Kenneth MacArthur

"Deprivation is measured differently in Wales, so Welsh forces have been excluded."

Deprivation is measured differently from England, but that doesn't mean it's not measured.

Why couldn't you simply have provided separate calculations for Wales?

It's not only the posts on here that don't mention England and Wales, but unbelievably the entire linked web page doesn't mention England and Wales anywhere.

"_the_ criminal justice system".

Which jurisdiction's criminal justice system?

"Stop being pedantic. Obviously the UK's. We're a UK organization."

But there isn't a UK criminal justice system. There are three.

Great that you actually mentioned England and Wales here (unlike many of your colleagues)!

Ideally the reference would have been in the first post in the thread though. The territorial extent is not some minor detail - it's crucial info to know which part(s) of the UK the material is about.

*The criminal courts in England and Wales.

The UK has three criminal justice systems.

It's about the criminal justice system in England and Wales, but you seem so incredibly reluctant to say that. Why?

If it was about the criminal justice systems in Northern Ireland or Scotland, you would say so.

Why not if it involves England?

And this one is about England and Wales.

Why couldn't that simply be stated explicitly, like you would if you were talking about the criminal justice systems in Northern Ireland or Scotland?

On the other hand, the Welsh visitor levy isn't part of the devolution settlement - that's a policy that was legislated for by the Senedd like any other matter within its competence. /3

It also feels a little weird that the article doesn't mention arguably the most significant change to Welsh devolution since 1999, which was the coming into force of the Wales Act 2017's reserved matters model of devolution on 1 April 2018. /2

Senedd Cymru does not take a definite article in English.

"The Senedd Cymru (Welsh parliament)" should be... "Senedd Cymru (the Welsh parliament)"

The Senedd's laws are called Acts of Senedd Cymru, not Acts of the Senedd Cymru. Cf. Acts of the Scottish parliament. /1

This was fun. Friday News Agents with @zackpolanski.bsky.social Extended conversation on his political journey, his politics, and where it might yet take him.

Out at 5pm.

“Oh, but there’s no way they’d add an extra band.”

Why not? The Scottish government did it. (Also, as it happens, in breach of the SNP’s manifesto, which was less tightly worded than UK Labour’s).

“No, but it wouldn’t be English to have four income tax bands.”

I mean, really? /3

You flirt with the idea of the UK government increasing rUK income tax by 1 pp - a flagrant manifesto breach - but won’t even contemplate an extra band between higher and additional, which very clearly wouldn’t be a manifesto breach (even if some might argue it would be in spirit). /2

The UK famously doesn’t have an entrenched constitution.

But you discuss rUK income tax as if the number of bands was constitutionally locked in. /1

Why have you costed increases to the existing rUK income tax rates (which would be a prima facie breach of UK Labour’s manifesto), but have not considered a Scotland-style new rate between the higher and additional rates (which would not be)?

Why the assumption that there must be exactly 3 bands?

To cover all of the main parties in GB would have required covering three more parties. Why didn't you feel it was worth doing this?

It's worth remembering that decisions to establish statutory public inquiries under the Inquiries Act 2005 can also be made by Scottish Ministers and Welsh Ministers, and by a Northern Ireland Minister. The Cabinet Office is rightly not involved in those decisions.

If these reports were about Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales, this fact would be made extremely clear and explicit. Why not for England? /2

All of the reports relate to England, but the word England is not used in any of the report titles, or up-front and explicitly in any of the report intros. (The only references to England are oblique and later in the text.) /1

*Local government in England.

(Not explicitly stating England implies it's about the whole of the UK, which it isn't.)

Great to see The Guardian explicitly referring to English councils, even though the IfG itself didn't.

The Guardian's accurate reporting on the four nations is possibly the best of any UK media outlet.

@stuarthoddinott.bsky.social

*In England.

If these reports were about adult social care, children's social care, and homelessness services in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales, you'd say so explicitly.

But when they're about England, there seems to be a reluctance to say so explicitly.

It's hard to fathom why.

This report is clearly about local government in England, yet, other than for some oblique references, it doesn't actually say that that is the case.

It is hard to fathom why there is such relutance to be up-front and explicit with the word England.

"Local government in England".

This debate is not really my point tho.

My point is: in a report of 57 pages, wouldn’t it have been justified to have 1 page on impact to Holyrood/Scottish politics of such an NI/IT switch by UK govt?

Other issues include, eg, figure 3 - no mention that it doesn’t apply to Scottish NSND income. /2

Yes. Personally, I think employee NI should be scrapped, & Scotland controlling a resultant larger IT pie would be welcome.

OTOH, IT rates in Scotland are already higher, & if SG had to match 2pp rise, that would make top rate 50%, which is a round number political opponents could make hay with. /1

It is pretty disappointing that in a report designed to be in the realm of the politically possible for Labour, the impact on Scotland isn’t even properly explained, never mind the impact on the country’s politics considered.

There is a UK outside Westminster. /4

@adamcorlett.bsky.social

…or that they are being forced to raise income tax in Scotland because of reckless UK Labour decisions.

Of course this is simply the outworking of the fiscal framework, but how many people have heard of that? /3

If the UK government does this, it will reduce Scotland’s block grant only months before a Scottish general election. The Scottish government could legitimately claim either that UK Labour are slashing Scotland’s budget… /2

Very disappointing that the impact on Scottish income tax is relegated to a rather opaque footnote on p29, which anyone not intimately familiar with the fiscal framework likely won’t understand. /1

It feels important to note that this is not a new idea, and the UK is actually behind the curve.

All EU member states will need to be able to issue EUDI IDs by next year.

Singapore has Singpass.

The UAE has UAE PASS.

Has TBI really been this influential?

bsky.app/profile/lewi...