Another potential casualty of Starmer’s EU “reset” is the humble British oatcake. Labour is pushing to align with the EU’s food and agriculture standards, and under EU rules, mycotoxins found in oat-based products are restricted as they are classed as a “potential health concern” to humans. Literally taking the biscuit…
Tory MP Mike Wood asked whether the new proposed dynamic alignment with the EU will ban the sale of oatcakes in the UK. DEFRA minister Angela Eagle refused to say:
“As announced at the UK-EU Leaders’ Summit in May 2025, the UK and EU have agreed to work towards a common SPS Area. We have been clear that in some areas we will need to account for conditions specific to Great Britain; and on the importance of ensuring that the SPS Agreement delivers positive outcomes for businesses across the UK, while safeguarding our high standards.
Officials in Defra are actively engaging with industry representatives on this important issue, as well as with the Scottish Government.”
A non-denial. The EU’s ‘Made in Europe’ initiative has put extreme frighteners on UK trade officials. The protectionist policy would shut out huge swathes of British trade. The inevitable tragicomic result of Starmer’s ‘reset’…
“Chris Wormald, said:
It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as a civil servant for the past 35 years, and a particular distinction to lead the Service as Cabinet Secretary. I want to place on record my sincere thanks to the extraordinary civil servants, public servants, ministers, and advisers I have worked with. Our country is fortunate to have such dedicated individuals devoted to public service, and I wish them every success for the future.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said:
I am very grateful to Sir Chris for his long and distinguished career of public service, spanning more than 35 years, and for the support that he has given me over the past year. I have agreed with him that he will step down as Cabinet Secretary today. I wish him the very best for the future.
For an interim period, the responsibilities of the Cabinet Secretary will be shared by Catherine Little CB, Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office, Dame Antonia Romeo, Permanent Secretary at the Home Office and James Bowler CB, Permanent Secretary at His Majesty’s Treasury.”
Next CabSec to be announced ‘shortly’…
The DfT’s taskforce to deal with the eternally-delayed Hammersmith Bridge in London has not met since January last year. The grade-II listed bridge has been closed since cracks were discovered on it in 2019…
In response to a written question today the Department for Transport admitted:
“The first meeting of the reconvened Hammersmith Bridge Taskforce was held on 30 January 2025, and a further meeting of the Taskforce will be convened in the near future to discuss next steps. Attendees at the 30th January meeting included representatives from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, the Greater London Authority, Transport for London, the Department for Transport, the Port of London Authority, the London Borough of Wandsworth, Historic England and the Environment Agency, as well as local Members of Parliament attending as observers.”
To give co-conspirators a sense of how useless that first meeting was, proposals were discussed to convert it into an inaccessible “monument” or demolish it entirely. The closed bridge causes massive traffic disruptions in West London…
The latest official forecast for the cost of repair is £250 million. Officials don’t seem to bothered about getting it moving…
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Speaking on the Labour chaos over the last few weeks, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told The Guardian:
“You call it a sh*tshow, I say it’s unforgivable…It does look to people outside that we’re more interested in ourselves and less interested in preventing chaos. […] We’ve not done enough, and this has got to be the moment of reckoning where we say not just what are we here for, but who are we here for?”