Boris Johnson is facing fresh sleaze allegations after appearing to back a plan for a new “Great Exhibition” put forward by the Tory donor who funded his luxury flat redecorations.

www.independent.co.uk 

The prime minister told Lord Brownlow he was “on the great exhibition plan” in a WhatsApp message in which he described his Downing Street rooms as “a bit of a tip” – and pleaded for more money.

Two months later, the donor joined a meeting with the culture secretary “to discuss plans for Great Exhibition 2.0” – a showcase of British innovation later renamed “Festival UK” – a government document revealed.

The link was exposed after Mr Johnson’s ethics adviser demanded to know why WhatsApp exchanges were kept secret in his probe into the controversial £142,000 refurbishment.

In a new letter to the prime minister, Christopher Geidt attacked the failure to pass on the messages – blamed on a change of mobile phone – as “extraordinary”, warning public faith in government had been dented.

He continued to conclude there was no breach of the ministerial code, but did not fully exonerate Mr Johnson, ahead of a further possible inquiry by the parliamentary commissioner for standards.

Lord Geidt expressed “doubt” on whether he would have found that the prime minister “took steps to make the relevant declaration”, had he known the full story.

Opposition parties demanded to know what Mr Johnson promised about an exhibition – after Lord Brownlow’s WhatsApp reply pledged to get the flat funding “sorted ASAP” and added: “Thanks for thinking about GE2.”

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, alleged: “It appears that Lord Brownlow had access to the prime minister and culture secretary to discuss Great Exhibition 2 because he was paying for his luxury flat renovations.”

And Wendy Chamberlain, the Liberal Democrat chief whip, said: “It stinks of the worst kind of Conservative cronyism, with Boris Johnson seemingly happy to scratch his donor’s back to get his flat spruced up in return.”

Downing Street insisted the idea for “Great Exhibition 2” was “not taken forward” – arguing “Festival UK” was a different project entirely – but was unable to explain the differences between them.

Asked if the prime minister’s support was sought in exchange for “giving him some cash for the flat refurb”, the spokesperson replied: “No. This isn’t something that we’ve taken forward.”

It then emerged that, on 18 January last year, then culture secretary Oliver Dowden met with Lord Brownlow and Royal Albert Hall bosses “to discuss plans for Great Exhibition 2.0”.

Ms Rayner added: “No one should be able to buy access or exchange wallpaper for festivals. Boris Johnson has serious questions to answer.”

The new controversy comes on top of a stinging rebuke delivered by Lord Geidt for the failure to hand over the messages for his inquiry, which concluded in May last year.

No 10 admitted officials failed to take up Lord Brownlow’s offer to provide “all the material”, arguing it feared compromising a parallel probe by the Electoral Commission.

In his letter to his adviser, Mr Johnson agreed it was not “acceptable” that the Cabinet Office “at the very least did not inform you of the position they had taken”.

He offered a “humble and sincere apology” for what happened – but insisted he did not recall asking Lord Brownlow for the funds for the lavish refit of the No 11 flat.

Interviewed at a vaccination centre, the prime minister was asked if he expected people to believe he had forgotten to disclose key evidence simply because it was no longer stored on his phone.

“I followed the ministerial guidance at all times – and yes,” he replied, declining to expand on what happened.

The released messages revealed he told the donor: “Parts of our flat are still a bit of a tip and am keen to allow Lulu Lytle to get on with it,” referring to the designer whose wallpaper sells at more than £800 a roll.

Lord Brownlow funded the redecorations, as attempts to set up a blind trust faltered, before Mr Johnson finally settled the bill – standing at £112,000, with £30,000 met by the taxpayer.

The controversy was reignited when last month’s Electoral Commission report revealed the prime minister personally asked the peer for more funds, in November 2020.

Yet he told Lord Geidt that he knew nothing about the way the work was being funded until three months later, triggering accusations that the adviser was misled.

In his letter to his watchdog, sent on 21 December, Mr Johnson blamed replacing his phone number due to “security issues” – which meant he “did not have access to my previous device and did not recall the message exchange”.

I, For One, Welcome Our New Rees-Mogg Overlords

By Stephen Bush, political editor New Statesman go.pardot.com 

Good morning. How should the government respond to the cost of living? The FT  reveals that Jacob Rees-Mogg has told Boris Johnson that Rishi Sunak’s planned increase in national insurance should be shelved due to the inflationary pressures facing households – while yesterday in the House of Commons, Boris Johnson faced not-so-subtle calls from his own side to scrap green levies on energy bills and to prioritise the United Kingdom’s energy security.

Johnson’s preferred approach is to invest in renewable energy and in more nuclear power stations – rather than accede to the demand of some of his backbenches and in his Cabinet that the UK end its moratorium on fracking. Sunak is widely believed to have doubts about the government’s net zero strategy: but his aversion to further borrowing puts him at odds with the low-tax Conservatives who ought to be his closest natural allies. (It’s also true to say that most in the Cabinet think that the government should be willing to borrow more in order to avoid immediate tax rises.)

One thing that Rees-Mogg is surely right about: the combination of price increases and tax rises in April look like a perfect storm to make the 2022 local elections a very painful time for the country, and therefore a very painful set of contests for the Tory party, and of course, a painful time for Boris Johnson personally.

One advantage that Liz Truss has over Sunak in the leadership election we’re all pretending isn’t underway is that as Foreign Secretary she has an opt-out from all that. She can use her Women and Equalities brief to wade in or out of domestic policy when it suits her (and it’s a sign of which of the possible successors to him that Johnson favours that she still retains the Equalities brief) but she doesn’t have to get bogged down.

But her and Sunak both share a weakness which is that they are, broadly, from the same bit of the Conservative party and they are fighting for the same set of votes. Truss is using the Equalities brief to signal to the right of the party that she is not just an economic liberal like them, but she is aligned with them on (some) social issues too. Given Priti Patel’s well-advertised difficulties at the Home Office, there isn’t really an alternative candidate on the right of the party at the moment.

Except, of course, if Rees-Mogg’s willingness to intervene on difficult issues like tax-and-spend means that he emerges as the most authentic hope for the party’s right flank. And that’s another looming problem for Boris Johnson: his political weakness means that everyone in the Cabinet will, increasingly, be thinking not of how best to advance under him, but after him.

[Just dream of “fizz with Liz” – Owl]

Boris Johnson forced MPs to show up in parliament to make it look like his support is more solid than it is, sources claim.

Catherine Neilan www.businessinsider.com

• Conservative MPs were ordered to attend parliament to vote on an unremarkable piece of UK legislation.
• But after attending prime minister’s questions, the order was dropped — leading some to suspect it was a ruse.
• Some MPs told Insider it left them feeling used.

Some of Boris Johnson’s own MPs told Insider they were “dragged” into parliament today in a ruse to make it look like the UK prime minister is in full command of his party when in fact his grip over them is slipping.

Conservative backbenchers were strongly encouraged to attend the first session of prime minister’s questions (PMQs) of the year. MPs were also told that party whips had ordered a three-line whip on a vote at 10 p.m. on January 5. Such a measure is usually reserved for controversial votes, meaning they must vote unless there are exceptional circumstances. 

It was the first time lawmakers have gathered since Johnson’s Conservatives lost the safe seat of North Shropshire, following a slew of headlines about senior Tories failing to follow pandemic rules they required the rest of the country to obey.

The constituency, previously represented by Owen Paterson and other Conservative MPs dating back to the 1830s, was lost to the Liberal Democrats in one of the biggest political upsets of living memory. Paterson was forced to resign after it was reported he breached parliamentary rules while acting as a paid lobbyist for the healthcare company Randox, which won roughly £490 million in no-bid contracts from the government in 2020.

Over the Christmas break, successive polls suggested Johnson’s popularity continued to decline amid further allegations that he and members of his government held parties in Downing Street in 2020 after asking the rest of the country to cancel their Christmas gatherings to stop the spread of coronavirus.


A three-line whip is suddenly dropped

While it is not unusual for a sitting government to order an en masse demonstration of solidarity, the fact that some Conservatives complained about it afterwards demonstrated the fragility of Johnson’s support among some members of his own party.

