Many in the nation rejoiced this week when PM Sunak finally had the backbone to sack Suella Braverman. She individually showed it didn’t make a difference if you were of ethnic descent, or a woman, you could still be a racist and downright vile person.
In response to deterring homeless people sleeping in tents she tweeted;
we cannot allow our streets to be taken over by rows of tents occupied by people, many of them from abroad, living on the streets as a lifestyle choice.
In response to the pro-Palestinians marches she said;
To my mind, there is only one way to describe those marches – they are hate marches.
In regards to multiculturalism she is on record as saying;
It has failed because it allowed people to come to our society and live parallel lives in it.
She had an obsession to deport people back to Rwanda. However, the Supreme Court has ruled yesterday that the government' s plan for forced deportations to Rwanda were illegal.
Further on asylum seeking she had this to say;
we will not be able to sustain an asylum system if in effect simply being gay, or a woman, and fearful of discrimination in your country of origin is sufficient to qualify for protection…
She added that in “many instances” asylum seekers pretend to be gay to enter the UK.
Braverman considers the police to play favourites. In particular BLM and pro-Palestinians.
She blamed the UK's travel chaos on “Guardian reading, tofu eating, wokerati”.
Finally, she stood on a dog. A Guide dog.
In her place Sunak has brought David |Cameron back into office from his position as Lord Cameron. I think he is the first former PM to ver come back to the Cabinet like this. Desperate times call for desperate measures. The Tory Party is riven by divisions with it’s right wing becoming further out of touch with moderate British opinion.
Even as the British economy stagnates in the third quarter of 2023 the media is full of cheer because inflation has fallen (well not fallen in absolute terms, but not as high as it has been).
Inflation in British grocery prices fell to 9.7% in the four weeks ending 29 October, the first time monthly food price gains have been limited to single digits since July 2022.
However it’s a mixed bag. Prices are still on the rise for eggs, candy, and frozen potato products. Kantar’s chief of retail and consumer insight, said in a statement;
We’re only seeing year on year price falls in a limited number of major categories including butter, dried pasta, and milk.
Britain’s major supermarket chains have cut prices of some essential items in recent months to try to help keep food affordable. Sainsbury's reported spending £118 million since March to keep prices from rising even higher.
The economy though is being hammered by the BoE’s 5.25% interest rate. This is the highest it’s been since late 2008.
This chart shows the speed at which interest rates have been pushed up
Currently consumer spending in the U.K. is at its slowest in more than a year as shoppers hold their money tight ahead of the holiday shopping season, a Barclays survey reported. With grocery prices rising 9.7% the claim that inflation is falling is a sick economic joke and the reality is that it is very costly to the British masses who will keep spending more to buy less.
The BoE chose not to increase its rate at its most recent meeting, with a vote of 6 to 3, despite inflation in the U.K. running at 6.7 percent in October. However the bank said;
monetary policy is likely to remain restrictive for an extended period in order to steer inflation back towards the 2% target. Meanwhile, inflation projections were revised slightly higher, while the GDP growth forecasts suggest that the UK economy stagnated in the last quarter and will only experience marginal growth in the final three months of this year.
These projections could of course be wishful thinking and not reflect reality, especially if energy prices go up again.
It does appear that we are in a new paradigm of higher interest rates. They might decline slightly next year before an election, however higher rates in general are here to stay. This equals more pain for the average British person already struggling under the cost of living crisis, as it’s referred to here.
According to an Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey from late October 2023, 52% of adults in Great Britain reported an increase in their cost of living compared to the previous month. With low-income households most affected by rising prices.
Food bank charities are reporting an increase in demand. The Trussell Trust reported that in the year to March 2023 they provided nearly 3 million emergency food parcels, a record number, more than during the pandemic and more than double the number in the same period five years before.
Sunak’s government is expected to wait until closer to a general election to offer stimulus measures. Under law, the election must be held by January 2025. Sunak has promised to halve inflation during his first term in office. However, any stimulus program will raise the budget deficit and national debt, anathema to Sunak’s Tory party.
However, for now the notes from the UK show we are currently the sick man of Europe.
