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Moon landing hoax more believable than PM telling truth about parties, pollster finds

That was at the beginning of last week, by Wednesday the figure was 6 per cent, which is about the same number who believe in the Loch Ness monster according to reports in both the Mirror and the Times.

www.indy100.com and www.thetimes.co.uk

People are more likely to believe the moon landings were faked than believe Boris Johnson is telling the truth about the alleged Christmas parties, according to a political pollster.

Opinium Research’s Head of Political Polling Chris Curtis this morning told BBC News that the string of party allegations have rocked the government’s popularity and ratings.

Curtis’s appearance on BBC News follows yet another allegation facing the government. This time, it’s been alleged that Downing Street staff were invited to a bring-your-own-booze (BYOB) event in May 2020.

Speaking on Tuesday morning, Curtis spoke of a poll published on December 8th, just after ITV published a leaked mock press conference from Downing Street.

Curtis said: “One question we asked, which really sums up how bad this is for the government, was ‘do you think Boris Johnson is telling the truth about what’s happening?’.

“And just 12 per cent of people thought he was telling the truth.

“That’s fewer than the number of people who believe that the moon landings were fake, so there isn’t much trust in the prime minister when it comes to this issue among the British public at the moment.”

A 2019 poll from Opinium Research found that 21 per cent of UK adults believe that Apollo 11 mission was a hoax (which broke down into 8 per cent who believed it was definitely faked, and 13 per cent who said it was probably faked).

When it comes to the Christmas party allegations, just 12 per cent believed the Covid rules were followed at the supposed shindig, whereas 65 per cent believe they were not.

Commenting on Twitter, Curtis wrote that although these statistics relate to the Christmas allegations, “I would imagine you would get a similar (or worse) result if we asked about May.”

Just one in ten believe Boris Johnson told the truth when asked about the allegations, compared to 63 per cent who believed he was fibbing.

More Conservative voters were likely to believe him (20 per cent) in comparison to Labour voters (5 per cent).

Labour voters were significantly more likely to believe the prime minister was telling porkies (85 per cent) in comparison to just under half (46 per cent) of Conservative voters.

Curtis also noted that the prime minister’s approval ratings were at a low at the end of December, before making a slight recovery in the new year.

Either way, it looks like Sue Gray has her work cut out for her…

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Cummings says PM was told No 10 party ‘broke the rules’ but said it should go ahead

Dominic Cummings says evidence will show Boris Johnson “lied to parliament” by denying he knew about the No 10 garden party, plunging his position deeper into jeopardy.

www.independent.co.uk 

An email sent by “a very senior official” warned the “bring your own booze” event broke Covid rules, the exiled former chief aide claims – blowing apart the prime minister’s defence that he thought it was “a work event”.

In an explosive blog post, Mr Cummings wrote: “Not only me but other eyewitnesses who discussed this at the time would swear under oath this is what happened.”

The warning came after No 10 denied Mr Johnson was “warned about” a party, or that he told aides objecting to garden gathering that they were “overreacting”.

Many MPs believe Mr Johnson cannot survive in office if it is shown that he misled parliament with his repeated denials that parties took place with his knowledge.

But, in his post, Mr Cummings said that, after Mr Johnson’s private secretary Martin Reynolds sent the invitation “a very senior official replied by email saying the invite broke the rules”.

“This email will be seen by Sue Gray (unless there is a foolish coverup which would also probably be a criminal offence),” he has written – of the senior civil servant leading the investigation.

Mr Cummings claims Mr Reynolds told him he would “check with the PM if he’s happy for it to go ahead”, on 20 May 2020.

“I am sure he did check with the PM. (I think it very likely another senior official spoke to the PM about it but I am not sure),” the post states.

And it adds: “The idea that the PPS [principal private secretary] would be challenged by two of the most senior people in the building, say he’d check with the PM then not – is not credible.”

Many MPs believe Mr Johnson cannot survive in office if it is shown that he misled parliament with his repeated denials that parties took place with his knowledge.

Mr Cummings has written: “The events of 20 May alone, never mind the string of other events, mean the PM lied to Parliament about parties.

“Not only me but other eyewitnesses who discussed this at the time would swear under oath this is what happened.”

The fresh allegations came as one senior Tory backbencher warned people are now “too angry to forgive” Mr Johnson for the rash of lockdown-busting parties.

“Right now, listening to the public who remember very well all the sacrifices they made, I think people may well be too angry to forgive,” former minister Steve Baker said.

Asked for the scale of the anger in his Wycombe constituency, Mr Baker replied: “Absolutely furious.”

Conservative MPs are contemplating the growing evidence that voters want Mr Johnson to quit, even before Ms Gray concludes her inquiry later this week or next week.

No 10 refused to say whether the prime minister has been interviewed by her, but said the “full” report will be published when it is ready – not just its key findings.

The allegation that Mr Johnson was warned that he should scrap the garden party was made first by his close friend Dominic Lawson, in a column for The Sunday Times.

Mr Lawson said an official also him that “at least two people” had alerted the prime minister that “this was “a party” and should be immediately cancelled”

“I was told that Johnson’s dismissive response was to say they were “overreacting” and to praise Reynolds as “my loyal Labrador”,” the columnist wrote.

But, on Sunday, a No 10 spokesman said: “It is untrue that the prime minister was warned about the event in advance. As he said earlier this week, he believed implicitly that this was a work event.”

In his blog, Mr Cummings also said he expected the Gray inquiry would get to the bottom of his earlier allegation that he stopped Mr Johnson visiting the Queen “when he might have been infectious”.

“This episode was also witnessed by others who will tell the official inquiry that what I have said is true and the official denials are false,” he has written.

And he warned: “There are many other photos of parties after I left yet to appear. I’ll say more when SG’s [Sue Gray’s] report is published.”

The former aide also attacked Downing Street briefings about a “drinking culture” in No 10, arguing it was false and “intended to shift blame”.

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Planning applications validated by EDDC for week beginning 3 Jan

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Boris Johnson accused of attending leaving do and giving speech in December 2020

Boris Johnson has been accused of giving a speech at a leaving do for his defence adviser in December 2020 when Covid restrictions were in force.

www.independent.co.uk 

The prime minister has been embroiled in an ongoing scandal over a number of parties that were held at Downing Street while the public was being told to obey social distancing rules.