This afternoon saw standing-room-only at PMQs in the House of Commons as Johnson was challenged by Labour party deputy leader Angela Rayner on the rising cost of living. This was followed immediately afterwards by the prime minister giving an update on Covid-19 to a packed Commons chamber.

Shortly afterwards, the three-line whip on the otherwise unremarkable public sector pensions and judicial offices bill was dropped. 

Angry MPs told Insider there was no reason for the original order. One suggested it was because “they [Number 10] wanted us all here for PMQs and the statement”.

‘A sure sign of a PM in trouble’

But the Tory politician claimed the move had provoked suspicions among colleagues that they had been used. “Not a good one for morale at the start of the year,” he said. 

One former minister also told Insider the plan had backfired, saying: “They dragged us in just to sit behind him at PMQs … it has upset a number of the 2019 intake [new MPs who won seats in the last election]. The mood in the tea room is not good.”

Asked if they thought it was a ruse, one MP replied: “exactly that.”

Another added: “We were all strongly encouraged to be in for PMQs — a sure sign of a PM in trouble.”

Number 10 was contacted for a comment but did not immediately respond.

 “Er you’ve got to make sure, er, that, er, you, um, for instance, er, do not, um, er…”

Watch here.

New suit. New hair. Same lies. Well, not the same ones actually. There were new lies too. There always are. Whatever the subject, whatever the question, the prime minister will find a way to lie about it.

www.msn.com  Tom Peck 

At this point it would be apposite simply to rename the weekly House of Commons sessions “Prime Minister’s Lies”, if only for the acronym. What did you do this week? PMSL at PMLs. It is the only psychological coping strategy.

Angela Rayner had to stand in for Keir Starmer, who – 24 hours after his most recent relaunch –has tested positive for Covid and has had to self-isolate for what is understood to be the eighty eighth time.

Starmer rules the Labour Party in much the same fashion as King John VI of Portugal, when the royal court was formally transferred to Rio de Janeiro; the only difference being Starmer’s Rio de Janeiro is his upstairs back bedroom.

Anyway, back to the lies. Angela Rayner had the temerity to tell the prime minister he had claimed, in October, that fears about inflation were “unfounded.” “I said no such thing,” he replied.

The world moves pretty fast, these days. So naturally, by the time he had sat down, the clip of him saying this exact thing, in a television interview on Sky News, had resurfaced. “People have been worried about inflation for a very long time, and those fears have been unfounded,” Johnson said then.

So, you know, just another one to add to the ledger there. Another blatant lie, breezily told at the despatch box of the House of Commons.

Not that long ago, the Labour MP Dawn Butler got into a tremendous amount of bother for calling Boris Johnson a liar in the House of Commons and refusing to withdraw the remark, arguing that to withdraw it would be to tell a lie herself. Everything, in the end, must be degraded to Johnson’s level.

Rayner also asked him about rising energy bills, and specifically his promise, made in the EU referendum campaign, that “energy bills will be lower.” He said this in a column in The Sun newspaper, featuring not only his byline but also a little graphic of him dressed up as a musketeer.

This was also raised at the Downing Street press conference on Tuesday night. Johnson’s answer, frankly, a lie for the ages. Not a blatant lie, but a misrepresentation so ridiculous as to be far worse.

The promise, made in 2016, that energy bills would be lower was, of course, itself a lie, in the sense that it was a promise that could never, ever be kept. But underlying it was a vague truth – that the EU does not allow member states to charge less than 5 per cent VAT on fuel bills, and outside the EU the government could scrap this charge.

Leave won that vote, you may recall, and five years later, the man who wrote, very clearly, that “energy bills will be lower” is now the prime minister; there’s an unprecedented energy crisis and he’s not done the thing he said he would do.

Having been so hopelessly exposed, Johnson’s only response is to blame remainers. He claimed on Tuesday night that it is “paradoxical” for anyone who voted to remain to expect Johnson to keep the promises he made. He told Rayner the same. That expecting him to do what he said he would do and cut VAT on fuel, was “effrontery”, it was “bare-faced cheek.”

He made a promise on Brexit. He won. He’s now the prime minister. He’s broken it and, in his golden-wallpapered world of lies and absolutely nowhere else, this is, apparently, evidence that “Labour can’t be trusted on Brexit.”

And this, yet again, is the remarkable thing. Why isn’t he any better at this lying business? Having told as many as he has, for as long as he has, can he not see that he really can’t get away with claiming that his own lies are proof that someone else can’t be trusted?

And the answer is no. He can’t. And it’s why his party, and his country, have very clearly seen through him, as everybody who’s ever known him does in the end. The precise circumstances and the intricate details might not be clear just yet, but the outcome will be the same. It will end as it has done every other time before – with Johnson kicked out of the house.

Millions of patients will suffer worsening quality of care unless ministers take immediate action to alleviate the staffing crisis engulfing the NHS, health chiefs have warned.

Andrew Gregory www.theguardian.com 

The NHS Confederation, which represents the whole healthcare system, is tonight calling for a range of new measures to be implemented in the NHS in England to help overstretched hospitals and struggling ambulance, mental health, community, GP and social care services cope with “widespread” shortages of medics and health workers.

Tens of thousands of medical students should be deployed on to wards and other healthcare settings, NHS and social care staff must be granted priority access to lateral flow and PCR tests, and the self-isolation period should be reviewed to see if it can be slashed from 10 days to five, as has happened in the US and France, it said.

The call came as growing numbers of operations are being cancelled, with more than 20 NHS trusts declaring an “internal critical incident” in recent days as they struggle to cope with the intense Covid pressure. It emerged on Wednesday that at least four more NHS trusts have taken that step, the highest form of alert any hospital can issue, as had the entire NHS in Norfolk.

NHS staff absences have now spiralled to double what they normally would be at this time of year, and 17,276 people are in hospital in the UK with Covid – up 58% in a week – as Omicron continues to put “enormous strain” on every part of the health service, the NHS Confederation added.

The absence of tens of thousands of staff is already having a “detrimental” impact on the ability of the NHS to provide healthcare, it warned, and said that, without further measures, the staffing crisis “threatens the quality of patient care”.

Given the worsening situation, there should also be “explicit acknowledgment” from the national regulators that clinical tasks “might need to be allocated in ways which would not normally be recognised as best practice”, the NHS Confederation said.

Matthew Taylor, its chief executive, told the Guardian that in the last 24 hours hospital bosses had become “extremely concerned” about the widening ratio of staff to patients.

Boris Johnson insisted on Wednesday he was right not to take any further action.

The prime minister told MPs the cabinet had agreed to keep the existing plan B restrictions and ease travel testing rules. He also confirmed plans being implemented across the UK to end the requirement for confirmatory PCR tests for asymptomatic people who test positive using a lateral flow device (LFD).

An estimated 3.7 million people in the UK had Covid in the week ending 31 December, the highest number since comparable figures began in autumn 2020, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. In England one in 15 people in private households had Covid-19, according to ONS estimates. The level is one in 10 in London.

A further 194,747 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases were recorded in the UK as of 9am on Wednesday, while 334 more deaths were recorded – although this figure includes a backlog of hospital data from England since 1 January.

“It’s clear that we are facing a staffing crisis in the NHS, with a number of hospitals telling us they have around 10% of their staff in self-isolation or on sick leave for other reasons,” Taylor told the Guardian. “This is pushing up the ratio of staff to patients to levels hospitals are extremely concerned about.

“The prime minister’s attempts to reassure the public that the NHS is not being overwhelmed will not chime with the experience of staff working in some parts of the NHS. The government now needs to do all it can to mobilise more staff and other resources for the NHS to get through this extremely challenging period.”

While he welcomed Johnson’s announcement that 100,000 critical workers will get direct access to testing from next week, the move “does not go far enough”, Taylor said, and NHS, social care and other key workers should also have “priority access” to tests.

He said there was “merit” in reviewing the self-isolation period “to see if the evidence supports a halving of the period to five days”. “We also need other short-term measures, including deploying medical students on wards and taking other steps to cover rota gaps,” he added.

