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Le Pen
denies playing a part in Macron's choice of Barnier as French PM
French
far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Sunday said she played no part in the
appointment of veteran conservative Michel Barnier as French PM, denying media
reports that she assured President Emmanuel Macron her party would not back a
no-confidence motion to topple the incoming premier.
Issued on: 08/09/2024 - 14:52
Modified: 08/09/2024 - 14:54
By:
FRANCE 24
After weeks of dithering, Macron on Thursday appointed
Barnier, a 73-year-old former foreign minister who acted as the European
Union's Brexit negotiator, as prime minister, seeking to move forward after
June-July snap elections that resulted in a hung parliament.
But analysts say the country is set for a period of
instability, with Barnier's hold on power seen as fragile and dependent on
support from Le Pen's eurosceptic, anti-immigration National Rally (RN) party,
which is the largest single party in the new National Assembly.
A left-wing coalition, which emerged as France's largest
political bloc after the elections, although short of an overall majority, is
also piling pressure on Barnier.
More than 100,000 left-wing demonstrators rallied across
France on Saturday to protest against his nomination and denounce Macron's
"power grab", furious at his decision to bypass the left and appoint
a conservative PM instead.
Addressing reporters on Sunday, Le Pen, who leads RN
lawmakers in parliament, denied media reports that she discussed Barnier's
appointment in a phonecall with Macron on Thursday, adding: "I am not
Macron's head of human resources".
Le Pen said her party would not be part of the new cabinet.
Referendum
call
A two-time presidential runner-up, Le Pen urged Macron to
conduct a referendum on key issues such as immigration, health care and
security to give the people a direct vote.
The RN "will unreservedly support any approach aimed at
giving people the power to decide directly", Le Pen said, speaking in the
northern town of Henin-Beaumont, the far-right's traditional stronghold.
"Emmanuel Macron himself, in the chaos he has created,
has levers to keep our democracy live," she added.
Le Pen also indicated she would watch Barnier's every move.
"If, in the coming weeks, the French are once again
forgotten or mistreated, we will not hesitate to censure the government,"
she said, adding that she expected France to hold new legislative elections
"within a year".
"This is good because I think that France needs a clear
majority," she said.
The left-wing coalition has also vowed to topple Barnier
with a no-confidence motion.
The alliance wanted Lucie Castets, a 37-year-old economist,
to become prime minister, but Macron quashed that idea, arguing that she would
not survive a confidence vote in the hung parliament.
Competent
and likeable
According to a poll released on Sunday, a slim majority of
the French are satisfied with the appointment of Barnier as prime minister, but
believe he will not last long in his new post.
Fifty two percent of people polled said they were satisfied
with the appointment of Barnier, according to the Ifop poll for the Journal du
Dimanche.
By comparison, 53 percent of respondents approved the
nomination of Barnier's predecessor, Gabriel Attal, when he was appointed prime
minister in early January, becoming France's youngest-ever premier at 34.
According to the poll, a majority of respondents see
Barnier, the oldest prime minister in the history of modern France, as
competent (62 percent), open to dialogue (61 percent) and likeable (60
percent).
However, 74 percent of respondents polled believe he would
not last long in the post.
Ifop polled 950 adults online on September 5-6. The margin
of error was up to 3.1 points.
France’s
Le Pen says she will let new Prime Minister Barnier do his job
“We don’t
wish to cause obstructions,” Le Pen says in interview with La Tribune.
"It's
undeniable that Michel Barnier seems to have the same position as we do on
migration," Marine Le Pen told the French daily. |
September 8, 2024 11:41 am CET
By Carlo Martuscelli
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen gave her clearest
indication yet that she intends to work with the country’s new prime minister,
Michel Barnier, in an interview Sunday with La Tribune.
“We don’t wish to cause obstructions,” Le Pen said about
French President Emmanuel Macron’s choice to succeed the previous premiere,
Gabriel Attal, following this summer’s election.
Barnier has had a long political career, including as a
minister and as a European commissioner, but he made his name as the European
Union’s chief negotiator for Brexit.
His stance on immigration could prove critical in securing
at least tacit support from the far right in parliament. Barnier is in the
right-wing Republicans party and has in the past proposed “putting a stop to
non-European immigration for three to five years,” a stance close to Le Pen’s
own.
“It’s undeniable that Michel Barnier seems to have the same
position as we do on migration,” Le Pen told the French daily.
The far-right leader’s implicit support — or at least
non-rejection — matters because of the electoral arithmetic in the new French
parliament, which is broadly split among the left, right and center. Macron’s
choice of prime minister needs to be able to survive a vote of no confidence.
The left-wing grouping, the New Popular Front, has already
rejected the appointment of Barnier, with the largest party in the alliance,
Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Unbowed movement, leveling the accusation that the
“election had been stolen.”
Keir
Starmer’s summit with European Commission chief delayed
Sources fear
meeting with Ursula von der Leyen postponed amid Labour doubts about
reinstating EU student exchange schemes
Lisa
O'Carroll Brexit correspondent
Sun 8 Sep
2024 13.55 BST
Keir
Starmer’s anticipated summit with the president of the European Commission has
been postponed amid EU disappointment at the UK government’s continuing caution
about reinstating programmes such as the youth mobility and Erasmus university
exchange schemes.
