One of the factors that makes the flow of supporters in this leadership contest so unpredictable is that none of the leading candidates fit into neat boxes. 

From Politico:

Mordaunt is progressive on social issues but is also a Brexiteer who refused to endorse Theresa May’s Chequers plan.

Truss models herself on Margaret Thatcher, has long been an unapologetic advocate for tax cuts in Cabinet and is a foreign policy hawk — but used to be a prominent Remain campaigner.

Sunak is in some ways the continuity candidate — having been the second-most-powerful person in government for over two years — but is despised by those around Johnson. And while he’s reluctant to bow to pressure on tax cuts, those who know him say his instincts are most aligned with the Tory right, which is now trying to stop him from winning.

Desperate scramble to reunite the Tory right – though “right” is a relative term as it becomes pretty clear the Tories are swinging to the right in this contest in any event.

The snap poll of 876 Conservative Party members (by Yougov on Wednesday), who will decide between the final two candidates to replace Boris Johnson, showed Penny Mordaunt ahead on 27%. Second place was Kemi Badenoch on 15%, followed by Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss on 13% 

In the event that Ms Mordaunt does not make the final round, Ms Truss would beat Mr Sunak by 67% to 28%.

Looks like Simon Jupp is backing a loser! – Owl

From the BBC’s review of the news headlines:

Many of today’s papers are leading on scrutiny being directed at Conservative leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt by supporters of her rival Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

“Knives out for Penny!” says the Daily Express – after Ms Mordaunt again performed well in the latest round of the leadership race. The paper says there’s now a “determined bid” among Ms Mordaunt’s critics to “wreck” her hopes of becoming prime minister.

There’s ample evidence of this in the Daily Mail, which sports the headline, “Mordaunt under the Microscope”. It also devotes 10 pages to the contest and describes in detail the claims her enemies have made about her.

The paper raises questions about her attitude to women and transgender issues, the free press and her Royal Navy credentials – as well as suggesting that she was a “part-time minister”.

She is also condemned by Lord Frost, a prominent backer of Liz Truss, who writes in The Telegraph that a government led by her could not succeed.

The Guardian thinks the contest is becoming “increasingly acrimonious” and that rival Tory camps are aiming their fire at Ms Mordaunt.

The i believes her rivals fear her popularity among the grassroots – who will choose the winner from the final two candidates. The paper carried out polling suggesting the public prefer her to Liz Truss and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak – even though she remains relatively obscure among voters.

The Mail’s sketch-writer, Henry Deedes, believes Ms Truss gave a true-blue message during her campaign launch on Thursday – but her presentation remains a work in progress. Her “joints could do with a squirt of oil,” he says.

The Financial Times notes the foreign secretary mistimed her entrance at the event and failed to remember the way out – symbolising a campaign struggling to find its bearings.

Macer Hall, the political editor of the Daily Express, believes the party’s low-tax, free-marketeer wing is paying the price for disunity and there is now a desperate scramble to reunite the right.

The Times’ editorial welcomes the upcoming TV debates, saying the candidates need to be subjected to forensic scrutiny to establish which of them is genuinely up to the job.

South West Water is now the joint worst performing company among England’s nine water and sewerage firms.

Maybe its bosses should spend less time writing “greening” reports for “the Great South West” and concentrate on the day job.

Owl has previously expressed a number of concerns about the leading role played in “the Great South West” project by the Pennon Group. 

William Telford www.cornwalllive.com

South West Water has been given a rock bottom one-star rating for its environmental performance with the Environment Agency calling for its boss to face prison if there is a serious pollution incident. The Exeter-headquartered company, which supplies Plymouth, is now the joint worst performing company among England’s nine water and sewerage firms.

South West Water (SWW) and Southern Water received just a one-star rating in the Environment Agency’s (EA) four-star rating system. SWW, part of the Pennon Group Plc, lost the two-star rating it had held since 2016. It has never been higher than a two-star company.

Susan Davy, SWW chief executive, said she was “deeply disappointed” by the downgrading and vowed to make improvements and take the firm to four-star status. She said: “This is not where we want to be. I want to reassure our customers that the investments and changes we are already making across our network are delivering real results, including a one-third reduction in pollution incidents last year to the lowest number in 10 years.

“One pollution is one too many, and that’s why we are committed to bringing this down further year on year by strengthening our round-the-clock response, increasing resourcing levels by 25%, and investing £330m over the next three years in our wastewater network. However, we know there is significant progress still to make.”

The EA said the environmental performance of the water providers in 2021 was “the worst we have seen for years” and called for courts to impose much higher fines for serious and deliberate pollution incidents – and for prison sentences for chief executives and board members whose companies are responsible for the worst spills’.

The EA also wants company directors to be struck off after illegal environmental damage so they can’t get promotions and move on with their careers. The agency said fines currently handed down by the courts often amount to less than what a chief executive is paid.

Most companies’ performance declined, the new report said. Four companies – Anglian, Thames, Wessex and Yorkshire Water – were rated only two stars, which means they require significant improvement. The agency’s annual environmental performance report found serious pollution incidents increased to 62 in 2021, the highest total since 2013, with eight of the most serious category one incidents, compared with three in 2020.

Ms Davy said: “EPA assessment criteria are rightly becoming more stringent and customer expectations are increasing, reflecting the need for us to go further and faster in protecting and enhancing the UK’s natural environment. We remain committed to becoming a four-star EPA-rated company by the end of 2024.

“At the same time, we continue to take action on wider environmental issues that matter most to our customers, including on areas that are not included in the EPA assessment such as storm overflows and coastal bathing water quality. Earlier this year, we achieved 100% coastal bathing water quality for the first time across the South West’s 860 miles of coastline. In April, we launched WaterFit, our new plan for healthy rivers and seas, which will see South West Water dramatically reduce its use of storm overflows, maintain our excellent bathing water quality standards all year round, and remove our impact on river water quality by 2030.

“Since becoming CEO nearly two years ago, delivering our plans to protect our natural environment has been a key priority for me. South West Water is fully committed to playing its part in protecting and enhancing our rivers and seas now and in the future.”