All of Greater Manchester’s 17 hospitals have postponed non-urgent surgery. Its healthcare system will not necessarily be able to “ride out” the wave of Omicron infections, the mayor, Andy Burnham, said, with the number of Covid patients in the region’s hospitals almost tripling in the past two weeks, from 346 people to 1,020.

Cara Charles-Banks, the chief executive of the Royal United Hospitals Bath trust, one of those to declare an internal critical incident, said it had done so on New Year’s Eve “due to ongoing pressures caused by both Covid and non-Covid patients, sickness among our staff and availability of beds.”

University Hospitals Dorset, which runs acute hospitals in Bournemouth and Poole, is preparing to cancel some routine operations after also declaring a critical incident. On Wednesday Poole hospital had only four free beds while Bournemouth had 25.

The same level of sickness absence prompted West Suffolk hospital to join the lengthening list of trusts declaring an incident. Both the acute trusts which provide care to people in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire also declared an internal critical incident over the bank holiday weekend.

The chief executive of one trust in the north of England said it has had to scale back non-urgent surgery after the number of Covid inpatients it is treating soared by 80% since Christmas Eve.

“We are doing priority one and priority two surgical cases, with others having to be cancelled,” the chief executive told the Guardian. Their trust is also redeploying staff because 10% of frontline personnel are off sick.

“The NHS runs hot all of the time so it doesn’t have the reserve for extraordinary events. Something has to give and, as in previous waves, it will be the care that can be delayed and it will be the goodwill and potentially the wellbeing of staff.”

Another broken promise

Nearly a million pounds is to be spent to try to slow the cliffs at Seaton in East Devon which have been falling into the sea.

Radio Exe News www.radioexe.co.uk 

The beach and cliffs at Seaton (Sarah Charleworth/WikiCommons)

Like much of the western part of the Jurassic Coast, the area is subject to occasional cliff-falls, and cliff erosion seems to have been speeding p.

Now East Devon District Council has solved a funding gap to allow a £900,000 scheme to get cracking, with construction of the main elememt probably starting in the autumn of 2023.

The Seaton Hole Beach Management Plan has been rubber stamped by the Environment Agency and should improve protection of 41 homes above the cliffs, by upgrading and extending the existing rock structures on the beach.

This should reduce the rate of erosion to the base of the cliff, as the toe will be better protected from storms thanks to the additional rock placed on the existing rock, which will offer more protection to the toe of the cliffs from storms.

Due to the worsening condition of the concrete covered rock section to the west of the beach, works are due to start this year, ahead of the main scheme. Other works require more detailed planning and consultation.

The scheme had a funding gap of  just over £400k in 2019, but changes in central government funding rules and other local funding has been found.

The next step is to begin detailed design and further consultation to allow the project to go out to tender.

Councillor Jack Rowland, who represents the Seaton ward and is EDDC’s portfolio holder for finance, said: “It’s great news that the funding is now in place to enable works to proceed to provide more protection for Seaton beach at the western end beyond West Walk that is even more essential in the light of climate change and the associated risks to our coastline.”

Cllr Geoff Jung, EDDC’s portfolio holder coast, country and environment, added: “Our officers and staff are working on various schemes with agencies and other authorities to protect our vulnerable areas of coast line, which due to climate change estimations will result in sea-level rise and increased storm events effecting our coast and low laying areas.

“This scheme is just one of many which will provide the required protection for these predicted changes.

“Therefore, it’s fantastic news we are able to move forward in the knowledge we have the required funding in place.”

Is this review just a rehash? – compare “Don’t try to escape by bus”. Does Axminster deserve to be trolled? – Owl

Four places in Devon have been listed in the top 50 ‘worst’ places to live in England – according to their own residents.

The annual survey broke records for 2022, with 110,172 locals voting for their own communities and offering a sniping insight on what it’s like to live there.

While no Devon town or city managed to reach the top 10, a total of four places were included in the top 50 worst places to live in England.

Starting at least-worst, according to the voters, was Plymouth, which came in at 48th.

Riviera town Paignton was listed at 40, followed directly by Axminster.

The top/bottom Devon place on the list, however, was Torquay – a town which in October was said to be the most dangerous place in the county.

Torquay was voted as the 33rd worst place to live in England, though residents would agree this might not be fair.

Axminster: The worst town I have ever visited!

www.ilivehere.co.uk

I travel around a lot these days, and have visited countless towns and cities across the land. I’ve been to places where I witnessed seagulls eating fresh sick, places where the desolation rivals that seen in war torn Aleppo. Places where you’re lucky to get out alive after 7pm. Yet none of them compares to Axminster, by far the worst town I have ever spent time in!

At First Glance

At first glance, Axminster appears to be a quiet and pleasant town, with a small shopping area, a pretty railway station, and a large Tesco. But it’s only when you dig a little deeper, that the truth soon reveals itself.

Local Yokels

Let’s begin with the locals. I don’t mean those who have moved from better areas, no, i’m referring to the local locals. These people are really something else. You can’t even talk to someone without being approached by strangers at a later date, who know exactly what was said down to the most minute detail. That said, if they approach you and ask about who you’re friends with/dating, then you’re lucky, as most are the sort who will stop their car alongside you, wind down the windows, shout a load of abuse at random, then drive away (had that happen a fair few times).

Little of Note

The town itself has little of note apart from a medium sized Tesco, from which access to the town centre on foot requires a climb which is comparable to scaling the north face of the Eiger, whilst making your way past a large cow statue (which a number of locals have likely violated over the years). Once on the high st, you will find the traffic is atrocious due to the lack of a north/south relief road, and convoys of tractors race through, almost knocking you off the narrow pavements. Many of the shops here have disappeared in recent years. The newsagents has gone and the small department store (Trinity House) has also gone. All that really remains is the River Cottage restaurant which more geared towards tourists than locals anyway.

Getting Out

One of the main ways to leave town is the bus of course. The main bus stop in town is actually a traffic island with a bird bath on it, well, i say bird bath, but over the years it’s spent more time being used as a toilet or a sick bucket than it ever did bathing birds.

Education

The school (which i attended during my teens) was a ****, reprehensible, and often incredibly violent place, which at the time (1990’s) was put into special measures thanks to it’s crumbling structures and unpleasant atmosphere.

I could go on forever as to why Axminster is utterly dreadful, but instead i will conclude with this; i spent many years walking the streets of Axminster, i was miserable, it is a fleapit.

Dramatic drone images have captured the aftermath of another cliff fall in East Devon.

Chloe Parkman www.devonlive.com 

The pictures, which were captured by Ziggy Austin at Rock Solid Coasteering, were taken near Sandy Bay caravan park – and they captured the extent of East Devon’s notorious crumbling cliffs.

Over the last 18 months, there have been a number of cliff falls in the area with some of the most notable taking place in Exmouth and Sidmouth.

The pictures, which were taken on Monday, show some caravans are now just metres away from the edge of the cliff.

Back in August, the stretch of cliff saw five massive falls in one morning.

Crumbling clay tumbled from the cliffs between Sidmouth and Salcombe Mouth, which sparked a warning from Beer Coastguard Rescue Team.

In a statement made on Facebook last year, a spokesperson said: “Cliff falls this morning, please stay away from the base of cliffs and take note of the signs, they are there for a reason.”

The images were captured near Sandy Bay (Image: Ziggy Austin at Rock Solid Coasteering)

And much to the horror of many, back in July, groups of beach-goers were pictured sitting directly under East Devon’s crumbling cliffs, despite an enormous sign warning them of the potential dangers.

The photograph was taken near Sandy Bay as many people across the county raced to the coast in order to take advantage of the heatwave.

The image which shows the beach-goers located right next to a yellow sign which reads: “DANGER – beware of falling rocks” has sparked upset in local residents to the area.

Following the scene, eye-witness Raymond Loades, said: “[This happened] at Sandy Bay last Wednesday (July, 21).

The caravan park is located on the cliff top (Image: Ziggy Austin at Rock Solid Coasteering)

“Having seen this every time we go there for the last five or six years I felt it was time to try and get something done as when I usually point out what the notice says, the majority of the replies are unprintable.”

Read the full story here.

The roulette wheel is spinning, the ball already rattling towards its final destination. Boris Johnson has bet the house on his Omicron gamble and now there’s no going back. 

