Rishi Sunak Says Scientists Were Too ‘Empowered’ Over Covid Lockdowns

Rishi Sunak says he “wasn’t allowed to talk about the trade-off” of lockdowns during earlier phases of the pandemic, criticising government public health interventions and scientific advisors.

Ned Simons www.huffingtonpost.co.uk 

The Tory leadership contender said one of the government’s biggest mistakes was giving too much power to scientists and claimed the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) edited its minutes to hide dissenting opinions.

The former chancellor made the statements in an interview with the Spectator magazine.

“We shouldn’t have empowered the scientists in the way we did,” he said.

“And you have to acknowledge trade-offs from the beginning. If we’d done all of that, we could be in a very different place. We’d probably have made different decisions on things like schools.”

Sunak added it had been “wrong to scare people” during the pandemic with images such as posters showing Covid patients on ventilators.

Sunak claimed Sage removed some opinions from its final minutes, but said a Treasury official would listen to the meetings and brief him on the omissions.

“The Sage people didn’t realise for a very long time that there was a Treasury person on all their calls,” he said.

But Lee Cain, who was No.10 communications director during the period of the pandemic, hit back.

“Huge admirer of Rishi Sunak but his position on lockdown is simply wrong,” he said.

“It would have been morally irresponsible of the govt not to implement lockdown in spring 2020 – the failure to do so would have killed tens-of-thousands of people who survived Covid.”

It comes as Sunak prepares to go head-to-head with Liz Truss once again in the penultimate hustings of the leadership race on Thursday.

Ahead of the Norwich hustings Truss put her focus squarely on the issues facing the East Anglian area, citing her plans of tax cuts, supply-side reform, better regulation and targeted investment zones.

Truss also pledged to tackle trade union strike action, such as that at the Port of Felixstowe this week.

Work starts next week

Network Rail’s contractors are making use of a five-day rail closure for works elsewhere on the railway with work starting on Bank Holiday Monday, 29 August.  

www.radioexe.co.uk 

Feniton floods frequently (image courtesy: East Devon District Council)

The end is in sight for floods in Fention, according to claims by East Devon District Council.

Work is to begin on the undertrack rail crossing for a new culvert pipe that is a key element to the village’s flood scheme.

It is the third phase of a flood prevention scheme and will link to drainage works which will divert surface water from around the village.

The completed scheme will reduce the flood risk to the 65 homes plus help prevent disruption to the primary school and local transport.

The railway crossing work has been planned for many years but has been delayed due to its high risk, complex nature, and funding for the project.

However, the Network Rail’s contractors are making use of a five-day rail closure for works elsewhere on the railway with work starting on Bank Holiday Monday, 29 August.  

The scheme will involve the building of a works compound and a manhole chamber on either side of the railway, before making use of the railway closure for engineering works to place the culvert under the railway.

The work is due to completed by 7 October. 

The council doesn’t want people to congregate on the highway bridge. They say it is too narrow with no footway and will have increased vehicle movements during the work.

Both sides of the railway are private property with no public access

If every second homeowner in Cornwall took part, £5.4m could be re-distributed from the “uber-rich”, who would hardly notice the payment, to people who desperately need help in one of northern Europe’s poorest regions.

Any comments from Rishi or  “No Handouts” Liz? – Owl

Steven Morris www.theguardian.com 

Second homeowners in Cornwall are being urged to donate their £400 government energy rebates to impoverished neighbours facing hardship this winter through a scheme launched on Friday and backed by business leaders, charities and politicians.

Those behind the Donate the Rebate scheme says that if every second homeowner in Cornwall took part, £5.4m could be re-distributed from the “uber-rich”, who would hardly notice the payment, to people who desperately need help in one of northern Europe’s poorest regions.

The number of people asking for food parcels in parts of Cornwall has increased by 75% in the past 12 months, while 1,500 people are in emergency accommodation and more than 21,000 are on housing waiting lists. At the same time property prices continue to increase, inflated by people from other parts of the UK snapping up homes as bolt-holes or as investments.

Rob Love, the chief executive and co-founder of Crowdfunder, which has set up the campaign and has its headquarters close to the beach in Newquay, north Cornwall, said it was a way of redistributing money from the “haves to the have-nots”.

He said: “In times like these, we cannot just rely on governments, charities or corporations: we need a more efficient way to redistribute wealth to those who really need it. We’ve got to get ourselves out of this national emergency and everyone has got to play a part.”

Love said he thought the government’s energy bills support scheme was “quite generous” but added: “It doesn’t get all the money to the right people.”

