OPINION
Unclear Keir Starmer has undermined his own cruel policy justification before our eyes (Image: Ian Vogler/Daily Mirror)
I thought we were broke? The Labour government has been telling us for months that the kitty is empty. That we all have to swallow tax rises and service cuts, from the majority of pensioners losing the Winter Fuel Allowance, to increased NI contributions from employers, VAT on private schools, rising inheritance tax on farmers… the list goes on. Yet, incredibly, Keir Starmer and his ministers are happy to spend a staggering ￡10billion over the next 99 years paying Mauritius to take over the Chagos Islands.
That’s right, ￡10billion, and that’s not adjusted for inflation (some estimate, adding associated costs, out the whole debacle at ￡30billion) so the costs will keep going up and up. Not only that but, as he announced his “deal” on Thursday, the Prime Minister had the temerity to claim the treaty would cost taxpayers a mere ￡3.4billion – putting it at ￡101million a year. He thinks we can’t add up, clearly.
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And to add insult to injury, the Government is going to try and claim that the sums involved in the surrender of the Chagos Islands contribute to keeping us safe, so will be included in the 2.5% of GDP we need to spend on defence. What a sick joke.
As my Express colleague Christian Calgie opined last week, Starmer makes Neville Chamberlain look like a master diplomat. And look what happened then!
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As Christian memorably wrote: “He may as well stand on the HMS Queen Elizabeth and burn ￡20 notes for all the good this is doing to keep Britons safe in their beds.”
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It’s hard to disagree. And neither is the US – which shared the use of the crucial Chagos Islands air base with the UK – paying a penny.
We’ve been taken for suckers here.
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Remember, this “deal” involved an old pal of Sir Keir, Philippe Sands KC, an international lawyer and close confidant of the Prime Minister. Starmer insisted that the Government would not have a ‘realistic prospect of success’ if Mauritius restarted legal proceedings. It comes after an ‘advisory opinion’ by the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ), that the Chagos Islands belonged to Mauritius. Yet the ICJ has no jurisdiction over the UK. Countries ignore its rulings all the time.
What next? Handing over the Falklands to Argentina. I wouldn’t rule that out under this unpatriotic lot.
And what about the Chagos islanders themselves? They’ve been despicably treated and ignored. They don’t want their islands ruled by Mauritius, 1,000 miles away, so hardly a near-neighbour. I have rarely been as depressed by so-called international diplomacy.
I guarantee this deal is something Sir Keir and the whole country will come to bitterly regret.
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Fergal Sharkey (Image: Rob Browne)
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As revealed by this paper on Saturday, Undertones legend and water campaigner Feargal Sharkey has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Thankfully, he’s in a good place.
Not only a brilliant former performer, but a tireless activist on behalf of us all, Feargal has time and again revealed how the privatised water industry has raked in billions of pounds while polluting our rivers and beaches, neglecting new infrastructure and slapping down hosepipe bans the moment the sun comes out. We should all wish him well.
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Deputy PM Angela Rayner’s secret memo to the Chancellor to soak the middle classes, waging a fresh tax war on savers and top earners, has been revealed in full after a leak to newspapers. The memo with a string of proposals was submitted in the middle of March before Rachel Reeves unveiled her spring statement of March 26. Ten proposals included eight tax rises and two changes to benefits. These include the stripping of child benefits from middle-class families where one adult earns more than ￡50,000 a year.
And, surprise, surprise, Ms Rayner also proposed targeting pensioners and shares instead of trimming the country’s spiralling and frankly unsustainable welfare bill.
It tells you everything you need to know about Labour; they care more about layabouts claiming benefits (because they are the ones targeted in cuts, not those genuinely in need) than people who have contributed all their lives and those who are working hard and contributing now.
Thankfully, Reeves has ignored Rayner’s pleas, for now. But Labour needs to realise that they are representing an entire country, not just a load of petty class warriors! And fast.
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How bloody dare they! I’m talking about the out-of-touch authorities who dare to risk people’s lives to fuel their own green agendas. It’s emerged that Spanish scientists allegedly caused the widespread power outages across Spain and Portugal last month by conducting an eco-energy experiment that crashed the electricity grid. Worse, the socialist government is said to have tried to cover it up. Talk about greenwashing!
Of course, the Spanish government denies any wrongdoing but the whole thing stinks. It’s scarily reminiscent of the Chernobyl disaster and what happens when no proper checks or balances are put in place.
This time, the disaster is being blamed on Spain’s rush to phase out its nuclear reactors by 2027. But people’s lives must never be put on the line. Today, tomorrow… ever.
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Sounds like there has been huge trouble at ITV Towers this week. The channel’s bosses have taken a big swinging axe to many of the channel’s most popular daytime programmes including Good Morning Britain, Lorraine and Loose Women.
While I’m not a regular viewer, my sympathies do lie with anyone set to lose their job. As I know from my own broadcasts, teams of (off-screen) talent work their socks off each and every day to deliver programmes audiences love. It’s a terrible shame that they will probably bear the brunt of the cuts.
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My esteemed Express colleague Esther McVey had it right this week when she said Keir Starmer was making it easier for the EU to make its spiralling youth unemployment a British problem with the newly-agreed youth mobility scheme. Starmer’s EU deal will make it easier for young British people to work and travel in the UK but – as Esther highlighted – “middle-class kids on their gap year” will be its biggest beneficiaries.
Also, why are we allowing god knows how many unemployed European youngsters to come here and gobble up all the jobs and training programmes on offer? Where is the support for our white, working-class boys who have the least opportunities?
Esther’s right. Without a proper cap on numbers, this IS a betrayal of British youth.