Boris Johnson faces a confrontation with his backbenchers today as he pushes for MPs to be banned from taking on second jobs as consultants.

Steven Swinford,Henry Zeffman, www.thetimes.co.uk

The prime minister gave in yesterday to pressure over sleaze by proposing that MPs be barred from acting as paid political consultants. He also called for a limit on the amount of time MPs can spend on outside interests.

He will push his plans to a vote in the Commons today in an attempt to outflank Labour. The move represents a significant shift in Johnson’s position a fortnight after his botched attempt to block the suspension of Owen Paterson, a former cabinet minister.

There was a backlash yesterday from Tory MPs with outside interests, who accused him of “capitulation”. One said: “It’s pouring petrol on to the flames. He’s caved to the left. Now if you have a consultancy it will be assumed you’re evil.”

Another MP said that Johnson announced the plans because he was concerned about being embarrassed during an appearance before the liaison committee of MPs this afternoon. “There’s a lot of unease. It’s the lurching, the U-turning, the lack of consultation.”

However, the proposals do not bar MPs from taking paid directorships or acting as consultants in non-political roles. Many of the 29 Tory MPs who act as consultants believe that they will be able to continue working because their second jobs are unrelated to parliament.

There was more concern on the back benches about plans to place “reasonable limits” on outside work by MPs to ensure they are focused on their constituents. “It looks very odd,” one senior Tory MP said. “How do you determine how much time people should be spending on something? How do you arbitrate on that? How do you define parliamentary consultancy?”

In a letter to Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, Johnson identified two recommendations from a 2018 report by the committee on standards in public life for inclusion in an updated code of conduct for MPs. One of the new provisions would be that “any outside activity undertaken by an MP, whether remunerated or unremunerated, should be within reasonable limits and should not prevent them from fully carrying out their range of duties”.

The move follows criticism of Sir Geoffrey Cox, a former attorney-general, who voted in parliament from the Caribbean while advising the government of the British Virgin Islands in a case brought by the British government.

The other would state that “MPs should not accept any paid work to provide services as a parliamentary strategist, adviser or consultant, for example, advising on parliamentary affairs or on how to influence parliament and its members”.

Johnson published his letter moments before Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, began a speech about his proposals to ban most outside earnings for MPs.

The government’s amendment calls for “cross-party work” to “bring forward recommendations” on changes in line with Johnson’s ideas by the end of January. Unlike Labour’s motion, it does not specify that that work must be completed by the standards committee.

Labour accused the government of “dirty tricks” last night because its amendment does not guarantee parliamentary time for a vote on changing the standards rules next year.

There are 25 politicians who spend the equivalent of at least one working day a week on outside work for which they are paid. Almost one in four Tory MPs spend at least 100 hours a year on their second job.

Chris Bryant, a Labour MP and chairman of the standards committee, which is already looking into the code of conduct, accused Downing Street of “flapping about like a demented chicken”.

Johnson held a Downing Street reception last night for Tory MPs from the 2019 intake during which he apologised for “driving the golf ball into the sandpit” over his handling of the Paterson vote and sleaze allegations.

Cllr. Stuart Hughes acting as high handed as ever – Owl

Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter sidmouth.nub.news

Roadworks at a notorious accident blackspot near Sidmouth are expected to be completed in the next day or two, but a Devon County Council highways chief has been criticised for the “undemocratic” way he’s handled the concerns raised about the road.

Councillor Stuart Hughes (Conservative, Sidmouth), cabinet member for highway management at Devon County Council (DCC), says the roadworks on the A3052 Four Elms Hill near Sidmouth which started on Monday should be completed by Wednesday. The works involve new double-white lines indicating ‘no overtaking’, signs urging motorists to slow down and a skid-resistant surface on parts of the road.

The news will come as a relief to some residents who have been urging the council to improve safety on the stretch of the A3052 by reducing speeding and dangerous overtaking. Councillor Jess Bailey (Independent, Otter Valley) said she will be happy when “the long-overdue works” are done but has criticised the way Cllr Hughes handled the issue at DCC.

Following a request by Cllr Bailey, an update on the works at Four Elms was provided recently by county council officers to members of its East Devon Highways and Traffic Orders Committee (HATOC). Cllr Hughes, who chaired the meeting, did not allow committee members to comment on the update despite a request made by Cllr Bailey.

Cllr Hughes did not allow Councillor Bailey to speak on the issue because she had called for the update and, as it had been given by an officer, “therefore there was nothing to discuss.”

She said she was “gobsmacked” she was denied the right to speak, adding: “I was left, literally, speechless. Cllr Hughes also prevented Cllr Hayward, who is a member of the committee and clerk for Newton Poppleford Parish Councillor, from speaking, too.

“In not allowing me to speak, Cllr Hughes, from the position of chair of the meeting, blocked me from doing my job on behalf of residents.

“It is very disappointing to be treated in such a dismissive way by Cllr Hughes who, as the portfolio holder for highways, sets the tone for his entire department.

Cllr Bailey added: “I think it’s very undemocratic to silence your ward member. If they’ve got a question they should be able to ask it.”

“The Lords is as central as the Commons to the latest outbreak of “sleaze” headlines, something also highlighted by a prime ministerial spokesperson’s initial refusal to rule out smoothing the exit from the Commons of the disgraced MP Owen Paterson by making him a peer. The Lords element of the story, moreover, has an even clearer underlying plotline: the survival of a part of the British state that has long been absurd and corrupt – and the sense that, as our established institutions are constantly disrupted and disgraced, the public might at last be persuaded to support the idea of doing something about it.”

Fifteen of the last 16 Tory treasurers have been appointed to the Lords, all of whom have donated at least £3m to their party.

Read more here:

The Lords is a scandal in plain sight. If we won’t abolish it now, then when?

John Harris www.theguardian.com 

A Conservative party donor who supported Michael Gove’s Tory leadership bid won £164m in Covid contracts after the minister referred his firm to a “VIP lane” that awarded almost £5bn to companies with political connections, new analysis reveals.

David Conn www.theguardian.com 

The disclosure draws Gove into a furore over alleged cronyism that has led critics to accuse the government of running a “chumocracy” where MPs’ friends, contacts or acquaintances have won huge contracts without proper process or transparency.

Meller Designs, based in Bedford, was awarded six personal protective equipment (PPE) supply contracts worth £164m from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) during the coronavirus pandemic.

Until January this year it was co-owned by David Meller, who has donated nearly £60,000 to the Tory party since 2009. This included £3,250 to support Gove’s party leadership bid in 2016, a campaign on which Meller worked as chair of finance.

When the contracts were awarded, Gove was a minister at the Cabinet Office, which is responsible for government procurement, and in charge of the office of the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, which referred Meller Designs for PPE supply.

The company was among 47 awarded contracts for PPE totalling £4.7bn after referrals from politicians and officials, according to a Guardian analysis. Several were linked to MPs, all of them Conservative. Due to the health emergency, many contracts were awarded without competitive tender.

The list of 47 companies awarded contracts via the VIP lane was published by Politico on Tuesday before its official planned release by the DHSC after a freedom of information request by the Good Law Project, which is challenging the propriety of some contracts.