The prime
minister was expected to meet Ursula von der Leyen in the first or second week
of September, but sources have said a meeting may now not happen until the end
of October at the earliest.
EU diplomats
said there is “dismay” in some quarters that the UK government was not more
positive about the youth and student schemes, saying that showing caution about
such low-hanging fruit calls into question hopes for a wider reset of the UK’s
relationship with the EU.
Brussels
sources said they were wondering if Starmer was acting out of an abundance of
caution, fearing that pro-Brexit opponents would accuse him of trying to
reverse Brexit if he agreed too eagerly to reinstate the programmes.
Others said
the EU was putting down its own red lines by briefing reporters that a deal on
easing travel for musicians and artists was unlikely.
Starmer’s
one-to-one meeting with von der Leyen was originally planned for 25 July, but a
schedule clash ruled that out and both sides said they would try again for late
August or early September.
It is now
expected that the new programme of work on an EU reset will not start in
earnest until the spring, with a potential for an EU-UK summit early next year
to get the ball rolling.
EU sources
said they are not concerned about the delay as von der Leyen is focused on
getting her new board of management, the EU commissioners, in place.
On Wednesday
morning she will name her new commissioners but their appointments must then be
ratified by the European parliament, which could take a more than a month.
The UK’s
return to the Erasmus programme would not be without its difficulties as it
would possibly involve scrapping its replacement, the Turing scheme.
One senior
academic said the Turing scheme had the advantage of being global, but its
downfall is that it is a one-way programme – it allows UK students to attend an
EU university but the British institution has fund their place.
If
institutions cannot persuade the recipient university to send a student the
other way, the UK institution is left with a financial deficit, unlike with
Erasmus, where the system was already set up for exchanges.
Politicians
in the EU and the UK have spoken of their desire to get a scheme up and running
that will allow young people to experience other countries.
The German
chancellor, Olaf Scholz, recently said “The contacts between our societies,
between Germans and people in the UK, have declined massively after Brexit and
the Covid-19 pandemic. We want to change that; if you know each other very well
you understand each other better.”
_(cropped).jpg)
Up to 50
Labour MPs could rebel over cut to winter fuel allowance
Dozens said
to be considering abstaining from Tuesday’s vote over pensioners’ payments, as
PM says dealing with dissent is ‘matter for chief whip’
Peter Walker
Senior political correspondent
Sun 8 Sep
2024 19.40 BST
As many as
50 Labour MPs could refuse to back the government’s controversial plan to cut
the winter fuel allowance, despite Keir Starmer urging back benchers to get
behind a measure he has conceded is “unpopular”.
While few on
the government benches are expected to vote against the policy in Tuesday’s
vote, dozens are believed to be considering abstaining or being absent – though
rebels say the numbers in their ranks are very hard to predict.
After seven
Labour MPs had the whip suspended in July for voting for an SNP amendment on
the two-child benefit cap, the assumption is that a similar rebellion on
Tuesday would bring the same consequences..
One Labour
MP said: “I’d expect the vast majority of anyone who does rebel to abstain, and
remain inside the tent. Abstention is the new rebellion. It’s a question of
defining what dissent is, and it’s probably better to do this than to jump off
a cliff.”
Although
there is no chance of the vote being lost, a significant number of absences
would indicate the extent of disquiet over a policy that many rebels fear could
lose the party votes, and which one MP described as “a shitshow”.
Neither
Starmer nor No 10 would comment on the potential punishment for rebels before
the vote, which was triggered by the Conservatives formally opposing the plan
to strip the payment from all but the poorest pensioners.
But in his
first substantial TV interview since becoming prime minister, Starmer made it
plain that he was unlikely to tolerate open dissent. When asked if he would
apply the same police of removing the whip from rebels, Starmer told the BBC’s
Laura Kuenssberg: “That will be a matter for the chief whip.
“We’re going
into a vote. I’m glad we’re having a vote, because I think it’s very important
for parliament to speak on this. But every Labour MP was elected in on the same
mandate as I was, which was to deliver the change that we need for the
country.”
A number of
Labour MPs, however, argue that the winter fuel decision is different, because
of worries about the consequences for many older people and because it was not
in the party’s manifesto.
Starmer
reiterated the argument that the near-£1.5bn annual cost of no longer paying
the allowance to all pensioners regardless of income was a vital element in
plugging what the government says is a £22bn fiscal hole discovered after they
took office.
He
contrasted the decision with what he said was a Conservative government that
had “run away from difficult decisions”.
“I’m
absolutely convinced that we will only deliver that change – I’m absolutely
determined we will – if we do the difficult things now,” he said. “I know
they’re unpopular, I know they’re difficult. Of course, they’re tough choices.
Tough decisions are tough decisions. Popular decisions aren’t tough, they’re
easy.
