#RishiSunak ব্রিটিশ প্রধানমন্ত্রী হওয়ার পর ভারতীয় গণমাধ্যম এবং সোশাল মিডিয়ার উল্লাস নিশ্চয়ই আমরা ভুলে যাইনি। কিন্তু সে উল্লাস অর্থহীন প্রমাণ করছে তাঁর সাম্প্রতিক সিদ্ধান্ত। লিখছেন অন্বেষা মুখোপাধ্যায় #RishiSunakPM
https://nagorik.net/politics/international-politics/sunaks-new-budget-will-corner-immigrants/

So (finally) we may find out quite how damaging #Brexit is going to be for #supplychains bringing in good (especially #food) from #Europe.... but not until October 2024.

What this tells us is either #RishiSunakPM is planning an election in summer 2024 (around 6months before he needs to), so th required border checks will not be a live issues for #voters....

or this is expected to be a poisoned chalice for the next Govt. when trying to formulate post-#Brexit policy

When UK political parties do well in #local elections, it is taken as a vote of confidence in national policies, when they do badly its treated as 'merely' a protest vote with little national significance...

ahead of next months #localelections I think we can be pretty sure that #RishiSunakPM will be taking the latter position, as some polls already suggesting the #Tories may lose upwards of a thousand councillors....

Rishi will likely spend this month talking down the election's significance

Yesterday afternoon #RishiSunakPM said that as part of the 'additional funding' for the #NHS pay settlement there will be some 'reprioritisation, as there always is'; so that' not fully funded then - at least some of the cash will be redirected from the current budget.... so the row back didn't take long did it now (hours rather than days)

h/t @fkamiah17 for the heads up on that!

#SupportOurNurses
#SupportTheStrikes

Ben Jennings (Guardian) on the #RishiSunakPM's immediate punishment scheme & who should be subjected to it....

A statement from Evelyn Partners (#RishiSunakPM's accountants):

“As experts in these areas, we will of course express our professional views on whether policy measures are positive or negative for our clients’ finances, irrespective of whoever is in government. We are strictly apolitical.”

'apolitical???'

Representing the interests of the global rich (EP's core clients), isn't apolitical;

it may be non-party-political, but it certainly is taking a political position on taxation & regulation

However you crunch the numbers to compute #RishiSunakPM's effective tax rate... the real thing that his tax information (not his tax return which was not published today) confirms is that Rishi is not one of us; he's a member of the rich elite, disconnected from real life by a vast cushion of cash...

He's as good an illustration as you need of the oligarchy at the top of UK politics!

After some time it seems #RishiSunakPM & his cabinet have been unable to convince the majority of the UK public (#voters) that the #strikers are the enemy... rather support for most strikes remains strong.

Of course, the moves to now settle (or at least appear to be interested in settling) the disputes are informed by these figures, but, as I keep noting:

Importantly, without budget support any 'settlement' is just #austerity, with an intent of later blaming strikers for #publicservice cuts!

More on the friends of #RishiSunakPM:

'a senior banker recently told [William Kegan] that, when the prime minister was suggesting there was a clamour in the City for the relaxation of financial regulation, he (the banker) asked his counterparts in other financial institutions whether they were lobbying for it; nearly all of them said no. He said #GoldmanSachs was the exception. This called to mind the wonderful, ironic chapter in JK Galbraith’s The Great Crash...:
In Goldman Sachs We Trust.'

So #RishiSunakPM's family had to be spoken to about letting their dog off its lead in #HydePark, where all dogs are supposed to be on leads to protect local wildlife...

its just a small thing, but yet another revealing incident in the life of our political elite...

'there's a rule, but surely that's not intended for people like us...'

Q. is the demise & rescue/sale of #SiliconValleyBank an anomaly in a broadly stable #finanacial system, or the canary in the mine on regulatory problems in #financialservcies?

Right now, #RishiSunakPM & #POTUSBiden will be hoping their swift action(s) will have forestalled a wider crisis, but this morning dips in bonds & banking shares suggest some jitters among #investors in banks.... if contagion starts to gather pace the financial sector's 'stability' may prove illusionary - time will tell!

You'll have noticed some trouble with #SiliconValleyBank last week;

its an interesting illustration of a number of issues (which have been widely discussed over the weekend) but particularly allows us to draw a distinction between #POTUSBiden & #RishiSunakPM' approach to state 'intervention' in such cases:

The US is using its regulatory system to shore up depositors/clients in the crisis...

and the UK; we're trying to get #MiddleEast financials to buy the UK's SVB operations!

h/t FT

Of course this is not going to surprise you but it seems that #RishiSunakPM's move to lighten the tax burden on #airlines was the result of some focussed lobbying by the sector...

If you still think there is any #green element to the #Tories ongoing policy, its only the colour of jealousy from those sectors unable to gain preferable tax treatment because they aren't chums with the appropriate minister...

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/rishi-sunak-cut-aviation-tax-lobbying-airlines-block-climate-block-frequent-flyer-levy/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=content_studio

#RishiSunakPM is in #Paris today... here are four ways of seeing today's meeting:

Hurrah, finally (after the #LizTruss 'jury's out' comment) we are exploring a reset with our nearest neighbour....

Sigh, it just more declaratory politics; they'll chat, announce some 'initiatives' & nothing much will change...

Grrr... its a betrayal of #Brexit; how dare our PM talk to the French...

Shrug: its just too #neoliberal leaders comparing notes on how to shaft the #workers! #classwar

Take your pick!

#SuellaBraverman - we will turn back #migrants....

#RishiSunakPM - Hold on, are any builders?

are we about to see 'eatoutgate' as #MattHancock's WhatsAp messages reveal the Treasury looked to be covering up the impact of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme on local #covid infections;

its an open secret the scheme was #infection-generating (albeit this has been off the political agenda for a while), but as always the cover-up may be more politically problematic than the failure itself.

Watch out for #RishiSunakPM's distraction strategy to kick in

As we wait to see how long leave #SueGray will be required to take before joining #KeirStarmer's team, its clear the Daily Mail is a little concerned by the turn of events...

If all they've got is post-hoc #conspiracytheory then you know the #Tories are worried, however much (semi)positive coverage #RishiSunakPM might be able to generate!

Given the revolving door between the Cabinet & Tory supporting firms you'd think this might be the sort of speculation the Mail would want to discourage!

Ha ha... well that didn't take long... already the #Treasury are 'exploring' how a U-Turn on the reduction of #energy support might be finessed in the run up the #budget in a couple of weeks.... looks like #RishiSunakPM is not going to rely on the DUP's ability to offer a distraction to #fuelpverty after all....

Over 7m people in UK are currently in #fuelpoverty; more that 10% of income, excluding housing costs is spent on #energy!

What is #JeremyHunt going to do: shift support available to raise people's bills this spring....

So in the next couple of weeks we are either going to see a U-Turn, or we're going to see an extended programme of distraction;

perhaps #RishiSunakPM is expecting the DUP to cause such difficulties about the #WindsorAgreement that Hunt's budget will be on the inside pages?

Q. is the 'emergency brake' or Stormont Brake which is a central element of the #WindsorAgreement actually a legislative brake or an ornament?

@davidallengreen argues that its the latter, and I'd trust his interpretation on this more than any public pronouncement by #RishiSunakPM or his nominated spokesperson... so once the DUP realise, I'm guessing there may be some fireworks!

#NorthernIrelandProtocol
#lawonmastodon
#Brexit

https://davidallengreen.com/2023/02/is-the-stormont-brake-an-instrument-or-an-ornament-and-does-it-matter/