s it
for this week’s Weekend Wire.
Have a great weekend!
Best
wishes,
Georgia Wiltshire
Development Manager
Best for Britain
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