In June water regulator Ofwat launched an investigation into SWW after becoming concerned about the way a sewage treatment works is operated. The company was added to a growing list of water suppliers to come under the microscope as the watchdog probes how wastewater companies manage their treatment works.

Imagine for a second that it was Labour rather than the Tories choosing the next prime minister. Consider what the response would be if the hopefuls said it would be no problem to find an extra £30bn to tackle poverty or an additional £40bn for the NHS, and vied with each other to come up with the most ambitious spending pledges.

Larry Elliott, Guardian’s economics editor www.theguardian.com 

It doesn’t take a genius to work out what the response from the Conservatives and the Conservative-supporting papers would be. At the very least, there would be questions asked about how the plans would be financed. More likely there would be warnings of a run on the pound and imminent economic meltdown. The headlines would read something like: “Loony left plans to bankrupt Britain”.

Funnily enough, a different view is taken of the deep and immediate tax cuts now being promised by almost all those bidding to replace Boris Johnson. To those egging on the candidates, these are not reckless fiscal incontinence that will give the City the jitters. They do not represent voodoo economics, in which tax cuts pay for themselves. If you think the Tories in the summer of 2022 are in a similar place to where Labour was in the 2019 general election campaign, you could not be more wrong. As far as the right is concerned, tax cuts are the only way to grow the economy and make Britain great again.

This is wrong on many levels, but let’s begin with the idea that there is something wildly dangerous about the level of taxes in the UK. International comparisons produced by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development show that last year tax revenues as a share of national income across its rich-country members stood at 32.9%. The figure for the UK was 32.8%.

To be sure, the UK’s tax take is rising and is on course to be the highest since Clement Attlee was prime minister, but this is to cover two developments: a pandemic and upward pressures on spending caused by an ageing population. The baby boomers are getting on a bit, and this has implications for spending.

A quick glance at the OECD international tax table shows the range of options. Countries that have generous welfare states are high-tax. Countries that have rudimentary welfare states can be low-tax. No countries have Swedish levels of public spending and US levels of tax.

There are those on the right who know this and are honest enough to spell out that the logic of lower taxes is a smaller state, with people expected to contribute more to their own welfare, whether through payments for healthcare or less generous state pensions.

The rank outsider Kemi Badenoch is really the only one of the candidates for Johnson’s job prepared to argue that trade-offs between tax and spending might need to be made. Even Rishi Sunak, who has billed himself as the fiscally prudent choice, says tax cuts are a matter of when not if.

To the extent that there is an economic strategy, it is that cutting taxes will pay for themselves because they will lead to faster growth and higher revenues for the Treasury. This, supposedly, is what worked for Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, but it is simply untrue.

Cuts in income tax made by the incoming Thatcher government in 1979 were offset by higher VAT. Taxes were raised when the economy was deep in recession in 1981. It was only after several years of growth and a marked improvement in the public finances that income tax rates were cut. Until 1988, the top rate of income tax was 60%.

The idea that personal tax cuts are a magic bullet that will give the economy its mojo back and solve the cost of living crisis also represents a serious misdiagnosis. Britain has serious economic problems, but they are mostly long-term and structural rather than short-term and fixable through an injection of consumer spending power.

The reason inflation is heading for 10% and the trade deficit is ballooning is that supply is failing to keep up with demand, and the only way to deal with that is to address the UK’s chronic deficiencies in skills, investment and infrastructure. Tony Danker, the director-general of the CBI, is quite right when he says personal tax cuts would only make inflation worse, and that if there are to be any they should be designed to boost investment and be part of an overall growth plan. Lower taxes would almost certainly lead to the Bank of England becoming more aggressive with interest-rate increases.

There are, of course, other ways of spending more while taxing less. One option would be to borrow more – something that could just about be done while sticking to the government’s own rules, but which leaves little wriggle room should the economy continue to struggle.

Another option would be to print more money. According to the advocates of modern monetary theory (MMT), governments that issue their own currency do not need to rely on taxes or borrowing to cover their spending because they can print all they need up until the point when inflation becomes a problem.

It is reasonable to assume that in the current circumstances, with inflation already standing at 9.1%, none of the wannabe prime ministers is going to come out in favour of MMT. That, though, means they need to come up with a coherent explanation of why tax cuts are needed and how they would be paid for. So far there has been plenty of magical thinking and not much else.

Wheelchair users and disabled people can now easily access Seaton beach thanks to a purpose-built path across the pebbles.

Becca Gliddon eastdevonnews.co.uk 

The pilot project launched this week with the installation of an 85-metre platform made of specially-designed plastic and aluminium fitted on the beach.

The aim of the new path is to give greater access to those who find navigating the pebbles a problem.

The track could be extended in both directions if the pilot project proves a hit.

East Devon District Council (EDDC) said the path was already in use – saying the track had enabled a Seaton resident to access the beach for the first time in a decade.

The track was installed after a group of disabled and physically impaired people lobbied EDDC and Seaton Town Council (STC).

EDDC Councillor Geoff Jung said he hoped the track scheme could be rolled out across other East Devon beaches ‘as soon as possible’.

Councillor Amrik Singh, Seaton mayor, said: “Seaton Town Council appointed Nicky Dack as its ‘Disability Champion’ to assist the town council  in making small adjustments around the town to make it more accessible for all.

“The beach matting is a great addition to the beach and complements the town’s wide accessible promenade and upcoming free summer beach school for local children, with one-to-one sessions available to accommodate all needs. Seaton is the town where everyone is welcome.”

Dan Ledger, EDDC and STC Councillor, said: “It’s great to see this pilot programme come forward.

“From Nicky’s original idea to the reaffirmation of its need from the public consultation and then partnership working from all three levels of local authority to make it happen.

“It really is a story of success and working together to deliver for tangible changes for the public.

“Hopefully, the scheme is a great success and work can then begin on gaining funding for a further extension.”

The project came was made possible thanks to joint funding from EDDC, STC and Councillor Marcus Hartnell’s Devon County Council locality budget.

If the pilot proves successful EDDC plans to seek extra cash to extend the length of the path in both directions.

