No exception this year as Burrington’s submitted further amendments to the 40 four-storey flats proposed on Winslade Park. These amendments are in the Documents file dated 11th April 2022 – see link below
Burringtons have only slightly reduced the height of two blocks (by lowering their increased ground level plans) by 90cm for Block A and 45cm for Block B and moved Block B (1.8 metres) and Block C (1.6 metres) further south away from some tree roots, with a few other minimal differences that are also inconsequential for us all and so insignificant that they will make no difference to our previous objections.
These amendments are so insignificant that they fail to address the concerns and objections on the detrimental issues of overlooking, privacy and intrusion on Clyst Valley Road residents’ existing 7-metre-high 2-storey homes by these proposed approx. 15-metre-high 4.5-storey apartment blocks.
The link below is the Agenda for the Parish Council meeting next Wednesday 20th April 2022 in the Church at 19.30 hrs for those wishing to speak about this application or just listen to their comments
But, when questioned by The Independent, only five of the 22 members of Boris Johnson’s cabinet were willing to say that they did not have links to tax havens and that they had not used non-dom tax breaks.
Labour said ministers needed to be more transparent over their financial interests.
“We need to know what arrangements members of the cabinet have made for themselves. And if there were such arrangements, how were they justified, and how much tax was saved?” said Pat McFadden, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury.
“This is not a mechanism open to our constituents, who are facing the biggest squeeze on their incomes in decades, made worse by the chancellor’s decision to impose increases in income taxes this year.
“The very least the public has a right to is full information on how many Conservative ministers imposing these rises have had non-dom status, or used any other mechanisms, including tax havens, which reduce their tax liability in the UK.”
Non-dom status and tax havens are both entirely legal, but their use by ministers has been called into question at a time when the government has decided to impose the heaviest tax burden on British families since the 1940s.
Still, some cabinet ministers have decided to offer the public a greater degree of transparency. Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, defence secretary Ben Wallace, and transport secretary Grant Shapps, along with their immediate families, do not use tax havens to minimise their tax bills, sources close to them told The Independent.
Nor have they used non-dom status – a controversial system that has been in existence for hundreds of years and allows wealthy individuals to avoid paying UK tax on their overseas income.
Education secretary Nadim Zahawi and his wife do not currently use non-dom status, according to sources. However, it is unclear whether they have historically used or continue to use tax havens. Meanwhile, George Eustice, the environment secretary, said in a broadcast interview that he would never seek non-dom status.
Separately, a government spokesperson said: “All MPs and sitting peers are automatically deemed to be resident in the UK for tax purposes, by law. In line with the ministerial code, all ministers provide information about their tax affairs to the Cabinet Office and independent adviser on ministerial interests.”
Questions over the financial affairs of the UK’s most powerful politicians have arisen after The Independent revealed that Mr Sunak, the chancellor, had not made the beneficial tax status of his wife, Akshata Murty, public.
Last week, The Independent also reported allegations that Mr Sunak had been named in 2020 as a beneficiary of tax haven trusts set up to manage interests of Ms Murty’s family, something a spokesperson said the couple do not recognise. The same spokesperson did not respond when asked if Mr Sunak had separately set up his own trust in a tax haven.
In an attempt to draw a line under the controversy, Mr Sunak requested over the weekend that Lord Geidt, the prime minister’s independent adviser on ministerial interests, review all his declarations since entering government in 2018. No 10 said an inquiry would be carried out by Lord Geidt on Monday, but insisted Mr Johnson had “full confidence” in the chancellor.
Ministers are required to declare their spouses’ interests, as enshrined in the code they sign up to when they take office. The decision about whether or not this information is made public by being listed in the ministerial register of interests is less clear cut.
The rules allow for ministers to put their shareholdings and some other financial interests into a blind trust. This is the position adopted by the chancellor. However, there is no legal or technical definition of what constitutes a blind trust or its management.
Several serving cabinet members have built successful careers in the financial services industry, including Mr Sunak, who before entering politics worked at investment company Theleme Partners, which is registered in the Cayman Islands – a tax haven – and prior to that The Children’s Investment Fund Management, which is also registered there.
Some investment companies choose to base themselves in tax havens as it makes it easier to avoid so-called double taxation – the idea being that serving a suite of global investors is easier if each just pays one set of taxes in their own jurisdiction, as and when they get paid profits by an offshore investment fund.
There are other reasons, however, why funds or individuals choose to use tax havens. These can include the considerable tax benefits that come from using offshore trusts, such as avoiding inheritance or capital gains tax, as well as the significant secrecy granted by many tax haven jurisdictions.
Last Sunday, Mr Javid, also a former financial services professional, shared a statement confirming that he had held non-dom status, and that, prior to entering parliament in 2010, he had created an overseas trust, which is now dissolved. A spokesperson declined to say where this trust was based, but The Independent understands it was not in the Cayman Islands, where some of his other financial interests were based.
“It’s clear that Sajid Javid has serious questions to answer about his past tax status and how it was justified,” Labour’s Mr McFadden said.
While working as a banker, Mr Javid was linked to Dark Blue Investments, an employee benefit trust in which staff were paid share bonuses via trusts to avoid tax. The supreme court ruled that tax ought to be paid on these bonuses.
Experts have queried Mr Javid’s use of non-dom status, given that he was born in the UK and therefore would have had to declare that he did not intend to live in the country in the long term.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, Brexit opportunities minister, has listed his share in Somerset Capital Management Limited, an investment firm that has operations in the Cayman Islands, in the register of MPs’ interests.
A spokesperson for Alok Sharma could not be reached for comment.
The Queen’s Green Canopy is a unique tree planting initiative created to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022, which invites people from across the United Kingdom to “Plant a Tree for the Jubilee.” It focuses on encouraging sustainable planting of trees to create a legacy in honour of The Queen’s leadership of the Nation, which will benefit future generations and assist our climate crisis.