He pointed out that millions of pounds would be going to wealthy people – probably including some MPs – who owned properties in Cornish second home hotspots such as Rock, St Ives and St Mawes. “We’re not against second homeowners. We’re not angry with them and we’re not hassling the government. We are providing a mechanism that gets the money to the right places.”

Second homeowners who want to take part are being asked to go on to the Donate the Rebate site and specify the Cornish charity they would like their rebate to go to. Love said Cornwall was the obvious place to start but he hoped to expand the scheme to other places with lots of second homes.

Monique Collins, the manager of Disc, a drop-in and share centre in Newquay, one of the organisations that will benefit from the scheme, said it was currently helping providing food and help with electricity bills to 98 families and 55 single people – an increase of 75% on this time last year – and she expected the number to double this winter.

“I’m dreading the autumn and winter,” she said. “We’re heading for a catastrophe. Newquay and places like it have become a playground for the uber-rich and they need to contribute.”

Harriet, 23, who uses Disc, said her situation was “dire”. The mother of a 15-month-old boy, Noah, said her electricity bill had trebled since March. “I don’t know what I’m going to do this winter. It may be a choice between food and power. Already I haven’t been able to do a proper food shop since May. I make sure Noah has his food but then buy bits and pieces for me as I go along.”

She said she got angry when she walked around Newquay and saw people in luxurious second homes. “It’s so unfair. Expensive apartments are being built when what we need is affordable homes.”

Julian German, a Cornwall councillor whose patch includes St Mawes, said: “We have an obligation to our neighbours who are struggling, to help them where we can. The poverty some people are facing in Cornwall is astounding.”

Kim Conchie, the chief executive of Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, said: “People shouldn’t have to choose between feeding their families or turning the heating on this winter. We have got a fundamental disparity between people who live here and those who have second homes here.”

He said he believed many people who had visited second homes for years and had made connections in the community would donate – but accepted that hard-nosed investors looking to make a profit out of a Cornish property might be harder to reach.

“Second homeowners have a duty if they are going to benefit from the wonderful place we live and work in to contribute. I think this is a fantastic moment when they can really make a gesture. Every second homeowner should be doing this, to salve their conscience and make a difference.”

Details of the campaign can be found at www.poor-nextdoor.com.

“Neil, you are no Claire Wright!” – forget it and stick to farming – Owl

Neil Parish is plotting a remarkable political comeback. The disgraced former Tory MP, who quit after being found watching porn in the House of Commons after claiming he was searching for a combine harvester online, is looking for redemption.

David Parsley inews.co.uk 

And he hopes to find that by standing as an independent in the Tiverton and Honiton seat he was forced out of earlier this year.

This would mean overturning the 6,144 majority won in spectacular style by the Liberal Democrats’ Richard Foord, who overturned Parish’s own 24,239 majority in June – the largest ever majority lost in by-election history.

“I’ll run as an independent if I think I can win,” the 66-year-old farmer reveals.

“Am I trying to rehabilitate myself? Well, yes, it is partly that, but it’s also I do have a genuine desire to continue to fight for what I have done throughout my political career.

“I think I can do some good both for people, for food, for farming, for society.”

He rules out running for reselection as a Tory – “once you’re out you’re out” he notes, “I don’t think they would have me.”

If he does run as an independent he may be up against his successor as the Tory candidate – Helen Hurford – who told BBC Radio Devon listeners last week that she will not be a “one-trick pony” and intends to have another shot at the seat next time round.

Having spoken to hundreds of Tory voters during June’s by-election it was clear to me that Mr Parish remained a local favourite.

“He was a silly boy wasn’t he, but it’s not on the same level as what other Tory MPs have been up to,” was the sort of comment many Tories in the constituency would make.

The election is probably two years away, however. So having got over the shock of being ousted after 12 years in Parliament Mr Parish, a farmer and former Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, is about to launch an agricultural podcast.

“When it all happens, you feel as though you have to race around for solutions,” he says of the furore that surrounded his Commons breach. “I’ve stopped racing and I’m taking things more calmly now.

“I think I’ve arrived at a point where I’m accepting of the situation, and I’m moving onto something where I think I can do some good for people.”

So, part one of his redemption will see him launch a new career in broadcasting with a podcast on which he will discuss the issues of interest to him and many of his constituents – farming.

Perhaps the theme tune could be a certain smash hit from West Country legends The Wurzels.

“I’m not sure when it will launch, maybe next month,” says Mr Parish. “It will be looking at the sort of the interests I’ve had in in Parliament in the constituency, which are food, farming, and environmental issues like rewilding.

“I’m developing it as I go along really, but the initial idea is that I will get guests on, experts in each topic we are covering.”

Mr Parish runs his own family farm – hence his interest in the Claas Dominator combine harvester that got him into trouble in the first place – and hopes the podcast will get him back amongst it with his former voters. If that proves successful, then part two of the plan may not appear as ambitious as it first sounds.

