Rob

They’ll sell this as a U‑turn. Rachel Reeves stands up, scraps her own 5p fuel duty hike “to help with the cost of living”, and the lobby purrs that motorists have been “spared”. But the numbers HMRC quietly publishes tell a different story. Duty stays at 52.95p a litre until New Year’s Eve… then jumps to 55.95p on 1 January, and to 57.95p on 1 March – the highest level for more than four years and a full reversal of the 5p cut introduced in 2022 when pump prices exploded after Russia invaded Ukraine. In plain English: the Chancellor has not cancelled the hike, she has re‑timed it for maximum political cover and minimum scrutiny. Labour gets to pose for the cameras as the party “freezing fuel duty” in 2026, while the small print schedules a 3p raid on 1 January, followed by another 2p bomb on 1 March, precisely when families are still crawling out of the winter cost‑of‑living hole. By the time drivers feel the full 5p rise at the pumps – plus 20% VAT on top of the duty – the press conference will be ancient history, but the extra tax will be baked into every commute, every school run, every delivery. That is not economic competence. It is a deliberate, smoke‑and‑mirrors tax grab on people who have no choice but to drive.

Only in this tired and weary country of ours could a polite request for foreign councillors to speak basic English in England be labelled a ‘cultural attack’.

One Million Young People. No Jobs. Labour Blames the Paper Round. Pat McFadden has identified the cause of Britain's youth unemployment crisis. Writing in the Telegraph this morning, the Work and Pensions Secretary explains that young people cannot find work because the paper round has disappeared. News is online now. Retail is in decline. The Saturday job has gone the way of the high street. This, he tells us, is why nearly one million young people are not in education, employment or training, with sixty percent of them having never held a job at all. The National Insurance rise announced in last October's budget is not mentioned. The near twenty percent jump in the youth minimum wage rate is not mentioned. The consequent collapse in entry-level hiring across retail, hospitality and service industries is not mentioned. The government that hammered the sectors where young people get their first foothold from every direction simultaneously has commissioned a review to find out what went wrong and concluded, apparently in good faith, that the answer is the internet. The Milburn review finding published alongside McFadden's column deserves to be read slowly. The government currently spends twenty-five times more paying unemployed young people than finding them jobs. Twenty-five times. That is not a funding gap. It is a system designed around managing failure rather than ending it. And it is a system that McFadden's party has been operating, expanding and now proposing to reset while affecting surprise at what it contains. In February I argued that Labour had priced a generation out of work. The employer National Insurance rise, the surge in minimum wages and the resulting collapse in entry-level hiring were the mechanism. The warning lights were not coming from political opponents alone. The Office for Budget Responsibility, the Bank of England and economists from think tanks close to Labour's own orbit were all pointing in the same direction. Employment costs rose sharply. Entry-level jobs shrank. Youth unemployment climbed. The link was obvious to anyone willing to see it. McFadden is not willing to see it. His solution is 300,000 work experience placements over three years. The Youth Guarantee will give every unemployed young person a shot at work after eighteen months of unemployment. Eighteen months. A young person who left school in the summer of 2025 will be eligible for a work experience placement in early 2027. A government that had not made entry-level employment more expensive would have got them working within weeks of leaving school. Meanwhile welfare costs the taxpayer £322 billion a year, twenty-three percent of total government spending, and is set to rise by a further £74 billion over the next five years. Starmer was forced to abandon his own benefits reform last year after Labour MPs said it would drive families into poverty. The system reset Milburn is now proposing is the third attempt to address a benefits bill that grows regardless of which party is in office because the structural incentives have never been reformed. The paper round is a convenient villain. It requires no policy reversal. It offends nobody in the Cabinet. It places the blame on technological change and shifting consumer habits rather than on decisions made in the Treasury last October. It allows a government that made youth employment more expensive to present itself as the champion of youth opportunity. Youth unemployment stands at 16.2 percent. 729,000 young people are out of work. The ladder into employment was kicked away by this government's own budget. Pat McFadden has written a nostalgic column about delivering newspapers. The connection between those two facts is the story he will not tell.

The 25-34 labour-market swap is huge Change in payrolled employments, Dec 2019 to Dec 2025: UK nationals aged 25-34: -186,700 EU nationals aged 25-34: -434,100 Non-EU nationals aged 25-34: +778,700

Housing migrants has "cancelled out almost half the new homes built since Labour came to power." This is what open borders and treacherous government looks like. Starmer is literally housing immigrants while British people are stuck on waiting lists often for years.

@jon65432 The previous high was in 1922, must’ve been all their electrical devices, petrol cars and affordable commercial air travel back then too

@Rob1178 Only the climate change jab can stop this Armageddon.

Just tell us how much more tax to pay to stop this

@jon65432 ‘Experimental climate change vaccine’?!

Kent according to the BBC when it’s over 22 degrees.

Keir Starmer says his “strong leadership” has cut a family of 4 Alton Towers ticket from £200 to £198.36 under the ‘Great British Summer Savings Scheme’. He said: “It currently costs £200 for a family of 4 to visit Alton Towers but with my great British summer savings scheme that is reduced to £198.36.” (Satire)

"Well Josh, did your Mum happen to mention that she'll be able to save £1.64 on the family entry to Legoland during the summer"? "Yes Mr Starmer, and she asked me pass on her thanks. She told me to tell you she plans to take us twice in the holidays. That way she'll save over £3 which will be enough to buy a can of coke for us all to share". "That's marvellous Josh. I'm happy to help".

So your slam dunk is that they vote for the far left instead? Ok…😂

@OnDisasters It ended that close because because they had a one lap shootout. The prior 199 laps were good entertainment but let’s not pretend they raced for 500 miles and finished so close

Being an Euro, my mates can´t understand ovals ("tHeY jUSt tUrn leFt 🤪") These guys raced at +200 MPH for 3 hours surrounded by a wall, with the cars separated by LESS than a parking space on the mall. And ended THIS close. This was my Ted Talk

Reforms voter base don’t care about this kind of hit job. If the media want to damage them they will have to find a new angle

Leftism was always a pseudo radical movement. They don’t want to smash the system and eat the rich. They want to control the system and become the rich.

China historically has a far right issue doesnt it?! 🤡🤡😂😂

Summed up my thoughts on next season's Championship brilliantly! 😂 📽 = @ConnaChahal on TikTok #Rovers 🌹🔵⚪️

'So why have successive governments allowed, what I believe, is a serious organised criminal industry, to run wild on our high streets?' @AlexArmstrong discusses Britain's barber and vape shop boom.

What are people mostly worried about in the UK today? You said "VAT rates on Theme Park Admission" "If it's up there you can bum me on camera"