However, it isn’t surprising that Burrington Estates at Winslade Park, Clyst St Mary are not amongst the numerous listed corporate supporters of this environmental incentive that stretches throughout the length and breadth of the UK, because during recent weekends in March and continuing into the first two weeks of April 2022, incessant noise from bulldozers and accompanying chainsaws have drowned out the birdsong from the native species that have made their homes in the many diverse, individual trees, copses and extensive hedgerows that have for many years enhanced this Winslade Park area.
These trees and hedgerows are alive at this time of year with countless common, native bird species, alongside rarer families of woodpeckers, jays, bullfinches, goldfinches, predatory hawks, buzzards and nocturnal varieties of owls – but because tree felling, lopping, crowning and razing trees to the ground is not conducive to the nesting season, we have national environmental laws in place at this time of year to protect our wildlife against any decimation of trees and hedgerows.
The Developers will, no doubt, defend themselves that all trees felled and hedgerows obliterated were either storm damaged, past their best or required considerable thinning, lopping, crowning or felling to improve their overall welfare!
To safeguard and redeem their reputation, Developers will justify, vindicate and absolve themselves that the trees’ and hedgerows’ demise had nothing to do with the fact that they want to clear huge swathes of land for developmental purposes! These trees and hedgerows were standing in the way and preventing economic progress (not to mention the Developers’ expected sizeable, personal profits from this development) – therefore, that must be the legitimate reason for the demise of so many mature species?
This is all at a time when the Developers are awaiting a planning decision for their application (21/2217/MRES) for three apartment blocks containing 40 approximately 15 metre-high flats (equivalent to 4.5-storeys), an elevated access road and 74 parking spaces adjoining existing residents’ garden boundaries, that have caused such staggering anxieties in this rural village for those who will be overlooked from the higher levels of this incongruous development.
Moreover, this is happening at the same time as East Devon District Council is advancing their policy-making within the new Draft East Devon Development Plan to 2040, where the Council’s Strategic Planning Committee has ‘lambasted’ Developers who destroy trees and woodland and the natural environment in pursuance of development!
In the words of Queen Elizabeth II’s great-great grandmother – Queen Victoria –
Last night the Home Office was not denying suggestions, first reported by ITV’s Anushka Asthana, that a ministerial direction has been put in place over the policy [migrant processing]. If true, this would mean that Patel has given the Home Office a formal instruction to proceed despite an objection raised by its permanent secretary. Senior civil servants seek ministerial directions in cases where they have concerns about the legality, propriety, feasibility or cost of a proposal. This is quite rare — the IfG counts 46 ministerial directions in the last decade — and would add more fuel to the fire. David Normington, a former Home Office perm sec, told Newsnight that the policy “is inhumane, it’s morally reprehensible, it’s probably unlawful and it may well be unworkable.”
A government fund designed to replace EU grants lost due to Brexit has been criticised as “nothing more than an outrage” that will leave English regions tens of millions of pounds worse off than when Britain was in the EU.
The Conservative’s 2019 manifesto promised “at a minimum” to match the average EU subsidy of about £1.5bn a year to help the most deprived parts of the UK.
But details of the government’s Shared Prosperity Fund show that it will hand out only £2.6bn over the next three years and will not match the previous EU funding level of £1.5bn a year until 2025.
The settlement has been strongly criticised by thinktanks and political leaders including the Welsh government, which said it was due to lose out on more than £1bn in funding over the next three years.
The thinktank IPPR North said the government’s Shared Prosperity Fund was a 43% cut in real terms compared with the average annual EU grants of £1.5bn between 2014 and 2020.
Dan Jarvis, the South Yorkshire mayor, said his region was owed £900m in funding to match what it would have received if the UK had remained in the EU. However, it has received little more than £38m over a three-year period.
He said: “This announcement is nothing more than an outrage; a cynical Conservative con that utterly fails South Yorkshire and drives a coach and horses through the government’s levelling-up agenda.”
The Department for Levelling Up insisted that it was “delivering on the UK government’s commitment to match the average spending of EU structural funds” by matching the EU’s £1.5bn in 2025. It said areas would continue to receive EU funding until the end of 2024.
However, regional leaders and policy experts accused the government of using “smoke and mirrors” by counting old EU money over the next two years.
The Northern Powerhouse Partnership, which is chaired by the former Conservative chancellor George Osborne, said regions in the north of England would receive up to 37% less funding under the new government fund than they would from the EU.
In north-east England, one of the most deprived regions of the UK, this amounted to a difference of £71.3m over the next three years, it said.
Henri Murison, the director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “We were promised that no nation would be worse off post-Brexit but, when you take out the smoke and mirrors, the data doesn’t lie.
“These funds helped young people find work, supported small businesses and backed vital medical research – cutting it will have catastrophic consequences for our economy.”
Neil O’Brien, a levelling up minister, took to Twitter on Thursday to defend the scheme, insisting that the government was “matching in real terms what each place got on average from the [2014-2020] programme”.
However, this includes a count of old EU money still being delivered to these areas. IPPR North said the government’s promise to match EU funding was “far from reality” in two out of the next three financial years.
It described the announcement as a “serious blow for levelling up” that would stifle ambitious long-term investment. Whereas EU grants were delivered over seven years, the Shared Prosperity Fund model is for only three years.
Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, said: “The UK Shared Prosperity Fund will help to unleash the creativity and talent of communities that have for too long been overlooked and undervalued.”
Cornwall is set to get less than half the amount of money it was expected to get from the EU before Brexit. The Government has announced that Cornwall will get £132m from the Shared Prosperity Fund over the next three years, it had been expected that Cornwall would have got around £100m a year if we remained in the EU.
The new funding announcement has been welcomed by the Conservative leaders at Cornwall Council and Cornwall’s Conservative MPs. However, other councillors have expressed concern about the reduction in funding and accused the Government of breaking promises.
