The Bank holds; the reserve gets a floor
- Real UK: The Bank of England held Bank Rate at 3.75% and paused bond sales; the Conservatives pressed Andy Burnham to rule out tax rises.
- Parallel UK: My Budget passed 332 to 259; a reserve below £2bn now forces the Treasury to name a tax or cut within ten working days.
- The argument: Ruling out tax rises a month before a Budget rules in spending cuts by default.
- The Bank of England held Bank Rate at 3.75%. In a separate notice, it paused its auctions of government bonds, known as gilts, while it reviews a model of selling them directly to the Government.
- The Conservatives demanded Andy Burnham rule out further tax rises at next month's Budget, in new shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith's first major speech in the post, BBC News reports.
- Andy Burnham argued the UK must fully commit to net zero by 2050, in a Guardian interview and article tied to new plans for community-led local green energy projects.
Burnham is right, and he has moved on something I promised in July and have not delivered. After 58 days my ledger carries no scheme, no rate and no date; that is admitted failure number six.
I would neither rule them out nor rule them in; I would publish the list of what I would do. Forswearing tax rises in September chooses cuts for every shock until April without naming one.
Machinery — The Budget passed the parallel Commons 332 to 259. One opposition amendment was accepted: if the contingency reserve falls below £2.0bn, the Treasury must table the tax rise or cut that restores it within ten working days.
Energy — The Energy Secretary is to bring a costed scheme of direct payments to households near new grid and wind infrastructure to the ledger by Friday 9 October.
relieved for an hour, then not; the Energy Secretary asked why it took a newspaper interview.
Next dispatch: tomorrow 6pm — the AI Security Institute's test results on Fable 5.1 are due.