A woman must lunch somewhere……….

Simon Jenkins www.theguardian.com 

When the prime minister told Liz Truss to examine every road post Brexit, her thoughts naturally turned to Mayfair and Hertford Street. Perhaps that nice caff at No 5. We are after all lunching with that nice American trade envoy, Katherine Tai. Perhaps two measures of dry gin; two bottles of Pazo Barrantes Albariño, a Spanish white wine, costing a total of £153; and three bottles of the French red Coudoulet de Beaucastel, costing a total of £130. Perhaps a £3,000 bill.

Besides, the proprietor of 5 Hertford Street is Robin Birley, half-brother to Boris Johnson’s mate Zac Goldsmith, and buddy of Michael Gove and David Cameron. And he tipped Johnson 20 grand for his “leadership” campaign, wherever that went.

Surely such generosity calls for a kindly nod and wink. 5 Hertford Street posted substantial losses last year, so the money might come in handy. Birley even halved the bill if it could be paid straight away. The office wants Truss to slum it in Soho. She hits the roof. Who wins trade deals in Soho? Besides, this is one for Birley.

The joy of British corruption is that there are no crude brown envelopes stuffed with notes. Money is never seen changing hands. Negotiation is via a pat on the shoulder, a placement at a dinner, a nod at the tennis net. There need not be a direct quid pro, but favours can flow both ways: a party donation, a contract, a planning refusal overturned, all rounded off with the knighthood or peerage.

The British like to pretend their political culture is pure, but benign terms have been used to mask questionable interactions. In times past, the Metropolitan police vehicle for the receipt of informal benefit was the “police benevolent fund”. It was the stuff of legend and occasional comedy. Now, at a time of wild budgetary spending, every dodgy oddball is crowding round the pig trough. Goodness knows what antics will be revealed, if ever, from the proposed inquiry into the pandemic. It should be standing room only at the Old Bailey.

The strangest transactions seem to revolve around politicians striving to live up to the dignity of their office, be it flat decorations, country houses or foreign holidays. Lunch at 5 Hertford Street is a classic. Turn to a party donor; at least he could host a good lunch.

Truss’s civil servants saw the danger a mile off and steered her towards a more modest watering hole. She would have none of it. It went to her permanent secretary, who let it through, but he is clearly a mouse not a man. Should it now go to the cohort of Whitehall standards scrutineers? If so they must be worked off their feet, with every self-respecting property developer or drug manufacturer feeling they are carrying the weight of the Tory party on their shoulders.

Perhaps the best discipline is daylight. Lunch at 5 Hertford Street is hardly a hanging crime. It rather indicates a general casualness towards public funds and relationships; an attitude of mind. Johnson was very nice to Truss. She returns the favour by shamelessly going on manoeuvres to replace him. Now she is currying favour with his friends. Is that who we want as a future prime minister?

Lindsay Hoyle says all ex PMs should be knighted after Tony Blair honoured

Fatima Aziz www.lancs.live

Chorley MP and the Speaker of the House of Commons has said he believe that all former Prime Minister’s should be given a knighthood.

Following the knighting of Tony Blair, Sir Lindsay Hoyle has called for all former prime ministers to be knighted with the highest possible ranking.

Sir Tony was appointed as a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior British Order of Chivalry, with the honour from the Queen regularly bestowed upon past prime ministers including most recently Sir John Major.

Sir Lindsay told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, however, it should be given to all ex-PMs including David Cameron because it is “one of the toughest jobs in the world”.

“Whatever people might think, it is one of the toughest jobs in the world and I think it is respectful and it is the right thing to do, whether it is to Tony Blair or to David Cameron. They should all be offered that knighthood when they finish as prime minister,” the Chorley MP said.

“I would say if you’ve been prime minister of this country, I do believe the country should recognise the service they’ve given,” Sir Lindsay added.

“It is not about politics, it is about the position they have held in this country: It’s about the position and it’s the respect that we show to those people who’ve led this country. And I think it’s a fitting tribute to the job they’ve carried out.”

Sir Tony, who left Downing Street more than 14 years ago, was one of three new appointments announced by the palace alongside Baroness Valerie Amos and the Duchess of Cornwall.

Appointments to the Garter are in the Queen’s gift and made without prime ministerial advice, and are usually announced on St George’s Day, April 23, but the monarch can do so at any time, and chose this year to coincide with the New Year’s Honours.

They are for life unless a Knight or Lady Companion offends against certain “points of reproach”.

Founded in 1348 by Edward III, the Garter is awarded by the sovereign for outstanding public service and achievement.

There are now 21 non-royal companions in the order out of a maximum of 24.

The Government was warned a month ago that a lateral flow testing crisis was looming without significantly more supplies, the head of a major industry body has said.

By Sally Guyoncourt inews.co.uk

The UK is continuing to suffer short supplies of rapid tests since new rules were introduced to avoid self-isolation by daily testing, with frontline workers facing abuse in pharmacies.

At home testing kits have also been repeatedly unavailable to order on the Government’s website.

Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, told i the crisis could have been avoided with better planning.

“I raised this with the UKHSA (UK Health Security Agency) in early December saying a lot more kits would be needed asking what its plans are but they never answered my question”, she said.

“The problems around demand should have been anticipated. The government said it boosted the number of kits by eight million but eight million is not enough.”

Ms Hannbeck said that the introduction of the new rules, which mean people can leave self-isolation after two negatives tests on day seven, or take daily tests to avoid isolating when a contact of Covid, have sparked a predictable surge in demand.

