I’m pleased to announce that Councillor Steve Simkins will be joining me as Deputy Mayor of the West Midlands. It’s a vital post. One that needs focus and dedication, and I know we’ve made the right choice in Steve.
He is an experienced leader in the region, and has been working with the Combined Authority since its inception.
I look forward to working even closer with him in future, as we deliver for the people of the West Midlands.
HMRC show you a breakdown of how your taxes have been spent.
It's beyond my comprehension that Welfare is above everything else.
To those who think there should be VAT on school fees, I'd ask for a deduction for the amount of my taxes which go to a provision I don't use.
Fuck me. Treasury really wanted to smash defence.
Reminder: HMT had ZERO issue with pension, welfare spending, various other pet projects, NetZero bollocks…
But defence of the realm? In the global context? = problematic
HMT need to explain in detail their reasoning
The fact Starmers still in office is actually somewhat impressive given all of this. Either he's some sort of undercover political wizz or the talent in the rest of the Labour Party is god awful. Think we can guess which one it is
Labour's own people are telling you everything you need to know.
Wes Streeting: Reeves has no plan for growth.
Pat McFadden: all Labour want to do is tax more to pay more benefits.
John Healey: Starmer won't fund our armed forces.
Jess Phillips: PM only acted to protect women and girls when it needed to save his own skin over Mandelson.
A government turning in on itself.
Isn't it so weird that every British teenager gets examined on their ability to produce a readable piece of literary criticism without ever reading any literary criticism, just going by mnemonics, a bit like medieval people drawing elephants
If it's not physically tied to housing u could just take the 12.5k and invest it, would almost certainly pay off by the time we're 150 years old and eligible for the state pension
When I took a student loan (currently at £40k debt after roughly a decade of working) I can’t say I expected it to be spent on welfare, but here we are.
Acting as if we hold any of the cards is hilarious. The gov does any of this and you’d get both protests at home, insane tariffs from the us along side setting us back in the world decades
What could the UK do to Elon Musk?
Lots actually.
They could cutoff his website Twitter.
They could put a tax on the 20,000 Tesla cars he sells in the UK. £5,000 each would be £100m a year.
They could ban his AI or block his Data Centres.
There are loads of options.
Really excited to launch Police AI today with £75 million of funding.
We will use new technology to:
🦹catch more criminals
🚔put officers back on the beat
🔨tackle tool theft
🛍️ fight retail crime
👮free up the equivalent of 3000 police officers