The Government has said it will not be appealing against a High Court ruling which stated its care home discharge policies were unlawful.

Isobel Frodsham www.independent.co.uk 

Last week, the High Court ruled policies in March and early April 2020 were unlawful because they failed to take into account the risk to elderly and vulnerable residents from non-symptomatic transmission of coronavirus.

It came after a claim was brought against the Government by two women – Cathy Gardner and Fay Harris – after their fathers died from Covid-19.

Former health secretary Matt Hancock apologised for people’s “pain and anguish” following the ruling.

On Wednesday, the Government said it would not be pursuing an appeal.

A spokesperson said: “The Government notes the court’s judgment and that the court dismissed most aspects of the claimants’ judicial review.

“While we are disappointed that the court did not accept all of the points we put before it, we do not see a public interest in an appeal on those points, as the right place for these matters to be considered is the public inquiry.

“Our thoughts are with all those who lost loved ones during the pandemic. Our aim throughout has been to protect the public from the threat to life and health posed by Covid and we specifically sought to safeguard care home residents.”

In the early part of the pandemic in 2020, patients were rapidly discharged into care homes without testing, despite the risk of asymptomatic transmission, with Government documents showing there was no requirement for this until mid-April.

The judges said there was no evidence that Mr Hancock – or anyone advising him – addressed the issue of the risk of asymptomatic transmission to care home residents in England, or that he considered or was asked to consider the question of isolating asymptomatic admissions.

However, they added that the “growing appreciation that asymptomatic transmission was a real possibility ought to have prompted a change in Government policy concerning care homes earlier than it did”.

They pointed out that these risks were highlighted as early as March 13 by figures including the Government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, who said it was “quite likely”.

In a previous statement, Mr Hancock’s spokesman said Public Health England had failed to tell ministers about asymptomatic transmission and he wished it had been brought to his attention sooner.

The Telegraph reports that Lord Frost, said to be seeking a speedy return to Westminster politics, has been ruled out as a prospective candidate for the Tories in the Tiverton and Honiton by-election.

The local Tory association is said to want a local candidate, given the Liberal Democrats – the biggest threat to victory there – are sure to criticise anyone “parachuted” into the seat.

Ideally, they are said to be looking for a woman candidate despite Oliver Dowden, the Conservative Party chairman, ruling out all-women shortlists as “blunt instruments”.

So should we be scanning the list of Tory District and County councillors?

An open letter to my MP, Simon Jupp, from a Budleigh Correspondent:

As a Times reader I was horrified to discover the long list, compiled by Alice Thomson, of Southwest neglect compared to the rest of the country. (Tory voters in the seat vacated by Neil Parish feel abandoned: education, transport, housing and health are all below par) I would like to know what you are doing to rectify this.

Here is a list compiled from the article of neglect, supplemented by my some of my own.

House prices have soared in the area generally. Recent figures for February 2022 show the Southwest and the East have the highest increase in the country, pricing many locals out of the market.

Long term rentals have now come to a frightening low number.  Alice Thompson quotes only four homes for rent, compared with 326 airbnbs, in Ilfracombe. In Budleigh Salterton there were two properties for rent compared with 60 airbnbs when checked a couple of weeks ago; and BS is not the most popular coastal hotspot.

We have the highest number of universal benefit claimants in work.

The area has the worst educational outcomes for disadvantaged young people.

17% of disadvantaged pupils go to university. 45% do in London according to a report by Professor Lee Elliot Major and Dr Anne-Marie Sim of Exeter University.

School attainment levels between poorer pupils and others are the largest for all English regions.

The problems of high speed broadband are well known. Alice Thompson: “As Parish regularly explained in the Commons, there is no fast broadband in many areas — except in the prime minister’s holiday cottage where they have spent a fortune laying cable along his family’s remote valley.” 

We have only one major train line into London which gets flooded at Dawlish, cutting off the peninsula. (The Waterloo line cannot call itself a “major” line when it is only SINGLE track in places). As I write this I hear that Crossrail is about to open at an estimated final cost of £19bn.

The motorway stops at Exeter.

Investments in transport is £308/head compared to the national average of £474. In a rural area where cars are often the only way to get to work. 

The number of hospital bed /head of population is the third worst in the country – 9,916. The North West has the best with 15,212. But the Southwest has the oldest population and lowest number of critical care beds per head of population

Life expectancy is low in coastal towns.

