Poor old Liz Truss has been put out in the cold by our local MPs. Will she be heading down the A3 shortly?
Sucking up to the wannabe Prime Minister is all in a day’s work for our South West Surrey MP Jeremy Hunt.
But Guildford MP Angela Richardson was the first to pin her colours to the Sunak mast.
In the meantime in Godalming Jeremy’s introducing Rishi to all those local folk eager to meet him at the weekly market. Because Jeremy’s Ready4Rishi, but are they?
Did Jeremy whisper in Rishi’s ear that Godalming has been flying the Liberal Democrat flag in recent years and that he might not be able to defend his own seat? So any job he is hankering after, may be short-lived?
While the Tories fight each other the Lib Dem Leader of Waverley is fighting to stop drilling in Dunsfold. He has now succeeded in going beyond his goal to raise £30,000 to fund a legal challenge to reverse the recent government decision to allow drilling for fossil fuels under the Government-backed proposed Garden Village.
for coming to South West Surrey today. Rishi gave a superb speech and we both thoroughly enjoyed meeting local people and business owners at the fantastic Godalming Farmers Market.
There are certainly no shortage of polls showing Truss ahead of Sunak, and no shortage of newspapers giving Truss more/better coverage. Why? Because her campaign machine is more effective? She was even shown in one poll to have tjhe more engaging personality (where was she when god handed out personalities?)
She’s clearly ahead of Sunak when it comes to musical chairs at Cabinet level (most of them lasting less than a year) This often illustrates being rewarded for supporting the incoming PM rather than any particular skillset.
However, Sunak is ahead of Truss when it comes to handling crisis. This is crucial, as we are going to see one after another over the remainder of this Parliament.
NB Signing off with another poll which showed Starmer has more personality than Truss (you couldn’t make it up!)
A bit more……
A report published by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments suggested that a plan devised by Liz Truss to raise £300m by hiking up probate fees was beyond her authority (whilst she was Lord Chancellor, heading up the Ministry of Justice) The cunning plan would have seen the largest estates hit with a £20,000 bill. (and that’s before inheritance tax!)
So Liz, let me get this sorted in my mind. You pay tax all your adult working life (even your pension is liable) then upon death, you’re taxed again…..twice! (enough to make you rise up from the grave)
The Probate Registry, which is part of the High Court, charges the Probate fees which are essentially administrative charges. The fees recoup the full cost of running the Probate Registry, under the current flat fee system costing £155 for a solicitor and £215 for an individual. But Truss wanted Probate fees (which raise £45 million) increased to £300 million in order to fund other areas of the courts and tribunal service.
But she was stopped in her tracks when this cunning plan was judged to be “taxation” rather than a “fee for a service” New taxation rules require an act of Parliament, and the Lord Chancellor should of all people have understood this. So Teressa May didn’t waste any time in demoting her to Lady Chancer.
Erm – this is a factually incorrect item which happens to falsely give credit to the Council leader:
Waverley Borough Council’s action is being funded by council tax, the Protect Dunsfold campaign has separately fundraised now in excess of £30k from supporters for the Good Law Project, huge credit to Sarah Goodwin
Correction, sorry, Sarah Godwin.
And good work WW for correction.
Mea Culpa, Maxima Mea Culpa – the WW admits it has made a serious and unforgivable mistake for which we apologise. Giving SCC any credit for supporting this important fight was unforgivable. Perhaps everyone will remember this when the county council head honcho’s next attempt for Surrey to become a Unitary Authority. They have been found wanting to leave ‘Your Waverley’ to take on such a Herculean fight.