Daily Archives: 7 Sep 2022

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Planning applications validated by EDDC for week beginning 22 August

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Plymouth vote for fewer local elections

Voters in Plymouth could be asked whether they want fewer local elections.

Right now a third of councillors are elected every year, followed by one year in which no voting takes place.

local democracy reporter, Philip Churm www.radioexe.co.uk 

But on Monday the council’s audit and governance committee on Monday (5 September) said the public should be consulted on whether to have “whole council” elections every four years instead. 

In an extra general meeting of the committee, members recommended to the full council that a public consultation takes place between June and August next year on whether to change the election cycle. 

Committee members would oversee how the consultation would take place. 

A report highlighted several advantages of all-out elections every four years including;

People can vote on four-year manifestos and long-term commitments

Clearer opportunity for people to change the political composition of the council

Significant cost savings

Voters more likely to understand the election cycle

Same electoral cycle as the police and crime commissioner and combined authority Mayoral elections which take place every four years

Fewer elections may mean less election fatigue and voter apathy.

But some members of the committee criticised details in a report presented to them, including leader of the Labour group and councillor for Ham, Tudor Evans.  

Cllr Evans said: “This is an 11-year period where it is said here we will save £1.1 million over 11 years, which is £100,000 a year. 

“What is the total spending of the council over that 11 year period? And what proportion of that is represented by the cost of elections?”

There were also concerns about how many people would take part in a consultation process.

Labour councillor for Honicknowle Mark Lowry suggested a low number of participants would invalidate the process.

“How is the committee going to feel when you’ve got 500 comments back and it’s only 0.2, 0.3 or 0.8 per cent of the population, which statistically is a nonsense, really? 

“How are you going to feel when you’ve got less than half a per cent of Plymouth population come back to you? And bear in mind that that vote could be 60:40. 

“You know, you could be relying on 300 or 400 people with a view and opinion.”

Chair of the committee and Tory councillor for Southway Andy Lugger reminded members the committee’s only role was to decide whether the public should be consulted and to inform full council of the decision. 

“The matter has been deferred to this committee for resolution today on consultation only. I think the simplest way is we just simply vote whether we go with the proposition and move it forward that way.”

Cllr Evans accepted they would not be making any final decisions on the consultation process but asked for some information in the report to be corrected before a final decision was made. 

“I don’t want to hear in a month’s time or whenever we next meet that this is the basis upon which we’re consulting, because the basis upon which we are consulting is based on a table that’s wrong, with opinions that aren’t proven. 

“And I want to just make sure that we don’t get any backsliding on that; that we start with a clean slate in terms of how we’re going to progress in this subcommittee.”

Assistant chief executive of Plymouth City Council Giles Perritt agreed a new report may be needed before the whole council was able to make a decision on any consultation.

The committee unanimously agreed to recommend the consultation to the full council. 

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“Cabinet of Cronies”

Liz Truss conducts clear-out of Sunak supporters as she builds ‘cabinet of cronies’

Liz Truss’s hopes of uniting her party after a fractious leadership contest were tonight at risk after she conducted a brutal cabinet clearout of supporters of rival Rishi Sunak in her first hours as prime minister.

Andrew Woodcock www.independent.co.uk

The new PM constructed a top team of close allies, including Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor and James Cleverly as foreign secretary, with hardline right-winger Suella Braverman – a supporter of withdrawal from the European Court of Human Rights – becoming home secretary and Therese Coffey appointed the UK’s first female deputy prime minister as well as taking the health brief.

Jacob Rees-Mogg was made business secretary after taking part in talks with energy companies on a package of measures to tackle the cost of living crisis, due to be unveiled on Thursday and expected to include a £2,500 price freeze for households costing £90bn, as well as additional help for businesses.

One former minister told The Independent of fears that Ms Truss was creating a “cabinet of cronies”, putting personal loyalty to her over the competence needed at a time of virtually unprecedented crisis.

And former veterans minister Johnny Mercer accused her of favouring friends as he was sacked, alongside prominent cabinet Sunak backers Dominic Raab, Grant Shapps, Steve Barclay and George Eustice.

