Summary of the day
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride has said that there must be no suggestion of the UK going back into the EU single market or customs union, but said the Labour government should be doing everything to “facilitate trade” with what he said was “our biggest trading partner”
The shadow chancellor was speaking in the wake of weak GDP figures of just 0.1% growth, and comments by Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey on Thursday that Brexit had been a “weight” on the economy
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she was “not satisfied” with the GDP figures, as “improving economic growth is at the heart of everything I am seeking to achieve”. Labour MP Liam Byrne said that the country was in a difficult position and that bold measures from government would be needed
Ed Davey has called on Labour to change their mind on extending the bus fare price cap in England for another 12 months but raising the maximum price to £3. The Lib Dem leader said “The fare cap increase is like a bus tax for people across the country, impacting bus users and commuters already struggling to make ends meet”.
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has made some rather more conciliatory comments about incoming US president Donald Trump than his previous statements, saying “Donald Trump has won the election; he’s going to be the president in January. And I wish him well”. The pair have enjoyed a long feud
Leading Tories Robert Jenrick and Oliver Dowden were on the committee that backed plans for the “rushed and misjudged” £15m purchase of an asbestos-ridden site for asylum accommodation, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has disclosed
Downing Street has apologised to British Hindus after it served meat and alcohol at its annual Diwali celebration
That is it for today, thank you for all your comments.
I mentioned earlier that we were cruelly deprived some pictures of Ed Davey being taught to drive a bus as had been planned, but fortunately whoever organises the Liberal Democrats publicity stunts has come up trumps to gently round off a Friday afternoon.
Davey has instead been painting pictures of buses on a plate at a business in Wantage called “The Funky Teapot”.
The Liberal Democrats are asking the government to rethink plans to extend the bus fare price cap in England for another year, but raise the maximum price by 50% from £2 to £3, and Davey’s stunt has been designed to draw attention to that.
It is unclear whether Davey’s motivation for making a bus is for SEO purposes, as disgraced former prime minister Boris Johnson was once accused of.
