Therese Coffey Roasted For Saying ‘Cherish’ Turnips, Forget Tomatoes

Graeme Demianyk www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

Twitter has been digging for jokes after the environment secretary suggested eating turnips could help avoid the UK’s fruit and vegetable shortages.

Supermarkets have been rationing fresh produce after bad weather in north Africa and southern Europe has disrupted the UK’s supply chain (some, however, are insisting Brexit is to blame too).

Speaking to MPs in the commons, Therese Coffey, the minister in charge of food supplies, insisted that ongoing shortages will be a temporary issue that should be resolved in two to four weeks.

The Tory MP added the UK should “cherish the specialisms” it has and a “lot of people would be eating turnips right now” under a seasonal food model – rather than thinking about lettuce, tomatoes and similar fresh food.

It quickly prompted a pile-on …(see www.huffingtonpost.co.uk)

Mirror

Daily Star

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….after rejecting a new business plan for their controversial development company.

“Conservative councillors seem hell bent on investing more taxpayers’ money on this vanity project.” LibDem spokesperson

Mid Devon is another council facing problems from controversial property development.

[Mid Devon District Council – No overall control since 1999, Conservative led for a decade until 2019, subsequent “Indy” Leader Bob Deed until ousted this week].

The council appears simultaneously to have reject two sources of revenue: raising car parking charges and a new business plan for their controversial development company –  3 Rivers Development Ltd (3RDL). Council members have also ousted their Leader, Bob Deed.  

3RDL is another of those controversial investment schemes see: “A cautionary tale from Mid Devon – Council dabbles in investment”. Here are some selected quotes from this 2020 post.

Following an explanation from Deputy Chief Executive, Andrew Jarratt on the origins and aims of the 3Rivers project, Leader of the Council, Bob Deed was reported as saying:

“It was time to “lift the veil” on the “considerable mystery around the performance of 3RDL and the oversight of the company by the responsible officers at the Council.”

He said: “You have heard in Mr Jarrett’s response that 3RDL has already returned significant sums to the Council over the past two years and delivered its only completed scheme to date on time at its level of profit.

“This is opaque speak in that, not one penny has been returned to the Council by 3RDL over the past two years, every penny of interest due from 3RDL to the Council has had to be lent by the Council to 3RDL and remains outstanding within its total loan figure due to the Council.”

LibDems said in February:

“Conservative councillors seem hell bent on investing more taxpayers’ money on this vanity project. The Liberal Democrats believe external expertise needs to be brought in to review the company and to find a solution that does not leave the local council taxpayers ‘picking up the tab’.

 Mid Devon budget chaos as parking charge hike refused and 3Rivers plan rejected

Ollie Heptinstall www.devonlive.com

Mid Devon urgently needs to find more than half a million pounds for its new budget after councillors rejected two sources of income.

At a lengthy and eventful full district council meeting on Wednesday [22 February], a new business plan for the authority’s controversial housing development company, 3Rivers, was rejected.

The expected interest generated from loans to the company – whose future is now in serious doubt – is therefore missing from the budget, meaning the council is £500,000 short, according to deputy chief executive Andrew Jarrett.

It is also short of an additional £120,000 of revenue after members paused planned hikes to car parking charges, following a public outcry. Some charges, including annual allocated permits, were planned to more than double.

As a result of the decisions and the financial implications, councillors decided not to vote on the proposed 2023/24 budget. Some also didn’t want to because the budget papers had been submitted without five working days’ notice.

An emergency meeting will now be scheduled, in which savings or cuts totalling around £620,000 will need to be agreed. Councils must legally set balanced budgets by Saturday 11 March.

However, councillors did vote to put up council tax by 2.99 per cent – something that has to be agreed by the end of this month so that bills can go to residents in time. The rise is equivalent to an extra £6.56 per year for a band D property, taking their annual contributions to Mid Devon up to £225.40.

Together with other increases to Devon County Council, fire, police, and town and parish councils, band D households will be paying out £2,295.32 next year – an increase of £109.73. Councillors now quickly need to finalise what taxpayers will be paying for in Mid Devon over the year ahead.

Difficult to sort the “good-uns” from the “bad-uns” in this complicated story of an “Indy”/Tory administration falling apart, with serious consequences explained in a companion post as they grapple with legacy problems.

Reminds Owl of the infamous Ingham (LINO) regime in East Devon [Leader in name only].

See, for example, this 2020 extract from the LibDems Mid Devon Council Leader ‘acting like the Sun King!’

Liberal Democrat Councillor Alex White commented, “As Liberal Democrats we are very proud to have forged a consensus with Independent and Green Councillors that in the last two years has made the Council more responsive to the needs of the local community. We unwisely thought Bob Deed, who had quit the Tory Group, shared our principles, but it looks like he has reverted to type.”

Deed, who has been heavily involved in promoting the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan, replaced the four Liberal Democrat Councillors with his former Conservative colleagues in a move seen to be aimed at reversing the Council Cabinet decision to oppose GESP.

Mid Devon District Council has a new leader

Ollie Heptinstall www.devonlive.com

Mid Devon District Council has a new council leader. It follows the resignation of the previous leader following a tumultuous meeting on Wednesday night.

Ahead of the meeting, Cllr Bob Deed, the Independent leader of the council, had been facing calls to resign. A motion had been put forward by Tory group leader – and Cllr Deed’s former deputy – Cllr Clive Eginton – calling for his resignation.

Mid Devon’s political leadership has been in turmoil after the Conservative members of Cllr Deed’s Independent-Tory cabinet left in a dispute over the authority’s controversial 3Rivers property development company. Cllr Deed said he was going to appoint the necessary replacement cabinet members ahead of the meeting, but soon after it began news broke that he had resigned.

The Conservatives tried to get Cllr Eginton appointed as the new council leader, but this failed to receive a majority of votes. A subsequent vote to appoint Independent councillor Barry Warren, who represents the Lower Culm ward, and who is a prominent voice on the council’s scrutiny and planning committees, was then passed successfully.

The former police officer is only likely to serve as leader until May’s council elections, telling colleagues after his appointment: “I am purely here as a caretaker until the next election.”

But it is likely to be a busy two-and-a-half months. Mid Devon still needs to agree a balanced budget for 2023/24 in the coming days and Cllr Warren will need to quickly appoint a new cabinet.

“There will just be some urgent matters to deal with,” he said. “But if somebody is expecting myself or my cabinet to come up with some earth-shattering new initiative or something, there won’t be. It’ll be very much trying to keep going what’s already going and tweaking what needs doing. Until I’ve talked to various officers, I haven’t got a clue where we start.”

Simon Jupp straining to get answers.

But the answers to his questions are “unilluminating”, in fact one might call them rather bog standard. – Owl

www.theyworkforyou.com

Simon Jupp Conservative, East Devon

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the reporting of storm overflows in real time will be (a) consistent, (b) transparent, (c) accessible and (d) readily understood by the public.

Rebecca Pow The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The Environment Act places new monitoring duties on the water industry to significantly improve transparency. It requires companies to make discharge data available in near real time to the public and to monitor water quality upstream and downstream of their assets.

More weasel words – Owl

The water regulator for England and Wales has weakened its language around how utility companies spill sewage pollution in future, prompting claims it is toothless.

Adam Vaughan, Environment Editor www.thetimes.co.uk

Ofwat has begun drafting standards for water companies governing how they protect the environment and how they perform between 2025 and 2030.

