Brexit Britain will be worse off In every scenario
A leaked government analysis has shown that the UK will be financially worse off in every Brexit deal currently on the table. The assessment, leaked to Buzzfeed on Monday, is titled “EU Exit Analysis – Cross Whitehall Briefing” and looks at three of the most plausible Brexit scenarios based on existing EU arrangements. Under every scenario, the analysis concludes that almost every sector and every UK region will be adversely hit.
Theresa May’s government has dismissed the impact reports, saying that the “appropriate” analysis papers on the likely impact of the final Brexit deal would be given to MPs before they are asked to vote on it. Shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer has pledged to use an opposition day in the Commons on Wednesday to hold a vote that could compel the government to release the document in full, using a ‘humble address’, the same method used to compel the government to release the impact assessments David Davis claimed were made before the Brexit vote – as it turned out, these assessments were never created.
May insists she will fight next general election
Theresa May insisted once again that she will fight the next general election, responding to questions during her recent visit to China. She also repeated that there would not be a general election until 2022. However, the prime minister did acknowledge the possibility of a no-confidence vote being reached by the Conservative 1922 committee, which would trigger a leadership contest. Speaking on Wednesday, May said: “It’s a matter for the Conservative party, it’s always been written by the [backbench] 1922 [Committee]” she said. “They went through a long process in terms of writing those leadership rules.”
48 Conservative parliamentary party members are required to sign a no-confidence vote in order to trigger a leadership contest. In November 2017, a senior Tory MP told The Independent that 40 members had expressed their concerns and claimed they would be ready to sign.
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Quarter of a million social homes will be lost under the Conservatives
New figures released by The Chartered Institute of Housing show that 230,000 of the most affordable homes in Britain will have been lost by 2020. The CIH claims the loss is a result of government policies such as Right to Buy, and the decision to stop funding new social housing in order to focus on more expensive “affordable housing”.
The Independent reports that 79 per cent of the government’s homes budget up to 2020/21 will go towards private housing, while only 21 per cent will be spent on affordable homes.
