Newslinks for Friday 19th September

Borrowing soars to five-year high under Reeves

“Rachel Reeves suffered another body blow ahead of the Budget today with figures showing borrowing hit a five-year high last month. Public sector spending was £18billion higher than income in August despite surging tax revenues. It was a peak for the month since 2020, when the country was scrambling to deal with Covid, and above the £12.8billion analysts had pencilled in. Alarmingly for the Chancellor, borrowing for the year to date is running at £83.8billion, £16.2billion more than the equivalent period in 2024-25 – and £11.4billion more than the Treasury’s OBR watchdog forecast. The bleak data come as pressure mounts on Ms Reeves over the looming Budget, with warnings that downgrades in productivity and growth are widening the black hole in the government books. She is also facing demands for higher spending on areas such as defence, and rising interest costs on the UK’s debt mountain. ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said: ‘Last month’s borrowing was the highest August total since the pandemic. Although overall tax and National Insurance receipts were noticeably up on last year, these increases were outstripped by higher spending on public services, benefits and debt interest. Total borrowing for the financial year to date was also the highest since 2020. As usual for this time of year, we have included some routine annual data updates.’ Shadow chancellor Mel Stride said: ‘Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are too weak and distracted to take the action needed to reduce the deficit. The Chancellor has lost control of the public finances, and Labour’s weakness means much needed welfare reforms have been abandoned. No wonder our borrowing costs recently hit a 27-year high. The Conservatives are the only party committed to fiscal responsibility and living within our means.’” – Daily Mail

• Budget tax rises ‘inevitable’ after surge in public borrowing – The Times
• UK borrowing rises to worse-than-expected £18bn in August – The Guardian
• Taxes rises expected as government borrowing Highest in 5 years – latest ONS figures – Sky News

> Yesterday: Callum Price: Fiscal conservatism needs a revamp, because it may sound grey but it’s what we need

Trump tells Starmer to look at calling in the military to stop small boats

“Donald Trump has urged Sir Keir Starmer to consider calling in the military to stop small boat crossings. The US president offered his advice on how to tackle illegal migration during a joint press conference at Chequers, the Prime Minister’s country residence, which wrapped up a three-day state visit full of pomp and pageantry. He told Sir Keir: “You have people coming in and I told the Prime Minister I would stop it, and it doesn’t matter if you call out the military, it doesn’t matter what means you use. It destroys countries from within and we’re actually now removing a lot of the people that came into our country.” Mr Trump also told the Prime Minister that he disagreed with his plans to recognise a Palestinian state and his ban on drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea. He said that he “did not know” Lord Mandelson, the British ambassador to the US who was sacked last week over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.  Mr Trump offered his advice on small boats hours after the UK finally deported the first Channel migrant under the “one in, one out” French returns deal after earlier a The president addressed his own record in the US, where he has deployed troops to America’s southern border to stop migrants crossing in from Mexico during both of his terms in the White House. Mr Trump has also vowed to deport all illegal migrants. Earlier this year, he deployed teams from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) to detain those in the country without permission. He told the press conference: “What I saw happening, with millions of people pouring into our country, I couldn’t stand to watch it, and we’ve done a great job.” He added: “The last three months we had zero – from millions of people a year ago, we had zero people enter our country illegally.” The president then said: “I think your situation is very similar.” After departing the UK on Air Force One, Mr Trump went further, telling reporters on board: “I guess I disagree with him on two things – immigration, which is very rough for the UK, very rough, and energy.”” – Daily Telegraph

• Trump shows Starmer who’s boss: US President tells PM to get a grip and use military to stop the boats – while taking swipe at Labour’s beloved wind farms… as MAGA leader claims he ‘doesn’t know Mandelson – Daily Mail
• Migration destroying Britain ‘from within’, Trump tells Starmer – The Times
• Donald Trump calls Sadiq Khan ‘one of the worst mayors in the world’ and claims he BLOCKED him from state visit – Daily Mail

Comment:

• How Starmer’s impressive talent for incompetence has turned UK into a laughing stock over migrants – Julia Hartley-Brewer, The Sun
• 9,909 in, ONE out – Keir Starmer’s migrant farce laid bare as 2 key problems remain – Michael Knowles, Daily Express
• Trump visit showed UK’s warm relations – and limited influence – Sarah Smith, BBC News
• France is laughing at UK more than ever – and it’s all Keir Starmer’s fault – Angela Epstein, Daily Express
• The Modern Slavery Act was a terrible mistake – Nick Timothy, Daily Telegraph

> Yesterday: John Oxley: The ‘Special Relationship’ that’s not a unique relationship, or that special

