How else can you afford tax cuts? – Owl

The foreign secretary told a leadership hustings hosted by Times Radio in the West Midlands that too much of the government’s £13 billion package to address Covid backlogs and overhaul social care was going into the NHS. “I would spend that money in social care,” she said. “Quite a lot has gone to the NHS. I would give it to local authorities. We have people in beds in the NHS who would be better off in social care. So put that money into social care.”

Extract from: www.thetimes.co.uk 

The chair of the Commons Treasury committee has urged the government’s economic watchdog to produce fiscal forecasts alongside any emergency budget this autumn, after Liz Truss signalled she would try to avoid early scrutiny of her fiscal plans.

Rowena Mason www.theguardian.com 

Mel Stride, the chair of the committee, said the chancellor must ensure that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) provides its assessment at the same time as the new prime minister makes any big fiscal decisions.

The Tory MP – who is a supporter of Truss’s opponent, Rishi Sunak – said the absence of fiscal forecasts would mean the new prime minister would be “flying blind” without the public being able to see an independent assessment of the government’s balance sheet.

“OBR forecasts provide transparency and reassurance to the markets on the health of the nation’s finances,” he said. “As a committee, we expect the Treasury to be supporting and enabling the OBR to publish an independent forecast at the time of any significant fiscal event, especially where, unlike other recent fiscal interventions, this might include significant permanent tax cuts.

“Whether such an event is actually called a budget or not is immaterial. The reassurance of independent forecasting is vital in these economically turbulent times. To bring in significant tax cuts without a forecast would be ill-advised.”

It was reported over the weekend that Truss had downgraded her emergency budget planned for mid-September to a more minor fiscal event to bring in tax cuts and set out her wider economic outlook. It would therefore not necessitate full OBR forecasts about the state of the economy.

However, with inflation expected by Citi to reach 18%, and energy bills forecast to top £6,000 annually next year, according to Auxilione, there are worries among some experts that the next prime minister will be basing decisions on out-of-date advice if there is no new information from the OBR.

Stride asked the chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, to ensure the OBR was preparing forecasts of the UK’s fiscal position already, as the government usually gave it 10 weeks’ notice of a fiscal event, such as a budget.

The committee did not mention Truss’s campaign specifically. However, Stride told LBC: “At the moment the Liz camp are saying, I believe, that there will not be any OBR forecast produced at that time and that is kind of like flying blind.”

Sunak’s campaign has repeatedly called on Truss to “come clean” about how her proposed tax cuts, including reversing the rise in national insurance, will be funded and claimed her plans to borrow in order to fund tax cuts are “dangerous”.

He told the BBC: “Liz’s plans are promising the earth to everybody. I don’t think you can have your cake and eat it. I don’t think life is that simple, and I think her plan risks making everything worse.”

Truss has argued that tax cuts will help to grow the UK’s economy and boost prosperity.

A Truss campaign spokesperson said: “The cost of living crisis means immediate action is required. A Truss government would seek to act as soon as possible to help people across the UK, by cutting taxes and introducing a temporary moratorium on energy levies.”

Winslade Park proposals

From an East Devon Correspondent: 

Illusionists, tricksters and pickpockets are adept at using diversionary tactics to steal your prize possessions from right under your noses, by focusing your attention on the influencing hand, that purports to offer a gift of a flowering bloom, whilst the other surreptitious hand threatens and steals your valuable watch from your wrist and lifts your hard-earned money from your wallet or purse – whilst you watch on intently! 

Similar tactics are employed by property developers and a case in point is this week’s submission by Burrington’s for further amendments to their incongruous Zone D proposals at Winslade Park, Clyst St Mary to erect three, monstrous blocks containing 40 x 4.5-storey sky-high flats (Application 21/2217/MRES) in a low-density, rural, historic village with no local housing need. 

The new amendments focus on providing improved environmental green spaces between Blocks B and C with the loss of a podium feature and additional tree, hedge planting softworks – but crucially the amendments continue to  ignore ‘the elephant in the room’, that has received numerous objections, which is the inappropriate high-density, overall massing and height of 40 towering apartments.  These flats will encroach above and through the existing deciduous, TPO protected woodland, will harm an environmentally-diverse habitat, exacerbate flooding with increased ground levels, damage the amenities enjoyed by existing residents, (whose lives and homes will be negatively impacted visually and by noise and light pollution from these towering multiple-occupancy homes), resulting in significant losses of privacy from overlooking into existing indoor and outdoor private spaces from the numerous proposed living area apartment windows, the elevated gardens, the access road adjoining garden boundaries and (ultimately to add a final blow) – the sky-high 4.5-storey luxury penthouses with 360 degree balconies! 

