“My priority is to keep cutting taxes, not to increase public spending.” That’s the Chancellor, by the way, not Will Smith or Chris Rock, but if I’d put ‘Treasury Committee - Oral Evidence’ in the subject line you might not have clicked.
We’ll get on to the slap felt around the world shortly, but I did watch a couple of hours of Rishi Sunak in front of MPs this afternoon and while he didn’t do anything so naïve as to commit news, it was instructive.
As you’d expect, the Chancellor defended the decisions taken in the Spring Statement, and made it clear that his overriding political and economic priorities were to cut taxes when possible.
He said he’d only act “if necessary” on energy bills in the autumn, despite murmurings from Number 10 that more help could be forthcoming before then.
Money saving expert Martin Lewis points out that a typical household currently paying £1,277 a year on their energy bill will pay £1,971 from next month and that could rise to £2,500-£3,000 in October.
Meanwhile, the direct government support amounts to £150 off council tax (though only if you pay by direct debit) and a £200 advance to be repaid.
For those on fixed incomes, in receipt of benefits or sub-inflation pay rises (which seems to encompass quite a lot of people) those numbers do not add up.
As promised, we have the Oscars covered from every conceivable angle, so in one breath, here we go:
The best dressed stars, including a topless Timothy Chalamet, the best dressed of all time, the backstory on Jada Pinkett Smith’s battle with alopecia, what’s inside the £76k Oscars goodie bag, the reaction of some very famous people at the Vanity Fair viewing party, and the inevitable development that Jake Paul (ask your children) has offered Smith and Rock $30m to fight on a boxing undercard.
Last but not least, Arts Editor Nancy Durrant has the definitive take: we all want our partner to stick up for us but Will Smith’s slap was the stuff of 3am street brawls.
Elsewhere in the paper, Priti Patel has ordered a review into the way Sadiq Khan ousted Dame Cressida Dick as Met boss. The Home Secretary also announced that Sir Stephen House will take over as interim Commissioner when Dame Cressida departs in April.
That’s the same Sir Stephen who launched a fairly scathing attack on the Mayor last month.
In the comment pages, City Editor Oscar Williams-Grut warns that as the Energy Security Strategy gets stuck in purgatory, overseas investors are buying British power.
Meanwhile, if we care about animal welfare we can pay 10p more for a litre of milk and 50p more on eggs. But what about people? Melanie McDonagh cuts to the chase on P&O Ferries: Cheap travel isn’t a human right — a fair wage is.
And finally, calling all Beagle mums and dads. We bring you the best dog friendly restaurants in London.