According to The Mirror, Mr Johnson attended Captain Steve Higham’s leaving party “for a few minutes” in which he gave a speech “to thank him for his service”. The newspaper said a “small number of No 10 staff briefly said goodbye”.

Although the exact date of the leaving do is not revealed, it was reportedly held in the run-up to Christmas, when London was under Covid rules.

People were at the time being advised to work from home where possible and separate households were not allowed to mix indoors unless a household was linked to another as part of a “social bubble”. Those rules came into force on 2 December 2020.

The number of people allowed at weddings, funerals, and wakes were also severely limited.

London then went into tier 3 on 16 December and escalated quickly to tier 4 four days later.

On 19 December, Mr Johnson stood at his lectern to announce the harsher measures, and told the public that Covid case numbers were rising rapidly in London and surrounding counties despite the “tough restrictions which are already in place”.

Tier 4 rules saw “non-essential” shops and services close, people told they could not meet more than one other person outdoors, leave tier 4 areas, stay overnight away from home, or leave the country.

As the Partygate scandal intensifies with frequent new accusations of lockdown-breaking parties, senior civil servant Sue Gray has been tasked with the responsibility of investigating the claims.

The Telegraph has reported that Mr Johnson has now been questioned by Ms Gray over the allegations and has shared with her what he knows ahead of a report on her findings being published.

Mr Johnson has claimed that he did not know in advance about a No 10 garden party on 20 May 2020 but admitted attending it as he spoke in the Commons last week. But a columnist has accused him of lying, citing people who had worked with Mr Johnson who allegedly said he did know about the party before it took place.

Sunday Times columnist Dominic Lawson claimed that at least two people warned Mr Johnson that an email invite sent out to staff by his principal private secretary Martin Reynolds made it obvious that it was a party and that it “should be immediately cancelled”.

Mr Lawson added: “I was told that Johnson’s dismissive response was to say they were ‘overreacting’ and to praise Reynolds as ‘my loyal Labrador’.

“I then asked someone who has known the PM for decades what could have made him take such an approach (other than natural hospitality and affability). His immediate answer was: ‘It’s because deep down he obviously thought the regulations were ridiculous, so why should he observe them?’”

These shocking allegations could mean that the prime minister may face claims that he breached the ministerial code by misleading MPs when he made his apology and insisted that the party was a “work event”.

Downing Street has insisted that it is “untrue” that Mr Johnson knew about the party in advance of it happening.

It comes after it emerged over the weekend that his wife Carrie Johnson was photographed breaking Covid social distancing rules in September 2020, when she celebrated her friend’s engagement. She said that she regretted her “lapse in judgement”.

Andrew Bowie, Conservative MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, said that the “atmosphere in the Conservative Party is a mixture of shame, anger and disappointment” as the Partygate saga continues.

The former party vice-chairman told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour that he intends to wait for the publication of Ms Gray’s investigation before deciding “what happens next”.

On the prime minister’s statement in the Commons, he said “it was quite clear that the apology didn’t cut it in the eyes of many members of the public and in the eyes of many members of the Conservative Party, actually.”

Mr Bowie also said: “There is a lot of ill-feeling out there and discomfort on the Conservative benches at where we are right now.”

West Dorset MP Chris Loder said he had received an “enormous” number of emails from constituents about the scandal, and suggested the parties have put the “moral authority” of government into question.

MP Robert Syms has said that he is considering submitting a letter of no confidence in Mr Johnson’s leadership. It comes after MP Tim Loughton said he had “regretfully come to the conclusion that Boris Johnson’s position is now untenable”.

A number of MPs have sent such correspondence to the influential 1922 Committee of backbench Tories.

Letters from 54 MPs – 15 per cent of the total number of Conservative MPs – are needed to spark a challenge to the PM’s leadership.

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Devon covid up slightly this week

Covid rates have risen slightly across Devon, fuelled by a sharp rise in cases in Torbay.

Joe Ives, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

In the latest complete seven day period (to Sunday 9 January) the county recorded 13,994 new cases, 191 (1.4 per cent) more than in the previous week.

The increase is largely due to a steep rise in infections in Torbay. The area recorded 1,868 cases, 441 (31 per cent) more than the previous week.  The infection rate in the Bay is now 1,371 per 100,000 of the population, the highest rate in Devon.

The Devon County Council area, which excludes Plymouth and Torbay, saw cases fall by 113 (one per cent), recording 8,557 infections: a rate of 1,056 per 100,000. 

Plymouth recorded 3,569 cases, 173 fewer (five per cent) than the previous week.  The city’s infection rate, 1,358 per 100,000, is only slightly behind Torbay’s.

There are small reasons for optimism. On Wednesday 11 January, 99,652 cases were recorded across the UK – the first time the daily infection number has been below 100,000 since 22 December last year.

Hospitalisations 

The most recent data from Tuesday 4 January showed 174 patients in Devon’s hospitals with covid, an increase of over 50 from a week ago. More than half (92) are at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth.

Elsewhere, 37 are at the RD&E in Exeter, 28 in Torbay, 10 in North Devon and seven at Devon Partnership mental health trust sites. Of the total number of patients, 13 are in ventilation beds

Deaths

Fourteen people died within 28 days of receiving a positive covid test across Devon in the most recent complete seven-day period (to Sunday 9 January), down by four from the same time last month.

Eight people died in the Devon County Council area. Three deaths were recorded in Plymouth and in Torbay.

Across Devon, 1,486 people have now died within 28 days of a positive covid test since the pandemic began.

Vaccinations

Eighty-eight per cent of people aged 12 and above have had their first dose of a vaccine in the Devon County Council area, with 83 per cent receiving both doses. Sixty-nine per cent have now had their booster.

In Plymouth, 85 per cent have had one dose, while 78 per cent have had both. Fifty-seven per cent have had the booster.

In Torbay, 86 per cent have received one dose, while 80 per cent have had both jabs. Sixty-four per cent have had their third vaccine.

The national rates are 91, 83 and 63 per cent respectively.

Covid cases in East Devon by age group from “dashboard”

This includes data up to Jan 11

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Uproar in garden of England at homes plan that could ‘swallow up’ villages

There are 17 MPs in Kent – 16 Conservative and Labour’s Rosie Duffield in Canterbury. And there is nothing like housing developments on greenfield sites to provoke a backlash from Tory heartland voters.