These “performance commitments” include definitions on storm overflows, which act as emergency valves for the sewage network during heavy rainfall and spill untreated sewage into rivers and seas. Companies are permitted to dump sewage this way to prevent it backing up into homes, but there has been public outrage at the number of spills. There were 372,000 spills in 2021.

In Ofwat’s definition of storm overflows, the original version said that reducing spills from them “helps to ensure that storm overflows are used by exception, rather than as a norm”. However, in an amended version published in December, the reference has been removed.

Such language is important because the use of storm overflows to spill sewage is the norm today by design, but has become seen as increasingly unacceptable. The government has set companies targets to curb them that will cost an estimated £56 billion.

The original Ofwat text also included a statement that “fewer and less frequent discharges” would help public health and the environment. This language is cut in the amended version.

The total number of storm overflow spills grew from about 13,000 in 2016 to about 404,000 in 2020, mirroring an increase in monitoring. It fell about 8 per cent in 2021, but whether that decrease continued last year will not be known until late next month when new figures are released.

In the meantime campaigners have identified 143 occasions between October 2021 and September last year when “dry spills” occurred. Companies are permitted to discharge untreated sewage during heavy rainfall, but not when conditions are dry.

Although highly visible, storm overflow spills are not the biggest source of pollution from water companies: a greater contribution comes from their sewage treatment works. Another Ofwat document, on river water quality related to phosphorus pollution from sewage treatment works and farms, dropped a passage on the benefits of curbing the pollutant.

The original text spoke of “encouraging water companies to limit adverse impacts on the water environment and demonstrate how they are contributing to tangible progress towards good ecological status of water bodies as part of their statutory functions”. The sentence was struck out in the version published in December.

Meanwhile, a document on flooding on private properties and land outside water companies’ networks, caused by sewers run by the companies, cut the suggestion that reducing the floods also curbed “negative social impacts”.

Ofwat said it expected the language of the definitions to be updated in April, reflecting feedback from stakeholders. The regulator added that it did not expect the December changes to affect any targets it set for water companies from 2025 to 2030.

Labour claimed that the edits showed Ofwat was toothless. “Our lakes, rivers and sea have been turned into an open sewer and the water regulator has been caught red-handed rewriting the rules given to water companies,” Jim McMahon, the shadow environment secretary, said. “The Conservatives have given the green light to further sewage dumping, and tried to minimise its impact on communities and local businesses dependent on tourism and leisure.”

The Times recently launched Clean It Up, a campaign calling for more robust regulation of the water sector and faster investment tackling storm overflow spills.

In an apparent nod to the campaign, the outgoing head of the other main regulator for the water sector in England, the Environment Agency, this week said that water pollution had garnered “huge media attention, particularly at the moment”.

Sir James Bevan, in a speech at the World Water-Tech Innovation Summit, conceded that progress on improving the water quality of rivers had slowed in recent years and even stopped in some cases.

However, he insisted progress was being made and argued some discussion of the issue had not been grounded in reality. “All I would say is let’s have this debate on the basis of the facts not assertions — and there are some wild assertions, myths and outright untruths flying around,” he said.

Plans to create hundreds of new jobs in two East Devon towns have been announced by the district council regardless of its failed bid to secure £11million government funding.

How many times has the government turned its back on Axminster?

Neil Parish always seemed preoccupied with “other interests”.

Remember this at the next election. – Owl

East Devon Reporter eastdevonnews.co.uk

East Devon District Council (EDDC) has revealed its ‘disappointment’ at a failed funding bid for Levelling Up cash for the Axe Valley, but vowed to forge ahead with some of its smaller plans to build new employment sites in Seaton and Axminster.

Later this year the council will report on the ‘viability’ of three new work sites in Colyford Road and Harepath Road, in Seaton, and Cloakham Lawns, Axminster, with the aim of developing around 3,000 square metres of employment space, creating up to 140 jobs for the local community and district.

In the summer EDDC will decide if the council will sell the sites, or if the authority will control running the workspaces.

EDDC said the Levelling Up funding hit has prompted the council to review its phase one plans of the £7million Seaton Seafront Enhancement project, in a bid to reduce costs.

It said it could not commit to working on the project in the next financial year.

An EDDC spokesperson said: “The first phase of the Seaton Seafront Enhancement project was set to cost nearly £7million.

“This included plans to create a bigger, better and more attractive outdoor space, including cafes, which can be enjoyed by locals and tourists alike near the roundabout close to Fisherman’s Gap.

“The council hopes to review phase one, and how the cost can be reduced although cannot commit to working on this in the next financial year.”

They added: “Following cabinet approval, EDDC is also now in the process of selecting a marketing agent for the Seaton Moridunum site, the Esplanade.

“This is the former toilet block with ramps either side and viewing platform above.

“There is an opportunity for the site to be transformed into a café or other leisure related facility.”

EDDC said it was waiting to receive feedback from the Government Department of Levelling Up Homes and Communities on its failed bid, to help with future applications.

Councillor Paul Hayward, EDDC portfolio holder for economy and assets, said: “Despite the disappointing outcome of the Levelling Up Fund, which was announced in January, we are still keen to make progress with some of the projects included.

He added: “While the council will progress with the marketing of the Seaton Moridunum site on the seafront, unfortunately, without the assistance of Government funding, the council is limited in what it can do at this time with the Seaton Seafront Enhancement project as a whole and a further review of this project is necessary.”

The Westminster Hall debate, chaired by Simon Jupp, rescheduled form Zelenskyy’s visit will now take place at 2.30 tuesday 28 February.

It will be recorded in Hansard and there may be a live video feed.

“I’m from Devon, I live near the sea in Sidmouth, and I love where we live…..I voted for a crackdown on sewage spills.” – Simon Jupp

In October 2021 Johnson’s Conservative government, with the votes of Simon Jupp and Neil Parish, succeeded in voting down a Lords amendment designed to stop private water companies from dumping raw sewage into the UK’s waterways. The amendment would have placed a legal duty on companies “to make improvements to their sewerage systems and demonstrate progressive reductions in the harm caused by discharges of untreated sewage.“

In November 2021 what Simon voted for was a watered down version which changed a legal duty into a nebulous progressive aim of a “reduction of adverse impact of storm overflows’ and make it enforceable under a different Act.

In December 2022 the Government announced abandoning the principle of a legal target for river health, and postponing a deadline for agricultural run-off reduction by three years (from 2037 to 2040).

The government has also promised a new “plan for water” this year, and that 160 sewage treatment works will be upgraded by 2028 to cut phosphorus pollution being dumped in to rivers. Campaigners said, however, that the promises fall far short of a blueprint to clean up the country’s waterways.

Ashley Smith of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, an Oxfordshire-based group, noted that there are more than 5,200 sewage treatment works in England.

“We estimate at least 2,000 combined sewer overflows are dumping too often,” he said. “This plan does nothing to stop pollution from being profitable.”  www.thetimes.co.uk 

Even our AONBs, SSSIs and National Parks are inadequately protected and in poor condition. – Owl

Prominent environmental scientists, peers and experts have signed a letter to the Prime Minister, calling on the government to give Protected Landscapes new powers and duties to help meet international commitments on nature recovery.

