Markus Andrews

Bulgaria is heading to a new parliamentary election this fall after the three largest parties in parliament failed to find common ground for a coalition government. Socialist Party floor leader, Georgi Svilenski, told reporters on Wednesday that efforts to form a viable coalition failed as a proposed governing strategy did not muster the needed approval in the National Assembly. “In this situation, tomorrow we’ll return the mandate to the president unfulfilled,” said Svilenski. Earlier, the two main groups in parliament — the reformist We Continue the Change party and the center right GERB party — failed to end the European Union and NATO member’s latest political crisis amid soaring tensions with Russia. The ouster of the pro-Western Cabinet of Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, who took office last December pledging zero tolerance for corruption, helped pave the way toward a new election, which analysts expect will bring a stronger presence of nationalist and pro-Russia groups into parliament. RecommendedLast month, Bulgaria ordered the expulsion of 70 Russian diplomatic staff from Bulgaria, exacerbating tensions between the two historically close nations. Petkov, who took a strong stance against Russia after it invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, has claimed Moscow used “hybrid war” tactics to bring down his government. In April, Russia cut off gas supplies to Bulgaria after officials refused a Moscow demand to pay gas bills in rubles, Russia’s currency. Bulgaria’s defense minister was ousted in early March for referring to Russia’s war as a “special military operation,” the Kremlin-preferred description. One of Petkov’s main goals was to halt Moscow’s almost total energy grip by diversifying sources of supplies. In one of his last moves as prime minister, Petkov on Wednesday discussed with experts from U.S. company Westinghouse possibilities to receive nuclear fuel for one of its two Russian-designed reactors. “I am concerned about what is happening in Europe and my forecast is that the war (in Ukraine) will continue for five more years, which is why I hope we will manage to continue (on) our path to diversification,” Petkov said. RecommendedPolitical analysts expect that the new vote, likely to be held in October, could again produce a fragmented parliament, and deepen the political impasse that has gripped the EU’s poorest member for months. The country’s president must now dissolve parliament, appoint a caretaker government, and set a date for Bulgaria’s fourth parliamentary vote since April 2021. More

Rishi Sunak’s plan to cut VAT from energy price bills would be “a move in exactly the wrong direction” for climate change, an influentical economic thinktank has warned.The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the removal of the 5 per cent levy, proposed by the Tory leadership candidate today, would be “bearable” if limited to a single year, as Mr Sunak proposes.But the IFS said that, once removed, it would be “politically difficult” for the new prime minister to restore in 12 months’ time, when prices are likely to remain high. Over the long term, it would make it harder for the UK to hit its Net Zero target for carbon emissions in 2050, and would make any reductions “more costly overall to households than it need be”.Mr Sunak’s promise of a one-year VAT holiday from October if the annual price cap rises above £3,000 represented a screeching U-turn after months in which the former chancellor resisted Labour demands for the move.RecommendedBut IFS senior economist Stuart Adam said that the richest households would gain most in cash terms from the change, while others would be encouraged to use more energy rather than cut back.Households across Britain are facing tough decisions on heating their homes this winter, with regulator Ofgem predicted to increase the price cap by more than £1,200 to £3,250 for a typical user from October, following a similar increase of £700 in April.Contrary to earlier warnings from the former chancellor, the IFS said there was no danger that energy companies would fail to pass on any VAT cut to customers, who could expect to save an average £154 at a cost of £4.3bn to the Treasury.But the thinktank described the 5 per cent saving as “small beer” compared to the massive 154 per cent increase expected to be confirmed in October, compared to the £1,277 cap the year before.And, unlike Mr Sunak’s earlier package of cost-of-living help which was targeted at the most vulnerable, the VAT cut will benefit the richest – who use most energy -more than the less well-off in cash terms.The IFS said the move would “slightly” add to inflationary pressures, at a time when Mr Sunak has opposed tax cuts offered by his leadership rival Liz Truss because of the danger of fuelling price rises.But Mr Adam said the real risk of the one-year VAT holiday is that the new prime minister would be under intense political pressure to extend it in October 2023, facing accusations of imposing a tax on heating bills if it ends as planned.“If it were genuinely temporary, the fiscal and environmental costs of the policy would be bearable,” he said.“The biggest risk with the policy is that it would prove politically difficult to restore VAT on energy bills at the end of the 12 months.“As a permanent policy, removing VAT on energy bills would be a move in exactly the wrong direction: distorting households’ choices towards more energy use, making it harder to meet the UK’s ‘net zero’ targets and meaning that any reduction in emissions happened in a way that was more costly overall to households than it need be.”A spokesperson for Mr Sunak’s campaign said: “Energy bills are expected to rise to more than £3,000 in the autumn. Temporarily cutting VAT on these bills for a year will help millions of families across the country, on top of the support already provided. “As chancellor, Rishi helped the most vulnerable families with up to £1,200 worth of assistance and as prime minister he will continue to support those that need it most.Recommended“This policy will not encourage higher levels of energy use, particularly at a time when people are looking to cut back on their usage. We do not therefore recognise the characterisation that cutting VAT on bills will threaten climate change targets.’” More

