Thread 38 Sunak: Soooo, square one is an option then?

[AdamRyan]

Thanks to @cornettoninja For the epic title!

Well this is interesting

UK negotiators fly to India in last-ditch effort to seal free-trade deal | Trade policy | The Guardian

"British negotiators have flown to India in a last-ditch attempt to clinch a trade deal amid concerns that Narendra Modi’s administration intends to hold out for a Labour government.
A team of negotiators led by a senior civil servant flew out on Monday with a mandate to resolve the goods and services chapters, which are among the thorniest outstanding issues in the talks.

Boris Johnson and Liz Truss also sought to secure a multibillion pound free-trade agreement (FTA) with India, a booming economy of 1.4 billion people. It is seen as one of the biggest Brexit prizes.
A UK government official said the British delegation was making a “last-gasp attempt to clinch an FTA before the Indian election campaign pauses talks”.
But they added: “UK negotiators are hearing from India that they will get more out of Labour on visas and social security. That has been the impact of Labour’s trip to India and meeting with trade minister, Piyush Goyal.”

That is going to annoy Kerni Badenoch

Kemi Badenoch close to blockbuster India trade deal 'before Christmas' in huge Brexit win | Politics | News | Express.co.uk

Presumably the changes to student visas and dependents will be up for negotiation as there were a large number of Indian students coming to the UK with dependents, which has dropped significantly in the lastest set of figures. (although not as dramatically as applications from Nigeria, but that may be as much due to the Nigerian economy).

“UK negotiators are hearing from India that they will get more out of Labour on visas and social security.

Oh what a pickle the Tories have made for themselves. We need their doctors, students, farm labourers but have been telling them effectively that they could be deported if they join a protest, don't earn enough and will never be able to bring partners unless they earn more than the average UK wage.

The bit about earning more than the average UK wage always stumped me.

Not only because the maths doesn't add up but because surely 2 people bringing a wage into the household and having children who will bring in wages to the economy in future is better than someone earning a low wage and paying minimal tax

Or have I missed something blindingly obvious with that plan?!

Forgot to add the Rishi speech that suggests we are also tackling a mob crisis where extremists are lurking on every corner pushing it to kids, so obviously, don't have kids here...

A really dumb move to push the India deal - distress purchases never end well

I think Rishi is doing a good job, tbh. Four days since his speech and not a single baying mob outside my window.

Well done Rishi!

More seriously. I don't think I can vote Labour now.😢

Liz Kendall's speech about disabled and sick people costing as much as defence was a disgrace. My constituency will return a Labour candidate with no trouble, so I can afford a protest vote.

I still want Labour to win as better them than the Tories, and I will celebrate. But it is depressing knowing that they have such similar views to the Tories on disability and sickness benefits.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/labourlist.org/2024/03/labour-party-work-budget-2024-workers-unemployed-young-people-plan-benefit-work/%3famp

And the number of people out of work because of long term sickness is at an all-time high. 2.8 million people not in work because of poor health.
The over 50s: mostly women, struggling with bad hips, knees and joints; often caring for elderly parents at the same time. Young people with mental health problems; many lacking basic qualifications.

I see what you mean claudine. That line about women is a bit galling....

I'm disappointed by the language used here, but the proof will be in the pudding. What is needed is a change in culture to accommodate disability and ill health in work. It can be done and I have seen first hand how much work has benefited my DS. We need more job sharing, flexibility and part time working so that people can combine income and PIP to live well and have all the social benefits of being in work. Whether that is the plan remains to be seen, of course.

This is the part that got my back up.

"And it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money too, with health related worklessness now costing an extra £16 billion a year, just since the pandemic. For all the Tory claims about being tough on benefits, over the next five years there will be 600,000 more people on incapacity and disability benefits and these benefits will cost an extra £33 billion.

That’s more than our day-to-day expenditure on defence. The Office for Budget Responsibility says the sustained rise in health-related worklessness is holding back growth and living standards while putting ever greater pressure on the public finances"

Absolutely pointythings. My DH worked until he absolutely really couldn't. Even then, he had to fight tooth and nail for reasonable adjustments. It was exhausting.

I agree, that's quite grating language. I always expect Labour to be more able to add to the pot (taxing billionaires etc) rather than this re-framing of how to divide the ever decreasing pie you get with the Tories. This sounds distinctly Tory.

Given the lack of mental health support, a broken NHS and an aging population I'm surprised the sickness figures are not higher.

We're still suffering the after effects of a pandemic where the waiting lists were stuck on pause for two years. People with bad hips don't magically get better; they get worse.

The bit about carers also pissed me off. Carers save the Government a truckload of cash at the expense of their own time, sanity, career and future pension. They need more support, not less.

The language in the second half of the first para you’ve quoted is poor. I’d hope the emphasis would be on making people well to reduce that figure - ops for joint problems, proper mental health care etc rather than on driving people into work who aren’t well enough or cutting benefits.

Greg Hands rules out a May election this morning as the Conservative Party is not “ready”

They won't be ready this decade, so I am not sure what his point is.

Oh. I was hoping it might be May.☹️

It might still be May, depending on how the budget is received?

probably clutching at straws here

The budget I think will be recieved badly. Given all the other spins of his policy wheel that Rishi has tried have gone badly.

Something else, just for twitter users, screenshot in tweet.

x.com/edwinhayward/status/1764718887407341916?s=20

Beware. Twitter has enabled audio and video calling in DMs, and your IP address is revealed by default.

You need to go into Settings and turn it off.

(Choose 'Settings', then 'Privacy and Safety', then 'Direct Messages'. NOTE: Setting may only be available on the mobile app?)

Thanks, @DuncinToffee . Changed my settings.

Done - thanks Duncin.

Thx Dunc, I had to root about to find it but have and turned it off 👍😊

https://twitter.com/KateEMcCann/status/1764944076455936422?t=WOEdPKEIzt-TbG-v7fwyzw&s=19

Rishi and his wife trying to come across as "normal people". If you can bear the cringe level! See also the comments on the video.

Oh my god, that is just excruciating. It is so forced and false.