Monday 20 November
Rishi Sunak has vowed to cut taxes in a “serious, responsible way” as he delivered a major speech on the economy ahead of the fourth week of November’s Autumn Statement.
The Prime Minister has said the time has come to cut taxes as he set the scene for the Autumn Statement on Wednesday the 22nd.
Giving an update on the economy, he said the Government can “begin the next phase and turn our attention to cutting tax” now inflation had been halved.
Jeremy Hunt will only have room to make “tiny” tax cuts at the Autumn Statement, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank has suggested. Paul Johnson alleged that the Chancellor would not have the fiscal headroom to make major changes, after Rishi Sunak used a speech in London this morning to announce the Government is now in a position to start cutting taxes.
Rishi Sunak also said the Government should “just let people die” as arguments raged over a second lockdown, the Covid Inquiry has been told. Sir Patrick Vallance made a note in his diary on Oct 25 2020 about a meeting in which Dominic Cummings, who was at the time Mr Johnson’s most senior adviser, claimed:
“Rishi says just let people die and that’s okay.”
Argentina votes in Right-wing Javier Milei as next president
Javier Milei will rule as Argentina’s next president after a bitter election that saw Mr Milei surge from relative obscurity to score nearly 56 per cent of the vote. Simeon Tegel has a profile on Milei here, who he describes as an English-loving tantric sex expert. Richard Lapper, meanwhile, warns that the ‘Mileionomics’ of Argentina’s new president could create chaos.
A Home Office minister was sacked after backing Suella Braverman’s Rwanda plan, allies of the former home secretary have claimed. |
Tuesday 21 November
Camilla Tominey writes that Sunak’s turn to tax cuts shows he knows what trouble the Conservatives are in.
- NHS | Seeing a GP quickly is easier in Rwanda than Britain, study finds
- Retail | Middle-class kitchen staple hit by post-pandemic slump
- Israel-Hamas war | Councillor ‘intimidated’ colleagues to sign Gaza ceasefire letter
- ‘Saucy underwear’ | Duchess of York reveals how to spice up a marriage
- UK | Amateur historians discover long-lost Tudor palace
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Wednesday 22 November
Jeremy Hunt to allow workers to choose their own ‘pot for life’ pension
The Chancellor is expected to introduce a pension “pot for life” in Wednesday’s Autumn Statement, allowing consumers to combine their savings for later life.
Jeremy Hunt is set to unveil a number of further reforms in order to increase the amount of money in British pensions invested in the economy.
Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreed in exchange for hostages |
| Israel has agreed to a deal with Hamasto secure the release of 50 women and children kidnapped by the terror group in exchange for a four-day ceasefire. The agreement will also see 150 Palestinian women and children set free from prisons in Israel, as well as the entry of hundreds convoys of trucks carrying fuel, food and medicine into Gaza. Our Global Health Security Editor Paul Nuki, recently back from Israel, believes this fragile ceasefire could provide the mould for a longer peace. James Crisp and Rozina Sabur, meanwhile, report that the deal came after Joe Biden warned Netanyahu that Israel was losing the moral high ground. |
Biggest tax cut for businesses in 50 years in Autumn StatementWith the Prime Minister struggling in the polls after scant gains thus far this year, our political cartoonist Blower may believe the Prime Minister is facing his Waterloo, but the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement is being trusted to turn the tide.
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| Jeremy Hunt declared Britain has “turned a corner” in an Autumn Statement that saw him slash National Insurance, cut business taxes and clamp down on benefit claimants refusing to look for work.
Hunt finally cuts National Insurance There was always likely to be a rabbit out of the Chancellor’s hat this lunchtime. After a year of Tory calls for tax cuts, Jeremy Hunt finally delivered by reducing the main rate of National Insurance from 12 per cent to 10 per cent. It came as he permanently extended “full expensing”, which lets companies save £250k in tax for every £1m invested, in what Hunt called “the biggest business tax cut in modern British history”. And in a major overhaul of the benefits system, the Chancellor announced jobseekers who refuse to engage with the welfare process will eventually see their benefits stopped after two years. An Autumn Statement for growth Other measures included new funding to combat anti-Semitism, freezing alcohol duty until August and an increase in the full new state pension by 8.5 per cent, to £221.20 a week. “This Autumn Statement for Growth will attract £20bn more business investment a year in the next decade, bring tens of thousands more people into work and support our fastest growing industries,” Hunt told MPs, calling the plan ”an Autumn Statement for growth”. Responding, Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves noted taxes will still be higher at the next election than at the last – and picked up on the Office for Budget Responsibility downgrading its growth forecasts since March. The Government has finally cut taxes, if not to the extent some will have wanted. With the all-important National Insurance cut taking effect from January, Hunt and Sunak will hope voters feel the difference by the time they head to the ballot box at some point next year.