Gaby Hinsliff www.theguardian.com 

The bullishness of ministers insisting over the weekend that they see no case for further restrictions glosses over the fact that it may now be too late for that anyway, given an estimated one in 25 people in England already had the virus before New Year’s Eve.

Double or quits it is, then, as a country drags itself back out to work and school after the Christmas hibernation period. We’re about to find out exactly what it means to experience unprecedented levels of Covid infections, but from a strain that may be less dangerous, at least in the fully vaccinated. Once again, a virus we thought we’d got to know has abruptly shapeshifted and once again, history isn’t necessarily a reliable guide to the present. We’re all back on the seesaw, lurching between hope and fear, never knowing quite what to expect.

The novel threat this time is not death on the biblical scale forecast during the first wave – although sadly there will be too many deaths, hospitalisations and cases of long Covid disabling people for months to come – but knock-on chaos and disruption caused by the potential mass infection of key workers, leaving them unable to do their work. We’ve entered an unpredictable world of people who have heart attacks waiting for well over an hour for an ambulance, critical incidents being declared by hospitals that can’t maintain safe staffing levels and large organisations being warned to plan for up to a quarter of their people being off sick or self-isolating. Now imagine what that worst-case scenario might do to the everyday grind of supermarket deliveries, bin collections and bus timetables, let alone to policing or critical infrastructure such as the power and water industries.

Education ministers have meanwhile vowed to keep schools and nurseries open wherever possible – rightly given the profound impact we now know closures had on poorer children’s education, and on a vulnerable few who are sadly safer with their teachers than with their parents – but are simultaneously letting heads know they can send year groups home if they have to. For secondary schools in England and Wales hit by serious staff shortages, in practice that would probably mean prioritising GCSE and A-level classes for pupils who need to sit their mocks this term but switching to home schooling for other years if necessary, something already happening in some parts of the country before Christmas as Omicron hit.

Nurseries and primary schools catering for pupils too young to be vaccinated will meanwhile be flinging windows open to the January air and crossing their fingers, knowing that (at least according to the Office for National Statistics) about one in 15 children aged between two and 11 had Covid before Christmas. Since many key workers are also parents who can’t easily do their jobs if their child gets sent home sick, we’re probably about to be reminded that childcare is the fourth emergency service, without which the other three would struggle very quickly. In other words, it’s time to prepare ourselves at least for the possibility of things getting messy; of everyday life becoming harder and more volatile as Covid jams its spokes into wheels that in good times you barely even notice turning.

With luck, that upheaval could be mercifully brief. But any country that nearly ground to a halt overnight thanks to a temporary post-Brexit shortage of fuel tanker drivers and a panicky stampede for petrol should probably have learned by now not to get cocky. Over and over again this virus has reminded us of just how much happens unseen beneath the surface of a functioning society; of how complex our just-in-time modern lives with all their endlessly interconnected moving parts have become, but also how fragile, dependent on things and people we mostly take for granted until brutally reminded not to do so.

And that’s why learning to live with this or any other virus, the mantra of those who never want their liberties restricted by government diktat again, doesn’t mean quite what some hope it does. It’s not about ripping off your mask and gleefully forgetting that any of it ever happened, but about building in resilience and learning from the weaknesses exposed by Covid. Rubbing along successfully through what might hopefully be the tail end of a pandemic should mean investing not just in vaccines and antivirals but in more hospital beds and people to staff them, creating enough slack in the system to absorb seasonal Covid surges without having to throw up tent wards in NHS car parks. It’s going to mean well-honed contingency plans for critical industries, better ventilation in schools, and more imaginative answers to the question of protecting people who are shielding or clinically vulnerable than are so far forthcoming from lockdown sceptics bellowing that it’s time everyone was left to get on with their lives. But it may also take something of a shift in national attitudes.

Living successfully with Covid-19 will require not just a virus obliging enough not to mutate in more lethal ways but the maturity to self-police sometimes – as plenty did last month by voluntarily side-swerving parties or the pub so they could have Christmas with their families, and as Swedes have always quietly done in what was the unsung element of their country’s no-lockdown policy – and the resilience to live with a degree of unpredictability in life, which is infinitely easier said than done for some. Low-income families especially are likely to need help absorbing the sudden shocks and disruptions this virus is still capable of delivering, even as it hopefully burns itself out.

The silver lining to the Omicron cloud is, of course, that it could pass relatively quickly. It’s risky reading too much into data collected over the Christmas holidays when reporting was potentially patchy, but all hopes are now pinned on Britain following the same path as South Africa, where infections seemed to peak relatively quickly before falling back. A rocky few weeks, so the cabinet’s argument goes, beats months of economic and personal misery; better to rip the plaster off and get it over with. Whether that gamble was uncharacteristically shrewd or lethally reckless will become clear enough in the next few days as Omicron spreads from London to the rest of the UK, with hospitalisation rates doubling already across much of the north of England. But right now, the wretched roulette wheel is still spinning, and all most of us can do about it is hold our breath.

On 20 December the Prime Minister said the latest data will be kept under constant review “hour by hour”, and refused to rule out further measures after Christmas. 

“We will have to reserve the possibility of taking further action to protect the public and to protect public health, to protect the NHS,” he said. “We won’t hesitate to take that action.”

All weekend Ministers’ have been making bullish statements that Plan B was sufficient. These have been made on the basis of the fragmentary and incomplete data emerging during a prolonged holiday period accompanied by shortages of testing kits. The Prime Minister also presents the choices available as a binary one between Plan B and “closing down the economy”.

Derriford is one of the latest to declare an internal critical incident.

To have any chance of making any impact that action would have had to have been taken and implemented  before the New Year. It’s now too late, the roulette wheel is spinning. – Owl

Rowena Mason www.theguardian.com 

Parts of the NHS may be overwhelmed in the coming weeks, Boris Johnson has admitted for the first time as he insisted England can “ride out” its biggest ever Covid wave “without shutting down our country once again”.

The prime minister acknowledged the health service is under huge pressure after four more NHS trusts – all outside London – declared critical incidents amid rising staff absences and Covid patients. On Tuesday evening hospitals across Greater Manchester announced some non-urgent surgery and appointments would be suspended.

Heart attack patients calling 999 in parts of northern England were also asked to get a lift instead of waiting for an ambulance as hospitals in the region experienced more than double the growth rate in numbers of Covid patients compared with London, which was previously worst hit by the Omicron variant surge.

With frontline worker absences fuelled by a record 218,000 new confirmed UK cases of Covid on Tuesday, Prof Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical adviser, said the NHS faced “very substantial pressure over the next couple of weeks” – though there was not yet a “surge in mortality” seen with other waves by this stage.

Johnson claimed the vaccine programme and reduced chance of hospitalisation with Omicron meant there was now a chance for the country to get through the wave without imposing new restrictions.

To reduce disruption from staff off sick or isolating with Covid, he unveiled a plan for 100,000 critical workers to get tests on every working day to detect cases quickly and prevent them spreading, although some experts raised concerns that was not enough.

Previously, Johnson has said he would bring in further restrictions if there was a risk of the NHS becoming overwhelmed. However, the prime minister accepted it may already be happening in some areas when asked for a definition of this, given many medical staff feel that situation has already been reached.

“The NHS is under huge pressure,” he told a Downing Street press conference. “I won’t provide a definition of what being overwhelmed would constitute because I think that different trusts and different places, at different moments, will feel at least temporarily overwhelmed.”

He said hospitals were “at the moment … sending out signals saying that they are feeling the pressure hugely and there will be a difficult period for our wonderful NHS for the next few weeks because of Omicron”, adding: “I just think we have to get through it as best as we possibly can.”

In a further sign of the intense strain on hospitals NHS bosses in Greater Manchester decided on Tuesday to postpone planned surgery and outpatient appointments amid a major surge in both Covid admissions and staff isolating with the virus.

In a statement the Greater Manchester Combined Authority said that the region’s 17 hospitals “have made the difficult decision to pause some non-urgent surgery and appointments due to the rising impact of Covid”. However, surgery for cancer, heart conditions, vascular problems and organ transplantation will still go ahead, it pledged.