Like pretty much everyone else, Mr Parish is convinced Liz Truss will win the keys to No 10, but he, and his wife Sue, voted for her opponent and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak. However, he has not been impressed with how the leadership election has gone down with voters so far.

“It’s been fairly disastrous, to be honest,” he says. “They’ve not really come up with anything terribly dramatic. Nothing to really tackle to cost-of-living crisis. I have some fear and trepidation, to be honest with you, about where it’s all going.

“I just think at this particular moment in time, we’ve got to concentrate on getting people through the energy bill crisis.

“The question for the Conservative Party is will they settle down, under whoever is leader? I’m going to hold fire on that one and give them some time, as I think the country will.”

He does not, however, hold fire on Ms Truss’ tax cutting strategy to ease the economic pain already hitting millions of households across the nation – and show he’s still a politician.

“Tax cuts, in the long run, can stimulate an economy but I think in the short term that they won’t, and they could be inflationary. We’re already talking about 18 per cent inflation, so I just don’t think this is the right time to cut taxes.

“Even Margaret Thatcher, in the first instance didn’t cut taxes. She only did that later, after she’d got inflation under control.”

PS Neil Parish voted alongside Simon Jupp last October to defeat the Lords amendment which would have placed a legal duty on water companies in England and Wales “to make improvements to their sewerage systems and demonstrate progressive reductions in the harm caused by discharges of untreated sewage.“

The way the cost of renewable electricity is determined in the UK’s energy market is “bonkers”, Octopus Group Founder and Chief Executive Officer has suggested.

Dimitris Mavrokefalidis www.energylivenews.com 

Greg Jackson said: “The UK has an outdated way of running its electricity market, which is why renewable electricity is costing more during a gas crisis.

“The way it works is that every half hour there’s a single price for electricity in the UK, and it’s set by a process in which National Grid procure the generation to meet our needs from generators every half hour. And they pay a single national price to all those generators.

“So, companies like Octopus face a single price regardless of whether we are buying renewable or non-renewable electricity. In fact, to make it worse, renewable typically costs more because we either have to pay for certification or to pay for what’s called balancing costs.”

Business Secretary had previously stressed that the link between gas and electricity prices cannot stay forever.

Mr Jackson explained that companies are not paying only the national price of electricity, which is set by gas, but they pay extra costs on top for it to be renewable.

Octopus boss added: “This is bonkers. Fundamentally, we need a market reform that enables all to see the benefit of cheaper, renewable electricity. What we really need is market reform and dramatically more renewable generation to bring the cost down.”

Last week, energy suppliers, including ScottishPower and E.ON called on the government to create a ‘special fund’ that would enable the industry to ‘freeze’ customers’ bills for two years.

“The countryside and coastline is being eaten up by huge caravan parks. And there’s a chronic housing shortage, partly because homeowners are renting their properties to the lucrative holiday let market, rather than local people.”

Maisie Lillywhite www.devonlive.com

A Londoner who swapped the Big Smoke for the Devon countryside has explained the way in which holidaymakers are ‘eating up’ the county. At one point, many people would simply drive through Devon as they made their way to our neighbouring county of Cornwall, but our beautiful part of the UK has become a holiday destination within its own right, although it is still less popular that its next door neighbour.

Journalist Suzy Bennett wrote in the Telegraph that she moved to our neck of the woods 14 years ago, ditching London’s towering skyscrapers for Devon’s ‘raw, wild countryside‘. But Bennett now claims that the Devon she moved for has been lost as the county has become more popular with tourists.

She wrote: “No longer is it a place you pass through on the way to Cornwall, but a destination in its own right. Single-track roads are clogged with cars and tourist coaches.

“The countryside and coastline is being eaten up by huge caravan parks. And there’s a chronic housing shortage, partly because homeowners are renting their properties to the lucrative holiday let market, rather than local people.”

When new properties are put up for sale in Devon, Bennett notes, there is fierce competition, with the journalist claiming that a whopping total of 70 prospective buyers viewed a cottage that was put on the market. Following the pandemic, the popularity of ‘staycations’ has skyrocketed, leading to overtourism in some parts of the UK, which occurs when there are too many visitors to a particular destination.

In many honeypot British holiday destinations, housing proves to be a big problem, with local residents often having to up sticks and move away. Those who own homes in ‘staycation’ hotspots often earn much more money renting their properties out to holidaymakers than they would local people.

Visit Cornwall has decided that it will start asking holiday home owners to register their property with the county. After registering their property, homeowners would have to meet certain guidelines on health and safety to keep the property registered; it is believed that this would prevent unscrupulous owners from registering properties in the county, whilst protecting the safety of tourists visiting Cornwall.