The Tuff Trac path is being closely monitored to ensure it is set up in the most effective way, EDDC said.

Marcus Hartnell, Seaton deputy mayor EDDC Councillor, said: “I’m really pleased to support this project with my locality budget.

“Making our beach more accessible will mean that many more people can enjoy spending time during the summer with friends and family and not feel excluded.

“I’d like to thank our local disability champion Nicky Dack who suggested this idea to councillors last year and I very much look forward to working with her and others to deliver more initiatives like this that will make Seaton more accessible.”

Jack Rowland, ward Councillor, said: “Having been involved in the initial meeting with Nicky Dack and other residents and listening to their concerns I’m really pleased to see this track matting installed.

“This is evidence of all three levels of local government, at town, district and county, working together to research, cost and finance this initiative and all credit to the EDDC beach safety officer Pete Blyth and the team behind him for bringing this to fruition.”

 Let’s unpick that.

Chloe Laws www.stylist.co.uk

Suella Braverman is on the shortlist of eight MPs currently in the race to become prime minister following the announcement of Boris Johnson’s resignation. If you’re unfamiliar with Braverman, she was appointed as attorney general on 13 February 2020, having been elected as the Conservative MP for Fareham in May 2015. She has consistently voted against laws that promote equality and human rights, including voting against allowing gay marriage in Northern Ireland. 

In a rather grim but perhaps unsurprising move, the MPs’ leadership bids have been focusing on scapegoating minority groups and pitting sections of society against each other rather than, oh, I don’t know, focusing on the cost of living crisis, fixing the economy, supporting the NHS, tackling the climate crisis and a myriad of other things that make it increasingly difficult to live in the UK. 

Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and Suella Braverman have already signalled their intention to oppose trans equality, weaponising trans rights in an attempt to win lazy political points from those hellbent on attacking some of the most vulnerable people in society. For instance, Sunak has promised a “manifesto for women’s rights” that opposes trans women’s inclusion in sport and the use of gender-inclusive language; meanwhile Mordaunt commented in the past week: “And I am legally a woman. Some people born male and who have been through the gender recognition process are also legally female. That does not mean they are biological women, like me.”

And recently, speaking on ITV News, Braverman has targeted other vulnerable people: “I think we spend too much on welfare. There are too many people in this country who are of working age, who are of good health, and who are choosing to rely on benefits, on taxpayers’ money, on your money, my money, to get by. I don’t think there’s enough rigour. Universal Credit’s been a brilliant thing in stamping out the culture of dependency but there’s further we can go, there’s more we can do.”

Let’s pick this statement – and its hypocrisy apart.     

Braverman has accused people of “choosing to rely on benefits”. She is entitled to a £99,732 cabinet salary on top of her £81,932 pay as Conservative MP for Fareham, Hants. So, her combined salary is likely around £181,600 a year. What is that compared to the average UK salary in 2021/2022? According to the ONS, the average UK salary was £38,131 for a full-time role and £13,549 for a part-time role.

Yet, she claimed £159,000 in expenses last year. Universal Credit for a single person is £4,018.92 for an entire year while she claimed £4,815.59 in expenses for her second home. Given the energy crisis we’re all facing right now and the surging price of bills, it’s worth noting she charged a £3,945 energy bill as expenses. The taxpayer pays for all this. Remember the part of her statement about people ‘choosing to rely on benefits’? 

What about her suggestion that the UK spends “too much’ on welfare”? The government dedicates roughly one-fifth of its GDP to social spending – placing us 17th among OECD countries – around the middle of the pack and hardly what most would see as over-the-top. 

The way Braverman is framing welfare alludes to the well-trodden trope that those claiming benefits are lazy or don’t need them. As poverty continues to rise, this language is dangerous and puts the blame on individuals, rather than a government that has allowed austerity to thrive over the last 11 years. It’s also a misunderstanding of what welfare is – something you’d hope an MP would have a better grasp on. Social spending, aka welfare, covers all social protection, not just working-age benefits – eg pensions and other benefits that are often seen as more ‘socially acceptable’.

Braverman isn’t unique in this regard. As prime minister, Boris Johnson claimed a salary of £75,440 on top of £84,144 for his role as an MP. According to the Financial Times in 2021, he has regularly been heard to say: “I just can’t afford to do this job.” Meanwhile, Sunak is believed to be the richest man in the House of Commons, The Sunday Times Rich List values Sunak and his wife Akshata Murthy’s fortune at £730 million. In Sunak’s campaign to become PM, he’s using ’let’s rebuild the economy’ as a rallying call even though he has been the chancellor for the past three years. 

Almost a third of children in Britain live in poverty. This is something MPs like Braverman and the rest of the Conservative government should be focusing on and working to change. Given the state of the UK right now, we should be increasing welfare to support those in society who need it most, and not attacking people who have to rely on benefits. Personally, I’d rather the tax I pay goes towards those in need, not an MP’s second home. 

Stylist has approached Suella Braverman for comment.

As the Daily Mail highlights that the NHS needs FORTY THOUSAND more hospital beds in England alone to return to pre-pandemic standards of hospital care

• Health Foundation estimates it will cost the taxpayer up to £30billion to scale up
• People’s illnesses are to get more complex by 2030 as the population gets older
• England has fewer beds per person than Lithuania, Poland and Hungary

Royal Cornwall Hospital has once again declared a ‘critical incident’ following delays in discharging patients due to bed blocking. A spokesperson for Cornwall’s largest hospital told CornwallLive about the escalation today (Tuesday, July 12) after reports that ambulances were queueing up outside with emergency patients waiting to be seen.

Edward Church www.cornwalllive.com

The hospital, at Treliske, Truro, has escalated its alert level this high several times in the last few years. Most notoriously, it did so at the outset of the Covid pandemic and in October last year when its emergency department became swamped with patients.

Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust (RCHT) chief executive Steve Williamson said: “As a result of the acute pressure on our hospitals we are stepping up our escalation level to an internal critical incident. The number of people ready to leave our acute and community hospitals but waiting for care home places or care at home has risen by well over 20 percent since April.

