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Jim Pickard Profile picture
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21 Jun, 4 tweets, 1 min read
a question for supporters of High-Speed 2, given the price tag has now risen from £33bn to over £106bn:

is there any price at which it's not worth doing? and if so what is that figure?
bear in mind that the cost of the scheme has risen by £1.7bn - equivalent to EIGHT trade yachts - in just the last 9 months

ft.com/content/510f2a…
I ask as someone who is studiously neutral on the issue
one trade yacht is of course >6,000 nurses' salaries for one year

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More from @PickardJE

Jim Pickard Profile picture
17 Jun
what many people won’t know is that the Tory 2019 manifesto promised to legislate for flexible working - ie before the pandemic:

“We will encourage flexible working and consult on making it the default unless employers have good reasons not to.”
this pledge was made before anyone had even heard of covid-19
- question is whether government will just give everyone the right to "ask for flexible working" (you already get this after 26 weeks at a company)

- this is obviously not the same thing as an automatic right to work from home

- that will be part of consultation later this year
Read 4 tweets
Jim Pickard Profile picture
8 Jun
turns out Boris Johnson’s intention to build his new trade yacht in the UK is set to fall foul of a World Trade Organization agreement struck by his own government last year

ft.com/content/c77b7a…
- in October Liz Truss signed the WTO’s “global procurement agreement”

- she said GPA would allow UK companies to keep bidding for state contracts worth £1.3tr globally

- overseas groups could still bid for UK public sector contracts “delivering better value for UK taxpayers”
- but item 47 of annex 4 of UK schedule of GPA says procurement of “ships, boats & floating structures, except warships” must be advertised internationally & awarded without discrimination.

- by contrast US, Japan, Australia have exempted non-military ships from this obligation
Read 7 tweets
Jim Pickard Profile picture
9 May
- remember how companies have been promised close to zero import duties by setting up in Boris Johnson's 8 new freeports?

- turns out there are clauses in post-Brexit free trade agreements (FTAs) with 23 countries which effectively negate those benefits

ft.com/content/625d19…
shadow trade secretary @EmilyThornberry says the clauses could have been excised in trade talks:

“On the surface of it, this looks like a catastrophic blunder by a minister stuck in her silo....as a result, I fear that manufacturers....risk missing out on access to key markets."
these are the 23 trade deals which have clauses prohibiting “duty drawback”
Read 4 tweets
Jim Pickard Profile picture
30 Apr
- Johnson was apparently astonished that Bill Crothers had simultaneously worked as a civil servant and for Greensill Capital.

- was he oblivious to the fact that his most senior aide was working for two property companies?

ft.com/content/4382aa… via @financialtimes
tonight @RachelReevesMP has written to cabinet secretary Simon Case about Lister’s double-hatting
out of several glaring potential conflicts of interest this is the most eye-catching, original scoop by @Gabriel_Pogrund
Read 5 tweets
Jim Pickard Profile picture
13 Apr
now breaking:

Crothers started working for Greensill while still the head of government procurement - wearing both hats for three months

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…
an Alice in Wonderland justification for Acoba not looking at the Crothers move to Greensill - ie that he was already working there part-time when he was a civil servant 🤯

google.co.uk/amp/s/news.sky…
and here’s the @ft story

Shadow Cabinet Office minister
@RachelReevesMP described the disclosure that Crothers was working for Greensill while still a civil servant as “extraordinary and shocking” and called on government to strengthen relevant rules.

ft.com/content/e383bc…
Read 5 tweets
Jim Pickard Profile picture
13 Mar
can’t believe this is happening: crass, insensitive, disproportionate, outrageous
Sadiq Khan has issued statement:

“The scenes from the vigil at Clapham Common tonight are unacceptable.

“The police have a responsibility to enforce Covid laws but from the images I have seen it is clear the response was at times neither appropriate nor proportionate.”
Ed Davey, leader of the Lib Dems, has called for Cressida Dick’s resignation
Read 4 tweets

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