Monthly Archives: August 2023

Morning Star: Building unity against the Westminster consensus on the NHS

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NHS sign

JUNIOR doctors walking out for a fifth time this weekend are blamed by Tory ministers for the NHS’s record-breaking waiting lists.

Their pay restoration demands are billed as greedy, though the case they make is straightforward, as the British Medical Association’s junior doctors committee co-chair Dr Robert Laurenson points out: “Over the last 15 years, the government has cut our pay by 31.7 per cent so we’re looking to restore that pay back to what it was like in 2008.”

Rishi Sunak declines even to discuss this — maintaining that the current offer is “fair and final,” on the grounds it has been recommended by an “independent” (by which he means government-appointed) pay review body.

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Labour backs the Tory policy for reducing waiting lists, which is to increase NHS use of private-sector providers.

This cannot possibly work, since the private sector is parasitical on the NHS and poaches NHS staff. Commissioning more private-sector work actively worsens the NHS staffing crisis.

Our demand ultimately needs to be for more resources for the NHS. It needs more staff, it needs to pay them more and it needs to treat them better.

The Westminster consensus against raising spending needs to be challenged. It’s therefore disappointing that Scottish Labour simply carped at the Scottish National Party after research it commissioned exposed the huge funding gap between the NHS and European healthcare systems — with Germany and Norway spending a full third more per head on healthcare than we do.

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Sunak failing to keep five key promises he made when appointed Prime Minister

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UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Grant Shapps.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Grant Shapps. Credit: Simon Dawson / 10 Downing Street, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/sunak-failing-to-keep-five-key-promises-he-made-when-appointed-prime-minister

RISHI SUNAK’S five key promises, made shortly after becoming Prime Minister in January, have turned into five failures according to figures showing ministers’ lack of progress since then.

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Taking his pledges in turn, inflation remains the highest in the G7 –with RPI still at an eye-watering 10.7 per cent in June.

NHS waiting lists in England this week hit a new record high of 7.6 million.

And Britain’s debt pile was bigger than its economic output in June – the first time this has happened in more than 60 years.

Today’s 0.2 per cent growth in Q2 GDP was hailed as an unexpected win for Britain’s spluttering economy, which the Bank of England says will remain sluggish for years to come.

And dangerous refugee crossings not only set a new record for the month of June, but fresh arrivals on Thursday saw the total number of people risking their lives to cross the English Channel on small boats reach 100,000 for the first time since 2018.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/sunak-failing-to-keep-five-key-promises-he-made-when-appointed-prime-minister

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Nationalised energy company could return £140bn to the public purse, TUC analysis finds

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A ship passes wind turbines at RWE’s Gwynt y Mor, the world’s 2nd largest offshore wind farm located eight miles offshore in Liverpool Bay, off the coast of North Wales, July 26, 2022

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/nationlised-energy-company-could-return-ps140bn-public-purse

NATIONALISED energy firms could make a whopping £140 billion for the British economy by 2040, according to a TUC analysis published today.

The union body argued investment in a publicly owned clean power company could generate £3 for every £1 put in, or £5,000 per household.

The strategy would lower record-high gas and electricity bills, make the country richer, create good clean jobs and cut carbon emissions, it said.

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Oslo has raked in more than £300bn from North Sea oil in the last 40 years by investing in publicly owned energy firms, noted the TUC, which slammed Westminster for choosing to privatise oil fields and put “corporate profits over the public purse.”

The union body’s general secretary, Paul Nowak, said: “Publicly owned energy companies work – across Europe they are lowering household bills and delivering good jobs.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/nationlised-energy-company-could-return-ps140bn-public-purse

Continue ReadingNationalised energy company could return £140bn to the public purse, TUC analysis finds

‘It’s time to start a national conversation about how we tax wealth in this country’

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/it-time-to-start-a-national-conversation-about-how-we-tax-wealth-in-this-country

TUC launches blueprint to squeeze Britain’s multimillionaires for a ‘modest’ proportion of their wealth and end the country’s ‘increasing wealth inequality’

Image of loads of money
Image of loads of money

THE TUC has condemned a “tale of two Britains” which sees working people suffering “the longest pay squeeze in modern history” while bankers’ bonuses are at eye-watering levels and chief executive pay is surging.

The damning criticism came as the TUC launched a blueprint to squeeze Britain’s multimillionaires for a “modest” proportion of their wealth and end the country’s “increasing wealth inequality.”

The blueprint would raise £10 billion for the public purse and should be the “start of a national conversation about taxing wealth,” said TUC general secretary Paul Nowak.

It would affect only 140,000 individuals — 0.3 per cent of Britain’s population — and is similar to a policy that operates in Spain.

Mr Nowak said: “It’s time to start a national conversation about how we tax wealth in this country.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/it-time-to-start-a-national-conversation-about-how-we-tax-wealth-in-this-country

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Rishi Sunak most frequent UK flyer amoung recent PMs

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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-66434605

Rishi Sunak was pictured boarding a Dassault Falcon 900LX before a trip to Leeds this year

Rishi Sunak has used RAF jets and helicopters for domestic flights more frequently than the UK’s previous three prime ministers, the BBC can reveal.

Ministry of Defence data show he took almost one such flight a week during his first seven months in office.

The prime minister has been accused of hypocrisy for flying short journeys domestically, given his pledges to curb planet-warming carbon emissions.

But Mr Sunak has said air travel was the “most effective use of my time”.

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In total, Mr Sunak boarded 23 domestic flights on these aircraft in 187 days, which is one every eight days on average.

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Rishi Sunak takes taxpayer-funded flight inside UK every eight days

Greenpeace claimed Mr Sunak will “go down in history” as failing on climate change, amid fresh concern about the Tory leader’s frequent use of high-polluting travel and approach to net zero.

Rish! ‘Biggles’ Sunak: The most effective use of your time is to make a phone call or a video conference call instead of destroying the planet like the uncaring, planet-trashing cnut we all know that you are.

Continue ReadingRishi Sunak most frequent UK flyer amoung recent PMs