Dear John,
The cold snap this week has us
shivering and chattering, and the winter is just getting started. It
hasn’t frozen the Tories’ car doors shut, so they tragically made it
into Westminster for another week of blundering at the top. Let’s see
what they managed.
Lordy Lordy
On Monday, Keir Starmer travelled
to Leeds to unveil a report on constitutional reform alongside former PM Gordon Brown to
much fanfare.
The report recommended a major expansion of devolved powers,
pledging to move decision-making “as close as meaningfully possible”
to where it’s implemented. The most eye-catching of its
recommendations, though, was the abolition of the House of Lords and its replacement
with an elected upper chamber representing the nations and regions of
the UK.
However, one major change was
missing: national electoral reform. With the UK’s first-past-the-post
system currently handing the Tories 56% of seats and 100% of the power
with only 43% of the vote, Starmer’s silence on electoral reform could
come back to haunt him at the next election. After Labour conference
voted to endorse proportional representation, including it in the
manifesto should be a no-brainer.
Read Best for Britain’s response
here.
Coal for Christmas
Never say this Government isn’t
proactive. Keeping the Dickensian vibes of the last few months going,
on Thursday Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove greenlit the opening of the UK’s first coal mine in a generation in
Cumbria.
In a move that definitely has
nothing to do with their fast-diminishing chances of retaining their
2019 Red Wall gains, the Government claims the project will provide over 500 jobs and serve a vital role
in the production of steel, which has been threatened by the Russian
invasion of Ukraine. Opponents swiftly pointed out that UK firms are
unlikely to buy any coal produced there because British steelmakers
already have a healthy supply of more sustainable
resources.
People interested in breathing and
not living underwater have savaged the plans, pointing to the much
greater job opportunities in onshore wind and, you know, the fact that
it’s not coal. Green MP Caroline Lucas called the move it a “climate crime against humanity” in a
Guardian op-ed.
Party like it’s 2006
Remember finance in the 2000s, when
the UK banking system was on top of the world, money flowed into the
City from all corners, and nothing bad happened and the economy was
great forever and ever?
Jeremy Hunt certainly remembers. So
much so that Friday morning, he announced a series of sweeping reforms to financial
regulations that will “seize on our Brexit freedoms” and stop the
exodus of money to Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt.
This will involve scrapping
regulations which protect customers from the kind of risky investment
ventures that led to the 2008 banking crash and which hold senior
moneymen accountable for their misdeeds. Predictably, critics have
collectively said, ‘Erm, are we forgetting what happened last
time?’.
HanCockUp
Matt Hancock will not be standing
for Parliament next election. How he arrived at this decision, like
the rest of the saga, depends on who you ask.
According to the man himself,
Hancock is leaving the chamber to focus on new challenges. He made a pointed warning in his resignation letter to the Prime Minister about the
Tories’ need to find new ways to appeal to the electorate, so if
you’re a camel, gird your loins.
Then again, Hancock also said he
wouldn’t lose the whip and that he would stay on as an MP as recently
as last week. If you speak to the West Suffolk
Conservative Association, it’s because Hancock was “up the creek
without a paddle” and “not fit” to be an MP.
For now, it’s still looking to be a
case of ‘disgraced MP said, everyone else save some
selectively-planted allies said.’
Updates from
Iran
Protests in Iran have continued
into their third month, with highly-visible shows of support for the
dissidents’ cause at the ongoing World Cup. In a show of solidarity,
the national football team refused to sing their national anthem at
all of their matches last month.
This week, news of brutal reprisals
against the protestors back in Iran have emerged. After conflicting
reports about the regime’s hated ‘morality police’ came out, fresh
bulletins have claimed that troops have been targeting female protestors with shots to breasts and
crotch. The first confirmed execution of an anti-regime prisoner was
also carried out this week, a 23 year-old named Mohsen
Shekari.
These crackdowns have not stopped
the protestors from continuing to bravely challenge the regime. Best
for Britain stands in solidarity with those fighting for change in
Iran.
B4B Blog: Myths about migration debunked
Ahead of World Human Rights Day
this Saturday, Best for Britain have published a blog debunking seven of the most common myths about
migration, written by yours truly.
The blog tackles some of the
falsehoods government officials have peddled about asylum and
immigration in the UK, from the asylum backlog to Channel crossings to
the truth about the hotels housing people seeking asylum in the
UK.
Give it a read, share it around,
and help us flip the narrative–we’ll stop the spread of Government
misinformation in its tracks.
Industrial distraction?
In a winter beset with strikes on
the railways, in the NHS, in the postal system, and in the civil
service (to name a few), the Government has finally wised up to the
need to stem the flood of industrial action in the UK.
If you thought this meant a firm
commitment to negotiating with workers in good faith, you are a very
optimistic, kind-hearted person. No, they’re trying to push forward
legislation banning industrial action. The Government has been tight-lipped about
their exact plans, but it’s thought such policy could limit the amount of disruption strikes cause in
certain sectors or even ban some, like firefighting and ambulances,
from striking entirely.
This would be the latest chapter in
the saga of the Government banning dissent because cleaning up their own mess is too
hard. Make sure you don’t protest too disruptively, because that’s illegal now, too!
Last call for Christmas merch!!
If you’re looking to proudly
declare your membership in the tofu-eating wokerati at the family
Christmas party, you’d better act fast. Best for Britain's Christmas merch collection is on sale, and many items have already
sold out.
Any orders received by
13th December
will be shipped in time to make it under the tree.
As the holiday
draws ever closer, it’s more important than ever to remember what
we’re thankful for. We’re thankful that, all things else equal, we’re
witnessing the final act of Matt Hancock’s political career. Small
victories, people! Bye for now.
