No shock whatsoever expressed at Tory Corruption – only about the government ensuring that the inquiry will be fudged in their favour. – Owl

by Mike Sivier voxpoliticalonline.com 

Snout in the trough (all right – bucket): perhaps the Conservatives should rename themselves the Corruption Party?

A lobbyist is running the Tory government’s inquiry into the Greensill scandal.

A lobbyist is running Parliament’s watchdog on lobbying.

And more people in public life are being identified as employees of the collapsed finance firm Greensill Capital, meaning their loyalties were divided between working for the public good and making profits for this private company. And this is just one firm. How many other MPs, former MPs and people in charge of other public organisations are also enmired in this corruption?

Consider this:

For those who can’t read images well, it says the government review of lobbying is being headed by Nigel Boardman, a consultant with law firm Slaughter & May – which lobbied against tightening lobbying laws.

It seems clear that the ‘fix’ is in – anyone who works for a firm that wants more freedom to lobby the government won’t find any corruption in David Cameron’s activities for Greensill, right?

Now let’s look at how Parliament got into a position where a former prime minister was able to insinuate himself into the corridors of power on behalf of his new employer and influence current ministers to provide Greensill with huge amounts of public money. Why didn’t the lobbying watchdog spot it and put a stop to it?

Here‘s iNews:

A senior member of the Government’s own lobbying watchdog runs his own firm advertising his access to ministers at the highest echelons of power.

Andrew Cumpsty sits on the Government’s Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), and boasts of his access to Cabinet ministers.

Do you think that might have something to do with how the rot has set in so far?

And then there’s this:

Hogan-Howe – now a Lord, and therefore well-placed to put in a good word for his employers – has only been discovered because of the focus on Greensill.

But how many other firms have their fingers in government pies via members of Parliament they just happen to have in their pockets?

And how much are our MPs and former MPs earning from second (or third, or fourth, or however many) jobs with these organisations?

Yes, there’s a Parliamentary inquiry happening, independently of Boris Johnson’s Slaughter & May-led whitewash, but that won’t go far enough either.

We need a full investigation into the current employment situations of all former MPs. Do they work for firms that have government contracts and, if so, how were those contracts secured?

Let’s find out how deep the rot has set in.

Because if we don’t – and if we don’t then clear it all out – then we may as well accept that Tory corruption is here to stay; it isn’t only part of the fabric of political life – it is the heart of the UK’s politics.

The Times carried the story under the heading: “Failed Flybe turned into Flymaybe by vulture fund”. The article also pointed out that Flybe operated just over half of domestic flights outside London and carried eight million passengers in 2019, flying between 71 airports in the UK and mainland Europe.

William Telford www.devonlive.com 

South West businesses would welcome the return of newly resurrected airline Flybe to the region – but there is no guarantee it will even fly again let alone to the West Country.

A new company called Flybe Ltd has bought assets of the failed Exeter-headquartered airline from administrators and hopes to start flights in 2021.

But there is no indication the new firm will operate from the South West or even fly to it – if it even sees aircraft in the sky at all.

While the venture currently has an operating licence (OL), the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) actually revoked this and it is only still in place because an appeal has been lodged. A decision will be taken by transport minister Grant Shapps.

Meanwhile, there is no evidence as yet that the new company, connected to hedge fund Cyrus Capital, will be based in the South West or even run services to it.

Administrators have already sold the Exeter training academy to Devon County Council for £3.6million and have returned 65 leased aircraft.

The new company has so far declined to add to an initial statement which said that, subject to vaccination programmes and relaxation of travel restrictions, it plans to launch the new Flybe in Summer 2021 on many of its former routes.

It said the new company will initially be smaller than the original Flybe, which employed 2,000 people, but intends to grow and create jobs.

However, industry insiders say that may be done far from the South West, possibly at Manchester or Birmingham, which Flybe used to serve, and one insider said: “There will be regional support to encourage them to come back to the South West, but we have no idea whether they will or not.”

And Tim Jones, chair of the South West Business Council, said that while there is no guarantee the new company will base itself in the region, it would, however, make sense to do so.

“The South West should be the location of the new business,” he said. “We have the credentials, skill sets and infrastructure that can support it. There is a strong case to say the origin of Flybe is in the South West and it would be welcomed back and we could make this a successful business and will vote with our feet by supporting it.”

Kim Conchie, chief executive of Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, said it would be good if the new Flybe could operate from the Duchy’s Newquay Airport.

He said: “Cornwall needs regional connectivity. We are a business area bursting with opportunities to build back better- to pick up on a G7 theme.

