Brevia Consulting is providing a weekly round-up and analysis of the UK headlines. This week, read about the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, recent bullying allegations levelled against Dominic Raab, and the growing threat of strikes across the public sector.
CHANCELLOR DELIVERS AUTUMN STATEMENT
The Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt delivered the Government’s long-awaited Autumn Statement on Thursday. Hunt set out the Government’s three priorities: ‘stability, growth, and public services’.[1] Headline announcements from the budget include the extension of the Energy Price Guarantee beyond April 2023, £8 billion of additional funding for the NHS in 2024-25, and tax rises to the value of £25 billion by 2027-28.[2] Published alongside the Autumn Statement, the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) economic and fiscal outlook predicted that the UK would remain in recession for over a year, and that living standards would fall by 7 per cent.[3] Though the Chancellor’s avoided a further shock to the market, the Government continues to face a significant challenge in shielding consumers from rising prices and slowly recovering the economy.
DOMINIC RAAB UNDER FIRE OVER BULLYING COMPLAINTS
The Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab is under fire over allegations of bullying during his time in Cabinet. When Raab was reappointed Justice Secretary in October after a one-month absence, civil servants were reportedly offered a ‘route out’ due to his alleged bullying.[4] Anonymous sources from the Ministry of Justice called him ’rude’, ‘demeaning’, ‘aggressive’ and ‘a bully’.[5] The PM has now launched an independent inquiry into two formal complaints made against Raab, who denies the allegations and will ‘cooperate fully’ with the inquiry.[6] Raab deputised for Rishi Sunak in PMQs on Wednesday as the PM was at the G20 summit. Raab faced criticism and implicit calls for his resignation from several opposition MPs.[7] Raab is now the third Cabinet Minister to have come under significant media pressure to resign since Sunak became Prime Minister three weeks ago.
PUBLIC SECTOR STRIKES LOOM LARGE ON THE HORIZON
Nurses belonging to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union have voted to strike for the first time in their 106-year history.[8] Non-urgent appointments at around 180 NHS organisations will be affected if strikes go ahead later this year. 100,000 civil servants represented by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) have voted to strike over pay and conditions, with details expected on 18 November.[9] Any action could affect a range of public services from running prisons to processing passports. Teachers are also being balloted for strike action over pay with results expected in the New Year.[10] With public sector works enduring a decade-long period of real-term pay cuts and public services stretched, it seems the Government is going to face large-scale industrial action if it cannot resolve the situation with public sector workers.[11]
BREVIA CONSULTING PROVIDES STRAIGHTFOWARD POLITICAL AND COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT TO BUSINESSES AND ORGANISATIONS
Discover how Brevia can help you and your organisation by contacting the Brevia Team on 020 7091 1650 or emailing us at contact@brevia.co.uk
Notes
[1] HM Treasury, ‘The Autumn Statement 2022 speech’, 17 November 2022, Link
[2] HM Treasury, ‘Chancellor delivers plan for stability, growth and public services’, 17 November 2022, Link
[3] Politics Home, ‘Living Standards Will Fall And Unemployment Will Rise Despite £100bn Of Support’, 17 November 2022, Link
[4] The Guardian, ‘MoJ staff offered ‘route out’ amid concerns over Dominic Raab behaviour’, 11 November 2022, Link
[5] Ibid.
[6] The Guardian, ‘Dominic Raab faces independent inquiry into bullying claims’, 16 November 2022, Link
[7] Hansard, ‘Oral Answers to Questions – Prime Minister’, 16 November 2022, Link
[8] RCN, ‘NHS pay ballot results: members vote to strike at majority of NHS employers across the UK’, 9 November 2022, Link
[9] PCS, ‘100,000 civil servants vote for strike action’, 10 November 2022, Link
[10] BBC News, ‘Teachers’ strikes: What are they paid and will schools close?’, 16 November 2022, Link
[11] House of Commons Library, ‘Public sector pay’, 28 October 2022, Link