“Without these delays, ambulances would not be held, and we would have enough hospital beds to admit people needing emergency and planned care. Although our Covid positive inpatient numbers have doubled in the last week, these patients are mostly in hospital for other reasons and effective infection prevention and control measures mean they are not impacting hugely on the availability of beds.

“Declaring an internal critical incident galvanises system partners to take additional and immediate steps to create capacity to aid the movement of patients through our hospitals and consequently releasing ambulances and their crews. Our population can help too by making sure they make the right choice if they need urgent care, either by contacting their own GP, even if here on holiday, seeing a pharmacist or calling 111 for advice on the most appropriate place for their needs.

“If families have a relative in hospital who they could help to get home sooner by supporting them in their home whilst they get back on their feet, it will release beds for others who need our care. We urge them to talk to the ward team about how we can work together to make that happen.”

The alert means the hospital admits it is overwhelmed. Last weekend, a hospital spokesperson made a public plea for people stay away unless they could not avoid it.

Problems are so bad that it’s being reported that paramedics are spending their whole 12-hour shifts in ambulances in queues at A&E.

As local councils in England continue to feel the sting of over a decade of budget-slashing austerity policies, Brent council has launched an initiative to give residents the power to decide how they spend £2.25m of funding for local projects.

Aina J Khan www.theguardian.com 

The participatory budgeting process was first pioneered in Porto Alegre in Brazil. It has been trialled in Tower Hamlets, but is a first for Brent council which trialled a much smaller version of the initiative in January, with a funding pot of £500,000.

At Brent civic centre on Tuesday evening, the grand hall was abuzz as almost 200 residents streamed in to attend a Dragons’ Den-style event, where each group or individual had three minutes to make a pitch for up to £50,000 of funding.

The initiative, called You Decide, will allocate a £400,000 budget for five localities across the borough, which includes Harlesden, Kilburn, Kingsbury and Kenton, Wembley and Willesden.

“Giving people the opportunity to decide where the money is actually spent on things they want to see in their communities, it’s really empowering,” said Muhammed Butt, the council’s leader.

The funding is split into two pots: one targeted towards social and physical improvements; and a second which aims to support health and wellbeing in the area.

In a series of public consultations, local residents are given the deciding power to vote for projects that will be awarded funding through a voting system that ranks the projects on a scale of one to five, a process overseen by an independent company.

More than 200 grant applications were submitted for the scheme. Tuesday’s selection round resulted in only 12 being awarded funding.

Among them was a consultant dietician, Salma Mehar, 42, who plans to improve health inequalities in the borough with a nutrition education project that aims to provide free nutritional resources for children with biodegradable plates, and eco-toothbrushes made from bamboo and corn starch, both engraved with educational messages around nutrition and oral hygiene.

“Children from lower socio-economic communities generally tend to have poorer health outcomes,” Mehar, a mother-of-two, said. With almost two-thirds of Brent’s population from Bame groups, much of her work has centred around these communities. “They’re the ones who need more education,” she added.

Brent is London’s most diverse borough, but 33% of its population are living in poverty, a rate significantly higher compared to the overall rate of poverty in London. The north-west London borough also has some of the highest childhood obesity rates in London.

During the first wave of coronavirus in June 2020, Brent had the highest age-standardised coronavirus death rate in England and Wales. Excess deaths in the borough were three times the national average.

“Now people have become all of a sudden really interested in health inequalities in certain communities, but I’ve been seeing this for the last 20 years,” said Mehar, who has been promoting health and wellbeing in Bame communities in north-west London for two decades.

“There’s an issue of paying for healthier food, healthier meals, healthier resources. Our aim is to promote and produce resources that are going to be free of charge for these children and their families, but supported by a local council and the government.”

James Jordan, 32, and Jermaine Bishop, 37, were also successful in securing funding for Set Them Up, a foundation that will teach financial literacy on topics including mortgage, rentals and pensions, to students aged 15 to 18.

“We made some silly mistakes when we were younger, when we came out of school, so we’re really trying to highlight safe usage around money and credit,” said Jordan.

Since April 2010, Brent council has been forced to curb its budget by £196m , as government funding it received has been cut by 78%. The borough has metamorphosed over the years as regeneration efforts have transformed its urban spaces.

The funding from the initial scheme in January was taken from the carbon offset fund, which is formed by a charge paid by housing developers who have not met the London mayor’s carbon emissions target on their development. That fund was used for carbon reduction projects in Brent.

The money from Tuesday’s participatory budget event is from the neighbourhood community infrastructure levy, a charge that local councils apply to housing and residential developers, which is reallocated back into local communities.

Whether this new participatory budgeting project will have any tangible impact remains to be seen. But at least for now, the power to change the area is temporarily in the hands of its residents, not just its council.

“It’s democracy in the heart of the community,” Butt said.

Seems to be scratching his bum! – Owl

To put this number in perspective there were 70,000 civilian deaths and 384,000 soldiers killed in combat during the six year course of WWII.

“We got the big calls right” or did we? – Owl

Tom Whipple www.thetimes.co.uk

Over 200,000 people in Britain have now had Covid recorded on their death certificate, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.

The milestone comes more than a year after the country reached 150,000 Covid-related deaths towards the end of last winter.

With hospital admissions continuing to rise amid a wave fuelled by a subvariant of Omicron, public health officials expect the toll to increase over the next few weeks.

Simon Clarke, from the University of Reading, said that the latest wave, in which infections are close to record levels, showed the importance of staying on top of the vaccination programme.

“At the moment we have transitioned to a situation where population-wide immunity, delivered largely by vaccination, means that Covid-19’s worst effects are likely to be a mass sickness which keeps people off work, and while this could disrupt public services, it doesn’t fill intensive care units with people struggling to breathe,” he said.

“But we are seeing the virus change and try to squeeze through the gaps in that immunity, so the vaccine producers need to ensure that future boosters take into account those changes to the virus and the government needs to ensure that boosting is comprehensive enough.”

At present the government plans to offer a booster to over-65s in the autumn, as well as those in younger age groups at increased risk. The JCVI, the committee advising the government on vaccinations, does not yet know whether that booster will, for the first time, be tweaked to match the variants. Both Pfizer and Moderna have vaccines in development that are specifically targeted to Omicron.

