Ryan Wain

🚨 BREAKING: Andy Burnham says he will limit non-compete clauses in employment contracts

"Non-compete clauses will no longer be a barrier to hiring for our most promising start-ups"

I know people are worried about fuel prices. And I get it. You get to the pump, watch the numbers climb, and wonder why it's costing so much more than it used to.
 
The reality is that global events are pushing up costs, and families here at home are feeling the impact.
 
But I won't accept that there's nothing I can do to help.
 
That's why from today, you'll be able to see petrol and diesel prices on Google Maps, compare nearby stations and find the cheapest option before you fill up.
 
It's a small change, but if there's a practical way to help people keep more money in their pocket, I'll do it.

Burnham to press ahead with Oxford-Cambridge corridor ft.trib.al/pJK4gh3

🚨NEW PUBLICATION🚨

What is it like living in modern Britain? Our new collection tries to answer that, by asking people to think and write plainly from their own experience of class, dislocation and distraction.

🔗 futureoftheleft.substack.com/p/how-we-live-…

Excl: Labour’s energy policy is “batshit crazy” and the department overseeing net zero is “basically the ministry for P45s”, one of Britain’s most powerful union leaders has said.

In an interview with The Times, Gary Smith accused the government of relying on “sticking-plaster politics” while companies struggled with high energy costs and warned that rising energy bills would create a raft of fresh strikes across the public and private sector.

On Jackdaw and Rosebank he said: “If they do not do this, it will damage hugely the government’s credibility, and it will massively damage investment because that infrastructure, as I understand it, is ready to go — billions of investment. And if it does not now happen, who in their right mind is going to put money into this country?”

thetimes.com/uk/politics/ar…

T Blair is smart. This is drivel. Macron is a lame-duck president. Merz is the most unpopular Chancellor in the history of the federal German republic. Meloni is PM of Italy. So exactly who is going to spearhead this radical reform? It’s fantasy.
And who comes next? The AfD is outpolling the CDU/SPD combined. Le Pen wins every generic poll to be next President of France. Another four European countries will go Right in the next 12 months.
Mr T Blair and the British Left in general are in la-la land when it comes to Europe. They don’t read the foreign pages of our own press, never mind the foreign press.
That will also become apparent if you watch the Lib Dem on @bbcquestiontime tonight. Total failure to address the points I made to him.

I am increasingly frustrated about the state of conversation about AI in the UK. It feels like we are in never ending cycles of deluded thinking. Under current trends, Britain will be defenceless against the transformative effects of AI and have no leverage over development at the frontier.

We are the most exposed economy to AI in the world. We have very little data centre capacity and few credible plans to expand – and our high energy costs mean we would struggle to even if we tried.

I am publishing a paper today on what the UK should do to build that leverage, let the economy capture value from AI and prepare the state to adapt, however AI develops.

The three strategies are as follows:
1. Build the infrastructure that gives us leverage. Fix the grid, fix planning, make Britain a place frontier AI can run.
2. Let the economy capture the value of AI. Reform the regulatory, labour and talent barriers that stop British firms adopting AI.
3. Build a state that can adapt to a changing world. Build a tax base that survives the labour market changing, public services that use AI to deliver better, and capacity to weather the upcoming geopolitical storms.

Two years ago, we published a similar report on AI - many recommendations of which ended up in the action plan. I remember feeling hopeful, but sadly the fundamental problems facing the country on AI have not shifted. I truly hope that this week of momentum culminates in action. There’s still a narrow path for the UK, but everyday that path is narrowing.

New: Morgan McSweeney tried to set up a think tank *for* No. 10 which would be "protected from the level of scrutiny" that comes with government

Speaking at a "no media" allowed event — I was passed a recording — McSweeney said he was working on this before he left No. 10

Governments are elected to lead, not hide behind process.

By scrapping consultations and protecting infrastructure projects from judicial review delays, we will put public control at the heart of its decision-making.