Great British PAC accuses Labour of governing by announcement rather than delivery as the head of the Civil Service prepares to admit Whitehall is 'hard-wired' against change.
Vicky Richter · 10 November 2026Great British PAC demands answers from Chancellor John Healey after Labour abandons promised upfront savings checks while benefit overpayments reach £9.9 billion a year.
Vicky Richter · 10 November 2026He came to office promising to fix the small irritations of daily life. On his hundredth day, Andy Burnham has reopened the largest constitutional question in British politics, and Downing Street cannot say what he meant. The Budget he receives today will not settle it.
Vicky Richter · 28 October 2026Fifty-three posts with diversity-related job titles, among them two RAF wing commanders and a Royal Navy commodore, carry an estimated £2.7 million salary bill at the Ministry of Defence. The figures, a keyword count whose interpretation the department disputes, land a day before John Healey's Budget and the Conservative ultimatum to fully fund 3 per cent of GDP for defence or resign.
Vicky Richter · 27 October 2026Police, councils, social landlords and transport bodies have been able to apply for Respect Orders since 26 October 2026, with town centre bans, curfews and treatment requirements available against adults who blight communities. Breach is a criminal offence and arrestable. The maximum prison sentence is not new, the courts are already behind, and the launch announcement identifies no dedicated funding for the treatment places the orders depend on.
Vicky Richter · 27 October 2026Labour's welfare reforms promise support first and savings later, but the Government's reported planning assumes the upfront cost of its back-to-work programme will outrun benefit savings until around 2030, after the latest date on which the next election can be held. No year-by-year assessment of costs and savings has been published, and the Treasury's scoring is not expected until the Spending Review. Great British PAC is calling for that arithmetic to be laid before Parliament before MPs are asked to approve legislation that will reshape the benefits system for a generation.
Vicky Richter · 21 October 2026An HMRC consultation closed in mid-September. Six weeks later the Chancellor is searching for ways to fill a £35bn gap. The mechanism under examination would turn a capital gain into income, potentially doubling the tax on a £1m business passed to the next generation. Family firms have already absorbed one inheritance tax raid. They are now being asked to absorb another, and to do so before the drafting has been published.
Vicky Richter · 19 October 2026Eighteen months after the Supreme Court ruled that "sex" in the Equality Act means biological sex, NHS England has finally told hospitals to apply it. The nurses who had to sue their own employer to win the same point have welcomed the guidance. Ministers have set no date for trusts to comply, announced no additional funding, and introduced no new enforcement mechanism beyond audit and reporting requirements.
Vicky Richter · 16 October 2026The Prime Minister wants access to EU asylum and crime databases back in time for the Brussels summit on 20 November. The Telegraph reports the price could be European Court of Justice oversight and an annual fee paid by the British taxpayer. Whitehall disputes the reported court demand, but the Government has not publicly detailed the legal and financial terms it would accept to regain access.
Vicky Richter · 15 October 2026Chancellor John Healey faces a potential £35bn annual spending challenge by the end of the decade, with the Institute for Fiscal Studies warning that Labour's ambitions for defence and public services could require substantial changes to taxation or spending plans.
Vicky Richter · 12 October 2026Spending on six major benefits rose faster than median wages in 502 of 526 constituencies across England and Wales, according to TaxPayers' Alliance analysis. Every constituency recorded an increase, while separate official forecasts put Britain's wider benefits and state pension bill on course to exceed £400 billion annually by the end of the decade.
Vicky Richter · 8 October 2026The Environment Secretary says the public, not shareholders, should decide where billions of pounds of water investment goes. Ministers will ask Parliament to repeal Margaret Thatcher's restrictions on public ownership. Thames Water, around £20bn in debt and still fighting to secure its financial future, is the immediate test.
Vicky Richter · 2 October 2026Cookies
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