The VIP or “high-priority” route was a fast-track process set up by DHSC procurement teams for offers to supply PPE from companies referred by ministers, MPs, NHS officials or other people with political connections. A report by the National Audit Office last year found that firms referred to the VIP lane had a 10 times greater success rate for securing contracts than companies whose bids were processed via normal channels.

Labour has repeatedly accused the government of favouring people with Tory party connections in the awards of multimillion-pound contracts during the pandemic.

The list of companies includes 18 whose contracts were processed through the fast track after being referred by a Conservative MP, minister or peer. When questions were first asked about the process last year, the government responded that referrals were a way of filtering credible offers that came to MPs and ministers. However, only companies referred by Conservative politicians are on the list of those awarded contracts.

The then health secretary, Matt Hancock, referred four firms subsequently awarded contracts; Andrew Feldman, a health department adviser at the time, referred three of the companies; Theodore Agnew, a Cabinet Office minister, referred three; and the Tory backbenchers Julian Lewis, Andrew Percy, Steve Brine and Esther McVey referred one each.

Another Tory peer, the lingerie businesswoman Michelle Mone, is stated to have referred one company, PPE Medpro, which was awarded two contracts worth £200m via the VIP lane. Corporate services including accounting and directorships were provided to the company by Knox House Trust (KHT), an Isle of Man firm run by Mone’s husband, Douglas Barrowman.

Mone, who made her career and fortune with her Ultimo lingerie company, last year denied to the Guardian via her lawyers that she had “any role or function in PPE Medpro, nor in the process by which contracts were awarded to PPE Medpro”. Mone’s lawyers told the Guardian she maintains her denial of involvement.

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader and the shadow chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, said in relation to Gove: “It shows just how engulfed in corruption this government is that the minister in charge of procurement and ensuring that contracts are awarded to the best bidder and represent value for money for the taxpayer was helping his own donor to get VIP fast-track access to contracts.

“It is time this … government published the full details of every PPE and testing contract awarded to companies with links to the Conservative party, Conservative ministers and Conservative MPs.”

A spokesperson for Gove denied that the referral involved any impropriety, saying he passed on offers to supply PPE. “The former minister for the Cabinet Office played no role in the decision to award any PPE contract, and all ministerial interests were properly declared to officials,” they said.

A spokesperson for David Meller said he had nothing to add to a previous statement provided by Meller Designs, which said it had approached the government offering to supply equipment and was “extremely proud” of the role it played in supplying “more than 100m items of PPE”.

The Cabinet Office has refused Freedom of Information Act requests from the Guardian to release correspondence between Meller and Gove during the pandemic.

A lawyer for Mone and Barrowman said: “Baroness Mone is neither an investor, director or shareholder in any way associated with PPE Medpro. She has never had any role or function in PPE Medpro, nor in the process by which contracts were awarded to PPE Medpro.” They added that she did not accept that PPE Medpro was “referred in as alleged” or “that our clients misled anyone”.

The DHSC has stressed that ministers were not involved in decisions to award contracts, and that all company offers referred were subjected to a due diligence process. A government spokesperson said: “At the height of the pandemic there was a desperate need for PPE to protect health and social care staff and the government rightly took swift and decisive action to secure it. Ministers were not involved in awarding contracts.”

Lord Feldman said the companies were referred to him by third parties and he passed them on to officials. He was “neither responsible for nor played any part in the decision to award these contracts … never had any commercial relationship with them or their owners” and “did not request, or indeed know, that these offers has been assigned to the high-priority lane”.

The Cabinet Office said Lord Agnew had been referring on companies that had approached his office. Uniserve said the DHSC had approached it directly and that it had no connections with Agnew.

McVey and Lewis said the companies they referred were local to their constituencies. All other MPs and peers have been contacted for comment.

Without a division we will never know whether Neil changed his mind, he may not have even been in the chamber for the U-Turn debate. So he may have escaped cleaning out the stables.

Yesterday Neil Parish was at the Commons environment committee where George Eustice, the environment secretary, was giving evidence.

“ The hearing opened with some highly critical questions from Neil Parish, a Conservative, who complained that the visa systems offered by the government were not doing enough to address the serious problems facing farmers. He went on:

All we are doing at the moment is staggering on, as far as I can see. The pig sector is not profitable. Pig prices are on the floor …

A lot of pig farmers will stop keeping pigs, bluntly. Poultry is being reduced. All of these visas are very time limited, and half the time people don’t want to come for a short period.

What gets me so cross is we put in place a system that’s not working. And when the industry doesn’t take it up, you’ll say the industry didn’t take it up, so it’s all the industry’s fault. No, it’s not the industry’s fault.

We’ve got a very good industry which, as far as I can see, we are not actually destroying, but we are actually making it very difficult.

Eustice said he thought the visa scheme should be working for the pig and poultry sector. He also said that pig production had increased by about 7% or 8% this year, and that was part of the reason for the problem of over-supply.”

Is he sincere? Too little, too late! – Owl

Aubrey Allegretti www.theguardian.com 

Boris Johnson has bowed to pressure from Labour to take tougher action against MPs with second jobs, as he sought to avoid haemorrhaging further public support in the wake of sleaze scandals that have engulfed the Conservative party in recent weeks.

The prime minister said MPs who prioritise outside financial interests over their job representing constituents should be investigated and “appropriately punished”, and all MPs should be banned from acting as paid political lobbyists.

The move came at the end of a humiliating episode for Johnson, when, after two weeks, the government finally U-turned on its plan to save the Tory ex-cabinet minister Owen Paterson from suspension by approving a report that found he committed an “egregious” breach of lobbying rules, which it had initially blocked.

MPs’ second jobs have also been in the spotlight recently after it was revealed that the former attorney general Geoffrey Cox had earned hundreds of thousands of pounds for legal work, appeared to use his parliamentary office to attend a hearing remotely, and voted by proxy from the Caribbean.

Johnson wrote to the Commons Speaker on Tuesday, just as the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, was due to give a speech challenging ministers to support a tougher approach to MPs’ outside financial interests.

The prime minister said the MPs’ code of conduct should be updated so their work “continues to command the confidence of the public”, and added that any elected legislator’s “primary role” should be “to serve their constituents”.

Johnson said he supported two recommendations made in a 2018 report by the Committee on Standards in Public Life. The first said MPs should not undertake any extra employment that would “prevent them from carrying out their range of duties”.

The second said MPs should not receive “any paid work to provide services as a parliamentary strategist, adviser or consultant”, for example by advising on “how to influence parliament and its members”.

Johnson said adopting these suggestions would “form the basis of viable approach which could command the confidence of parliamentarians and the public”.

He added it was “a matter of regret” the suggestions made a year before he won the keys to Downing Street had not been implemented already, and voiced his support for them being “adopted as a matter of urgency”.

The move represents an about-turn for Johnson, who has resisted backing calls over the past few weeks for tougher action against MPs’ second jobs.

It is also likely to rile some of the more traditional members of his party, whom Johnson has previously defended and said that their expertise in fields outside politics was actually a positive.

The announcement came as Starmer was preparing to announce an opposition day motion to be put forward in the Commons on Wednesday that called for all of the recommendations of the Committee on Standards in Public Life to be implemented.