“The past decade has seen deterioration in the condition of our Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). Our National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) still lack the purposes, powers and resources needed to fulfil their potential to protect and restore nature within their boundaries. If not urgently addressed, this lack of progress in delivering bigger, better and joined up spaces for nature will mean the end of any chance of meeting nature recovery targets in England by 2030, undermining UK promises made at COP15.“

www.cnp.org.uk 

Organised by a coalition including Campaign for National Parks, Wildlife and Countryside Link, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the letter has been covered in The Times.

The letter also urges the government to set a new target under the Environment Act for improving the condition of special sites of scientific interest (SSSIs) across the UK. Our recent analysis, again covered in The Times, shows that only a quarter of SSSIs in National Parks in England are in ‘favourable condition’, compared to a national average of 38%. This is a worrying trend over the longer-term, and that’s why we need to take urgent action.

Is Government giving up on nature in protected landscapes?

The letter has been accompanied by an article from Campaign for National Parks, Wildlife Trust, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, warning that the Government has one last chance in this Parliament to act to recover nature in Protected Landscapes. They need to step up and grab this opportunity.

We’re calling on Peers in the House of Lords to back our campaign

The letter coincides with the next stage of the levelling-up and regeneration bill in the House of Lords. Thanks to the efforts of Campaign for National Parks and the coalition, Lord Randall has tabled an ammendment to the bill with cross-party support taking forward key recommendations from the Glover Review of Protected Landscapes, which would see National Parks and other Protected Landscapes being given vital new power and duties so they can do more for nature recovery and people’s access. Signatories on the letter include the author of the review, Julian Glover, as well as members of the review panel.

As the letter makes clear below, although the government have accepted proposals from the review, they have so far failed the seize the opportunity to legislate these commitments. With the amendment now tabled in the House of Lords there is a perfect opportunity to turn words into action. 

We’re delighted with the broad alliance of supporters that have come together on this campaign and we’re now calling on Government and Parliament to take forward this legislation so Protected Landscapes can do more for nature, climate and people.

The next few weeks and months will be crucial as we look to win over even more support and everyone’s voice counts – including yours. You can pledge your support, and sign up for receiving more information about joining our campaign for legislative action.

Full letter to the Prime Minister – Delivering on COP15 promises by making space for nature

Dear Prime Minister,

The UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in December concluded with agreement, signed by 195 countries, to protect 30% of our land and ocean by 2030. Your Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs rightly hailed the agreement as ‘‘a historic milestone in protecting our natural environment for future generations’’.

We are writing, as scientists and experts working to protect the natural environment, to urge you to uphold these welcome global commitments by implementing them at home.

The blueprint for restoring natural systems in England is now over a decade old. In September 2010, a group of scientists, including some of the authors of this letter, submitted a Government-commissioned review of England’s ecological network, Making Space for Nature.

The review found that England’s wildlife sites were largely inadequately protected and in poor condition, even in our most special habitats. Overall, the review concluded that the existing network of places for nature was not sufficient to either halt the loss of biodiversity or to meet our natural capital needs. In response to this conclusion, the review’s core recommendation was that England needed more, bigger, better and joined up spaces for nature.

Sadly, this vision has still not been delivered in full. The past decade has seen deterioration in the condition of our Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). Our National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) still lack the purposes, powers and resources needed to fulfil their potential to protect and restore nature within their boundaries. If not urgently addressed, this lack of progress in delivering bigger, better and joined up spaces for nature will mean the end of any chance of meeting nature recovery targets in England by 2030, undermining UK promises made at COP15.

Every year counts, and to uphold COP15 commitments at home, 2023 needs to see early, ambitious action to deliver better spaces for nature. There are two steps that can be taken straight away by your Government to implement key Making Space for Nature recommendations:

• Amending the Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill to deliver legislative reforms to purposes, duties and management for Protected Landscapes.

The Glover Review of Protected Landscapes, building on Making Space for Nature conclusions, highlighted how National Parks and AONB were held back from delivering for nature and put forward a package of recommendations to address this. A number of these recommendations were accepted by the Government in their response to the review, including recognition of need for legislative reform. Ahead of the Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill’s report stage in December, Sir Gary Streeter MP tabled amendments to the Bill which would have put these key recommendations and related reforms into law for National Parks. It was very disappointing that at Report Stage on 13.12.22 the Bill Minister failed to take this opportunity to legislate to deliver agreed commitments, merely stating that the Government was ‘‘continuing to consider how best to implement’’ the Glover review. Now that the Bill is in the Lords a further amendment to deliver Glover recommendations, both for National Parks and AONBs, has been tabled by Lord Randall, with cross-party support. This amendment must be accepted. There have been years of consideration of recommendations to improve protected landscapes for nature. It is now high time for delivery.

• Adding a terrestrial protected sites condition target to the Environment Act targets.

There is no target for the condition of designated nature sites in the package of Environment Act targets, despite the fact that the UK’s SSSI network (the last fragments of habitat that are most important for nature) are languishing in sub-standard condition, with just 38% in favourable status. This should be addressed by a direct target for at least 75% of SSSIs to be in favourable condition by 2042, with the remaining 25% showing evidence, based on monitoring, that SSSI features are making progress towards ecological recovery. Although the interim SSSI condition targets in the new Environmental Improvement Plan are a step forward, they are not legally binding and are no substitute for a headline target set under the Environment Act. The Environment Act gives Ministers the power to set new environmental targets at any time; a new terrestrial protected sites condition target should be set as soon as is practicable. The new Environmental Land Management (ELM) system of farming support, if properly structured and adequately funded (at least £2.4 billion per annum for the next five years), has the potential to help improve the condition of SSSIs in farmed landscapes. Improvements to SSSI condition assessments will also help to drive progress.

Your Government has made welcome COP15 commitments to net zero, to halt and reverse the decline in the abundance of species and to protect 30% of our land and sea by 2030. It must now complement these global promises with meaningful domestic delivery – starting with implementation of the above recommendations.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir John Lawton CBE FRS, Chair of Making Space for Nature

Julian Glover OBE, Chair of the Review of Protected Landscapes

Lord Cameron of Dillington, member of the Review of Protected Landscapes panel

Jim Dixon, CEO Peak District National Park 2003-2014, member of the Review of Protected Landscapes panel

Jake Fiennes, Director of Conservation at the Holkham Estate, member of the Review of Protected Landscapes panel

Professor Lord Krebs FRS, Department of Biology, University of Oxford Professor Julia Aglionby PhD, Professor in Practice, University of Cumbria

Dr Gail Austen, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent

Maxwell A. Ayamba BEM, Founder & Managing Director, Sheffield Environmental Movement (SEM) and academic at University of Nottingham

Dr Cristina Banks-Leite, Reader in Conservation Ecology, Imperial College

Dr Joseph J. Bailey, Lecturer in Ecology, Conservation and Sustainability, Anglia Ruskin University Professor Tim Benton, Professor of Ecology, University of Leeds

Dr Stuart Connop, Associate Professor in Sustainability, Sustainability Research Institute, University of East London

Dr Charles Cunningham, Department of Biology, University of York

Prof Zoe Davies, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent

Prof Alastair Driver FCIEEM, Honorary Professor of Applied Environmental Management, University of Exeter

Dr Charlie Gardner, Associate Senior Lecturer, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent

Professor Kevin J. Gaston, Professor of Biodiversity & Conservation, Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter

Dr Pippa Gillingham, Deputy Head of Department, Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Bournemouth University

Dr Mark Goddard, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Northumbria University