“We want to showcase to the world our floating offshore wind, our geothermal, our digital, marine and agritech businesses creating and doing things differently.

“There isn’t a booming economy in the world that doesn’t have a functioning airport. We need Flybe operating from Newquay and working with Cornwall’s entrepreneurs to make flying greener, efficient and easy so we can get clients and investors in and out quickly.”

The original Exeter-headquartered Flybe Ltd collapsed into administration in early 2020 after the Government withdrew a £100million rescue package.

The firm, which operated about 4% of UK domestic flights to numerous cities including Newcastle and Cardiff, saw the vast majority of its 2,000 workers made redundant.

But administrators at restructuring firm EY have now completed a deal with will see an unspecified number of jobs transfer from FBE Realisations 2021 Limited (in Administration), as the old Flybe was renamed, to the new company, previously known as Thyme Opco Limited, but now renamed Flybe Ltd.

In October 2020, EY struck a deal with Cyrus Capital, which was one of three partners alongside Virgin Atlantic and Stobart Group that had taken over Flybe before its demise in 2020.

However, the CAA began steps to revoke the operating licence (OL) in January 2021 and two months later actually revoked it. EY administrators have appealed against this but during the appeals process the licence remains valid.

An EY spokesperson said: “An appeal has been lodged against the CAA decision to revoke the operating licence held by FBE Realisations 2021 Limited (in Administration). Currently, and during any appeal process, the operating licence continues to remain valid.”

A spokesperson for the CAA said: “The UK Civil Aviation Authority can confirm that Flybe (formally known as Thyme OpCo Limited) has been granted an operating licence.

“This licence allows Flybe to undertake commercial air transport and was granted subject to the company meeting the qualifying legislative criteria and requirements of a new applicant.”

Missed deadlines or a change in demographics? – Owl

Richard Adams www.theguardian.com

Birmingham and London have recorded steep falls in demand for primary school places next year, with local authorities reporting that disruption caused by the Covid pandemic, as well as the falling birthrate and migration after Brexit, may be behind the decline.

London’s boroughs had a 7% fall in applications for reception class places in September, while Birmingham had 9% fewer applications compared with 2020. Major local authorities in the south-east of England reported declines of 2% or more, including Essex, Kent, and Brighton and Hove.

Local authority representatives said some of the fall was due to parents simply missing the deadline for applications on 15 January, when schools were closed to most pupils and the post-Christmas wave of infections was rising. The pandemic prevented schools and councils from carrying out traditional marketing such as open days.

The Pan London Admissions Board – which administers state school applications for the 32 London boroughs – said the “turbulence caused by the Covid-19 pandemic” may have led to families not being aware of or missing the application deadline. Parents applying late after the deadline are not guaranteed a state school place.

London Councils, the umbrella group for the 32 local authorities, said: “The boroughs are expecting more late applications this year as many parents were not accessing childcare, where they would usually have had reminders about the application deadline, or have just been too busy dealing with the disruption caused by the pandemic.”

But the decrease was “also likely to reflect a wider set of factors”, it added.

“Other factors, such as the announcement of Brexit and subsequent drop in EU migration, have been cited by some boroughs as having an impact on demand for primary school places,” the councils said.

“Covid-19 is also already having an impact on London’s demographics as boroughs report that more families in London are choosing to move to less urban areas due to changes in circumstances and working patterns.

“These factors vary from borough to borough and are very hard to quantify in terms of numbers, therefore making it increasingly difficult for local authorities to be able to plan school places in the medium to long term.”

But outside London, some local authorities also reported steep declines, with Birmingham seeing applications for school entry fall from nearly 14,400 last year to 13,000 this year. Applications in Oxfordshire were down by more than 6%. A survey of 71 councils in England by the Press Association found that 63 had seen a fall in applications while just eight had seen a rise.

In England children are encouraged to enrol in full-time schooling from the age of four. Births in England peaked in 2012, with applications for primary school places reaching 641,000 in 2016. But since 2012, births have declined by more than 12%, with applications falling to 612,000 in 2020.

The fall in demand meant less pressure for places in popular schools, with most parts of the country reporting a rise in the proportion of families given places in their first preference.

In Birmingham nearly 92% of applicants received their first choice, up four percentage points compared with 2020. In London, 87% of applicants – 79,343 children – secured their first-preference school, compared with 85% last year.

Kensington and Chelsea remained the most difficult London borough to secure a first-preference spot, with just 66% achieving it this year – worse than last year, when 70% did so.

In Doncaster, the local authority said that 97% of families were given their first preference of school.