Sunak 1) I’ll still be in Downing Street after the next general election, the Prime Minister says
“Rishi Sunak has said he is confident of still being prime minister after the next general election and ruled out striking a deal to stay in power in the event of a hung parliament. After a sobering set of local election results for the Conservatives, some of Sunak’s MPs believe it will be a struggle for the party to win an unprecedented fifth term. But asked if he was confident he would still be prime minister after the election, which is expected next year, Sunak replied simply: “Yes.” He continued: “I’m working really hard to deliver for the British people. That is my priority. That is what I’m spending most of my time thinking about. Not thinking actually about my job.”…Pressed on whether he was ruling out a deal with the DUP, Sunak said: “I am.”” – The Times
Sunak 2) He says public services could be improved by ‘safe’ artificial intelligence
“Artificial Intelligence could be used to improve public services, Rishi Sunak has said. The Prime Minister said he had discussed AI with other leaders in the Council of Europe earlier this week, and expected the subject to be raised again at the G7 in Japan this weekend. He said Britain could be a leader in the new technology, but that regulations must be in place to make sure it is safe. The Prime Minister said Britain was ensuring it would seek to increase its regulation of new technologies as their capabilities increased, with “guard rails” imposed to protect children. Some experts have warned that the rise of AI could have catastrophic consequences for the human race. But others believe it could lead to huge benefits, if properly regulated.” – The Daily Telegraph
- We need ‘guardrails’ to regulate AI, he tells the G7 – The Times
- Sunak shows off his socks to charm Japanese PM – The Daily Telegraph
- AI is not a threat, but a huge opportunity – Editorial, The Daily Mail
- Politicians must act now to harness power of AI – Editorial, The Sun
Sunak 3) He unveils £1 billion investment in microchips to end China reliance
“Rishi Sunak today unveils a £1billion investment in microchip manufacture to end reliance on China. Speaking in Japan, the PM said his two decade long national semiconductor strategy, would help “build our competitive edge on the global stage”. The announcement of the 20-year plan comes after Mr Sunak used a G7-related trip to Japan to agree a partnership on semiconductors with Tokyo as part of efforts to reduce the reliance on Beijing for the supply of the essential microchips. Britain and its Western allies are taking an increasingly hawkish stance towards Chinese technology, including in their communication networks and surveillance equipment, over fears President Xi Jinping’s national security laws could force…tech giants to hand over foreign data to the…Communist Party.” – The Sun
- The Prime Minister will announce that the UK is to ban Russian diamonds, with the West urged to follow suit – The Daily Telegraph
- Boost for the UK as Japanese companies agree to boost investment by £18 billion in ‘massive vote of confidence’ in post-Brexit Britain – The Daily Mail
- Zelensky to attend G7 in person – The Guardian
- Britain has proved astute in its tilt to the Pacific – Editorial, The Daily Telegraph
Sunak 3) He ‘derails’ Johnson’s Great British Railways plan
“Ministers have quietly scrapped plans for the biggest shake-up of the railways since privatisation, The Times has learnt. Plans for the creation of Great British Railways (GBR), put forward by Boris Johnson as a way to fix Britain’s rail network, have been watered down by No 10. Officials at the Department for Transport (DfT) working on the new body, which was due to take over the running of the entire network, have been told it is not a priority for the government and will not be brought forward in the King’s Speech… Transport ministers are pushing for it to be given parliamentary time but there is pushback from Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, who does not consider the railways a priority for the final session of parliament before the general election.” – The Times
- Officials are allegedly told the scheme is ‘not a priority’ for the Government – The Daily Mail
Sunak 4) He is to protect the green belt as Labour ‘declares war’ on the countryside
“Rishi Sunak has pledged to “protect” the UK’s green spaces – just days after Sir Keir Starmer said he would build on the green belt if he wins power. Speaking on his trip to Japan, the Prime Minister said the Government had already moved away from imposing top-down housing targets on local areas. He also promised to empower communities to make their own decisions on developments, saying that both measures would help prevent building on the countryside. His comments contrasted sharply with those of the Labour leader, who was accused of “declaring war” on the countryside after unveiling his new housing plans this week… Speaking to reporters while travelling to the G7 summit, Mr Sunak said he had stuck to a promise…that he would protect the green belt.” – The Daily Telegraph