Sajid Javid, as health secretary, recently indicated that he was looking at extending this booster programme to include those aged over 50. Clarke said that doing so could be money well spent, adding: “A half-baked booster rollout done on the cheap risks not covering enough people and could end up costing the economy more in the long run.”

The 200,000 figure, announced today by the ONS, represents deaths up to June 25. The delay is because the statisticians have to wait for the official death certificates, where doctors mention Covid only if they deem it contributed to someone’s death.

These numbers are separate from the more rapid but less accurate “28-day” measure, in which those dying within 28 days of a positive test are all recorded as Covid deaths — in England this figure is 157,000 and in Wales 7,500. This measure is no longer used in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The latest wave has not translated so far into steeply rising deaths. ONS data shows that total mortality is only slightly higher than expected at this time of the year, although because of the lag from infection to hospitalisation, more deaths are expected.

While scientists do not expect to see peaks anywhere near those encountered pre-vaccination, when there were more than 1,000 Covid deaths a day during the worst periods, some groups remain at risk.

A survey by Blood Cancer UK has found that a quarter of those with the cancer are still only leaving home for essential trips. Treatment for the condition can wipe out the immune system, and more than four fifths of those surveyed by the charity said they were still anxious about Covid.

An estimated half a million Britons are immuno-compromised, meaning they typically have a less strong response to the vaccines.

The organisation called for those who have not gained vaccine protection to be offered Evusheld, an antibody prophylactic.

“The number of people with blood cancer who have died of Covid is shockingly high,” said Gemma Peters, the chief executive of Blood Cancer UK.

“We also know that the effort to avoid coming into contact with the virus has had a huge mental health impact. While it is completely understandable that the country is now getting back to normal life after a horrible two years, this return to normality needs to be accompanied by much more support for those who are still vulnerable to Covid.”

It isn’t often that the people of East Devon make a real difference to national politics. 

Martin Shaw, Chair, East Devon Alliance www.midweekherald.co.uk

But I think we can safely say that when voters in Honiton, Seaton and Axminster helped return our first non-Conservative MP last month, we played a major role in forcing Boris Johnson’s grudging commitment to leave Downing Street later this summer.

While everyone knew that Johnson was badly discredited – for his Seaton photo opportunity he lurked at the yacht club end of the beach to avoid bumping into residents – it was only after 22,500 of us voted in the Liberal Democrat, Richard Foord, that enough Tory MPs got the message that sticking with Johnson could cost them their seats.

So our great Devon victory was a vital first step towards getting the country out of its mess.

But the problem is much bigger than Johnson. Most other Conservatives (including virtually all the new contenders to lead the party) excused his behaviour even after we called time on it. And that behaviour itself was just the tip of the iceberg.

When the East Devon Alliance was formed nine years ago to tackle corruption in our district council – after a Conservative councillor was exposed offering planning permission for £25,000 – people did not often use the word ‘corruption’ to describe British politics. We thought East Devon was an exceptionally bad case, the result of a long period of one-party rule.

But now it is routine to describe the national government in this way. During the pandemic, millions of pounds were handed without proper scrutiny to firms linked to ministers’ cronies and Tory donors – while many of the latter, including the oligarch son of the former KGB agent that Johnson met in a Tuscan villa, were awarded peerages. (I wonder if Johnson’s strong support for Ukraine is partly an attempt to compensate for the Tories’ Russian links?)

This self-interested clique at the centre of the Conservative party has scant concern for the real problems of the country and the difficulties facing ordinary people. Their claim that they have ‘got the big calls right’ doesn’t stand up to examination.

The early response to Covid was a shambles and the policy towards care homes was ruled unlawful after EDA’s Cathy Gardner took them to the high court. Indeed the government washed their hands of the pandemic after the third vaccine was rolled out.

Until last week, Sajid Javid presided over an NHS which has never been in a worse state, with six millions waiting for treatment, the ambulance service in crisis, and staff shortages worse than ever.

Similarly, Rishi Sunak delayed and delayed supporting people with their energy prices, and then the help was too little, especially for the people whose benefits he slashed only last year. He has continued the decade of austerity which has made it impossible for local councils to maintain, let alone really improve, public services – even Devon County Council could be at risk of bankruptcy.

Instead of solid work to improve our economy and society, for 12 wasted years the Conservative Party has given us an endless soap opera of rivalries between wealthy, overentitled men (and a few women). 

They serenade us with pretend policies like ‘levelling up’, which no one really knows the meaning of, and which have brought precious little benefit even to the north, let alone to Devon, which has again been taken for granted.

Half of these years have been taken up with the fantasy of Brexit, which has had virtually no practical benefits but has wrecked much of our trade, damaged the fishing industry it was meant to help and divided Europe just when it faces the threat of Putin.

As the soap opera resumes, Tories are telling each other that the next prime minister has to be a Brexiteer. In my view, the next prime minister, like our new MP, should be a non-Conservative.

The UK’s failure to get serious about inequality and weak growth over the past 15 years has left the average British household £8,800 poorer than its equivalent in five comparable countries, research has found.

Owl thought our Local Enterprise Partnership had cracked the problem of productivity growth and, along with its local business partners, were assuring us of sunny uplands.

Are there any grownups running our economy?

Larry Elliott www.theguardian.com 

A “toxic combination” of poor productivity and a failure to narrow the divide between rich and poor had resulted in a widening prosperity gap with France, Germany, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands, the report from the Resolution Foundation said.

The thinktank said that if the UK matched the average income and inequality levels of those countries, typical household incomes in Britain would be a third higher and those of the poorest households two-fifths greater.

Its chief executive, Torsten Bell, said: “Britain is a rich country, with huge economic and cultural strengths. But those strengths are not being built on with the recent record of low growth leaving Britain trailing behind its peers.

“This forms a toxic combination with the UK’s high inequality, leaving low- and middle-income households far poorer than their counterparts in similar countries.

“We must turn this around, but we are not on track to do so. We underestimate the scale of our relative decline and are far from serious about the nature of our economy or the scale of change required to make a difference. This has to change.”