Outline permission was granted in December 2020, under a hybrid application, which also incorporated re-use of the redundant insurance offices complex and a further 39 homes on a green field site (which was contrary to the Bishops Clyst Neighbourhood and EDDC’s current Local Development Plans to 2031, with Burrington’s pleading failure of the entire overall masterplan through financial viability issues without guarantees for residential approval on this valued, local green field). 

At this outline approval meeting, EDDC Planners recommended a lowering of the indicative height of the Zone D flats’ from three storeys to two storeys, with meaningful consultation with the community to achieve suitable, compatible designs – but both recommendations have been ignored and the Reserved Matters application continues to propose very conspicuous, towering 4.5 storeys with increased ground levels to avoid flooding to the proposed lower flats in this vulnerable area. 

It has also become glaringly obvious that DCC Highways have failed to ensure a solution to a dangerous pedestrian route,  via Winslade Park Avenue, which will be walked by thousands of pedestrian users of these commercial and residential areas to access the local amenities of the primary school, childcare nursery, shop, post office, village hall, play-park, garage and pub, with vulnerable pedestrians having to negotiate a blind bend when walking along this busy, narrow road, without pavements or lighting! These issues have been highlighted to DCC Highways and EDDC Planners – but to date are unresolved, leaving a serious accident or worse inevitable with this increased use. 

We have all been weakened by a life-threatening global pandemic, by adverse repercussions from Brexit, by a war in Europe, causing energy and food crises and by rising inflation – so it is more difficult, at this time, for us all to focus on developmental issues, leaving us more gullible. However, decision makers have been appointed to represent their local communities and must focus on the key, central detrimental issues of this Zone D development and not be side-tracked by offers relating to the minutiae within the application.  We must all look to enhance our communities – not damage them for the future.  Smoke and mirrors trickery will try to disguise the predominant problems of such developmental intensity and the urbanisation of a rural East Devon village. 

Beware of the hidden hand that you fail to watch when concentrating on the gift-bearing one – the former hand will strike and deliver the destructive blow through sleight of hand and property developers have plenty of tricks up their sleeves in their arsenal to achieve maximum profits from development of land – we must all be up to speed and watchful if we value and wish to protect our East Devon communities for future generations. 

Administrators dealing with the fall of South West construction leviathan Midas have sent a report to the Government which could lead to its directors being disqualified. Global business consultancy Teneo Financial Advisory Ltd is also encouraging people owed money to report any concerns they have about events leading to Exeter-headquartered Midas going bust.

William Telford www.devonlive.com

London-based Teneo has confirmed it has sent a confidential report to the Insolvency Service which will look at whether action should be taken against Midas board members. Midas Group Ltd and its subsidiaries collapsed into administration in February 2022 with estimated debts of at least £70m. Midas was involved in huge construction projects across the South West and companies owed cash include several in Plymouth.

The Insolvency Service, a Government agency, has civil powers to consider complaints about the conduct of directors of companies that have entered into formal insolvency proceedings, including administration. It can order that people be disqualified from acting as company directors.

Administrators must report on the conduct of directors under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. Teneo has said it has prepared a confidential report on the conduct of Midas directors in the three years leading up to its appointment as administrators. At the time of entering administration, Midas directors included Stephen Hindley, Alan Hope and Peter Skoulding.

A Teneo spokesperson said: “This report has been provided to the Insolvency Service and will be used in their assessment of whether any action should be taken against the directors, for example, disqualification.”

However, Teneo clarified that the administrators’ report to the Insolvency Service is confidential and neither its contents nor the administrators’ conclusions will be reproduced in any progress reports to creditors.

But Teneo said that In addition, it is also required to consider whether there is any action that could be taken against directors and other organisations, including auditors, that would result in recoveries of cash for the administration estate. The spokesperson said: “This assessment is ongoing and the administrators will report in their progress reports if any actions are commenced/proposed.”

Teneo also said it is also encouraging any of Midas’s creditors to contact the administrators should they have “any concerns regarding the conduct of the company in the period prior to the administrators’ appointment.”