Gareth Rubin www.theguardian.com 

The copper-coloured afternoon light turns a deep blue as it streams through the stained-glass windows of All Saints’ church in Tudeley, near Tonbridge, Kent. Visitors come from all over the world to see these colours falling to the floor because All Saints’ is the only church in the world where all the windows are by the modernist artist Marc Chagall. But those heavy, aquatic blues sliced through by white figures could soon shine a little less if a new nearby “garden village” – a mile-long estate of 6,500 houses – gets the go-ahead.

“I’m devastated. I’m appalled,” says campaigner Dave Lovell as he stands outside the church door and looks across the unspoilt countryside where the Tunbridge Wells garden village is proposed. “It’s a beautiful part of the countryside and to lose this historic landscape is a tragedy.”

Tudeley is far from alone. A series of garden villages and towns – and one “garden city” at Ebbsfleet – is being proposed on greenfield sites and protected areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) across Kent. In a county known as the garden of England, this has caused uproar.

Garden developments attract special funding from the government so developers often attach the label to projects. But Lovell, a former officer with the National Crime Agency who lives in the nearby village of Capel, dismisses the bucolic moniker. “There’s nothing organic about them,” he says. “They’re artificial and imposed on us. And I’m not sure how they can evolve a sense of community.”

There are at least seven more garden developments proposed. If the housebuilders get their way, Otterpool Park near Folkestone, will have 10,000 homes, Highstead Park near Sittingbourne will have 9,250, five schools and a health centre, and Borough Green near Tonbridge, will have 3,000 homes built on green belt land and an AONB.

Planning authorities say their hands are being forced by the government’s target of building 300,000 homes a year.

The Tunbridge Wells project is split into three parts and Lovell’s village of Capel will be subsumed by the largest section. “There are 950 houses in the parish at the moment and that will be swallowed up by nearly 5,000,” he says. “Local life will completely change. It’s really an existential threat.”

Protest groups have sprung up across the county. Lovell’s idea was to bring them together under an umbrella group: Save Kent’s Green Spaces, which organised a “day of action” on 28 November last year, when the activists marched and rallied. “As far as we can see, there’s no official count on how much land is even being lost,” says Lovell. “We have an estimate but it’s only based on what the 30-odd campaign groups that became involved in the day of action have told us, and what we’ve picked up through newspaper reports. So we’re looking at over 18,000 acres at the moment.” He says they estimate 7.5 houses per acre, though some of that will go on schools and other social infrastructure.

Like much of Britain, Kent has a shortage of housing and social housing. In Tunbridge Wells there were 897 families on the waiting list in 2021. According to Paul Cheshire, professor of economic geography at the LSE, “It’s almost impossible to provide land for new homes [around Tunbridge Wells] without releasing some green belt land. So much of the area is either green belt or AONB.”

There are 17 MPs in Kent – 16 Conservative and Labour’s Rosie Duffield in Canterbury. And there is nothing like housing developments on greenfield sites to provoke a backlash from Tory heartland voters.

In last June’s Chesham and Amersham byelection, for instance, the Liberal Democrats overturned a 16,000 majority in a Buckinghamshire seat that has always voted Conservative, with a 25.2% swing, largely on the back of local opposition to HS2 and housing development. With an identical swing, all 16 of Kent’s Tory MPs would be looking for new jobs.

Tom Tugendhat, Tory MP for Tonbridge and Malling, says that developments such as Tunbridge Wells garden village undermine some of the most important policies of the government. “Of course we need new homes for young people in our community and to give people somewhere for their families,” he says. “But the government’s climate change commitments make some of these decisions pretty strange. We can’t go around bulldozing fields when we need to maintain our green spaces to meet our climate commitments.”

Local protests against the garden villages have made some strange bedfellows. In Faversham, for example, those addressing the marches against the developments on the day of action included local resident Bob Geldof from one end of the political spectrum, and the local Tory MPs Helen Whately and Rehman Chishti from the other.

Geldof, who lives in the 12th-century Davington Priory on the edge of the town, told the rally: “I have lived in Kent for 40-odd years and to see what amounts to a full-scale attack on the county and its people by the central government planners gives a lie to … Boris Johnson’s promise that they would not build on green fields.”

Vicky Castle, content editor for news site Kent Live, says the issue is turning previously quiescent people into activists. “These are angry, knowledgeable people and they’re quite loud,” she explains. “The local Tory MPs are saying, ‘We don’t want this’. And central government turns around and says, ‘Tough, you’re having it’.”

“It’s radicalising local people because they care about these things. You drive around the county for one day and it looks completely different to how it did five years ago. People notice that and they’re worried.”

Duffield wants a new approach. “It’s really disappointing because it’s so unimaginative,” she says. “There are brownfield sites, there are loads of other places. It seems like a developer just has their eye on a lovely area of land. And we’re not going to get it back if it’s full of houses.”

An hour’s drive across Kent from All Saints’ church to Faversham, and the light has faded, turning a field of winter-bare blackberry bushes into dark fingers. They lie on farmland owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, Prince Charles’s business empire, but the duchy has applied for planning permission to build 2,500 homes on 320 acres of countryside.

A duchy spokesman said: “Swale council identified the Duchy of Cornwall’s land as a highly sustainable location for an urban extension of the town, providing 2,500 homes and around 2,500 jobs. Since the initial allocation, the duchy has been engaging with the Faversham community to help shape a vision for a mixed use community that meets local housing needs.

“The plan is being designed from the ground up to improve soils, increase biodiversity, and achieve water neutrality on site with its own waste water treatment plant.”

As evening birds chatter, Carol Goatham walks beside the silhouetted fruit bushes and points out a line of yellow markers that show the path of proposed gas lines to the houses that will replace them. “The pears for the Queen’s wedding breakfast came from this farm,” says Goatham, a retired occupational therapist who founded a group to oppose the development. “And my father worked here when I was young. We are only self-sufficient for 16% of the fruit we eat in this country and this is the highest grade of agricultural land. If we lose these fields, we lose food security.

“I’ve always been a royalist and I’m really pleased about Prince Charles’s green credentials but now I feel that if he sanctions this, then … ” She shakes her head.

She looks from the lines of skeletal blackberry bushes to rows of spring greens pushing through the soil nearby. That soil will also soon be covered if the duchy’s application is granted. “We’re only a small rural town and they’re going to obliterate our beautiful green fields,” she says. “Kent’s supposed to be the Garden of England and we’re going to become a concrete county.”

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: “Making the most of previously developed land is a government priority to protect our cherished countryside. Councils are ultimately responsible for setting housing targets in their area.”

