Rayn cloud
YESTERDAY’S interest rate cut may have provided a rare ray of sunshine for embattled Rachel Reeves.
But the economic outlook still looks gloomy.
Firstly, inflation will rise to at least four per cent next month, in part thanks to the Chancellor’s tax rises .
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey — who says we are not yet “out of the woods” — will be praying it doesn’t get worse.
If it does, households already exhausted by the last 18 months of tax increases and higher mortgage payments are in for still more pain to get inflation back under control.
But there was also a major warning yesterday that it’s not just Ms Reeves’ National Insurance and inheritance tax raids squeezing the economy.
Businesses surveyed by the Bank said Angela Rayner ’s reckless proposed overhaul of workers’ rights is also weighing down growth and investment.
The Deputy PM — whose plans could hit the economy for £5billion a year and cost up to 50,000 jobs — fancies herself to run the country one day.
God help us.
Beware, PM
POLLS show migration is now by far the public’s number one concern.
So it’s no exaggeration to say the success of Sir Keir Starmer’s Government hinges on stopping the boats.
The signs are not looking good.
Yesterday Yvette Cooper hailed the first illegal migrants to be detained under her new “one in, one out” deal with France.
But she refused to say how many — bizarrely insisting the information would be useful to people-smugglers.
The Home Secretary was also silent on the fact it will take months — if not years — to successfully deport even a fraction of them.
Until Britain quits the European Convention on Human Rights , or leads Europe-wide reform of it, her plans look doomed.
Labour surely understands that, if it fails to get a proper grip, punishment at the ballot box will be devastating.
Ali Bye Bye
UNTIL resigning as Homelessness Minister last night, Labour’s Rushanara Ali spent years railing against rogue landlords.
So, when she was exposed for acting just like the very people she had criticised, public fury was sure to follow.
Indeed, it’s shameful she spent yesterday trying to cling on.
Her claim that she “followed all the rules” when she threw out tenants in a house she owns and put it up for sale — only to swiftly rent it out again for a higher fee — never passed the smell test.
Her eviction from Government was the only option.