Professor Dave Goulson, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex

Professor Richard D. Gregory, Head of Monitoring Conservation Science, RSPB Centre for Conservation Science

Professor Rosie Hails MBE FRSB FRES, Science & Nature Director, National Trust

Professor Karen Jones, Professor of Environmental and Cultural History, School of History / Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent

Richard Lindsay, Head of Environmental and Conservation Research, Sustainability Research Institute University of East London

Dr Caroline Nash, Senior Research Fellow, Sustainability Research Institute, University of East London Dr Lisa Norton, Senior Scientist UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

Professor Lois Mansfield, Director for the Centre for National Parks & Protected Areas, University of Cumbria

Professor David Macdonald CBE, WildCRU, Biology, University of Oxford

Dr Chloë Metcalfe, Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, University College London Professor Jesse O’Hanley, Professor of Environmental Systems Management, University of Kent Professor Nathalie Pettorelli, Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London

Dr James Robinson, Director of Conservation, Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT)

Professor Christopher Short, Associate Professor in Environmental Governance, Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire

Professor Bob Smith, Director of the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent 

David Stroud MBE, Former Chair of Ramsar Convention Science Panel and AEWA Technical Committee 

Professor Philip Warren, Emeritus Professor of Ecology, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield 

Professor Michael Winter OBE, Glanely Professor of Agricultural Change, University of Exeter

Reminders of Philip Hammond warning of Cuba and Venezuela-style food shortages under a Jeremy Corbyn government have been circulating today as UK supermarkets impose purchase limits on fruit and veg.

Jack Peat www.thelondoneconomic.com 

The former chancellor used the Conservative Party’s 2017 conference to raise the spectre of failed socialist states around the world as he branded Labour’s economic plans a “political version of Jurassic Park”.

Speaking in Manchester, he claimed “Corbyn’s Marxist policies will inevitably lead us back to where Britain was in the late 1970s”.

And he also made an “appeal to geography”, pointing to the desperate plight of countries that rejected market economics in favour of socialism.

“Like Cuba, which I visited last year as Foreign Secretary, where curiously, I found cows in the fields but no milk in the shops.

“Or Zimbabwe – once, one of the most productive and prosperous countries on the continent but after decades of socialism, not so much a breadbasket, as a basket case.

“And Venezuela, a country rich beyond imagination in natural resources but where the economic policies of Hugo Chavez, publicly supported by Jeremy Corbyn, have so tragically impoverished the country that it can longer feed its people and inflation is over 1,000 per cent and growth this year will fall for the fourth year in a row.”

The Chancellor claimed Labour’s “failed ideas, dredged up from a bygone era” threatened “not only our economic progress but our freedom as well”.

“A party taken hostage by a clique of hard-left extremist infiltrators people who despise our values and talk down our country,” he said.

The comments have been posted as national food shortages, rampant inflation and threats of 1970s-style blackouts hit Britain under the Conservative government.

A comment from Councillor Phil Twiss, Cabinet Member for Finance DCC has prompted Owl to add more clarification on the plight of Woking Borough Council highlighted in this morning’s post: “Another one bites the dust” 

Phil pointed out that Woking is a LibDem council. Indeed this is now a LibDem run council, Owl pointed this out quite clearly in the post, but the problem it is grappling with is one that it inherited from an earlier Conservative administration. 

“We inherited enormous Conservative debts. We knew that decades of dependency on new future debt was hard-wired into supposedly long-term projects. These two factors – debt and a dependence on debt – already presented a financial survival project.

“Yet we are now uncovering a third and potentially more worrying financial inheritance: the mis-statement of debt. Uncovering more of that reality is essential, even if it makes unpleasant reading.” LibDem leader, Woking Borough

New discovery adds to Woking Council’s debt woe

George Rae www.wokingnewsandmail.co.uk

THE Liberal Democrats in charge at the Civic Offices claim to have uncovered another devastating threat to Woking Borough Council’s (WBC) already parlous financial position – the mis-statement of debt.

They say that new officially-audited accounts for Thames
Wey Limited, which is fully owned by the council and responsible for multiple energy and housing developments in the town, uncover a string of overstatements of income and assets.

The documents reveal that the company has negative net assets of £19.4 million, as of the end of 2021, rather than the claimed positive assets.

A “restatement” of previously published accounts shows concern by newly-appointed auditors Menzies that old accounts were not giving a true and fair view.

For example, say the Lib Dems, the new documents demonstrate that, in 2020, ThamesWey Group accounts overstated turnover.

Financial statements incorrectly included £30.3 million inter-company revenue, effectively an internal transfer, in the group turnover, meaning the real turnover for the year has had to be reduced from a previously-claimed £61 million to £31 million – an overstatement of almost double the actual revenue.

In 2021, there were group losses of a further £17 million. A single loss of £13.2 million had been classified as “work in progress” when it should have been written off.

Cllr Ann-Marie Barker, leader of the council, said: “We inherited enormous Conservative debts. We knew that decades of dependency on new future debt was hard-wired into supposedly long-term projects. These two factors – debt and a dependence on debt – already presented a financial survival project.

“Yet we are now uncovering a third and potentially more worrying financial inheritance: the mis-statement of debt. Uncovering more of that reality is essential, even if it makes unpleasant reading.”

It follows grim warnings that WBC could be facing bankruptcy unless a balanced budget can be agreed by February.

Although the scale of council debt has long been known and debated – it is forecast to reach £2.4billion by 2024-25 and has attracted the concern of central government – the recent appraisal by the Liberal Democrat administration was the bleakest assessment yet.

With the council, in their words, “close to running out of money”, the Lib Dems proposed launching Operation Recovery “to rescue Woking”.

While local authorities cannot officially go bankrupt, they are effectively in that position as they declare a Section 114 notice, under which all non-essential and statutory spending is stopped.

A sobering assessment of the financial situation was delivered by the council’s finance director Leigh Clarke. In a document considering the council’s medium term financial strategy and presented to the council Executive, the section headed Executive Summary noted the need for “additional assurance on the financial position for each of the years 2023-24 to 2025-26 to provide assurance the expenditure can be contained within resources.

“If this is not possible, the council will need to commence discussions with the government on financial support and the finance director will determine whether a Section 114 report is appropriate.”

Inflation is measured by increases in the retail and consumer price indices.

Recipients of public services, e.g. the NHS, do not pay a retail or consumer price for this service. The same applies for most other public services.

If nurses are given a pay rise to cover inflation, consumers are not charged any more, so there is no direct effect on inflation. 

Government tax receipts tend to rise with inflation. Those given pay rises in line with inflation, pay more tax; VAT also rises with inflation. 

So the Treasury line that paying more than currently offered would be “inflationary” is arguable.

The real crunch occurs when inflation drives prices up but economic stagnation pushes purchasing power down, producing what is called “Stagflation”. Squeezing public sector pay reduces economic activity.

The political reason to squeeze public sector pay, which can only ever be a short term tactic, is to create budget headroom. Useful at this point in the electoral cycle to fund pre-election tax giveaways.   [Owl’s thought for the day]

Richard Partington www.theguardian.com 

Jeremy Hunt is facing calls to offer a bigger pay rise to public sector workers to break months of strike deadlock, after official figures showed stronger than expected government finances.

The government ran a surprise £5.4bn surplus in January, fuelled by bumper self-assessment income tax receipts, handing the chancellor scope to increase spending or offer tax cuts at next month’s budget.