The foundation’s report – Stagnation Nation – coincided with calls from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the Treasury select committee for the government to produce a coherent growth strategy.

In an open letter to ministers, the CBI director general, Tony Danker, took a sideswipe at the tax-cut bidding war being conducted by the Tory party contenders to replace Boris Johnson, urging the candidates to show how growth policy was “about more than this”.

The overriding objective of tax policy currently should be to boost business investment, the business lobby group added. “Growth that relies on only government or household consumption is doomed to fail, especially at a time of rising inflation and high debt.”

Danker said the economy could be boosted by £700bn over the coming decade provided the government developed “serious, credible and bold” policies for growth.

“There are prizes on offer through decarbonisation, innovation, trade, thriving regions, labour and health. And those prizes can be realised if government pulls on four key growth levers: smart taxation to unlock investment; building a workforce for the future; delivering catalytic public investment; and making markets to outcompete the world.”

Meanwhile, the cross-party Treasury committee expressed concern at the “chop and change” in the government’s economic approach, warning of a risk of fragmentation and a lack of long-term thinking after the abolition of its industrial strategy and replacement with the plan for growth. It was not clear how the plan for growth was an improvement on its predecessor, the report said.

Mel Stride, the committee’s chair, said: “We have a new chancellor and shortly will have a new prime minister. Getting a grip on productivity will be key to kickstarting economic growth and stimulating greater business investment in the UK. The evidence that we received suggests there needs to be greater stability and long-term certainty in government policymaking.”

The Resolution Foundation said the UK had closed the productivity gap with France and Germany in the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s, but since then the gap had widened from 6% to 16% – the equivalent of £3,700 per person.

While the top 10% of households in Britain were richer than those in many other European countries, middle-income British households were 9% poorer than their counterparts in France, while the poorest fifth of households in Britain were more than 20% poorer than their French and German equivalents.

Meanwhile, the latest monthly barometer of confidence from YouGov and the Centre for Economic and Business Research shows that weak growth and rising inflation in recent months have led to a seventh successive decline in consumer confidence.

Background: A survey of the Tory party membership from the Conservative Home website has shown that Sunak would comfortably win in a run-off against Hunt, but would struggle against many of the other candidates including Truss, Kemi Badenoch and Penny Mordaunt.

‘It’s a stitch up!’ Nadine Dorries rages at Rishi ‘dark arts’ to secure PM win

Rishi Sunak faces two major opponents in battle to PM

Cally Brooks www.express.co.uk 

Writing on Twitter, the Secretary of State for DCMS wrote: “This is dirty tricks/a stitch up/dark arts. Take your pick. Team Rishi want the candidate they know they can definitely beat in the final two and that is @Jeremy_Hunt. It was in response to a Tweet by Commentator Dan Hodges who revealed he was told Gavin Williamson, who is on Rishi Sunak’s team, organised a “syphoning off of some votes” to help Jeremy Hunt get to the election.

He wrote: “One rival camp tells me Gavin Willamson (who is on Team Rishi) has organised syphoning off of some votes to let Jeremy Hunt get over the threshold.”

Nadine Dorries is a member of the Conservative Party and has served as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport since 2021.

It comes as the first eight leadership candidates to get through to the first round of voting have been revealed.

Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman, Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat and Nadhikm Zahawi have made it through.

Sajid Javid and Rehman Christi withdrew from the content minutes before the deadline.

But some have denied the accusations, with Sky News’ Political Editor Beth Rigby claiming sources have told her it is “complete nonsense”.

She wrote on Twitter: “Update on the Williamson/Hunt story doing rounds. Source close to Sunak campaign tells me its ‘complete nonsense.

“Mel Stride running the whipping op & that behaviour isn’t happening. It’s a dirty story being spread by anti-Rishi people’.”

It comes after Rigby challenged Rishi Sunak over his suitability to lead the country as she pointed out he shares several flaws with Boris Johnson.

The Sky News chief editor questioned Rishi Sunak about his record as she noted the former Chancellor had been building his campaign to succeed Boris Johnson on the need for change within the party.

Beth Rigby noted Mr Sunak had also been handed a fine after he was found to have breached lockdown rules by attending a gathering at a time when groups could not meet. She also noted he is currently seen as a “corrosive” figure because of his fiscal policies, questioning his chances of securing the leadership of both the party and the country.

Ms Rigby said: “You’ve just stood here and said Boris Johnson is a remarkable person, you don’t want history to demonise him.

“But the fact is, the party just ousted him on the basis of conduct, probity, and causing division. And here you are, and I have to put it to you that you have a police fine over Partygate.”

Rigby added: “And there have been questions too over your very wealthy family avoiding paying millions of pounds in tax due to your wife being a non-dom taxpayer.

“I know that has changed very recently. And I have to say you’re an utterly corrosive figure in the parliamentary party for a big chunk of it. There are many in the party who do not want you to be Prime Minister.”

The former Chancellor said: “I think it’s important, whoever wins this election does restore trust because trust has been broken. We need to rebuild all that with the country. It’s something I’m keen to do as leader.

“I think I can do that, and I think it’s about the conduct of Government, which is important. And you can expect that’s the kind of leadership I will provide.”

This leadership campaign reveals the ideological narrowness of the Conservative Party

Editorial www.independent.co.uk 

A leadership election campaign ought to be a good chance for potential prime ministers to set out how they would deliver the kind of government that the people want. Instead, we have had a parade of leading lights offering fantasy tax cuts, and one candidate who seems to be running on a ticket to abolish unisex toilets.

What is the No 1 priority of the British people? It is the cost of living. And what do the candidates have to offer them? Unfunded tax cuts, mainly. Cuts to national insurance contributions, income tax, fuel duty, and even corporation tax. And none of them spelling out credible spending cuts to pay for these things, implying higher borrowing at a time when interest rates are rising, meaning it would pile on costs to be paid by future generations.

To his credit, Rishi Sunak, the recent chancellor, set the terms of the election by pre-emptively attacking “fairytales” about the economy. This does seem to have forced at least one candidate, Penny Mordaunt, to rein in the impossible promises and to agree that lower taxes are only prudent when the public finances are sustainable.