Medics and scientists have been pressing Johnson for weeks to bring in restrictions beyond the advice for people to work from home and requirement for masks in shops and on public transport, with tougher measures already in force in Scotland and Wales. But the prime minister would find it very difficult to get support for further measures in England from Tory backbenchers, scores of whom voted against current plan B restrictions before Christmas.

Johnson did not rule out further measures to tackle Covid transmission but said the current plan was to “keep our schools and our businesses open, and we can find a way to live with this virus”.

Health leaders reacted with concern, saying Johnson had not acknowledged the depths of the NHS’s problems despite unprecedented pressure in some areas. Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said nursing staff will have “watched the prime minister’s statement in disbelief”. “One described to me today that the NHS feels more broken than she’s ever known it. This is not hysteria, this is blowing the whistle on falling standards as patient care comes under real threat,” she said.

“Vaccinations alone will not reduce infections and hospitalisations – more must be done to prioritise nursing staff for access to testing and high-quality PPE. Meanwhile, the emphasis on virtual and temporary beds shows that the government still fails to recognise the value of highly skilled nursing staff or grasp the extent of the workforce crisis.”

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said the attempt to reassure the public that the NHS is not being overwhelmed “does not chime with the experience of staff up and down the country who are facing fast-rising hospital admissions, intense pressures on all parts of the health and care system and widespread staff absence”.

“We urge the government not to allow its optimism to lead to complacency given the rapidly changing situation we are seeing on a daily basis,” added Taylor. He welcomed the plan for daily rapid testing of key workers but said it should have been made available earlier in the pandemic.

The British Medical Association, which represents doctors, urged Johnson to impose new restrictions to help relieve the pressure.

“The facts, figures and the living reality for thousands of patients and NHS staff daily demonstrate undoubtedly that the NHS is currently already overwhelmed,” said Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the BMA’s chair of council. “Asking the NHS to ‘just get through it’, without doing anything to help, would be to wrongly accept avoidable suffering to thousands of patients in the coming weeks.”

Johnson was flanked by Whitty and Prof Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, as he outlined the approach for England. Vallance said there were “extraordinarily high levels of infection at the moment” in the UK. Hospital pressures would depend on how Omicron had an effect on the older generation, he said.

Whitty acknowledged that “some hospitals, some areas of the country” will come under “very substantial pressure over the next couple of weeks” with high numbers of staff isolating over infections compounding the typical winter pressures.

He also spoke of being left “saddened” by the proportion of unvaccinated patients in intensive care, as he urged people to get their boosters. He said “the great majority” of those who were in intensive care and had not been jabbed were “not anti-vaxxers in the ordinary sense with some really weird ideas” but had been taken advantage of by those seeking to misinform them online.

Whitty said “misinformation” on the internet, “a lot of it deliberately placed”, about potential side effects from jabs was fuelling fears about whether Covid was important enough to warrant vaccination, as well as whether the vaccines were effective against the disease.

The figure of 218,724 confirmed cases on Tuesday was a new UK record for the pandemic, although it included some delayed data from Wales and Northern Ireland.

A woman must lunch somewhere……….

Simon Jenkins www.theguardian.com 

When the prime minister told Liz Truss to examine every road post Brexit, her thoughts naturally turned to Mayfair and Hertford Street. Perhaps that nice caff at No 5. We are after all lunching with that nice American trade envoy, Katherine Tai. Perhaps two measures of dry gin; two bottles of Pazo Barrantes Albariño, a Spanish white wine, costing a total of £153; and three bottles of the French red Coudoulet de Beaucastel, costing a total of £130. Perhaps a £3,000 bill.

Besides, the proprietor of 5 Hertford Street is Robin Birley, half-brother to Boris Johnson’s mate Zac Goldsmith, and buddy of Michael Gove and David Cameron. And he tipped Johnson 20 grand for his “leadership” campaign, wherever that went.

Surely such generosity calls for a kindly nod and wink. 5 Hertford Street posted substantial losses last year, so the money might come in handy. Birley even halved the bill if it could be paid straight away. The office wants Truss to slum it in Soho. She hits the roof. Who wins trade deals in Soho? Besides, this is one for Birley.

The joy of British corruption is that there are no crude brown envelopes stuffed with notes. Money is never seen changing hands. Negotiation is via a pat on the shoulder, a placement at a dinner, a nod at the tennis net. There need not be a direct quid pro, but favours can flow both ways: a party donation, a contract, a planning refusal overturned, all rounded off with the knighthood or peerage.

The British like to pretend their political culture is pure, but benign terms have been used to mask questionable interactions. In times past, the Metropolitan police vehicle for the receipt of informal benefit was the “police benevolent fund”. It was the stuff of legend and occasional comedy. Now, at a time of wild budgetary spending, every dodgy oddball is crowding round the pig trough. Goodness knows what antics will be revealed, if ever, from the proposed inquiry into the pandemic. It should be standing room only at the Old Bailey.

The strangest transactions seem to revolve around politicians striving to live up to the dignity of their office, be it flat decorations, country houses or foreign holidays. Lunch at 5 Hertford Street is a classic. Turn to a party donor; at least he could host a good lunch.

Truss’s civil servants saw the danger a mile off and steered her towards a more modest watering hole. She would have none of it. It went to her permanent secretary, who let it through, but he is clearly a mouse not a man. Should it now go to the cohort of Whitehall standards scrutineers? If so they must be worked off their feet, with every self-respecting property developer or drug manufacturer feeling they are carrying the weight of the Tory party on their shoulders.

Perhaps the best discipline is daylight. Lunch at 5 Hertford Street is hardly a hanging crime. It rather indicates a general casualness towards public funds and relationships; an attitude of mind. Johnson was very nice to Truss. She returns the favour by shamelessly going on manoeuvres to replace him. Now she is currying favour with his friends. Is that who we want as a future prime minister?

Lindsay Hoyle says all ex PMs should be knighted after Tony Blair honoured

Fatima Aziz www.lancs.live

Chorley MP and the Speaker of the House of Commons has said he believe that all former Prime Minister’s should be given a knighthood.

Following the knighting of Tony Blair, Sir Lindsay Hoyle has called for all former prime ministers to be knighted with the highest possible ranking.

Sir Tony was appointed as a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior British Order of Chivalry, with the honour from the Queen regularly bestowed upon past prime ministers including most recently Sir John Major.

Sir Lindsay told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, however, it should be given to all ex-PMs including David Cameron because it is “one of the toughest jobs in the world”.

“Whatever people might think, it is one of the toughest jobs in the world and I think it is respectful and it is the right thing to do, whether it is to Tony Blair or to David Cameron. They should all be offered that knighthood when they finish as prime minister,” the Chorley MP said.

“I would say if you’ve been prime minister of this country, I do believe the country should recognise the service they’ve given,” Sir Lindsay added.

“It is not about politics, it is about the position they have held in this country: It’s about the position and it’s the respect that we show to those people who’ve led this country. And I think it’s a fitting tribute to the job they’ve carried out.”

Sir Tony, who left Downing Street more than 14 years ago, was one of three new appointments announced by the palace alongside Baroness Valerie Amos and the Duchess of Cornwall.

Appointments to the Garter are in the Queen’s gift and made without prime ministerial advice, and are usually announced on St George’s Day, April 23, but the monarch can do so at any time, and chose this year to coincide with the New Year’s Honours.

They are for life unless a Knight or Lady Companion offends against certain “points of reproach”.

Founded in 1348 by Edward III, the Garter is awarded by the sovereign for outstanding public service and achievement.

There are now 21 non-royal companions in the order out of a maximum of 24.

The Government was warned a month ago that a lateral flow testing crisis was looming without significantly more supplies, the head of a major industry body has said.

By Sally Guyoncourt inews.co.uk

The UK is continuing to suffer short supplies of rapid tests since new rules were introduced to avoid self-isolation by daily testing, with frontline workers facing abuse in pharmacies.

At home testing kits have also been repeatedly unavailable to order on the Government’s website.

Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, told i the crisis could have been avoided with better planning.

“I raised this with the UKHSA (UK Health Security Agency) in early December saying a lot more kits would be needed asking what its plans are but they never answered my question”, she said.