The surplus was £5bn higher than the government’s fiscal watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, had expected, although it was £7.1bn smaller than in January 2022, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. Analysts polled by Reuters were taken by surprise, having predicted that the government would have to borrow £7.8bn in January.

In the final snapshot of the government finances before Hunt’s budget, public borrowing for the year so far was about £30bn lower than forecast by the OBR in November.

“[This] could tempt the chancellor to offer a pay increase to public sector workers as part of his budget next month, hoping to prevent another wave of strikes,” said Michal Stelmach, a senior economist at the accountancy firm KPMG UK.

Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, said the figures showed the government was “running out of excuses” to break the deadlock on strikes.

“Jeremy Hunt must come out of hiding and help break the deadlock on public sector pay. After 13 years of pay cuts and pay freezes nurses, teachers and millions of other public servants are at breaking point,” he said.

“If ministers don’t provide a fair pay settlement the staffing shortages crippling our schools, hospitals and other frontline services will just get worse.”

Government coffers were increased by £21.9bn of self-assessed income tax receipts, the highest January figure since monthly records began in April 1999. They were offset partly by substantial spending on energy support schemes for households and businesses to cushion the blow of spiralling energy prices, and large one-off payments relating to historic customs duties owed to the EU, the ONS said.

However, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said the cost of energy support was less than expected: “While expensive, the energy support schemes introduced in the last year are actually likely to cost less than forecast in November due to a combination of lower wholesale energy prices and a milder winter.”

Ruth Gregory, an economist at the consultancy Capital Economics, said the figures suggested Hunt “will have some wriggle room in the budget to fund near-term tax cuts and/or spending rises”.

However, Hunt suggested he was in no mood for loosening the purse strings after an increase in the national debt. “We are rightly spending billions now to support households and businesses with the impacts of rising prices – but with debt at the highest level since the 1960s, it is vital we stick to our plan to reduce debt over the medium-term,” he said.

“Getting debt down will require some tough choices, but it is crucial to reduce the amount spent on debt interest so we can protect our public services.”

Downing Street also played down the prospect of tax cuts, despite pressure from backbench Conservative MPs calling on Rishi Sunak to do more to support economic growth. The prime minister’s official spokesman said borrowing remained close to a record high, while “significant uncertainty and volatility” remained.

Interest payments on government debt have risen sharply in recent months because of the effect of higher inflation on index-linked gilts. Debt interest payable rose to £6.7bn, the highest January figure since monthly records began in April 1997. However, despite a rise compared with a year earlier, economists said borrowing costs had not risen by as much as feared in November.

The figures come as the government stands to benefit from a fall in global energy prices over recent months, which is expected to reduce the overall cost of support schemes put in place for households and businesses.

Cara Pacitti, a senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said Hunt was approaching the budget with “significantly healthier borrowing levels” than forecast in the autumn.

“However, with borrowing still much higher than last year, and with interest rates likely to remain elevated for some time to come, Jeremy Hunt can’t afford to be relaxed about the state of the public finances,” she said.

“The extra fiscal headroom should allow him take on some key issues however – namely corporate reform, boosting workforce participation and preventing a spike in energy bills this spring.”

A member of the committee which keeps a check on how well Teignbridge councillors are doing their jobs has resigned. Jane Taylor, in her open letter announcing her departure, accused leaders of not taking seriously a damning report by the local government watchdog.

Philip Churm www.devonlive.com

In the open letter to Teignbridge District Council (TDC) monitoring officer Paul Woodhead, published on the ‘Kingskerswell – Have your say’ Facebook group, Jane Taylor, accused council leaders of not accepting the findings of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. It followed an extraordinary council meeting on Tuesday, February 14, to debate the findings of a highly critical report by the local government watchdog.

The ombudsman said an investigation by TDC into the conduct of South Devon Alliance Group Leader, Cllr Richard Daws, was flawed and “found fault with a number of aspects of the council’s investigation.” The Ombudsman ordered the council to now apologise to Cllr Daws.

Cllr Taylor, who is a parish councillor in Kingskerswell, as well as a former Devon and Cornwall Police office, accused Teignbridge of not accepting the Ombudsman’s report. She also claimed the council were “out of control, show no remorse for their behaviour and who have no intention of being accountable for their actions.”

Cllr Taylor, who previously stood as a candidate for ‘Newton Says No’ in the Devon County Council elections in 2021 – the predecessor to the South Devon Alliance – added: “It has become very clear to me that the bullying of anyone who challenges the council is blatant and unacceptable. It would not be tolerated in any other workplace and I want no part in it.”

But leader of Teignbridge District Council, Lib Dem councillor for Kenton & Starcross, Alan Connett described suggestions he did not take the ombudsman’s report seriously as “a load of old nonsense.”

He said: “For a start, I apologised as leader of the council to Cllr Daws on the 19th of January when the ombudsman’s report was published. I repeated that and we stated that apology in full at the council meeting and it was very clear, I think if you read the words we accept, in full and without reservation, the report and the recommendation of the ombudsman.”

Cllr Taylor also accused Cllr Connett of not accepting the finding of the report because he called for a letter to be written to the Secretary of State “challenging the authority of the ombudsman’s involvement.” But Cllr Connett said that was not true and he was determined to ensure the council carried out the recommendations.

“It suits some people to ignore the inconvenient and focus on their own particular spin,” he said. “That’s been a huge difficulty for the council over several years because the SDA don’t like to be confronted with the facts.

“I was concerned that council accepted the recommendations without reservation and we implement them. So, it’s my leadership that has enabled that meeting to happen.”

Cllr Taylor, in her letter, added: “I will be resigning with immediate effect, as I do not wish to be associated with a Council, where the majority of councillors either condone this behaviour or lack the courage to stand against it. A council who will readily breach both their own policy and the law to exact revenge, on those who dare to speak out against them.”

Last week we had Simon Jupp the Farmers’ Friend, aimed at Honiton? This week it looks to be Sidmouth’s turn….

‘I’ve spoken to the PM about the state pension and the triple lock’

(Simon is worried about protecting pensioners’ spending power – what about everyone else? – Owl)

Conservative Member of Parliament for East Devon Simon Jupp writes for the Journal.

www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

I know many people have welcomed the news that the state pension will rise in line with inflation this year. There is no value more British than our commitment to protect and honour those who built the country we live in.

I’ve talked to the Prime Minister and Chancellor on how to protect pensioners’ spending power. Restoring the Triple Lock is a big part of doing that. The Triple Lock raises State Pension payments by the highest of inflation, average earnings, or 2.5 percent. It offers vital economic security for many people in East Devon.

The government has acted to ensure that every household is also supported with energy bills, and it’s been confirmed recently that the government will provide another £300 Cost-of-Living Payment for pensioners next winter.

It can be a little tricky to work out what support is out there. Fortunately, most people don’t need to take any action since support is being paid automatically.

But it’s worth being sure. So, if you are receiving the state pension and reading this, I’d warmly encourage you to check two things.

First, please check if you’ve received this winter’s Winter Fuel Payment. It is usually paid automatically in November or December if you’re getting other benefits like the State Pension. Everyone who is eligible should have been paid by 23 January 2023. If you did not receive your payment, you should contact the Winter Fuel Payment Centre through gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/how-to-claim or 0800 731 0160 by 31 March 2023.

