Andrew Griffith MP

Ministers claimed they didn’t know the damage their changes to business rates would do. That’s not an excuse. If you’re a Minister making a decision on tax, you’re given analysis on what it’ll do. Labour either didn’t listen or didn’t care: full U-turn now.

@alexwickham @ChaplainChloe @EllenAMilligan Could have saved @alexwickham some words ⬇️

*EXCLUSIVE with @ChaplainChloe @EllenAMilligan* Andy Burnham will be told by senior civil servants on Monday that he faces a worsening economy, rising borrowing costs and interest rate hikes in his first six months as PM. He’ll also be warned there could be an oil price shock if the Iran war escalates and new pressure from Donald Trump to provide UK military support. Burnham will receive updated economic forecasts from the Treasury on his first day in office that will paint a challenging picture, according to people familiar with the preparations for the transition of power. It’ll be an immediate reality check that complicates his promise to quickly deliver change for Britons. The latest internal Treasury forecasts produced in recent days have revised inflation upwards to 3.2% for Q4 2026, the people said. If a US-Iran ceasefire isn’t quickly restored that’ll get worse and oil could rise to $150 a barrel, they show. Either way, the Treasury will tell Burnham they see gilt yields rising further and at least one Bank of England interest rate hike by the end of the year, the forecasts will show. It means increased borrowing costs at a time when Burnham is considering how to fund a suite of potentially expensive policies. The impact on prices will be most acute on energy and food, according to the forecasts, and Britain also faces supply chain problems with jet fuel, leading officials to warn air fares will rise. It will all add to pressure on Burnham to offer more generous cost-of-living support as an early top priority. Senior civil servants will advise Burnham that he could face pressure from Trump to deploy British military assets in support of the US blockade. There is no expectation he will agree. Officials will also warn Burnham that in the event a lasting peace deal is agreed between the US and Iran, he will have to decide whether to implement plans made by Starmer and Macron to deploy the military to lead a Hormuz de-mining mission. Britain is also facing an increased risk of cyber attacks from Iran and Russia, officials will tell Burnham, posing another danger to the economy. Burnham will be advised he’ll need to work to maintain Britain’s leadership role on Ukraine, starting by building a personal relationship with Volodymyr Zekensky. Burnham will be told that much of the UK’s foreign policy is conducted at leader level and that he will be integral to ensuring Trump’s currently relatively favorable position toward Kyiv holds, as well as leading western allies on military support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. Access talks so far have proved challenging because Burnham has yet to decide key cabinet and No10 appointments, meaning civil servants have been unable to directly prepare incoming ministers. The lack of transparent preparation ahead of the changeover is prompting a mounting sense of anxiety across the civil service, several officials said.  One dismissed as impossible the suggestion Burnham could hold a mega-budget in the autumn which would include spending plans for departments as well as fiscal measures. The person said the spending review, usually scheduled for the Spring, relied on months of negotiations with departments and said it would not be feasible for this to be hashed out in three months. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

@tonyofsidcup This is a deal with Switzerland! And the vast majority of meat imported to compete with British farmers comes from EU member, Ireland!

@griffitha And don't forget all that cheap-and-cheerful (except for the animals, I suppose) Australian meat whose imports are ramping up, crushing British farmers. 🇦🇺

Why won't Labour accept free trade is a Brexit benefit? We warmly welcome the new trade agreement with Switzerland, but it was only possible because of Brexit. Now they want to drag us back into the grip of the EU!

I’ve been a Member of Parliament for getting on for six years. Not once has any constituent ever indicated support for Mauritius to be given the Chagos Islands plus a £47 billion taxpayer dowry. Just how out of touch is Labour?!

Britain is at its best when AI innovators like those at Valarian are empowered to solve complex problems. This successful raise is further proof that UK companies can continue to attract significant international backing.

@biztradegovuk Brexit benefits coming thick and fast.

🚨 The UK and Switzerland have sealed a new trade deal. A major boost for UK business opening new opportunities, cutting barriers, and helping firms thrive in two of the world's leading services economies.

Another Brexit benefit just landed! In government I helped negotiate our financial services deal with Switzerland so I know this will benefit business. Switzerland is not in the EU, so Brexit means freedom to do deals to benefit our services, life sciences, and travellers.

Burnham ‘plans £38bn tax raid’ telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/…

Higher taxes are the last thing the low-growth and over-indebted UK needs. Cut taxes, get building, drill our own oil, scrap red tape and attract wealth creators and the ambitious young back. That’s a proper plan!

We need a youth unemployment commission, that's the real crisis in Labour's broken employment market. But in fairness to the LPC, they are clearly embarrassed and point the issue straight back to the Ministers and Chancellor who decided to price people out of work.

@allthepost So you’d support opening a coking coal mine in the U.K. then? Without which you’d have domestic steel making in war for about a couple of days. Labour opposed a coking coal mine.

@griffitha Yo dumbass. Where do you get steel from during a war for critical infrastructure projects if we have no steel mills?

You are Prime Minister. Do you: (a) Invest in unbelievably good research in areas like quantum, photonics and AI in the Harwell Campus with world class facilities like the Diamond Light Source. (b) Spend £2.5 billion subsidising fundamentally unprofitable steel making?

Can Burnham really convince the Bond markets? We are about to find out! Worth a read. conservativehome.com/2026/07/10/mik… via @conhome

@iainpdooley If it is national security you’d clearly then want domestic cooking coal production. Fact that Labour simultaneously OPPOSE that gives this the lie.

@griffitha You support both. The ability to make steel is a national security issue. It has been made “unprofitable” due to the regressive and economically ruinous energy policies of both Labour and Conservative governments.

@stucrow Indeed 😱

@griffitha or (c), give billions to a corrupt Mauritius government so you can abuse the human rights of the Chagossians

@_Lars_Johnson_ Well an early passenger for the first Mars colony perhaps?

@griffitha Steel would be profitable without anyone’s help if Ed Miliband could be sent to live on one of the moons of Saturn.

@ATaylorFPGA Yes

@griffitha C do both, it is only unprofitable thanks to crazy government legislation that makes energy prices high. We need to get low energy prices and scrap net zero.

@thegrocersson National security for steel making would also be a more compelling argument had Labour not opposed a sovereign coking coal mine - meaning we cannot make steel without relying on imports in any case.

@griffitha We do need a steel industry especially as we enter a more dangerous time but a state owned one is not the answer

Clue: This government are CUTTING funding for the UK's unbelievably world-leading, Diamond Light Source at Harwell and other national laboratories (such as the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source and the Central Laser Facility) by 15%. This is foundational advantage for the UK in precisely the areas of quantum, photonics and AI - and with national security implications.