CRISIS AVERTED. FOR NOW. THE STRUCTURAL PROBLEM? STILL SITTING AT THE PUMP. ⛽️🇬🇧 The immediate threat has eased. The G7 has agreed to release 100 million barrels of oil and fuel products from emergency reserves over four months, while Donald Trump has backed away from the threat of restricting US diesel exports. Good news. But needing an international emergency intervention to calm the diesel market is hardly a victory lap for energy resilience. Britain holds roughly 42 days of diesel reserves, according to the Government, while the country remains heavily dependent on imported diesel. Meanwhile, one machine remains impressively reliable: the taxman. Fuel duty is currently 52.95p a litre. The temporary 5p cut lasts only until 31 December; under the legislated default, the rate rises to 55.95p in January and 57.95p in March 2027, although the Government says final rates will be confirmed at Budget 2026. So Britain can depend on foreign refineries, emergency stock releases and international diplomacy to keep fuel moving… …but Westminster still has a timetable for taking more at the pump. ENERGY SECURITY SHOULDN’T MEAN CROSSING OUR FINGERS WHILE THE TREASURY HOLDS OUT ITS HAND. 🇬🇧

The G7 has agreed to release 100 million barrels of emergency oil, and Trump's threat to cut off US diesel has receded. That is welcome news. It is also a reminder of how thin our margins are. Britain holds around 42 days of diesel reserves. We import more than half of what we use. We have four refineries left, after losing two last year. Between April and August, the Treasury collected £4.1bn more in VAT and fuel duty than in the same months a year earlier. Under the current legislated schedule, fuel duty is still due to rise in January. Britain needs an energy strategy that puts resilience, domestic refining capacity and affordable fuel first. Not another tax raid at the pumps. greatbritishpac.com/news/tre…

WHEN JEREMY CLARKSON THINKS OPENING A PUB IN BRITAIN IS A BAD BUSINESS DECISION, YOU KNOW YOU’VE GOT A STORY. 🍺🇬🇧 Speaking at the Conservative conference, @JeremyClarkson said he is considering opening another pub — just not in Britain — while attacking the pressures facing farmers and asking: “Why would anybody set up a business in this country right now?” His comments come after changes to Agricultural and Business Property Relief took effect in April. Qualifying agricultural and business property receives 100% relief up to a £2.5m allowance; qualifying value above that receives 50% relief, giving an effective inheritance-tax rate of up to 20% on that excess. The Government says roughly 85% of estates claiming Agricultural Property Relief in 2026/27 are forecast to pay no additional inheritance tax because of the reforms. Clarkson’s argument is rather less technical: If Britain becomes a place where entrepreneurs increasingly ask whether it is worth investing at all, that is a problem considerably bigger than one pub. Britain became rather good at exporting beer. Exporting the pubs as well would be quite an achievement. 🍺🇬🇧

Jeremy Clarkson has done more for British farming than most politicians ever will. So when he says he is looking "quite hard" at opening another pub, and that it will NOT be in the UK, Downing Street should be listening. "Why would anybody set up a business in this country right now?" A £25bn raid on jobs. Pubs closing at almost two a day. A family farm tax that could force farmers to sell the land their families worked for generations. As our Claire Bullivant says: "The fact that someone as proudly British as Jeremy Clarkson is even contemplating opening his next pub abroad should set alarm bells ringing in Downing Street. Wake up Labour!" Read the full story. 👇 greatbritishpac.com/news/cla…

“WE’RE NOT IN CONTROL OF THIS BORDER.” That isn’t an opposition attack line. That is the Home Secretary describing Britain’s Channel border. Shabana Mahmood told The Rest Is Politics that criminal gangs are doing the “sifting” of people who reach northern France before attempting the crossing. She also said you could “almost guarantee” that every woman there had probably been raped during the journey — an assessment she did not present as a published statistic. And then there is the Government’s nine-page guide for asylum seekers. It explains gender equality, domestic abuse and sexual consent — including that rape is a serious crime and that someone who is asleep or unconscious cannot consent. That document is real; the Home Office published it in August. The Government says the guidance makes British law and social expectations explicit to new arrivals. Critics argue that a pamphlet addresses behaviour after arrival rather than the fundamental question of who controls entry in the first place. A NINE-PAGE GUIDE CAN EXPLAIN THE RULES. It cannot control a border. And when the Home Secretary herself says “we’re not in control”, Britain is entitled to ask the most basic question of all: Who is? 🇬🇧 @RichardTomo5