When he was told of Johnson’s intervention at a press conference on Tuesday, Starmer said: “So we’ve won the vote tomorrow already.”

In the end there was no division but Boris Johnson still  refuses to apologise.

Since you seem to be having difficulty in setting your moral compass, not that Owl would normally recommend following this lot.

According to this latest report from the Guardian:

“Rees-Mogg will have to present the motion on Paterson on Tuesday, with an hour of debate due to follow about the former North Shropshire MP’s conduct. Unlike the motion the previous night that only needed one opponent to defeat it, a simple majority will be enough for it to pass.

It will be a free vote, meaning Tory MPs will not be whipped one way or the other, but they have been told that the chief whip, Mark Spencer, will be voting to endorse the Paterson report, which will put pressure on them to follow suit.

Rees-Mogg was one of the three senior figures – including Spencer and the prime minister – to originally push for Paterson to avoid suspension by overhauling the standards system, partly to introduce the power to appeal for MPs found guilty of wrongdoing.” 

Link:

Rees-Mogg says trying to spare Tory MP from suspension a ‘serious mistake’

“The problem is that the partnership was all very much behind closed doors. There wasn’t an independent review process, there wasn’t any scope for the wider university community to input, there wasn’t any transparency about it until it was a fait accompli.”

Charlie Parker, Ben Ellery www.thetimes.co.uk

Exeter University is being urged to cut institutional ties with a Chinese university over its employment of academics considered the “ideological architects” of the oppression of Uighurs.

Students say Exeter may be “complicit in cultural genocide” over its decade-long relationship with Tsinghua University, President Xi’s alma mater.

Senior academics at Tsinghua, considered the “Oxbridge of China”, are said to have laid the ideological foundations of forced assimilation policies.

It has drawn criticism for facilitating the work of Hu Angang, an influential political economist, and Hu Lianhe, a counterterrorism researcher who became a senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official.

Hu Angang, director of the university’s Institute for Contemporary China Studies, has argued for the creation of a “unified race” in China and is understood to have significant influence among CCP politburos.

The two academics have written about the failure of multi-ethnic states in other countries and proposed government intervention to eradicate ethnic differences, making them “blend together” into a single “state-race”.

The CCP has adopted at least seven important policy reforms proposed by Hu Angang, according to the Jamestown Foundation, a think tank, suggesting that his ideas on ethnic policy reform are likely to have received “a serious hearing”.

A Freedom of Information request from students in Exeter revealed that one academic from its College of Humanities met Hu Angang in 2016 when giving a talk at Tsinghua.

Tsinghua has partnerships with other leading western universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, Harvard and Yale. It was crowned the best university in Asia this year in the World University Rankings.

It is understood to have provided resources to Exeter worth tens of thousands of pounds.

Mark Goodwin, a deputy vice-chancellor at Exeter, and Richard Foord, the university’s acting head and lead on global partnerships, debated the issue with members of the university at a panel hearing last night.

Rahima Mahmut, a Uighur who fled China and is now the UK project director of the World Uighur Congress and an adviser to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said all UK universities should review their relationships with Tsinghua, adding that the partnerships “make my blood boil”.

Exeter students associated with the Students For Uighurs campaign began to scrutinise the relationship their university had with Tsinghua this year after the two institutions announced a new joint chair post.

The Freedom of Information request revealed that the universities had signed and repeatedly renewed a memorandum of understanding in 2011 “to facilitate deeper research engagement across a large number of academic disciplines”.

As part of the agreement the universities collaborated in fields including leadership, engineering, data science and artificial intelligence.

Flo Marks, a politics student at Exeter, has led a student protest against the agreement which has won support across the campus as well as from hundreds online.

She is calling for more informal links between the two universities so that collaboration on important subjects could continue between specific scholars and departments while maintaining ethical standards.

One Exeter academic told The Times: “The problem is that the partnership was all very much behind closed doors. There wasn’t an independent review process, there wasn’t any scope for the wider university community to input, there wasn’t any transparency about it until it was a fait accompli.

“There is a reasonable argument that working with an institution that employs Hu Angang is just a red line. If push comes to shove I would probably agree with that.”

Hu Angang and Hu Lianhe took inspiration from the American “melting pot” model, claiming that creating a shared identity helps to maintain “national unity, development vitality and social order”. They described the “fusion” of ethnicities as a matter of national security.

After their paper was published they were met with strong opposition from other Chinese scholars of ethnic policy who argued the government should focus on reining in the heavy-handed policing and discrimination they believed was fuelling divisions.

However, violent incidents in the years that followed intensified calls for the adoption of more extreme measures. Xi became vocal in the debate after terrorist attacks in Beijing and in the southwest city of Kunming in 2014 that Chinese authorities said were carried out by Uighur separatists from Xinjiang.

The government in Xinjiang has since built “unity villages” where Han and minorities live side by side. It has also been increasing efforts to support marriages between Han and Uighurs.

In a written response to questions about the policies, Hu Angang told The Wall Street Journal that compared with other countries “China’s policies towards ethnic minorities and ethnic regions have all been the most successful”.

Charles Parton, a former British diplomat with two decades of experience working on issues in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, said Hu Angang’s work may have given the CCP “direction” when making policies for ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.

“The specifics of implementation are nothing to do with Hu Angang — he might provide ideological justifications and suggestions,” he said. “He’s well known as an ideologue whom one wouldn’t want to shake hands with too closely.”

However, Parton called for caution over cutting all ties with Tsinghua. “We want relations with China, so there needs to be balance there. Keep Hu Angang at arm’s length to the extent that you can, don’t invite him to Exeter, but if he turns up to a meeting [in Tsinghua] then tolerate him.

“You may not agree with these people but it’s better to talk to them and understand where they’re coming from so that you are in a better place to argue against it.”

An Exeter University spokeswoman said: “No one at the university has collaborated with Hu Angang or Hu Lianhe. University researchers have not worked with Tsinghua researchers on questions of ethnicity, be that ethnicity in Xinjiang, in China or elsewhere.

“Before entering into any new collaboration, the University of Exeter employs robust due diligence processes and ensures that it is following the most up-to-date regulations and guidance from the UK government and Universities UK.

“To date, that advice has been that we should continue our connections with China, as a part of the UK’s extensive education and cultural links with the country. The University of Exeter is implementing recommendations set out in recent Universities UK guidance to all universities on ‘Managing risks in internationalisation: security related issues’.

“In common with other UK universities, the University of Exeter works with wide range of partner universities across the world — including Tsinghua University — on global challenges such as climate science and public health.”

Tsinghua, Hu Angang and Hu Lianhe did not respond to requests for comment.

Owl is hearing reports that a formal motion to rescind the so-called Leadsom amendment, which looked to establish a review of the MPs standards investigation process and delay Owen Paterson’s suspension for breaking lobbying rules, will now be debated and voted on possibly this afternoon.

Tomorrow Labour intends to table their own “clean up” motion.

It will be interesting to see how many Tory MPs reveal their “true colours” in the debate and subsequent vote – Aye, No, or Abstain?

With 92 new apartments built to Passivhaus standard.