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MP doesn’t know whether she attended Downing St Party

Neil Parish MP has called for the “full truth” to be revealed about the lockdown party in Downing Street.

He said the inquiry by a senior civil servant will establish what happened, and he was awaiting the outcome. Turns out he’s not the only one waiting to be told what happened by Sue Gray.

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Whoops, sorry!

Poem from Mike Temple, posted as comment but deserving a post in its own right

The Lion with the golden mane
Had just been caught out yet again.
He’s said he’d not done such a thing,
Such conduct unfit for a King.
But evidence had now come out
To call his former words in doubt.
The Lion-King had now been caught
But here is what the Big Beast thought:

“If I were me I would advise
To grovel and apologise
(Another way of telling lies
And, of course, I needn’t worry
It’s easy to say the word “sorry”.)
For me, therefore, a quick apology
Is a branch of escapology,
For I’ll insist that I was right –
(My flatterers’ll say I was contrite)
And I can also kick the can
Down the road, my cunning plan:
My servant can compile a dossier
Of all that happened on the way
And I will be the judge of that report
And say that I did nothing of the sort.
I’ll show that laws made for my underlings
Simply don’t apply to Lion-Kings.
(The only thing I’m sorry about
Is that at last I’ve been caught out.)

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Energy firms boosted by gas price spikes paid £200bn to shareholders since 2010

Whilst France forces EDF to take €8.4bn hit with energy bill cap (who will foot the bill for the shortfall?), our government, having rejected an opposition motion to scrap the VAT for starters, has yet to come up with a plan for easing household energy bills.

Time is running out. – Owl

www.theguardian.com 

Phillip Inman

Oil and gas companies have handed shareholders almost £200bn since 2010 and should be hit with a windfall tax to cap heating bills that are set to rise by as much as £500 a year, according to a report on the finances of the UK’s energy sector.

Shell and BP are among companies that have seen their profits boosted in the last year as wholesale gas prices rose by as much as nine times and petrol prices jumped to record highs, leading to calls for them to help limit a £20bn bill faced by UK households.

A report for the left-of-centre thinktank Common Wealth found that Shell and BP channelled £147bn to shareholders via dividends and share buybacks over the past decade, with North Sea producers and the big six energy suppliers contributing another £47bn.

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng told MPs last September the government was considering a plan for a £2.6bn windfall tax on generators and energy traders that stood to gain from the energy crisis.

It is understood Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is still considering measures to limit rising bills, including a windfall tax, but with two weeks until the regulator, Ofgem, announces how much a cap on energy bills will rise in April, he has yet to settle on a final package.

The chancellor, accused of being “missing in action” while energy costs soar, is under pressure from Tory MPs to cut state spending and reduce Britain’s debts. He is known to favour a loan scheme for energy suppliers, giving them the funds to cushion the blow this year, with the addition of a small subsidy to the poorest households using the Warm Home Discount Scheme.

Several prominent energy bosses are known to have promoted a loan scheme as the best way to limit rising bills in a series of meetings at the Treasury last week.

However, gas prices could remain high for several years, increasing the size of the energy sector’s debts and forcing suppliers to keep household bills up for the rest of the decade, while they make repayments.

Ofgem is expected to announce on 5 February how much bills will increase in the next financial year. About 30 energy suppliers have gone bust in the last year, blaming the energy price cap for their fall into bankruptcy.

Most rich nation governments have already put in place financial support, including a €4.5bn subsidy by the Italian government to limit bill increases. Ministers in Paris said last week they will force EDF, the 80% state-owned energy giant, to take an €8.4bn (£7bn) financial hit to protect households in a move that will limit energy bill increases to 4% this year.

The Biden administration has ramped up grant payments for poorer US households to cover the rising cost of gas, while in Germany, the government has slashed a surcharge on bills used to support renewable energy schemes, which will instead receive extra state subsidies drawn from higher carbon taxes.Labour said it was fair that the oil and gas producers benefiting most from the energy crisis ‘“play their part in helping families through the cost of living crisis”. Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary of state of climate change and net zero, said: “When the head of BP describes the crisis as a ‘cash machine’ for his company and fossil-fuel producers pay out billions in share buybacks, it is a clear indication of the scale of windfall profits they are making.”

Torsten Bell, the director of the Resolution Foundation, said a windfall tax should be part of the package of measures that included subsidies for poorer households. “It must be sensible for those companies making money from this crisis to cover a share of the costs,” he said.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies recently said an additional £3bn needed pumping into the welfare system in response to soaring energy bills and mounting inflationary pressure.

The report’s authors, Joseph Baines of King’s College London and Dr Sandy Hager of City University, said Centrica and SSE, which operate in the North Sea, had seen the sharpest increase in profit margins. They said that as oil and gas companies often made losses during periods of low wholesale gas and oil prices, they paid almost all their income to shareholders in more profitable periods.

“BP’s shareholder payout commitments have been so large that they cover 98.3% of their pre-tax income and are 2.5 times larger than their tax payments for the same period,” the report said. “The findings may be combined with the insights on fossil-fuel subsidies offered by a recent Common Wealth report which identified an average of £12bn a year of taxpayer support for fossil fuels in the last five years,” they added.

Oil traders could also be forced to pay a windfall tax, but the major firms – Vitol, Glencore, Trafigura, Mercuria and Gunvor – were not part of the study.

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Energy bills: flat dwellers face massive rise despite price cap

Does this apply to Cranbrook’s community heating system?  – Owl

Miles Brignall www.theguardian.com 

Hundreds of thousands of people living in flats are facing “completely unaffordable” increases to their energy bills because their communal heating system’s supply is not protected by the government’s price cap.

While households with conventional heating systems have been told they could face 50%-plus increases to gas and electricity bills when the cap is increased on 1 April, people who bought or rent apartments in one of the 17,000 blocks in the UK that rely on communal heating and hot water systems are facing fourfold increases as suppliers pass on the huge wholesale price increases unchecked.

It is thought that up to 500,000 people live in developments where at least some of the heating or hot water is provided by a centrally controlled system, usually administered by the company that manages the estate.

Apartments in these developments are all supplied by a single energy supplier, and because this is classified as a commercial deal rather than domestic supply, the residents have not had bills protected by Ofgem’s price cap.

Among those affected are residents of the high-profile Chips building in the New Islington area of Manchester who have seen some of their energy charges triple after the building’s energy supplier collapsed in November.