£60.5 MILLION OVERSPENT. AND THE BIG IDEA IS A FOUR-DAY WEEK. You really couldn’t script the timing better. Lambeth Council’s own accounts record a £60.5m overspend for 2024/25. Its auditors subsequently identified a “significant weakness” in the council’s arrangements for budgetary control and financial reporting. Now Green-led Lambeth is pushing ahead with plans to trial a four-day working week. Council leader Martin Abrams argues it could improve productivity, staff retention and work-life balance; there is not yet a start date for the pilot. Perhaps it will work. Perhaps four days really can deliver the same services as five. But that leaves taxpayers with a rather obvious question: If the same job can be done in four days, what exactly have they been paying for on day five? And if it can’t be done in four days, residents could end up paying the same for less. 4 DAYS’ WORK. 5 DAYS’ PAY. £60.5 MILLION OVERSPENT. That is one hell of a productivity experiment to conduct with somebody else’s money. 🇬🇧

FOUR DAYS’ WORK. FIVE DAYS’ PAY. AND GUESS WHO PICKS UP THE BILL? Green-led Lambeth Council is preparing to trial a four-day working week, while battling a £60.5 million overspend and relying on £116 million in Exceptional Financial Support. Staff will be expected to deliver 100% of their output in 80% of the hours, for the same salary. Claire Bullivant, CEO of Great British PAC, asks the question taxpayers deserve answered: “If Lambeth can genuinely deliver the same or better services in four days, then taxpayers are entitled to ask an obvious question: why are they currently paying for five?” And if it can’t? Residents will be paying the same council tax for less. The public sector does not exist for the convenience of the people who run it. It exists to serve the public. Taxpayers are not an unlimited source of money for ideological experiments. 🇬🇧 Value for money. Accountability. Public services that remember who they work for.

£60.5 MILLION OVERSPEND. SO NATURALLY… LET’S TRY WORKING FOUR DAYS. Green-led Lambeth Council is pushing ahead with plans for what is understood to be London’s first council trial of a four-day working week. Council leader Martin Abrams says a shorter week could improve productivity, staff retention and work-life balance. No start date has yet been announced. There is, however, a rather awkward number sitting in the background: £60.5 million. That was Lambeth’s 2024/25 overspend. Its own auditors found a “significant weakness” in the council’s budgetary control and financial reporting arrangements. The council says its financial problems reflect huge pressures including homelessness, temporary accommodation and years of reduced funding; it currently describes its finances as facing a further £93 million black hole. Perhaps the four-day experiment will deliver the productivity gains its supporters expect. That is precisely what a trial is supposed to establish. But the optics are certainly spectacular: 4 DAYS’ WORK. 5 DAYS’ PAY. £60.5M OVERSPEND. Apparently even the budget could use a long weekend. 🇬🇧

Four days' work. Five days' pay. Green-led Lambeth is set to become the first London council to trial a four-day week. Staff will be expected to deliver 100 per cent of their output in 80 per cent of their contracted hours, for the same salary. The same council overspent its 2024/25 budget by £60.493m. It holds £5m in unallocated reserves, against a target of £45m. And it is relying on £116m of Exceptional Financial Support from central government. Its headcount is up about 14 per cent in two years. Plenty of councils say they must do more with less. Lambeth is about to test whether its staff can do the same in considerably less time. The four-day week has reached London. It has arrived at a council that is still working out how to pay for five. greatbritishpac.com/news/fou…