Whilst the total funding from the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) will be less than that which could have been received from the EU, the Government has highlighted that Cornwall is also receiving funding from other sources as well, such as Town Deals and the Levelling Up Fund. However, critics have previously pointed out that those funding streams were available to all parts of the country whilst Cornwall’s EU funding had been awarded because it was recognised as being one of the poorest regions in the EU. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has previously stated that Cornwall would get at least the same level of funding it would have received if the UK remained in the EU.
Minister for Levelling Up Neil O’Brien said: “The UKSPF will allow local leaders and communities in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly to directly tackle the issues affecting their local area, whether that’s access to more opportunities or high street regeneration. I look forward to working closely with local leaders in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly to see the creative, ambitious choices that communities make as they level up and take charge of their destinies.”
North Cornwall MP Scott Mann, who on his Facebook page claimed the Government would “fully match EU funds”, said: “This investment is a huge win for North Cornwall and means that we have delivered on our manifesto commitments and funding promises made during the Brexit referendum. Residents will be able to see the impact of this funding on their communities in the coming years and I am proud to have been able to play a part in delivering it. I look forward to speaking with community groups and elected local leaders to see how best we all think this money can be invested.”
Cornwall Council leader Linda Taylor said: “The government has confirmed today that Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly will receive £132m from the £2.6bn UK Shared Prosperity Fund over the next three years [2022-2025]. We welcome this significant allocation as part of securing additional powers, and even more investment for Cornwall through an ambitious County Deal later this year.
“The Shared Prosperity Fund will enable the council to start delivering on the ambitions set out in the suite of housing, transport and sustainable growth plans that comprise Prosperous Cornwall 2050 agreed at council earlier this week.”
Steve Double, MP for St Austell and Newquay, said: “It is great news that the Government has today confirmed what it has said all along, that Cornwall will not lose out with its replacement for EU funding now Brexit has taken place. In fact Cornwall has by far the largest amount of SPF funding per head of anywhere in England, recognition that we remain at the forefront of the Government’s levelling up agenda.
“Crucially this funding will be much easier to administer and deliver than the unwieldy, poorly targeted and often unspent EU funding, and will be managed locally, by the people who know the area best. Excellent news for Cornwall and I look forward to seeing the funding programme develop so we can continue to deliver for our Duchy.”
Jayne Kirkham, leader of the Labour group at County Hall, said on her Facebook page: “Wondering if anyone else has noticed that £129.5m over three years isn’t the same as the £100 million per year we’ve lost by not being in the EU? In fact, it’s less than half.
“But ‘Scotland and Wales will receive the same in real terms as they used to under EU funding, and an index of need will be used to allocate to authorities and regions within Scotland and Wales’. I’m sure the Tories said that in the budget about Cornwall too. Are they trying to quintuple count the 2019 Towns fund again? Or claim we’ll be ‘running off’ the EU money from 2020 as far ahead as 2025? Yet again, they’ve come up short for Cornwall. Over £150 million short.”
Independent councillor and former leader of Cornwall Council Julian German said on Twitter: “So Kernow gets far less than promised: UK SPF £132m over next three years. Watch the Tories come up with their phoney soundbites. Who’s surprised? What a sad state our country is in.”
Independent councillor Tim Dwelly said: “When the Government pledged categorically to match Cornwall’s EU funding (£100m a year) some people fell for it. Others like me predicted it wouldn’t happen. We could see how little was earmarked in the budgets. Now Cornwall is to get just £129.5m over three years from the new Shared Prosperity Fund. Not £300m. Just 43% of what it should be. The equivalent of £43m a year not £100m. This, I’m sorry to say, is what many of us call levelling down. Making Cornwall poorer as a result of a direct Government decision.”
He added: “My role since the last council election has been to be shadow cabinet member for economy. I know a lot about these funds because when Cornwall Council was not Tory (much better times) I had the job overseeing funds like this. I was persistent on the need for Government to match EU investment in Cornwall. Those funds brought us countless improvements like fibre broadband, a university, airport and harbour and dual carriageway investment, innovation centres, business grants and support. The list is long.
“After the Tories took over Cornwall Council, aggressive MPs like Steve Double and council leader Linda Taylor were furious when I predicted Cornwall was about to be levelled down. They were wrong though and all that hot air they let out must be making them feel more than a little embarrassed today.”
…In December, the prime minister told a television news reporter that there had been “no breaches of the rules” in Downing Street, and that, “the guidelines were followed at all times”. This was said directly in response to Allegra Stratton saying the same thing, on camera but in private, and then being unable to prevent herself from laughing at the utter ridiculousness of it.
The news reporter, ITV’s Carl Dinnen, had the sense, back then, to follow up with another question. Was Johnson personally satisfied that the guidance had been followed at all times, that he had personally investigated the matter himself. “Did you investigate that yourself? Are you satisfied yourself?” he asked.
“I am satisfied, myself, that the guidelines were followed at all times,” came the answer, and with it the now-trademark smirk, which has come to be understood as Johnson’s mark of honest dishonesty. It’s the smirk that seeks to collude with the interlocutor, to acknowledge that all present must surely know he is lying….
The Woodland Trust has successfully secured more than £2million to buy a ‘stunning’ East Devon site it wants to transform into a haven for rare wildlife.
Charity chiefs faced a race against time to hit their target to purchase the 134-acre plot near Lympstone.
They want to create an attraction set in a scenic rural valley close to the Exe Estuary that will be free for people to enjoy.
An appeal has raised a seven-figure sum in just a matter of weeks.
It was kick-started by a generous £750,000 grant from Biffa Award, a partnership with Lloyds Banking Group, and support from The John Swire 1989 Charitable Trust.
The charity – celebrating its 50th year – netted enough to buy the site, but still needs to secure £275,000 to manage its transformation into a ‘resilient and thriving wooded landscape’.
The charity says it will start consulting with neighbours and local people on plans to bring the vision into fruition ‘over the coming months’.
First trees being planted in the autumn.