“The problems around demand should have been anticipated. The government said it boosted the number of kits by eight million but eight million is not enough.”

Ms Hannbeck said that the introduction of the new rules, which mean people can leave self-isolation after two negatives tests on day seven, or take daily tests to avoid isolating when a contact of Covid, have sparked a predictable surge in demand.

“It’s the planning ahead which was not done,” she said, adding that the Government had relied on only one wholesale supplier, Alliance Healthcare, which did not aid the supply issues.

As a result, many pharmacy staff had been on the receiving end of customer anger. “We have got staff suffering abuse, people walking in (to pharmacies) and shouting”, she said.

The view was backed by the National Pharmacy Association, which told i there has been “intermittent shortages in many areas”.

A spokesperson said: “Community pharmacies are doing everything they can but they are not in control of the national supply chain.

“We ask the public to please be patient and courteous with our colleagues, who are doing their utmost, under extreme pressure, to support patients at this time.”

Demand has been so high that some people in possession of the free-to-order tests have begun selling the kits online. On Monday afternoon, auction site eBay had lateral flow kits on sale for as much as £75 per seven tests.

Pressed on the issue, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News: “If people feel that they can’t get the supply they should just refresh their webpage.”

Ms Hannbeck added that pharmacies are “best placed” for the supply of lateral flow test kits, but added: “In order for us to manage this we are going to have to see at least triple the amount of test kits the Government has made available.”

The UKHSA said that eight million tests had been delivered to pharmacies in the last week, but during periods of “exceptional demand” there may be temporary pauses in ordering or receiving tests to ensure it manages distribution.

A spokesperson said: “The UK’s testing programme is the biggest in Europe with almost 400 million tests carried out since the start of the pandemic.”

They added that testing capacity is “continuing to rapidly expand capacity – with over half a million tests carried out on 23 December alone and delivery capacity doubled to 900,000 PCR and LFD test kits a day.”

A former MP and Cornwall Councillor claims that second-home owners are set to benefit from a new £6,000 grant given to businesses affected by Covid.

Aaron Greenaway www.cornwalllive.com 

Andrew George, former MP for St Ives between 1997 and 2015 and now Cornwall Councillor for Ludgvan, Madron, Gulval and Heamoor, has also reiterated his call for the Conservative government to take back the grants given to second homeowners and spend it on alleviating housing pressures in Cornwall.

He claims that the failure to close the loophole, which allows some second homeowners to register as a business, led to an estimated £104 million going to second homeowners during the first lockdown of 2020, will see another £40 million of Cornwall’s coronavirus aid budget going the same way.

Mr George is calling on the Conservative cabinet at Cornwall Council and the Government to close the loophole, claw back the money and instead tax the second homeowners who have benefitted from this scheme.

In a post on Facebook, he wrote: “As if second homers haven’t been given enough taxpayers’ money. The Conservatives are about to dole out yet another £40 million of Cornwall’s Covid aid to them!

“They should be taxing them for being a major cause of Cornwall’s housing emergency and closing off the industrial-scale tax loopholes they’ve granted them. Not giving every second homer another £6,000 – YES. SIX THOUSAND POUNDS EACH – when we desperately need that money to address the extreme and serious housing problems and insecurities of tens of thousands of local families who are not so well-off.

“The Conservatives on Cornwall Council said they’d use their special influence with the Government. After all, they’re all in the same Party. Well, here’s a chance for them to show they can stop such scandalous misuse of public money. They can also demand that previous grants – estimated at more than £104 million = are clawed back while they’re at it.”

He also said that despite campaigning against the loophole since it was granted in 2012 under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition Government, the current Government has only begun to acknowledge the issue but not yet taken any action.

He continued: “This is what I said in February this year. This merely repeats my warnings in March last year, and my campaign against the multi-million £ tax loophole granted by the Tories back in 2012 when I first exposed the scandal.

“In spite of my previous attempts, Conservatives are only now beginning to accept that the whole system is wrong and deeply unfair. They say they intend to close the loophole. In fact, they’ve announced they’re doing this three times! But nothing’s happened. Instead, we get the Chancellor’s announcement this week that they’ll be handing out more Covid aid to second homers. It’s got to stop.”

Why second homeowners are able to claim COVID relief grants

It was previously revealed that as of February 2021, there were more than 23,000 properties in Cornwall registered as a second home or holiday let. The actual figure is likely to be much higher as there are likely to be many more that aren’t registered such as Airbnb properties.

A loophole in legislation revealed in 2012 meant that second homes were eligible to opt to pay business rates rather than council tax, leading to some switching from council tax to business rates. This means that for some, they could claim Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) and pay nothing.

In order to take advantage of the entitlement for full relief, the owner must make their home available for holiday letting for at least 140 days a year, although they don’t actually have to let the property during that time but make it ‘available for letting’ and for the rest of the year, can use it as their second home.

In February 2021, Andrew George revealed a response he received from Cornwall Council about the extent of this. He revealed that out of 10,593 properties claiming non-domestic rates where the valuation office description code is a self-catering unit, 8736 have claimed some amount of small business rate relief. Of these, 108 have a portion of the small business rates to pay while the rest have nothing. He added that Cornwall Council is eligible to claim back reimbursement for the cost of awarding the rates relief from the Government, while the loophole means that second homeowners eligible in many cases pay nothing in taxes.

This loophole means that second homeowners who claim this relief have been able to claim COVID relief grants from the Government from funding given to and administered by Cornwall Council.

Mr George revealed the following had been given to second homeowners who claimed small business rate relief to January 2021:

March 2020 (lockdown one): £79,275,000.00 (7,773 accounts)

November 2020 (lockdown two): £9,285,198.00 (6900 accounts)

January 2021 payment and Closed business lockdown payment (lockdown three): £40,050,521.00 (6617 accounts)

Total: £132,935,998.

