Cabinet

Whether that happens, when, and at what rate, that's what's genuinely unverified.

Iraq's 2027 budget draft is scheduled to reach the Council of Ministers in four days, September 15.

This is Iraq's first complete fiscal plan since 2023 and budgets are calculated off currency value.

The correct rate has to exist before the numbers work.

Once it reaches the Council of Ministers, it sits there getting amended for about a month, then heads to Parliament for a vote sometime in mid to late October.

If the parliamentary vote is mid to late October, the rate would need to change by the end of September to support that budget timeline.

So the September 30th sovereignty date and the budget sequencing fit together.

Um, and one of the very interesting things he decided to do was set up Number 10 North.

Uh, we at the Institute for Government have thought, uh, quite a lot about how the central government works in London, about the relationship between Number 10, the Cabinet Office, and the Treasury, uh, and made lots of recommendations, uh, including a big commission we ran ahead of the general election in 2024-

[coughs]

... uh, where we looked back through the history of how the central government works and m- and identified lots of long-standing problems.

Uh, we know that, uh, government works best when it has a really clear steer from the top, uh, and I think we could say that Andy Burnham has given a clear steer on devolution.

Um, so what we're really interested now is in how it's working out.

How is Number 10 North going to work constructively as part of this new office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet? How will it be working with other bits of government, uh, around the country as well as in Whitehall? Uh, what will all this mean for the government's, uh, wider agenda to improve public services? Um, and how will the whole country benefit, uh, from these plans the government's, uh, set out? I'm delighted we've got a fantastic panel, uh, t- here today to discuss these questions.

Starting on my left, uh, my colleague, uh, Tom Pope, who's chief economist at the Institute for Government based here in Manchester.

He had to then hastily delete that tweet.

It's been well pointed out that the Cabinet, as it currently stands, is severely lacking in private sector experience.

So do you actually know what you're doing when you're talking about finances? Because it would appear to many of my viewers that you don't.

I mean, we've got some great people in the Treasury, in the business department, people like Johnny, who's coming back to be our Secretary of State for Business.

I'm not talking about generic MPs.

I'm talking about the government.

I'm talking about the Cabinet.

I'm talking about the people that are making these very high-end decisions that are impacting the real lives of the viewers of GB News.

It is the government who is responsible for the legislative process.

It is the minister who is responsible for the Cabinet paper, for the draft legislation, for introducing it to the House, for the committee stage in the House where we debate clause by clause.

That is all the responsibility of the minister and the government.

It's not MSD who asked for that policy.

And what I am saying to Te Tai Tokerau voters is I have nine years experience in Parliament.

I've been a cabinet minister.

If you want a representative for your rohe, who's going to be in Cabinet, then vote for Willow-Jean Prime.

With my experience and my skills, I know that I can open those doors and deliver outcomes for Te Tai Tokerau.

We can't verify that's happening, but if it is, it's a very strong signal that something institutional is moving.

Iraq's 2027 budget is due at the Council of Ministers in five days, September 15th.

That's the first complete fiscal plan Iraq has produced since 2023, and budgets are calculated off currency value.

The correct rate has to exist before approval.

Once it hits the Council of Ministers, it sits there getting amended for about a month, then heads to Parliament for a vote in mid to late October.

If the parliamentary vote is mid to late October, the rate would need to change by the end of September to support that timeline.

So the September 30th anchor fits.

What do you think of being likened to a Bond villain and Margaret Thatcher?

Look, I suppose it's interesting because colleagues within Cabinet always agree to the level of expenditure increases, but when it comes to the bids we receive, they typically far exceed that.

But ultimately, for me, in the role I have, I suppose in an economic ministry, it's about shaping a better state.

And unfortunately, the kind of the lazy consensus in politics is often that just spending more delivers that.

Um, and one of the very interesting things he decided to do was set up Number 10 North.

Uh, we at the Institute for Government have thought, uh, f-quite a lot about how the central government works in London, about the relationship between Number 10, the Cabinet Office and the Treasury, uh, and made lots of recommendations, uh, including a big commission we ran ahead of the general election in 2024, uh, where we looked back through the history of how the central government works and m-- and identified lots of long-standing problems.

So we were really delighted to see the Prime Minister thinking about how government works, how the central government works, and acknowledging that there are those problems, uh, and that you can't just come in and assume that you're a new prime minister and everything you do will make everything better.

You actually do have to think about structures.

Uh, we know that, uh, government works best when it has a really clear steer from the top, uh, and I think we could say that Andy Burnham has given a clear steer on devolution.

Um, so what we're really interested now is in how it's working out.

How is Number 10 North going to work constructively as part of this new office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet? How will it be working with other bits of government, uh, around the country as well as in Whitehall? Uh, what will all this mean for the government's, uh, wider agenda to improve public services? Um, and how will the whole country benefit, uh, from these plans the government's, uh, set out? I'm delighted we've got a fantastic panel, uh, t-here today to discuss these questions.

Starting on my left, uh, my colleague, uh, Tom Pope, who's Chief Economist at the Institute for Government based here in Manchester.

We'll start off with things that are happening as we speak in the province of Alberta.

Cabinet ministers are assembling in Banff, where they are set to hear later today from the president of Ukraine.

Vladimir Zelensky and his wife touched down late last evening in Calgary.

They'll spend part of the day there.

In Alberta, she only polls in Alberta, very specific to Alberta, the issue of separatism.

She's an authority, I think, on the subject of public opinion in Alberta.

And it's no surprise that Cabinet would want to know her assessment of where things stand on the separation question, given that we are just over a month away from the fall referendum that's going to take place in Alberta, right? Remember, that question is not...

To separate or to stay, it's to hold a referendum on separation or not to.