Andy Burnham has come under fire over plans aimed at saving Britain’s high streets. The Prime Minister, who is kicking off a summer tour of the UK today, is set to give councils more powers to block new bookmakers and vape shops.
But Reform UK Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick said: “Until this Government scraps the jobs tax, addresses sky-high business rates and provides real, fundamental support for high street businesses, this policy will only create even more empty shops on our high streets.
“Preventing businesses from opening only works if the Government and local councils make it attractive for the right kind of shops to open in their place. Labour is doing the opposite by making life harder for small, legitimate businesses to operate on our high streets.”
PC Andrew Harper’s mother said she has “got a little bit of hope that we didn’t have before” that her son’s killers will be prevented from being released from prison early.
Debbie Adlam told BBC Breakfast that she had a call from Downing Street last night: “I had an interview yesterday, and it obviously must have shown something because I then had a call from Downing Street quite late last night.
“It’s just been up and down. It’s just the rollercoaster of just hope, not even more than that is really, really draining. We’ve now got a little bit of hope that we didn’t have before.”
Discussing the call with a member of the Prime Minister’s staff, Ms Adlam said: “She said that he wanted to convey that he wants to do everything that he can and has more hope now of finding a resolution to this to try and keep them in prison.
“I think the fact that it’s actually come from Downing Street – I’ve got to try and have some faith in it, but at the same time, I have to protect my own feelings.”
Discussing the efforts to keep her son’s killers in jail, Ms Adlam said: “It feels like a hash. It feels like a rush job. It feels like nobody’s put enough effort into actually look for reasons or ways.
“We are having to push on every level, and it just doesn’t feel like, as a British citizen, I shouldn’t be doing this. They weren’t given extreme sentences, and I’m only asking for them to do what they were given.”
Angela Rayner said the Prime Minister understands the “rage and the anger” felt about the potential early release of the killers of Pc Andrew Harper.
Ms Rayner, the Communities Secretary, spoke on Tuesday morning as Andy Burnham had asked his Justice Secretary Alex Norris to find options to keep Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers in prison for their jail term rather than release them early in January.
Ms Rayner told BBC Breakfast: “He understands the rage and the anger and he’s not accepting that we can’t do anything to prevent that, and he’s been really clear that he wants the Justice Secretary to look at that again.”
She said potential options to stop prisons reaching capacity could be speeding up the deportation of foreign criminals, reviewing indeterminate sentences, and looking at women prisoner jail terms.
Ms Rayner added: “I’ve given you some examples of where the Government is looking at, to ensure that we don’t end up in a situation where we cannot arrest people who have committed appalling crimes, because we don’t have the capacity in our prisons, but also that we’re not allowing people who have done these horrendous crimes to people who are serving the British public, who deserve to see these perpetrators behind bars and to pay for what they’ve done.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has urged Andy Burnham to rule out tax rises when Chancellor John Healey presents his first budget in the autumn.
Writing in the Daily Express, Mrs Badenoch said that any tax increases would potentially damage economic growth and add to the cost-of-living crisis.
She also said the Prime Minister needed to prioritise reducing the amount spent on welfare.
“If Andy Burnham wants to ease the cost of living, he must not raise taxes,” Mrs Badenoch said.
“A bit of money off bus fares and bills might sound nice, but the real reason life is too hard for too many right now is because taxes are too high, and the weekly shop is too expensive.
“The tax burden is the highest it’s ever been. Conservative governments must share some of the blame for this, but they had the Covid furlough scheme to pay for.
“Labour came into power promising lower taxes. Yet, from the ‘Jobs Tax’ national insurance hike, to the family farms and family business taxes, they have squeezed firms dry, forcing up prices and the costs of hiring staff. As a result, jobs and growth have disappeared.”