Friday, February 7

Day: July 19, 2023

Call early election to ‘minimise’ losses, senior Tory tells Rishi Sunak
Featured, United Kingdom

Call early election to ‘minimise’ losses, senior Tory tells Rishi Sunak

A senior Conservative has urged Rishi Sunak to call an early election to minimise Tory losses at the polls. Lord Finkelstein, a member of the House of Lords and former senior advisor, said May 2024 might be the "best moment" to go to electorate. Recounting his experience of advising John Major on the timing of the 1997 election, the Tory peer said he now believed an earlier election would have made the defeat "less severe". "The hope was that something might turn up. Instead voters simply became more irritated," he wrote in an article for the Times newspaper. "The mistake is to think that a bad moment can’t become worse. Or that there is really little difference between losing power by a little and losing it by a lot. "There is a vast difference for the Conservatives, and for Sunak ...
UK inflation rate falls by more than expected
Featured, United Kingdom

UK inflation rate falls by more than expected

UK inflation dropped to a 15-month low of 7.9% in the year to June, easing concerns for Bank of England (BoE) policymakers who are battling against runaway prices. It is the lowest reading since March 2022. Economists predicted that the rate would dip to 8.2% from 8.7% in both April and May. New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday showed that an ease in food price inflation and also falling prices for motor fuel helped to push the rate down. The largest downward contribution came from the milk, cheese and eggs category, with the annual rate easing to 22.8%, from 27.4% in May. Motor fuel prices fell by 22.7% in the period, compared with a fall of 13.1% the month prior. Core CPI, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, rose by 6.9% in the 12 mon...