There is a Passivhaus development in Seaton, are there any more in East Devon? – Owl

Anita Merritt www.devonlive.com

Next stage plans have been revealed for dated homes awaiting demolition in Exeter which have become an eyesore in the local area and have been targetted by intruders causing criminal damage.

In February 2020, plans were approved to replace the existing buildings of Whipton Barton House in Vaughan Road, Whipton, with 92 new apartments built to Passivhaus standard.

The new development – created by Exeter City Council-owned development company Exeter City Living – will be called The Gardens. Out of the new homes being built, 60 of the new homes will be affordable and retained as new Council housing, and 32 homes will be for market rent.

The apartments would be arranged in three and four-storey blocks around the perimeter of the site, with a communal garden and play area at its centre.

However, work is yet to commence on the new environmentally-friendly housing project which is currently surrounded by hoardings to keep the site secure.

Repairs to the hoardings were scheduled for installation last month. A main contractor will then start the construction of the new building in spring 2022.

Work is yet to begin at new housing development The Gardens in Vaughan Road, Exeter (Image: Exeter City Council)

A number of incidences of anti-social behaviour have been reported at the site, including trespassing and criminal damage.

Exeter City Living has stated on its website: “As a building site it presents a number of potential dangers, and we do not wish for anyone to get hurt.

“While we are keeping the site as secure as we can, any help from the community in identifying intruders will help to keep people safe and assist the police dealing with the situation.”

In the meantime, in a bid to improve the look of the site, colourful artwork has been created on the hoardings during workshops with artist Stuart Crewes, funded by Exeter City Living.

More than 50 pupils from Whipton Barton School and Willowbrook School, plus families at the Beacon Community Centre, participated in the workshops, drawing inspiration from nature and the built environment, and by thinking about what makes a vibrant and healthy place to live.

Cllr Ruth Williams, lead councillor for supporting people, who helped with the coordination of the community artwork, said: “These beautiful artworks are the culmination of a series of workshops with the artist and local community, and the result is fantastic.

Pupils from Whipton Barton School and Willowbrook School have helped to created artwork on the hoardings of The Gardens development site (Image: Exeter City Council)

“I know that the people of Whipton will enjoy the artwork and it will be there at the front of this wonderful development, where we will have 92 homes for local people, including 60 council socially-rented homes, and I so happy to see this.”

The site has previously been used to provide single-storey sheltered housing facilities.

The development is part of the council’s wider plans to create 500 new Passivhaus Council homes in Exeter over the next five years.

The Gardens in Vaughan Road, Exeter (Image: Exeter City Council)

The homes are created to be healthier and more comfortable; where heat regulation costs are reduced and where climate emergency and fuel poverty are tackled head on.

The development will feature a biodiverse green space, built with community in mind. Private gardens, electric car club, electric vehicle hook ups and extensive cycle parking have also been included in the design of the development.

All it took was one Tory to holler “OBJECT” to block the attempt to reverse the “sleaze” vote. 

But was he taking his lead from the Prime Minister? 

After all, Boris Johnson has refused to apologise for the sleaze row and only admitted that he could have handled the matter better.

So the vote of two weeks ago to create a “kangaroo court”, stuffed with conservative MPs, to review standards still stands!  – Owl

PM fails to stifle sleaze scandal as ratification of Paterson report blocked

Aubrey Allegretti www.theguardian.com 

Boris Johnson’s attempt to draw a line under the sleaze scandal engulfing the Conservative party fell apart after a Tory MP blocked parliament endorsing a report that found a former colleague committed an egregious breach of lobbying rules.

The backbencher Christopher Chope was named by multiple sources as the person who objected to ratifying the findings about Owen Paterson’s behaviour which followed a two-year investigation by the Commons standards watchdog.

The government had tried to shunt the vote to the end of the day but put forward a motion that only one MP needed to object to in order for it to fail. In a deeply embarrassing move for the prime minister, one Tory cried out “object” late on Monday night – prolonging the resolution of the issue that has prompted some MPs to warn tensions are “frighteningly high” within the Conservative party.

Chris Bryant, a Labour MP and chair of the standards committee, said he had been assured the motion would be retabled on Tuesday with a one-hour debate to try again to endorse the Paterson report. Chope was contacted for comment.

Fury from Tories exploded at the issue being prolonged, with a minister telling the Guardian: “He has been for many year a Jurassic embarrassment – tonight he crossed a line. The man should retire and the executive are livid. If he comes into the team room tomorrow, colleagues would want to say two words to him and the second word would be ‘off’.”

A former minister said: “The fact we can’t deselect these people is baffling”, while a frontbencher called Chope “a selfish twat”. Backbenchers complained it would “make a bad situation even worse”, and expressed severe disappointment it was “handing Labour a freebie”.

Meanwhile, the shadow Commons leader, Thangam Debbonaire, said the “farce was of the Tories’ own making and serves Johnson right for trying to sneak a U-turn out at night rather than do the decent thing and come to the house to apologise”.

It came hours after Kwasi Kwarteng apologised to parliament’s standards commissioner for casting doubt on her future in the role earlier this month.

The business secretary wrote to Kathryn Stone saying he regretted his choice of words and recognised that ministers must adhere to high standards that treat others with consideration and respect.

“I did not mean to express doubt about your ability to discharge your role and I apologise for any upset or distress my choice of words may have caused,” he said.

Kwarteng made the comments in a broadcast interview as he was sent out to defend the government’s bid to overhaul the standards regime and spare Paterson a six-week Commons suspension.

He told Sky News: “I think it’s difficult to see what the future of the commissioner is, given the fact that we’re reviewing the process, and we’re overturning and trying to reform this whole process, but it’s up to the commissioner to decide her position.”

Just hours later, the government U-turned on its efforts to undermine the system that regulates the actions of MPs, as Johnson agreed to let the parliamentary standards committee come up with its own proposals for reform.

Tory MPs had already been whipped to vote in favour of reforming the system in a way that would let Paterson off the hook, but the government has since agreed to reverse that parliamentary decision.

After the motion narrowly passed on 3 November, ministers privately vented their fury and a public backlash forced the prime minister to U-turn.

Johnson promised to retract the motion that set up a new committee that would have been chaired by a Tory MP and reviewed the existing processes for investigating sleaze claims.

The humiliating climbdown led to Paterson resigning as MP for North Shropshire, and sparked a close examination of other lawmakers’ second jobs and outside interests.

In the nearly two weeks since, many in Johnson’s party have vented their frustration at yet another “unforced error” by Downing Street that has potentially cost them a lead in the polls and seen their faith in Johnson diminish further.

One former cabinet minister said there was still widespread unhappiness in the parliamentary party, with particular ire about the way the chief whip had been “hung out to dry” when the decision had ultimately been Johnson’s.

He said the preference of many Conservative MPs would have been to plea for leniency for Paterson, who has always denied wrongdoing, rather than letting him off altogether, but those MPs suggested that course had been ignored.

