Absolutely Not The Daily Troll-o-Graph

 Source - Chopper 12/12/22 Link Afternoon, Privately Conservative strategists are growing more optimistic about overhauling Labour’s poll lead. “Very, very soft” was the verdict when I asked one Number 10 adviser last week about Labour’s double digit lead in the polls. Polling from Savanta offered some hope for the Tories, with the polling company’s UK headline voting intention polling showing a 10-point swing for the Tories. Labour was still way ahead (42 points) over the Conservatives (31 points), and the Liberal Democrats (10 points) and Reform UK (five points) unchanged. The usual warnings apply - this is just an isolated poll etc. But there is some reason for optimism as Rishi Sunak passes the unwanted record set by Liz Truss of 49 days as Prime Minister in 10 Downing Street. Even some Labour figures quietly admit that the Conservatives cannot be written off. One former Labour strategist tells me: “I don’t think the Tories are in as bad a place as people are suggesting.” The s...

MPs write to Chancellor to demand that ministers cut spending on equality and diversity measures in order to reduce taxes Source - Daily Telegraph 10/12/22 Link Jeremy Hunt is facing a rebellion from 40 Conservative MPs over £7 billion of government spending on “woke” projects. The MPs have written to the Chancellor to demand that ministers cut spending on equality and diversity measures and grants to charities and quangos in order to reduce taxes. Their letter criticises Mr Hunt’s decision to “tax the British public at levels not seen since the end of the Second World War”, and to “spend more public money in 2023 and 2024 than at any point since the mid-1970s”. It comes ahead of the publication of a new report by the Conservative Way Forward group on Monday, which will claim that £7 billion of public money is spent on “politically motivated and divisive activities” each year. The group’s research is based on an audit of government accounts and Freedom of Information requests to 6,000 ...

TfL has ‘inflamed Ulez tensions’ less than a fornight after Khan's expansion Source - Daily Telegraph 08/12/22 Link A row has erupted between Transport for London and local councils after the transport body warned it could install cameras to enforce the Ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez) on local roads without council consent. TfL has written to all councils affected by the expansion to seek permission for Ulez roadworks to go ahead. The letter, seen by The Telegraph, said TfL was seeking to cooperate with local councils, but also warned that it had “direct installation powers” which would allow it to put up cameras and signage without local authorities’ agreement. The letter, which one councillor said had inflamed Ulez tensions, came less than a fortnight after London mayor Sadiq Khan announced that the zone would be expanded to cover all London boroughs from the end of August 2023. Any non-compliant vehicle travelling within Greater London will incur a £12.50 daily charge. This has ...

  Plans seek to reinforce London as a global finance center after leaving the EU. Source - Politico 09/12/22 Link The U.K. government today announced plans to ditch more EU financial rules after Brexit in a major package of financial reforms. Among the over 30 regulatory measures, dubbed the Edinburgh reforms, the U.K. plans to rework EU rules in areas including consumer disclosures, prospectuses, securitization, long-term investment funds, short selling, payments, consumer credit and “unbundling” investment research. “The Edinburgh Reforms seize on our Brexit freedoms to deliver an agile and home-grown regulatory regime that works in the interest of British people and our businesses,” U.K. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said. The government will also review controversial pieces of U.K. post-crisis financial rules: the “ringfencing” rules which split up investment and retail banking, and the senior manager regime that holds top executives responsible for failings. U.K. Prime Minister Rishi...

Cllr David White says Tory party ‘has changed, with them being unable or unwilling to make the big decisions’ Source - Daily Telegraph 08/12/22 Link A senior member of the voluntary Conservative Party has defected to Reform UK, the Right-wing party, amid signs of frustration with the direction of Rishi Sunak’s leadership. There are fears now of further defections, with Richard Tice, the Reform UK leader, telling The Telegraph conversations about joining the party were continuing “across the board” with Tory councillors and MPs. Reform UK emerged from the ashes of the Brexit Party, set up by Nigel Farage, the former UK Independence Party leader, after the 2019 European Parliament elections. The party is led by Mr Tice, and Mr Farage is life president. Cllr David White on Thursday night resigned from his role as the South Yorkshire area chairman for the Conservative Party and will be standing for Reform UK in Barnsley at the next election. Mr White, who serves on Barnsley Metropolitan Bo...

Survey also finds 30 per cent of young people do not think they can achieve their career ambitions as the UK heads back into recession Source - Daily Telegraph - 06/12/22 Link Nearly one in 10 young people never intend to start working, a survey has found. Young people are losing hope in what they see as a “hostile labour market” which requires skills they do not have, researchers suggested, after a poll found that nine per cent of respondents aged 18 to 24 who are currently studying or unemployed said they do not plan to start working. The poll of 5,000 people indicates that as many as 227,000 young people across the UK do not ever intend to get a job, according to the research by Opinium for City and Guilds, the skills development organisation. Kirstie Donnelly, chief executive of City and Guilds, said: “We can’t keep blaming the pandemic for the issues facing today’s youth.  “High youth unemployment has been an issue for more than a decade and the pandemic was just another chall...

Winter has barely begun and there are already signs major European countries – and the EU – are playing into Russian hands Source - Daily Telegraph - 05/12/22 Link If you hold out an olive branch to a bear it will take your arm off. Winter has barely begun and there are already worrying signs that major European countries – and the EU – are weakening their stance on Ukraine and playing into Russian hands. During his state visit last week to the United States, French president Emmanuel Macron told reporters that Europe should prepare a new security architecture taking into account Russian concerns about Nato’s expansion of its borders, preparing to provide guarantees if Russian president Vladimir Putin agrees to negotiations on ending the war. German chancellor Olaf Scholz, too, spoke of welcoming Russia back into the fold after the conflict, and on Friday was on the phone with Putin for an hour. Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Ursula von der Leyen tweeted a video claiming 100,000 Uk...