The 134-acre East Devon sire is near to Lympstone and the Exe Estuary. Image: Woodland Trust
The Woodland Trust’s Paul Allen said: “The site is a remarkable opportunity to contribute to nature recovery in Devon, creating, through tree planting and natural regeneration, a vibrant mosaic of woodland and wood pasture together with open grassland spaces.
“Its existing hedgerows, veteran trees, streams, copse and wooded valley provide a good basis for this unique woodland creation project.
“The proximity of it to nature reserves including the Pebblebed Heaths and the Exe Estuary adds to its significance. It will improve the ecological connectivity and resilience of the landscape, as we face the twin threats of the climate and nature crises. “
The trust has pledged to end the use of plastic tree shelters and use a range of techniques to introduce native trees and shrubs suited the characteristics of the local and wider area.
It will showcase the ‘multiple benefits’ of trees and woods for climate adaptation, nature recovery and resilience, natural flood management and carbon capture.
Mr Allen added: “With access for local people to a new green space a central part of the project and their involvement key to its success, this project will contribute to health and well-being at a time when this is sorely needed.
“The support from the public has been invaluable to this project. We couldn’t have got to this point without them, and we’d like to express our heartfelt thanks for their support us to secure this land for wildlife and people.”
Maybe East Devonians might want to write to their MP, Simon Jupp or Neil Parish, to give their views on what Rees-Mogg called “just fluff” and “fundamentally trivial”?
If so, here are their emails (please remember to include your postcode):
The parent company of South West Water is promising to slash bills for customers this year even though it has been hit by rising costs thanks to the war in Ukraine.
Exeter-headquartered Pennon Group Plc said there will be a bill cut for 2022/23, and that bills will be lower than they were 10 years ago.
In a trading statement to investors, Pennon said it was aware of the financial pressures customers were facing and was doing all it could to support them.
The company said: “We recognise the pressure that inflationary pricing increases may pose to our customers. Our broad range of affordability measures ensures we are able to support those in need of support, and we are pleased that for the coming year bills will continue to be lower than they were 10 years ago, driven by our continued focus on delivering improvements efficiently and effectively.”
The company said, in its statement to the London Stock Exchange, it will be posting out lower bills despite facing mounting inflation itself. It said that whilst long-term protection from increasing prices was provided through its inflation-linked revenues and growth in the capital value of the business, the group still expects costs to go up.
This is because 26% of Pennon’s regulated water businesses’ gross debt of £3.1bn is index linked, meaning a 1% increase in inflation results in an additional £8m of financing costs.
And wholesale power costs account for about 10% of Pennon’s regulated water businesses’ operating costs. Although Pennon is about 60% hedged for 2022/23 it still has about 40% exposure to wholesale market prices, which have increased significantly over recent weeks because of the current geopolitical situation, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
However, Pennon told investors it remains on track to deliver “resilient financial and operational performance” across the group in line with management expectations, despite this “challenging macro-economic environment”.
Meanwhile, the company also said there is unlikely to be a water shortage although it is looking at a new reservoir site in the South West. The statement said: “As we enter the summer period, our water resources remain in a robust position with reservoir storage at about 93%. We continue to look for strategic value enhancing opportunities in this area having recently procured a site for development in our region.”
Pennon said its recently approved merger with Bristol Water means integration between the two businesses is already under way and it is targeting synergies of about £20m per annum across the group by 2024/25.
In March the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) approved Pennon’s £425m takeover of Bristol Water after being satisfied separate price controls will be maintained.
Pennon said the integration is anticipated to be complete during the next 24 months and added: “Synergies of c£20m per annum by 2024/25 have been identified across the group through service improvements, driving supply chain efficiencies, creating common systems and processes, and sharing best practice. We expect the profile of these efficiencies to ramp up to deliver c£50m over K7 (2020-2025), with one-off, non-underlying integration costs of c£10m anticipated.
“Pennon will retain the valuable Bristol Water brand and will continue to deliver the existing PR19 business plans of both South West Water and Bristol Water. For PR24, the combined entity will deliver for all our regulated water customers in accordance with a single business plan, with separate price controls.”
Boris Johnson is facing another three potential fines for lockdown breaches, according to senior sources, as he suffered his first ministerial resignation over the Partygate scandal.
In a sign of the continued nervousness in government that the prime minister’s position could come under threat when MPs return to Westminster from recess next week, a Downing Street source admitted the apparent lull felt like “calm before the potential storm”.
Lords justice minister David Wolfson quit his role on Wednesday following the news that Johnson and Rishi Sunak had been given a fixed-penalty notice for breaking their own Covid laws by attending a party for the prime minister’s birthday in No 10.
Wolfson said he was resigning not only because of the prime minister’s “own conduct” but also “the official response to what took place”. He said the behaviour stood in stark contrast to many in society who “complied with the rules at great personal cost, and others were fined or prosecuted for similar, and sometimes apparently more trivial, offences”.
Johnson sought to rally senior ministers behind him by holding a virtual cabinet on Wednesday afternoon. The Welsh secretary, Simon Hart, said Johnson would not quit even if he received multiple fines. “I don’t necessarily see the difference between one or two,” he told Times Radio.
By Wednesday afternoon, before Wolfson’s resignation, momentum appeared to have stalled for MPs prepared to oust Johnson – just two Tory MPs added their voices to calls for the prime minister to resign, the Amber Valley MP Nigel Mills and Craig Whittaker, the MP for Calder Valley.
Mills said he would be writing a letter of no confidence to the chair of the 1922 Committee: “I think for a prime minister in office to be given a fine and accept it and pay it for breaking the laws that he introduced … is just an impossible position,” he said.
In the Halifax Courier, Whittaker called for the PM to resign and “do the right thing” – though said he would not write a letter of no confidence, predicting that Johnson would win any vote.
On social media, the majority of MPs rallied to Johnson’s defence. But a former No 10 adviser predicted the fines could still prove “fatal” for the prime minister’s career. “Conservatives, if they stand for anything, stand for the rule of law and the maintenance of order,” they said. “If they cannot abide their own rules, and do not show humility in the face of justice, it is impossible for them to maintain that mantle.”