“I do
recognise how difficult it is for some people. I do recognise it’s really hard
for some pensioners. But of course, they do rely on the NHS, they do rely on
public transport. So these things aren’t completely divorced.”
He also
argued that with the triple-lock policy of pension increases, he could
guarantee that the annual increase in the state pension “will outstrip any
reduction in the winter fuel payment”.
Wes
Streeting, the health secretary, said the amount of criticism the policy had
received showed the “political pain of it”.
He told Sky
News: “I’m not remotely happy about it and I’m not remotely happy about having
to say to some of my constituents: ‘I’m sorry that I’m going into work this
week to vote for something that will take money away from you’. Let me tell you
that whether it’s pensioners or anyone else in this country, they won’t forgive
us if we duck the difficult decisions now and end up leaving the country with a
bigger bill.”
Twelve
Labour MPs have signed a Commons early day motion, a way to indicate opinion,
expressing alarm at the plan, as have five of the backbenchers who had the whip
suspended in July.
One of the
latter group, John McDonnell, said on Sunday that he would rebel again unless
ministers set out “a way of managing this that isn’t going to impact upon
people in my constituency who are facing hardship”.
He told LBC
radio: “But if that doesn’t happen by Tuesday, I will vote against. I can’t do
anything else.”
With cabinet
ministers known to be among those worried about the consequences of the policy,
one backbencher said the implementation had been bungled.
“There was
no equality impact assessment, no consultation with charities. And it was
announced just before the summer recess. It’s hard to say how many people will
abstain – a lot of the new MPs are quite scared of the whips – but everyone is
being inundated with emails and letters about this,” they said.
There has
been speculation that ministers could ease worries by announcing some sort of
extra support. But No 10 officials say there is nothing planned beyond the
existing extension of the household support fund, which allows councils to hand
out some small grants, and encouraging eligible older people to apply for
pension credit, which would entitle them to the winter fuel payment.
One MP said
this would make little difference, saying the household support fund has only a
marginal impact, while only about two-thirds of those who could claim pension
credit did so, a proportion that seemed unlikely to notably shift.
“A lot of
people won’t claim pension credit however much you advertise it,” they said.
“The form you have to fill in is 24 pages long and has more than 200 questions.
The whole way ministers have dealt with this is a shitshow.”
Rachel
Reeves, the chancellor, has the tricky job of addressing MPs at a meeting of
the parliamentary Labour party on Monday evening to push home the message about
the need for fiscal sacrifices to encourage longer-term growth.
It remains
to be seen if she will face any open dissent, with many backbenchers,
especially those newly elected in July, known to be nervous about the possible
repercussions of being seen as rebellious.
One
backbencher who opposes the policy said, however, that they believed even
Labour whips were often privately sympathetic.
“They’re
getting the same volume of emails and letters that everyone is, or being
stopped in the street by people who said they voted Labour and they now feel
betrayed. It all feels politically illiterate, and the risk is it will push a
lot of people away from us.”
Jordanian
driver kills Israeli security guards at border with West Bank
Triple
shooting on mostly quiet border with Jordan may be indicative of Gaza war
spreading violence across region
Julian
Borger in Jerusalem
Sun 8 Sep
2024 12.16 EDT
Three
Israeli security guards have been killed at a border crossing between the West
Bank and Jordan when a Jordanian truck driver opened fire on them, in a fresh
sign that the nearly year-old Gaza conflict is spreading violence across the
region.
On the same
day, an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza killed a senior aid official and two
women and two children from his family.
The West
Bank border shooting took place on Sunday at the Allenby Bridge crossing over
the River Jordan, also known as the King Hussein Bridge.
The Israeli
military said: “A terrorist approached the area of the Allenby Bridge from
Jordan in a truck, exited the truck, and opened fire at the Israeli security
forces operating at the bridge.
“The
terrorist was eliminated by the security forces, three Israeli civilians were
pronounced dead as a result of the attack.”
Jordan said
it had opened an investigation into the triple shooting and that the border
crossing had been closed. According to family members, the gunman was a
39-year-old truck driver who came from the influential Huwaitat tribe in
southern Jordan.
Israeli
reports said the shooting was carried out at close range in a commercial
section of the border crossing, where trucks from Jordan and the Gulf go to
unload for onward transport into the occupied West Bank and Israel. The border
has been largely quiet since Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994.
In Gaza, the
civil defence group, which fights fires and rescues people trapped in rubble,
said its deputy director for northern end of the strip, Mohammed Morsi, had
been killed in an airstrike. The organisation said four members of his family
also died in the bombing of Morsi’s house in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp,
north-east of Gaza City. There was no immediate comment from the Israel Defense
Forces (IDF).
Israel said
it had closed all three of its land border crossings with Jordan and the
Israeli army was also reported to have cordoned off the West Bank city of
Jericho, which is close to the Allenby Bridge crossing, in case other would-be
attackers had already entered.
Israel’s
prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, described the gunman as “an abhorrent
terrorist”.
“We are
surrounded by a murderous ideology led by Iran’s axis of evil,” he said in a
statement issued at the start of a cabinet meeting.