> Find a handy summary of the winners and losers
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Thursday 23 November
Biggest tax cuts in 35 years as Tories prepare for election fight |
| Jeremy Hunt has unveiled the biggest tax cuts since the 1980s, leading Conservative MPs to cheer a “good start” and call for more before the general election. However, the tax burden is still forecast to become bigger than at any time since after the Second World War, with Wednesday’s measures dwarfed by the impact of past stealth tax raids. Other offers to voters include one of the biggest increases of the state pension on record, and a crackdown on the “morally wrong” rise in sickness benefits claimants. You can also read our full list of the winners and losers of the Autumn Statement here. |
‘Sunak is finally trying to reverse Britain’s long drift towards socialism’Despite the millions dragged into 40 per cent income tax brand, Allister Heath argues that the Autumn Statement is a strong attempt to reverse Britain’s leftward drift into collectivism. Will your pay packet see a boost as a result of the Chancellor’s measures? Use our National Insurance calculator here to find out.
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Geert Wilders wins Dutch electionGeert Wilders, the veteran Right-wing politician, has won a convincing victory in the Dutch general election after one of the country’s most close-fought campaigns for many years. Mr Wilders is a veteran eurosceptic and put a binding Nexit referendum in his Freedom Party manifesto before recording a shock first win for the hard-Right in a general election in the Netherlands. Scenting a chance of taking part in government for the first time in a political career stretching back to 1998, Mr Wilders put anti-Islamic policies such as banning mosques and the Koran in “the fridge” before the vote. He was rewarded for his more moderate tone with victory, as I explain here, in a campaign dominated by migration, the cost of living and a housing crisis.
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Cleverly: Migration stats do not show ‘significant increase’
The Conservatives have been promising to reduce net migration since 1992, but figures published today by the Office for National Statistics show it has now hit 672,000, its highest-ever rate.
The home affairs supremo Charles Hymas and data guru Ben Butcher have a full digest of the figures, which set out the scale of the task facing Rishi Sunak and James Cleverly, his new Home Secretary.
Cleverly insisted that while the Government is committed to reducing immigration levels, the figures are “not showing a significant increase” – a sentiment that appears out of tune with the sheer fury from the Tory Right this lunchtime.
The best Autumn Statement comment and analysis |
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Friday 24 November
Violence flares in Dublin after five-year-old girl seriously hurt in knife attack |
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Anti-immigration protesters descended on Dublin city centre last night after five people were injured in a knife attack outside a school. At least three small children were injured in the stabbing, as well as a man and a woman. According to RTE, the suspected knife-man was seen hanging around in front and behind the school before launching the attack.
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Cabinet piles pressure on Sunak to slash migrationThe Prime Minister is facing demands from within his Cabinet to crack down on visas for foreign NHS and care workers after net migration hit a record high. Our Home Affairs Editor Charles Hymas reports that Sunak is considering the measure as part of a five-point plan being pushed by Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister. Fraser Nelson, meanwhile, argues that mass migration is covering up the scandal of out-of-control welfare.
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Ceasefire begins in Gaza ahead of hostage release A four-day ceasefire in Gaza took effect at 7am (5am GMT) today, setting the stage for the release of 13 Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The source told AFP: “The 13 Israeli hostages are now with the Israeli security services” after they were released on the first day of a four-day truce in the Gaza Strip. This is a developing story, and you can follow live updates on our live blog throughout the day. |
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- Ukraine | Collaborator ‘handed over own father to Russians for torture’
- Alex Salmond | Nicola Sturgeon faces ‘day of reckoning’ on botched sex claims inquiry
Saturday 25 November
| Charity crisis | Comic Relief chairman Eric Salama quit his position after he said management took “an approach to an issue which (he) thought was profoundly wrong” . The issue is understood to have been the charity’s decision to join dozens of other organisations in calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza conflict. |
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Eric Salama |
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Iceberg on the move in Antarctic Ocean |
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| Credit: EUROPEAN UNION/COPERNICUS SENTINEL-3 |
| A huge iceberg more than twice the size of Greater London is on the move after more than 30 years. Known as A23a, the iceberg had been stuck to the ocean floor since 1986, when it broke off from the Antarctic coastline. |
Sunday 26 November
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| Emily Hand has reunited with her father Thomas Hand |
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Some View on the World 
4 thoughts on “In the News for the Fourth week of November 2023”