Parliament
-
Westminster Week: Getting the job done
Monday
It’s the day of the Government’s Immigration White Paper, a long-awaited if not over-hyped event for the failure to do it before. Yvette Cooper MP (Pontefract, Castleford, and Knottingley/Labour), our Home Secretary, is confident with her notes but there’s a feeling in the House it needs to go further.
Jo White MP (Bassetlaw/Labour) is eager to “stop the reliance on imported workers from abroad”, although how it’s done to completion is not clear. It’s for Max Wilkinson MP (Cheltenham/Liberal Democrat) to say it’s not a time to bring up “divisive cultural issues”, such as the Prime Minister’s “island of strangers” quip.
As the Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Bill continues its way through Parliament, before Royal Assent, Jeremy Corbyn MP (Islington North/Independent) is a reliable witness to human rights.
A Home Office Minister, Angela Eagle MP (Wallasey/Labour), supports his assertion, saying cases should be seen by “merit”, not calling people terrorists, or assuming the claim is fake.
Wednesday
The Prime Minister is keen to burnish his credentials as a new force in UK trade. Meanwhile, the official opposition brush it off, saying his recent tariff deal with the US is “tiny”.
-
Westminster Week: Power plays
Wednesday
Kemi Badenoch MP (North West Essex/Conservatives) berated the Prime Minister for his lack of policies to lower energy prices.
“Pensioners are poorer and colder because of his decisions. All the while, energy has got more expensive for everyone”
However, Sir Keir Starmer MP (Holborn & St Pancras/Labour) is resolute his Net Zero policies will do it nicely.
-
Reform UK back to strength in Parliament
Sarah Pochin’s win in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election has led to Reform UK getting its first female MP in the House of Commons.
It’s a bonus as it recovers from the loss of Rupert Lowe MP (Great Yarmouth/Independent), following abuse allegations.
-
Westminster Week: Scratching the surface
Wednesday
It’s a battle for the heart and mind. Kemi Badenoch MP (North West Essex/Conservatives) pressed the Prime Minister on her request for a National Inquiry on gangs of paedo groomers. He pushed back on it, noting the work he’d done.
-
Westminster Week: Tables are turned
Wednesday
Sir Keir Starmer (Holborn and St Pancras/Labour) laid into the Conservatives, and Reform UK. He took aim at Badenoch (North West Essex/Conservatives), and accused her of plotting together.
-
Westminster Week: Trading blows
Wednesday
Kemi Badenoch MP (North West Essex/Conservatives) named BMW, Nissan, and Jaguar Landrover as companies her party negotiated agreements with on the day the US President starts to impose his new tariff’s.
The Conservative leader accused the Prime Minister of a “failure to negotiate”. He said she’d “failed to get a trade deal with the US” whilst Trade Secretary. The price of inaction is clear.
-
Westminster Week: Straight-ahead
Wednesday
It’s Spring Statement day, but there wasn’t much freshness in the air. The mood in the Chamber was the same. The Prime Minister had little patience for the Opposition’s questioning of education. The Chancellor was defiant in her message.
Thursday
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath backed Project Willow over Unite’s proposal for Grangemouth’s future.
“It evaluated over 300 technologies and identified nine potential technologies. We have £200 million available from the National Wealth Fund to invest.”
It’s busy up north.
-
Win: Parliamentary security chief
In an exclusive for ConservativeNewsSite.com, the security chief for the Houses of Parliament has been recovered in Reading, Berkshire.
Parliamentary security chief She was abandoned by the MOD, and British Army, in the field and attempts to recover her have been long and arduous.
-
Westminster Week: Wrangling
Wednesday
Kemi Badenoch MP (North West Essex/Conservatives) said the Chancellor is walking back on her budget, which she said was called a “once in a Parliament reset”. The Prime Minister retorted that his eight months so far after “absolute failure” by the Tories has already improved the situation, so clearly he disagrees.