What did the government do on ‘take out the trash day’? | The last day before MPs break up for the summer is the perfect opportunity for politicians to bury bad news.
What did the government do on ‘take out the trash day’? | The last day before MPs break up for the summer is the perfect opportunity for politicians to bury bad news.
2 comments
That trash in full:
• “damning reports on migrant Channel crossings”
> “Where is the home secretary?” fumed Labour’s Yvette Cooper in response. “It’s a total disgrace that she has refused to meet the inspector, tried to bury his report, and is now in hiding.”
• “a bungled bribery probe by the Serious Fraud Office”
> “This report lays bare a catalogue of woeful mismanagement and inexplicable misjudgements at the top of the SFO that allowed the architects of the Unaoil fraud to escape justice, and stitched up one of their junior staff to take the fall,” [Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry responded](https://twitter.com/EmilyThornberry/status/1550136805017665537).
• “crime figures hitting their highest level for 20 years.”
> 6.3 million crimes were recorded in the year leading up to March 2022, four per cent higher than the previous all-time high of 6.1 million in 2019/2020
• “Brexit divorce bill, up from £37.3bn a year ago to £42.5bn”
> revealed in a written statement to MPs by Treasury Chief Secretary Simon Clarke, who blamed rising interest rates affecting EU pension obligations
On the crime figures, Labour’s [Yvette Cooper had this to say](https://twitter.com/YvetteCooperMP/status/1538956171985534981):
> On this Home Secretary’s watch overall crime is up 18%, prosecutions are down 18%.
> The first Home Secretary for 25yrs to preside over such a big increase in crime & a big drop in charge rates at same time.
> The weakest Government performance on crime for a quarter of a century.
More details on the [SFO bungling at Law Gazette](https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/serious-farce-sfo-slammed-over-unaoil-case-as-third-conviction-quashed/5113198.article).
If the press don’t like this tactic, they can easily address it with a weekly series of articles focussing on the issues announced.