Sir Keir Starmer declares gifts and freebies totalling more than £100,000 - the highest of any MP

[TealTraybake]

Perhaps the Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire needs his freebies because MPs aren’t paid enough. Or perhaps he’s just the knight commander of the most astonishing hypocrisy.

iwishihadknownmore
Made real progress on relations with the EU

Has he been to Brussels yet or had any meetings with Ursula von der Leyen? I didn't think he had.

If he sends Rayner or Lammy, that will be the end of discussions.

Have a read....

inews.co.uk/news/thousands-unused-affordable-homes-empty-housing-scandal-3204602?srsltid=AfmBOoqVIuCXcmzgrtM4xpOiz8PHEGJ38HDjy_ND8ThBUU7Qz0j6DFG7

Isn't that because there is a new EU commission and the EUs proposals on the movement of young people?

Why should there be the need for a "reset" if the Tories hadn't screwed up UK/EU relations?

Or is that Labours fault too.

Seeking to ‘reset’ relations with the EU will be a rocky road for Labour. Any attempt to undo Brexit will alienate a huge part of the electorate (yes including Labour voters). People are not stupid- they can smell BS a mile away.

The EU subject has proven a graveyard for more astute politicians than Starmer.

Ha Ha "more astute???" do you mean David "i don't need briefing papers" Davis or Dominic "i don't know where Dover is" Raab?

I think its the other way round, the vast majority of the electorate now see Brexit as a mistake, not least on immigration having trebled since Brexit.

Also, better trade with the EU isn't "undoing Brexit" how can it be? thats just an 'Express headline.

Labour have ruled out SM or CU membership.

The deal the Tories negotiated is terrible, 48 hours stuck in Dover, customs checks, huge amounts of paper work, SMEs halting trade with EU, no veterinary agreement, problems with musicians and athletes performing & the new ETIAS system is going to make travel to holiday in Europe extremely long winded.

If the UK wants growth, it will need a far better FTA than we currently have.

If the UK wants growth, get the economically inactive back to work.

There, fixed it.

You should be chancellor!!!

Ever occur to you that pre CV when these people were in work, we had no growth???

What are you talking about?

Aggregate gdp growth was prob around 2-3% post financial crisis and excl the pandemic.

ah you mean when we last had a Labour Govt in?

Lets all hope Labour can achieve this again!

Growth 2010 to 2020 was almost at a standstill.

There’s a fundamental lack of knowledge present
here.

^this 100%

Anyone who thinks that getting a few 100 thousand back into work will solve the UKs growth & investment issues is, to put it politely, wrong.

The new Govt is going to have to increase FI, house building, investment in infrastructure & skills/education.

The CBI were talking about this earlier.

Sure is. It’s not where you think it is though.

Well done.

Sunak: £40mil private helicopter contract

Corbyn: jar of jam from neighboring allotment

The £30M-£40M helicopter contract wasn't just for Sunak - it was first introduced in 2006 by a Labour government;

The requirement is for a Rotary Wing Command Support Air Transport Helicopter Service (RWCSAT) to provide point-to-point flights for high priority military personnel, ministers and government officials within the UK and near Europe to be operated by British Military aircrew (32 (TR) Sqn based at RAF Northolt) and tasked through Air Command HQ. Aircraft shall be capable of operating within restricted airspace such as Prohibited Areas, Restricted Areas and Danger Areas as defined in the UK Aeronautical Information Publication, and be able to operate within a Control Zone (CTZ) such as London Heathrow.

https://bidstats.uk/tenders/2024/W07/816709824

The MoD is also not providing any details on how they will fulfil this role going forward...

Although the contract has gone though various tenders and renewals over the 17 years it has been run, Sloane Helicopters has been the chosen operator throughout.

https://www.helihub.com/2023/08/18/british-government-stops-vip-helicopter-contract/

Helicopter deal started under labour surely, just before they lost power last time?. Unless I am mistaken.

What certainly does look less than transparent is that Labours new climate envoy, Rachel Kyte, is the co chair of the Quadrature Climate Foundation, linked to the Quadrature hedge fund based in the Cayman Islands and which gave £4m to Labour in May this year…

But I am sure an open and fair process was gone though for the appointment. No cronyism, sleaze or conflicts of interest to see here!!

x.com/NileGardiner/status/1839393346181308660

Oops…it appears that free gear Kier had ‘forgotten’ about another £16k of clothes, declared as office costs ‘in error’

apple.news/AeYRuLDThRGmBnkLUAnYDAQ

More clothes?

Just how many pairs of trousers does one person need?

Is he Anna Wintour in disguise?

For goodness sake. The man is worth circa £7 million. He shouldn’t be accepting donations for clothes or glasses. What is wrong with him?

I certainly am no supporter of his, but even I’m surprised at his readiness to accept donations of this nature. It’s utterly contemptible.

The absolute lack of judgement is staggering especially considering that we’re all being primed for a budget that’s clearly going to impact a fair few people. It doesn’t exactly set the tone that those with the broadest shoulders need to pay more into the system.

It seems KS has considerably broader shoulders than most, but still wants to accept and access freebies wherever possible. Astounding.

They all have their snouts in the trough, no matter which party they represent. I'm not surprised at this, but I can't believe how monumentally stupid Starmer appears to be for going on about cleaning up politics knowing full well he'd been accepting freebies left, right and centre

Just wow! where are news outlets?!?!