- He promises to fight ‘nationally-imposed, top-down targets’ as he stands firm against critics in his own party calling for fresh housebuilding – The Daily Mail
- Labour’s gamble on building on greenbelt – Stephen Bush, The Financial Times
- Build on the green belt – but do it wisely – Emma Duncan, The Times
>Yesterday:
Sunak 5) Downing Street intervenes to tell UK water companies to put ‘consumers above profits’
“The UK government has told water companies to put “consumers above profits” after the industry admitted that households would…foot the bill for a £10bn investment programme to cut sewage spills. Ruth Kelly…acknowledged…that a proposal by water companies to raise investment to help prevent sewage spills…would be paid for by customers through “modest increases to their bills”. But Downing Street said on Thursday the government did not want households to bear the…burden. “We’ve been clear throughout that we don’t want to see things disproportionately impacting customer bills, especially given we know that there are people up and down the country who are struggling with the cost of living, which is why we provided the help we have in that area,” it said.” – The Financial Times
- Water firms have Britain’s rivers flowing with turds, and give themselves £1.4 billion payday – Editorial, Daily Express
Sunak 6) The Prime Minister says the UK is in talks with the EU to ally carmakers’ Brexit concerns
“Rishi Sunak has said the UK is in talks with the EU over Brexit rules that could make some electric cars more expensive, after Germany’s powerful automotive industry joined other leading carmakers in calling for more time. Germany’s main automotive lobby group, the VDA, joined calls on Thursday for an extension of a Brexit trade deadline for three years to avoid a 10% price rise on electric vehicles that cross the Channel to the UK. The Brexit trade deal struck between the UK and EU at the end of 2020 contained “rules of origin” intended to spur the creation of domestic electric car battery industries to ensure the region does not remain dependent on Asian battery imports. However, new factories have not sprung up quickly enough…” – The Guardian
Hunt ‘offers’ Jaguar Land Rover £500 million to keep their factory in the UK
“Jeremy Hunt has offered one of Britain’s biggest car manufacturers half a billion pounds in government subsidies not to go abroad to build a new electric battery “giga-factory”. Amid growing concerns in government about the threat facing the UK car industry as it transforms towards electric vehicles, the Treasury has drawn up a package of incentives to pursue Jaguar Land Rover to invest in the UK. The company, owned by the Indian conglomerate Tata, is weighing up whether to site a planned new giga-factory production facility for future electric vehicles in the UK or Spain. The government package includes a mixture of a cash grant, reductions in energy costs and covering the cost of upgrading the power network around the site JLR has identified in Somerset.” – The Times
Wallace warns of threat of wider global conflict by the end of the decade…
“Defence secretary Ben Wallace has warned of the threat of wider global conflict by the end of the decade as he called for a firm timetable for increasing UK military spending to 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product. “By the end of the decade, the world will be a more dangerous, unstable place and defence will be more critical to our lives,” he said, highlighting the risk of a wider conflict with Russia, following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the threat posed by a “rising China” and the rise of extremism in Africa. The world is seeing “the end of the abnormal period [of peace] post-cold war”, he told the Financial Times… The UK’s defence spending has fallen fairly steadily from a historic high of about 7 per cent of GDP in the mid-1950s.” – The Financial Times
- Russia has ‘the intent and ability’ to sabotage the West’s critical infrastructure by attacking underwater energy and communications lines, he says – The Daily Mail
…as he says he’d ‘quite like’ the NATO chief job
“Ben Wallace has expressed an interest in becoming the next leader of Nato, saying the alliance’s top job which is set to become vacant this autumn is “fantastic”. Current secretary general Jens Stoltenberg is due to step down in September…The Defence Secretary indicated he would be keen to succeed Mr Stoltenberg during a trip to Berlin for talks on Ukraine with his German counterpart Boris Pistorius. Mr Wallace reportedly told…dpa: “I’ve always said it would be a good job. That’s a job I’d like. But I’m also loving the job I do now. I mean, to be Defence Secretary of the British Government at a time of reform and investment, just like Boris Pistorius.” …Nato member states normally make the decision on who should be secretary general behind closed doors.” – The Daily Telegraph
