Aurelia Butler

Boris Johnson started the week of his political “reset” surveying the cabinet table and noting that most of his ministers were too young to remember the economic pain of the UK in the 1970s.Johnson said he was determined to avoid a repeat of that decade’s stagflation and high unemployment — but his comments were a reminder that he is plotting a comeback in the teeth of an economic storm.He emerges from a decisive week in a less precarious position than many had expected, even if the bar for success — to paraphrase Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer this week — had been set “lower than a snake’s belly”.Johnson’s allies were relieved that “only” four more Tory MPs initially called for the prime minister to quit following Sue Gray’s damning account of a culture of drinking and pandemic lawbreaking in Downing Street, although criticism grew during the course of Friday.A snap YouGov poll found that 59 per cent of people believed that the prime minister should quit, with just 30 per cent stating he should remain in his role. But one former cabinet member said: “He will never quit.”Meanwhile, Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s £15bn rescue package for households struggling with spiralling energy bills — part-funded by an energy windfall tax Johnson once strongly opposed — bought the prime minister some breathing space.“You didn’t need a focus group to tell you it would land well,” said one Johnson ally. “It was a really good example of proper, grown-up politics.”The Resolution Foundation think-tank said the measures to deal with rising energy bills were “well targeted” and were now “highly progressive”; Sunak had belatedly addressed the real pain facing the poorest in society.The £400 grant to all households showed he had not lost sight of wealthier Tory voters, some of whom — like Sunak — own more than one home and will enjoy multiple payments. Sunak said he would give his to charity.Johnson had initially opposed the windfall tax plan, originally proposed by the opposition Labour party, arguing that he would be incurring a lot of political pain — notably from rightwing Tory MPs — to secure only £2bn in extra revenue.Kwasi Kwarteng, business secretary, Liz Truss, foreign secretary, and Jacob Rees-Mogg, Cabinet Office minister, were among those arguing the chancellor should cut taxes, not put them up.It was only when Sunak reassured the prime minister that a windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas companies could raise £5bn this year — and that he could extract a further £3bn-£4bn from “the extraordinary profits” of electricity generators — that Johnson endorsed the plan.“The gain had to be worth the pain,” said one ally of the prime minister. Sunak now has a lucrative new tax revenue stream until December 2025, at which point his “energy profits levy” will expire.The fiscal details are important because the promise of tax cuts are Johnson and Sunak’s best hope of keeping restive Tory MPs on board and offering a brighter future to voters at the next election, expected in 2024.Sunak on Friday argued that raising money from energy companies was a “pragmatic” way to fund at least part of his £15bn spending package while making only a “minimal” impact on inflation.The chancellor has baked into his figures £30bn of “headroom” in election year: the leeway would still allow him to meet his fiscal rules and show he was bringing borrowing under control.Tory MPs are now eyeing that war chest and will be putting huge pressure on Sunak to use his autumn Budget to start cutting income tax.However, the chancellor, whose damaged reputation has been partly repaired by the well-received energy package, may want to deliver but will fret about the danger of pouring fuel on the inflationary fire.

In the meantime, he indicated on Friday that he stood ready to spend more to help people further if the cost of living crunch intensifies further. “I’ve always been prepared to respond to the situation on the ground, what’s happening to the economy,” he said.Johnson’s political breathing space could be short lived, however. Next month the Conservatives will seek to defend seats in two by-elections and voters could be withering in their verdict of his recent performance.Bookmakers make Labour odds-on favourites to win the “red wall” seat of Wakefield, while the Liberal Democrats are odds-on to overturn a Tory 24,000 majority in the “blue wall” of Tiverton and Honiton.“There’s much concern about the PM,” said one west country Conservative MP, a sign that Johnson may have survived the week, but disquiet over his performance has not gone away. More

(Reuters) – Russia’s central bank on Friday authorised Russian residents to buy shares in companies from “friendly” countries, provided the transactions were denominated in roubles or the currency of the foreign country.In a statement, the central bank said it was lifting some of the restrictions on overseas investments, which were imposed after Russia began what it calls “a special military” operation in Ukraine on Feb. 24. More

The White House plan would apply to Americans who earned less than $150,000 in the previous year, or less than $300,000 for married couples filing jointly, two of the people told the Post. The current government pause in student interest and payments due to COVID-19 expires at the end of August. It was not clear if the administration planned to resume payment requirement then.The sources, who were not identified, told the newspaper that details could change. Biden had hoped to make the announcement at the University of Delaware commencement this weekend, the people told the Post, but those plans changed after Tuesday’s massacre of elementary school children in Texas.According to a study by New York Federal Reserve economists, forgiving $10,000 per student would amount to $321 billion of federal student loans and eliminate the entire balance for 11.8 million borrowers, or 31 percent. Student debt cancellation has become a priority for many liberals and one that could shore up popularity with younger and more highly educated voters, who lean Democratic, before November’s midterm congressional elections.But the Biden administration has been reluctant to unilaterally make an unprecedented cancellation of college debt owned by the U.S. government, a move that would test his legal authority.Instead, Biden has asked Congress to pass a bill forgiving debt that he could sign.The federal government has let 43 million borrowers stop paying on a total of $1.6 trillion in student loans since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.”I am considering dealing with some debt reduction,” Biden told reporters on April 28. He said he was not considering the $50,000 debt reduction that some progressive Democrats have embraced. More

Siluanov said Russia had earmarked 8 trillion roubles ($123 billion) of stimulus to support the economy in the current circumstances. “(These are) huge amounts of money. We need these resources to support the economy, to support our citizens,” Siluanov told a university audience.Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, triggering a barrage of Western sanctions.($1 = 64.8100 roubles) More