There has
been a surge in violence in the West Bank, involving army raids on Palestinian
towns and frequent and increasing attacks by Israeli settlers. In recent days
there has also been a sharp rise in the number of attacks on Israeli settlers
and security forces, including two car bombs and one attempted car bombing.
The
increasing bloodshed in the West Bank comes as the Gaza war enters its twelfth
month, with the estimated Palestinian death toll approaching 41,000. The
conflict was triggered by a surprise Hamas attack on southern Israel on 7
October 2023, in which about 1,200 Israelis were killed.
Since the
outbreak of the Gaza war, 650 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank
amid army raids and settler attacks. About 12 Israelis have died in fighting or
attacks there over the same period, six of them in the past eight days.
The US,
Egypt and Qatar have been trying to broker a ceasefire deal between Hamas and
Israel for several months but negotiations are mired, mostly in a dispute over
whether, or for how long, Israel can keep a residual force in a strategic
corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt.
Economy
‘Everyone’s
mad': Inside crypto’s civil war over the 2024 elections
Crypto
industry players are at odds over how to influence races for the White House
and Congress.
“There's a tremendous amount of emotion right now,”
Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith said. “There's an industry strategy,
and then there's somebody's individual strategy — and those are sometimes maybe
not fully aligned.” | Anthony Kwan/Getty Images
By Eleanor Mueller
09/08/2024 12:00 PM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/08/inside-cryptos-civil-war-00176227
The cryptocurrency industry is exerting more sway than ever
over U.S. politics.
But behind the scenes, cracks are emerging between its left
and right flanks over how to influence who will be president and control
Congress next year.
Democratic crypto lobbyists, executives and investors say
the industry is at risk of leaning too far right as its leaders come out in
force for GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, who is promising policies that
would boost digital asset firms. Their Republican counterparts say engaging
with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and backing her party’s down-ballot
candidates risks isolating long-time allies in the GOP, with little to no
guarantee it will pay off. The Biden administration has taken a skeptical approach
to crypto trading, and it’s unclear what Harris would do.
The internal dispute has spilled into view as the industry’s
nearly $170 million super PAC effort begins to spend on key races across the
country and some crypto advocates seek inroads with Harris. Democratic
megadonor Ron Conway abandoned the crypto super PAC network, known as
Fairshake, after it announced it would spend millions to unseat Sen. Sherrod
Brown in Ohio. GOP lawmakers, including NRSC Chair Steve Daines of Montana,
expressed frustration to crypto executives when Fairshake decided to back Democratic
Reps. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan for Senate races
in their battleground states, said a person briefed on the talks who was
granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.
“There’s a tremendous amount of emotion right now,”
Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith said. “There’s an industry strategy,
and then there’s somebody’s individual strategy — and those are sometimes maybe
not fully aligned.”
Nearly a dozen crypto advocates familiar with the conflict
said in interviews that the rising tension is creating new hurdles for the
industry as it tries to advance a regulatory overhaul on Capitol Hill, which
was already a long shot thanks to election-year politics and limited floor
time.
“Since the [Ohio super PAC] announcement, it’s been a mess,”
said one congressional aide granted anonymity to speak candidly. “Democrats are
mad, Republicans are mad, everyone’s mad.”
It’s not unusual for election-year dynamics to impede
bipartisan momentum. But it is notable for an industry itself to be so divided
over how to proceed. Even top executives at failed crypto giant FTX contributed
huge sums to both parties.
“You have about the same number of Republicans as Democrats
as independents,” said a crypto lobbyist granted anonymity to speak candidly.
“That’s just a unique industry, and it’s causing conflict.”
Crypto’s biggest political campaign funders are becoming
increasingly outspoken about their personal perspectives.
Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen, whose
venture capital firm is a major crypto backer, recently declared Trump “the
right choice” for “the future of our business.” Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss,
co-founders of the digital asset firm Gemini, said they would donate $1 million
each to Trump.
“The vitriol coming from right-of-center, from very
prominent CEOs and investors, has caused a lot of consternation on the left,”
said Jonathan Padilla, a crypto entrepreneur who helped launch Crypto4Harris in
a bid to rally support for the vice president.
The tensions are spreading to Capitol Hill, potentially
jeopardizing a surge in bipartisan support this year for legislation that would
establish crypto-friendly regulations.
Since 71 House Democrats helped 208 Republicans pass a
crypto overhaul in May, the issue has taken on a more partisan tinge.
Weeks before he became Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance
of Ohio began circulating a crypto regulation proposal that’s unlikely to get
traction across the aisle. Senate Agriculture Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.)
scrapped a committee vote on her own crypto bill after she couldn’t get GOP
buy-in.
Some crypto advocates are now floating the idea that the
industry should curb its push for further votes until Trump is elected and
Republicans gain seats in the Senate. Though top Democrats like Majority Leader
Chuck Schumer have shown openness to the crypto world’s concerns, the idea is
that Republicans will be more reliable allies.
“If you think Donald Trump is going to win the election, and
particularly if you think the Senate is likely to be under Republican control,
why negotiate against yourself?” said a crypto lobbyist granted anonymity to
discuss the thinking.
