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Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, said, ‘We can now move on to the next phase of our economic plan and turn our attention to cutting taxes,’ having seen a reduction in inflation. Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, followed suit in the Autumn Statement, cutting personal taxes. The government was to make changes to long-term benefits. The minimum wage, known officially as the National Living Wage, currently £10.42 an hour for those over the age of 23, will rise to £11.44 an hour for those over 21 from next April. The government also drew attention to £8.3 billion allocated to mending potholes, money purportedly saved from the curtailment of the HS2 project. Households living close to new pylons would receive compensation. Nigel Farage took part in I’m a Celebrity… for a fee of £1.5 million.
In the wake of the Supreme Court judgment that the government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful, Sunak said: ‘I am prepared to do what is necessary to get flights off.’ He did not say what was necessary, but offered an emergency Bill and perhaps a treaty with Rwanda. Ten Labour frontbenchers resigned their positions in order to vote for an SNP amendment calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. David Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, was introduced to the House of Lords as Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton, of Chipping Norton in the County of Oxfordshire. North Hertfordshire Museum, which possesses a coin from the reign of the Roman Emperor Elagabalus, concluded that he was a trans woman and will refer to him as ‘she’ and ‘her’.
The British Library’s book-ordering, website and even telephones continued to be largely out of operation because of a ransomware cyber attack on 31 October.
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