Key insiders said they believed Johnson was likely to receive at least three more fines for events that have not yet been fully investigated by police.
The events that the Metropolitan police have yet to examine, which Johnson attended, include the May 2020 summer party, a November gathering in Johnson’s flat with his wife on the day of Dominic Cummings’ departure, and a leaving do for a senior aide in No 10 a day later. Sources said no attender had yet received a fine for those events.
Some Tories have expressed concern that Johnson’s strategy has been to downplay the significance of the event for which he was fined – a short birthday gathering in the cabinet room. “It’s been a terrible comms blunder for MPs to be briefed that the event only lasted 10 minutes and that the PM has been unfairly maligned,” one Tory source said.
Lord Frost, the former cabinet minister, also expressed concern that further damaging revelations were to come. “I think it’s not possible just to say, ‘That was then, this is now, let’s move on, the world is different,’ as the government is trying to this morning,” he told LBC. “We don’t yet know what other penalties may be issued, and to whom.”
No 10 sources said the prime minister had attended the birthday gathering in the cabinet room in June 2020 for less than 10 minutes, eating salad from a plastic bowl and declining any alcohol or party food.
But those who attended the birthday party for the prime minister say they have raised eyebrows at the description of the gathering, with one describing it as a “party atmosphere” with singing, attended by his wife, Carrie Johnson, and his interior designer Lulu Lytle.
Another said they believe photos taken of the event by Johnson’s personal photographer – which have been disclosed to the official Sue Gray investigation into lockdown parties – would leave it beyond doubt that it was an event that breached the rules.
One policing source said an assessment by Met detectives that the PM breached the rules more than once would increase future fines. The level of fine would go up each time Johnson was found to have, or accepted that he had, breached the rules he had introduced.
The source added that the defence Johnson and his supporters were making, that people did not realise they were at parties, was “specious” because the raft of rules were written to stop any indoor gathering of people: “The law never talked about parties, it talked about gatherings. It does not have to be music and dancing – you could not gather indoors.
“The whole reason was to stop the transmission of the disease. The disregard for public health is startling. Why would you not know you were breaching the rules?”
Though three MPs who have previously called for Johnson to go said the war in Ukraine meant they did not believe it was the right moment for a contest, others stood by their letters of no confidence on Thursday, including Gary Streeter, Caroline Nokes, Anthony Mangnall and Tobias Ellwood.
Another MP said they were deeply worried about further revelations and a “drip-drip” ahead of the local elections and the final Gray report. “Each one of these will come as a hammer into the nail of the Tory coffin and what the PM is doing is implicating all the MPs in this. We are in an a long, slow death march.”
The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has also apologised for breaching the rules, having received a fixed-penalty notice for attending the gathering, after a seven-hour deliberation during which he is reported to have been considering his position.
Allies of Sunak said on Wednesday they believed it had been a missed opportunity for the chancellor not to resign on Tuesday after he receiving the fixed-penalty notice. “My view is he should have gone months ago and kept his integrity intact, but now he is at the mercy of potentially being sacked this summer,” one said.
The UK inflation rate rose to 7% in the year to March, the highest rate since 1992. Pensions for 2022/23 rise by 3.1%, nowhere near. Locally, Alison Henandez has also increased your bill for policing by 4.2%.
No doubt Boris Johnson and the richest man in government, Rishi Sunak, have the matter in hand.
Maybe we should all have a party to celebrate? – Owl
Prices are rising at their fastest rate for 30 years, driven by a sharp increase in petrol and diesel prices.
The UK inflation rate rose to 7% in the year to March, the highest rate since 1992 and up from 6.2% in February.
Prices are rising faster than wages and there is pressure on the government to do more to help those struggling.
The cost of living is expected to rise even further after the energy price cap was increased, driving up gas and electricity bills for millions.
Inflation is the rate at which prices rise. If a bottle of milk costs £1 and that rises by 5p, then milk inflation is 5%.
Fuel had the biggest impact on the inflation rate with average petrol prices rising by 12.6p per litre between February and March, the largest monthly rise since records began in 1990, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
This compares with a rise of 3.5p per litre between the same months of 2021.
Diesel prices also rose by 18.8p per litre this year, compared with a rise of 3.5p per litre a year ago.
The rise in the inflation rate was higher than the 6.7% expected by analysts and was also driven up by furniture, restaurant and food prices.
Since late last year, prices have been rising fast as pandemic restrictions have been eased and firms face higher energy and shipping costs which they have passed on to consumers.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is now adding to the pain, as the price of oil and other commodities climb higher.
Russia is one of the world’s largest oil exporters and demand for oil from other producers has increased since the invasion, leading to higher prices.
Although the UK imports just 6% of its crude oil from Russia, it is still affected when global prices rise.
Ukraine and Russia are also the world’s main suppliers of sunflower oil and the war has hit prices.
In the UK, the price of oils and fats for food increased by 7.2% in March, according to the ONS.
The inflation figures for March do not yet reflect the average 54% increase in energy bills that took place from 1 April when the energy price cap was raised.
‘I’m paying £120 more a month for petrol’
Sara Gerritsma, a student from Leicestershire with a partner and six year-old child, said she may have to give up her paramedic degree due to the rising cost of fuel.
The 32-year-old only started the three-year course in October but she has a 2.5 hour roundtrip each day to get to university in Northampton, and her petrol costs have shot up by about £120 a month.
“It would be really frustrating giving up my course. It was a big decision changing my career at 32,” Sara told the BBC.
“But recently we have sat down and gone through everything and thought, can I afford to be a full-time student?”
Sara said the family was also using less energy and has reworked its food budget to save money.
The sharp rise in prices is also putting pressure on businesses.
Paul White, who owns the pizzeria 6/CUT in Manchester, said the increase in the minimum wage, the end of VAT relief, and rising fuel and food prices have all hit his company. The restaurant is also spending £500 more a week on its energy bills.
