Transparency records reveal senior trade officials held dinners and strategy meetings with the notorious lobbying firm even as controversy over its Epstein links deepened, says SOLOMON HUGHES
THE upcoming general election takes place in the middle of the deepest cost-of-living crisis in generations, which has become a permanent cost-of-living emergency for millions.
Councils are going bust. Poverty and inequality are spiralling. Homelessness is out of control. There are regular warnings that unemployment could be set to jump dramatically. And people’s living costs just keep going up and up while wages and benefits fail to follow.
Yet there seems to be a collective denial of the depth of this social and humanitarian crisis across the front benches in Westminster.
If we can tackle the big issues, like delivering decent public services and affordable state-built and owned housing by making the richest pay a fair amount of tax, Labour can win back the trust and support of the electorate, argues ANDY McDONALD MP