Democratic crypto lobbyists and lawmakers warn that it’s
short-sighted to go all-in on the GOP. They’re working to make inroads with the
Harris campaign and remain hopeful that she’d pursue more supportive policies
than has Biden, whose regulators have had fierce clashes with digital asset
firms.
“Crypto advocates who are also reaching out to Harris don’t
believe in putting all the eggs in one basket or in one party,” Crypto Council
for Innovation CEO Sheila Warren said. “And I think that is seen as being
courageous, or pointless, which is a sad state of affairs, but that’s where we
are.”
The concern about burning bridges on the left escalated
after the crypto super PAC network announced plans to spend $12 million to
support Brown’s Republican opponent Bernie Moreno in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race.
Brown, if re-elected, would likely chair the Senate Banking Committee next year
and have a major say over the future of crypto regulation, making the move a
risky bet.
“Anyone who cares about the future of crypto should want
this issue to stay in the bipartisan lane,” said Rep. Wiley Nickel, a North
Carolina Democrat who is trying to connect the Harris campaign with crypto
industry players. “Anything less would poison the well for a decade.”
Pro-crypto Republicans say it’s naive to hold out hope for
Democrats. The party is home to some of the industry’s biggest foes, including
Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler and Sen. Elizabeth Warren
of Massachusetts, who warn that crypto trading poses perils to consumers and
the financial system. Harris has no clear record on the issue.
“I am very concerned that many candidates are changing their
tune on the subject for political gains,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Wyoming
Republican who’s a prominent crypto booster. She says she’s “very skeptical of
Harris’ alleged change of heart.”
Fairshake, the crypto super PAC network, has spent large
sums on Republicans and Democrats, as it works to secure allies and derail
critics. But that doesn’t mean either party is happy. The group, which said it
has spent about $75 million of the $169 million it’s raised, declined to
comment for this story.
Some Democratic donors, including the tech billionaire
Conway, have warned that the network’s spending is more broadly geared toward
winning GOP majorities in Congress.
Republicans are likewise growing annoyed by the super PACs’
support for Democrats, and some see it as a betrayal after years of support.
Among them is Daines, the Montana lawmaker leading the GOP’s effort to win back
the Senate.
“You’re pissing off the people who have promoted the
industry, for a political party that has been skeptical at best,” said a GOP
strategist granted anonymity to share private discussions. “There’s been
conversations [among Republican lawmakers] about, Do you think twice before
having a meeting with people in the crypto industry?”
Declan Harty and Jasper Goodman contributed to this report.
Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run
the World Hardcover – July 23, 2024
by Anne Applebaum (Author)
NEW YORK
TIMES BESTSELLER • From the Pulitzer-prize winning author, an alarming account
of how autocracies work together to undermine the democratic world, and how we
should organize to defeat them
"A
masterful guide to the new age of authoritarianism... clear-sighted and
fearless… a masterclass in the marriage of dodgy government to international
criminality… (both) deeply disturbing.”—John Simpson, The Guardian •
"Especially timely."—The Washington Post
We think we
know what an autocratic state looks like: There is an all-powerful leader at
the top. He controls the police. The police threaten the people with violence.
There are evil collaborators, and maybe some brave dissidents.
But in the
21st century, that bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, autocracies
are underpinned not by one dictator, but by sophisticated networks composed of
kleptocratic financial structures, surveillance technologies, and professional
propagandists, all of which operate across multiple regimes, from China to
Russia to Iran. Corrupt companies in one country do business with corrupt
companies in another. The police in one country can arm and train the police in
another, and propagandists share resources and themes, pounding home the same
messages about the weakness of democracy and the evil of America.
International
condemnation and economic sanctions cannot move the autocrats. Even popular
opposition movements, from Venezuela to Hong Kong to Moscow, don't stand a
chance. The members of Autocracy, Inc, aren't linked by a unifying ideology,
like communism, but rather a common desire for power, wealth, and impunity. In
this urgent treatise, which evokes George Kennan's essay calling for
"containment" of the Soviet Union, Anne Applebaum calls for the
democracies to fundamentally reorient their policies to fight a new kind of
threat.
Keir
Starmer urges Labour MPs to back ‘unpopular’ plan to cut winter fuel allowance
PM refuses
to say if MPs who rebel will be stripped of the whip – but makes clear he
expects their support in key vote
Peter Walker
Senior political correspondent
Sun 8 Sep
2024 05.29 EDT
Keir Starmer
has urged Labour MPs to support his “unpopular” plan to remove the winter fuel
allowance for all but the poorest pensioners, saying the government could not
run away from difficult choices.
Speaking in
his first major TV interview since taking office, the prime minister also
hinted at increased support for Ukraine, saying his visit to the White House
next week to see President Biden would be focused on the “strategic” situation
there, and in the Middle East.
Asked about
Tuesday’s vote on the changes to the fuel allowance, forced after the
Conservatives submitted a motion to annul the government’s change to
regulations, Starmer refused to say if Labour MPs who rebelled would be
stripped of the whip – but made it clear he expected their support.