“WE’RE NOT IN CONTROL OF THIS BORDER.” Not an opposition slogan. Not a newspaper headline. Those were the words of Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. Speaking about the Channel route, Mahmood said criminal gangs are doing the “sifting” of people who reach northern France before boarding dinghies. She also made the disturbing claim that you could “almost guarantee” every woman there had “probably been raped along the journey”, adding that some men had also suffered abuse and threats. That claim about sexual violence was Mahmood’s own assessment; she did not provide published evidence establishing that almost every woman had been raped. Whatever your politics, the contradiction is extraordinary: the Home Secretary’s argument is precisely that criminal networks should not be deciding who reaches Britain — the British state should. When the person responsible for the Home Office says, “We’re not in control of this border,” the question almost writes itself: If Britain isn’t in control, who is? 🇬🇧

She said it herself. Britain is “not in control of this border.” The Home Secretary has now told us that criminal gangs do the “sifting” of the people who reach northern France ready to get on a dinghy. In the same interview, Shabana Mahmood said almost every woman waiting there to cross has probably been raped along the journey. Successive governments have promised to stop the boats. A serving Home Secretary has just described a border where the state is not the one doing the choosing. . @RichardTomo5 , a former Royal Marine and National Director of Great British PAC, has responded. You can read the full story below. greatbritishpac.com/news/hom…

SERVE YOUR COUNTRY. FOLLOW ORDERS. RISK YOUR LIFE. THEN FIND OUT YOU’RE AN “EXPENDABLE PAWN.” 🇬🇧 Those are not our words. Four former senior Army officers, Generals Sir Peter Wall, Sir Nick Parker, Sir Richard Barrons and Sir Chris Deverell, have warned that the Government’s approach to Northern Ireland legacy cases risks breaking the “vital bond of trust between the soldier and the state.” They accused ministers of allowing veterans to become “expendable pawns in political manoeuvres.” The Government strongly disputes that characterisation. Its legislation requires the Legacy Commission not to duplicate previous investigations unless compelling reasons make another investigation essential, while ministers argue that families still waiting for answers deserve a credible process. Nobody is arguing that a uniform puts someone above the law. The argument is about what happens after someone has already served, already been investigated and decades have passed — and what threshold should exist before the state puts them through the process again. Because tomorrow’s soldiers are watching how Britain treats yesterday’s veterans. Trust between soldier and state cannot be a one-way street. 🇬🇧

WHEN DOES ACCOUNTABILITY BECOME ENDLESS LEGAL JEOPARDY? 🇬🇧 The Northern Ireland Troubles Bill is back at the centre of a fierce argument over how Britain treats those it sent to serve decades ago. Critics are demanding stronger statutory safeguards for veterans, including tighter protections around repeat investigations, anonymity, welfare and official contact. Amendments proposing additional protections have been tabled in Parliament. The Government says the Bill already goes significantly further: the Legacy Commission would be required not to duplicate previous investigative work unless compelling reasons make it essential, alongside provisions concerning remote evidence, anonymity and the welfare of elderly veterans. GB PAC’s position is clear: nobody is above the law. But where someone has already been investigated and cleared, putting them through the system again should require a genuinely compelling justification. Because when investigations become repetitive, decades-long and uncertain, the process itself can become the punishment. Britain asked these men to serve. Britain gave them their orders. Britain expected them to put their lives on the line. The argument now is about what Britain owes them in return. 🇬🇧 @RichardTomo5

Four generals who commanded Britain's Army have put their names to an extraordinary charge: Troubles veterans are being treated as "expendable pawns in political manoeuvres" to protect Labour's deal with Dublin. Ministers deny it. They say the bill is about answers for more than 1,000 families. The generals, who spent a year offering carefully researched amendments, say they were heard, then brushed aside. . @RichardTomo5 , our National Director and a former Royal Marine, does not mince his words: "Chris Bryant lacks the backbone to defend that principle. He would rather protect Labour's deal with Dublin than protect the men and women who protected this country." And a warning every serving soldier should read: "If the state abandons its veterans today, will it abandon me tomorrow?" The Commons votes this month. The men who led the Army have said what they think. Read the full story: greatbritishpac.com/news/vet…