“We need to find an extra £1,400 a week to cover the costs of everything that’s come on in the last few weeks,” he told the BBC .
He says he will have to put up prices, and is looking to charge each customer about 50p to £1 extra to cover his rising overheads.
But he is also worried people might start eating out less as their budgets are squeezed.
“Next six months there’ll be a lot of [restaurants] shutting down, they won’t be making enough money to cover the costs of everything,” he said.
This is no longer a cost of living squeeze, but a financial throttling for many people. Price rises are accelerating and their wages, benefits and pensions are failing to keep pace.
So, at home, families will be discussing how best to cope with this situation, which is expected to last a while.
In the words of the ONS, there were “no large offsetting downward contributions” to the inflation rate. In other words, nothing is getting significantly cheaper.
So avoidance of price rises is impossible. Even if you do not have a car and are avoiding surging fuel costs, lots of other necessities are getting more expensive.
Experts say the only option is trying to budget as best we can, across every part of our lives. Most importantly, they also stress the importance of seeking early, and free, help before falling into unmanageable debt.
Jack Leslie, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation think tank, which focuses on those on lower incomes, warned the cost of living crisis would “continue to worsen before it starts to ease at some point next year”.
He said with wages not keeping pace with rising prices, people were facing “the biggest squeeze since the mid-70s.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “I know this is a worrying time for many families, which is why we are taking action to ease the burdens by providing support worth around £22bn in this financial year, including for the most vulnerable through our Household Support fund.”
But Labour called on the chancellor to “show the leadership the country needs”.
“Labour has a plan to cut energy bills through a one-off windfall tax on oil and gas producer profits. Meanwhile, the Chancellor has increased taxes for working people to their highest levels in 70 years,” shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Pat McFadden said.
Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey called for “unfair tax hikes” to be immediately reversed and said people needed “urgent help” with energy bills.
One of Cornwall’s grandest estates is selling off a number of properties that some local tenants have called home for decades, leaving them devastated.
The four properties, located within the 6,000 acre Port Eliot estate, in St Germans, have been put on the market by the Estate trustees’ management team at Savills. All tenants were issued a Section 21 notice on March 24 – extended to three months instead of two.
One resident told CornwallLive that while people are not begrudging the Estate’s decision that it was “totally unexpected” and couldn’t have come at a worse time. It’s as a widespread housing crisis is impacting much of Cornwall. Some of the affected residents have lived in the homes for as many as 20 years.
At least one has stipulated that they believed they were “guaranteed” as long term rentals – having invested thousands into maintenance and renovation of the properties through the years. Savills has however confirmed that all those issued notice were on an assured shorthold tenancy – meaning it can issue notice at any point without giving a reason.
One of those affected said: “I have been a tenant at Port Eliot for many, many years, and I’ve lived in a couple of properties and our understanding at the time was that the trust wouldn’t be selling the properties on. As time has gone by we got a Section 21 notice just pushed through our letterbox a couple of weeks ago to say they are selling our home.
“it was a no fault eviction and basically we had three months to find somewhere else to live and move out so I’m quite aggrieved because we’ve ploughed a lot of money into the house. We spent an awful lot of time making it a nice place and the estate is going to benefit from it basically.”
She explained that she shared her story – believing it to be a single case – to a local Facebook page at which point things “ballooned”. She had numerous other people reach out explaining they too were being evicted.
“Myself and my next door neighbour are being evicted,” she said. “And I know another person who is moving on their own as they have purchased a house and I’m pretty sure they will sell that as well. It could be a whole street that’s going.”
She added that she knows it’s not ‘her property’ at the end of the day but that with the housing crisis it’s no doubt going to leave people without homes to go to. “We were hoping that maybe the Duchy of Cornwall might look into buying some more property here like it has in the past but really we don’t know what’s going to happen yet,” she continued.
The house is within an estate of 6,000-acre which extends into the neighbouring villages of Tideford, Trerulefoot and Polbathic. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Eliot family invested substantially in the estate by building farmhouses, fishermen’s cottages and other homes throughout the land. Many of these properties remain part of the estate to this day and are rented out to local residents and friends of the family.
Some properties – like the ones mentioned here – have been sold over the years. The Duchy of Cornwall estate purchased the southern portion of the Port Eliot estate in 2014 as part of the most substantial purchase of farmland made in Cornwall since The Prince of Wales became Duke of Cornwall in 1952. The Duchy of Cornwall does not own any of the properties currently being sold.
Another affected tenant said they were being “turfed out” after 13 years and were “heartbroken” as a result. A third said they were struggling to find a property with the ongoing housing crisis, and having pets which makes finding a property even more challenging in the current climate.
Savills has now confirmed that four properties total have been impacted by the notice period served on March 25 as it was instructed by the trustees. Port Eliot is the ancestral seat of the Eliot family, whose present head is 17-year-old Albert Eliot, 11th Earl of St Germans. His father was found dead in the bath, aged 40, after an epileptic fit in 2006 and the estate is being managed by trustees until he comes of age.
A Savills spokesperson said: “The Port Eliot Estate has decided to sell a small number of its properties occupied on assured shorthold tenancies. The family is working to try and find alternative accommodation on the Estate.
“The tenants were served notice on 25th March and the notice period has been extended to at least three months instead of the statutory two months. The proceeds from the sale of these properties will facilitate reinvestment into the remaining Estate.”
There were some questions over who was actually responsible to the decision with some claiming that Savills had full management responsibilities of the estate but that has been confirmed as untrue. Savills manages the Port Eliot Estate on behalf of its trustees. Savills is therefore the primary contact for estate management queries, however it takes instruction from the trustees.
Port Eliot Estate declined to comment saying that the sale of the properties is being dealt with by Savills.
A video has emerged of Plymouth City Council leader Councillor Richard Bingley saying the world should not worry about climate change and suggesting people should adapt to “living in barren, sandy landscapes.”
The comments, recorded in June 2020, were made on the YouTube channel of right-wing think tank New Culture Forum (NCF) and posted on the website of the climate science denial group, Net Zero Watch (NZW).
