ELSEWHERE IN POLITICS

-Mark Drakeford’s wife Clare has passed away suddenly Clare Drakeford, wife of Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford, has died suddenly at the age of 71. Tributes have been paid by leaders across the political spectrum.

-MPs have passed minimum service

The bill passed by 315 votes to 246 but will face further scrutiny in the House of Lords before it becomes law.

-IMF predicts UK only major economy to shrink in 2023 gairrhyddpolitics@gmail.com

The UK economy will shrink and perform worse than other advanced economies, including Russia.

“shown insufficient regard for the general principles of the ministerial code, under the requirements in particular … to be honest, open and an exemplary leader through his own behaviour”.

Sunak quickly sacked Zahawi, announcing it by 9am on Sunday, about 2 hours after he received the report. However, it has been argued that Sunak could have easily come to this conclusion a few weeks ago with senior officials carrying out a few hours of work which would have allowed him to dodge days of damaging headlines and backbenchers questioning his judgement as Prime Minister by keeping Zahawi in post. Following the announcement of the decision, David Cameron’s former director of communications Sir Craig Oliver said: “Rishi Sunak knew nothing this morning that he didn’t know a week ago – he will be lamenting feeling unable to stand up to some backbenchers.”

However, Sunak defended himself the following day saying that “It relates to things that happened well before I was prime minister, so unfortunately I can’t change what happened in the past,” he said. “What you can hold me accountable for is: what did you do about it? What I did, as soon as I knew about the situation, was appoint someone independent, looked at it, got the advice and then acted pretty decisively.” On the other hand, Deputy leader Angela Rayner called Mr Sunak a “hopelessly weak” prime minister who had “been dragged kicking and screaming into doing what he should have done long ago”. She continued, “Rishi Sunak

Gove’s ‘Thatcher Spirit’ in levelling up plans

Francesca Ionescu Politics Editor

At the Convention of the North, a one day meeting aiming to identify the challenges and solutions regarding regional inequality, Michael Gove has stated that he will channel the “spirit” of Thatcherism in the mission of ‘levelling up’. The convention gathered important political and business figures, including the mayors of Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region and North of Tyne.

Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, praised Margaret Thatcher’s “active” mode of governing. He claimed that her simple solution of ‘just cut taxes and deregulate’ is what transformed London’s docklands after 1979.

“Government created the environment, the private sector created the jobs,” Gove stated, before referring to his 2022 Levelling Up White Paper, aiming for a “head on” approach”. The

Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, praised Margaret Thatcher’s “active” mode of governing ” initiative of ‘levelling up’ was a huge part of Boris Johnson’s 2019 campaign which aimed to increase funding for public services such as education and transport, and to help reduce the gap between high and low income areas. However, this scheme has since been criticised for being centralised. Andy Street - the Conservative mayor for West Midlands - complained that the funding decisions are made by London-based civil servants, instead of a shouldn’t have needed an ethics adviser to tell him that Nadhim Zahawi’s position was untenable”. Angela Rayner and Aneliese Dodds wrote to the Prime Minister asking him to “come clean” about when he really found out about Zahawi’s tax affairs. The opposition responses suggest that this will be a political issue for some time. Many have argued that the speed at which Sunak took action was simply not quick enough as he spent a week defending Zahawi’s actions. Sunak’s premiership began with a promise of “integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level” of government. However, the loss of two cabinet members since he became Prime Minister are in direct conflict with this assertion. With an ongoing investigation into Dominic Raab, his deputy Prime Minister, and the loss of two cabinet members (Nadhim Zahawi and Gavin Williamson) in his first 100 days in office, his promise to the nation has been seen to be truly under threat. With many holding the belief that Raab will go too, it has been questioned whether Sunak’s promise could have been listened to as he presides over what many have seen as a cabinet culture full of sleaze allegations. to 1990, was a controversial leader and especially divisive in the North of England and Wales where her policies severely affected mining communities. Nandy has called Gove’s promises ‘threatening’ and promised that a possible future Labour Government would expand devolution, giving more decisive power to local authorities and town halls. range of opinions from various locations across the country. His comments have been met with backlash as the Institute for Public Policy Research said ‘the UK is the most regionally unbalanced large, advanced economy’. In addition, the Shadow Secretary for Levelling Up, Lisa Nandy, has called the comments ‘extraordinary, after the devastation of the Thatcher years on the North of England’.

Sunak’s premiership began with a promise of “integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level” of government”.

Thatcher, Prime Minister from 1979

His speech comes shortly after Northern leaders have called for Levelling Up to be made part of law, as a replacement to the “begging bowl” bidding system. Through the system, the South East of England received more out of the £2.1 billion pot of funds, than the North East. Meanwhile, London Boroughs have been allocated more than Yorkshire and the North East. Rishi Sunak has defended this allocation. He states that many southerners are just as deprived, and that the north receives the highest funding per person. Some funding has been allocated for new projects this round, aiming to improve tourism and infrastructure around the UK. £19m is being spent for improvements to public spaces in Hackney Central, £50m is funding an eco-tourism attraction in Morecambe, Lancashire, and £50m is going towards a new train line between Cardiff Bay and Cardiff Central.