In the week where Keir Starmer made his six key milestones for Government, Best for Britain unveiled groundbreaking polling and the French government collapsed, here is your Weekend Wire…

Promises, pledges and priorities

On Thursday in pinewood studios the Prime Minister set out his (Definitely not a reset) reset where he unveiled his six key targets.

The most pressing of the six targets unveiled by the Prime Minister was a commitment to deliver higher living standards across the country, and in particular to putting more disposable income into the pockets of working people. Perhaps influenced by the result of the American election last month and the clear link between cost of living and the lurch towards the right, Starmer's commitment seems sensible.

As Best for Britain CEO, Naomi Smith highlighted, the easiest way for Starmer to achieve this goal is to remove Brexit trade barriers with the EU; “Tory trade barriers with the EU increased average annual shopping bills by £250, so trying to increase disposable income without making trade easier is like driving with the handbrake on.”

Starmer also committed to building 1.5 million new houses by, in part, fast-tracking planning permission decisions for around 150 major infrastructure projects. The importance of this pledge will not be lost on the millions who find themselves trapped in a cycle of renting and have lost hope of ever owning their own home.

Moving on to the NHS, Starmer set a target of 92% of patients waiting less than 18-weeks for elective treatment. In keeping with the Government’s early focus on fixing the NHS, Starmer has set a challenging but important goal for Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

The final two pledges focused on policing and education with Starmer promising to deliver 13,000 new policemen and a plan to get 75% of five-year-olds to the level where they are reading to learn at school, up from the current level of 67.7%.

Who needs a Christmas present when you have Christmas polling?

Yesterday, Best for Britain unveiled brand new polling exploring the opinions of the British electorate when it comes to the UK’s  trading and international relationships, with particularly interesting results regarding the UK’s relationship with the US vs its relationship with the EU. 

The key finding from the poll is that Brits are more than two times as likely to see the EU as the UK’s most important trading partner, compared to those who say it is the USA, with just under half (48%) of respondents saying they view the EU as the UK’s most important trading partner, compared to just over one in five (22%) who say it is the USA.

The results also revealed that a significant majority of Brits (66%) think the UK and the EU share similar values. In comparison only half (50%) of respondents said the USA had ‘fairly similar’ (42%) or ‘very similar’ (8%) values to the UK. Just less than two in five people (39%) say the USA has different values to the UK.

Further analysis of our polling revealed that Brits also trust the EU, and Japan, significantly more than they trust the USA. About half (49%) of respondents said they ‘somewhat trust’ (33%) or ‘strongly trust’ (16%) the EU, compared to only 23% who said they distrust the EU. Fewer than one in three (30%) Brits said they trust the USA, while two in five (40%) said they distrust the USA. When it comes to Japan, 46% of Brits say they trust the country, with only 15% saying they distrust it.

Overall, this polling should give the Labour Government the confidence it needs to prioritise the pursuit of  a closer trading relationship with the EU over one with the US. As Naomi made clear, “we do not need to choose between our allies, but when it comes to trade there can be only one priority.”

Recommissioned

The polling fortunately coincided with the exciting news that  the UK Trade and Business Commission of business leaders, diplomatic experts and parliamentarians will reconvene from next year along with some fresh faces. 

The new-look  UKTBC organised by Best for Britain will be chaired by Labour MP Andrew Lewin and will include influential vice-chairs including, Peter Norris, Liberal Democrat MP, Layla Moran and diplomatic heavyweights Jonathan Faull (former senior British Official in the EU COmmission) and Lord Kim Darroch (Former British Ambassador to the USA. 

Ahead of the critical review of the Brexit deal in 2026, the group will provide original research and evidence-based solutions to the problems businesses face after Brexit. The culmination of the previous UKTBC’s work and their subsequent recommendations can be found here.

Barnier goes full Truss

A much more fraught picture across the channel this week, as the now former Prime Minister Michel Barnier became the shortest serving PM in modern French history. He was ousted in a vote of no-confidence following his decision to force through a budget which raised taxes and cut spending.

President Emmanuel Macron has promised that he will announce a new PM in the coming days, but with the National Legislature in a state of paralysis due to no party being able to deliver a workable majority even with a coalition, it seems certain that France’s political woes will continue well into the new year.

The Centre of Inclusive Trade Policy released a report this week revealing that the shipping of UK food and agricultural products to the EU has fallen by more than 16% on average across the three years since Britain left the single market, costing a whopping £3 billion a year to British businesses.

Elsewhere, SDLP leader, Claire Hanna argued that Northern Ireland should be allowed to send representatives to the EU Parliament to oversee proceedings due to the influence that the European Unions legislation still has on the region of the UK. Other suggestions from Hanna include giving  Northern Irish students  access to the Erasmus program and the opening of a European Commission representation office in Belfast.

The worst coup ever?

Crossing over to  South Korea in what will go down in history as one of the most embarrassingly disorganised coups. The President's declaration of martial law only lasted a few hours before he was forced to back down by the opposition and even the members of his own party. In a country famed for throwing its former Presidents in jail, Yoon Suk Yeol could be sitting in a rather less comfortable abode than his presidential suite this time next year.

Although the weather is due to be bad this weekend, spare a thought for the people of Britain in 1703 who on this day experienced what has been called “The Great Storm”. A destructive cyclone is said to have struck Britain in the worst ever recorded storm these isles have seen, leaving a trail of damage and destruction. 

So if your train is delayed this weekend, take some solace in the idea that it could always be worse.

Joshua Edwicker
Best for Britain