Displaying items by tag: Politics

On 17 October Jeremy Hunt reversed 60% of the promised recent tax cuts and committed to reduce the two-year energy price guarantee to six months, while introducing ‘a new approach’ to the most needy after winter. A cut in basic income tax rate, promised by two chancellors this year, was cancelled. Pray for adequate advice and aid for those facing staggering rises in the cost of living. The changes caused political turmoil. On 18 October, senior aide Jason Stein was suspended for leaking information to the media. Next, home secretary Suella Braverman resigned because she had broken the ministerial code, and attacked Ms Truss's leadership in her resignation letter. Grant Shapps, who six weeks ago was sacked as transport secretary, replaced her. On the 19th an attempted fracking ban sparked havoc when rebellious Tories were threatened with party expulsion if they didn’t back Liz Truss. See the previous article, PM resigns.

55-year-old Jeremy Hunt, a Christian, had previously been former foreign secretary and health secretary. He is a big supporter of the cause of freedom of religion or belief. In 2018, while foreign secretary, he commissioned an independent review into Foreign Office support for persecuted Christians. The report, by the Bishop of Truro, presented 22 recommendations for the Government to make changes in policy and practice to protect freedom of religion and belief around the world. Mr Hunt goes to church on Sundays and sometimes receives communion at a midweek lunch-hour celebration in the House of Commons. Asked about his faith in 2019, he said, ‘I sometimes pray, like regular Church of England folk: it's part of my life and my identity, but I don't think it defines my politics.’

The polls on 18 November are a year earlier than scheduled after years of political upheaval and the first since the voting age was lowered to 18. The shaky coalition government of prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is attempting to win a solid mandate to end the political manoeuvring that has seen three prime ministers in nearly as many years. Elections for assemblies will also be held in some of the country’s 13 states. About 21 million people are eligible to vote. The 2018 election saw the United Malays National Organisation lose power for the first time in sixty years, amid public anger over the multibillion-dollar corruption scandal at the state fund. Voters are anxious about rising prices and higher interest rates, as well as the jostling for power among politicians.

Liz Truss is coming under more pressure from some of her own MPs to rethink the tax cuts announced in last month's mini-budget. Paul Goodman, the editor of ‘Conservative Home’, a political blog, says MPs are considering alternatives to her as leader. Foreign secretary James Cleverly says Truss is sticking with her plan and removing her as PM would be disastrous. Her strategy was criticised when she attended a meeting of Tory backbenchers on 12 October. One MP accused her of wrecking 10 years of Conservative policies aimed at helping working people. Truss has repeatedly defended the proposed tax cuts, funded by borrowing, which were outlined last month. During PMQs she also pledged not to make any cuts to public spending. Pray for her as she presses on after a tumultuous first month in office. Pray for party divisions to be repaired with wise decisions. Pray for any necessary changes to be made and unnecessary options to be avoided.

Nicola Sturgeon has been accused by Nadhim Zahawi of using ‘really dangerous’ language after she decried the Tories at last week’s Scottish National Party conference. Addressing whether she would prefer a Labour or Tory government, Ms Sturgeon said, ‘I detest the Tories and everything they stand for, so it's not difficult to answer that question’. On Labour politicians, she commented, ‘Being better than the Tories is not a high bar to cross right now. I think we need to see more of a radical alternative from Labour rather than just a pale imitation’. Ian Murray, Labour's shadow Scottish secretary, said the next electoral contest in Scotland will be a UK general election between this rotten Tory government and a new energised Labour Party fit to govern the country. Pray for our politicians to demonstrate the Kingdom values of honour, righteousness and integrity, and that they all will be united with God-given insights.

The day after the Prime Minister said she was committed to the 45p income tax cut which Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng had announced ten days earlier, he reversed the decision, saying the plans had become a ‘distraction from our overriding mission to tackle the challenges facing the country’. A few hours later former culture secretary Nadine Dorries accused the Prime Minister of ‘throwing her Chancellor under a bus’, and called for a general election. Having backed Liz Truss for Tory leadership, she now said the PM ‘must take to the country’ if she wants a new mandate, adding that there was ‘widespread dismay’ that much of the work she had done while in office was now on hold. Meanwhile, Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt called for benefits to be increased in line with inflation - a move promised under Boris Johnson's government. Liz Truss has said her priority is ‘growth, growth, growth’ and she will challenge anyone trying to stop it.

Striking rail maintenance workers are already paid almost a fifth more than those doing comparative roles, the industry regulator has said. Independent consultants looked at total rewards, including pay, pension costs and other measurable benefits, of 64,000 railway workers. The analysis shed fresh light on the bitter industrial dispute which has led to rail strikes across the country. Workers demanding double-digit pay rises already receive salaries 18% higher than ‘market comparators’. Station staff salaries are 12% higher, and train drivers average £66,043 a year (the average UK salary is £31,876). Liz Truss is under growing pressure to follow through on her pledge to crack down on unions, amid fears that the rail network could shut down completely over Christmas. She had promised to bring in ‘tough and decisive action to limit trade unions’ ability to paralyse our economy’.

NHS bosses have told political parties not to impose any new targets on the beleaguered health service in their bid to win the next general election. They said the Conservatives and opposition parties should resist foisting new performance metrics on the NHS when it cannot deliver the hundreds it already operates under. The plea was made by hospitals, ambulance providers, mental health, community care and GP services in England, who said, ‘Given the NHS’s staff shortages, huge backlog of care and financial problems, the answer will not be found in politicians imposing oversimplified and unfunded targets that make convenient soundbites but have little bearing on reality and demoralise frontline workers.’

44 European leaders gathered in Prague on 6 October for the first meeting of a new political community. Most of the countries already belong to other organisations including the EU, NATO, the Council of Europe (upholding human rights), and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (arms control, freedom of the press, and free and fair elections). But the latter two are ineffective at reining in Russia. EU’s foreign policy chief spoke of building ‘a European political community without Putin’. Liz Truss will join EU and non-EU leaders plus Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky by video. She said the ‘club’ is not an alternative to the EU, but added that after Brexit the UK should be involved in discussions that affect the entire continent.

The withdrawal of Russian troops from important Ukraine towns has prompted two powerful Putin allies publicly to ridicule the war machine's top brass. Chechnya leader Ramzan Kadyrov said, ‘Nepotism in the army will lead to no good. The commander of Russian forces should be stripped of his medals and sent to the front line with a gun to wash away his shame with blood.’ Such public contempt for those running Russia's war indicates the growing level of frustration among Putin’s elite with his war tactics. The powerful mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin congratulated Ramzan’s comments, saying, ‘Ramzan - you rock man! All these ******** should be sent barefoot to the front with automatic guns.’