No NHS dental appointments available in the region.

South West Water discharges sewage into the sea at popular bathing beaches. Alice Thompson mentions South West Water’s 43,901 hours of discharges into bathing beauty spots. In Budleigh Salterton in 2020, 83 episodes lasting 850 hours Perhaps one of your many tasks could be to regain a functioning prediction board on the parade.

The southwest was mainly a Brexit voting area and yet Cornwall will only have half of its EU funding replaced by the government.

Finally, with this by no means exhaustive list, the area has been subjected to a colossal amount of house building with no new infrastructure. How long has Cranbrook had to wait for a thriving town centre? Has this resulted in affordable homes for those locals who need them? No, great swathes of valuable farming land has been built on. Developers, use their economic viability “get-out” clauses, to reduce the proportion of affordable homes in a development as the outline permission is “refined”. Despite all the building around Exmouth we still have a shortfall of 591 affordable homes for Exmouth. For example, Goodmores Farm affordable homes requirement has been successively reduced from 88 to 33.

AND YET, Simon, our local growth fund is £134.40 and the Northern Powerhouse is getting £210.80.

Finally, can I express my disappointment that more urgent matters called you away from your long standing appointment to discuss how to help with local problems with the Leader and CEO of EDDC?

I feel I am being taken for granted.

What interests Owl is that the Tory Nottingham PCC, Caroline Henry, is also the wife of a local Tory MP. Keeping it in the family!

Josh Payne www.independent.co.uk 

A Tory police and crime commissioner who pledged to crack down on speeding has been caught breaking the 30mph limit five times within a 12-week period.

The PCC for Nottinghamshire Police, Caroline Henry, admitted the offences, including two committed on consecutive days, at a previous hearing in February at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court.

Magistrates were told Henry, who is the wife of Broxtowe MP Darren Henry, had written a letter to the court saying she was “very sorry, embarrassed and ashamed”.

Her defence solicitor Noel Philo said the letter was written on “advice I did not give”.

The 52-year-old, who was elected to the post in May 2021, was caught speeding in a blue Mercedes and a silver Lexus with a personalised number plate in 30mph zones at four locations in Nottingham in March, May and June last year.

Court documents relating to the charges she has admitted show Henry was caught speeding twice near a primary school in Daybrook, Nottingham, as well as roads in Chilwell, Beeston and the city’s A610.

Speed cameras clocked the PCC’s speed as high as 40mph in a 30mph zone, with other excess speeds recorded at 35mph and 38mph.

The offences took place on 17 and 18 March, 2 and 27 May, and 8 June last year.

On her official PCC website, Henry listed ensuring an “effective and efficient” police response to speeding as one of her priorities.

She campaigned for election using the slogan “Make Notts Safe” and promised to “reduce crime with action, not words”.

The case was adjourned until 19 July where Henry is expected to argue that two of the five offences were due to “emergencies”, with one being when she was “very concerned for one of her children”.

Henry did not respond to questions over whether she would resign from her position.

In a written statement issued after the hearing, Henry said: “For technical legal reasons, the court has constituted that they cannot deal with the case today. I cannot comment on the ongoing case. I will be explaining the context of this matter in due course.”

Clarity sought after number of splits and sackings leaves council divided

Ollie Heptinstall www.devonlive.com

A series of political splits and sackings at Mid Devon District Council has led to calls for clarity about three newly formed groups and the future of the authority’s leader. Since 2019, the council has been run by independent-led coalitions – firstly with the Liberal Democrats and then the Conservatives – after the election resulted in no overall control.

Leader Bob Deed (Cadbury ward, New Independent) has been in charge throughout but his independent group recently split following a disagreement, with most members later joining forces as the Non Aligned Group (NAG). As for Cllr Deed, he and two other colleagues formed the New Independents. The delicate balance of the council meant the Tories could have taken exactly half of the 42 seats at the recent Cullompton South by-election, meaning its then-leader Bob Evans (Lower Culm, Ungrouped), who was also deputy leader of council, may have been able to challenge Cllr Deed for the top job. However, the Liberal Democrats won the by-election, and the state of the parties has been further muddied by Cllr Evans being replaced as leader of the Conservatives and sacked as deputy leader of the council.

