Feeling heat
WHAT an incredible waste of time and money — and what a shocking way to treat our vulnerable elderly.
Labour insisted they HAD to remove winter fuel payments from OAPs to fill a financial black hole left by the Tories, which subsequently proved to be non-existent.
Just months later, the red-faced Chancellor Rachel Reeves is having to hand it back to nine million pensioners.
The whole fiasco — and the anxiety it has caused older folk — has saved a paltry £450million.
That’s less than a TENTH of what is spent housing migrants in hotels, and a tiny fraction of the current welfare bill.
But the price in terms of the Government’s reputation for competence in the public’s eyes is likely to be much higher.
Winter fuel was not the only mistake of Labour’s first months in power.
The National Insurance rise on employees threatens to push up prices and lead to job losses.
The workers’ rights bill will make running a business harder still.
Adding VAT on private schools was supposed to free up money for new teachers in state schools — but recruitment targets will likely be missed.
Meanwhile, we still don’t know how yesterday’s screeching U-turn will be paid for, with tax rises on the cards.
How Labour moves on from this self-inflicted fiasco will be key to its fortunes . . . and our pockets.
Border farce
CAN we ever have a hope of making our own decisions on immigration while Britain is signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights?
Experts say plans to increase income thresholds for people applying for visas for family members are too tough and therefore unlawful.
No matter what lever the Government tries to pull, the ECHR — which also stops us deporting dangerous foreign criminals — is almost guaranteed to gum up the works.
Even soft-touch Lib Dem boss Ed Davey now agrees reform is needed.
So what is staying the Prime Minister’s hand?
Cold blast
IN a chilling warning, Nato boss Mark Rutte says Brits had “better learn to speak Russian” if Sir Keir Starmer isn’t prepared to spend more on defence.
Rutte’s view is that members of the alliance should be spending five per cent of GDP.
The PM won’t even say how we will get to three per cent.
It’s no good just speaking the language of national security.
With Moscow becoming more menacing by the day, it’s time for Number Ten to put its money where its mouth is.
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