The appointments meant that for the first time in UK history, none of the four great offices of state is held by a white man, in a move welcomed by Tories as a blow for “meritocracy”.

But the former minister said he was “worried that she is creating a cabinet of cronies, which will cause her the same problems that Boris Johnson had – in the end, people felt they didn’t need to support him”.

The minister added: “A lot of people were hoping she would be more inclusive. There are competent people who should be in the cabinet who won’t be, and we need the most competent people we can get at a time of such massive challenges.”

Shadow cabinet minister Peter Kyle said the decision to consign big hitters from earlier Tory administrations to the backbenches was an indication of deep rifts in Ms Truss’s party.

“The Tory party is now ungovernable and incapable of governing,” he said.

Ms Truss moved to put her stamp on the government within minutes of arriving at No 10 after being appointed the UK’s third female PM by the Queen at Balmoral.

Speaking on the steps of her new residence in a brief break between thunderous downpours, she acknowledged that the country faces tough times ahead, but said: ”We shouldn’t be daunted by the challenges we face.

“As strong as the storm may be, I know the British people are stronger. Together we can ride out the storm, we can rebuild our economy.”

Borrowing a phrase coined by David Cameron in 2012, she said she would use tax cuts and reforms to create an “aspiration nation”, naming the economy, the energy crisis and the NHS as her top three priorities.

She spoke with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to restate the UK’s “steadfast support”.

And she received a call from US president Joe Biden, who reminded the new PM – who has tabled legislation to tear up the Northern Ireland protocol on post-Brexit border arrangements – of the need to protect the Good Friday Agreement.

While a disappointed Mr Mercer confined himself to remarking that Ms Truss was “entitled to reward her supporters”, his wife Felicity revealed he had confronted the PM in her Commons office over her decision to drop him.

In a tweet illustrated by a Muppet under a “Liz for Leader” banner, Ms Cornelius-Mercer said her husband got no response when he asked the new PM: “Who is going to be better at this role than me, which of your mates gets the job? You promised a meritocracy.”

“This system stinks and treats people appallingly,” said the Plymouth MP’s wife. “Best person I know sacked by an imbecile.”

Meanwhile, green groups voiced alarm that Mr Rees-Mogg was being given direct responsibility for energy and climate change.

Friends of the Earth branded the appointment “deeply worrying”, pointing to Mr Rees-Mogg’s recent suggestion that “every last drop” of oil and gas should be extracted from the North Sea.

And Labour climate change spokesperson Ed Miliband accused him of seeking to undermine the science on climate change and making the wrong calls on issues like fracking.

Liberal Democrat cabinet spokesperson Christine Jardine said: “Fewer than 100,000 people voted for Liz Truss to lead our country, yet instead of seeking consensus she’s gone for a cabinet that will please only the right wing. Jacob Rees-Mogg, a climate change denier, being entrusted with protecting the planet during a climate emergency is unfathomable.“

Other appointments included former leadership contenders Penny Mordaunt as leader of the Commons and Kemi Badenoch as international trade secretary.

Ms Truss’s confirmation as the UK’s 56th prime minister and third female holder of the post followed a truculent early-morning farewell speech from Mr Johnson, who wrongly claimed that the rules had been changed to remove him from office.

The outgoing PM promised his “fervent” support for his successor but undermined his own claim to be departing permanently from frontline politics by comparing himself to Roman general Cincinnatus, who was called from his farm to take on dictatorial rule at a time of crisis.

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Sacked minister’s wife calls Liz Truss an ‘imbecile’ in Twitter outburst

The wife of former minister Johnny Mercer has called Liz Truss an “imbecile” in an outburst on Twitter after her husband’s sacking.

www.theguardian.com 

Felicity Cornelius-Mercer said the cabinet system “stinks” and “treats people appallingly” after her husband was removed as veterans affairs minister by the new prime minister.

Mercer, the MP for Plymouth Moor View, had appeared angry about Truss’s move, saying he was “disappointed” but accepted that the PM is “entitled to reward her supporters”.

He also suggested he could quit the Commons, saying: “I have to accept that I will never possess the qualities required for enduring success in politics as it stands, and to be fair to my wonderful family I must consider my future.”