Second, please check if you are eligible for Pension Credit. Pension Credit is extra money to bring your weekly income up to a minimum amount. Estimates suggest that up to one million people who may be entitled do not claim the benefit. You can use this online tool to check gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator or call 0800 731 0469. An award of Pension Credit can also act as a gateway to other pensioner benefits, including help with rent and council tax.

It’s only right that those who’ve paid into the tax system all their lives are looked after when they’ve retired.

Former Tory Surrey council on brink of insolvency with debts of nearly £2bn

[Conservative control 2011 to 2018, no overall control 2019 to 2021, LibDem control 2022. Elections for one third seats for three consecutive years followed by one year with no elections]

Richard Partington www.theguardian.com

A local council in Surrey has signalled it is close to effective bankruptcy after amassing debts worth almost £2bn to fund a property investment spree, raising fresh questions over the fragile health of local authorities after years of austerity.

Woking borough council said it was “in the territory” of being unable to meet its financial obligations, amid a surge in debt interest costs on its investments, which include a shopping centre, residential skyscrapers and 23-storey Hilton hotel.

The council, one of several in England with big debt problems, said it was at risk of issuing a section 114 notice, which effectively signals insolvency. Although councils cannot technically go bankrupt, a section 114 is able to force central government to intervene to ensure local services are sustainable.

The process is seen as an admission by an authority that it lacks the resources to meet current expenditure, that its reserves are depleted and that it has little confidence it can bring its finances under control in the near future.

Woking is currently subject to a government review of its finances. Control of the council passed to the Liberal Democrats last year, after a fraught local election which partly focused on the vast debt pile accumulated by the former Conservative administration.

The development comes as Michael Gove’s levelling up department turns the screw on local authorities with high levels of debt. The government has ordered inspectors to review the finances, investments and governance, or has directly intervened, at several authorities, including Slough in Berkshire, Thurrock in Essex and Warrington in Cheshire.

Woking said it would increase council tax by 3% in 2023-24, but added: “It is not evident at this stage, however, how the council will establish a balanced budget for 2024/25.”

According to budget papers, the council borrowed about £1.8bn for investment purposes but is only bringing in £38.5m, a figure expected to rise to £43.3m next year.

“That’s clearly unsustainable and is five times the amount of council tax,” said Will Forster, the council’s deputy leader. “The major issue is the council’s borrowing commitments, which is something as a new administration we have inherited.”

He said Woking was committed to increasing its debt levels to £2.4bn by 2026, with much of the increase linked to its town-centre Victoria Square redevelopment, which includes a new shopping centre and a trio of tall residential and commercial towers.

“That is huge for a small borough council like Woking. We’re in a tough position.”

Several English councils have used debt-fuelled investment programmes over the past decade, arguing that budget cuts directed from Westminster forced them to take matters into their own hands. However, questions have been raised over the suitability and scale of some projects.

Local authorities have also run into trouble after a sharp decline in town- and city-centre footfall since the onset of the Covid pandemic, leading many retailers to pull out of key high street locations, hitting the value of their investments.

Conservative-run Thurrock council was the last authority to declare effective bankruptcy, after issuing a section 114 notice in December as it grappled with a £500m deficit caused by a series of disastrous investments. That followed other recent failures at Northamptonshire county council, Croydon and Slough.

Plymouth could be merged into a Devon “super council” but is opposing any moves to be ruled by a directly elected mayor. Under government devolution proposals, Plymouth City Council could become part of a combined authority with Devon and Torbay.

William Telford www.plymouthherald.co.uk

But while council chiefs would be happy with this outcome, which could come with increased government investment, they are not so keen on having an elected mayor for the area. A delegation from the three Devon councils recently travelled to Westminster to make its case.

Plymouth City Council’s Tory leader Richard Bingley joined Devon County Council’s John Hart, also a Conservative, and Torbay’s Lib Dem leader Steve Darling in a mission to meet Dehenna Davison, parliamentary under secretary of state in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

The Devon politicians pressed the case for a devolution deal that would see the Government award more powers to a new combined authority for the county. The trio said they had a “positive” meeting with the under-secretary.

Cllr Bingley said: “We had a very positive meeting with the minister and expressed our shared desire to have a combined authority with powers moved out of Government and into the hands of local politicians. While there is no desire to have a directly elected mayor here, we believe there is huge potential for a deal that would give us greater control in delivering our shared priorities.”

In 2022, the three authorities united to pilot one of the Government’s nine new county deals which were announced in the Levelling Up white paper. The nine areas invited to begin negotiations were Cornwall; Derbyshire and Derby; Devon, Plymouth and Torbay; Durham; Hull and East Yorkshire; Leicestershire; Norfolk; Nottinghamshire and Nottingham; and Suffolk.

The three options open to these areas include:

• Remaining as they are now but with the separate authorities working more closely to deliver services.
• Forming a single institution or county council, which could have additional powers for such things as transport, bus franchising, the adult education budget and compulsory purchase.
• Having a directly elected mayor, which comes with greater control over transport funding and the powers to identify a key transport networks and to establish mayoral development corporations.

In August 2022, Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire councils together signed a devolution deal which will include the creation of a directly-elected mayor for the East Midlands. In February 2023 a consultation began in Cornwall on whether the duchy should accept a new deal providing new powers and funding and have a new directly elected mayor. The issue divided people across the county after Cornwall Council distributed a 34-page Cornwall Devolution Deal documentary and consultation materials.

In 2022, Devon County Council issued a statement saying a combined authority without an elected mayor would “enable councils to work together strategically whilst respecting the sovereignty of their respective authorities.” It is understood the three authorities would welcome the opportunity to become a centralised focus for government investment.

It is also hoped that in return for making such a substantial change to the way the authorities are run, the Government may look to provide more infrastructure and skills investment.

The Government is keen to devolve powers over adult skills, infrastructure projects, and transport systems such as bus routes. Past devolution settlements in metropolitan areas have included these elements, plus powers over other forms of integrated transport, business support, planning and land use.

They have also come with a 30-year investment fund of between £15m and £38m annually and in some cases more extensive powers over health, housing and policing.

Ultimately the Government is keen that every part of England that wants one will have a devolution deal with “powers at or approaching the highest level of devolution and a simplified, long-term funding settlement” by 2030.

Gun owners could help fight terror attack, says police commissioner

Steven Morris  www.theguardian.com 12/06/2017

A police commissioner has caused alarm among rank and file officers by suggesting that members of the public who own guns could help defend rural areas against terror attacks. Alison Hernandez, the Devon and Cornwall police and crime commissioner, said she was interested in having a conversation with the chief constable about whether ordinary people with gun licences could assist in a terrorist crisis.

The comments have caused alarm within the force and prompted a stern warning from a senior officer that citizens should not arm themselves.

Hernandez, a former Conservative election agent, made her comments during an extraordinary exchange with a caller to a phone-in programme on BBC Radio Cornwall. The caller, from Bude in north Cornwall, said she was a gun owner and a former firearms dealer and asked: “If there should ever be a terrorist attack, what happens if I and other people try to defend themselves using those guns? What would be the repercussions?”

Hernandez replied that it was a “a very good question” and asked the woman if she would put it in writing so that the chief constable, Shaun Sawyer, could consider it. But she then added: “This might be some of our solution to our issues.”

When challenged by presenter Laurence Reed if she was advocating vigilantism, Hernandez replied: “I’m just saying, let’s officially have a look at that and see what would be the implications of it. Let’s unpick it a little bit.