The Express reported that Cllr Karen Kennedy, who is the Torbay Council councillor for Churston with Galmpton recently said: “We have to say this loud and clear, we are in a housing crisis. We have got to do much more than the basic minimum to alleviate the current problem.”

Kennedy claimed that some businesses are struggling to recruit workers for blue collar jobs because it is now so expensive to live in the English Riviera.

The bus industry regulator is investigating complaints about the reliability of Stagecoach Devon services and has been told public confidence in the operator is at an all-time low due to its ‘dire’ customer service and handling of complaints.

Edward Oldfield www.devonlive.com

The Traffic Commissioner has already held a hearing into concerns about cancellations and short-notice service changes. But a second session is now being planned after new concerns were raised by Devon County Council. The councillor in charge of public transport told the Commissioner passengers were angry about the company’s “failing” customer service.

Cllr Andrea Davis warned that changes to schedules in August amounted to service cuts, mostly in Exeter. She added that she feared that “even after these reductions, there will still not be sufficient driver resource in the Exeter depot which is likely to result in continued lost mileage.”

The councillor said she was writing a follow-up letter after the Exeter Highways Committee concluded in April that the service in Exeter was “not fit for purpose”. She told the Commissioner: “Lost mileage is still apparent and the communication of lost journeys and response to customer complaints and enquiries is dire.”

Cllr Davis added that “customer confidence in Stagecoach has never been lower, the public are angry – and I do not blame them! The customer service response from Stagecoach is failing and usually non-existent, and if you do get through to someone, they are located in Scotland with little or no knowledge of the local network.”

The second letter from Cllr Davis to the Commissioner followed a report on Devon bus services to the council’s Cabinet in July. She said “the situation has got worse rather than better” and alleged that the authority had seen no evidence of improvements claimed by the company.

Her letter also complained about local services being hit by drivers being switched to large events, giving the example of a concert at Powderham Castle and the Teignmouth Air Show. She told the Commissioner that on the day of the events “the level of failure on regular services increased substantially”.

Cllr Davis said that had led to the council deciding to no longer approve short-notice route applications. She concluded that change was needed to prevent planned improvements being “negated by the negative situation Stagecoach have forced us into here in Devon.”

Stagecoach responded that bus operators across the country are facing challenges including a skills shortage and the ongoing effect of the pandemic. A spokesperson apologised for the impact on customers and said the company was committed to working with the Traffic Commissioner on its recovery plans.

In a letter to the West of England Traffic Commissioner Kevin Rooney in June, Cllr Davis warned that services had got worse since the previous autumn which was the focus of his initial investigation. Her letter followed a meeting in April of the Exeter Highways Committee which concluded that the bus service in Exeter and its travel to work area was “currently not fit for purpose”. The committee blamed service cuts, cancellations without notice, lack of real-time information, lack of zero-emission buses, the “disappointing” level of government funding, and the driver shortage.

Cllr Davis acknowledged that bus operators had faced “a challenging couple of years” due to the pandemic. She said Stagecoach Devon was facing a “severe” shortage of drivers affecting reliability and the confidence of customers. The councillor said the authority’s transport team was working with the operator to ensure a “sustainable network” would be in place when extra government funding ended in October. She said that there was “a lack of up to date, accurate information being available” to passengers about service changes.

A Stagecoach South West spokesperson said: “We take our responsibilities to deliver reliable and attractive bus services to our local communities very seriously. However, bus operators across the country are facing a difficult environment, with skills shortages affecting many sectors of the economy as well as the continuing overhang from the pandemic and other challenges impacting the delivery of local bus networks to normal high standards. We are sorry for the impact these factors, several of which are outside our control, are having on our customers. We remain absolutely committed to working constructively with the Traffic Commissioner as we progress our recovery plans.”

Earlier this week Stagecoach announced changes to its timetable across a network covering Plymouth and South Devon to build a “sustainable bus network” to meet the changing needs of customers. It said there had been changes in travel patterns following the Covid-19 pandemic, and the aim was to attract more passengers in the long term.

Since March 2020 buses have been supported by central Government funding to maintain essential services due to the impact of the reduction in passenger numbers because of the pandemic. The latest round of financial support is due to run out at the end of September. The Government has announced a two-year Bus Service Improvement grant for Devon of £9million capital and £5million revenue, way short of the £34million revenue funding requested.

Under the 1985 Transport Act, bus operators state which services they wish to run on a commercial basis, including timetables, routes, and fares. The Local Transport Authority’s role is to look at where services are not provided commercially and tender routes deemed an essential social need.