Eventually he stressed he does want to get the benefits bill down at some nebulous point, presumably having realised what a howler this was…
UPDATE: The Tories are going big on this. A gift has landed in their lap:
“Britain heard it loud and clear today: Andy Burnham will not cut welfare to fund the defence of our country. The Prime Minister is prioritising the ballooning benefits bill over our national security. Shameful.
“This is not leadership it is surrender. Worse still, it’s exactly what has come before. Burnham really is nothing more than Continuity Keir.”
| 1. Lillian Jones | LAB |
| 2. Sarah Hall | LAB |
| 3. Connor Naismith | LAB |
| 4. Wera Hobhouse | LIB |
| 5. Siobhain McDonagh | LAB |
| 6. Lauren Sullivan | LAB |
| 7. Alberto Costa | CON |
| 8. Kim Johnson | LAB |
| 9. Liz Saville Roberts | PC |
| 10. Ian Lavery | LAB |
| 11. Chris Law | SNP |
| 12. Daisy Cooper | LIB |
| 13. Laura Kyrke-Smith | LAB |
| 14. Cat Eccles | LAB |
The UK paid its highest borrowing rate on record yesterday, selling £4.25 billion of 30-year gilts at 5.82 per cent. The steepest yield at any sale since the Debt Management Office was set up in 1998, but don’t worry about that…
According to the Times, Deutsche Bank told clients the headroom is likely to be nearly halved. Debt interest is forecast to stay above £100 billion a year into the 2030s. It’s going to be a spooky Budget…
Ed Miliband has hit back this morning at the Chief Rabbi over criticism of his Israeli sanctions package announced yesterday. A day the Chief Rabbi described as “a dark day for Jews”…
Speaking on Sky News, Miliband said:
“I’m a proud British Jew, and I don’t agree with the Chief Rabbi.
“I have great respect for the chief rabbi, but I don’t agree with him, and I believe that it must be possible to do what we did yesterday, which is to stand up for British values of the rule of law, of dignity for people, of the prevention of injustice, and do so in a way, as I did yesterday, to say to anyone in our country who holds British Jews responsible for the actions of the Israeli government, that is antisemitism, pure and simple.”
Miliband then doubled down on the Today programme when asked directly if the Chief Rabbi was wrong: “Yes. I am saying I don’t agree with the Chief Rabbi, someone for whom I have great respect”…
From the mind that brought you Parliament’s ‘Summer of Sex‘…
Former Treasury minister and adviser to Burnham in the Makerfield campaign Lord Jim O’Neill, who has turned down a role in his government, said Burnham’s first statement Commons was:
“The last thing investors wanted to hear… gilt yields have risen by a 0.25% in one day, which is a lot. We’ve not had that since Liz Truss days… If your country is under the focus of ‘can they come up with a sensible fiscal strategy’ on a day when the markets think ‘well no, you’re not showing any sign of it’ you’re going to have a tough day…if it stays like this your mortgage rate is going up.”