Nothing New from Mr Hammond

Philip Hammond’s speech left little impression on Monday, where the chancellor revealed no new plans, and instead focused on attacking Jeremy Corbyn, and the Labour party’s economic record.

Comparing the Labour leader’s policies to those seen in Cuba, Venezuela and Zimbabwe, Hammond said that Corbyn presented “a clear and present danger”, and that him and his shadow chancellor John Mcdonnell were “dinosaurs”, reflecting on Labour’s past record:

“I think we owe it to the next generation to show how Corbyn’s Marxist policies will inevitably lead us back to where Britain was in the late 1970s.”

May’s interview tour

Theresa May has been in three interviews this morning, for 5 Live, Radio4, and ITV’s Good Morning. She was asked about Boris Johnson’s sackability, and her own style of leadership a lot throughout the morning, at one point gave the following as her answer:

“Weak leadership is having a cabinet full of yes men … Strong leadership is about having a diverse range of voices around the cabinet table.”









When asked about tuition fees on 5 Live, and whether she realised this played badly with young people, she repsonded that graduates should make a contribution to tuition fees, in contrast with Labour, who want an 18 year-old electrician to have to pay for the university education of someone down the road.

Universal Credit Rolling Out ‘Without ‘Delay’

The government will continue to roll out universal credit, depsite the new system causing upset for thousands of claimant who are subject to mandatory delays of up to six weeks on their benefit payments. Work and pensions secretary David Gauke said yesterday that “Universal credit is working”, despite several MPs rasing concerns that claimants have had to resort to using foodbanks during the continuing rollout.

Claimants are now being told they can expect to receive cash in advance, before the rollout of Universal Credit being complete, and the governments claims that most are receiving their payments on time, however Official figures show 24% of new Universal Credit claimants wait longer than six weeks to be paid in full.

Like what you’re reading? Get these politics updates straight to your inbox

Name

Email*



Brexit Suspense

Full details of the post-Brexit immigration policy set out by the government will not be released until three months before Britain leaves the EU, it has been revealed. Additionally, a whitepaper with details on new policy, initially expected this month, will now not be released until late Autumn.









The immigration minister, Brandon Lewis, told a meeting that the government will be “publishing a white paper later this autumn” and that “there will be an immigration bill in the new year setting out the framework”.

Both sides of the Brexit negotiating table reported that things were looking better since Theresa May’s Florence speech, however European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has also stated that talks would not be able to continue this month as the UK wants.