But the tone has been set by Jacob Rees-Mogg, who is now backing Liz Truss, in condemning Mr Sunak as a “socialist” chancellor for belatedly doing the right thing and using the benefits system to protect vulnerable households from the rise in energy bills.

The overall impression is of a party that would prioritise tax cuts, which by definition help the better off (those who pay taxes), over broad-based help for people on low incomes.

What else do the British people care about? The National Health Service. The coronavirus backlogs and the dangerous delays in ambulance call-outs. And what do the Tory candidates have to say about that? The only candidate who seems to have taken the NHS issue seriously is the recent chancellor. His allies criticised Boris Johnson in the weekend press for failing to set up regular meetings, led by the prime minister, to oversee the backlog programme. This kind of Blairite public-service-reform focus is the only way to ensure that the full weight of the government machine is devoted to identifying the bottlenecks and clearing them.

The people’s priorities include the housing crisis. Only one candidate has mentioned it – Sajid Javid, though he has since stood down from the race. People are worried about crime. That has been the subject of familiar sloganising, but no new thinking. And people are also concerned about the arrival of small boats across the Channel, while being uneasy about the Rwanda scheme proposed by Priti Patel, the home secretary, as her main response to that problem. So far, all the candidates have backed the scheme – while the scheme itself has been suspended until the new prime minister takes office at the beginning of September.

The other huge issue with which the British people expect their leaders to engage is the climate emergency – coincidentally underlined by the current unusual heatwave. On this, the centre of gravity of the Conservative Party seems to be moving away from the people. Kemi Badenoch, the biggest surprise candidate of this race, described the target of net zero carbon as “economic disarmament”. While other candidates have not gone that far, the tone of the debate is all about “realism”, which is code for backsliding.

There is time for some of the candidates to prove us wrong, but the early stage of this contest has exposed the gulf between the Conservative Party’s deepest instincts and the people’s priorities. A leadership election ought to be a chance for a party to showcase its best talents. So far, it has shone an unforgiving light on the party’s true nature.

“Boris Johnson was able to rise because of powerful anti-democratic forces”

Double Down News

A second Somerset council has called on the government to urgently address the cost of living crisis – though Conservative councillors abstained from the final vote.

Daniel Mumby www.somersetlive.co.uk 

Somerset West and Taunton Council became the second local authority in Somerset to pass a formal motion urging government action on the cost of living, following a similar vote by Mendip District Council in late May. In a full council debate held in Taunton on Tuesday evening (July 5), councillors from all parties spoke out about the pressures being placed on working families, urging action on energy bills, universal credit and fuel duty.

However, members of the Conservative opposition group abstained from the final vote, with their leader stating the motion was “overtly politicised” and the debate was a “missed opportunity” to find common ground. The motion called for a cut in the standard rate of VAT from 20 per cent to 17.5 per cent, restoring the universal credit supplement of £20, and reinstating the pension triple lock (whereby pensions rise in value by either average earnings, inflation or 2.5 per cent a year – whichever is higher).

It also called for the government to cut fuel duty in rural areas and to uncouple power prices from gas prices (which would enable a drop in household electricity bills). Like Mendip‘s declaration in May, the council also committed to staging a “cost of living emergency summit” with Citizens Advice, food banks, trade unions, chambers of commerce and the district’s two MPs – Ian Liddell-Grainger (Bridgwater and West Somerset) and Rebecca Pow (Taunton Deane – and until recently a Defra minister).

The council has also committed to creating a £50,000 support fund for those residents most affected by rising food and energy prices, which will be administrated alongside Citizens Advice by the end of the summer. Councillor Chris Booth, portfolio holder for communities, introduced the motion by stating: “We are all aware of the difficult times that our residents are going through, and it’s now the time to show that we want to do more than we already are.

“We urgently need more of this government as the shadow of hardship consumes more of us.” Councillor Benet Allen, portfolio holder for communications and corporate resources, said he was “dismayed” that the government had dithered over restoring the £20 uplift in universal credit.

He said: “The cost of living crisis is real, it affects many of us, and I’m dismayed that the government has avoided doing the one, simple, affordable thing that it could do to put money in the pockets of those who need it most – which is to restore the £20 on universal credit. They’ve done lots of other things, most of which are headline-chasing.

“I believe that this government for political reasons has avoided doing anything along the lines of putting money back into the pockets of the very poorest. We are overtaxed on our use of electricity because our electricity bills are directly connected to our gas bills. Very little of our electricity is generated by gas.

“The cost of renewable energy has plummeted in recent months – we are actually all overpaying for electricity by a factor of two or three.” Councillor Libby Lisgo, who leads the Labour opposition group, joked that the council would struggle to find a minister to whom these concerns could be addressed in light of the copious resignations from Boris Johnson‘s administration.

She said: “The way that the government is almost, it would seem, wilfully ignoring the needs of the people who most need support probably ought to beggar more belief than it does. The way they’re falling tonight [July 5] suggests that [finding a secretary of state] might be easier said than done.”

Councillor Dave Mansell – one of two Green Party councillors – added: “The motion focusses on short-term solutions, and those are definitely needed and important. I would like to add that long-term solutions are needed too, particularly for our energy security.

“The government has stopped us investing in the lowest-cost energy source, which is on-shore wind power. that is contributing to a situation which we now face, and that urgently needs to change.” The motion was passed by a substantial margin, though all the Conservatives present in the chamber abstained – and two members of the party left the chamber before the vote took place.

Councillor Roger Habgood, who leads the Conservative group on the council, said after the debate that he and his party were in support of action to address the cost of living but believed the motion was the wrong way to go about this. He said: “Unfortunately the cost of living motion to full council was deliberately set out taking an overtly politicised position by the local Lib Dems.

“The cost of living increases in our economy are of course concerning to us all, and if Mr Booth and the Lib Dem leader had taken a few minutes to construct the motion collaboratively, it could have received unanimous support. Sadly that approach and option was not chosen and an opportunity has been lost.