Those living in the nine-storey building have control over their heating in their individual flats and how much energy they use but not over who supplies the power and what tariff they are on. All of their hot water is provided centrally from a green boiler.

One resident has described finding neighbours in tears after they were all sent enormous bills on 21 December.

In some cases, the bills, which are based on usage rather than estimates, have more than trebled. One owner of a two-bedroom flat saw bills rise from £80 in November to £260 for December. Others have received even higher bills, as the unit gas price has tripled, alongside rising electricity charges.

“The cost of our energy has tripled overnight,” says Magdalena, an academic who lives in the block, who declined to give her surname.

“The gas supplier we had previously went bust and Ofgem appointed a new supplier. As the building I live in has a community heating system we (the residents) are not allowed to change supplier.

“Lots of people in the building, which is a mix of owners, rent-to-buy and tenants, simply can’t afford this sudden huge cost increase. It’s so bad that some have started looking for alternative accommodation, while others are simply not using their heating.

“People are saying that they will have to move out as paying thousands of pounds for heating is just not an option. This has all been done by the management company, with the residents seemingly powerless to stop it, or even have a say … It feels incredibly unfair,” she says.

Switch2 Energy, the billing service provider for the Chips scheme, and the building’s new energy supplier, Pozitive Energy, say the increases experienced by residents stem from the failure of the previous supplier, and reflect the rise in wholesale prices.

Chris Wright*, who lives in the Deptford Landings complex in south-east London, which also features a communal hot water system, contacted Guardian Money to say that he and other residents on the huge site have been told that their hot water charges are about to rise by 464%.

“For some families in the block who use more hot water than we do, this is going to be a big financial blow. How is it that everyone else has their bills capped but flat dwellers like us don’t?” he asks.

Lisa Gregory, who runs the Birmingham-based consultancy Ginger Energy, which is a big player in the sector, says this “truly dreadful” situation is an injustice that will have serious consequences for those affected.

“It is highly likely that many will struggle to pay the new costs and will then get into a debt situation,” she says. “We are about to have to tell the residents of some blocks that they will be paying four times the previous unit charge for their energy. While normal residential consumers are protected – at least for a period – through the price cap, the consumers in these blocks are fully exposed to the market changes.”

She says the classification dates back to a 2012 decision made by the industry regulator Ofgem and predates the current turbulent market conditions and the price cap.

“We are requesting an entire review of the price cap. It doesn’t include our residents; it doesn’t work for suppliers. The system is completely broken,” she says.

In late December, the government announced that it wants Ofgem to take over as the regulator for heat networks, as they are termed. However, it looks as though it will be months if not years before this is enabled as it will require legislation. In the meantime, those living in the unregulated homes could face years of paying higher bills than if their building had a conventional heating system.

This week the boss of British Gas’s parent firm warned that the problem of high energy bills could remain for a further two years.

Stephen Knight, a director of Heat Trust, the national consumer protection scheme for heat networks, says legislation to protect consumers who rely on communal heating schemes is long overdue.

“We welcome the government’s commitment to regulating heat networks and the news that Ofgem will have new powers to oversee the sector. In the absence of regulation, a growing number of consumers are being left unprotected. As the reliance of the country on heat networks grows, so will the scrutiny of their performance and service standards. To avoid any further delays, we need the government to commit to the legislation in May’s Queen’s speech,” he says.

Ofgem said it was committed to taking over the regulation of heat networks but said the timings were outside its control.

Mark Thomas, the chief executive of Communal Energy Partners, which provides energy to Deptford Landings, says suppliers have no choice to pass on the rise in wholesale costs.

“I would ask the government and the regulator to help smooth out the cost to the customer through company loans, or removing green levies or VAT from bills. This would all be very welcome,” he says.

“We totally understand this is a worrying time for Chips residents,” Switch2 says in a statement. “The new tariff reflects the market increases experienced over the last 12 months, which have seen the wholesale gas price increase fivefold since January 2021.”

RMG, the managing agent for the Chips building, told the Manchester Evening News that it had no “involvement in the procurement or placement of utilities contracts”.

Pozitive Energy said it had huge sympathy for the residents but said it inherited the contract and was therefore forced to buy gas to supply the building at the current market rate.

Heat networks are considered by ministers as a proven, cost-effective way of providing reliable low-carbon heat at a fair price to consumers. The UK government has said it is working towards growing the heat networks sector, which provides roughly 2% of UK heat demand but could meet about a fifth by 2050.

* Not his real name

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‘Creepy faces’ appear in Devon cliffs

New photographs show the affects of erosion along East Devon’s red cliffs as they continue to crumble.

Chloe Parkman www.devonlive.com

The striking images were taken near Budleigh Salterton by Lance Mangold, formerly a Scientific Photographer for Oxford University.

The hollowing cliffs appear to show a number of eerie gothic and ghoulish faces – which follows a number of cliff falls within the area over the last 18 months.

It’s all up for interpretation of course and we’d love to know what you can see.

Lance said: “The Victorians used to come from afar to see these sculpted cliffs, so its a shame the rockfall has removed some of the ‘sculptures’.

Last week, East Devon’s notorious red cliffs hit the headlines after drone images captured the aftermath of a cliff fall near a holiday park.

A fascinating shot of the cliffs as erosion transforms the landscape (Image: Lance Mangold)

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.

Lance says the hollowed rock appear to looks like a gothic face (Image: Lance Mangold)

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.”

Lance said: “I think this one was the most interesting, it looks like a rock painting, and the colours are striking.” (Image: Lance Mangold)

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Downing Street parties: all your questions answered.

Owl thought this might help Neil Parish by explaining the limits of Sue Gray’s report. Questions examined include:

What can Sue Gray’s report cover and rule on?

Could an invitation go out without PM’s permission?

Could Mr Johnson really not have known about other parties under his own roof?

How many wine bottles can you fit in a suitcase?

By Kate Whannel www.bbc.co.uk

Hardly a day goes by without another revelation about Downing Street parties during the Covid lockdowns. Each new bombshell leaves another crater of questions about what was going on, how it was allowed to happen, who knew and what happens next?

Below, we attempt to answer these questions and others:

Why are we only learning of the parties now?

The earliest allegation of a government lockdown gathering (so far) dates back to 15 May 2020. But reports of the parties only started appearing in the media in the winter of 2021.

