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I mean ... it's not as if "left wing" parties need to resort to vitriol when RefUK do such a good job of discrediting themselves. 🤷‍♂️

As far as I can gauge, there's a lie in every paragraph of Hegseth's statement.

If I get the details: the RefUK chair of the council's audit committee quit that role, Aston tried to appoint someone else, and for no stated reason the local RefUK party chairman and one of their councillors also then quit. There must be no toys left in the pram at this stage. What a clownfest.

This is quite hard to parse...
Reform have *opponents* with what Reform would consider an "extreme right wing"? 🤔😏

This is one of the most incisive comments I've heard on UK government encryption policy from a well-informed professional in the domain:

The economy depends on aecure business communication. Making digital security weaker and more complex puts national security at risk from information warfare and hybrid cyber/physical attacks. Societally, we are worse off if people can't converse securely. And policymakers have been told all this!

Stronger sense of local community and interdependence? Local planning decisions that avoid the "doughnut " effect which has gutted so many UK high streets? Shorter supply chains for frechproduce? Take your pick..........

It's not a complete or simple answer, but it does something to cure the underlying problem of negative externalities. Put the cost burden (more directly) back on the things/behaviours that cause it.
2/2

The problem there is with fuel duty. We need to cut petrol use (for humanity's sake), but the Govt would be bankrupted if we all did. Same with smoking and alcohol. Duty revenue creates a perverse incentive. Part of the answer is hypothecated taxation...
1/2

The amounts aren’t significant, but the messaging is terrible.

The winter fuel allowance offsets part of heating costs... It has no bearing on motor fuel or the energy sources for EV charging.

When UK firms can produce and ship the same things as Chinese manufacturers, that might be a rational move. Until then, this is just protectionist idiocy that reduces choice for UK consumers. Or do they plan to junk employment rights so UK and Chinese workers have a genuinely level playing field? 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

People struggle, however, to say what migration for work they would cut – only a minority would reduce migration for study, or indeed for work in most occupations tested in the research, such as doctors, care workers, lorry drivers or seasonal farm workers.

I suspect they'd weasel around that by saying the consultation is about "how", not "whether to do it or not" 😒

It all looks a bit arse-about-face: announce it in the budget; then open a consultation period (until March 2026); then abolish the £135 threshold. 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️
How about consulting *first*, to confirm it's a daft idea, and then binning it?

Here you go:
www.mha.co.uk/insights/aut...

Yup. Maybe also "homologation" for, say, ethernet cables and routers... just to nail the lid down on online commerce and shove it off a pier. 😒