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Tag: manifesto commitment

  • Healey suggests Labour won’t keep manifesto pledge to end youth minimum wage gap

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/healey-suggests-labour-wont-keep-manifesto-pledge-end-youth-minimum-wage-gap

    [John Healey]

    CHANCELLOR John Healey refused to say today whether Labour will meet its manifesto commitment to end the “discriminatory” minimum wage gap for young people.

    In 2024 Labour committed to closing the gap between the adult minimum wage and pay for 18 to 20-year-olds, but in last week’s Budget, Mr Healey said that younger workers would see the same 3.9 per cent rise as older workers, leaving a £1.94 hourly difference between 18- to 20-year-olds (£11.27) and those aged 21 and over (£13.21).

    Unions have strongly opposed the minimum wage gap for young workers and warned the government against breaking its pledge to equalise pay.

    Asked whether Labour may break the commitment on the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg today, Mr Healey said: “There’s no question about whether or if: it’s a question of when. It’s a question of how fast. And I want to make sure that we can look hard at those trade-offs that inevitably are there between jobs and wages.

    “I want to take business, I want to take trade unions with me and with the government, because together we have to get into what at the moment is a moral shame on this nation: a million youngsters written off, without any prospect of being helped into work and making a contribution to this country for the future.”

    …

    Continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/healey-suggests-labour-wont-keep-manifesto-pledge-end-youth-minimum-wage-gap

    Andy Burnham brings absurd comedy to politics
    Andy Burnham brings absurd comedy to politics

  • Is the new UK government breaking it’s no new oil and gas licences commitment?

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    Rishi Sunak on stopping Rosebank says that any chancellor can stop his huge 91% subsidy to build Rosebank, that Keir Starmer is as bad as him for sucking up to Murdoch and other plutocrats and that we (the plebs) need to get organised to elect MPs that will stop Rosebank.
    Rishi Sunak on stopping Rosebank says that any chancellor can stop his huge 91% subsidy to build Rosebank, that Keir Starmer is as bad as him for sucking up to Murdoch and other plutocrats and that we (the plebs) need to get organised to elect MPs that will stop Rosebank.

    I think that the relevant section of Labour’s manifesto at https://labour.org.uk/change/make-britain-a-clean-energy-superpower/ says

    “We will not issue new licences to explore new fields because they will not take a penny off bills, cannot make us energy secure, and will only accelerate the worsening climate crisis. In addition, we will not grant new coal licences and will ban fracking for good.”

    https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/UK-Government-Denies-Claims-Ed-Miliband-Has-Banned-New-North-Sea-Oil-Licences.html

    UK Government Denies Claims Ed Miliband Has Banned New North Sea Oil Licences

    The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has denied reports that Ed Miliband has banned the North Sea oil regulator from issuing any outstanding drilling and exploration licences, calling them “a complete fabrication”.

    Earlier today, The Telegraph claimed that the new energy security and net zero minister had overruled his officials to stop the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) from issuing new licences, even those that were in the final round of approval with the regulator.

    But Miliband’s department hit back at the claims, telling City A.M.: “This piece is a complete fabrication – it invents meetings and decisions that have not taken place.

    …

    Were Miliband to have withdrawn the licences, it could have left some North Sea oil firms millions of pounds out of pocket having prepared bids before the general election was called that were in the final throes of being approved.

    …

    It would appear that they are incompatible positions: The manifesto says “We will not issue new licences to explore new fields … ” but yet it’s a complete fabication that Ed Miliband has banned the North Sea oil regulator from issuing any outstanding drilling and exploration licences and licences yet to be approved are going to be granted? So, which is it?