.
“Could the hawala system hurt attempts to freeze traffickers’ assets? The most ancient banking practice still in existence has become the favoured payment for both migrants and people smugglers —
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“In pictures: Elon Musk is an “unignorable force” who the government needs to “respect and engage with”, the technology secretary admits today. Peter Brookes”:
1/11/25, “Politics,” UK Times, Steven Swinford, Political Editor
“It’s not the start to the year that Sir Keir Starmer would have hoped for. The government finds itself facing challenges on multiple fronts – a surge in the cost of government borrowing, the prospect of interest rates staying higher for longer,
chaos at hospitals and
dwindling gas supplies as temperatures plunge.
Perhaps the most significant of them all is the economy. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has travelled to Beijing and will this week meet the vice premier and a succession of other senior figures. In an article for The Times today
she says that Britain has “no choice at all” but to engage with China as it attempts to boost economic growth.
[“Chancellor’s China trip shows she’s seeking help everywhere. Rachel Reeves couldn’t have known
how tough this January would be.“]
The UK, she says, cannot afford to ignore the country that will be the “largest driver of global growth this decade”. The government can address national security concerns and trade with China at the same time, she argues – it is not binary.
But as she touched down in Beijing on Friday the market turmoil that has dominated the week continued, with better-than-expected data from the US seeing the cost of government borrowing surge to another 30-year high.
This week’s read looks in detail at the political and economic ramifications. Traders are now pricing in
just one cut to interest rates this year,
in a blow to the 1.8 million homeowners
who are coming off fixed-rate deals in 2025.
But it also threatens to swallow what little fiscal headroom the government has left. It means that March 26 – the day that the Office for Budget Responsibility publishes its latest official forecasts – has become one of the most significant days in the political calendar this year.
If, as expected, it downgrades forecasts, Reeves could find herself having to stand up in the Commons and announce deeper cuts to the level of public spending.
Given that Labour promised voters both economic growth and more money in their pockets it is likely to be a hard sell. Reeves is looking anywhere and everywhere for growth – turning to business leaders, ministers and officials for ideas – before a significant speech this month.
Meanwhile the situation in accident and emergency departments is dire as the NHS struggles to deal with an outbreak of flu.
About 50 people a day are dying because of delays in A&E,
with NHS staff warning of
dangerous and degrading conditions in hospitals.
More than a dozen hospitals have declared critical incidents.
At the same time Britain has less than a week of gas supplies in storage after plunging temperatures and high demand. Centrica, the owner of British Gas, said that the UK’s gas storage is “concerningly low”. No 10 says it is confident that there is enough but alarm bells are clearly ringing.
Lastly the government is still struggling to work out how to deal with
Elon Musk after he savaged Labour over grooming gangs.
[“Savaged?” You’re insane. It was underage girls who were “savaged” for decades by your rotten, stinking excuse for a country with full knowledge of your rotten, stinking billionaire parasite UK monarchy….Oct. 19, 2018, “Huddersfield grooming: Twenty guilty of campaign of rape and abuse,“ BBC]
(continuing): “Peter Kyle, the technology secretary, today tries a different tack, describing the world’s richest man as an “unignorable force” who the government needs to “respect and engage with”. If confrontation doesn’t work, perhaps flattery will. Until next week.
Steven”
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More from UK Times:
“Politics in numbers”
“But whether a day that began
and ended with the UK paying one gas power station as much as
was an example of the system working as it should,
or
a warning of how challenging our energy transition is — or maybe even both — remains open to interpretation.
Read the full article here.”
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More from UK Times:
“Questions over Keir Starmer’s links to Bangladesh”
The prime minister has cultivated strong links with the Awami League, the party controlled by the deposed leader Sheikh Hasina —
the aunt of his minister Tulip Siddiq.”
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More from UK Times:
“Could the hawala system hurt attempts to freeze traffickers’ assets?”
The most ancient banking practice still in existence has become the favoured payment for both migrants and people smugglers–
………………………………………..
UK Times reports on a poll:
“Yesterday we asked whether Tulip Siddiq should resign as anti-corruption minister. Some 92 per cent of you said she should, while 8 per cent said she should not. ”
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