“That will
be a matter for the chief whip,” he told BBC1’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
“We’re going into a vote. I’m glad we’re having a vote, because I think it’s
very important for parliament to speak on this. But every Labour MP was elected
in on the same mandate as I was, which was to deliver the change that we need
for the country.”
The new
government has already suspended the Labour whip from seven MPs who supported
an amendment in July to end the two-child benefits cap.
Starmer
stressed that restricting access to the payments was a vital part of reducing
spending he said had spiralled under a Conservative government which had “run
away from difficult decisions”.
“I‘m
absolutely convinced that we will only deliver that change – I’m absolutely
determined we will – if we do the difficult things now,” he said. “I know
they’re unpopular, I know they’re difficult. Of course, they’re tough choices.
Tough decisions are tough decisions. Popular decisions aren’t tough, they’re
easy.
“I do
recognise how difficult it is for some people. I do recognise it’s really hard
for some pensioners. But of course, they do rely on the NHS, they do rely on
public transport. So these things aren’t completely divorced.”
Worries
about the impact of the policy change are known to be shared by some cabinet
ministers, with some frontbenchers believing the government will have to
announce extra support in the budget.
Starmer,
however, argued that with the triple lock policy of pension increases, he could
guarantee that the annual increase in the state pension “will outstrip any
reduction in the winter fuel payment”.
Starmer is
due to be in Washington on Friday for talks with Biden, a trip not yet set out
by No 10 but announced by the White House.
Asked if
this was an attempt to assuage anger among US officials about the UK’s decision
last week to suspend some arms export licences to Israel because of risks they
could be used in violations of international law, Starmer rejected the
characterisation.
“You’re
wrong about that,” he said. “We’ve been talking to the US beforehand and
afterwards, and they’re very clear that they’ve got a different legal system,
and they understand the decision that we’ve taken. So that’s very clear.
“The reason
I’m actually going and having the visit is not about that at all. It’s because
the situation in Ukraine is becoming ever more pressing, as is the situation in
the Middle East.”
The talks
with Biden would focus on “the tactical decisions we have to make” on those
areas, he added, saying that the next few months would be crucial for Ukraine,
as well as in the Middle East.
Asked if
this could lead to an increase in support for Ukraine, or a decision to allow
Kyiv to use donated weapons on targets inside Russia, Starmer said he was “not
going to get into a discussion about that on live television”.
He added:
“But of course, I want to make sure that we give Ukraine the support that it
needs for as long as it needs.”
Sunday, 8
September 2024 - 09:55
PM Schoof
says Cabinet will not listen to party leaders
https://nltimes.nl/2024/09/08/pm-schoof-says-cabinet-will-listen-party-leaders
It cannot be
that the party leaders of the coalition determine what the Cabinet will do,
Dick Schoof says in his first major newspaper interview as Prime Minister with
De Telegraaf. As a member of the PvdA, he ended up "on the right-wing
track" because of his experience as a civil servant at the AIVD
intelligence service and the IND immigration authority.
"The
Cabinet makes decisions. I can well imagine that it will be scrutinized in some
cases - especially on very sensitive issues such as the rule of law and
migration. But ultimately, it is up to the Cabinet and not individual party
leaders or individual ministers to settle this individually with each
other," Schoof replied to the question of whether ministers make decisions
without speaking to their party leader.
There are
also "no extra seats at the Cabinet table" for PVV party leader Geert
Wilders and NSC party leader Pieter Omtzigt, as the interviewers said.
According to Schoof, "These are incredibly dull remarks. In my opinion,
they are disrespectful to this Prime Minister. It's really inappropriate to
refer to them as if they were in government all the time."
About his
PvdA period, the Prime Minister said: "I think that because of the
different jobs I had, I was already on the right-wing side of the PvdA. And
that a great deal of realism came into my life." His period at the IND
shaped him in terms of migration. "I saw both sides of the coin. Refugees
who had left in real need and ended up stuck here in an asylum system that was
completely stuck. Even then. But you also saw the other side: the people who
were looking for a better life and were manipulating things."
Migration
and housing are the points where the prime minister really wants to achieve
results. "I also want to try to bring people together a little, see if we
can get along a little. People do not intrinsically dislike each other."
Schoof advocated not to exaggerate differences in positions. "That is a
risk in our society."
According to
him, a Schoof II Cabinet would be "very strange." "I am a
non-partisan prime minister. If this Cabinet completes its term or falls, I
will not participate in the elections. I hope to be 71 by then. It would be
very strange if they do not find a candidate from their own midst after new
elections."
Reporting by
ANP
The price
everyone pays to make Dutch housing unaffordable
September 5,
2024 Senay Boztas
https://www.dutchnews.nl/2024/09/the-price-everyone-pays-to-make-dutch-housing-unaffordable/
There is one
tax benefit in the Netherlands that costs every working person an extra 1.5% in
income tax. But it only benefits a certain group.
It’s a perk
for home owners, and one that many European countries have already abolished.