Cllr Deed was accused of “political manoeuvrings” by Cllr Evans for the decision, as reported by DevonLive, but he claimed it was down to a “matter of trust.” Councillor Clive Eginton (Taw Vale, Conservative) won a vote to replace Cllr Evans as top Tory, while Councillor Stuart Penny (Yeo, Conservative) has taken on his cabinet member job for housing and property services. To make matters even more complicated, Cllr Evans has since resigned from the Conservative group and now sits as the council’s only ungrouped member.

Hoping to clarify the state of the parties at Wednesday’s full meeting of the council, Councillor Frank Letch (Lib Dem, Lawrence) said: I’m sure if the public looked at down table of allocations we have the three obvious parties, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Greens. Now we have New Independents, Non-Aligned Group and Independent No Group with one member.

“I’m presuming that the leader isn’t the one member of the independent No Group, because if he is we would all feel very sad for him. I remember in 2019, and I’m sure he does, that he was elected as an independent. So is he now the New Independent, because if he is, surely he is the old independent because he’s still there and he hasn’t gained anybody?

“I think the public really do need to know what these three groups mean because at the end of the day, some of these people would have been elected under one banner, like I was. If I changed to another group, I would stand down and I would put myself forward to be re-elected as a No Group, Independent, Non-aligned or whatever.

“Can we just find out if the leader has any plans to join these people together to find some way of getting the New Independents, the Non-Aligned groups plus the Independent No Group, number one, if they could get together to form a more cohesive entity.”

Cllr Deed replied: “In terms of the number of groups within this council, it isn’t unusual. And even within some councils you have two groups of the same party because there is a difference among members and so on.”

But he acknowledged Cllr Letch’s “very good point” adding: “I take your point, which is a very good point and maybe, because I think my column in the Gazette comes up next week or the week after, that’s something that I will address in the Gazette in terms of the different parties and what they mean.

“I don’t know how we slipped into the group that I’m now in, which is the New Independents. We should have just stayed as New Independents and the NAG should have got on with their nagging.”

The leader was asked by Councillor Graeme Barnell (Non Aligned Group, Newbrooke): “We’ve seen three replaced over the last year and this seems unrelated to performance in post because he congratulates all of them on their performance on his sacking of them. Can he please tell us how these sackings are related to the needs of the people of Mid Devon?

While he would not go into the reasons, Cllr Deed said: ” As you would expect Cllr Barnell, I’m not going to respond on the reasons for the removal of – some would like to say sacking – the removal from cabinet of certain members.

“In each case I felt it was justified, and therefore I took the action that I did. As you know, under the constitution I have the facility to hire and fire, but I do take the view generally as a leader that I should try to maintain a cabinet, which is, the best minds available to undertake the various cabinet posts. If for some reason individual members are finding it uncomfortable to maintain the job of a cabinet member within the cabinet, then there have been from time to time changes.

“Relating to the press this week, I would congratulate Councilor Luke Taylor (Bradninch, Lib Dems) because at least we have one mathematician within the council. He has managed to make sure that I’m reminded that I have removed seven cabinet members in the last three years.

“I hope that that number will not increase, but who knows? Somebody once said a week is a long time in politics. I have no intention at this time of changing any cabinet members, and I trust that we will go through to the elections in May 2023 and we will have a very good story to say in a year’s time.”

A former Conservative councillor has called on voters to back Labour in tomorrow’s local elections.

Sophia Sleigh www.huffingtonpost.co.uk 

The dramatic intervention by Barry Macleod-Cullinane, who served as deputy leader of Harrow Council when the Tories were last in power there, said the prime minister was “destroying” his party.

In a letter, he called on residents to vote Labour to “send Boris Johnson a message”.

Macleod-Cullinane said: “We now know that Boris Johnson broke the law and has lied repeatedly to Parliament and to us.

“He’s taking us for fools – and we can’t let him get away with it. A vote for Boris Johnson’s Conservatives on Thursday 5th May will be a vote for his chaotic leadership. We deserve better. That’s why I’ll be voting Labour on Thursday 5th May.”

Other former Conservative councillors are telling voters to back the Liberal Democrats in tomorrow’s elections.

Meanwhile, HuffPost UK can reveal that Conservative associations have shunned visits from cabinet ministers as campaigners warn that brand Boris is “shattered”.

Candidates have also put disclaimers on their leaflets pleading with the public not to “punish” them for “mistakes made in Westminster”.

Staff in Conservative campaign headquarters [CCHQ] are braced for the fallout, with one survey even putting the Tories on track to lose nearly 550 seats amid the backlash over partygate and the government’s response to the cost of living crisis.