Boris Johnson and wife Carrie are to hold a delayed wedding party at a billionaire Tory donor’s country house this weekend, it has been reported.The prime minister had to cancel plans to hold the lavish bash at his official country residence Chequers after allegations he was using the event to delay his departure from office.But now The Mirror reports that JCB chairman Lord Bamford has stepped in to offer use of his Grade I listed home Daylesford House in the Cotswolds.Lord Bamford, who backed Mr Johnson’s leadership bid in 2019, has given more than £10m in donations and gifts to the Conservatives since 2001.And Mr Johnson has regularly mentioned the construction equipment firm in speeches and events, and visited its Gurajat plant during a visit to India earlier this year.RecommendedHe famously crashed a digger displaying the words Get Brexit Done through a wall of fake bricks marked Gridlock during a visit to a JCB factory during the 2019 general election campaign.And he received £10,000 from the company shortly before delivering an address at its HQ while a backbencher after his resignation as foreign secretary.Mr and Mrs Johnson are understood to have organised a marquee in the 1,500-acre grounds of Bamford house.The couple married secretly at Westminster Cathedral in May 2021, with only a handful of guests attended. And Covid rules restricted to 30 the number joining them to celebrate in the Downing Street gardens afterwards.A No10 spokesman said: “We do not comment on speculation regarding private or family matters which do not involve any ministerial declarations or taxpayer funds.” More

A Conservative cabinet minister who is paid well over £100,000 a year has called for workers to accept “pay restraint” to control inflation.On the eve of strike action by rail workers Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury, attacked workers’ demands for wages to keep pace with the cost of living. Mr Clarke, 37, is paid £31,680 for his ministerial job on top of £84,144 he gets as an MP, with his combined £115,794 salary putting him in the UK’s top few per cent of earners. Taking aim at opposition leader Keir Starmer, Mr Clarke hit out on Tuesday at Labour calls for a negotiated settlement between unions and employers“Zero pay discipline and a licence to entrench and inflame inflation,” the Tory minister said. “This is where a Labour government would take us.”RecommendedThe RMT union is asking for rail workers’ salaries to keep up with inflation – which last month hit 9.1 per cent.Boris Johnson last year promised a “high wage economy”, but the top Treasury minister’s comments endorsing a real-terms pay cut appear to suggest the plan is on hold.Prior to becoming an MP for Middlesborough Mr Clarke was chair of the Oxford University Conservative Association, before training as a lawyer and then working for various Conservative MPs.Inflation is currently at a 40-year high, with rising fuel costs prompted by the war in Ukraine the main factor driving prices.But economists have warned that Britain has been particularly badly hit because the governemnt has disrupted supply chains by leaving the EU.If workers’ wages do not keep pace with inflation they will effectively be taking a pay cut in real terms.RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said on Wednesday as the rail strike got underway: “Working people are being held to ransom by not being paid enough wages.Recommended“It’s more of a ransom that you can’t feed your children or pay your bills.“People are being made almost destitute in some cases. There are private sector and public sector workers who simply cannot afford to exist in this society.” More

Truss and Sunak eviscerate Tory legacy all by themselvesThe Labour leadership is on a “direct collision course” with trade union chiefs who have been left “absolutely fuming” by the sacking of Sam Tarry from the party frontbench for joining a rail strike picket line. Junior shadow transport minister Sam Tarry attended a demonstration at Euston Station in London – defying the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s order to stay away from rail worker demonstrations.“The Labour party is born out of the trade union movement, and if we’re not able to show solidarity and have a constructive dialogue with trade unions, then I think we have a real problem,” Mr Tarry told LBC.“I think it’s wrong to say that any Labour poltician – if it be a councillor, if it be an MP, if it be a shadow minister – shouldn’t be showing solidarity, and I think that we are going to see that hit breaking point over the next few months.”RecommendedShow latest update

1658975400Sam Tarry ‘proud’ to have support from John Prescott after sackingEmily Atkinson28 July 2022 03:301658971800Rishi Sunak: I was hoping for holiday after quitting as chancellorRishi Sunak has denied quitting as chancellor in order to force a leadership contest, insisting that he was “looking forward to a nice holiday” after dramatically resigning earlier this month.The former chancellor’s bid to succeed Boris Johnson has been undermined by the reluctance of many Tory members to vote for the man they believe “wielded the knife” to oust the prime minister.Johnson himself has made little secret of his feeling that Sunak’s resignation was a betrayal, and suspicion over his motives have been fuelled by reports that allies were discussing social media strategies for a leadership bid months ago.Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has more: More

