1/ Good stuff here from Henri Murison and the team at The Northern Powerhouse Partnership - meaningful devolution must include handing mayors and local authorities more control over income streams. A Treasury holding on the purse strings is not devolution ft.com/content/cad419…

From Lawrence H. Summers, Philip D. Zelikow and Robert B. Zoellick: The moral and legal case for sending Russia’s frozen $300 billion to Ukraine wapo.st/3JSZ79O

How sad. I worked for Val thirty years ago, as wet-behind-the-ears would-be journalist, and she had that rare combination of being kind but full of attitude. She was a trailblazer but didn’t make a big thing about it. She’ll be very much missed

Henry is always worth listening to

Strong, solid Conservative budget from Jeremy Hunt - rooted in delivering fiscal stability as a platform for attracting private investment again, after all the mistakes of recent years. Childcare extension a big deal, and great to see our theatre and film credits sustained

An uplifting evening at Northern Research Group (NRG) with guest speaker George Osborne, chairman of the The Northern Powerhouse Partnership.

Everyone very upbeat about the prospects for the North under the Conservatives and Rishi Sunak!

The UK has gone from the best performing economy in the G7 to an also ran.

Why has this happened?

New big read

enterprise-sharing.ft.com/redeem/c17e9be…

In a single chart

1/

This chart from Chris Giles today shows why the idea austerity has caused our growth problems post-GFC doesn’t stack up

During peak austerity (2010-6) UK had strongest GDP per capita growth in G7

Fiscal policy was loosened significantly post-2016, when UK falls right back

Great to see Greg Hands as the new Tory Party Chairman. General rule: useless Tory PMs have demoted Greg and effective Tory PMs have promoted him.

The idea the OBR stops politicians cutting spending and tax is baloney. It didn’t stop us reducing spending, or reducing the top rate of tax, and btw getting re-elected. Those who blame the OBR are a familiar kind in politics: good at talking about change & lousy at delivering it

Spot on

thetimes.co.uk/article/2d5376…

When Robert was 10 yrs old he found a war mine on a beach. It exploded, blasting him into the sea and killing 4 other boys. For the rest of his life, he once told me, he had to justify why he had been spared. Parliament & public service was his answer. RIP telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/202…

Tonight’s #AndrewNeilShow on Channel 4 at 6 - a damning verdict on Liz Truss #ClusterTruss , a little bit of Brexit, talk of a reshuffle, Dominic Raab and round 2 of Ed versus George Andrew Neil Ed Balls George Osborne

The deal to get the Star Wars films made in the UK was one of the most unusual I was involved in - they came bearing lightsabers. Great see that our tax credits almost a decade ago have supported so many jobs and such investment in the creative industries
thetimes.co.uk/article/d8ff2f…

Holocaust Memorial Day: Testimonies of survivors must live on

My piece ⁦The Times and The Sunday Times⁩ today.
H.E.T.⁩

thetimes.co.uk/article/51ecd4…

The Chancellor in 2023; the Shadow Chancellor in 2006. Some economic messages are so important they need repeating ….

Exciting to see the new evidence from Cambridge University that the sugar tax we introduced, and which many opposed at the time and since, is working and reducing obesity - clearly the sugar tax should now be extended to help further improve public health theguardian.com/society/2023/j…

The inflationary pressures are real, but this response makes no sense. Having already cut off Leeds, then don’t go to central London - you really have to wonder how anyone in govt thinks any of this will support growth. By Harry Cole in The Sun thesun.co.uk/news/21179002/…

This week marks the 10 year anniversary of introducing the Same Sex Marriage Bill to Parliament. It remains one of my proudest achievements as PM. Many thousands of gay couples have been able to get married as a result. Proof that government really can make a positive difference.