Ian Dunt

Reeves's Spring Statement was empty, dull - and an utter triumph It was an absolute snooze-fest. More of this please

Finally, the thing we were promised in 2024: boring stable government

inews.co.uk/opinion/reev...

This IPSO adjudication against the Telegraph is quite something

Confirms their story titled: ‘We earn £345k, but soaring private school fees mean we can’t go on five holidays’ was completely fabricated, with the family involved non-existent and stock pictures used

www.ipso.co.uk/rulings/0210...

"Today’s OBR projections reveal two competing realities in government right now. The OBR and Treasury forecast an upturn in net migration, which makes their fiscal numbers add up – while the Home Office says it is determined to drive net migration down still further. They can’t have it both ways".

This is a wonderful interview

I do enjoy these sort of charts. Somewhere between boom and recession. But probably quite similar to now.
Thanks OBR.

I don't really mind Stride, but he talking a tremendous amount of arse.

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride now doing his best to damage her, but honestly Reeves in a decent position, with some relatively benign economic indicators and a commendably and studiously boring financial statement.

Headroom up slightly from £21.7bn to £23.6bn. She's in a pretty good spot, which we haven't been able to say of the chancellor since she got the job.

Reeves confirms OBR growth forecasts include lower net migration. Growth slower in 2026 (1.1%) then higher in 2027 and 2028 (1.6%).

Wonderful slip by Rachel Reeves in her statement to the Commons.

The ‘changes we promised’ morphed into the ‘promises we changed’.

Mahmood staring at Reeves like the ghost of death sitting uninvited at a family feast.

Rachel Reeves entirely right to only hold one major financial statement a year, as a method to increase stability. On this basis she should also reform the obviously irrational one-number approach to fiscal rules, but that might be a hope too far.

I don't do as much Commons coverage as I used to, and honestly having to listen to the yaa-boo bollocks actually becomes more irritating the less often you hear it.

Imagine citing Donald Trump's opinion on something as if it weren't a) the ramblings of a madman b) like to change within the next 37 minutes

God I'd forgotten how annoying and half-arsed Priti Patel is.

'The relationship is obviously not what it was'. First true thing I've ever heard him say.

This is excellent news. A really important decision.

It seems Reform need to tell themselves & their voters a clearly false story about foreigners stealing the election from them, so as not to acknowledge the fact that Reform's "people's army" is unpopular: that a third of people like and that most people want to see defeated at the ballot box

Good lord. What an abject failure the Blue Labour strategy has been.

I've got a tip for the PM that's going to blow his mind. If he thinks about the documents he puts his name to, he'll have to spend less time distancing himself from them.

This is nothing. Just send Mahmood out again to announce some more anti-refugee policies and you can easily find your way to fifth place.

Who knew I could learn to miss the lies of the Iraq war era. But at least they were consistent. At least they could articulate what they were pretending to do.

How can you win a war if no-one can explain what it's for? Riddle me that Batman.

Had thought views of Farage were pretty fixed.

YouGov have him net -37 (a 10 point deterioration since Spring)

Approve: 27%
Disapprove: 64%

It is striking how much the by-election inquest is for the core vote, and may be exacerbating the reputational risks

France to boost nuclear arsenal and extend deterrence to European allies Emmanuel Macron said eight countries could enjoy protection from France's nuclear umbrella - but that Paris would retain sole decision-making power.

France is to boost its nuclear arsenal and extend the deterrent to cover other European countries, in a major development of its nuclear defence policy

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

It's truly extraordinary, all the column inches and earnest pundit chatter about his strategy and personality, when in fact it's all right there, in broad daylight. He's a baby having a tantrum. It's really no more complicated than that.

I only occasionally find myself reading Trump's words but it is still surprising to me, even now, that the world is ruled by someone with the mental age of a five year old.

Can we extract the Reform nonsense from Labour? These immigration proposals are obscene, but the government can be forced to think again.

No administration with a moral core would have put these plans forward, let alone try to enact them without a vote. Once these proposals are in place, they will not be reversed. Make them think again iandunt.substack.com/p/can-we-ext...

Can we extract the Reform nonsense from Labour? These immigration proposals are obscene, but the government can be forced to think again.

The government's immigration proposals are an obscenity: They needlessly punish refugees, make integration basically impossible, and introduce a sliding system of administrative abuse depending on how wealthy you are iandunt.substack.com/p/can-we-ext...

I wonder what she'll think, when she's out of government in a few months time. Was it worth it? Persecuting refugees in order to satisfy an electoral strategy even she probably doesn't believe in. Pissing away the last dregs of your integrity for a plan which has already been shown not to work.