• Rear extension11 Southern Wood Exmouth EX8 4EXRef. No: 21/2904/CPL | Validated: Fri 05 Nov 2021 | Status: Approved
• Larger single storey side extensionCoppins Station Road Whimple Exeter EX5 2QHRef. No: 21/2905/CPL | Validated: Fri 05 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey rear extension with rooflight and alterations to fenestration. 4 Warwick Close Feniton Honiton EX14 3DTRef. No: 21/2907/FUL | Validated: Fri 05 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed construction of track and hardstandings for touring caravans, installation of amenities pod and sewage treatment plant, and installation of replacement chemical waste disposal plant Rose Coombe Farm Combpyne Axminster EX13 8SYRef. No: 21/2900/FUL | Validated: Fri 05 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed siting of additional shepherds hut Knightstone Knightstone Farm Ottery St Mary EX11 1PPRef. No: 21/2896/FUL | Validated: Thu 04 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Class Q prior approval for proposed change of use from agricultural barn to one dwellinghouse. Land Lying To The South Of Rull Barton Rull Lane WhimpleRef. No: 21/2899/PDQ | Validated: Thu 04 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolition of dwarf wall, construction of new wall and metal railings. 50 Bicton Street Exmouth EX8 2RURef. No: 21/2889/FUL | Validated: Wed 03 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolition of dwarf wall, construction of new wall and metal railings. 50 Bicton Street Exmouth EX8 2RURef. No: 21/2890/LBC | Validated: Wed 03 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• The conversion of a Garage to provide a bathroom and the installation of a new window to an existing bedroom4 Canterbury Close Feniton Honiton EX14 3DNRef. No: 21/2895/CPL | Validated: Wed 03 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of replacement floodlights Seaton And District Cricket And Tennis Club Court Lane Seaton EX12 2ATRef. No: 21/2880/FUL | Validated: Tue 02 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Erection of a roof structure over existing silage clamp within existing farmyard. Barnfield Farm Monkton Honiton EX14 9NLRef. No: 21/2878/FUL | Validated: Thu 04 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erecting a roof structure over an existing silage clamp within the existing farm yard Barnfield Farm Monkton Honiton EX14 9NLRef. No: 21/2879/FUL | Validated: Tue 02 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Blue lawson cypress on south easterly side of property,dbh 15iches, fell, as unwanted and low amenity value. T2, Indian bean tree,rear garden on westerly side of property, dbh 20 inches plus, reduce via thinning by up to 1.5m, prunning cuts of no more than 75mm, this tree has become to large for the area that it is in, it is suppressing other trees and blocking out the light to them. T3, Holly, rear garden, westerly side of property, dbh 6inches or less, fell, suppressed by indian bean tree, low amenity value. Longwood Bickwell Valley Sidmouth EX10 8SGRef. No: 21/2883/TCA | Validated: Tue 02 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construct a wooden field shelter and haystore on a concrete base; change of use to equestrian Corner Of Old Sidmouth Road And Love Lane (Land East Of Sellers Grave) Old Sidmouth Road ColytonRef. No: 21/2877/FUL | Validated: Thu 04 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of Tortoise fireboxes, flue liners, terracotta twin wall liner to top of chimney and bird guard Westgate Gittisham Honiton EX14 3AURef. No: 21/2882/LBC | Validated: Tue 02 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Holm Oak, T1404 & T1405 : Fell. English Oak T1406 : Reduce the eastern limb by 2.0m utilising maximum diameter cuts of 65mm. Reason : Appropriate arb management to reduce risk of failure due to poor condition/ structure of trees. Monterey Strawberry Hill Lympstone Exmouth EX8 5JZRef. No: 21/2863/TRE | Validated: Tue 02 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1 Lime. The tree is located at the front on garden next to the pavement and has pushed out the flint wall on to pavement. Fell due to damage the tree has caused to the wall. 1 Boughfield Bickwell Valley Sidmouth EX10 8SGRef. No: 21/2861/TCA | Validated: Tue 02 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Enlargement of existing porch on east elevation of dwelling.Garlands Stovar Long Lane Beer Seaton EX12 3EARef. No: 21/2871/CPL | Validated: Mon 01 Nov 2021 | Status: Withdrawn
• Proposed construction of detached double garage, including regrading of land and construction of retaining walls Hillside Long Hill Beer Seaton EX12 3HURef. No: 21/2868/FUL | Validated: Mon 01 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Cherry : DBH 20inches, fell, as dead/dying Flat 2 Boughfield Bickwell Valley Sidmouth EX10 8SGRef. No: 21/2860/TCA | Validated: Mon 01 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Variation of Condition 2 (approved plans) of planning application 21/1148/FUL (Construction of a two-storey dwelling) 55 Peaslands Road Sidmouth EX10 9BERef. No: 21/2875/VAR | Validated: Mon 01 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Reserved matters comprising access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale for 18/1702/OUT (outline application for 4 No. (C3) residential dwellings with associated parking provision (all matters reserved). Land West Of Burnside Gamberlake AxminsterRef. No: 21/2869/RES | Validated: Thu 04 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Rebuild new outbuilding on the footprint of previous outbuilding. Orchard Cottage Dunkeswell Abbey Honiton EX14 4RPRef. No: 21/2865/FUL | Validated: Thu 04 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T2, Goat Willow : Remove broken overhanging branch T3, Triple stemmed Alder Dead : Fell tree (ownership being investigated) scrubland T4, Alder : Reduce southern stem by 3 to 4 metres to avoid further leaning into children’s play area G1, Small Ash trees (5) growing through the stream fence, all have ash dieback, remove whilst manageable due to location and potential to fall and damage property G2, Maple Tree : Dead remove Sidbury C Of E Primary School Church Street Sidbury Sidmouth EX10 0SBRef. No: 21/2873/TCA | Validated: Wed 03 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion of coach house to ancillary accommodation 4 West Hill Budleigh Salterton EX9 6BWRef. No: 21/2854/LBC | Validated: Tue 02 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion of coach house to ancillary accommodation 4 West Hill Budleigh Salterton EX9 6BWRef. No: 21/2853/FUL | Validated: Tue 02 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a split storey 4 x bed detached dwelling with associated amenity space and erection of a double garage including demolition of existing house. Belvedere Rocombe Lyme Regis DT7 3RRRef. No: 21/2845/FUL | Validated: Mon 01 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• New equestrian shop within existing building with alteration to fenestration along with new storage building, external parking, compound, landscaping, and external works. Existing bridal boutique to become take-away food outlet. New pet store and dog grooming building. Halfway Inn Aylesbeare Exeter EX5 2JPRef. No: 21/2835/FUL | Validated: Fri 05 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Enlargement of garage and entrance porch. New roof lantern to flat roof. Removal of redundant brick chimney. 8 Higher Ridgeway Ottery St Mary EX11 1THRef. No: 21/2837/FUL | Validated: Mon 01 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Ta – young ash (in G1) diseased with ash die-back. Needs to be felled Tb – mature ash (in G3) diseased with ash die-back. Needs to be felled Tc – young alder (in G1) diseased, likely infected with Phytophthora. Needs to be felled Td – young ash (in G1) diseased with ash die-back. Needs to be felled Te – young ash (in G1) diseased with ash die-back. Needs to be felled Tf – young ash (in G1) diseased with ash die-back. Needs to be felled Land Adjacent Glebelands Glebelands UplymeRef. No: 21/2841/TRE | Validated: Tue 02 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Conversion of roof space to habitable use to include a front and rear dormer 58 Springfield Road Exmouth EX8 3JYRef. No: 21/2832/FUL | Validated: Mon 01 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• 2 Ash trees to be felled Tc and Tf (which have ash die-back) should be felled because they lean towards the house. 12 Glebelands Uplyme Lyme Regis DT7 3TBRef. No: 21/2822/TRE | Validated: Tue 02 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of condition No. 2 (20/0420/VAR) of planning permission ref: 19/1638/FUL. Garages 1-7 Raddenstile Lane Exmouth EX8 2JHRef. No: 21/2824/VAR | Validated: Tue 02 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion of existing roof space to habitable use to create a 2 x bed self-contained manager flat to existing pub. The Jack In The Green Inn London Road Rockbeare Exeter EX5 2EERef. No: 21/2821/FUL | Validated: Mon 01 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolition of existing garage, and erection of a two storey side extension 43 Millers Way Honiton EX14 1JBRef. No: 21/2818/FUL | Validated: Mon 01 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey side extension. Daisyland Dulford Cullompton EX15 2BYRef. No: 21/2798/FUL | Validated: Mon 01 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replace five single glazed windows with five double glazed windows Slightly Foxed Venn Ottery Ottery St Mary EX11 1RZRef. No: 21/2760/FUL | Validated: Thu 04 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a two storey terrace dwelling 1 Gorfin Close Exmouth EX8 4SBRef. No: 21/2759/FUL | Validated: Thu 04 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of front porch 12 Keverel Road Exmouth EX8 3JBRef. No: 21/2742/FUL | Validated: Wed 03 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of rear garden shed/store. 4A Foxholes Hill Exmouth EX8 2DFRef. No: 21/2691/FUL | Validated: Thu 04 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Retention of rooflight on north west elevation. Remove existing fireplace and hearth in sitting room, install flue liner, new mantel surround and wood burning stove. Cleaning and painting of front and side elevations. Frensham House 58 New Street Honiton EX14 1BZRef. No: 21/2671/LBC | Validated: Thu 04 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Retrospective application of a railing on top of an existing front wall. Millmoor Cottage Millmoor Lane Newton Poppleford Sidmouth EX10 0EURef. No: 21/2606/FUL | Validated: Wed 03 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Change of use from agricultural land to in association with existing bowling club (Use Class F2(c)). Chilcotts Farm Chardstock Axminster EX13 7BURef. No: 21/2596/FUL | Validated: Tue 02 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of a swale Curscombe Farm Feniton Honiton EX14 3EURef. No: 21/2571/FUL | Validated: Mon 01 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Cham. Lawsoniana : Fell, T2, Cham. Lawsoniana : Fell T3, Cham. Lawsoniana : Fell T4,Cham. Lawsoniana : Fell T5, Cham. Lawsoniana : Fell T6, Parrotia Persica : reduce by 1.5 m to 2.0m from the building face. Farrants Whitford Road Kilmington Axminster EX13 7RGRef. No: 21/2560/TCA | Validated: Thu 04 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed Demolition and Construction of New Club and Boat House. 5th Exmouth Sea Scouts Scout Hut Imperial Road Exmouth EX8 1DBRef. No: 21/2447/FUL | Validated: Tue 02 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of front dormer and Sun lounge 7 Nurseries Close Exton Exeter EX3 0PGRef. No: 21/2341/FUL | Validated: Mon 01 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Retention of static caravan and its residential use. Caravan Rakeway Head North Southleigh Colyton EX24 6JFRef. No: 21/1536/FUL | Validated: Mon 01 Nov 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