It’s called
mortgage interest tax relief, and it inflates house prices by allowing people
to borrow more. (People in countries like the US, notes the economist Matthijs
Korevaar, think the Dutch are crazy for their 100% mortgages, Europe’s highest
per-household loans.)
Benefits
around home ownership seem like a perk for the people. But they are really a
subsidy for the banks: the taxpayer picks up some of the bill of mortgage
payments, so banks can lend more. Higher mortgages benefit nobody more than
mortgage lenders.
1.5% extra
income tax
Pieter
Omtzigt gets very upset about the unfairness of the “expat” highly-skilled tax
ruling – a ruling that, by the way, exists to allow Dutch businesses to pay
lower salaries while recruiting necessary international talent.
But, despite
commissioning a report on housing that recommended scrapping
hypotheekrenteaftrek tax perks to tackle the housing crisis, Omtzigt is
remarkably quiet on this. There’s no suggestion the budget will tackle it
either.
According to
a secret government document on the effects of different tax cuts – revealed in
a freedom of information request – tax perks for home owners could be abolished
and save every taxpayer at least 1.5% in basic income tax.
Everyone who
is renting privately, or in social housing, in other words, is paying 1.5%
extra in income tax to support just over half of the population owning a house.
For years,
the Netherlands has been asked to get rid of this tax break: by the European
Commission, the IMF in its latest financial stability report, the Dutch central
bank.
Social
unrest
Why should
homeowners benefiting from the tax break care?
Actually,
it’s the most unfair tax you could imagine. See your neighbour in that €2
million house on the corner, with the loan of more than €1 million? That person
is getting more tax back for his house. The government is literally paying him
to be richer and take more risk.
It also
promotes cavalier behaviour around risky debt. Perhaps you think that only poor
people have problematic loans. The Netherlands is now offering 110% plus
mortgages – leaving recent buyers up to their necks in debt. Which, by the way,
you have to repay even if the house price drops, your foundations need
repairing, or you lose your job. A column in the Financieele Dagblad this week
rightly said Dutch house prices are “unsustainable” and also a risk for social
unrest.
It’s also
daft to have high debt for a long time. If you read the fine detail of your
mortgage, you will be paying back €1.75 for every €1 you borrow on a typical 30
year mortgage right now. That’s a lot of money. With or without a tax break,
you are poorer overall with this long-term debt than in paying it off quickly.
Unsustainable
debt
Home
ownership tax breaks simply pump house prices. They benefit the richest home
owners most. They tax the young – with ever less hope of getting a house – for
older generations sitting pretty in theirs. And most of all, it’s tax money
that goes straight into the pockets of the banks. Generous of the Dutch people
to support their banks so much, of course, although I’m not sure they realise
it.
Because even
if you sell a house, making a profit, you probably still have to buy again –
and the highest ever Dutch house prices right now are based not on prosperity
and a blooming economy but on a bubble of unsustainable debt.
Yes, there
are fewer houses than the demand – partly due to immigration but also to Dutch
people ageing and living in smaller households, plus most of all, too little
building. But with 100% mortgages (and, recklessly, no requirement from
mortgage companies for a technical building survey), the prices are determined
by what people can borrow.
And what
people can borrow is pumped by these tax breaks.
A genuinely
right-wing government would remove the home ownership perk, because it distorts
a free housing market. A left-wing one would remove it to tackle social
inequality.
You could
phase it out, or restrict it for houses worth more than the NHG mortgage
guarantee limit. You could introduce capital gains tax for private property, to
get back some of the taxpayers’ money that has been poured into them.
It’s time
for the Dutch government to stop blaming other people for the Dutch housing
crisis, remove these perks, restrain risky lending and stop the dangerous price
spiral.
Trump
Family Members Hacked to Promote Apparent Crypto Scam
Nikhilesh De
Updated Wed,
Sep 4, 2024, 6:04 PM GMT+22 min read
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-family-members-hacked-promote-014525328.html
The X
accounts of Donald Trump's daughter-in-law and daughter were apparently hacked
Tuesday evening to promote a token purportedly tied to World Liberty Financial,
the upcoming crypto project touted by family members in recent days.
Lara and
Tiffany Trump, the wife of Eric Trump and daughter of Donald Trump,
respectively, tweeted what they described as "the only official"
blockchain addresses for World Liberty Financial. Lara Trump tweeted: Our goal
at World Liberty ... is to utilize our governance token on Solana, $WL, to
support our DeFi lending protocol."
Not long
after, Eric, the middle son of former President Trump, posted on X that the two
profiles had been compromised and the addresses were a "scam." World
Liberty Financial also tweeted: "ALERT: Lara's and Tiffany Trump's X
accounts have been hacked. Do NOT click on any links or purchase any tokens
shared from their profiles. We're actively working to fix this, but please stay
vigilant and avoid scams!"
Latest News:
In Trump-Backed Crypto Project, Insiders Are Poised for Unusually Big Paydays
This is at
least the third time a token allegedly but apparently not really tied to Trump
– who's curried the crypto industry's favor and votes over the past few months
– has been launched.