It is also working to recover cash owed to Midas before it went under, including for work in progress. Teneo said: “The administrators will report on recoveries achieved during the course of the administration. However, we note that collection of contractual debts in an insolvency process often leads to substantially lower recoveries than book value, particularly where there is no ongoing business to complete the related contracts.”

Teneo is already dealing with claims from nearly 2,000 creditors, including dozens in Plymouth. Midas Group Ltd and its subsidiaries Midas Construction Ltd, Midas Retail Ltd, Mi-Space (UK) Ltd, Mi-Space Property Services Ltd, Midas Commercial Developments Ltd and Falmouth Developments Ltd all fell into administration in early 2022 blaming a toxic cocktail of Covid, inflation, money owed to them but not paid, and cash flow problems for causing a financial doomsday.

Among many Plymouth firms listed as creditors are Collaton Safety Management, D&L McBride Building Consultancy, EDF Energy, LTC Powered Access, Plymouth Removers, DCA Public Relations, Western Power Distribution, ADS Window Films, All Seasons Group Services, B&C Carpentry, and BPUK Environment.

The two main companies in the Midas family – Midas Group Ltd and Midas Construction Ltd – have realisable assets of just £8,354,644. But when preferential and secured creditors are paid it means there will be a predicted shortfall of £60,290,904 for the hundreds of small firms and individuals in the supply chain.

In addition, Midas’ housing arm Mi-Space (UK) Ltd owes more than £12m with more than £10m of claims unlikely to be paid. This means the overall Midas deficit is now north of £70m.

“And it’s going to spread further and I must level with you, level with the British public, many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time.” Boris Johnson 12 March 2020.

[Deaths involving Covid 180% higher for those aged 85+ and 77% amongst those aged between 75 and 84.]

Carmen Aguilar García www.theguardian.com 

Twice as many deaths involving Covid occurred this summer compared with last summer, according to analysis of new data – though rates have fallen in recent weeks as the latest wave decreases in severity in the UK.

Although the overall number of deaths of people with Covid in 2022 remains far below last year, the summer months have bucked that trend. More than 5,700 Covid deaths have been registered since 8 June when two Omicron subvariants became dominant. This is 95% higher than in the same period last year when there were 2,936 deaths involving Covid across the UK.

However, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also indicate that deaths caused by the latest Covid wave – fuelled by the two more transmissible Omicron subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, which became dominant in early June – are on the wane.

A total of 674 Covid deaths were registered in the UK in the week to 12 August, down from 802 a week earlier and 924 the previous week.

More than twice as many Covid deaths were registered between 1 January and 12 August 2021 as in the same period this year: 65,000 deaths by 12 August 2021 – driven by surging figures caused by the Alpha variant – compared with 28,303 in the same period this year.

Prof Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, said the “surge in infections associated with the BA.5 wave” is behind the increase in the number of deaths this summer compared with last.

“But we will see fewer deaths in August this year than last,” he added. “I suspect that over the next three months we shall see [that Covid] deaths [are] a lot lower than last year and probably that will remain the case for the entire winter.”

The fact that more people are dying this summer than last is most pronounced in the older age groups, a trend that has been consistent throughout the Covid pandemic. Almost half of the deaths recorded this summer in England and Wales were among people aged 85 and over compared with 27% of the deaths in 2021.

Deaths involving Covid have been the highest among old people throughout the pandemic, but over-85s have recorded the highest increase in the death rate, which is 180% higher this summer than it was in summer 2021.

The number of deaths among those between 75 and 84 has also grown: there were 77% more deaths in this age group this summer compared with last. However, there have been fewer Covid deaths among the under-65s, with the death rate decreasing by about 58% in summer 2022.

Wales and the east and south-west of England recorded the biggest increase in deaths involving Covid with more than three times as many deaths in each of these regions in the summer to date this year compared with the same period in 2021.

In just one region – the north-west – the number of Covid deaths decreased when com pared with the same period last year.

Covid was sixth among leading causes of death in July in England and Wales, the latest ONS monthly analysis of age-standardised mortality rates shows. In July last year, Covid was the ninth-leading cause of death in England and it ranked 22nd in Wales.

The Australian satirists, The Juicemedia, lay into the Conservative administration following news that sewage was being discharged into the sea at a shocking rate.

Shit happens!