Chris Whiteside for the North

 

 RUSSIA'S USE OF ENERGY AS A WEAPON

  Today the government launched the  new £4.7 billion Local Transport Fund for the North and Midlands , reallocating savings from HS2 to invest more in the transport schemes that matter most to people. In October the Prime Minister set out a new vision, to focus on the journeys that matter most to people, that drive growth and jobs and truly level up our country. He committed to take every pound that would have been spent extending HS2 and invest £36 billion into transport.  This means that today the government can invest a record £4.7 billion through the new Local Transport Fund, providing almost 11 million people across the region with almost nine times more transport funding. This is the first transport budget of its kind for our smaller cities, towns and rural areas. It will pay for the infrastructure communities truly want: building new roads; improving road junctions and pavements; installing or expanding tram lines; improving stations. The Conservatives are st...

  This week  the government confirmed that  one million properties in hard-to-reach communities can now access lightning-fast broadband thanks to Project Gigabit , as we stick to the plan to speed up interest connections for families and businesses and grow the economy. Fast broadband speeds are essential to modern day life, which is why we announced Project Gigabit in 2021.  Thanks to the Conservative long-term plan, more than one million properties in hard-to-reach communities have now been upgraded with access to lightning-fast gigabit-capable broadband, helping to grow the economy and improve services for households.  Conservatives will sticking with our long-term plan to improve access to the fastest broadband, allowing households to connect to the internet seamlessly to make work and leisure easier as we build a brighter future for all.  Full disclosure - I am writing this post as a Conservative activist but am also an employee of Openreach and hold a...

I know I have posted other versions of this Purcell aria recently, but as it was snowing this morning in the Barnard Castle constituency where I was staying last night, and has been snowing most of today in Leeds, it just seems too appropriate not to use again.

Today the government is publishing an  NHS Dental Recovery Plan , delivering an extra 2.5 million appointments over the next year so everyone can receive the dental treatment they deserve, quickly and easily.  Dentistry is an essential part of NHS healthcare and everyone should be able to see an NHS dentist and receive treatment quickly and easily when they need to.  That is why the government is announcing the NHS Dental Recovery Plan, backed by £200 million, which includes measures such as ‘new patient’ payments for NHS dentists to treat adults and children who have not seen a dentist in over two years and incentivising NHS dentists to work in underserved areas. Meanwhile, Labour-run Wales has the worst access to dentistry in the UK – showing what happens when you come into government without a plan. Labour proposals in England – which include ordering teachers to supervise toothbrushing in schools – would deliver barely a third of the appointments we have promised....

"Zero. Nothing. Precisely £0️⃣.    I won’t tax you for anything other than essential police and fire services.  No new tax. No expensive new bureaucracy.  👉 Read more about my pledge here: http://keane4mayor.co.uk/news ( Keane Duncan , Conservative candidate for Mayor of North Yorkshire)

Most of those who are eligible for cost of living support will start to receive their payments from today.  Find out more on the ‘Help for Households’ website at Help for Households - Get government cost of living support From  today   eight million families will receive their third Cost of Living Payment , bringing the total payments to £900 of support per household and representing a £2 billion support package, as we continue to stick to the plan to lower inflation and cut taxes to ensure people can keep more of their money. By sticking to the plan, we have more than halved inflation, allowing us to cut taxes for 27 million working people but as we drive inflation down further, we must continue to support the most vulnerable. That is why, from today eight million low-income households will receive their third Cost of Living Payment, totalling £900, to support with household costs such as energy bills.  This will ensure that as we stick to the plan to lower inflatio...

"Wishing His Majesty a full and speedy recovery. I have no doubt he’ll be back to full strength in no time and I know the whole country will be wishing him well." Prime Minister Rishi Sunak . I also, of course, with His Majesty the King a full and speedy recovery following his cancer diagnosis. For anyone who has not seen it, this was a statement from the palace yesterday:

Anorak post warning - this is going to be a very long post with a lot of reference to statistics and the details of Brexit. At some stage I must write a book on how easy it is to make true but misleading statements promoting a pre-judged narrative yet based on accurate statistics. It would also cover what you need to look for to get to the truth (not that hard if you know what you are looking for) and, rather harder, how to tell the story if you want to show the accurate picture. Though if you want to read a classic book on the subject it is still hard to beat a golden oldie, "How to lie with statistics" by Darrell Huff,   a book which is significantly older than I am, but which has rarely been equaled and never surpassed. It is still available on Amazon. There was always a lot of this between left and right, but a UK national conversation full of utterly misleading nonsense from all sides reached it's absolute nadir from both "Leave" and "Remain" camp...