Also taking part in the debate was James Delingpole, London editor of the far-right Breitbart website, along with outspoken climate change denier Dr Benny Peiser.
Net Zero Watch was previously known as the ‘Global Warming Policy Foundation’ of which Dr Peiser is as a director.
The prominent climate change denial organisation was rebranded as NZW last year.
Plymouth City Council declared a climate emergency in 2019 and pledged to make the city carbon neutral by 2030.
But in the video, Cllr Richard Bingley says: “I’m not really feeling that we should worry too much about climate change in itself.”
He dismisses concerns about the extent of climate change and suggests countries should simply adapt to harsher environments.
“You get to sort of 30 or 40 years time where the world may be liveable; it may not be,” he says.
“I mean, for example, some countries, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia have adjusted for many years to living in barren, sandy landscapes.”
Recorded less than a year before being elected Conservative councillor for Plymouth’s Southway ward, Cllr Bingley describes himself as “a Londoner” and hits out at the increase in cyclists, many of whom are choosing to ditch cars in favour of greener transport.
Speaking about his East London home, he says: “Now you try and walk the dogs by a canal path or something, you end up almost losing your legs or the dogs do. And it’s actually not very pleasant.
“You know, there’s too much cycling going on. So I think that needs addressing.”
Green Party candidate for Plympton Chaddlewood, Ian Poyser, said: “There’s a clear scientific consensus on the facts about the climate crisis and ecological decline, which is happening right now in this country.
“The government’s own 2021 State of Nature report has shown that since the 1970s 41 per cent of all UK species surveyed have declined, while 15 per cent of species within the UK are said to be threatened with extinction.
“The population of the UK’s priority species, have declined by a shocking 60 per cent.
“Given the overwhelming scientific evidence and public support for climate action from across society, it’s irresponsible to politicise the issue and sow division, at a time we need to pull together as a nation.
“I’m tired of politicians that paint a simplistic view of the world.”
Later in the video discussion Cllr Bingley dismisses covid s as “a mildly severe flu pandemic” and says the reaction is “a social media mass crisis response.”
By late June 2020, the time of these comments, nearly nine million cases of the virus had been recoreded worldwide, leaving almost 490,000 dead.
Cllr Bingley was approached about his comments on the Net Zero Watch site but has not responded.
A link to the video is on this page of Net Zero Watch. Radio Exe is not responsible for the content of external websites: https://bit.ly/3KD5HPE
Ministers should reconsider England’s “living with Covid” plans, health leaders have said, while accusing the government of ignoring the ongoing threat for ideological reasons.
The NHS Confederation, which represents organisations across the healthcare sector, has accused No 10 of having “abandoned any interest” in the pandemic, despite a new Omicron surge putting pressure on an already overstretched NHS.
“The brutal reality for staff and patients is that this Easter in the NHS is as bad as any winter,” said Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation.
“But instead of the understanding and support NHS staff received during 2020 and 2021, we have a government that seems to want to wash its hands of responsibility for what is occurring in plain sight in local services up and down the country. No 10 has seemingly abandoned any interest in Covid whatsoever.
“NHS leaders and their teams feel abandoned by the government and they deserve better.”
Taylor later told BBC Breakfast: “In our view, we do not have a ‘living with Covid’ plan, we have a ‘living without restrictions’ ideology, which is different. We need to put in place the measures that are necessary to try to alleviate the pressures on our health service while this virus continues to affect [it].”
He said ministers should restate advice promoting mask-wearing on public transport to try to cut the number of infections and, consequently, the demand on the NHS.
“We need to renew the call for people to have vaccinations and booster vaccinations – there are still a lot of people out there who are not up to date with the vaccinations that they could have,” he said.
“We need to resource the health service. At the moment, for example, the health service is providing free tests for its staff, which it needs to do because staff absences are really high in the NHS because of Covid. But the NHS has to pay for those tests. So, we need to put the resource in. Because we’re behaving as if this pandemic is over, but it is not over in relation to the challenges facing the health service.”
A new Omicron wave has been putting immense pressure on the NHS. Last week, health bosses in England issued an extraordinary plea for families to help them discharge loved ones – even if they were Covid-positive – saying the service faced a “perfect storm” fuelled by heavy demand, severe staff shortages and soaring cases.
“Our concern is that there is a lack of awareness and engagement with the pressures health service is under. And it’s particularly felt in hospitals [and] in the ambulance service – but it’s actually across the system as a whole,” Taylor said.
“Although, of course, we’re much better at dealing with Covid than we have been in the past – fewer people die, fewer people end up in intensive care – it is still a disease that puts immense pressure on the health service. It is … adding to the demand which already exists – partly to do with the number of people who are waiting for treatment, which built up during Covid.
“So we have a situation in our health service now which is as bad as any winter, even though we’re approaching Easter.”
Taylor said that to make matters worse, the Treasury had “taken bites out of the already very tight NHS budget”, while soaring inflation meant the NHS settlement was now worthless. “It is now unclear that anyone in the centre of government feels the unfolding NHS crisis is their responsibility,” the FT quoted him as saying.
A No 10 spokesperson said: “There is no change to our guidance and our living with Covid plan still stands. Thanks to a combination of vaccination and treatment and our better understanding of the virus, we are now able to manage it as we do with other respiratory infections, so that remains the case with our approach. But, obviously, we continue to monitor any changes in the behaviour of the virus.”
Asked about the confederation’s view that NHS leaders felt abandoned by the government, the spokesperson said: “We are incredibly grateful to NHS staff who worked flat out throughout the pandemic and continue to do so in the face of Covid backlogs.”
There have been so many denials about partygate that Owl’s advice is to bookmark this list for future reference. Even so, it doesn’t list them all, e.g semantic reference to “gatherings”, or the number of occasions the Police said “nothing to see here”.
Those were people at work, talking about work. I have said what I have to say about that.
