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Feb 19 • 7 tweets • 5 min read
.@BorisJohnson's plan to scrap free NHS prescriptions for 60- to 65-year-olds isn't headline TV news.

But as opposition mobilises it feels like another Govt U-turn is inevitable.

inews.co.uk/opinion/scrapp…
Buried in govt doct is this: over-60s will be handed penalty notices (fines of upto £100) if they fail to realise their medicines are no longer free.

Imagine the optics if the PM *doesnt'* get a penalty notice for #Partygate, yet over-60s get penalty notices for NHS cutbacks🤷‍♂️ Image
The 'grey vote' more broadly is feeling the pinch with
- 1st real terms state pension cut for decades
- inflation that hits them harder as they hv fixed incomes
- broken Tory manifesto pledge to maintain 'triple lock'

inews.co.uk/opinion/scrapp…
My @theipaper Weekend column also reveals how Labour plans to target the 'grey vote'.
"Frankly, we’ve not been on the pitch in the fight for older voters since 2010," one MP tells me.

inews.co.uk/opinion/scrapp…
Today's @theipaper Weekend is brilliant value at just £1.20.
All the in-depth coverage you need on Ukraine, the storms and @BorisJohnson's battle to stay in office Image
Includes this long read from @singharj @ChaplainChloe @HugoGye on Tory MP mood:
“It would be better to just put the other guys [Labour] in and let them fuck it up and come back with more of an idea of what we want to do."
inews.co.uk/news/politics/…
Also this lovely read by @joshbythesea on May Stocks.
I first visited May's as a kid and know how invaluable she is to the local community. National recognition at last!
inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyl…

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More from @paulwaugh

Paul Waugh Profile picture
Feb 21
.@BorisJohnson just said the UK should be more like Germany, where workers don't have a "habit of going into work when not well"

Key comparison:
- Statutory sick pay in Germany 50% pay for 84 weeks.
- Statutory sick pay in UK is £96.35 per week for 28 weeks.
And that's a maximum of 84 weeks.
For the first 6 weeks, a German employee is usually entitled to 100% of their salary.
And as @MikeBrewerEcon points out, lots of Brits ineligible in first place:
Read 4 tweets
Paul Waugh Profile picture
Feb 5
After another extraordinary week in politics, sit back and read @theipaper Weekend.
Stuffed with exclusive intel, long reads + analysis from our politics team @HugoGye @singharj @RichardVaughan1 @janemerrick23 and @ChaplainChloe
Superb value for just £1.20
Here’s a taste..🧵
Asked on a scale of one to ten how much Munira Mirza resignation mattered, one Cabinet minister tells us: “eight”
inews.co.uk/news/politics/…
One MP reveals how Johnson trying to woo rebels. “He has had them all in for chats, including all the pork-pie plotters,” “He has been offering the older guard Tory peerages, knighthoods, anything to keep them onside.”
Read 9 tweets
Paul Waugh Profile picture
Feb 3
.@BorisJohnson's Savile smear confirmed the moral vacuum at the heart of his 'partygate' premiership.

Tonight's #WaughOnPolitics is in your inbox

inews.co.uk/opinion/boris-…
As everyone seems to be quitting No.10 tonight, will the last person left switch out the lights?
Tonight's #WaughOnPolitics also includes how a Tory MP claimed 'social media' in her town raised the Savile smear. "Go on, look online."

Plus, how Jacob Rees-Mogg misused the 'Crichel Down principle' of ministerial responsibility. (One for the anoraks)
Read 4 tweets
Paul Waugh Profile picture
Feb 3
.@BorisJohnson sounds determined to stay as PM for full 2nd term if re-elected. Tells @MrHarryCole “I am getting on with the job + I will do so for as long as I have the privilege + honour to serve in this position...I am focused on the next election."

thesun.co.uk/news/17525872/…
But while the Levelling Up white paper covers the next 8 years, rebel Tory MPs may not give him the next 8 weeks.
Sir Gary Streeter (@garystreeterSWD) became the 1st of "Knight of the long knives" yesterday.
Latest #WaughOnPolitics:

inews.co.uk/opinion/boris-…
Johnson’s defiance on Partygate ("I won't accept criticism from the Labour party or *anywhere else*" he tells @MrHarryCole) + his desire to go on and on, prompts a mix of despair and anger among Tory critics.
Read 5 tweets
Paul Waugh Profile picture
Feb 2
Nearly three years ago, when @jeremycorbyn raised bus services in #PMQs, Tory MPs yelled "Taxi!"
Today, @michaelgove is announcing plans to put buses at the heart of 'levelling up'.
Yet bus users in many areas in the north are facing even worse services/higher costs now.
One of the reasons for services being cut back is a big shortage of drivers. Add in years of budget cuts, deregulation, and you get pensioners waiting for upto an hour in the cold for buses that don't arrive.
And then having to, yes, order a taxi to do their weekly shop.
Without hard cash for public transport, Levelling Up will be another broken promise on a 'Boris Bus'.

inews.co.uk/opinion/levell…
Read 5 tweets
Paul Waugh Profile picture
Feb 1
For some time, Starmer has decided to ignore this false claim, clearly believing that responding in any way would give the smear the publicity on which far right extremists thrive
But when the Prime Minister says it in the House of Commons, it's left the sewer and is in full view
I suspect Starmer and his team still have no intention of even giving this any further oxygen by rebutting it directly.
It's the classic difficulty in any case involving extremists.
But while extremists won't listen to reason, the wider public have heard this claim probably for the first time.
So there may be a case for making a statement simply setting out how baseless the smear is.
Read 4 tweets

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