You can’t blame Chancellor John Healey for trying.
After Sir Keir Starmer and former chancellor Rachel Reeves – understandably keen to disparage the Tories – talked the economy down and upset business and consumer confidence, Healey decided to take a Beach Boys approach: his first keynote speech was all Good Vibrations.
To maintain the more upbeat note that has been a hallmark of Andy Burnham’s administration, Healey tried to tell a “new story of Britain”, involving “optimism, grit and resilience” and a greater partnership between central Government, local leaders and businesses.
What happened?
In an interview with , Moshiri said she has been diagnosed with an incurable type of blood cancer.
What is polycythaemia vera (PV)
PV thickens the blood by causing bone marrow to continuously produce red blood cells.
What are the risks?
This increases the risk of blood clots, which can cause stroke, heart attack or deep vein thrombosis.
The symptoms
Symptoms can include headaches, confusion, dizziness and blurred vision.
What treatment did she receive?
Her treatment involved a procedure called a , where almost a pint of blood is removed through a vein about twice a month to reduce the red blood cell concentration.
Immunotherapy treatment reduced the frequency of Moshiri’s venesections but initially came with “horrendous” side effects including insomnia, headaches and itching.
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Working through treatment
I was working 14-hour days, constantly on air, constantly having to think on my feet
Moshiri worked throughout her treatment, including leading the BBC’s coverage of the death of Pope Francis from Rome.
She said that although “adjusting to a different life” is challenging, a future “punctuated by hospital appointments and loads of medication” to deal with the disease is better than the alternative.
How UK’s first ‘super-university’ can tackle Neets crisis
The head of the UK’s first “super-university” has said that merging two universities can help reduce the number of people not in employment, education or training (Neet).
A new ‘super-university’
What is it?
The newly formed London and South East University Group (Lase) is now the third largest university in the UK.
How big is it?
It contains over 50,000 students across four campuses in London, Medway and Kent.
Which universities merged?
The universities of Kent and Greenwich legally merged to form Lase last month.
What is the Neets crisis?
- 1In April to June, an estimated 981,000 people aged 16-24 in the UK were classed as Neets.
- 2This represented a fall of 30,000 compared with the first quarter of the year.
- 3However, the figure is still 30,000 higher than a year ago, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The role of ‘super-unis’
It’s a real opportunity for us address the very people that the Government’s worried about
Lase chief executive Professor Jane Harrington said the merger will help the universities deal with growing operational costs and provide more accessible learning pathways to better address the needs of the regions in a way they could not on their own.
How will Lase work?
- Kent and Greenwich universities will still operate as distinct academic entities within the group.
- They retain their current names and students still apply to and graduate from the institution they choose.
- The group will now be able to offer subjects that they could not before when they were separate entities.
- Students will also be able to use libraries and access wellbeing services across campuses.
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What strain are universities facing?
Higher education providers in the UK have been facing increasing financial pressures, with MPs on the Education Committee warning earlier this year that there is a “real risk” a university in England could close due to insolvency for the first time.
The Office for Students told the committee it feared 24 providers were at risk of becoming insolvent and closing in the 12 months from November last year.
More ‘super-universities’ to come?
Lase is writing up a “blueprint” for the Department for Education to work as a “model” for a group structure which other universities would be able to use.
In May, King’s College London and Bedford-based Cranfield University announced plans to merge in August 2027.
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EES checks resume – three ways to avoid border delays
A loophole allowing countries to pause the EU’s new border checks has ended, sparking concern that the travel chaos reported earlier in the summer may return.
EES border checks set to resume
EU border checks are set to start again in full force from Monday, 7 September, as member states’ rights to waive Entry/Exit System (EES) checks during times of maximum stress comes to an end.
While EES is unavoidable, and there is no way to skip the queue entirely, there are some ways to alleviate the stress of border check delays.
What is the EES?
- EES requires British passport holders and other third-country nationals to register biometric data when entering or exiting the Schengen area.
- Applying to 29 countries across Europe, excluding Ireland and Cyprus, the system caused has widespread delays since its introduction in April.
