BEST FOR BRITAIN'S
WEEKEND WIRE

Dear John

As the extreme heat takes its toll, new drought warnings threaten to push food prices up still further as the water shortage begins to impact livestock and crops. The worst news of course is about what’s yet to come, with some predictions suggesting that by January people will be paying over £5,000 a year for their energy.

It’s not quite the silly season we’d hoped for.

But, it’s Friday again, and an end to the working week for many, so we bring you another edition of Weekend Wire. Check it out, and then make sure to take a break. We all need it. 

Asleep at the wheel

The Conservative leadership contest is ongoing and amid the endless drama, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: neither candidate has their eyes on the important stuff. 

This week, warnings from Cornwall Insight forecast that the energy price cap was likely to rise to more than £4,200 per annum by January, a figure that is almost impossible to contemplate for so many of us. Terrifyingly, Thursday saw predictions of the price cap reaching £5000 a year. It’s something we’d rather not think about but we have to face the reality ahead of us. 

At the start of the week, the current PM kept fairly quiet in the face of these forecasts, claiming that they were a matter for his successor, despite it being quite clear that many households are facing a crisis already.. Johnson did follow this up with a few assurances on behalf of his successor that they will help the UK to navigate the upcoming (severe) price shocks in the energy sector. Given Johnson’s assurances are rarely worth anything at all, we aren’t feeling too ‘assured’.

On Thursday, however, Johnson and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi met with energy companies, warning them that their ‘extraordinary profits’ were being evaluated. Johnson seemed to hint that an additional windfall tax might be on the table in future, even though this contradicted reports from earlier in the week - and he also pointed out that energy companies may go on to hurt themselves and their operations if they inflict sky-high bills on consumers. 

Neither Liz Truss nor Rishi Sunak seem to be offering much. Truss, who is expected to win the leadership contest, at first rejected the idea of offering direct state support to the most vulnerable in society. She did appear to walk back on that position on Wednesday and promised more targeted support for those who need it. 

Sunak seems to be offering more, with a pledge to find £10 billion to help poorer households struggling with the cost of rising energy. Direct support is certainly needed - but that support needs to be radical and truly generous in nature. Sunak has taken so long to get to the point of offering direct support (and, with the exception of furlough, didn’t seem to much like doing it as Chancellor) that it’s hard to imagine his plans will be radical enough. 

We’re bracing ourselves for a bleak midwinter, whichever of the two inhabits Number 10. 

Bickering Britain

To make matters worse, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak can’t stop trading barbed comments while Rome burns

You’ll remember when Sunak described his opponent as ‘not Conservative’ in the first TV debate. Truss has now gone one further and accused Sunak of ‘Gordon Brown economics’ on account of his refusal to immediately cut taxes and his suggestions for targeted support to the most vulnerable consumers in the UK. 

Not only is this a huge insult to Gordon Brown, but it’s also part of the never-ending cycle of insults and misrepresentations that has categorised this entire leadership contest. 

We’re getting rather tired of it to be honest. 

Blackout Britain?

In more scary news this week, it emerged that the Government had modelled a worst-case energy supply scenario which might see four days of power cuts over the winter. 

The scenario would see the Government act to conserve power supplies by ordering blackouts across the UK’s energy supply in January. This would lead to potential rolling blackouts across residential and commercial properties over the UK. 

This is obviously a terrifying thought, although the Government has stressed that such a scenario is unlikely to unfold. But if the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that we should hope for the best, but prepare for the worst, because the worst seems to happen!

Not about that drought

As the heatwave continues, anyone who resides in the East or South East of England will have become acutely aware that we have had basically no rain for months. 

Water companies are warning of shortages, and many have taken drought measures - such as imposing hosepipe bans. Thames Water is likely to impose a hosepipe ban in the coming weeks, but this hasn’t yet been implemented - despite London and its surroundings clearly lacking water resources. 

Government ministers have made clear they think water companies should act, with George Eustice calling for more hosepipe bans. 

The mood is rather different in Downing Street, however, with a spokesperson for the PM confirming that the Downing Street site has no plans to stop the use of hosepipes. The spokesperson also refused to comment on whether the pool at Chequers would be drained. 

As ever, this lame duck Government is splashing around all over the place.

Finally trumped?

In perhaps more cheerful news (albeit from across the pond) it looks like it may finally be crunch time for Donald Trump.

State officials in New York have been investigating whether the Trump Organization has misled them about its assets. He was questioned under oath at the New York Attorney General’s Office - and it turns out he didn’t say anything at all. 

Under the US Constitution, Trump was able to plead the Fifth Amendment, which gives every citizen the right not to incriminate themselves. Of course, this implies that he may well be guilty, since he seems to believe answering questions would incriminate him. Trump however, commented that he wasn’t guilty, and that he was taking the route of remaining silent on account of being subjected to a ‘witch-hunt’. 

Fuelling his witch hunt paranoia is the fact that his residential property at Mar-a-Lago has been searched by the FBI. Under a search warrant supported by Attorney General Merrick Garland, Trump’s property has now been searched, with boxes of documentation removed from the property. 

It is suspected that this documentation may be confidential information that Trump should have left behind when he left the office of President. Trump certainly has form for this - 15 boxes of White House documentation were retrieved from Mar-a-Lago in January of this year. 

Perhaps even more shocking has been the leaked news that the classified documents the FBI have been searching for in Mar-a-Lago may relate to nuclear matters. If this is the case, it would be a serious breach of US national security. 

But when did Donald Trump (or Boris Johnson) ever take that seriously? 

Anyhow, that’s all from us. We’ll try to bring cheerier news next week!

Best wishes,

Maheen Behrana

Senior Campaigns and Policy Officer, Best for Britain

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