Trump urges Starmer to ramp up North Sea oil

“Donald Trump yesterday told Sir Keir Starmer windfarms are “a disaster” as he urged the Prime Minister to drill for more oil. The US President claimed ramping up North Sea production could help end the war in Ukraine by driving down prices and starving Russia of revenue to fund its conflict. Speaking during the leaders’ summit at the PM’s Chequers residence in Buckinghamshire, Mr Trump said: “We had the worst inflation in the history of our country and we had an expression that I used a lot, ‘drill baby drill’. We brought fuel way down, the price is way down. We don’t do wind because wind is a disaster. It’s a very expensive joke frankly. We got our energy prices way down. That brought the inflation way down and now we have very little inflation and we have a very, very strong economy. So that was very important, drill baby drill. And you have a great asset here called the North Sea. The North Sea oil is phenomenal. I want this country to do well and you have great assets that you’re gonna start using, I believe, under this Prime Minister.” In response, Sir Keir said: “I am absolutely determined to ensure that the price and cost of energy comes down so that bills come down both for individuals, for families with their household bills but also for business. The mix will include oil and gas for many years to come from the North Sea. We’ve been clear about that for some time but we also need to mix that with renewables.”” – The Sun

• Drill, baby, drill! Donald Trump piles pressure on Keir Starmer to U-turn on North Sea oil in order to cut Brits’ energy bills as he blasts wind power as a ‘very expensive joke’ – Daily Mail
• Donald Trump suggests Keir Starmer could drill oil in North Sea – CityAM

Comment:

• Drill, bozo, drill: how Don rocked Chequers – Tim Stanley, Daily Telegraph
• We shouldn’t need Donald Trump to remind us of British greatness – Sherelle Jacobs, Daily Telegraph

Corbyn and Sultana’s party descends into more chaos

“An extraordinary split has opened between Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana in the formation of their new leftwing party, with the former Labour leader confirming a referral to the Information Commissioner’s Office over an unauthorised membership portal promoted by his co-leader. Corbyn said the site had been set up without approval, describing it as a “false membership system” that collected money and data without authorisation. He confirmed the party had referred the matter to the ICO and urged supporters to ignore an earlier email requesting funds and cancel any payments. Responding to claims from Sultana that she had been frozen out by a “sexist boys’ club” inside the party, Corbyn said late on Thursday that she had not been “excluded from any discussions” and remained part of a process “rooted in inclusivity and mutual respect”. Sultana rejected those claims, saying she acted because she was sidelined and frozen out of official accounts. She said her only aim was to “safeguard grassroots involvement”, as she accused Corbyn’s allies of trying to concentrate power over members’ money and the party’s conference. Allies of Sultana went further, suggesting a “paranoid anti-democratic faction” inside the project worked to exclude her from decision-making and was more concerned about preserving its own status than building the movement. They claimed this group had been developing a rival membership system that would divert money to its own company, giving it “complete control” over the party. Sultana’s allies claim there had been an internal agreement that one faction would hold mailing list data, while a different more pro-democratic group controlled donor information, in an attempt to split power. They allege she had exhausted every avenue to resolve the dispute privately before being “stonewalled”. The split emerged on Thursday when Sultana revealed a new membership portal on X, urging supporters to “be a part of history”. Within half an hour she celebrated “10,000 paid-up members” in a separate post and reassured her followers that the membership site was “safe and secure”, encouraging them to keep trying to sign up despite “issues due to such high traffic”. By early afternoon, Sultana said numbers had hit 20,000, dismissing suggestions from those she classed as “rightwing bad faith actors” who were claiming “this link is fake”. Sultana had posted about the new portal three times before Corbyn issued an “urgent message” telling his followers on X to ignore the site and indicated “legal advice is being taken”. “This morning, an unauthorised email was sent to all yourparty.uk supporters with details of a supposed membership portal hosted in a new domain name,” Corbyn said. “Legal advice is being taken. That email should be ignored by all supporters. If direct debits have been set up, they should immediately be cancelled.” The clash is the most dramatic in a series of tensions that have plagued the project since its staggered launch in July.” – The Guardian

• Corbyn’s party unravelling already as Sultana accuses him of running ‘sexist boys club’ – Daily Telegraph
• ‘It’s embarrassing’ – Your Party members speak out following Corbyn and Sultana clash – Sky News
• ‘Your Party’ In Chaos As Sultana Is Accused Of Unilaterally Launching It Again – Politics Home

News in brief:

• Toddler logic is poisoning politics – Kathleen Stock, Unherd
• We must hold Starmerism to account – Craig Drake, The Critic
• Why is the Assisted Dying Bill being rushed through the Lords? – Miriam Cates, The Spectator
• How to make Britain optimistic again – Anthony Boutall, CapX
• Keith Joseph, Charlie Kirk and what Tories can learn from both – Sebastian Payne, The Times

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