- Until now, the registration could be temporarily suspended by border officials when queues were too long to manage.
- But despite objections from some member states, this loophole has now expired, leaving holidaymakers facing the possibility of more significant delays.
How can you avoid delays
- 1Travel outside peak times – even the busiest airports, like Palma and Lisbon, were quieter later in the summer.
- 2Skip duty free – going straight to the border control desk will allow you to see how busy it is.
- 3Pre-register for Sweden and Portugal – currently applying only to Sweden and Portugal, the Travel to Europe app allows users to pre-register, reducing the information needed at border control to just fingerprint scans.
Go to passport control ASAP
A spokesperson for Abta, a UK travel agent trade association, recommended passengers go to passport control as soon as possible after getting through security.
It follows reports earlier this summer of long delays and some flights setting off while several passengers were still in the long border control queues.
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But all the evidence is to the contrary.
Even as Healey was eating his breakfast on Monday morning, economic data was published showing house prices in Britain have suffered their first annual fall in three years as consumers grapple with higher borrowing costs.
Meanwhile, the bond markets were choking on the Weetabix over oil prices. Government borrowing costs rose after the latest flare-ups in the Middle East. Britain’s bond yields – aka what the Treasury pays to borrow money – rose at the fastest pace in Europe in early trading after the latest rise in oil prices.
Some estimates suggest higher borrowing costs could take £12bn off the Government’s £23.6bn buffer against its fiscal rules. This makes for an even trickier Budget in late October. Up to another £4bn is expected to have evaporated as a result of lower-than-forecast net migration. Meanwhile, the VAT cut on electricity bills needs to be paid for as well.
With borrowing at an all-time high, the signs all point to higher taxes or slashing spending.
All signs point to higher taxes or cut spending
That’s especially true if Healey tries to hold on to something approaching the headroom he inherited. The Chancellor said: “The Prime Minister and I are in lockstep in our commitment to meeting the fiscal rules at the upcoming Budget, to balancing the books with a buffer to protect against uncertainty.
“To controlling borrowing to bear down on inflation and reducing long-term pressures on our public finances.”
Healey started his speech with the bad news, firmly blaming the Tories for austerity, Brexit and the Liz Truss mini-budget. No word of censure, though, to Reeves and Starmer for pushing up employers’ national insurance contributions.
Healey was in Coventry, just a few miles down the road from where Jaguar Land Rover is planning to cut thousands of jobs to save costs following competition from China for cheap cars, US tariffs on UK vehicles and the after effects of a cyber attack.
The Chancellor also outlined his ambitions for pushing public finance institutions, known as PuFins, to deploy more investment into the private sector. These are state-owned, taxpayer-funded institutions that use public money to provide loans, equity investments and guarantees to the private sector.
Healey essentially set out an economic vision that costs him nothing. He announced cutting the “sludge” of Government red tape, including that big infrastructure projects will no longer face the hold-up of judicial review from objectors.
The other part of his prescription for growth comes through greater devolution to regions outside London. Healey unveiled a £150m fund for companies in the north of England, which is part of a wider plan to generate more economic growth around the UK. In Treasury terms, this is pocket money.
UK is uniquely susceptible to inflation
Who’d be Chancellor these days? We are in a new world: markets have now got AI companies issuing long-dated maturities too, meaning they don’t just have to trade in countries’ debt. Donald Trump’s Iran war is impacting around the world.
But while Healey is not the only finance minister suffering from the volatility, the UK is uniquely susceptible to inflation given how tightly it controls the supply and the prices of the workforce, energy, land and capital.
The speech seems likely to be followed up within weeks with a don’t-rock-the-boat Budget. Key decisions, including when the UK will be spending 3 per cent of GDP on defence, have been deferred until next year.
Healey’s appointment as Chancellor had suggested support for the defence spending target by 2030. Delaying the decision until the 2027 spending review will lead to another six months of the same unsettling speculation that characterised Starmer’s tenure.
Healey’s bluff, trustworthy Yorkshireman approach is reassuring. But the country needs more than good vibrations.
As he took over, Burnham promised the biggest change in 40 years. Little sign of it yet.