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Posted on

18 Jul 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Democracy, DUP, Sleaze, Spin, Transparency

“Tory minister changes law retrospectively – to hide name of DUP donor”

“If this wasn’t such a serious matter, the thought of a retrospective law being changed retrospectively would be quite amusing. But it isn’t, because it is about so-called “dark money” that was funnelled to the Tories’ new playmates the DUP.

Last year, that party paid for a £282,000 advert promoting the Leave campaign in The Metro newspaper, a free publication that doesn’t even reach the DUP’s constituents – using cash from a £435,000 donation from the Constitutional Research Council (CRC). This group is chaired by Richard Cook, a former Scottish Conservative Party vice-chairman and businessman. This is all public knowledge.

But the original source of the cash is a mystery – and will continue to be, despite the provisions of the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014.

The Act received Royal Assent on March 13, 2014 and became law on May 5, 2016. Part of its scope was to end a rule allowing donors contributing £7,500 or more to parties in Northern Ireland to remain secret – as the purpose of that rule was to protect those funding political parties from becoming potential targets for terrorists during the Troubles.

As enacted by Parliament, the date from which party donors should expect their names to be released was January 1, 2014 – prior to the date in which it was passed, meaning that it was intended as a retrospective Act.

But Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire announced earlier this month that he was making a (retrospective) change and the amendment would only apply from 1 July 2017. So the period of the exemption has been shifted forward by three and a half years and now covers two general elections, two Northern Irish Assembly elections – and the EU referendum campaign for which the DUP received all of that Scottish money to spend on English newspaper adverts.

Mr Brokenshire said he “did not believe it right to impose retrospective regulations on people who donated in accordance with the rules as set out in law at the time”.

In the case of the DUP donation, this is nonsense as the law at the time made it perfectly clear that the identity of any donors would have to be published.

And Mr Brokenshire did this while claiming to be a champion of “full transparency”!

Now, This Writer is not one to go bandying unfounded accusations around, but I think we can all accept the following:

The decision to hide the original of the DUP’s donated cash casts suspicion on the Conservatives, the DUP and on Mr Brokenshire himself – and the stain won’t wash out until satisfactor answers are provided.

http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2017/07/17/tory-minister-changes-law-retrospectively-to-hide-name-of-dup-donor/

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

17 Jul 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Democracy, Minority Government, Scrutiny, Sleaze, Spin, Transparency

“Tory MPs Stop Public Submitting Petitions To Government Until At Least September”

“Members of the public are unable to submit any petitions to Parliament this summer thanks to Tory MPs.

Conservative backbenchers are delaying elections to Parliamentary committees until September – including the one which runs the petition website.

No new petitions have been allowed since Parliament broke up for the election on May 3, and all those open at the time were closed.

Mark Hunt, Communications Director at the charity Meningitis Now, is frustrated this vital tool for the public to put pressure on MPs is unavailable.

The charity helped sign up more than 823,000 people to a petition calling for the meningitis B vaccine to be given to all children after two-year-old Faye Burdett died just 11 days after contracting the illness.

Hunt said: “For us, the e-petition provided an open and transparent process for challenging government thinking around a topical and genuine issue, and whilst the petition didn’t succeed in its stated aim, it made the process of democracy more open and transparent.

“Having witnessed and been part of the e-petition process and the way that it gave the general public the chance to express its views, it would seem to be a retrograde step to postpone or deny them this opportunity even in the short term.”

The elections to parliamentary committees are organised by the Tories backbench 1922 Committee – but that body only held its own vote today on who should fill the officer positions needed to run the elections.

Should the Tories wish, they could hold the parliamentary committee elections before the summer recess – which starts on Thursday – but it has been reported the whips office are delaying the process.

Tory MP Julian Lewis – re-elected chair of the Defence Select Committee – last week resorted to asking Commons Speaker John Bercow for his help in moving the process along.

Bercow replied: “If memory serves me correctly, what the officers of the 1922 Committee usually do in respect of their party—perhaps something similar operates in other parties—is simply oversee the count.

“Whether the officers of the 1922 Committee have or have not been elected is not a matter for the Chair—that is a party matter—but, frankly, overseeing the count does not require Einsteinian qualities; it is a pretty prosaic task.

“I do not think it would be right to say that the resources of the House could be made available in what is essentially the oversight of a matter undertaken by parties.

“However, it would seem to be perfectly feasible, if my colleagues, the Deputy Speakers, were so willing, that they and I could volunteer our services to oversee the count, if the House thought that that would be helpful.

“My basic point stands: do colleagues want these Committees to be set up sooner rather than later?

“If they do not, that is a pity, but if they do, those of us who are of good will and can be relied upon to conduct the count perfectly fairly, would, I suspect, be very happy to offer our services.

Labour MP Helen Jones was re-elected chairman of the Petitions Committee last week, and spoke of her frustration that the system is in limbo.

She said: “The petitions site had to close when Parliament stopped unexpectedly for the general election. I know that this has been frustrating for many people.

“The site will open again once the new Petitions Committee is set up, so it’s essential that the Committee is established as soon as possible.