The Daily Mirror’s Pippa Crerar – who first broke the news about two parties, in November, – said she first heard rumours of Christmas parties back in January 2021 but wasn’t able to substantiate them until months later.

People leak stories to journalists for all sorts of reasons – to damage a political rival, for revenge, for fun. But without knowing the identity of the first leaker, it is hard to say why they leaked and why they waited so long.

What we do know is that the Mirror’s first story in November encouraged others to come forward with their own party experiences and almost a month later new tales are still emerging.

Were these parties work or social events?

Some were social events – including the 20 May 2020 drinks attended by the prime minister, that led to his public apology this week. How do we know? Because ITV obtained the email that had invited staff to “bring your own booze” to “socially distanced drinks in the No 10 garden”.

However, Boris Johnson has insisted he believed “implicitly that this was a work event” arguing that the No 10 garden was often used “as an extension of the office”.

There have also been questions about the nature of an event on 15 May 2020. A picture published by the Guardian shows about 19 people, including Mr Johnson and his wife, sitting in the garden with bottles of wine and a cheeseboard. The prime minister said this picture showed “people at work, talking about work”.

Will we hear about more parties?

The number of stories swirling around have led some to wonder if there was a single day during the pandemic when a party wasn’t taking place in No 10. At least 10 alleged gatherings, in Downing Street or government departments, have come to light so far. If you’re a details person, here’s the full list

Will there be more? If the last month is anything to go by, then probably.

What can Sue Gray’s report cover and rule on?

Following the first few reports of parties, the prime minister ordered an investigation to establish the facts.

Many Conservative MPs have said they will wait for the results of that inquiry – being led by senior civil servant Sue Gray – before passing judgement on the prime minister. Ms Gray’s report is likely to be a largely factual account of parties held in Downing Street.

Catherine Haddon, of the Institute for Government think tank, says Ms Gray is unlikely to assign individual blame, but her report “might refer disciplinary action to others”. It may touch on the role of the prime minister, but it is not Ms Gray’s place to judge his behaviour, she adds, although the “bare facts alone” may be damning.

Did the prime minister or others break the law?

Sue Gray cannot rule on whether lockdown laws were broken – but the question is key to the prime minister’s future. If the inquiry uncovers evidence of behaviour that is potentially a criminal offence, it will be referred to the Metropolitan Police and the inquiry will be paused, according to its terms of reference.

What is Dominic Cummings’ role in all of this?

The PM’s senior ex-aide-turned-massive-thorn-in-his-side was one of the first government figures to be accused of breaking Covid rules. He drove from London to County Durham at the height of the first lockdown, later arguing that the move was prompted by security concerns.

More recently he has been making allegations about rule-breaking in No 10 during the pandemic – including writing in a blog about the drinks on 20 May 2020.

Mr Cummings says he warned at the time that the event “seemed to be against the rules”.

Who was invited to the garden drinks on 20 May?

An email from Mr Johnson’s principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds, inviting people to “make the most of the lovely weather”, was sent to a distribution list of around 100 people. But the full list of recipients has not been published.

So why does it matter who was on the list?

Well, the names will show who knew about the party taking place.

Could an invitation go out without PM’s permission?

Downing Street has said Mr Johnson did not see the email inviting staff to the drinks.

But many Westminster-watchers are sceptical.

On Tuesday, Caroline Slocock, who worked in the private offices of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, told BBC Radio 4 it was “inconceivable” the PM wasn’t aware of such an invite, especially one from a close staff member using the word “we”.

Hannah White, of the Institute for Government think tank – a former secretary to the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said she believed the PM “had to have” known about the event.

Who else attended the party?

One of the next steps is to find out who went to the gathering, despite the lockdown . The BBC has been told from sources at the garden drinks that around 30 people were present, alongside the PM and his wife.

Who went to the party will be key for the same reason as the invite list, showing who knew about the event.

But more importantly, the attendee list will show who decided to break the rules – and perhaps the law – individually.

Could Mr Johnson really not have known about other parties under his own roof?

Downing Street itself is a complex series of interconnected houses turned, over the years, into an unusual combination of living and working spaces.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak lives in the flat above No 10 Downing Street. Mr Johnson, wife Carrie and their two young children live in the larger flat above No 11.

Is it plausible that both men would have been unaware of gatherings in the building that is both their home and their place of work?

Are Downing Street staff allowed to drink at work?

The civil servant management code doesn’t mention alcohol or prohibit drinking in the office.

Peter Caldwell – who worked as a government special adviser between 2016 and 2020 – told the BBC News that before the pandemic he would often have a drink in Downing Street on Friday evenings.

BBC political correspondent Ben Wright, who has written a book about the drinking culture in Westminster, says alcohol “has sloshed through the history of political life for centuries”.

“Drink enhances the exhilaration of political success and numbs its disappointments. It unknots in moderation and unbalances in excess.

“Prime ministers have grappled with this for years, from the port-dependent William Pitt the Younger, through to Herbert Asquith, Winston Churchill, Wilson and even Tony Blair, who described alcohol as a “prop” in his memoir.”

How many wine bottles can you fit in a suitcase?

The latest revelation – published by the Telegraph – includes the detail that staff were reportedly sent to a nearby shop with a suitcase, that was brought back “filled with bottles of wine”.

How many might that be? Following a very unscientific experiment – how big is a suitcase, after all – we found we could fit roughly around 30 bottles, or possibly one Nebuchadnezzar, in a medium-to-large suitcase.

Although it would be less if you wanted to pad out the bottles to avoid breakage.

And would there be room for snacks? Do you sacrifice a bottle of wine for a family-sized pack of crisps?

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New Clause 1 – Members of local authorities: disqualification relating to drink and drug driving offences (England)

On Jan 14 Sir Christopher Chope MP sought to introduce a new clause during the third reading of the Local Government (Disqualification) Bill which would, amongst other things, ban those with a drink driving offence from being a local councillor. 

The Local Government (Disqualification) Bill is a private member’s bill. The core purpose of this legislation is to prevent those convicted of sexual offences from having a role as a local elected official that could include access to children and vulnerable adults, and the length of their disqualification would be the length of time that they are subject to the notification requirement.

www.theyworkforyou.com /debates/

This struck Owl as interesting in the light of local Conservative recent preoccupation on DBS checks. It is also interesting because Owl can think of at least one “Senior” Tory Councillor who would be disqualified from office by the amendment clause, were it to become law.