There was a
DJT token, which convicted fraudster Martin Shkreli said was launched with
Barron Trump, Trump's youngest child, and other developers. No one from the
Trump family confirmed whether they had any ties to that project. Another,
Restore the Republic, or RTR, also briefly hit a $155 million valuation before
crashing.
The hacks
came hours after CoinDesk revealed details of World Liberty's plans, including
the fact that it's a borrowing-and-lending DeFi platform that plans to issue a
token called WLFI. The project does not have an official launch date, but the
white paper indicated that Donald Trump, who is running for president a third
time, will be the "chief crypto advocate." Eric, Donald Jr. and
Barron Trump all have roles as well.
Economy
‘A huge
mistake’: Trump’s crypto allies cringe over family’s startup
The crypto
venture is attracting what appear to be hacks and attempted scams ahead of its
launch.
By Jasper
Goodman
09/06/2024
05:00 AM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/06/trump-family-crypto-startup-00177566
Donald
Trump’s sons want to turn their father’s growing bromance with the
cryptocurrency industry into the new family business. So far, the project’s
troubled rollout has succeeded in creating only one thing: a potential
political liability for the former president.
Trump’s
eldest sons — Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump — have been teasing their plans
to unveil a crypto startup called World Liberty Financial for weeks. But the
launch has been marred in recent days by a series of apparent scams that have
redirected fans to fake pages and compromised the social media accounts of
other Trump relatives.
The
incidents have begun to rattle some of Trump’s allies within the crypto world.
They’re warning that his family should shelve a project that they say creates
unnecessary political risks and reflects poorly on the industry.
“This is a
huge mistake,” said Nic Carter, a Trump supporter who is a founding partner at
the crypto-focused venture capital firm Castle Island Ventures. “It looks like
Trump’s inner circle is just cashing in on his recent embrace of crypto in a
kind of naive way, and frankly it looks like they’re burning a lot of the good
will that’s been built with the industry so far.”
The drama
illustrates the risks associated with Trump’s growing embrace of the crypto
community, which he’s promised to give a sweeping set of supportive policies if
elected. Government watchdogs have also warned the intertwining of politics,
policy and the Trump family business poses new conflict of interest concerns as
Democrats try to paint him as a “con artist” in the home stretch of the
presidential campaign. It comes as major crypto firms face ongoing criticism
that the market is rife with scams and consumer abuse.
While the
details of the Trump brothers’ crypto project haven’t yet been announced, Trump
began promoting World Liberty Financial’s forthcoming launch on social media
last month after it opened an official channel on the messaging platform
Telegram.
Shortly
after, it appeared that fraudsters began to pounce. The X accounts of
Republican National Committee Co-Chair Lara Trump and Tiffany Trump were
compromised late Tuesday, when allegedly unauthorized users posted links to a
hoax website for the crypto project featuring fake details about it. World
Liberty wrote on its official Telegram channel that the accounts were “hacked”
and warned against visiting any links from the posts. Tens of thousands of
Telegram users have been lured to a separate unofficial channel posing as World
Liberty Financial.
A
representative for World Liberty, Zak Folkman, said in an interview that the
group is “building a world-class decentralized finance platform with the
absolute best of the best in the industry.” He said the unauthorized X posts
and the fake Telegram channel were reported to the two platforms. Folkman
confirmed that Lara, who is Eric Trump’s wife, and Tiffany Trump, Donald
Trump’s daughter, are uninvolved in the project.
“We take
security very seriously and put it first and foremost, above anything,” he
said, adding that World Liberty works “with the top auditing firms and security
specialists in the world.”
But experts
say the way the crypto project was rolled out left it susceptible to scams.
“It’s a very
typical playbook of smaller operators or more amateur operations in the crypto
space to try to generate a lot of hype before revealing the details,” said
Austin Campbell, an adjunct professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business who
previously led the risk and portfolio management operation at the crypto firm
Paxos. “That makes them susceptible to all sorts of nonsense.”
Official
details about World Liberty remain scarce. The crypto news outlet CoinDesk
reported this week that a white paper for the project describes “a borrowing
and lending service strikingly similar to Dough Finance, a recently hacked
blockchain app built by four people listed as World Liberty Financial team
members.” The Trump brothers’ venture is poised to launch a new crypto token,
according to CoinDesk.
Folkman, the
World Liberty representative, said the startup is creating a “protocol that
gives power to the average person to be able to take control of all of the
amazing opportunities decentralized finance offers.” He declined to answer
specific questions about the service.
The early
signals haven’t reassured skeptics, including crypto advocates.
One crypto
industry representative in Washington, granted anonymity because of
sensitivities around criticizing Trump, described having “a laundry list of
concerns.” A big worry is that that it could reflect poorly on the industry as
it pushes for policy changes that would help legitimize the sector.
“Maybe it
doesn’t move the needle for most people, but if this thing is hacked or regular
folks lose money on it or it opens up the door for the SEC to investigate the
team, it only looks like it has downside risk,” Carter said. “It looks to have
very little upside risk.”
