Good morning,
A committee of MPs has delivered a scathing report on the government’s levelling up funding(£), saying ministers are “gambling taxpayers’ money on policies and programmes that are little more than a slogan”. The report also questions the transparency and efficacy of the £11bn “alphabet soup” of levelling up funding pots.
The prime minister is being urged by cabinet ministers to cut taxes(£) and sack disloyal ministers to save his premiership. Levelling up PPS Duncan Baker is one of 13 ministers and assistants who have so far refused to openly support Boris Johnson. The PM is also being urged to fire ministers who fail to deliver(£) on key policy areas, including housing.
Incidentally, as many in the Conservative Party agitate for cuts to personal and business tax, it is worth noting that today – according to the Adam Smith Institute – is “tax freedom day”. That’s the point in the year when the average earner has worked enough to pay their tax bill and is now actually earning for themselves. It was 31 May last year and has been getting steadily later in the year since the 1980s.
Meanwhile, New Labour strategist Peter Mandelson(£) has re-emerged to call on the opposition to overhaul its economic policy, saying it needs a “laser-like” focus.
The global economy is at risk of falling into a 1970s-style “stagflation” trap(£), the World Bank has warned.
As London’s recovery(£) has outstripped the rest of the UK, in a bit of a blow to the levelling up agenda.
Grosvenor and the Universities Superannuation Scheme are handing over a 148-acre nature reserve in Cambridge to the Wildlife Trust. The deal for the transfer of the land at the 1,200-home Trumpington Meadows development includes funds for the long-term maintenance of the area for an indefinite period.
The preferred bidder to buy Ted Baker(£) has pulled out of the race, leading shares in the fashion chain to fall by a fifth.
PwC has been fined twice in one day(£) by the UK accounting regulator over audit failures at London-listed construction groups Kier and Galliford Try.
And as rail strikes infuriate commuters, the Golborne link, a £3bn branch of the HS2 network designed to speed up rail journeys between London and Scotland, has been quietly ditched by ministers.
But protesters who dig tunnels(£) to prevent development or halt business activity could face up to three years in jail under proposed laws.
Meanwhile, The Times (£) takes a look at Elon Musk’s boring company.
And The Guardian looks at why Londoners refuse to stop working from home. TLDR? Transport.
And finally, plans are being drawn up for the UK’s highest-altitude lido. The chemical-free, “natural” outdoor pool will be perched up in the West Yorkshire moors, a gritstone’s throw from the Brontë sisters’ home in Haworth. But with no plans to heat the pool, it is more likely to be shivering rather than Wuthering Heights. And best not to mention that the Brontës died young due to contaminated water supplies.
