{"id":111294,"date":"2018-01-04T09:55:44","date_gmt":"2018-01-04T09:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk?p=111294&preview=true&preview_id=111294"},"modified":"2018-01-04T10:01:41","modified_gmt":"2018-01-04T10:01:41","slug":"todays-political-headlines-4-january-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/todays-political-headlines-4-january-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Today\u2019s Political Headlines – 4 January 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

A round-up of the latest political headlines, including Michael Gove’s farm subsidy U-turn, the Government has been accused\u00a0of failing to stop the NHS crisis, Labour’s minimum wage increase could lead to job losses and money from dormant bank accounts being spent on good causes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael Gove in farm subsidies U-turn<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Times reports<\/a> that Michael Gove, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, will announce a U-turn, maintaining farm subsidies until March 2024. Gove has criticised the EU\u2019s Common Agricultural Policy for paying farmers according to the amount of land they own, but is expected to admit that reforms, such as linking subsidies to wildlife protection, will be delayed. However, the largest landowners may see payments capped before 2024.<\/p>\n

Government accused of failing to stop NHS crisis<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe Guardian reports<\/a> on claims that the Government is failing to stop a growing crisis in the NHS, with at least 21 hospital trusts on black alert. John Kell, the Patients Association\u2019s head of policy, said: ‘The policy decisions that have left the NHS in this position are taken by the government\u2019. The Daily Telegraph adds<\/a> that some hospitals have called on families to look after elderly patients at home, and that Prime Minister Theresa May said, \u2018The NHS has been better prepared for this winter than ever before, we have put extra funding in.\u2019<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s minimum wage increase could lead to job losses<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe Institute for Fiscal Studies has concluded that Labour\u2019s minimum wage increase could put jobs at risk, The Daily Telegraph says<\/a>. As workers become more expensive to employ, low-paid jobs could be replaced by robots and automation, but it is not clear where the tipping point is. However, the analysis also says there is a case for a higher minimum wage, but that it should be based on evidence rather than a \u2018political bidding war\u2019.<\/p>\n

Money from dormant bank accounts to be spent on good causes<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Financial Times reports<\/a> that up to \u00a3330m from dormant bank and building society accounts will be spent on \u2018a fairer society\u2019. Money from accounts\u00a0that have been unused for 15 years will be spent by the Big Lottery Fund, Big Society Capital, and local charities.<\/p>\n

Government defends appointment of Toby Young<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Department for Education has defended the appointment of Toby Young to the board of the new Office for Students. The appointment had been criticised over comments he has made about women, working class people and eugenics, according<\/a> to The Guardian. Young has deleted tens of thousands of his old tweets, whilst a departmental spokesman said that he had \u2018expressed his regrets\u2019.<\/p>\n

Tony Blair: Labour will become \u2018the handmaiden of Brexit\u2019<\/strong><\/span>
\nTony Blair has warned that Labour risks becoming \u2018the handmaiden of Brexit\u2019 if it continues to be timid over the issue, in an article on his own website<\/a>. He argues that the party should \u2018be on the high ground of progressive politics, explaining why membership of the European Union is right as a matter of principle, for profound political as well as economic reasons.\u2019 Separately, The Times reports<\/a> that Blair warned Donald Trump\u2019s aides that British intelligence may have spied on them during the election.<\/p>\n

Research on political party members published<\/strong><\/span>
\nQueen Mary University of London has published research on the members of different political parties. The Guardian claims<\/a> that Conservative members are \u2018a breed apart\u2019, with stronger tendencies towards socially illiberal and authoritarian attitudes, and different views on Brexit.<\/p>\n

Anti-slavery tsar under investigation<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Times reports<\/a> that Kevin Hyland, appointed as anti-slavery commissioner when Theresa May was Home Secretary, is under investigation after Unseen, the charity that runs the modern slavery helpline, raised \u2018serious concerns\u2019 about his conduct.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Want more political insight? Get\u00a0Vuelio political services<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A round-up of the latest political headlines, including Michael Gove’s farm subsidy U-turn, the Government has been accused to failing to stop the NHS crisis, Labour’s minimum wage increase could lead to job losses and money from dormant bank accounts being spent on good causes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":412,"featured_media":109691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7271],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111294"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/412"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111294"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111296,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111294\/revisions\/111296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}