It seems that Sunak is a very naughty boy for announcing budget proposals in advance.
Given that this is at least the second time I’ve seen him complain about this I would say that simply giving this lot a bit of a “talking to” isn’t really cutting it Lindsey. Time for something harsher I would say.
Bollocks to say previous Chancellors would have resigned though, given the plethora of evidence to the contrary.
Still poor form from Sunak though.
I honestly couldn’t say, but announcing stuff to the press or other seems to be a pretty common thing for this government and Hoyle has a real bee in his bonnet about it, but other than a stiff word he hasn’t really done anything about it. Lots of loud noises but little action from this Speaker it seems.
Johnson and co. seem to be pretty happy to give the middle finger to procedure. Again, like the rules don’t apply to them. Ties in nicely with @cynicaloldgit’s link above on trying to remove avenues to challenge them. It feels like a very disturbing trend to me.
I thought it had been fairly common for decades now for governments to leak the budget beforehand.
In the scale of shit this government have done, it feels incredibly minor
Yes, I raised this back on TIA when the first whisperings about wanting to overhaul the Judicial Review system were mooted. I would be extremely concerned about this and any proposals will need to be subject to the utmost scrutiny.
It’s not to say that the Judicial Review system couldn’t benefit from some reform but it should absolutely not be towards making it harder to hold the government and other public bodies to account.
It does but it feeds into this whole idea that rules dont apply to them. Remember all the PPE scandals? Procurement procedures didn’t apply then. Same with lockdown rules etc etc.
I’m just a bit fed up that no one is holding them to account I guess.
I certainly do. I just don’t see the point of getting frustrated about stuff that every chancellor has done for donkeys years (including the red ones).
It is rule breaking, but there are far, far bigger fish to fry when it comes to this lot.
I think the embargo on the budget is basically to prevent acquaintances and friends of the government using pre-knowledge to make financial decisions. If that’s the case, then it’s a problem. If it’s just about lining up the media, testing the optics, I don’t think it’s a big deal.
It’s more about protocol, I think. In that the first ‘body’ to be presented with the budget ought to be Parliament. It is Parliament’s entitlement.
White elephant, that also glows when you turn the lights off.
My kids would LOVE that!
Another Hinkley Point funding model which sounds like its on ropey ground to me. Hinkley has had some real issues which raises some real questions on the contract and funding model.
Given the ongoing issues that are surfacing with regard to privatisation of government schemes and projects I’d have to really question that side of it.
What can be expected when it’s a Franco-anglo-chinese joint affaire? 
I’d have big concerns if it was just a franco-anglo project, I mean have these 2 every had a successful ‘alliance’?
To be fair you need to throw a little bit of China in there as well. That said I do remember stories of there being design issues related to reactor and control equipment design. Those were also linked to other new plants in Europe which had been hit by delays. My memory is a little vague so I’ll have to refresh my memory on it.
My main concern is the UK governments fascination of weird and wonderful contract models combined with privatisation. We’ve just been hearing about the monstrous failure of English waterboard companies ( I wont exclude Welsh ones from this either but the model is different) to protect the environment. To be fair I shouldn’t blame these companies for it, when it could equally be the contract on which they have been procured. Overall there’s been a massive under spend in managing and improving infrastructure in the UK. Dumping raw sewage into rivers is the result in this instance, and not a little bit, a gigantic amount. Brexit played a small part in it but the reality is far deeper and has been bubbling away (literally) in the corner for years.
What part?
I have some vague ‘memories’ that there were problems with the quality (rather than design) then again they kept changing the designs didn’t they?
The major problem is that EDF are financially fucked since ‘privatisation’ which means there’s problems all over the place, you know ordering, delivering, getting what they need on a shoe string. All balmy.
Short supply of certain chemicals needed to treat the sewage but that’s tiny compared to the real issue of under investment.
Possibly, but they’ve been working on new reactor designs I believe and I think there’s been a few sticking points on the way that have put them into trouble on other projects. I’ll look it up now to be sure.
Fukushima also probably played a role where additional safety measures would have been specified following that incident.
This article might help explain things. New reactor design (EPR) and none are working yet. Those that are being built are in real trouble.
Worth noting that France has a problem down the line with many of its nuclear plants reaching the end of their service lives soon, and all at the same time.