He says the UK has cut emissions “more than any other major country” but methods need to be “pragmatic and balanced”
Whereas it was thought only earlier this summer that the economy had still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels, we now know that it in fact did so two years ago.
Like other recent candidates, Strafford also made much of his long-standing personal connections to the area. A local source tells me he clearly “knew his stuff”.
A better future is always possible. But it cannot not involve an impoverished Britain pleading for a cut of hydrocarbons from a regime which cares nothing for its own citizens, never mind ours.
The sad truth is that until Tory MPs – and members – get serious about the trade-offs required for the long-term sustainability of the public finances, tax cuts will remain a pipe dream, and Britain’s economic position will continue to deteriorate.
What’s missing are the long-term reforms that would overcome resistance by the pension sector. The question is whether the Government will use the limited time remaining in the Parliament to fix these problems.
Although politicians like to elide them, long-term thinking and putting difficult things off until tomorrow are not the same thing.
It is becoming increasingly obvious that mass immigration is not the economic silver bullet the Treasury believe it is.
You don’t need to buy Nigel Farage’s wild claims about MI5 being behind the closure of his accounts to see that banking is too important to modern life to let people be shut out of it on private whim.
If inflation refuses to fall, interest rates will have to be pushed high enough to push us into a recession. The Prime Minister must be honest about this – even if it comes at the expense of his five pledges.
As Ed Miliband learned in 2015, it doesn’t matter how popular your policies are individually if voters don’t buy into your broader offer.
The Prime Minister should make it clear that on inflation, public spending, and the deficit, hard decisions lie ahead.
Whilst spending more nearer to an election is often an election winning strategy, this time it is likely to consign us to defeat.