 Sir Christopher’s reasoning for his amendment was a follows:

“My view, reflected in new clause 1, is that councillors who fall below the standards expected in relation to drink and drug driving offences should be included in the category of those who are disqualified from being able to serve as councillors and mayors. I think that they fall four-square within the Government’s definition of having been convicted of behaviour which everyone in a right-minded society would say was intolerable. Why should people who are in that position be allowed to continue as councillors while other councillors who have been convicted of a different set of antisocial offences are excluded? That is the essence of new clause 1. If someone is convicted of driving or being in charge of a motor vehicle with excess alcohol or a controlled drug, they should not be able to hold office as an elected councillor in this country.”

In fact, after debate, Sir Christopher withdrew the amendment.  

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With the cry of victim blaming is Downing Street in denial?

26 May 1868 was the date of the last public execution in UK. Are we about to witness a series of senior advisers and staff being thrown under a Boris Bus in Whitehall to save his skin?

Nothing to do with the pervading culture at the top. – Owl

Operation Save Big Dog: Johnson’s plan for others to take fall over partygate

www.independent.co.uk

Boris Johnson is drawing up a list of officials to offer resignations over Partygate in a bid to salvage his premiership, The Independent has learned.

Dubbed “Operation Save Big Dog” by the prime minister himself, the blueprint includes a drive to work out which heads should roll following the publication of senior official Sue Gray’s findings, as well as highlighting the prime minister’s achievements, according to sources. Officials have also started using the code name, The Independent understands.

Dan Rosenfield, Boris Johnson’s chief of staff, and Martin Reynolds, his private secretary and author of the “BYOB” email, are thought to be possible candidates for departure.

While putting names to the plan is a matter of hot debate, a more broadly accepted idea is that at least one senior political appointee and a senior official must be seen to leave Downing Street over the affair, as both groups share blame, two Whitehall sources said.

A former Tory cabinet minister told The Independent that, although they backed Mr Johnson, they believed a “root and branch” overhaul of No 10 and parts of the Cabinet Office would prove essential to move on from Partygate. It would be a “bare minimum to translate contrition into action”, they said.

The “save big dog” plan includes a communications “grid” in the lead up to the investigation’s conclusion and beyond. This comprises lines for supportive ministers to take in press interviews, emphasising a contrite prime minister and listing his achievements amid the difficult choices posed by the pandemic.

The operation also includes sounding out support among backbenchers for possible leadership rivals including chancellor Rishi Sunak, foreign secretary Liz Truss and even former health secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Mr Hunt is unlikely to command enough support to win the leadership, but No 10 aides believe could play an important role in any leadership contest.

The plan reflects how precarious the position of Downing Street and the Cabinet Office has become following a slew of highly detailed reports on parties amid Covid-19 restrictions.

On Friday, the former director general of the government’s Covid taskforce posted an apology on social media for holding leaving drinks in the Cabinet Office during coronavirus restrictions days before Christmas in 2020.

Kate Josephs, chief executive of Sheffield City Council, said she was cooperating with a probe by senior civil servant Sue Gray and admitted to a “gathering … with drinks, in our office”.

It followed an apology from Downing Street to Buckingham Palace after reports from The Daily Telegraph of two No 10 parties held on the eve of Prince Philip’s socially distanced funeral.

Officials have refused to confirm or deny if Boris Johnson was aware of these parties, after he admitted to attending at least one drinks party and was pictured at a second. On Friday the prime minister’s spokesman said: “It is deeply regrettable that this took place at a time of national mourning and No 10 has apologised to the palace.”

It is not clear if Downing Street admitted, in its apology to the palace, to having breached Covid rules with a social gathering. One of the gatherings was a leaving party for Mr Johnson’s director of communications, James Slack, who said on Friday that the “event should not have happened at the time that it did”.

Downing Street also refused to comment on the existence of a plan to save Mr Johnson, but when asked about the name “Operation Save Big Dog”, a spokesperson said: “We absolutely do not recognise this phrase.”

Polling for The Independent revealed voters are deserting Mr Johnson over the party scandal, with 70 per cent calling for him to quit and almost as many dismissing his Commons apology as bogus.

The survey, by Savanta, found that just 21 per cent backed the prime minister to stay in power.

Just as worryingly for the embattled leader, 68 per cent did not consider his apology – in which he claimed he did not realise a “bring your own booze” gathering in his garden was a party – to be genuine.

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Backlash over move to turn Devon farms into homes

A long-running campaign to save two farms in Teigbridge from being turned into new housing developments is continuing to be fought.

Anita Merritt www.devonlive.com

In 2018, both Manor Farm and Markhams Farm were submitted by Devon County Council’s (DCC) land agent as possible sites for housing development, to the local authority Teignbridge District Council.

Markhams Farm, which lies between Ide and Alphington, has been earmarked in the Teignbridge Draft Local Plan as a huge housing plot where a total of 727 houses could be built.

The site is currently a working farm and part of the county council’s tenant farm estate.

Grade I agricultural farmland at Markhams Farm is one of more than 100 sites across Teignbridge identified as places where future housing could be provided.

Manor Farm at Holcombe, near Dawlish, is also listed as a site that has been submitted as an option for development by the landowner, DCC. It is also a successful working farm.

A campaign led by town and district councillor Alison Foden has been launched to save them for future generations of farmers.

An online petition calling for both farms to be withdrawn as sites for housing development has now been signed by more than 1,500 people.

Markhams Farm overlooking Exeter

Markhams Farm overlooking Exeter

Cllr Foden said: “How can Devon County Council justify throwing away the equivalent acreage of farmland to that which it purchased in 2009 in order to make Markhams Farm more viable?

“Arable and agricultural quality land should not ‘be disposed of’ in a piecemeal fashion, in order to ‘generate capital receipts’ for investment by the council in the capital programme, and ‘enable land to be replenished.

“Farms cannot be established like jigsaw pieces. Moving 80 acres of land from Markhams Farm to generate income to buy more land elsewhere will remove the viability from Markhams Farm which DCC sought to benefit in 2009 when it purchased an additional 85 acres of land there.

“How can DCC declare a climate and ecological emergency, and yet pay no regard farming sustainability, nor care for the current and next generations of farmers in our Devon, by selling off county farmland here and there?

“Why is DCC planning and working to sell off county farmland in order to generate capital receipts, when that county farmland can generate capital receipts for the council?