- The Prime Minister backs his “widely respected” Defence Secretary for the role – The Sun
Keegan ‘hugely proud’ of 600,000 foreign students coming to UK every year
“The Department for Education (DfE) is pushing for at least 600,000 foreign students to come to the UK every year amid a Cabinet row over immigration. Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, has said she is “hugely proud” that more than 600,000 foreign students now come to the UK, a target that was meant to be hit by 2030 but has been achieved eight years early. DfE sources have made clear that it is not a one-year target but is designed to be delivered every year because of the claimed benefits for economic growth and international relations. It comes as net migration is forecast to hit a record high of around 700,000, nearly three times the pre-Brexit level, when figures for 2022 are published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) next Thursday.” – The Daily Telegraph
- UK reliance on foreign nurses at ‘critical’ level – The Times
- We can’t avoid hard choices on migration – Editorial, The Daily Telegraph
Gerard Baker: Puzzling economics of the populist right
“There is no consensus yet, but “national conservatives” in the US, and to some extent in Britain, are starting to coalesce around the case for a radical reimagining of conservative ideas and principles on how to reform capitalism… This new consensus is, rightly or wrongly, widely blamed in parts of the right as well as the left for many of the pathologies of modern capitalism: widening inequality, the hollowing out of industries, the collapse of families in the face of mounting social distress, evidenced by shockingly high levels of mental illness, addiction and suicide… While Donald Trump played mainly to working-class Americans’ cultural alienation, he also — incoherently — channelled the growing dissatisfaction with traditional conservative economics.” – The Times
>Today:
>Yesterday:
Mayoral candidate Scully becomes first minister to back scrapping tourist tax
“London mayoral candidate Paul Scully has become the first minister to support scrapping the tourist tax. The frontbencher, who formally announced his candidacy on Thursday, admitted he has struggled to “hold the line” on the 20 per cent sales levy charged to all non-British visitors. Mr Scully, the science, industry and technology minister, urged Jeremy Hunt to model the benefits of VAT-free shopping and that the current policy is costing London hundreds of millions in sales. “I’ve been campaigning within [the] government, clearly, as a Minister of collective responsibility,” he told LBC’s Nick Ferrari… Mr Scully went on to argue people are “going to Milan, going to Paris, rather than coming to London” in order to avoid paying the additional fee.” – The Daily Telegraph
>Today:
Johnson ‘told by CCHQ he cannot stand in Henley’, current MP claims
“Boris Johnson has been told by the Tory party that he cannot make a ‘chicken run’ to Henley at the next election, the town’s MP has said. John Howell insisted the former prime minister would only take up the seat, which has a healthy Conservative majority, “over my dead body”. Mr Johnson represented the Oxfordshire constituency from 2001 until 2008, when he left the Commons to become the Mayor of London. He has been repeatedly linked with a return given that his current seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip is now highly vulnerable to Labour. Mr Howell, who has announced he is standing down at the next election, was asked if he had struck a deal for the former prime minister to take over.” – The Daily Telegraph
Starmer to ‘relax EU trade barriers’ within 18 months of becoming Prime Minister
“Sir Keir Starmer would lower trade barriers with the European Union within 18 months of entering Downing Street under Labour’s plans to recast relations with the Continent if it is elected. The Labour leader wants to reach new agreements to make it easier to trade food, medicines and animals in a push to change the deal struck by Boris Johnson in 2020. The approach would make it easier for European farmers to sell their products into the UK – though, likewise, British farmers would find it easier to export into the bloc. It is just one of a series of significant changes that Labour has promised as it seeks to recalibrate relations between London and Brussels after Brexit if it wins power.” – The Daily Telegraph
- Labour vows to introduce Scottish-style right to roam law in England – The Guardian
- Seven years after the referendum, a vocal minority of Remainers – led by Starmer – still cannot move on – Daniel Hannan, The Daily Mail
>Today:
News in Brief:
- Britain should get out of the electric vehicle business – Matthew Lynn, The Spectator
- Where is Sunak’s industrial strategy? – Peter Franklin, UnHerd
- Focus on the body – Ben Sixsmith, The Critic
- Have the Tories been Natconquered? Not quite… – William Atkinson, CapX
- All the arguments aginst EVs are wrong – Noah Smith, Noahpinion
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