Labour’s transport’s spokesman has defied Keir Starmer by joining striking rail workers on their picket line, prompting a call for him to be sacked.Sam Tarry showed his support for the RMT union’s walkout over pay and redundancies at London’s Euston station – just 24 hours after his party leader ordered all frontbenchers to stay away.“If we don’t make a stand today, people’s lives could be lost,” Mr Tarry said, adding: “It can’t be accepted anymore, that people just have to accept that inflation is out of control.”Asked if he fears the sack, the shadow minister replied: “I’ve no idea what Keir will decide to do but I know this – if Keir was in government right now, this dispute wouldn’t be happening.”Anneliese Dodds, Labour’s chair, said: “Ultimately it’s a decision for that individual, but I’m sure that the whips will be looking at this in terms of it being a disciplinary matter.”RecommendedGrant Shapps, the transport secretary, said: “He is clearly in direct defiance of Sir Keir Starmer. No doubt he’ll want to remove him from his job.”He said nobody should be joining the strikers in “stopping hardworking people” getting to work, adding: “If Labour frontbenchers are going to join them on the picket line, people will come to their own conclusions.”Passengers are suffering fresh travel chaos because of the worsening disputes over jobs, pay, pensions and conditions, with more strikes planned for the coming days.Only around one in five trains will run on Wednesday, on around half the network, with passengers are being urged to only travel if it is really necessary and to allow extra time for journeys.RMT general secretary Mick Lynch condemned the employers, saying: “Network Rail have not made any improvement on their previous pay offer and the train companies have not offered us anything new.“In fact, Network Rail have upped the ante, threatening to impose compulsory redundancies and unsafe 50 per cent cuts to maintenance work if we did not withdraw our planned strike action.”But Mr Shapps stepped up threats to curb rail workers’ right to strike, condemning “about 160 disputes” threatened up union as “not normal in any industry”.“That is why, I’m afraid, we need to do more to remove the power of these very militant, extreme left unions from disrupting everyday lives of ordinary people,” the transport secretary told Sky News.On Wednesday, Sir Keir told his senior MPs: “The Labour party in opposition needs to be the Labour party in power. And a government doesn’t go on picket lines, a government tries to resolve disputes.”RecommendedBut Mr Lynch attacked the stance, saying: “The Labour Party have got themselves in a pickle. They don’t seem to know what direction they are facing in.”He said the Labour leader must “get in tune with where working class people are”, adding: “People fear there is no balance in the workplace.” More

Ministers should swiftly pause automatic deductions in benefits to give struggling families “breathing space” during the cost-of-living crisis, cross-party MPs have urged.With inflation predicted to reach 11 per cent in October — a 40-year high — the Commons Work and Pensions Committee said more must be done to help claimants facing “huge financial pressures”.Highlighting evidence sessions with charities, the MPs added that deductions from benefits are pushing some households into “destitution” and “leading them to depend on foodbanks”.Deductions are taken by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) from people’s benefits to pay off debts incurred through advance payments of benefits or previous errors or overpayments by the government.But MPs on the committee warned that repaying advances granted to claimants, who have to wait weeks before a first payment when switching to universal credit, “left many people struggling”.Recommended“Repayments to the DWP are not subject to the same affordability assessments expected in consumer credit markets, and many families simply cannot afford these deductions from social security payments, which are already behind inflation,” they said.“We recommend that, as during the pandemic, repayments should be paused and only restored as the rate of inflation reduces, or when benefits have been uprated to reflect the current rate of inflation”.MPs on the committee also urged the government to review and increase the benefit cap — frozen since 2016 — “to ensure it is in line with average household incomes” and increasing rent, energy and food costs.Chair of the committee and Labour MP Stephen Timms said: “Inflation is at a 40 year high, with spiralling energy, food and fuel prices adding to a cost-of-living crisis not seen for a generation and a bleak outlook for many families.“Deductions by DWP from benefits are contributing to the hardship and the government should give those struggling some much needed breathing space by following its own advice to other creditors and pausing repayments until the threat of inflation recedes.”He added: “A properly functioning social security safety net should be agile enough to respond to worsening economic conditions, but the high levels of inflation have laid bare the dysfunctional nature of parts of the system — not least that any increase in benefits is already seven months out of date when it takes effect.”A DWP spokesman said: “We’ve reduced the amount that can be taken through benefit deductions twice in recent years to no more than 25 per cent. We’ve also doubled the time period over which they can be repaid and claimants can contact DWP to discuss deductions if they are experiencing financial hardship.Recommended“We recognise people are worried about the impact of rising prices, that’s why we’re providing £37 billion of additional cost of living support. This includes £1,200 in direct payments for eight million low-income households, most of whom received an initial £326 earlier this month.“As part of our support package, we’ve also frozen energy deductions on universal credit, meaning any new request from energy suppliers for bills to be paid directly from benefits, or for an existing payment to rise, is denied unless the claimant also requests it.” More