“We work with businesses to keep our communities safe. I’d really be interested in exploring that with the chief constable.”

The presenter asked the caller if she would be happy taking on a terrorist. She replied: “Yes,” prompting Hernandez to remark: “She’s not messing about. Don’t go down to Bude.”

The presenter said he could not believe the chief constable would entertain the idea of the public defending themselves with firearms. Hernandez replied: “I’m sure he wouldn’t want to entertain it, but these are times that are challenging and I would like to have an official response on that myself.”

The official response came swiftly from the deputy chief constable, Paul Netherton, who said: “Quite obviously, a marauding terrorist is the most challenging of circumstances. The police response requires significant professionalism and training as well as firearms capability. During these incidents, highly trained police firearms officers and special forces will be deployed to protect our communities.

“Under no circumstances would we want members of the public to arm themselves with firearms, not least because officers responding would not know who the offenders were, and quite obviously they would not have the time to ask. Our message to the public is a simple one: to run, to hide and to tell.”

Rank and file officers also made it clear that they did not believe it was a good idea for members of the public to take up arms. Janice Adam, from the Police Federation, said reacting to and dealing with any such incidents should be left to highly specialised firearms officers. There was no reply from Hernandez’ office on Monday evening.

Owl’s comment at the time:

When your local newspaper runs articles like this, you know that there is a serious problem. It really is time for this incompetent and rather witless person to be replaced.

“Devon and Cornwall Police Commissioner Alison Hernandez has been embroiled in controversy ever since her appointment to the post last year.

She caused consternation yesterday when she said members of the public with guns could form ‘some of our solution’ to terrorism in isolated rural areas.

Ben Jennings www.theguardian.com 

The hedging of bets by senior Tories is obscene. None of them know whether Johnson is finished or still has enough within him to run again so they’re all just laughing and joking about him but without any actual condemnation. “Oh it’s just Johnson”, “what he said was really useful”, “blah blah blah blah blah”.

Not one of them is willing to risk a future job if indeed Johnson has legs and not one of them is willing to chop those legs off at the knees for actively trying to undermine their own government. The man is running his own foreign policy completely separately from government and all they do is smile and nod and excuse and indulge. Cowards.

Here’s the thing, if you didn’t support him last time you’re done. He holds grudges.

If you resigned last time, you’re done. He holds grudges.

If you have brains, you’re done. The sun king can’t countenance another star in his firmament.

Johnson will not forgive, he will not forget and he will not change. If you thought it right to sack him last time for his venal corruption it remains right now. He will do the same things again. He is incapable of being anything other than Johnson and he’ll burn you for disloyalty, advantage or just because he’s too arrogant ti believe anyone matters more than him.

We don’t want more weasel words, we have already heard Jupp deploy the “I would never vote to pollute our water” argument’

To which Owl replied: Simon it is true that you didn’t actually vote to pollute our water, but you did vote against imposing a legal duty to stop it, instead voting for something very much more “light touch”.

This month Thérèse Coffey continued the “light touch” by backtracking on plans for penalties having already extended clean up deadlines to 2035.

Richard Vaughan inews.co.uk 

Tory MPs will be given tips on how to counter claims being made by the Liberal Democrats and Labour over raw sewage being pumped into the country’s rivers and seas.

The issue of the UK’s polluted waterways has become a key battleground in certain parts of the country, with the Conservatives increasingly finding themselves on the back foot.

In a bid to push back against the charges being made against MPs, the party will be giving local council candidates and would-be MPs briefings on the matter ahead of the local and general elections.

Tories will be handed extensive information on what action the Government is taking to prevent sewage dumping in rivers, while providing them with facts and figures to rebut claims being made by the Lib Dems and Labour.

There is growing exasperation among many Conservatives in areas where river pollution is a major local issue, as they believe they are being unfairly criticised by opposition parties for something that is largely beyond their control.

As revealed by i last week, the Lib Dems have drawn up a target list of Tory seats where sewage is a contentious issue and they believe they can gain votes.

One Tory MP who has two rivers running through their constituency bemoaned the Lib Dem attacks, adding: “It’s easy for them because they can take the moral high ground.”

Particular anger is focused on how Conservative MPs are being accused of voting in favour of allowing water companies to continue pumping sewage into the waterways when they voted to pass the Environment Act last year.

An amendment tabled by hereditary peer the Duke of Wellington called for such pumping to be illegal if any raw sewage was spilled into the system. It was voted down by Government MPs.

Clean water campaigners in Devon have erected fake blue plaques on the seafront recording local Tory MP Simon Jupp as having failed to prevent raw sewage from being dumped in the region’s rivers and seas.

One senior backbencher said the sewage issue was regularly referred to on internal WhatsApp groups, with colleagues left “angry” that they are being accused of making the issue worse.

“We were voting to improve the situation, if it were illegal for any rainwater to run back into the waterways leading to heavy fines for the water companies, it would have just been added to people’s bills,” the MP said.

“This is a hugely complex issue, and you can just try and fix it overnight, it will take time to sort it.”

Conservative sources also believe that the two main opposition parties’ policy suggestions do not add up. Tories have claimed that under the Lib Dems’ plan to hit the water companies with a sewage tax of 16 per cent on their profits, it would take 500 years to raise the money needed to solve the problem.

The Tories also accused Labour of promising an uncosted solution and raised doubts that its plans for automatic fines for water companies if they dump sewage into the waterways is workable.

Breathtaking incompetence and failings by police allowed a gunman to kill five people during a mass shooting in Plymouth, victims’ families have said. (BBC)

Alison Hernandez, Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall, said the evidence heard at the inquest “provided a clear and independent understanding of missed opportunities”.

Ms Hernandez said: “I am working with the Home Office and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) so that we learn nationally from this tragedy to ensure that nothing like it happens again.”

Victims statement (Extract from full statement published here)

In a statement released by their legal representative, the victims have accused the licensing system at the force of being “a shambles from the top to the bottom”. In addition they said it was “too late for an apology from Devon and Cornwall Police. The time for that has passed” adding that what they do demand is “accountability, ownership and change.”….

They say warning signs were “ignored and a license to kill was granted.” They also say there was “very little evidence” of “regret or remorse in the decisions, actions, omissions or catastrophic mistakes made” by not just the force and its Firearms and Explosives Licencing Unit, but also by “multiple other agencies, care services and individuals.”…..

The families have accused senior police officers who gave evidence at the inquest of “seeking to defend the indefensible” which they found “extremely difficult for us to watch.” ……

Plymouth shooting: Families say warning signs were ignored

By Miles Davis & Johanna Carr www.bbc.co.uk

Jake Davison killed his mother and four other people, including a girl aged three, with a shotgun in August 2021.

Families of four of the victims said: “Warning signs were ignored and a licence to kill was granted.”

The inquest jury said there had been a “catastrophic failure” at Devon and Cornwall Police.

At the conclusion of a five-week inquest at Exeter Racecourse jurors said the deaths of the victims were “caused by the fact the perpetrator had a legally-held shotgun”.

All five of the victims were unlawfully killed, the jury found.

Davison killed his mother Maxine, 51, Sophie Martyn, three, her father Lee, 43, Stephen Washington, 59, and Kate Shepherd, 66, in the Keyham area of Plymouth before turning the gun on himself.

