Latest news with #LiamHalligan
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Planet Normal: ‘The numbers don't add up' in Rachel Reeves' spending review
' What we saw today, in terms of the areas under her control, there are big question marks that need to be asked' On the latest Planet Normal podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player below, columnists Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson discuss Labour's spending review with economist Gerard Lyons. Mr Lyons wasn't convinced by the numbers, ' Early in her speech the Chancellor said, is the plan credible, and the answer unfortunately is, no.' 'T he starting position is debt is very high, and I think we're in the early stages of Britain going into a debt crisis. If you're looking for good news, it might be that we're not the only country facing this problem; but today the Chancellor gave a speech that I think lacked a lot of the detail.' Allison is not convinced by the claims the economy is stabilising, ' We know it is not true, and we are already starting to see the impact on employment and on businesses. We know payrolls have fallen, that employment's fallen by over 250,000 since Rachel Reeves' budget. This is not an economy where you should be taking the gambles that she's taking. Where is the growth going to come from?' Planet Normal, a weekly Telegraph podcast featuring news and views from beyond the bubble. Listen on the audio player above or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast app. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mel Stride: Reform is not offering the public a realistic economic deal
' There is a deep, dangerous fiscal irresponsibility at the heart of the offer that Reform has' On the latest Planet Normal podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player below, columnists Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson speak to Mel Stride, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, who warns of growing economic threats from both the Left and the populist Right. Speaking ahead of his speech today, Mr Stride outlines where he sees the fiscal threat from Reform and why he doesn't believe they will be effective. 'It appears that they are whatever kind of party they think will appeal to what people want to hear in different parts of the country and across the political spectrum. This is a party that, on the one hand, likes to talk about lowering taxes, and on the other hand wants to increase welfare spending, with the abolition of the two child benefit cap.' 'These tax cuts are there right across the board and where they can apparently find the money very quickly, but none of it is realistic.' In regards to Labour, Mr Stride lays out where he believes they have caused economic damage; ' The reality is this government's economic policy, which has included putting up National Insurance on employers, that cost has been passed on by way of higher prices has also fuelled inflation. 'It has also had a devastating consequence on the servicing costs of our national debt. We are now spending, on servicing costs on our national debt alone, about a hundred billion pounds, which is twice what we spend on defence. Those kinds of levels of spending and pressure on the public finances can be laid very squarely at the door of Rachel Reeves.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Are we hearing the death rattle of woke?
On the latest Planet Normal podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player below, columnists Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson discuss the economic tensions across the Labour Party and speak to stand up comedian, and free speech champion, Andrew Doyle about his latest book, The End of Woke. 'So many seismic moments have occurred over the last couple of years, which have really accelerated what I think is the death of woke. You've got Donald Trump signing this slew of executive orders, many of which are about preserving women's rights. And at the same time, you've had the stripping back of DEI policies throughout the corporate sector.' 'The Economist did a study about this, which I quote in the book, about how wokeness really kicked off in 2015, peaked around 2020 and has been declining ever since. And that decline as far as I can see is now pretty much terminal.' 'Arch-Leftists... have been taking their pronouns out of their social-media bios. Just doing it on the quiet, not making too much of a fuss about it. I would say this all suggests that woke is dying in its current form.''The title of the book, the End of Woke, there's a kind of implied question mark there, but also it's an aspiration rather than a prophecy. I'm not positioning myself as a Nostradamus figure but I think all the signs are there. We can hear all the death rattles' Elsewhere in the podcast, as the spending review looms on the horizon, Labour is trying to hold off pressure from Reform by being seen to roll back on winter fuel payments and the two child benefit cap, brought in by the Conservatives. Liam is concerned Reform would be falling into an easy trap to promise more spending; 'There's something happening in British politics where spending pledges are now being thrown about like confetti. Reform are now going to start trading spending pledges with Starmer, who is very much to the Left of his chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and could scapegoat her.' Allison sees a future under Reform where the party supports families again; 'In Farage's speech he talked about making the family a more important element in British life, and tax breaks for married couples. Because as we know, if mum or indeed dad, but often it's mum, elects to stay home and spend more time with the children, a couple is really penalised compared to a couple where both work.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Andrew Griffith: We need a UK DOGE to cut government spending
'We do need a scythe like exercise to push back on some of this level of regulation' On the latest Planet Normal podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player above, columnists Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson speak to Andrew Griffith, Shadow Business and Trade Secretary, about the economic outlook for the UK following Labour's recent economic policy announcements, and whether the country would benefit from a DOGE, Elon Musk's cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency. The Conservative MP for Arundel and South Downs says 'my old fashioned view is the job of every minister in their department is to deliver value for money and spend money wisely as if it's your own,' but did go on to say 'whether you institutionalise it as DOGE or have a separate unit in the cabinet office, I would certainly, on day one, have a very ambitious program of restoring lines of demographic accountability.' Griffith, who has previously worked as CFO and COO for Sky, believes we have too many regulators, which stymies new business, 'The clock speed of the UK economy is just painful. We all know it takes so long to build infrastructure projects. It takes a long time to get clearance for a business merger. I want a new generation of entrepreneurs.' 'They have got smart ideas and they are ambitious. Many of them are leaving and going to other countries overseas. A little bit of movement is not a bad thing, but when people feel they are pushed out because of crime, the cost of living, housing or just facing a higher-margin tax rate, if they succeed, that is something I think should upset everybody.' 'When these people leave [the county] everybody is poorer. The people who stay behind have to pay either more tax or there is just less money to go round for our public services. Planet Normal, a weekly Telegraph podcast featuring news and views from beyond the bubble. Listen on the audio player above or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast app. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The dam of ‘woke' tyranny has finally been broken by the Supreme Court
On the latest Planet Normal podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player above, columnists Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson discuss the Supreme Court ruling that the terms 'woman' and 'sex' in the 2010 Equality Act referred to biological sex, not acquired gender. Having covered this topic many times in her columns, Allison gives her view on why the case had to be brought to the public's attention; 'I think we've been under a kind of maligned spell… an aggressive trans movement bullying and cowing institutions... How many politicians have dreaded the question: What is a woman?' Allison also adds that 'as a words person', a large concern for her is the 'perversion of language,' saying ' we have mothers in some NHS trusts referred to as 'birthing persons'... this unbelievably ugly, cumbersome language, which is like a cage that's put over the truth. Well now the truth can breathe again.' Liam highlights the role of a few determined campaigners, including Maya Forstater and Helen Joyce, who stood firm when faced with backlash in the media, 'The political and media class has massively failed during this debate… while ordinary people have suffered.'