covid.joinzoe.com 

According to ZOE COVID Study incidence figures, in total there are currently  72,546 new daily symptomatic cases of COVID in the UK on average, based on PCR and LFT test data from up to five days ago [*]. A decrease of 18% from 88,592 new daily cases last week. 

In the vaccinated population (at least two doses) cases are dropping more slowly and it’s estimated there are currently 24,766 new daily symptomatic cases in the UK. A decrease of 11.5% from 27,980 new daily cases last week (Graph 1). 

The UK R value is estimated to be around 0.9 and regional R values are; England, 0.9, Wales, 0.9, Scotland, 1.0 (Table 1). 

The ZOE incidence data is always a week ahead of the other surveillance surveys and continues to work as an early warning signal. The ZOE data has been reporting a downturn in cases for the past two weeks, the latest ONS figures are yet to reflect this trend. (Graph 5). 

In terms of prevalence, on average 1 in 58 people in the UK currently have symptomatic COVID. In the regions, England, 1 in 57. Wales,1 in 47. Scotland, 1 in 84. (Table 1). 

The number of daily new cases continues to show a steep decline in cases among 0-18 year olds, which is the driving group behind both the initial increases and the recent fall in overall case numbers. Cases in 20-29 year olds are still increasing but cases have started to fall in the 35-55 year age group. Cases among those over 55 are levelling off. (Graph 2).

In terms of prevalence, cases are highest in the Midlands, South East and North East but prevalence is falling in those areas (Graph 3). 

ZOE’s predicted Long COVID incidence rate currently estimates, at current case rates, 1,279 people a day will go on to experience symptoms for longer than 12 weeks. This number continues to fall in line with the overall incidence figures (Graph 4). 

The ZOE COVID Study incidence figures (new symptomatic cases) are based on reports from around 750,000 thousand weekly contributors and the proportion of newly symptomatic users who have received positive swab tests. The latest survey figures were based on data from 40,100 recent swab tests done between 23 October and 6 November 2021. 

Professor Tim Spector, lead scientist on the ZOE COVID Study app, comments on the latest data:

“This drop in cases is the largest weekly decline we’ve seen all year, and is being driven by a sustained fall in cases among children over the last two weeks. However, cases are still high and, worryingly, we’re still seeing high death rates as COVID takes up to 8% of hospital beds. 

As we head into the colder months, we’re seeing a lot of sickness in the population with widespread outbreaks of colds and still high levels of COVID. Knowing the difference between the two is harder than ever, as cases in the vaccinated are mild and include symptoms like sneezing, headache and a runny nose and can be easily transmitted to family members or work colleagues. To keep numbers down it’s crucial for everyone eligible to get their booster jabs, even if they have recently had a COVID infection, as we’ve shown natural infections do not always produce an immune response and protection. We know from our research that the vaccines (given in 3 doses) provide the greatest possible protection against contracting the virus, and being admitted to hospital with more serious symptoms.”

Graph 1. The ZOE COVID Study UK incidence figures results over time; total number of new cases and new cases in fully vaccinated

Graph 2. Incidence by age group 

Graph 3. Prevalence rate by region

Graph 4. Predicted Long COVID incidence over time

Please refer to the publication by Thompson at al. (2021) for details on how long covid rates in the population are modelled

Graph 5. A comparison of prevalence figures; ZOE COVID Study, and other COVID surveillance studies

Table 1. Incidence (daily new symptomatic cases)[*], R values and prevalence regional breakdown table 

Map of UK prevalence figures

People are dying in the back of ambulances and up to 160,000 more a year are coming to harm because they are stuck outside hospitals unable to be offloaded to A&E, a bombshell report has revealed.