“Has DCC not considered the effects that the selling off parcels of county farmland must have on the mental health and wellbeing of the county farm tenants and the effects that the threatened sale must have on tenant farmers, their feelings for the farm security, and their farm work plans for the future?

“It is worrying that both sites at Markham Farm and at Manor Farm are proposed for house building at a time when the need for sustainable farming and encouragement for local farming is crucial at this time of climate and biodiversity emergency.”

Markhams Farm Exeter

Markhams Farm Exeter (Image: Teignbridge District Council)

A public consultation run by the district council has already ended.

The petitioners hope that by putting pressure on the county council the land will be withdrawn as a potential location for housing.

Devon County Council were approached for a comment.

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Social care for elderly and vulnerable rationed as Covid hits staff

More than half of councils in England are resorting to exceptional measures to ration social care, a survey has found.

www.independent.co.uk 

The Omicron variant of Covid-19 is forcing so many staff to take sick leave or self-isolate that the systems can no longer cope with rising demand, according to council chiefs.

They dubbed the situation “a worsening national emergency”.

Carers have increased the hours of homecare delivered to older people to record levels, councils report – but they still cannot keep up with the numbers requiring care.  

More than half of directors of social services who responded to the survey said that in at least some cases they were having to temporarily limit the care normally provided, leave people without their usual social contact or ask families to step in to help.  

Stephen Chandler, president of the Association of Directors of Adults Social Services (Adass), said: “We warned before Christmas that we were heading into a national emergency for social care. The sobering reality of that is now becoming starkly clear.  

“Every council is taking extraordinary steps and a majority say they are having to prioritise the most basic and essential care in at least some areas for some of the time.” 

A previous survey by the charity suggested that councils had increased the amount of homecare being provided by 15 per cent in just three months last year.

But more than 400,000 people were waiting for assessment or review of their care needs or for packages of support to be provided.  

The rapid spread of the coronavirus and pay rises in other sectors have worsened a shortage of workers, with more than 100,000 vacancies nationwide.

Agencies that employ them say that on average 14 per cent of their staff are off sick or isolating.  

The new survey found that 49 councils are taking at least one exceptional measure to prioritise care and assess risk for at least some of their area for some of the time.

Council chiefs said the shortages mean, for instance, prioritising life-sustaining care such as supporting someone to eat and remain hydrated over supporting someone to get out of bed or complete other activities.

In some cases staff are unable to review risks and are forced to leave people with dementia, learning disabilities or poor mental health isolated or alone for longer periods than usual.

Mr Chandler said: “These are decisions that no-one wants to take, and many are unacceptable. They are drastic measures and must not become, the norm.   

“Opportunities were repeatedly missed to ensure that adult social care would be robust enough to withstand the challenges posed by Omicron.

“Any money that has been forthcoming, though welcome, has been too little, too late.”  

The association is calling for the government to promise at least £7bn extra a year, rising to £9bn by 2024-25, and a social care minimum wage equal to that paid by the NHS for similar work.

It says a larger share from the new health and social care levy due to be added to national insurance from April should go to social care.

The government said it was doing everything possible to support care staff.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Care staff are working incredibly hard and we are doing everything we can to support them, including with a £462.5m recruitment fund, expanding the Health and Care (Worker) visa scheme, and our ‘Made with Care’ recruitment campaign.

“Over the course of the pandemic, we have made available more than £2.9bn in specific funding for adult social care.

“More than 50 million PCR and 142 million LFD kits have been delivered to care homes and we have invested a further £478m to support safe and timely hospital discharges to get patients into the best place for their care and support to continue.”

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Exmouth is getting serious investment to help keep the community safe

How is this “investment” when part of the site is being sold off for development? – Owl

Simon Jupp www.devonlive.com

Exmouth, one of Devon’s largest towns with thousands of visitors every year, will get a brand new police station fit for the future. It’s truly fantastic news for the town I am very proud to represent.

I have been working closely with Alison Hernandez, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly since I was elected in December 2019. And now, Exmouth is getting serious investment to help keep the community safe with a new state-of-the-art police station.

Let’s be honest, the current police station is an ageing eyesore. I certainly won’t miss it. Neither will nearby residents nor our local police officers who deserve a far better place to work from.

Given the government’s on-going success towards achieving its commitment to recruit 20,000 new police officers, coupled with a clear desire from local residents to have a proper police station in Exmouth, I was able to work closely with the Police & Crime Commissioner and Chief Constable to look again at how we deliver policing locally.

We are set to have a record number of police officers across Devon & Cornwall. Numbers are due to hit 3,610 in the financial year from April. This is 110 more than the area’s previous high of 3,500 in 2009/2010 under the previous Labour government.

New officers will join experienced staff at the new police station in Exmouth. The current site will be redeveloped with part of the land sold to help fund the construction of the new police station on the existing site . A new project team has now been set up to design and deliver the new station. The team tasked with designing the new building will include an area for face-to-face contact between the police and the public.

As well as being one of the largest towns in Devon, Exmouth, along with other coastal communities in the county, has a range of specific challenges when it comes to policing compared to cites or towns in more urban areas.

As we know, Exmouth sees a large increase in population throughout the summer months due to visitors and tourism because so many people want to enjoy our superb beach, restaurants, leisure facilities and pubs. This can be quite a challenge for our local coppers and police staff, so it’s vital they have a modern local base from which to serve the needs of our community throughout the year.

This is the second major investment in local policing in the East Devon constituency since I was elected. I also look after Topsham and St Loyes in Exeter. In April 2020, the city also got a brand-new police station on Sidmouth Road, next to Devon and Cornwall Police’s Middlemoor headquarters. At a cost of £29m, this replaced the ageing Heavitree station.

All this investment is part of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s ongoing multi-million-pound modernisation programme and I am in no doubt that the new Exmouth policing base will further strengthen policing in the town.

Policing is constantly changing as our local populations increase and there are growing demands on our officers. Last year in Exmouth, the Town Council launched a new CCTV system at various locations in the town because the old system was no longer fit for purpose.

I have sat in the control room of this CCTV network and the technology is amazing in terms of what can be seen and where. Whilst chiefly acting as a deterrent, it allows the police to look at footage from across town following any reported incidents. It’s working really well, with many success stories already!

With a new police station for Exmouth, more officers in Devon and Cornwall than ever before, and a state-of-the-art CCTV system now up and running in Exmouth, it demonstrates significant investment in our town, the right resources to keep us safe and a real commitment to law and order in East Devon.