• Construction of single storey front extension. 2 Primley Gardens Sidmouth EX10 9LERef. No: 21/3309/FUL | Validated: Tue 21 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Installation of an open fronted building for waste storage and recycling replacing existing open bays. Axe Skip Hire Gammons Hill KilmingtonRef. No: 21/3254/FUL | Validated: Tue 21 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of lawfulness for the occupation of a dwelling in breach of a planning condition (Condition 1 of the Consent dated 15 August 1966) restricting occupation of the dwelling to “persons employed or last employed locally in agriculture as defined by Section 221 of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1962” including “the dependants of such persons aforesaid” Greenhayes Broadhembury Honiton EX14 3LERef. No: 21/3245/CPE | Validated: Mon 20 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Renovation and restoration of a house with a single storey side extension, a single storey rear extension and conversion of a second floor bedroom into roof terrace with alteration to fenestration Mountfield House Axminster Road MusburyRef. No: 21/3236/FUL | Validated: Tue 21 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Renovation and restoration of a house with a single storey side extension, a single storey rear extension and conversion of a second floor bedroom into roof terrace with alteration to fenestration. Mountfield House Axminster Road MusburyRef. No: 21/3237/LBC | Validated: Tue 21 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of solar panels Goonvean Fibres Ltd Bramble Hill Industrial Estate Honiton EX14 1BWRef. No: 21/3305/PVJ | Validated: Wed 22 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Extension to Front porch Melhuishs Kerswell Cullompton EX15 2ENRef. No: 21/3195/FUL | Validated: Wed 22 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Remedial works to large chimney on front west elevation including removal of the cement based render, investigative works and structural repairs to include Heli bars, reconstruction of cob wall and re-rendering with lime render The Barn Yettington Budleigh Salterton EX9 7BPRef. No: 21/3129/LBC | Validated: Mon 20 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replacement single storey extension 17 Brent Close Woodbury Exeter EX5 1JHRef. No: 21/2960/FUL | Validated: Mon 20 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replace 7no. windows. 2no. ground floor and 1no.first floor on north elevation; 2no. ground floor and 1no. first floor East elevation and 1no. ground floor on South elevation Yankee Cottage Awliscombe Honiton EX14 3PYRef. No: 21/2911/LBC | Validated: Thu 23 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• A wooden shelter containing two goat enclosures, a feed storage room and a smaller room for dairy equipment. To be sited on ecoguard with extended roof and ecoguard to the rear for parking farm vehicles. Land At Harcombe HarcombeRef. No: 21/2909/AGR | Validated: Tue 21 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Conversion of outbuilding to home office. Removal of adjacent chicken shed and replacement with extension to home office. Harcombe Farm Harcombe Lyme Regis DT7 3RNRef. No: 21/3313/FUL | Validated: Tue 21 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Outline Application for erection of dwellinghouse with associated works, including access and parking 9 Meadow Avenue Seaton EX12 2AURef. No: 21/3315/OUT | Validated: Tue 21 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Macrocarpa : Prune back long extending limbs on the south, west and north sides; prune back to an inner crown making cuts up to 100mm to help alleviate tip weight and reduce chances of limb failure in the wind and prolonging the life of the tree; thin out the crown removing rubbing branches and deadwood to alleviate “sail” in the wind given the trees exposed location and close proximity to buildings and telephone lines, which have previously been damaged by tearing limbs. Yoxall Barline Beer Seaton EX12 3LWRef. No: 21/3314/TRE | Validated: Tue 21 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Two storey side extension and single storey rear extension 5 Clinton Close Budleigh Salterton EX9 6QDRef. No: 21/3284/FUL | Validated: Mon 20 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of condition number 2 (approved plans) of application 19/0191/FUL North Corner Country House Estate London Road Strete Ralegh WhimpleRef. No: 21/3303/VAR | Validated: Mon 20 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replacement of existing Conservatory with new Kitchen Extension 48 Sidmouth Road Farringdon Exeter EX5 2JURef. No: 21/3287/FUL | Validated: Wed 22 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1 Ash – fell due to Ash die back. Re-plant with Liquidambar T2 Ash – tip reduction on long extending limbs to reduce twisting and risk of failure, previous limbs have already failed. Final branch lengths of approximately 5 meters Woodcote Charmouth Road Axminster EX13 5SZRef. No: 21/3297/TRE | Validated: Wed 22 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Formation of a new lay-by on grass verge. Land South Of Chestnut Crescent Stoke CanonRef. No: 21/3290/FUL | Validated: Wed 22 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Ground and first floor extension 18 Sidford High Street Sidford Sidmouth EX10 9SLRef. No: 21/3264/FUL | Validated: Tue 21 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Installation of an open fronted building for waste storage and recycling replacing existing open bays. Axe Skip Hire Gammons Hill KilmingtonRef. No: 21/3254/FUL | Validated: Tue 21 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of lawfulness for the occupation of a dwelling in breach of a planning condition (Condition 1 of the Consent dated 15 August 1966) restricting occupation of the dwelling to “persons employed or last employed locally in agriculture as defined by Section 221 of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1962” including “the dependants of such persons aforesaid” Greenhayes Broadhembury Honiton EX14 3LERef. No: 21/3245/CPE | Validated: Mon 20 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Renovation and restoration of a house with a single storey side extension, a single storey rear extension and conversion of a second floor bedroom into roof terrace with alteration to fenestration Mountfield House Axminster Road MusburyRef. No: 21/3236/FUL | Validated: Tue 21 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Renovation and restoration of a house with a single storey side extension, a single storey rear extension and conversion of a second floor bedroom into roof terrace with alteration to fenestration. Mountfield House Axminster Road MusburyRef. No: 21/3237/LBC | Validated: Tue 21 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of solar panels Goonvean Fibres Ltd Bramble Hill Industrial Estate Honiton EX14 1BWRef. No: 21/3305/PVJ | Validated: Wed 22 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Extension to Front porch Melhuishs Kerswell Cullompton EX15 2ENRef. No: 21/3195/FUL | Validated: Wed 22 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Remedial works to large chimney on front west elevation including removal of the cement based render, investigative works and structural repairs to include Heli bars, reconstruction of cob wall and re-rendering with lime render The Barn Yettington Budleigh Salterton EX9 7BPRef. No: 21/3129/LBC | Validated: Mon 20 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replacement single storey extension 17 Brent Close Woodbury Exeter EX5 1JHRef. No: 21/2960/FUL | Validated: Mon 20 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replace 7no. windows. 2no. ground floor and 1no.first floor on north elevation; 2no. ground floor and 1no. first floor East elevation and 1no. ground floor on South elevation Yankee Cottage Awliscombe Honiton EX14 3PYRef. No: 21/2911/LBC | Validated: Thu 23 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• A wooden shelter containing two goat enclosures, a feed storage room and a smaller room for dairy equipment. To be sited on ecoguard with extended roof and ecoguard to the rear for parking farm vehicles. Land At Harcombe HarcombeRef. No: 21/2909/AGR | Validated: Tue 21 Dec 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

The number of UK households living in fuel poverty could climb to the highest level on record by this spring unless the government moves to soften the blow of a looming record high energy bill hike, according to a fuel poverty charity.

Jillian Ambrose www.theguardian.com 

Around 4 million homes in the UK were already classed as fuel poor before a surge in global energy market prices triggered one of the steepest ever energy bill hikes in October, but campaigners are braced for a record increase in the numbers unable to pay their energy bills following another hike this spring.

The charity National Energy Action warned that the double blow to household bills could cause at least 2 million more homes to slip into fuel poverty compared with the start of 2021, taking the total to 6 million households. This would be the highest level of fuel poverty across the UK since records began in 1996.

The looming energy price hike has not yet been finalised by the regulator but Adam Scorer, chief executive of National Energy Action, told the Observer that the number of households in fuel poverty would “skyrocket” in April. This is expected to deepen the UK’s national energy crisis and compound the “year of the squeeze”, predicted by the Resolution Foundation last week, which threatens to trigger a “cost of living catastrophe” for hard-pressed families.

Households are already paying record prices to put petrol in their cars, and can expect the cost of consumer goods to rocket as fuel prices and supply-chain disruptions take their toll on major companies.

“Those on lowest incomes and in less-efficient homes will not just face financial hardship but intolerable living conditions, ill health and, for too many, a shortened life,” Scorer said. “This is not just conjecture. It will happen and we’ve had enough time to see it coming and act.”

Energy market prices climbed steadily over 2021 before leaping to record highs in October and fresh record highs in December. The market rally has fuelled one of the steepest energy price hikes in the history of the UK’s liberalised energy market.

Ed Miliband, shadow secretary of state for climate change and net zero, said: “Working people are being hit by a cost-of-living crisis which has seen energy bills soar, food costs increase and the weekly budget stretched. The government must take urgent action to support those people struggling to pay bills.”

Senior officials from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Treasury and No 10 have met with the industry regulator, Ofgem, and executives from the UK’s biggest energy suppliers in recent weeks to thrash out a plan to avert the looming national energy crisis. No measures have so far been agreed, and further meetings are scheduled for this week.

The government’s energy price cap could allow the average energy bill to rocket further to almost £2,000 a year when it is reset in April, from £1,138 in the previous year, to help cover the cost of dozens of failed energy suppliers, according to industry experts.

Labour has called for VAT on energy bills to be cut as a first step to help every household this winter, and the party would also “ramp up ambition with our plan to retrofit 19 million homes” to make them more energy efficient and help bring down household bills.

“It is a moral and social scandal that fuel poverty exists in modern Britain. But with national leadership, we can beat it – and ensure everyone has the warm, secure home they deserve,” Miliband added.

A government spokesperson said protecting consumers was its “top priority” which is why it was keeping in place the energy price cap, alongside schemes such as the £500m household support fund, the warm home discount, winter fuel payments for over-65s and cold weather payments.

Meanwhile several Conservative politicians have written to the prime minister, urging him to scrap taxes on rapidly rising energy bills. About 20 Tory MPs and peers have written in the Sunday Telegraph asking for help for consumers facing fuel poverty, including Craig Mackinlay, chair of the net zero scrutiny group of Conservative MPs, former work and pensions secretary Esther McVey, and MPs Robert Halfon and Steve Baker.

They argue that high energy prices “are felt most painfully by the lowest paid” and suggest VAT on energy bills and environmental levies which fund renewable energy schemes.

Mortgages for up to seven times a person’s salary will be offered for the first time since Northern Rock was nationalised in 2008.