HuffPost UK has spoken to Tory candidates who say they have been reluctant to allow government ministers to visit their wards due to “toxic” Westminster politics.

Sources said a number of London associations did not want any CCHQ involvement in their local campaigns.

“I know associations have turned down cabinet member visits,” one Tory campaigner said.

After Conservative chairman Oliver Dowden recently visited Wales, a council candidate said: “A lot of people didn’t want him coming here because they have been told everything needs to be local.”

In Elmbridge, Surrey, a former Conservative councillor wrote to residents urging them to vote for the Lib Dems in two key wards.

Councillor Alan Kopitko wrote: “You only have to look nationally with the lies that Boris and his followers have portrayed denying parties that they engaged in during lockdown echoing themselves whilst the Covid infection was spreading, and people were dying. This is detrimental to our democracy, whatever your political affiliations.”

Tory candidates have been marketing themselves as “Local Conservatives” with hundreds listed under the label on the ballot paper for the first time. They have also been leaving the prime minister off their leaflets.

Others have been more blatant in their bid to distance themselves from the national party, with Hartlepool candidates writing on their pamphlets: “This Thursday, please don’t punish local Conservatives for the mistakes made in Westminster, we are local and proud of where we live, and like you, we want the best for Hartlepool.”

Senior Tory MPs including ministers and deputy prime minister Dominic Raab have also recently adopted green branding for their constituency material.

A Tory campaigning in London said: “Things aren’t great really for the Conservative Party. Partygate is still coming up, it’s really shattered trust in the government and Boris.

“People are now linking it to other things, for example the government doesn’t understand the cost of living because they are so out of touch. That comes up quite a lot.

“The Boris brand is completely shattered, a lot of people are saying things like ‘I don’t trust him, I thought he’d be different, I thought he’d be on our side, I thought he’d be funny’.

“None of that exists any more. There’s still a lot of anger. Ukraine is coming up a little bit, cost of living is probably the main thing and that personal trust in the government is coming up a lot.”

Thanks to former Conservative councillor Barry MacLeod-Cullinane for deciding this time to switch his vote to Labour and lend your support to Stephen and I in Harrow on the Hill- your letter says it all pic.twitter.com/hW3gUkUM4C

— Eden Kulig (@EdenHoth) April 29, 2022

However, seasoned observers are less worried because they say the last time the elections were held the Conservatives did badly and Labour did well so the results might therefore mask the true level of discontent.

They hope by the time the next general election comes round that the government has improved its position and standing.

It is also quite usual that non-governing parties do well at local elections and some Tories on the doorsteps say that national issues are not being raised at all.

One Red Wall Tory MP said partygate had proved “a bit of an issue” on the doorstep but that only around 10 per cent of Tories were bringing it up.

They added: “I’m not detecting people going back to Labour in any numbers at all, it will all come down to turnout in terms of what result we get this week.”

Another Red Wall Conservative MP on the campaign trail remained fiercely optimistic, saying: “It’s all to play for in last couple of days, we’re very close to winning in a few traditionally Labour areas.”

Some of the main areas to watch include Tory flagship councils Wandsworth and Westminster, as well as Barnet, Southampton, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Thurrock.

The results could fuel speculation over Johnson’s leadership, with some MPs already seeing the election as a referendum on the prime minister.

HuffPost UK has heard that staff working for some leadership hopefuls have been trying to “tap-up” MPs for support for weeks.

One MP has also admitted they are a campaign manager-in-waiting for one hopeful.

Some MPs think any leadership challenge must take place in a “window of opportunity” soon after Thursday’s results are announced or Johnson will likely be taking them into the next general election.

However, it all depends on whether enough letters of no confidence have been submitted to chairman of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady.

One senior backbencher is said to be in “full-on manoeuvres” as MPs across the party say they have been approached by his staff.

The Conservative Party has been contacted for comment.

Tory candidates in Thursday’s local elections are styling themselves “local Conservatives”, and in some cases urging voters not to punish them for “mistakes made in Westminster”, as they prepare to count the cost of Partygate at the polls.

Heather Stewart www.theguardian.com 

The Conservatives are braced for losses in Thursday’s elections, in which every seat in Scotland, Wales and London will be contested, as well as many other English councils.

Leaflets delivered in Hartlepool say: “This Thursday, please don’t punish local Conservatives for the mistakes made in Westminster. We are local, and proud of where we live.”