His wife went further, tweeting a picture mocking Truss as the character Beaker from The Muppets television show and giving an account of her husband’s exit discussions.

Cornelius-Mercer tweeted: “He asked her ‘why would you do this, who is going to be better at this role than me, which of your mates gets the job, you promised a meritocracy?’

“PM – I can’t answer that Johnny.

“This system stinks & treats people appallingly. Best person I know sacked by an imbecile @trussliz.”

Mercer had tweeted a lengthy resignation statement accompanied by the words: “I will be spending time with my family and doing no media requests.”

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“Useless” defends the indefensible, then gets the chop 

George Eustice was sacked soon after defending raw sewage dumping. But this does not signal a “Green” government, far from it. Owl fears for the environment.

Eustice defends ‘utter failure’ of efforts to cut raw sewage discharges in England

What planet does “Useless” inhabit? – Owl

Richard Foord, Liberal Democrat MP for Tiverton and Honiton, said: “This summer, people visiting East Devon had their health put at risk by greedy water companies.”

Sandra Laville www.theguardian.com 

The environment secretary, George Eustice, insisted the government was tackling the millions of hours of raw sewage discharges into rivers and seas in England as MPs demanded answers to a summer of water companies dumping effluent into holiday swimming spots.

Caroline Lucas, the Green party MP for Brighton Pavilion, said: “Literal shit is being pumped into our rivers and seas. The state of our water network is a national scandal and the government has utterly failed to take action.”

She said the government’s plan, published last week, meant sewage discharges would be permitted up to 2050. “Why is the government going backwards?

“And during a cost of living scandal, floundering water bosses are still taking home obscene pay packets – pouring salt in the wounds of millions struggling to make ends meet.”

Eustice said the Conservative government was the only one to tackle the problem. He said that in 2016 just 800 storm overflows were monitored but the government had increased this to 12,000 out of a total of 15,000 overflows.

Using information from the monitoring had led to record prosecutions against water companies, he told MPs, with 54 prosecutions since 2015 and fines totalling £140m.

Defending the plan outlined last week to reduce raw sewage discharges via overflows, which was criticised as a “cruel joke”, Eustice said: “Our discharge reduction plan prioritises bathing waters. We are requiring water companies to make available all the data on storm overflows and to publish it in real time for the public.

“Water companies are investing £3.1bn to deliver 800 storm overflow improvements by 2025. We have increased monitoring of storm overflows to almost 90%, and by next year that will be 100%.”

He said £56bn of investment was to be pumped into the networks to tackle the storm overflow discharges. But the government has rejected a more widespread and systematic investment to end the use of storm overflows completely.

“The cost of completely removing storm overflows is around £600bn; to reduce use of them so they are not used in an average year would be £200bn,” he said. “What we have chosen to do is spend £56bn to target the most harmful sewer discharges and this will lead to significant change in years ahead … we have committed to this investment.”

The investment of £56bn almost matches the £57bn in dividends the English water companies have paid out to shareholders since privatisation.

As MPs debated the discharges, beaches across England were under pollution alerts once more after the dumping of raw sewage by water companies, after a night of storms and heavy rainfall.

Richard Foord, Liberal Democrat MP for Tiverton and Honiton, said: “This summer, people visiting East Devon had their health put at risk by greedy water companies.”

Eustice said the government was addressing the issue in the Environment Act and had given powers to the water regulator Ofwat to link dividend payments to environmental performance. Water companies should consider themselves on notice, he said.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour MP for Islington North, said: “Isn’t it very obvious we should do what every other country in western Europe does and bring our water industry as a whole into public ownership under public control, so that we don’t damage our water infrastructure in order to pay profits to distant billionaires?”

Eustice said the original vision of water privatisation was that there would be publicly listed companies on the London Stock Exchange and that water bill payers would also be shareholders. But he said: “In the early 2000s, most of these water companies fell into the hands of private equity operators and that was a change.”

Also in the early 2000s, the then government took a decision to issue licences in perpetuity rather than for fixed periods. “So there have been some changes since privatisation but [Corbyn’s] central charge that actually nationalisation would be the way to get investment is, I am afraid, wrong,” Eustice said.