Denis Campbell www.theguardian.com 

Patients are also dying soon after finally getting admitted to hospital after spending long periods in the back of an ambulance, while others still in their own homes are not being saved because paramedics are trapped at A&E and unable to answer 999 calls, said the report by NHS ambulance service bosses in England.

In addition, about 12,000 of the 160,000 are suffering “severe harm” such as a permanent setback to their health. These include people with life-threatening health emergencies such as chest pains, sepsis, heart problems, epilepsy and Covid-19 because growing numbers of paramedics are having to wait increasingly long times to hand over a patient to A&E staff.

Ambulance logjams outside hospitals have become a major problem in the NHS in recent years as A&E staff have struggled to find beds for patients they have decided to admit because the hospital has run out of beds as a result of Covid-19, their inability to discharge patients who are medically fit to leave and the record demand for care.

That has left A&E personnel having to limit the number of patients who can be in their unit at one time, which leads to sometimes long queues of ambulances outside. The problem has become much more serious in recent months as all NHS services have seen unprecedented demand for care.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats said the “staggering” extent of damage to patients’ health underlined the risks posed by the deepening crisis facing NHS ambulance services.

The report, seen by the Guardian, has been drawn up by the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) and is based on official NHS figures, which until now were secret. AACE represents the chief executives of England’s 10 regional ambulance services, all of which have had to declare an alert in recent months after being faced with unprecedented demands for help.

It concludes that: “When very sick patients arrive at hospital and then have to wait an excessive time for handover to emergency department clinicians to receive assessment and definitive care, it is entirely predictable and almost inevitable that some level of harm will arise.

“This may take the form of a deteriorating medical or physical condition, or distress and anxiety, potentially affecting the outcome for patients and definitely creating a poor patient experience.”

It does not say how many patients a year die because so many ambulances are stuck at hospitals. But it adds: “We know that some patients have sadly died whilst waiting outside ED [emergency departments], or shortly after eventual admission to ED following a wait. Others have died while waiting for an ambulance response in the community.

“Regardless of whether a death may have been an inevitable outcome, this is not the level of care or experience we would wish for anyone in their last moments. Any form or level of harm is not acceptable.”

AACE studied all handover delays lasting more than an hour that occurred across the 10 ambulance trusts on 4 January, and the harm resulting. It used the data to estimate how many patients a year suffer a deterioration in their health, or need much more invasive treatment such as surgery, as a direct result of waiting a long time to be treated by doctors and nurses.

It concluded that: “If these results from 4 January 2021, which was not an atypical day, are extrapolated across all handover delays that occur every day, the cases of potential harm could be as high as 160,000 patients affected a year.

“Of those, approximately 12,000 patients could potentially experience severe harm as a result of delayed handovers.”

Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrats’ health spokesperson, said: “These staggering figures will shock people to their core. These are absolutely devastating findings, which reveal that there is a huge toll of harm and severe harm, including tragically patient deaths, as a direct result of the colossal number of ambulance handover delays we’re now seeing.”

Ambulances are meant to hand patients over to A&E staff within 15 minutes, with none waiting more than half an hour. However, queues of as many as 15 ambulances at a time have been building up outside hospitals in recent years because hard-pressed staff have been too busy to accept them.

Last month the West Midlands ambulance service admitted publicly that handover delays were causing “catastrophic” harm to patients. Mark Docherty, its nursing director, said that despite its best efforts “we know patients are coming to harm” and that some patients “are dying before we get to them”.

Pressure on its ambulances forced the service to raise the risk assessment of harm to patients from level 20 to level 25 – the highest ever. “The definition of 25 is that harm is almost certain – and it’s going to be catastrophic. I think we’re now at that place,” Docherty added.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said: “This is a devastating report. The scale of harm and severe harm being done to patients is a scandal.

“Ministers should be ashamed that colossal numbers of patients – thanks to years of Tory NHS neglect – are languishing in ambulances waiting for vital life-saving care at risk of, and indeed suffering, serious harm, permanent disability or loss of life.”

Hospitals are under such pressure that about 190,000 handovers a month – around half the total – now take longer than they should, AACE’s report said. Paramedics have been warning that patients whose health has collapsed in their home or another setting have also been put at risk because being trapped outside A&Es means they are not available to respond quickly to 999 calls.

A series of recent incidents illustrate the crisis confronting ambulance services:

• A patient died after spending about an hour in an ambulance outside Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge on 24 October. The patient had suffered a cardiac arrest. The hospital said the patient had “remained in the ambulance due to significant pressures on A&E”.
• John Swinney, Scotland’s deputy first minister, last week apologised for the “agony” endured by the family of Richard Brown, who died on the stairs outside his flat in Glasgow after waiting five hours for an ambulance
• A patient died of a cardiac arrest in Worcestershire royal hospital in Worcester on 4 October after waiting five hours in an ambulance outside. Paramedics warned A&E staff the patient was having trouble breathing but the patient died despite being rushed into the resuscitation room.
• A woman died in eastern England last month after waiting an hour for an ambulance crew to reach her on what should have been a seven-minute response. No crews were available in the 50 miles between Cromer and Waveney in Norfolk, so an ambulance from Ipswich in Suffolk had to answer the 999 call.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are committed to supporting ambulance crews who work tirelessly responding to emergencies every day. NHS England and Improvement has given ambulance trusts an extra £55m to boost staff numbers for winter, helping them to bolster capacity in control rooms and on the frontline.

“We are supporting the NHS to meet the unprecedented pressures it is facing, with record investment this year including an extra £5.4bn over the next six months to support its response to Covid-19 and £36bn for health and care over the next three years.”

Housebuilders may be “gaming the system” to avoid fire safety checks put in place after the Grenfell Tower fire, London Fire Brigade (LFB) has warned.

www.bbc.co.uk

Deputy Commissioner Paul Jennings said there are “hundreds if not thousands” of new buildings which may be “deliberately” designed to avoid rules.

They include blocks designed to be lower than an 18m (59ft) limit to be considered a high-rise building.

The building safety minister branded efforts to “cut corners” as “shocking”.

The Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017 led to the deaths of 72 people.

Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Mr Jennings, said: “We have got examples where we think people are deliberately designing and building their buildings below that 18 metre, six floor threshold, because they know if they reach that threshold they would have to put advanced and more intricate fire safety measures in.”

Mr Jennings described these new buildings in the capital as examples of “gaming the system”.

When asked how many new buildings in London were being constructed to avoid the rules, he said it was likely “hundreds, if not thousands”.

“We are seeing around 60% of the building consultations that come into the fire engineering team and others are ones where we are going backwards,” he said.

Two weeks ago, LFB said all but three of the recommendations made by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry will be in place by 2022.

On Monday, Michael Gove told the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee: “We collectively – the department, some in local government, others in the private sector – failed people at Grenfell and there are people who were and still are in buildings where there is a significant risk.”

“The government has refused to confirm or deny reports that it will finally cancel plans for the HS2 link to Leeds this week, and instead fund a hodgepodge of disparate projects which favour Conservative constituencies and leave mysterious gaps in the rail network.”

www.theguardian.com 

Government to finally drop plan for HS2 link to Leeds – reports

MPs are keeping secret their employment agreements for second jobs worth up to £100,000 annually after quietly changing the rules on disclosure.

