BEST FOR BRITAIN'S 



WEEKEND WIRE



Dear John,



Major breakthroughs could be on the horizon, and we’re not just talking about Michael Gove’s probable book deal. Let’s take a journey through all the excitement. 



Northern Ireland Protocol talks near resolution <[link removed]>



Rishi Sunak travelled <[link removed]> to Belfast this Friday to sweeten Stormont’s largest parties on the Northern Ireland Protocol deal that the UK and EU have gotten tantalisingly close to sealing. Now, he faces the most delicate task of all: avoiding getting DUPed.



With the EU and UK reportedly having reached <[link removed]> an agreement on customs data sharing, red and green lanes for goods travelling to the Republic and remaining in the UK, and a provision for Northern Irish courts to request intervention from the European Court of Justice, the Prime Minister must now sell it to hard-Brexiters in his own party’s right and, more importantly, the DUP. It won’t be easy; the DUP’s former deputy leader, locked in a titanic battle with self-awareness, recently claimed that any European court’s presence in Northern Ireland constitutes <[link removed]> “colonisation”.



A full agreement, if the rumour mill is to be believed, could be announced early next week–if Sunak can successfully navigate Belfast’s political maze.



For an exhaustive, no-question-too-basic explainer of the Northern Ireland Protocol, check out the blog <[link removed]> penned by B4B’s Director of Communications, Niall McGourty.







Sturgeon to resign



We were dealt a major surprise on Wednesday when First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon announced <[link removed]> that she would step down after over eight years in her posts.



Sturgeon has been in office since shortly after the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, and she led the SNP to become Westminster’s third-largest party. She brushed aside reports that recent political challenges forced her hand in resigning, instead declaring that she wanted the political case for Scottish independence to be decoupled from her own leadership.



Sturgeon’s departure leaves <[link removed]> a wide-open field to succeed her as SNP leader, with no candidate claiming a clear advantage. John Swinney, Humza Yousaf, Kate Forbes, and Angus Robertson have been among the names floated, but a recent poll <[link removed]> showed a staggering 69% of voters reporting ‘don’t know.’



Double-Gove-Seven, (not) licenced to kill



The world’s lamest spy thriller debuted over the weekend when reports revealed that Michael Gove–without the Prime Minister’s knowledge <[link removed]>–attended a secret summit which was organised around a central question: how can we make Brexit work better?



With all the slithery tact of, well, a politician who helped lead the campaign that set off the very economic disaster he has now appointed himself to fix, Gove allegedly struck <[link removed]> a conciliatory tone at the Ditchley Park summit. According to reports, Gove was “very honest” about the fact that the Brexit he championed has “shortcomings.” With the Daily Mail decrying <[link removed]> a “secret plan to unravel Brexit,” one can only guess this means Gove has belatedly acquired some sense in order to save his own political skin.



Read Best for Britain’s blog <[link removed]> on Gove’s attendance at the Ditchley Park summit.



<[link removed]>



Electoral strategy for 30p



The Tories’ new Deputy Party Chairman has wasted no time breaking into his new leadership role, and he’s got a plan to offset <[link removed]> a 25-point poll deficit, pound-shop former and wannabe PMs running their mouths, and business leaders defecting to Labour in droves.



According to Lee Anderson, winning the next election is as simple as 1,2,3.



1. Spread scaremongering misinformation about transgender people. 2. Make impossible and self-defeating promises about reducing immigration. 3. Accuse a food bank operator of bribery and get sued <[link removed]>.



Sorry, that last one was swapped from Lee’s personal to-do list. We have faith he’ll get back to us with more sage advice soon enough.



There’s no place like home? We know, that’s why we’re going to Oz



Ever had one of those moments at work when you’re so fed up that you’re tempted to stand up, walk out the door, go straight to the airport, and never return? If you’re a doctor, teacher, or cop, Western Australia is hoping so. Considering…everything…they may well be onto something.



The Australian state is sending <[link removed]> a delegation to the UK in the coming weeks, tasked with recruiting 31,000 public and private sector workers weary of the UK’s stagnating wages to head Down Under and boost the population and economy in the country’s largest and most sparsely-populated state.



With the exodus of NHS doctors to Australia already well-documented <[link removed]>, this new recruitment push could signal a wider-ranging rush of essential workers out of the UK. When it’s a choice between better pay and lower cost of living and being accused <[link removed]> of faking illness to skip out on work like you’re in secondary school, it’s hard to fault anyone for leaving. 



Friction hurts



DWP Secretary Mel Stride could do with some skills development training (if he’s not cut that yet), because his performance on BBC World at One betrayed a serious lack of effective spin.



Struggling to find a retort to former CBI chief Paul Drexler’s claim that Brexit has shattered the UK’s reputation as a place to do business, Stride admitted <[link removed]> that the EU withdrawal had created “frictions” with the EU that are affecting the UK’s economic performance. Never fear: Stride was equally eager to point out that he could see benefits “coming through”. 



Where those benefits are delivering, what they are, and who they’re helping? Less clear.



Best for Britain CEO Naomi Smith said <[link removed]> Stride’s comments would have “a bitter taste for the public”.



Not-so-Braverman, are we?







Suella Braverman’s quest to rid the UK of the scourges of international students <[link removed]>, child refugees <[link removed]>, and, in this case, 2.5 million EU citizens living and working here received <[link removed]>a welcome setback this Thursday when the Home Office climbed down from a pledge to appeal the High Court’s ruling in favour of EU citizens at risk of being deemed ‘illegal overstayers.”



Before the formal withdrawal from the EU, EU citizens who’d been in the UK less than five years were told to apply for “pre-settled” status and then to reapply for permanent residency. Those who did not reapply in time were at risk of losing their rights to work, housing, and benefits, which the High Court ruled unlawful.



The Home Office had planned <[link removed]> to appeal the ruling, but this week Braverman climbed down. Perhaps someone told her that booting millions of people out of the country with a labour shortage <[link removed]> of over 330,000 workers doesn’t exactly project economic confidence or roll out the welcome wagon. Imagine that!



With a major storm bearing down on the UK as we head into the weekend, we’re hoping with bated breath that the O2 Dome survives, and that 30p Lee’s subpoena doesn’t blow away. Bye for now!



Best wishes,



Tommy Gillespie

Press Officer, Best for Britain







----

Best For Britain - United Kingdom

This email was sent to [email protected]. To stop receiving emails: [link removed]



Created with NationBuilder - [link removed]