Minister tries to ease MP concerns over time available for assisted dying Bill

A Cabinet minister has attempted to ease concerns that a proposed law to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales could be rushed through Parliament.

“Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is expected to be debated at second reading for around five hours on November 29”, reports the Evening Standard.

Barring any parliamentary shenanigans, MPs are expected to take part in a free vote on the principle of the policy on the same day – the first Commons vote on assisted dying since 2015.

Commons Leader Lucy Powell said the Bill, if it clears its first hurdle, would “likely” spend “several weeks” at committee stage at which MPs can table amendments.

The Bill would then not be expected to clear its final stages in the Commons until April next year at the earliest and the Government would ensure it is “workable” if supported by MPs, Ms Powell added.

Rachel Reeves to unveil biggest pension reform in decades

Thursday 14th November 2024

Rachel Reeves will today unveil a major pensions shake-up designed to unlock up to £80billion of investment in British infrastructure and business.

"In her Mansion House speech, the Chancellor will confirm she is pressing ahead with plans to merge pension schemes to create 'megafunds' capable of investing in major infrastructure projects and emerging industries",reports Jason Groves

Ms Reeves will argue that the move could unlock a wave of private sector investment that will boost her anaemic growth forecasts and ultimately provide better returns for pensioners.

The Chancellor will use her speech in the City of London to try to set out a positive vision for growth, following last month's high-tax Budget, which rattled some employers.

She will say she has 'never been more optimistic about our economic potential'.

In a thinly-veiled warning to Donald Trump, she will also make the case for free trade, arguing that protectionist tariffs of the sort planned by the president-elect would harm the global economy.

A Gift from God

“The latest UN Climate Change Conference, Cop29, which kicked off this week in Baku, will not be inspiring much confidence”, reports the Morning Star.

The capital of Azerbaijan as the host city was a controversial choice right from the start due to the country’s human rights record and status as a major fossil fuel producer (note well without any irony previous hosts, Britain, Qatar and the UAE…)

In the run-up to the conference starting, a major controversy arose after the Azerbaijani Cop29 chief executive was secretly filmed using the event to promote oil and gas deals within the country.

Western “fake news” and “blame” should rightly be exposed in terms of the responsibility for climate change and the role of developing nations, but the opening remarks of Azerbaijan’s President praising fossil fuels as “a gift from god” have hardly set a promising tenor for proceedings.

Badenoch: it’s ‘disappointing’ it took ITV drama to speed up Post Office payouts

Wednesday 13th November 2024

“Tory leader tells inquiry she worked behind scenes to try to win funding for more compensation over Horizon scandal”, reports The Guardian

Badenoch, has told an inquiry it is “extremely disappointing” that it took the ITV drama about the Post Office scandal to get the government to accelerate compensation payments for wrongfully prosecuted branch owner-operators.

Badenoch, the new leader of the opposition who held the post of business secretary for 17 months until the general election, said she and her then postal minister, Kevin Hollinrake, had been working behind the scenes to get the Treasury to sign off on funding for more rapid and generous payouts for post office operators affected by the Horizon IT scandal.

Badenoch appeared before the public inquiry into the scandal on Monday. The inquiry was shown a letter she sent in August 2023 to the then chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, asking for funding to increase payments to in response, he rejected the request and “encouraged” her “to explore the full breadth of other options”.

“I was not expecting the documentary [the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office] in January, which helped speed things along,” said Badenoch. “It suddenly turned it from a value-for-money question to a public perception question.

“It is not enough to do the right thing. You have to be seen to be doing the right thing. Many people had not known the arguments [already] taking place behind the scenes at Whitehall. Work was being done but no one was seeing what was taking place.”

Badenoch said the TV drama “changed the priority of the [Horizon] issue, which was behind the NHS and security and so on, to something we needed to solve now. It raised the prioritisation.”

Jason Beer, counsel for the inquiry, said it was “disappointing” to hear that it took a TV drama to get the government to change its priorities in relation to the scandal.