Jon Ungoed-Thomas www.theguardian.com 

The public had been entitled to inspect MPs’ contractual arrangements linked to their work in parliament. But the rules requiring MPs to deposit the agreements with the office of the parliamentary commissioner for standards were scrapped by parliament in 2015.

Campaigners are now calling for an urgent change in parliament’s code of conduct to force disclosure of the work involved in MPs’ advisory roles.

Boris Johnson also faces calls for a review of MPs’ outside interests and a ban on consultancies linked to politics after a public backlash over the extra earnings of many politicians.

An analysis of the MPs’ register has revealed more than a quarter of Tory MPs have second jobs, worth more than £4m a year. The interests they represent include the gambling industry, global investments firms and the energy sector.

Tom Brake, director of Unlock Democracy, a not-for-profit group which campaigns for democratic reforms, said new rules should be introduced urgently to require the publication of MPs’ employment agreements linked to their political activity. He said: “MPs should make this information available on a voluntary basis with immediate effect. It would help clear the air.”

Under a previous guide to the code of conduct, published in 2012, MPs were required to deposit any employment agreement connected to their work as an MP for public inspection. A new code, approved by the House of Commons, in March 2015 removed the obligation.

The office of the parliamentary commissioner for standards said last week that no MPs had deposited contractual agreements in the last six years. One official said: “The only such agreements we still hold are historical ones dating from the period before the 2015 election, and none of them are live contracts as the employment has ended.”

The row over the government U-turn on proposals to overhaul the House of Commons’ disciplinary system has focused public attention on MPs’ second jobs.

Former Conservative transport secretary Chris Grayling is one of the best-paid MPs, with a £100,000-a-year advisory role with Hutchison Ports Europe, which operates the ports of Felixstowe and Harwich and has its parent company in the Cayman Islands. He is paid about £270 an hour. Grayling was given the go-ahead for the role by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, but said he would not do work in areas where he may have “gleaned specific information” in his ministerial job.

Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, announced in March that Felixstowe and Harwich would be given freeport status, where normal tax and customs rules do not apply.

Former minister Andrew Percy, the Tory MP for Brigg and Goole, has disclosed in the MPs’ register of interest a signing-on bonus of £7,000 for the Canadian-based government relations firm Maple Leaf Strategies, which he worked for until last April. Percy also said he would receive commissions on any business referrals.

Percy also discloses in the latest MPs’ register that he has been paid £500 an hour for six hours’ work a month for Iogen Corporation (Canada), a world leader in the development of cellulosic ethanol, a renewable transport fuel. Percy has previously campaigned in parliament for the national rollout of E10 fuel, which contains 10% ethanol. He has also been a member of the all-party parliamentary group for British Bioethanol. He did not respond to a request for comment on his outside interests last week.

A report by the committee on standards in public life in July 2018 said the MPs’ code of conduct and guide to the rules should be changed to read: “MPs should not accept any paid work to provide services as a parliamentary strategist, adviser or consultant.” The recommendation was not adopted by the Commons.

Speaking at an event at University College London last week, Lord Evans, chair of the committee on standards in public life, said the controversy over MPs’ second jobs showed the public’s concern on conduct in public office. He said: “Ethical standards are important for making democracy work. The public does care about this.”

goodlawproject.org

The UK may be the only democracy in the world without a written constitution – a ‘higher’ law or code to which all others must conform.

Until now, we haven’t seen the need for binding rules. We’ve relied on self-restraint. We’ve trusted politicians to behave themselves. We’ve assumed that only ‘good chaps’ – as Lord Hennessy memorably put it – will rise to high office. And those good chaps won’t need to be told how to behave. Being good chaps, they will know what the rules are and they will obey them.

But what happens if the people running the show aren’t good chaps?

What you get is what we have. Bullying of regulators. Stacking of boards. Challenges to the independence of the media. Criminalising civil protest. Restricting the right to vote. Attacking the independence of MPs. Challenging the judiciary, curtailing its powers and reversing its decisions. Abandoning the Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. There are well-sourced rumours of political interference in operational policing decisions. And, let us not forget, we have a Prime Minister who unlawfully suspended Parliament.

All of this is before we start on the tidal wave of sleaze engulfing the Government: VIP lanes for the politically connected; vast payments to politically connected middle-men; procurement fraud going uninvestigated; failures to declare conflicts of interest by MPs; and the misleading of Parliament by the Prime Minister.

Sitting above all of this is a set of problems, arising not so much from how some politicians behave but from how the world now is. Our politics feels more divided. We seem to have less in common, and the idea we all want the same things for the country feels less secure.

The truth is, the world our rules were made for no longer exists.

What does this mean for the idea that Parliament is supreme – has absolute power? Is this conception of democracy consistent with a first-past-the-post system that can, and often does, give unconstrained power to a Government with a minority of the popular vote? And if MPs are coerced into voting with the Government, who gets to play the constitutional trump card of Parliamentary supremacy? MPs accountable to voters, or the Executive?

At the heart of all of this is a simple truth: you don’t need a constitution to protect you against good chaps because they’re good chaps, and a constitution that can’t protect you against bad chaps is no constitution at all.

Meanwhile, what remains withers and weakens. What is left is less and less able to command public confidence. Trust in politics – and ultimately in democracy – is the victim.

A responsible Government would respond with a process for a new British Bill of Rights. A smart Opposition would demand one.

Good Law Project only exists thanks to donations from ordinary people across the UK. If you’re in a position to support our work, you can do so here. 

Rachel Stevenson www.theguardian.com 

This feature article describes, at some length, the parlous state of the “affordable” housing market in Cornwall. People are being evicted because their landlord either wants to turn their property into a holiday let or because they want to sell up because property prices are so high. There is no accommodation – and the situation is getting worse because of benefit cuts and rising energy bills. 

Simon Jupp recently asked Boris Johnson, in a parliamentary question, to meet him and colleagues across the South West to discuss this growing crisis.

Boris’ answer suggested that having legislated to introduce higher rates of stamp duty on second homes the problem had been solved.

No Boris – think again or are these problems below your pay grade?

See what Cornwall Council portfolio holder for housing needs:

Extract:

Olly Monk, Cornwall Council portfolio holder for housing, says the council is doing all it can to end the housing crisis. “We’ve got an immediate issue with families who are being threatened with homelessness. It must be absolutely terrifying for them,” he said.

The council is buying caravan parks as well as developments of modular homes that can be erected quickly. It is also buying new-build houses straight from developers, announcing last week the purchase of 130 new homes, 100 of which would otherwise have gone on the open market. “This shows our commitment to do whatever is necessary to provide homes that people in our communities can afford,” said Monk.

“We are building and buying up as much social housing as we can. But we need Westminster to give us more powers. We want every property’s primary use to be residential, and if there is any deviation from that, then the owners have to apply to us for permission. We want to close the loophole that allows second homes that are holiday lets to not pay rates. And we want the power to put a surcharge on council tax for second homes or holiday lets.”

He also wants landlords and estate agents to “think twice”. “They should look at their conscience, and look at their communities, and think about where their sons and daughters are going to live in the future.”