“Continuously blurring the lines of responsibility between the district, county and unitary councils and the national government is unhelpful. Our councillors are best placed to focus our attention on reducing costs and improving services under our direct control, rather than being distracted by matters outside of their control.

“Of course we should engage with Westminster. We have two MPs who represent us – after all that is how the latest cost of living payments for eight million families coming into effect from July 14 was formulated.

“My colleagues and I continue to focus on what we can do for residents as local councillors in these challenging times.”

At one point, Spicer calls Johnson a “fart pipe” and gives Johnson’s wife, Carrie, the nickname “Wallpaper Wendy” in reference to the £840-per-roll wallpaper the couple bought for their flat renovation.

(Read the intro then watch the video below, or just watch and enjoy! – Owl) 

Ellie Harrison www.independent.co.uk

Comedian Michael Spicer has been praised for his video roasting Boris Johnson’s resignation speech.

Last week, Johnson announced he would step down as prime minister following an onslaught of resignations in protest over his leadership.

Spicer – whose sketches often see him impersonating a fictional, frustrated Johnson aide working in a side-room – shared a video on Tuesday (12 July) mocking the speech.

“Remember it’s time to be humble,” he can be seen telling the outgoing prime minister. “And, just to be on the safe side, I’ve written down the definition of humble and emailed it to you under the subject heading: ‘You have well and truly f***ed everything up.’”

He suggests that Johnson apologise for “partying every single Friday while telling us at the same time we couldn’t sit on a park bench with our nans”.

When Johnson says in his speech that he is proud he “got Brexit done”, Spicer cuts in with: “It’s not done, it’s a mountain of burning tyres that threatens the Good Friday Agreement.”

When Johnson talks about how he got the country through the Covid pandemic, Spicer says: “180,000 people died but, yes, let’s claim it as a triumph, why not? I mean, literally nothing you say matters any more.”

At one point, Spicer calls Johnson a “fart pipe” and gives Johnson’s wife, Carrie, the nickname “Wallpaper Wendy” in reference to the £840-per-roll wallpaper the couple bought for their flat renovation.

Getting increasingly irate, he demands that the prime minister apologise. “Dig right down into that poisonous soul of yours and try to find one apology,” he says.

The video ends with Spicer holding his head in his hands in total despair.

Broadcaster and author Fern Britton was among those to praise the clip. “Totally brilliant and factually correct,” she tweeted. “He is a fart pipe.”

“‘Wallpaper Wendy’ had me snorting water out of my nose,” added another.

A third wrote: “Another slice of perfection. Thank you.”

A fourth said: “You’re the only way I can watch these speeches.”

“Immensely satisfying,” posted a fifth.

A sixth person simply wrote: “Thank you YOU ABSOLUTE BLOODY BEAUTY!”

Raab and Shapps back Rishi Sunak in race for Tory leadership

Rees Mogg and Dorries are backing Liz Truss

Looks like North East Somerset is the only place where 20 people can be found to back the “Boris Continuity” candidate JRM.

None of the above – Owl

Heather Stewart www.theguardian.com 

The UK deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab, and the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, have both thrown their weight behind the frontrunner, Rishi Sunak, in the race to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative leader.

Raab, who had not previously backed a candidate, introduced Sunak as he formally launched his candidacy at an event in Westminster.

With the other candidates in a bidding war to promise tax cuts, Raab told the enthusiastic audience: “Just remember this: while others talk the talk, Rishi this month delivered the biggest tax cut for working people in a decade; and he did it because he’s a true Conservative, imbued with the values of enterprise, hard work and family. Rishi’s values are our values.”

He also highlighted Sunak’s early support for Brexit, his “seminal” pamphlet on freeports, and his strong poll ratings relative to other candidates.

Also appearing on stage was Shapps, who has withdrawn from the Tory leadership race and thrown his weight behind Sunak, after it became clear he was unlikely to secure the backing of the 20 MPs needed to progress to the ballot paper.

Key supporters including Oliver Dowden, who resigned as party chair after the disastrous Tiverton and Honiton and Wakefield byelections, and the former chief whip Mark Harper, were also present.

Sunak has sought to distinguish himself from the rest of the field by declining to promise lavish tax cuts immediately, instead stressing the importance of not believing in “fairytales”.

In his own speech, he said it was time for a “grown-up conversation” with the public about the challenges ahead. He said he wanted the campaign to be “a moment where the party and the country came together”.

Sunak also sought to explain why he had backed Johnson until last week, saying: “We owe it to the people who elected Boris in 2019 to explain why he is leaving office.

“Boris Johnson is one of the remarkable people I’ve ever met, and whatever the commentators say, he has a good heart,” he said, insisting he would not take part in a “rewriting of history” about his premiership.

He has secured the most public endorsements from MPs, who will narrow the field down rapidly to two candidates over the next 10 days. Sunak, who resigned last week, said he was bringing “a message of change”.

Says it all! – Owl

Poke Staff www.thepoke.co.uk 

No-one will miss Boris Johnson from Downing Street quite like his culture secretary Nadine Dorries.

And there can surely be no more fitting tribute to their extra special relationship than this musical mash-up which has just gone viral on Twitter.

Watch through twitter link

Absolutely the best/worst thing we’ll see today.

You have to admire the enterprise and job creation – but is this “healthy eating”? – Owl

A new community Waffle Café has opened at Seaton Hospital. 

Philippa Davies www.midweekherald.co.uk

It’s being run by the not-for-profit community enterprise Waffle which has had a similar café in Axminster for a few years, with a mission to combat loneliness, bring people together and offer new opportunities. 

The opportunity to open the new café emerged when the Seaton community interest company RE: STORE was offered a disused kitchen in the hospital. The hospital is run by NHS Property Services which supports social prescribing, connecting people with community groups to improve their wellbeing. 

RE:STORE was already running a gardening project in the grounds of Seaton hospital. Keen to create a wellbeing hub/cafe on the site, the company joined forces with Waffle.

The cafe is open Wednesday to Saturday from 9am until 5pm. On Monday and Tuesday the space is used for private groups and community activities. 

The hospital is also partnering with Axminster Project Food, who will use the café’s kitchen to educate schoolchildren about cooking and healthy eating.