Does this reflect a permanent change in workforce practice or a rebound from a low base? – Owl

Hannah Baker www.business-live.co.uk 

The South West economy is expected to grow faster than any other region of the UK in 2022 including London, according to a new report.

The region’s recovery is being driven by the performance of its cities as they rebound from the effects of the pandemic.

The Demos-PwC Good Growth for Cities Index estimates the South West’s GVA – a measure of economic output – grew by 8.2% in 2021 and will grow another 6.1% in 2022.

Meanwhile the South East’s GVA is expected to grow by 5.9%, the East of England by 5.7% and London by 4.7%.

The report said the movement of city dwellers to commuter belts or rural areas amid a growing focus on wellbeing, the environment and income distribution is driving the South West’s performance.

Many cities with smaller populations have experienced – and are expected to continue to see – stronger GVA growth rates than larger metropolitan cities.

Cities in the West Country performed well in the index’s overall ranking, which takes into account factors such as health, work-life balance and income distribution.

The region’s cities were all within the top half of the 50 locations profiled, with Bournemouth coming in at second place on the list – only behind Oxford – and Swindon at third.

Meanwhile, Bristol ranked ninth on the list, Exeter at 11 and Plymouth at 18. There is evidence that some of the West’s more rural areas are also doing well, with Cornwall and Dorset both scoring highly in the index.

Ben Pykett, director in PwC’s West practice, said: “These findings confirm the resilience of our cities; we have recovered more quickly than anywhere else in the UK as we enter the post-pandemic economy.

“Combine that with the success of our cities against other metrics such as safety, health, wealth equality and work-life balance, and the West is well-placed to continue delivering sustainable growth.”

Ms Pykett said some of the West’s success since the pandemic was due to its ability to attract people who work flexibly or remotely – and who previously would have lived close to London or another major urban centre.

“Local authorities and businesses in smaller cities and other areas now have to consider how they can capitalise on changing public preferences and ensure the move away from large cities isn’t a temporary one,” she added.

The Good Growth for Cities Index measures cities’ performance against a series of 12 variables, with each one weighted relative to how important it is considered by the 1,000 people surveyed as part of the study.

In comparison to last year’s report, the importance given to these indicators by the members of the public who have been polled has shifted considerably.

Jobs and skills, two of the most important variables last year, saw significant decreases in importance in the updated Index, while the environment and income distribution saw increases.

Of the 12 variables included, the biggest driver for improvement for cities over the last three years was better work-life balance, PwC said.

Broad improvements in the skills of older workers, as well as income distribution and life expectancy, have also seen the gap narrow slightly between the highest and lowest ranked cities.

GVA growth rate by region

Region	2021 GVA growth rate	2022 GVA growth rate
South West	8.2%	6.1%
South East	7.9%	5.9%
East of England	7.8%	5.7%
London	7.4%	4.7%
Scotland	7.1%	4.9%
East Midlands	6.9%	4.8%
West Midlands	6.9%	4.8%
North West	6.8%	4.5%
Yorkshire and the Humber	6.7%	4.5%
North East	6.7%	4.5%
Northern Ireland	6.4%	4.1%
Wales	6.3%	4.0%

“Like the farrago over Downing Street parties during lockdown, the prime minister’s change of heart – if such it is – over MPs’ second jobs appears to fit a longstanding pattern, in which he says whatever it takes to get out of a tight spot, and thinks nothing of reversing course later”.

Heather Stewart www.theguardian.com 

Boris Johnson’s promise to crack down on MPs’ second jobs came at a perilous moment for his premiership last autumn, with backbenchers in open revolt over the botched attempt to save the disgraced MP Owen Paterson.

It was a classic Johnson manoeuvre – a bold bid to get ahead of the story, claiming to outflank Labour by promising that MPs would be “appropriately punished” if they put their second employers, not their constituents, first.

Yet, like the prime minister’s initial response to the Partygate stories that began to emerge in December, also aimed at making hostile headlines go away, it has unravelled completely.

In October the fury over MPs’ second jobs had been stoked by Johnson’s own behaviour. After marching Tory MPs through the voting lobbies to protect Paterson, the prime minister U-turned the next day, as opposition parties refused to take part in a cross-party committee to rewrite the parliamentary standards system.

As the outrage over the Paterson case grew, the government was rocked by story after story about Tory MPs’ lucrative second jobs – including the former attorney general Geoffrey Cox practising from the British Virgin Islands during the pandemic.

So febrile was the mood that when Johnson flew to Glasgow to join the crucial Cop26 climate summit for a day, he found himself challenged about parliamentary sleaze, telling the assembled journalists the UK was “not remotely a corrupt country”.

Several days later, with Labour poised to exploit Tory divisions by using an opposition day debate to force a vote on toughening up the rules, Downing Street abruptly announced that it would go further.

Cracks appeared almost immediately. Cabinet ministers, sent out to explain the move, which was tabled as an amendment to Labour’s motion, offered few details. Asked how exactly second jobs would be constrained, Dominic Raab said: “You could do it by the amount or you could do it by the number of hours.”

When the trade secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, was asked how many hours might be reasonable, she gave several different answers in a single morning broadcast round.

There was always an element of theatre to the plan, too. The long-established standards committee, chaired by Chris Bryant, which had handed down Paterson’s 30-day suspension, was already carrying out a review of MPs’ code of conduct, which was expected to cover issues including second jobs.

It is to that review that the government has now made its own submission – flatly contradicting the promises made by ministers in the autumn.

It is unclear whether Johnson and his aides knew at the time they made the proposal that they had no intention of pushing it through to a conclusion, or whether they have caved in in the face of intensive lobbying from backbench MPs keen to hold on to their lucrative side hustles.

Certainly, Johnson has never had any principled objection to second jobs, having edited the Spectator while an MP and then been a Telegraph columnist – as well as, for a short while, being both mayor of London and MP for Uxbridge.

Having described the £250,000 a year he was paid for his Telegraph outpourings as “chicken feed”, and frequently complained to friends about his money troubles, he may also have had some sympathy for those colleagues complaining that they couldn’t live on their parliamentary salary alone.

But like the farrago over Downing Street parties during lockdown, the prime minister’s change of heart – if such it is – over MPs’ second jobs appears to fit a longstanding pattern, in which he says whatever it takes to get out of a tight spot, and thinks nothing of reversing course later.

Looks like we are back in 1980’s with the politics of a “semi-house-trained polecat” – Owl

Harrison Jones metro.co.uk 

A Conservative MP has suggested that the best ‘opportunity’ for people to cope with soaring bills is to get a job.

Blackpool South MP Scott Benton made the comments amid dramatic increases in the cost of living in the UK, with countless people in work struggling to pay their bills.

Fuel, heating and food are among some of the essentials rocketing in the UK, with experts fearing petrol could hit £2.40 a litre amid the Ukraine war.

Tory backbencher Mr Benton told the Commons: ‘It would be remiss of me not to point out that the state can only do so much.

‘Work pays and so getting people into employment so that they can provide for themselves and their families ultimately gives them the very best opportunity.’

His intervention came after the SNP’s Stewart Hosie read out a letter he had received from a constituent living with her disabled partner in a single-income household, who had done ‘everything in her power’ to cut costs.

The unnamed individual could not afford to ‘turn on the storage heaters due to the sheer cost’, the Dundee East MP said.

Mr Hosie explained that his constituent’s standing charge had more than doubled even though her electricity all came from renewables, and added she had been ‘flatly denied’ a pay rise or increase in expenses for her work-from-home job.

He added: ‘This is someone who has already done everything she can and yet has been hammered by energy price rises.’

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