George Nixon www.thetimes.co.uk 

The new lending criteria, from the online lender Habito, available from yesterday, has raised fears of people taking on huge debt at a time of economic uncertainty and rising house prices, with energy bills forecast to jump by 50 per cent in the spring.

Habito, which in March launched Britain’s first 40-year fixed-rate mortgage, said that it would lend up to £1.5 million to borrowers. A deposit of 10 per cent of the purchase price is required.

It is open to couples buying jointly but only one of them will be able to borrow seven times their income; the multiple for the other income will be limited to five.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, banks have largely only lent up to four times someone’s income.

Under post-crisis Bank of England rules, only 15 per cent of a lender’s mortgage book a year can be lent out to people borrowing more than four and a half times their income.

The announcement came on the day that the former HSBC chairman Sir Douglas Flint warned borrowers against taking out too much debt to get on the property ladder because interest rates could rise several times over the coming 12 months.

“I personally don’t think this is the time to encourage people to overleverage [borrow too much] in the housing market,” he told The Mail on Sunday. “House prices, as a multiple of average income, are at an all-time high.”

Someone earning £80,000 would be able to borrow £560,000 under Habito’s affordability criteria, enough for a 90 per cent mortgage on a home worth about £622,000.

If they were limited to borrowing four and a half times their income, the largest loan they could borrow would be £360,000 to buy a £400,000 property with a 10 per cent deposit. It is available on fixed-rate mortgages of between 15 and 40 years. The average term is 25, Habito said.

Andrew Montlake, from the broker Coreco, said: “You could find yourself stuck with the lender for the long term, unable to remortgage elsewhere if circumstances change.

“It may seem tempting just to use this for a short-term solution to getting on to the housing ladder but that could prove an expensive mistake.”

Borrowers must have a 12-month employment history, and either earn £25,000 and be employed in certain sectors such as the police, fire and health services; or be accountants, engineers, lawyers or teachers; or earn £75,000 a year.

James Daley, of the consumer group Fairer Finance, said: “The most important thing if Habito start doing this is they need to make sure that they are lending in a way that is affordable for borrowers.

“I do think it’s a dangerous moment. We could have seen this emerge a few years ago, but the timing when we appear to be in a time of rising interest rates doesn’t seem the best. If they get it wrong, they’ll be the face of the next borrowing crisis.”

Daniel Hegarty, Habito’s chief executive, said: “As a lender that considers every applicant’s case individually we’re confident that with suitable criteria in place, in the right circumstances, eligible customers can safely and securely boost their borrowing to buy the home that truly suits their needs and their life plans.

“Fixed-for-life mortgages are already popular in other parts of the world, including [the US] and Europe, and we agree with the British government that longer-term fixed-rate mortgages can help steady the housing market by providing more certainty to borrowers.”

1. Britain’s biggest housebuilders make £7bn of profit in pandemic
2. Shortages and planning delays hinder UK housebuilding – survey

Britain’s biggest housebuilders make £7bn of profit in pandemic

Britain’s biggest housebuilders rake in more than £7bn of profits in two years as coronavirus pandemic boosts property demand

• Buyers stormed into the market in search of more spacious homes 
• This so-called ‘race for space’ boosted profits at a string of developers 
• Nationwide said house prices rose by more than 10 per cent in 2021 

Calum Muirhead www.thisismoney.co.uk 

Britain’s biggest housebuilders have raked in more than £7billion of profits in two years as the pandemic boosted property demand. 

Buyers, encouraged by a stamp duty holiday and record low interest rates, stormed into the market in search of more spacious homes. 

This so-called ‘race for space’ boosted profits at a string of developers from Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey to Redrow and Bellway. 

Analysis by the Mail shows eight housebuilders in the FTSE 100 and 250 are on course to have made more than £7billion in profits across 2020 and 2021 – according to reported pre-tax profit figures and forecasts by analysts. 

The property market froze when the pandemic struck in early 2020 but roared back as restrictions eased and a stamp duty holiday was granted. Last week Nationwide said house prices rose by more than 10 per cent in 2021 – the biggest annual increase since 2006. 

The price of an average property now stands at a record £254,822 – up 16 per cent since the start of the pandemic. 

Persimmon, the biggest housebuilder listed on the London Stock Exchange, is expected to amass a profit of more than £1.76billion over the two-year period. 

Barratt Developments is forecast to achieve nearly £1.3billion, while London-focused developer Berkeley is predicted to make just over £1billion and Taylor Wimpey £994m. 

Bumper profits are also expected among the mid-cap builders, with Newcastle-based Bellway in line for nearly £865m, Welsh company Redrow £577m and Vistry Group, formerly Bovis Homes, £432m over the two-year period. 

The weakest of the bunch is Surrey-based Crest Nicholson, which is only expected to report £116.1m in profits. 

However, Covid has not helped share prices in the sector, with most builders struggling to recover pre-pandemic levels. 

There are signs that the boom time could be coming to an end. Property transactions fell 52 per cent month-on-month in October, shortly after the end of the stamp duty holiday. 

While the figure rebounded by 24.3 per cent in November, it was still 16.4 per cent lower than at the same time in 2020. 

The cooling could also be accelerated by last month’s interest rate rise, which will push up the costs of mortgages.

Shortages and planning delays hinder UK housebuilding – survey

Worsening shortages of materials and labour combined with planning delays will hamper efforts to increase housebuilding in Britain in the next 12 months, according to an industry report.

Julia Kollewe www.theguardian.com 

Planning remains a major barrier to increasing the supply of new homes over the next year, according to a survey conducted by the industry body the Home Builders Federation, the construction finance provider Close Brothers Property Finance and the builders merchant Travis Perkins.

Delays in securing planning permission were cited as a problem by 94% of small to medium-sized developers.

Boris Johnson’s government has pledged to increase housebuilding to 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s to tackle Britain’s chronic housing shortage. The 243,000 homes built last year was the highest number in 30 years, but the report casts doubt on the target being met.

Seventy-eight per cent of housebuilders said the supply and cost of materials such as bricks, timber and cement, posed a huge problem, compared with just 20% this time last year.

“In March we were paying £9 a sheet for 9mm oriented strand board [a type of engineered wood], and up until recently we were paying £32 a sheet. Every single product has gone up,” said one firm that took part in the survey. Another said that in order to secure materials in short supply they have to be bought in bulk in advance, using cash that could be used elsewhere in the business.

Worker shortages and rising wages were cited by 59% of builders as a major issue, compared with 19% last year.

The coronavirus pandemic has sparked a global supply chain crisis that has led to ships being stuck at ports and shortages of goods ranging from cars to bricks.

The UK construction industry has grappled with shortages of skilled workers for years as a result of ageing workforces, but the double shocks of Brexit and Covid have exacerbated these problems.

Many firms highlighted the lack of eastern European workers at the lower end of the trades. The labour shortages have resulted in considerable wage inflation, something that smaller firms are less able to absorb than larger builders.

An estimated 800,000 people are employed in the UK’s homebuilding industry either directly or indirectly in planning, design and construction of new properties.

The report did contain one bit of good news: an increase in the number of apprentices employed by housebuilders.

Almost 60% said they employed apprentices in their business, compared with just a third last year. Firms in the north were leading the way, with 88% hiring apprentices, compared to 59% in the Midlands and 52% in southern England.

Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation said: “SMEs [small and medium enterprises] are literally having to put their businesses on hold whilst local authorities delay the start of construction as their planning departments don’t have adequate capacity to process applications effectively. Allied to concerns on materials and staff, planning delays threatens the demise of even more SME builders.”

Many of those surveyed felt that the planning process disadvantaged smaller firms in particular, partly because larger builders have the financial clout to absorb the costs of long and complex planning processes, and because councils make the planning process smoother for large housebuilders, as larger schemes enable local housing targets to be met more easily.

Frank Pennal, the chief executive of Close Brothers Property Finance, said: “The combined challenge of both labour and material shortages, rising costs and planning delays are a serious risk to the delivery of new homes across the UK.

“Developing homes takes months and years and while some of these issues might only be short term, they risk leaving a lasting legacy on the provision of new homes.”