“It’s the planning ahead which was not done,” she said, adding that the Government had relied on only one wholesale supplier, Alliance Healthcare, which did not aid the supply issues.

As a result, many pharmacy staff had been on the receiving end of customer anger. “We have got staff suffering abuse, people walking in (to pharmacies) and shouting”, she said.

The view was backed by the National Pharmacy Association, which told i there has been “intermittent shortages in many areas”.

A spokesperson said: “Community pharmacies are doing everything they can but they are not in control of the national supply chain.

“We ask the public to please be patient and courteous with our colleagues, who are doing their utmost, under extreme pressure, to support patients at this time.”

Demand has been so high that some people in possession of the free-to-order tests have begun selling the kits online. On Monday afternoon, auction site eBay had lateral flow kits on sale for as much as £75 per seven tests.

Pressed on the issue, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News: “If people feel that they can’t get the supply they should just refresh their webpage.”

Ms Hannbeck added that pharmacies are “best placed” for the supply of lateral flow test kits, but added: “In order for us to manage this we are going to have to see at least triple the amount of test kits the Government has made available.”

The UKHSA said that eight million tests had been delivered to pharmacies in the last week, but during periods of “exceptional demand” there may be temporary pauses in ordering or receiving tests to ensure it manages distribution.

A spokesperson said: “The UK’s testing programme is the biggest in Europe with almost 400 million tests carried out since the start of the pandemic.”

They added that testing capacity is “continuing to rapidly expand capacity – with over half a million tests carried out on 23 December alone and delivery capacity doubled to 900,000 PCR and LFD test kits a day.”

A former MP and Cornwall Councillor claims that second-home owners are set to benefit from a new £6,000 grant given to businesses affected by Covid.

Aaron Greenaway www.cornwalllive.com 

Andrew George, former MP for St Ives between 1997 and 2015 and now Cornwall Councillor for Ludgvan, Madron, Gulval and Heamoor, has also reiterated his call for the Conservative government to take back the grants given to second homeowners and spend it on alleviating housing pressures in Cornwall.

He claims that the failure to close the loophole, which allows some second homeowners to register as a business, led to an estimated £104 million going to second homeowners during the first lockdown of 2020, will see another £40 million of Cornwall’s coronavirus aid budget going the same way.

Mr George is calling on the Conservative cabinet at Cornwall Council and the Government to close the loophole, claw back the money and instead tax the second homeowners who have benefitted from this scheme.

In a post on Facebook, he wrote: “As if second homers haven’t been given enough taxpayers’ money. The Conservatives are about to dole out yet another £40 million of Cornwall’s Covid aid to them!

“They should be taxing them for being a major cause of Cornwall’s housing emergency and closing off the industrial-scale tax loopholes they’ve granted them. Not giving every second homer another £6,000 – YES. SIX THOUSAND POUNDS EACH – when we desperately need that money to address the extreme and serious housing problems and insecurities of tens of thousands of local families who are not so well-off.

“The Conservatives on Cornwall Council said they’d use their special influence with the Government. After all, they’re all in the same Party. Well, here’s a chance for them to show they can stop such scandalous misuse of public money. They can also demand that previous grants – estimated at more than £104 million = are clawed back while they’re at it.”

He also said that despite campaigning against the loophole since it was granted in 2012 under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition Government, the current Government has only begun to acknowledge the issue but not yet taken any action.

He continued: “This is what I said in February this year. This merely repeats my warnings in March last year, and my campaign against the multi-million £ tax loophole granted by the Tories back in 2012 when I first exposed the scandal.

“In spite of my previous attempts, Conservatives are only now beginning to accept that the whole system is wrong and deeply unfair. They say they intend to close the loophole. In fact, they’ve announced they’re doing this three times! But nothing’s happened. Instead, we get the Chancellor’s announcement this week that they’ll be handing out more Covid aid to second homers. It’s got to stop.”

Why second homeowners are able to claim COVID relief grants

It was previously revealed that as of February 2021, there were more than 23,000 properties in Cornwall registered as a second home or holiday let. The actual figure is likely to be much higher as there are likely to be many more that aren’t registered such as Airbnb properties.

A loophole in legislation revealed in 2012 meant that second homes were eligible to opt to pay business rates rather than council tax, leading to some switching from council tax to business rates. This means that for some, they could claim Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) and pay nothing.

In order to take advantage of the entitlement for full relief, the owner must make their home available for holiday letting for at least 140 days a year, although they don’t actually have to let the property during that time but make it ‘available for letting’ and for the rest of the year, can use it as their second home.

In February 2021, Andrew George revealed a response he received from Cornwall Council about the extent of this. He revealed that out of 10,593 properties claiming non-domestic rates where the valuation office description code is a self-catering unit, 8736 have claimed some amount of small business rate relief. Of these, 108 have a portion of the small business rates to pay while the rest have nothing. He added that Cornwall Council is eligible to claim back reimbursement for the cost of awarding the rates relief from the Government, while the loophole means that second homeowners eligible in many cases pay nothing in taxes.

This loophole means that second homeowners who claim this relief have been able to claim COVID relief grants from the Government from funding given to and administered by Cornwall Council.

Mr George revealed the following had been given to second homeowners who claimed small business rate relief to January 2021:

March 2020 (lockdown one): £79,275,000.00 (7,773 accounts)

November 2020 (lockdown two): £9,285,198.00 (6900 accounts)

January 2021 payment and Closed business lockdown payment (lockdown three): £40,050,521.00 (6617 accounts)

Total: £132,935,998.