Will Kerr, who took over as Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police in December 2022, said: “Steps should have been taken to safeguard our communities and for that failure I am truly sorry.”

Mr Kerr called for changes in national firearms licensing policy.

He said: “I accept Devon and Cornwall Police has failed our communities in regard to Jake Davison, but had there been clearer national guidance, direction and specific legislation concerning firearms licensing – decision-making locally may well have been very different.”

Mr Kerr said the force had invested £4m into the Firearms and Explosives Licensing Unit since the shootings “to ensure more consistent and robust application of current law and guidance”.

The inquest heard the number of staff in the department had increased from 45 in 2021 to 99 currently.

‘Our community is angry’

Luke Pollard, Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said gun licensing systems were “not fit for purpose”.

“The inquest has found the failings are systemic and so deep rooted, the confidence that the public should have in the police to keep us safe – to licence firearms correctly – is absent.

“The inquest might have concluded, but the pain people still feel is very real.”

Mr Pollard said: “I do not have confidence in Devon and Cornwall Police to issue firearms licences, and every gun certificate they have issued must be reviewed in light of the failings laid bare by the inquest.

“I am angry. Our community is angry. We want to see comprehensive change to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again.”

Ian Arrow, senior coroner for Plymouth, Torbay and South Devon, said he would be preparing a preventing future deaths report to address “the likelihood of shotgun licences being inappropriately granted”.

In a joint statement, the Martyn, Washington and Shepherd families said the shooting “was an act of pure evil”.

They added: “However, we now know that this evil act was facilitated and enabled by a series of failings and incompetence from the people and organisations that are supposed to keep us safe.”

The families said they had been “hopelessly failed by the system” and in particular by Devon and Cornwall Police.

They said the evidence heard at the inquest told “a consistent story of individual failures, breathtaking incompetence and systemic failings within every level of the firearms licensing unit of the Devon and Cornwall Police force”.

They said: “It is beyond us how Davison, a man with a known history of violence, mental health issues, and with no real need to own a firearm, was granted a licence to possess a gun in the first place.”

Delivering a narrative conclusion on behalf of the jury, the coroner said: “There was a serious failure by Devon and Cornwall Police’s firearms and explosive licensing unit in granting and later failing to revoke the perpetrator’s shotgun licence.”

After hearing evidence from more than 50 witnesses the jury concluded there was “a lack of scrutiny and professional curiosity at all levels” and a “seriously unsafe culture of defaulting to granting licences and returning licences after review”.

It said there was a “catastrophic failure in the management of the firearms licensing department at Devon and Cornwall Police”.

“This was compounded by a lack of senior management and executive leadership who failed to notice or address the issues.”

The jury also concluded there had been “a serious failure at a national level by the government, Home Office and National College of Policing” to implement previous recommendations to improve firearms safety.

In the wake of the Dunblane shootings in 1996, Lord Cullen recommended nationally accredited training for firearms enquiry officers and that recommendation was echoed in 2015 in Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of the Constabulary’s Targeting the Risk Report.

Davison had applied to Devon and Cornwall Police for a shotgun certificate in July 2017 aged 18, saying he wanted to go clay pigeon shooting with his uncle.

As part of the application process Davison had declared he was autistic and had Asperger’s, but when police sought relevant information from his GP, the doctor declined to provide any as it was not mandatory.

Image source, Plymouth Coroner

The jury was shown a picture of the Weatherby pump-action shotgun (top) used by Jake Davison next to a standard sporting style twin-barrel shotgun (below)

Davison had a history of violence at the special school he attended and in September 2020 he repeatedly punched a 15-year-old boy in the face and slapped a 16-year-old girl in a skate park in Plymouth, the inquest heard.

Police decided on a deferred charge of battery – which could be dealt with by restorative justice – rather than the more serious charge of actual bodily harm.

Under the restorative justice scheme, called Pathfinder, Davison had to complete an online “thinking skills” course and was given a 40-page anger management booklet.

Following completion of the scheme Davison was given his shotgun and certificate back in July 2021 – a month before the tragedy.

‘Missed opportunities’

The IOPC watchdog found two employees of Devon and Cornwall Police had a case to answer for misconduct over the way they dealt with Davison’s gun licence.

David Ford, IOPC regional director, said: “The potential corporate failing of Devon and Cornwall Police as an organisation is subject to our separate criminal inquiry into possible health and safety breaches.”

Mr Ford added the IOPC was liaising with the Home Office regarding “recommendations at a national level to help inform improved firearms licensing arrangements and guidance for the police service as a whole”.

A Home Office spokesperson said it would “reflect” on the report and any recommendations from the coroner and “respond in due course”.

Alison Hernandez, Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall, said the evidence heard at the inquest “provided a clear and independent understanding of missed opportunities”.

Ms Hernandez said: “I am working with the Home Office and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) so that we learn nationally from this tragedy to ensure that nothing like it happens again.”

It’s now official.

Jupp has jumped, abandoning 78% of his current constituents. 

He obviously wants to escape from ESCAPE (End Sewage Convoys And Pollution Exmouth) and all the other Exmouth protest groups.

However, he is too young and is insufficiently “local” to recall that in 2012 4,000 marched on the Knowle in Sidmouth to protest at Tory plans to sell the site for redevelopment. 

In his new constituency at least two thirds of the voters will never have heard of him – Out of the frying pan into the fire? – Owl

[Will Neil Parish be one of the candidates standing against him?]

Simon Jupp candidate for Honiton and Sidmouth constituency

Daniel Clark www.devonlive.com

East Devon’s Conservative MP Simon Jupp has announced that he will be candidate the new Honiton and Sidmouth constituency at the next general election. As part of changes to ward boundaries, existing constituencies in the region are being split up.

Honiton and Sidmouth is one of the new constituencies proposed to replace East Devon. The other will see a new East Exeter and Exmouth constituency created, while the existing Tiverton and Honiton constituency will be split as well.

Mr Jupp, who was first elected in 2019, would see his current constituency split into two when the boundary changes are confirmed. He though now has been selected as the candidate for Honiton and Sidmouth following at a meeting held at Sidmouth Conservative Club on Saturday.

He said: “I am delighted to have been selected by Conservative Party members to stand for the new Honiton and Sidmouth constituency at the next general election. Under the most recent boundary review, the current East Devon and Tiverton and Honiton constituency boundaries are being redrawn for the next election.

“As a resident of Sidmouth, home is where the heart is and I’m standing where I’m incredibly proud to live. Since I was elected in 2019, I have successfully secured a new school to replace Tipton St John Primary, £15.7m from the Levelling Up Fund, a new police station for Exmouth, and multi-million-pound support for Exeter Airport during the pandemic. I have a proven track record and will continue to work hard for everyone I represent in East Devon.”

The Independent Boundary Commission for England will send its final recommendations for the new constituency boundaries to Parliament by 1 July.

The new East Exeter Exmouth constituency will include the area covering Exmouth, Budleigh Salterton, Woodbury, Otterton, Newton Poppleford, West Hill, Whimple, and around Cranbrook from the current East Devon constituency, as well as parts of Exeter.

The new Honiton and Sidmouth constituency will include Sidmouth and Ottery St Mary from the previous East Devon constituency. The area around Branscombe, Seaton, Uplyme, Colyton, Axminster, Yarcombe, Uppotery, Hemyock, Culmstock, Cullompton, Dunkeswell, Feniton and Honiton from the current Tiverton and Honiton constituency would be included in this new area.