Andy Burnham says Brexit has done "more harm than good", and he will not rule out a second referendum. But no referendum is set. No terms have been agreed. No cost has been published. And the Prime Minister has never led Labour into a general election. Reopening the argument is the easy part. Answering for it is not. greatbritishpac.com/news/bur…

GLASGOW, WE’RE BACK ON THE STREETS. 🇬🇧 Five Great British PAC volunteers spent three hours on Buchanan Street today talking with people about what the PAC does and about something more fundamental: being registered and using your vote. The conversations were the highlight. People stopped, asked questions and thanked the team for turning up. We also met new people who have committed to joining us next week, including two veterans and a school student. One comment came up repeatedly: people were pleased simply to see the Union Flag in the centre of Glasgow, alongside the many flags representing international causes that regularly appear on the city’s streets. Whatever your politics, democratic participation starts with something simple: Get registered. Get informed. And make your own voice count. 🇬🇧

CONGRATULATIONS, BRITAIN. DIESEL IS NOW £2 A LITRE. ⛽️🇬🇧 Not champagne. Not vintage whisky. Diesel. The UK average has reached a record 200.01p a litre, according to RAC Fuel Watch. That makes a 55-litre tank roughly £110 — £31.70 more than before the Iran conflict began. Petrol has climbed to 174.71p. And we’ve reached the point where the G7 is opening the emergency cupboard: 100 million barrels of oil and diesel are being released from reserves in an attempt to stabilise supplies and prices. The Government says UK diesel supplies remain robust. The RAC says prices are showing “no signs of slowing.” Meanwhile, the bill lands with the commuter, the tradesman, the delivery driver and the family doing the school run. £110 to fill an ordinary diesel car. At this point, filling the tank isn’t a pit stop. It’s a financial decision.

ONE IN. ONE OUT. NOW ON HOLD. 🇬🇧🇫🇷 Britain and France are discussing ending the flagship migration pilot, and the Home Office has confirmed that new cases are no longer being processed. France is instead pushing for a broader European approach. And despite the bigger numbers in the transcript, the latest reporting puts the actual exchange at 951 people returned to France and 935 admitted legally to Britain under the scheme. Small-boat crossings were also down by more than 40% by late September compared with the previous year, an important part of the Government’s case for its wider border strategy. The scheme was deliberately reciprocal: Britain could return eligible small-boat arrivals to France while admitting an equivalent number of eligible applicants from France after security and identity checks. So after a year of political fanfare, the central question is pretty simple: Did “one in, one out” actually deter Channel crossings, or did Britain create an expensive exchange scheme that never reached the scale required to make a meaningful difference?

🚨 Hands Off Our Counties. Saturday 14 November. 10am. The fight against the carve-up of our councils is going nationwide. From Leicestershire to the rest of England, campaigners are calling on residents to gather outside their local council buildings on Saturday 14 November and make their voices impossible to ignore. It comes after more than 40,000 of you signed petitions against the proposed expansion of Leicester, delivered to No 10 Downing Street by MPs, councillors and local campaigners. Then ministers were forced to pause the plans in 14 areas and withdraw decisions in four more. That is what pressure looks like. Now organisers want communities across the country to stand together, hold peaceful local demonstrations and record videos from their own towns and villages. Do not wait for Whitehall to decide your boundaries for you. Stand up and be counted. 📅 Saturday 14 November 2026 🕙 10am 📍 Outside participating local council buildings Read the full story and find out what is happening near you 👇 greatbritishpac.com/news/han…

Labour's "one in, one out" deal with France is over. The numbers, briefly: Around 1,500 returned. £56,000 for each of them. A similar number admitted back the other way. More than 40,000 crossed while it was running. Labour says crossings are down 42 per cent this year. France says it wanted a wider EU deal instead. Neither side is offering a replacement. Worth £56,000 of your money per person? Have your say below. 👇 greatbritishpac.com/news/lab…