In many parts of the country, including Birmingham, St Albans, and in the Esher and Walton constituency of the justice secretary, Dominic Raab, Tories are listed as “local Conservative”, even on the ballot paper.

Leaflets delivered in Hartlepool say: ‘Please don’t punish local Conservatives for the mistakes made in Westminster.’ Photograph: undefined/Twitter

A leaflet for Keith Rowe, in Birmingham Northfield, carries a picture of the label “local Conservative” as it will appear on the ballot paper, and the claim: “This is a straight fight between Keith and an unknown Labour candidate.”

In Newcastle-under-Lyme, Conservative leaflets stress, “this election is about local issues, not national issues”.

Boris Johnson’s picture rarely appears on the scores of local election leaflets from across the country seen by the Guardian. Some MPs, particularly in the south of England, have warned that Partygate is coming up frequently in doorstep conversations – as well as the cost of living crisis.

The Liberal Democrats have accused Boris Johnson of failing to campaign in “blue wall” areas such as Surrey, where they believe recent revelations about the prime minister’s lockdown breaches are particularly damaging.

Conservative MPs will be watching closely to see whether council seats change hands in their local patch, potentially pointing the way to Labour or the Liberal Democrats challenging them in a future general election.

Labour hopes to come second in Scotland, and to make progress in councils covering swing seats in England and Wales they would need to win to unseat the Conservatives at Westminster.

Some Tory MPs say that the aftermath of the poll could prove dangerous for Johnson if the Conservatives have a bad night and he is then blamed for the loss of hundreds of seats.

Labour and the Lib Dems are playing down the likelihood of a large number of councils changing hands – but the main parties’ share of the vote will be scrutinised for signs that Johnson has become an electoral liability.

The deputy Labour leader, Angela Rayner, said: “It speaks volumes that Boris Johnson’s own Conservative candidates are ashamed to be associated with him and trying to pull the wool over voters’ eyes.

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“With no answers to the cost of living crisis, Tory candidates are trying to hide from their own government’s record. A vote for Labour on Thursday is a vote to send the Conservatives a message they can’t ignore. Britain deserves better.”

The Metropolitan police are continuing their investigation into Partygate. Johnson has received one fixed-penalty notice for breaching lockdown rules by attending a birthday party.

The prime minister has told allies he does not expect to receive further fines, but it is widely believed at Westminster that more may come. The Met has said it will not update the public further until after the local elections.

Dear Owl

East Devon faces westwards to Exeter for much of its vitality, so we need to take an interest in what happens there. So, for those who have the chance to vote tomorrow…[Thursday, correspondence received yesterday]

… you would have to have returned today from at least a decade long holiday on Mars to make the catastrophic mistake of voting for the Conservative party on May 5th. There is no earthly reason for doing so, and almost endless very good reasons not to. The normal caveat that these are local not national elections doesn’t hold water because the current regime has taken local power back to Westminster in an unprecedented fashion, leaving all local authorities with budgets now well below the basic minimum clearly needed to meet their responsibilities and suffering the dead weight of egregious privatisation. We should note that the PMs claim that Labour led local authorities are badly managed is just more bunkum – the earliest budget defaulter was Tory run Northamptonshire – and many more Tory run authorities, just as those where other parties are in control, are suffering from chronic underfunding.

Let’s just re-read the list posted by Owl on 30th May (Southwest suffers from profound inequality) on a few of the pleasures of living in the southwest … 

* Low earnings and poor pay are common in many parts of the region with four of Devon’s eight districts among the UK’s top 25 low wage “hotspots”

* Poor mental health outcomes for both children and adults

* Teacher recruitment, retention and training are challenges for isolated schools

* Schools have on average lower levels of funding than elsewhere

* The area has long travel times to pursue further education or work which has been linked to higher drop out rates

* Fewer professional jobs are available in most areas, which has contributed to a youth exodus

Not exactly Shangri-La is it?…

This ‘local’ election is a national poll and is a chance to make some important changes. We have a shambolic, seedy, shameless government lurching to the unpleasant and downright dangerous end of the right wing in politics. An urgent rebalancing is required, and the chance to start that happens tomorrow. Vote for whoever you like, but for God’s sake (just ask Justin Welby…) don’t vote Tory.

(And I didn’t even mention partygate, Rwanda, porn in the commons, misogyny etc., etc., etc.)

Regards

Worzelist