China’s crumbs
IT’S easy to see what Beijing got out of Sir Keir Starmer’s mission to China.
Delight at the approval of its mega embassy in London, from which a bigger nest of spies will carry out its mission to seize our secrets, for starters.
President Xi will also be happy to have upset Donald Trump, who views the Prime Minister’s visit as “very dangerous”.
China loves to drive a wedge between Western allies.
But, when it comes to Sir Keir, the wins are much harder to discern.
Yes, he can argue that — by dragging relations out of the deep-freeze — it might have made it easier for British firms to do business in China.
There was also a cut in whisky tariffs and visa-free entry to China for Brits.
But a small boats security partnership is likely to prove ineffective.
Meanwhile, MPs who had sanctions against them lifted as part of the horse-trading accused Sir Keir of a “grubby deal” to drop opposition to human rights abuses.
Most disappointing is that the PM is returning with no meaningful trade deals.
Ministers hailing AstraZeneca’s £1billion investment in China are forgetting that the UK-owned pharmaceutical giant has pulled £650million of investment OUT of Britain over concerns about the Government’s handling of the economy.
For all the PM’s kowtowing at China’s table, he has been thrown little more than a few stale prawn crackers.
Risky gamble
IS there no end to Labour’s war on fun?
To middle-class ministers, gambling, drinking and even enjoying a drink with sugar in it are sins be sneered at.
The party’s detachment from its working-class roots was already obvious.
Now a leaked memo has revealed plans to hit gaming operators with a massive 30 per cent increase in fees to the Gambling Commission.
This is on top of the Budget tax raid which has already forced bookies to close High Street shops and end vital sponsorship deals for much-loved sports.
Here’s a tip for out-of-touch Labour politicians: heavy losses are coming at the ballot box.
Not working
FORMER Labour grandee Alan Milburn is right.
Abandoning nearly one million young people to no education, employment or training is a national disgrace.
Labour’s Northern heartlands are still disproportionately worse affected — 50,000 in the North East alone.
That is why welfare reform is so badly needed — and why Number 10’s refusal to see the urgency is so damaging to our kids’ futures.
