Chris Smyth
@Smyth_Chris
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Whitehall Editor of The Times. DMs open
Joined September 2009
Hard for the government to say that growth is the "number one priority" if it is willing to slow building for the sake of gold-plating environmental rules Case makes pretty clear that there are trade-offs which are not being fully acknowledged
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Hydrate. Hustle. GO! CELSIUS HYDRATION - The ultimate hydration for every move. CELSIUS. LIVE. FIT. GO!
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Instead the government has put forward an amendment to its planning bill to extend EU habitats regs to swaths of the country Developers are aghast Now, ministers say they want to maintain environmental protections and comply with international law Many will agree. But...
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Starmer has made his pledge to side with "builders over blockers" a key plank of his economic strategy So when the Supreme Court says burdensome EU environmental regs don't apply as widely as thought, did the govt bank the win? Developers thought they should. But no...
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NHS given green light to make patients wait longer to save money Ministers accept that "minimum waits" of up to 18 weeks can be imposed to help control costs and balance books Warnings from senior doctors of patients waiting longer in pain https://t.co/O9fXaDTgzx
thetimes.com
Minimum waiting times of 12-18 weeks cut costs but, experts say, leave the people who need treatment most hanging on in anxiety and pain
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Briefing against Chris Wormald reminds me of this classic civil service put down from when he was appointed
Most Whitehall ever put-down of Chris Wormald from someone who has worked closely with him "He's a safe-ish pair of hands"
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Full story: Ministers in stand-off after promising Trump higher drug prices https://t.co/l6CeuZZYyX
thetimes.com
The latest breaking UK, US, world, business and sport news from The Times and The Sunday Times. Go beyond today's headlines with in-depth analysis and comment.
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Wes Streeting has refused for fear this will hit waiting lists But NHS bosses say leaving staff in limbo and refusing to find upfront cash for redundancy could also hit patient care PM may be called in to adjudicate
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Laying off up to 10,000 managers by abolishing NHS England and slimming health trusts needs £1.3bn for payoffs Treasury is offering £650 million upfront - but only on condition that the Department of Health absorb the cost of higher medicines prices and future doctor strikes
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New: Treasury refusing to let the NHS make £1.3 billion in redundancy payments unless Wes Streeting agrees to fund higher medicines prices promised to President Trump Escalating Whitehall row over who pays for higher NHS medicines cost is now holding up productivity drive
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Rachel Reeves tells Channel 4 that "the welfare system is not working" "We can't leave welfare untouched. We can't get to the end of this Parliamentary session and I’ve done nothing, basically" Says money is needed for NHS, schools and to avoid more tax rises
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Sources insist discussions are still live and no decision taken Full story: https://t.co/8oXYmjr5Qm
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Reeves also examining options to end access to luxury cars through the scheme, and restrict eligibility - tho this less likely to happen at the budget Savings will help with black hole and reassure markets- but political risk in targeting disability benefits again
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Comes after big increase in use of scheme that allows claimants to trade benefits for cars, and anger over 40,000 BMWs, Audis and Mercedes given out But disability groups warn scrapping VAT exemption will push up costs and make it harder for disabled people to get about
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Excl: Reeves to target Motability scheme to save about £1 billion at the budget Chancellor drawing up plans to scrap tax breaks for cars through the benefits system Sources insist it’s about fairness not just cost cutting
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Westminster needs more spads Not just for journalistic self-interest Many civil servants say good spads can help get things done quicker by advising what ministers will think, avoiding the need for formal subs And more allies will reduce ministerial paranoia about officials
Scooplet for readers of the Times politics newsletter this morning: Labour is hiring more spads
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As a fan of Edward Hopper I couldn’t help but take this photo in Greenwich tonight.
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China spying latest: No 10 says it would have been "absurd" and "quite wrong" for PM to do anything to encourage the CPS to keep going after being told the case was about to be dropped Insists it was purely a civil service decision to cut and paste sections of Labour manifesto
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Of all the criticisms of the OBR, the somewhat arbitrary 10-day window they use to calculate borrowing costs is probably the fairest
With quite delicious/annoying timing the UK 10-year Gilt yield has just cratered by 20bp in the last week (largely a sympathy move to US Treasuries, rather than anything UK-specific). This comes at a time when the OBR has probably closed its calculation period for the
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Full story NHS begs Rachel Reeves to let it raise billions via private deals https://t.co/mTeHRHBHkV
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