Politics & public affairs professional, currently working in transport | Former Barnet Councillor | School Governor | MBE | Arsenal supporter | Views my own
England, United Kingdom
Joined July 2023
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Robert Rams MBE retweeted
Today, my regular surgery to support constituents is coming to you, stopping in Sketty, Morriston, Penlan and Townhill.
If you missed it today, email [email protected] to book onto a surgery another day.
Out in Swansea tonight with @ToniaAntoniazzi .. as I say .. I need to swing both ways these days!
Slightly disappointed by @MODI_COMEDIAN this evening. I’ve been looking forward to seeing him live for ages, but tonight felt more like a work in progress. The show lacked flow, he kept checking his notes and watch, and some jokes fell flat. That said, I still laughed a lot!
Hello @RealTimVine! Very excited to see you in Hertford next year!
@oasis and @RealTimVine in the same week? Some Might Say life doesn't get much better than that!
Definitely Maybe the best week ever. I'm sure we'll have a Vine time! 😂
I feel a bit old-school saying this, but despite being in different political parties, I take real pride in seeing my local MP outside Number 11 and in photos like this.
@dantomlinsonmp (If he doesn't send me abuse on WhatsApp for this, I'm not doing my job!)
How is this acceptable? How can he be briefed before Parliament? I imagine the Speaker will have something to say about this later!
CONFIRMED. Gas Standing Charges to be scrapped. I've just come out of a meeting with the Chancellor. The gas standing charge will be scrapped in 2027 (my guess, either for 1 Oct price cap or the 1 Jan 28 price cap).
It's currently £108 a year. That cost will be shifted onto unit rates. We don't know how much yet, but I suspect just under 1p per kwH.
The Chancellor also said he will be talking to Ofgem about how they get rid of the charge on electricity as well, but that is 'trickier' apparently and will take longer.
This is primarily about the price cap standing charges. There will still be an open market, so other firms can offer other forms of prices with or without the standing charge. My suspicion is that once it goes on the price cap, it will tend to be reduced on other tariffs as well.
As for those on fixes: if you get a fix now, the rate of your fix is fixed, so this should not affect it. You will pay what you pay and if it has standing charges they will continue (some asking if they should delay fixing because of this, no if a fix is right for you and will save you money, don't let this change that - this is about the structure of bills, as opposed to the actual costs on bills).
About 60% of people will pay less due to this, 40% more. My guesstimate is the dividing line will be somewhere around 12,500 kilowatt hours of gas (can't know until there is actual pricing). According to a study by Nesta, this switch would leave the majority of people in all income groups under £100,000 better off.
Of course, when this does come in, if we're still in the nightmare that we are right now, there will need to be support put in for vulnerable higher users, who will have to pay more. Though hopefully by then the mid-east will have calmed and energy prices lower.
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That's all long term. The biggest issue in energy right now is that we're expecting a 27% rise in the price cap in January. I asked the Chancellor whether he will be intervening on that. He told me I'd have to wait for the budget, but reading between the lines, yes, there will be an announcement today.
Whether it's an increase in the Warm Home Discount, or whether it's council tax banned, or whether it's done via a payout for people in say council tax bands A-D as a proxy for household income as Rishi Sunak did who knows.
There's a new version of this post
This is a disgrace #BallonDor
A small and slightly geeky observation!
Currently sitting in CR 2A in Parliament, listening to the Railways Bill being debated. 3 former London Assembly Members and a former Deputy Mayor are sitting on the committee Shows just how important the Assembly has been developing talent
I've never been in favour of this, mainly because of the additional traffic I think it will cause elsewhere. However, I'll be interested to see how it works in practice.
nitter.gq/SadiqKhan/status/21146…
Please, just stop talking about Jews. You think you are being clever. You are not.
Robert Rams MBE retweeted
Neo-Nazi graffiti on a synagogue in Blackpool
The revolting graffiti found at Blackpool Reform Synagogue includes the numbers 1488, widely recognised as a white supremacist symbol.
1488 is likely a coded reference to the neo-Nazi fourteen-word oath: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children”, a slogan initially devised by David Lane, a member of the white supremacist terrorist group ‘The Order’ which was responsible for the murder of Jewish radio host Alan Berg.
The number 88, meanwhile, refers to the eighth letter of the alphabet, H, and is an apparent coded reference for “Heil Hitler.”
The far-right, the far-left, Islamists and others are all targeting synagogues. The only difference – sometimes – is the words they use.
Having sat alongside Nigel at countless constituency surgeries outside supermarkets, I saw first-hand the real difference that having the opportunity to speak directly to your MP can make. nitter.gq/nigelmp/status/2112570…
Really proud of my friend @mimsdavies this evening. Doing great work on @bbcquestiontime
I’ve never heard of this person, let alone met or even seen them before, so I think the claim that they helped Kemi with her leadership campaign is a very weak argument.
Last night I felt physically disgusted and shocked when I watched the ITV report.
Feeney was a Conservative Councillor for a decade and is known to many Conservative Councillors and MPs.
Pictured below with both @KemiBadenoch and @JamesCleverly
He relatively recently defected to Reform.
He passed the Conservative vetting process a number of times before he got to us.
He helped Kemi in her leadership campaign when she stood against @RobertJenrick
@Nigel_Farage is clear racism will not be tolerated in Reform.
Elsewhere in Westminster, it’s alive and well. Anti semitism particularly in Labour and Green Party, hiding in plain sight.
Only Reform, the political disruptor and challenger to the cosy two party consensus is under this degree of scrutiny.
I’ve watched that report back three times now.
Fenney, the protagonist drove a sequence of events to the conclusion.
The racist language was off the scale . Exaggerated, dramatic and bizarre. Like he was playing to the gallery. The freakish perverted behaviour of the man who said ‘if that was my daughter..’ was truly revolting.
Reform is a party where people of race and women do and will continue to play key roles or I wouldn’t be there.
The public now see the undercover stings on Reform for what they are.
Hi @BarnetCouncil, I submitted a request for support 13 days ago (Ref: 303801). Your website says you'll respond within 10 days, but I've still not heard anything. Could someone please look into this and get back to me? I really do need some assistance. Thank you.