Democracy campaigner Gina Miller is launching a drive to make the next general election a watershed moment for pushing through reform of the UK’s “broken” political system.Ms Miller’s True and Fair Party aims to recruit up to 30 candidates to fight incumbent Conservative MPs who have failed to “live up to basic standards of integrity or competence”.She believes that the wave of public distrust in politicians could deliver the party enough MPs to hold the balance of power in a hung parliament and drive through fundamental reforms.In return for propping up a minority Labour government on a “confidence and supply” basis, TFP MPs would demand changes to the political system, including proportional representation and legislation to put ministerial standards on a legal footing.Ms Miller told The Independent that she has identified about 30 seats in three “blue corridors”, where a loss of trust in Tory MPs and a “politically homeless” electorate create fertile ground for her party.RecommendedThe party is not naming its target list at this point, but an insider said they were looking at seats “from Devizes to Daventry” – the seats of Boris Johnson loyalist Danny Kruger and chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris – though not at the prime minister’s Uxbridge, which he is thought unlikely to contest in the election expected in 2024.Ms Miller acknowledged that hers is the latest of a line of new parties attempting to break the mould of British politics, after the failure of Change UK and Renew, among others.But she insisted that the events of the Covid pandemic, Partygate and the cost of living crisis have created a once-in-a-generation opportunity for change.“The existing crop of politicians have created a situation where people are now so angry, and so upset about the behaviour in parliament, they want to see something different,” she said.“I’m not sure that opportunity will come again. I do think there’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity at the moment, in this malaise, to stand as a new party on an issue that people feel very passionately about.”The businesswoman is best known for two successful court challenges against government efforts to force Brexit through without parliamentary approval and to prorogue the Commons to prevent scrutiny of its deal. But she said the TFP was not campaigning to reverse Brexit, describing it as “a battle of the past”.Instead, the party’s pitch will be focused on electoral reform, cleaning up the machinery of government and corruption.Key policies will include putting the ministerial code, Nolan Principles on standards in public life and prerogative powers on a statutory footing, as well as an oath of office applicable to all MPs and public servants.“I’ve gone around the country on 23 tours now, and I keep thinking we literally are living in a broken Britain,” she said.“All that’s gone on within the Conservative Party has actually dented trust in everyone. All politicians are being seen on the doorstep as being untrustworthy. People are saying, ‘What have they done for us? It’s time for something completely new.’“Our pitch is about saying we need to look at the machinery of government, put in checks and balances, make sure that whoever is in power actually has to obey rules and regulations and there is some redress when things go wrong, to clean up this chumocracy and corruption.”Polling for the TFP, seen by The Independent, suggests that 60 per cent of Labour voters and 50 per cent of Liberal Democrats – as well as 11 per cent of those who voted Tory in 2019 – think that opposition parties should step aside in seats where they stand no chance to help the candidate most likely to defeat the Conservatives. The strategy is particularly popular among younger voters, with 37 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds backing it, against 15 per cent opposed.Ms Miller said she has had no formal talks with other parties about co-operation, but has shared polling with them and expects Labour and the Lib Dems – as happened in the Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton by-elections – to target campaign resources at seats they have most chance of winning.She expects to be on her party’s slate of candidates for the election herself, and says some big names – who she would not identify – have been in touch about standing.“I told them ‘Find a seat’,” she said, adding that, like other candidates, they would be expected to have personal ties to the seat they want to fight, either by living, working or growing up in the area, or having supported local communities in their working lives.Ms Miller acknowledged that for her plan to work, the TFP will have to target Tory strongholds where neither Labour nor Lib Dems think it worth devoting resources.But she said: “I don’t think there’s such a thing as a safe seat any more.Recommended“TFP is a start-up, essentially a network of independents who adhere to core values and policies that expose and overturn corruption and failure.“We’re not going to fight every seat, but we can make a real difference in 20-30 constituencies that have, for too long, been let down by their MPs and a lack of unified opposition to challenge them. Our applicants will offer voters a natural choice of candidates to rally around, presenting real challengers in seats where Labour and the Lib Dems have little realistic prospect of winning.” More