12 January 2022
The prime minister apologised to parliament and admitted attending a gathering but at this point he continued to stress that he thought it was a “work event”.
He said:
I believed implicitly that this was a work event, but with hindsight, I should have sent everyone back inside.
11 February 2022
In an interview with Sky News, when asked if he broke lockdown rules, Sunak replied “no”, adding that Johnson had his “total support”.
A No 10 spokesperson said: “The prime minister and chancellor of the Exchequer have today received notification that the Metropolitan police intend to issue them with fixed penalty notices. We have no further details, but we will update you again when we do.”
The fines relate to parties held in Downing Street during lockdown and are likely to include a gathering in the cabinet room for Johnson’s birthday in June 2020, which was also attended by Sunak.
Keir Starmer has accused Rishi Sunak of “rank hypocrisy” and questioned the ability of super-rich politicians to relate to the public as No 10 came under pressure to reveal if any other ministers had used schemes to avoid tax.
And we still don’t have transparency over the extent of the use of non-dom status and other tax weases amongst cabinet members. – Owl
In an interview with the Guardian amid controversy over Rishi Sunak’s wife’s tax status, Starmer said having a spouse who was a non-dom would create a “very obvious conflict of interest” for any cabinet minister.
He called on the prime minister to make clear that no other cabinet ministers had taken advantage of non-dom status, used tax havens or benefited from offshore trusts.
Sunak has referred himself to the adviser on ministerial interests for an inquiry and his wife, Akshata Murty, last week said she would pay all UK tax on foreign earnings in future. Sajid Javid, the health secretary, also admitted on Sunday to having been a non-dom for six years while a banker, before he was an MP.
But despite the continuing public outcry, No 10 on Monday said it could not reveal whether any other ministers or their spouses held or had previously held non-dom tax status.
Starmer said the chancellor still had “basic” things to answer about how much tax his family had avoided with Murty’s non-dom status, with estimates she legally avoided paying UK taxes of £20m on overseas earnings.
Sunak’s own financial interests are also under scrutiny, as he resisted calls to reveal what assets he has put into a “blind” management arrangement, meaning they can be kept secret from the public.
The Lib Dems on Monday wrote to Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, asking her to launch an inquiry into why Sunak had declared no financial interests between 2015 and 2019 as an MP, but then revealed the existence of a blind trust in 2019 when he became a Treasury minister.
Sunak has never revealed his wife’s international interests on his list of ministerial interests, although he does declare her holding in the UK-based Catamaran Ventures. She is known to hold about £690m in shares in Infosys, the Indian IT company founded by her billionaire father.
The Guardian has also established that Murty has held US investments through a trust in her own name, Akshata Narayana Murty Trust, which is revealed in American filings. Her spokesperson had no comment, apart from that “all rules were followed”.
There are also continuing questions around Sunak’s possession of a US green card for permanent residents, including for six years as an MP and government minister. Sunak left his job in the US in 2013, but declared the same year in a UK company filing that he was resident in the UK, suggesting he was giving different information to the British and US authorities about his residency. The US states that green card holders should give up their status if they take up residence elsewhere.
Despite warnings that Sunak may have flouted US immigration rules, the chancellor is understood to be heading to Washington next week for International Monetary Fund spring meetings.
The row over the tax arrangements of Murty, who has said she has maintained her non-dom status in part because she hopes to return to her birth country of India, has reportedly led Sunak to question his future in UK politics.
Asked if there were issues with politicians from a super-wealthy elite becoming prime minister, Starmer said it would be likely to pose problems. “There’s much more likely to be a conflict of interest. I don’t know many people who have signed up to a non-dom scheme in order to increase their tax. It is pretty obvious why people do it.” But he also said there was a “broader issue” about politicians’ disconnection from ordinary people’s lives.
“I think that even before we got to the non-dom issue, the chancellor’s response to the spring statement, to the real pressures on people, showed that he just doesn’t get it.”
Starmer highlighted Sunak’s own personal wealth – his four homes – and his reference to having four different types of bread in his house, as well as his decision to borrow a Sainsbury’s worker’s ordinary car for a photoshoot, as evidence he was “completely out of touch”.
“You know, whether that’s picking up somebody else’s car, whether it’s four loaves of bread in his own family, whether it’s a number of houses, it’s about whether he gets it. It’s about whether you understand, whether you can relate to the very real struggles that people have and the cost of living crisis, and it dominates every discussion we have around the country.”
Starmer has so far refused to commit to Labour’s longstanding policy to abolish non-dom status, first announced by Ed Miliband in 2015, but said the party was undertaking an extensive review of the tax system.
Speaking to the Guardian on a campaign visit to Sunderland, he hinted that he was uncomfortable with the system of overseas tax status. “Most people don’t get that choice … it’s only a very small minority of people. This has been portrayed as some complex tax situation. It’s not.”
Starmer also expressed some hesitation at the idea politicians should publish their own tax returns, saying it was “overcomplicated” and that all proper declarations should be made.
But he added: “There is nothing to reveal in my tax returns, [but] I can tell you if I was prime minister, I wouldn’t be going to the country saying I want more tax from you, but secretly I’m reducing my own tax burden through schemes. It’s rank hypocrisy.”
Starmer said that he had been hearing deeply worrying stories from voters on the campaign trail about the way that rising energy bills and inflation were affecting their lives.
“They are really worried about paying the bills. The most repeated thing said to me, particularly from older people, is that they are not putting the heating on, or sitting in their dressing gown all day, because [they are] too scared to turn up the heating.
“Somebody said to me: ‘I don’t put our central heating up higher than 12 degrees.’ Someone last week said to me in the supermarket: ‘Now, I pick things up and then put them back down again and try to get something cheaper.’”
He said Labour had a message about “practical ways to deal with the problems” and said people were receptive to his party’s message on taxing the extra profits of oil and gas companies to reduce energy bills. “Of course, we’ve got to show that we are the party to be trusted with the economy, but I think we are doing that.”
East Devon Watch 