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Tulip Siddiq resigned as economic secretary to the Treasury, although she was found not to have broken the ministerial code; she had, however, lived in a flat provided by allies of her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, the deposed prime minister of Bangladesh, apparently under the impression that the flat was a gift from her parents, despite having signed a Land Registry transfer form for it. Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, flew to China and met He Lifeng, one of the four vice-premiers. In her absence the cost of government borrowing rose again, with the yield on 30-year gilts rising to 5.42 per cent, the highest for 27 years. Downing Street said she would remain in her role ‘for the whole of this parliament’. But people wondered. She told the Commons on her return that she would go ‘further and faster’ to improve economic growth. The annual rate of inflation fell from 2.6 to 2.5 per cent. Labour attracted the support of 26 per cent, Reform 25 per cent and the Conservatives 22 per cent in a YouGov voting-intention poll. About 450,000 more young adults are still living in the family home than in 2006, when 13 per cent of people aged between 25 and 34 were living with their parents, compared with 18 per cent by 2024, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, joined calls for a ‘limited’ national inquiry into grooming gangs, saying that the local inquiry he had commissioned in Oldham did not have the same legal powers. Sir Keir Starmer announced an AI Opportunities Action Plan, which he said could boost growth and deliver services more efficiently. The government said it would implement 50 recommendations by its AI adviser Matt Clifford, including the building of a new supercomputer; one developed by Edinburgh University was cancelled by the government only in October. The improvisational comedian Tony Slattery, whose life was plagued by drink, drugs and depression, died aged 65.
Nicola Sturgeon, former first minister of Scotland, and Peter Murrell, former chief executive of the SNP, ‘decided to end’ their marriage; the couple, Ms Sturgeon said, had been separated for some time. The ferry Glen Sannox made its first voyage for Scottish state-owned operator CalMac seven years late, at a cost, with its sister ship, of £400 million. Mick Lynch, 63, announced he is to retire in May as general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union. Under government plans to repeal the Legacy Act 2023, Gerry Adams could qualify for compensation for internment.
Abroad
President Joe Biden of America said that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas would follow the scheme he had outlined in May; during an initial six-week truce, Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza would be exchanged at regular intervals for Palestinian prisoners in Israel. Donald Trump, the President-elect of America, was given an unconditional discharge by a New York court after his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with payments to buy the silence of a porn star; the judge cited the ‘extraordinary legal protections afforded by the office of the chief executive’. Mr Trump would have been convicted of trying to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election if he had not been re-elected in 2024, according to Jack Smith, who led US government investigations into him; Mr Trump called him ‘deranged’.
Wildfires destroyed more than 13,000 buildings and cars around Los Angeles. Firemen found that water ran out at fire hydrants. Evacuation orders affected 150,000 people at a time. A night curfew was imposed in the face of looting. Flocks of TikTok users in America migrated to a Chinese app called RedNote as a ban on TikTok was due to come in on 19 January. Spain planned a tax of up to 100 per cent on properties bought by non-residents from countries outside the EU, said Pedro Sánchez, the Prime Minister.
Ukraine said it had struck ammunition depots and chemical plants deep inside Russia; Russia said it had shot down American-supplied ATACMS missiles and British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said he would return two captured North Korean soldiers, if they wanted to go, in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia. Shipyards in France and Denmark were found on satellite imagery to have repaired 14 Russian liquid-gas tankers. Nato launched patrols of the Baltic to counter damage to undersea cables. CSH
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