Owl wishes it to be known that – unlike Lord Ashcroft, the Queen and the man who owns Everton – it has never had an offshore bank account nor has it had questionable relationships with Russian oligarchs or other dodgy people.
Could our councillors perhaps be made to confirm in their declarations of interest that they have no iffy external sources of income or very dodgy friends in whom MI5, HMRC or the police might be interested?
Templeton, a small village near Tiverton, showed exactly what it thinks of BTs heel-dragging on rural broadband with this effigy on its village bonfire:
Oh dear, more changes to the planning rules… no mention of stopping the Big Four developers from land banking and claiming that each and every development will not be viable, so no affordable housing…
“Chancellor Philip Hammond puts homes at heart of budget”
Construction companies will be boosted by the scrapping of a planned 3.9% rise in business rates
Theresa May and Philip Hammond have agreed a deal to make housebuilding a centrepiece of the budget this month after crisis talks last week.
The prime minister held a “trilateral summit” on Thursday night with the chancellor and Sajid Javid, the communities secretary, in an attempt to cut through cabinet divisions over housing, and agreed there would be new money, reforms to planning and incentives for the construction industry to build homes.
The Sunday Times can also reveal that Hammond will give a boost to companies by scrapping a planned 3.9% rise in business rates, set to cost firms £1.1bn next April. Instead of increasing rates by the retail prices index measure of inflation, the chancellor is preparing for an increase in line with consumer prices, which stands at 3%.
Hammond has ditched plans to offer lower tax rates for young people, after internal Tory polling showed that the idea was not hugely popular with the young and was strongly opposed by older voters.
Sources in the Treasury and Downing Street say the chancellor and prime minister are committed to finding a package of measures on housing which will include more cash, alterations to planning rules and other “supply side” changes to increase Britain’s brick-making capacity and train bricklayers and electricians.
May is still understood to be resisting plans to build on the green belt, which have widespread support from other cabinet ministers. The prime minister’s Maidenhead constituency borders the green belt.
Hammond is reluctant to agree huge new sums and has rejected calls for £50bn of borrowing, but has concluded he will have to find some money.
A senior figure said: “The general election sent some political warning signals, which need to be responded to. We are going to tackle intergenerational unfairness and the obvious dysfunctionality in the housing market.”
The plans have the strong support of Gavin Barwell, the former housing minister who is May’s new chief of staff.
Hammond has privately argued that the construction industry is stretched to the limit and wants to uncork the problems. “We import 100m bricks,” said a source.
“There are not thousands of unemployed bricklayers sitting around waiting to build. We need supply-side reforms as well as money.”
Hammond and May are understood to recognise that they have to signal to voters under 40 that they are on their side, having failed to do so during the general election and the party conference last month.
Any tax rises are likely to be confined to asset-rich older voters and those with pensions. “Raising tax is always difficult, but it depends who you are taxing,” said a senior source.
Hammond is examining plans to provide better transport links around London to make more areas viable commuter towns.
He is also drawing up a package of measures to train young people for the hi-tech jobs of the future and plough money into research and development in sectors such as artificial intelligence and robotics.
The chancellor will also outline plans to improve productivity, which he regards as the most important factor in boosting growth in the years ahead.”
Source: Reuters
It really doesn”t matter what he took the money FOR, what matters is who he took it FROM:
“Steve Baker, a prominent Brexiteer who was promoted to the frontbench after his work with David Davis, took £6,500 from an organisation called the Constitutional Research Council (CRC).
The same group was behind a large donation to Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in the run up to the vote to leave the EU.
The CRC gave £425,622 to the DUP while the referendum campaign was in full swing.
There is very little information on the elusive CRC – they do not have a website, a press team or campaigns team, no membership list and appear not to be registered as a company.
Ben Bradshaw, the former Labour culture minister, has written to Kathryn Hudson, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, asking her to investigate the donation.
In his letter, Mr Bradshaw said there was “strong evidence” the donation did not come from “a permissible donor”.
However, the Electoral Commission would have had its hands tied during the campaign as it is not allowed to publish the names of donors in Northern Ireland.
Mr Bradshaw has previously raised the issue of the DUP with Andrea Leadsom, leader of the Commons. She said: “I share his concern that we need to make sure that all donations are permissible and legal.”
Last night Mr Bradshaw said: “We know a donation from this organisation to the DUP in the EU Referendum was ruled impermissible by the Electoral Commission and the DUP were fined.
“So, it is important the parliamentary standards commissioner can satisfy herself that a similar breach has not occurred here.”
A spokesman for Mr Baker said: “All the steps have been taken to ensure donations are registered and accepted in accordance with the rules, and we are confident that they do so.”
East Devon Watch 