“This isn’t something that I can control, but I’ll be doing everything I can make sure that petitioners don’t have to wait longer than is absolutely necessary.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/tory-mps-petitions-government_uk_596ce991e4b0e983c057e8e8?

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

12 Jul 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Police (local), Sleaze, Spin

Crime czar Alison Hernandez does U-turn and puts deputy plan “on hold”

“Crime czar Alison Hernandez has bowed to pressure and abandoned a plan to appoint a Tory colleague from her local council days as her second-in-command. The Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner asked the police and crime panel to rubber stamp the appointment of fellow Conservative and Torbay councillor Mark Kingscote on Friday.

Ms Hernandez wanted the 55-year-old NHS support worker, who specialises in mental health, to help her with the workload on a £30,000 salary.

But, amid concerns over his qualifications for the role and controversy over a tweet referring to lesbians as “lesbos”, the the panel of councillors rejected the proposal.

Mr Kingscote’s tasteless tweet was covered here by EDW:
https://eastdevonwatch.org/2017/07/08/the-police-and-crime-panel-and-that-tweet/

The hearing heard how the attempted appointment “smacked of nepotism”.

After a private meeting, the panel concluded that Kingscote – a staunch Conservative who once chained himself to a set of railings to protest about the downfall of his hero, Margaret Thatcher, “does not meet minimum requirements of the post”.

The ruling capped a bruising week for Ms Hernandez, in which a council voted she should be removed from her role for making “stupid and dangerous” comments about guns.

Plymouth City Council’s Labour group tabled a vote of no confidence in Alison Hernandez, saying they are “extremely alarmed” at her stance on how to tackle terrorists.

Ms Hernandez was not bound by the panel’s decision, which was revealed to the commissioner in a letter received yesterday.

However, she risked making enemies of a group which is constituted to oversee her work, placing her a loggerheads for the final three years of her tenure.

In a statement released today, Ms Hernandez accepted the decision and said she “has put plans to appoint a deputy on hold”.

“I am disappointed that the Panel did not feel able to support my choice of deputy but I am willing to accept its recommendation,” she said. “I will now spend some time contemplating my next move and will await the appointment of a new chief executive before making a decision.”

“I would like to thank Mark Kingscote for being willing to consider taking on this challenge on behalf of the people of Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and I believe he would have served the people of our counties and islands well.”

Read Alison Hernandez’s letter to the panel:

Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Confirmation Hearing Report

Thank you for your letter of 11th July following the confirmation hearing on 7th July.

I am disappointed that the Panel does not feel able to support my choice of deputy. However, while I feel there are some misunderstandings around both the role, and the process of appointment, I reluctantly accept the recommendation and will not be appointing Mark Kingscote as my deputy Police and Crime Commissioner.

The Panel represents our communities across Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of
Scilly and I absolutely respect the views of its members but, if you will allow me, I think it would be helpful to respond to the points raised about Mark Kingscote’s suitability.

In relation to estates, I require someone who can assist with the strategic overview of the planning and investment part of the process not the day to day maintenance. So while I can see that you may doubt his track record in estate management, I did feel Mark had the necessary experience in estate development as he has successfully steered multi-million pound planning applications.

On the second point Mark has apologised for his poor choice of words while using Twitter. Please be assured he did not mean to insult, offend or be discriminatory and he is sad that he was unable to convince the Panel of this.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I must address your point about working councillors. I am determined to encourage more working people to become elected councillors so that our communities can be better represented. Elected roles cannot only be for the retired, unemployed or wealthy. I myself worked after being elected and I strongly believe that Mark would have been able to serve both Torbay residents and the wider population of Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly well.

I will now spend some time contemplating my next move and will await the
appointment of a new chief executive before making a decision.

I look forward to seeing you in August at confirmation hearings for both the new Treasurer and CEO. Thank you for finding the time in your diary to enable this to happen outside of the normal schedule of meetings.

Yours sincerely
Alison Hernandez
Police and Crime Commissioner
Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly”

http://www.devonlive.com/crime-czar-alison-hernandez-performs-u-turn-on-unfit-deputy/story-30436982-detail/story.html

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

6 Jul 2017

Posted under

Accountability, DUP, General Election, Lobbying, Post-Brexit Adjustments, Scrutiny, Sleaze, Transparency, Voting

DUP funding secrecy to be stopped – but not for massive Brexit loan

Owl says: Two parties working together, both using dirty money to buy votes and manipulate power – are East Devon Tory voters happy with this?

“When the law over political donations was overhauled (or rather, introduced – as it had previously been pretty much a secret free-for-all), an exception was made for Northern Ireland. The requirements for transparency of donations in the rest of the UK* was not applied to Northern Ireland as, still fresh from its years of bloody violence, it was felt by many that forcing political donors to be named was not yet appropriate.

That secrecy has, however, come under recent sustained criticism as it has opened up a loophole for secret donations to impact not only elections in Northern Ireland but also UK-wide contests. In particular, a secret £435,000 donation to the DUP went on campaigning in favour of Brexit across the whole UK.

Now, however, the government has announced that donations in Northern Ireland will be subject to the same transparency rules as in the rest of the UK.

One catch – up until now, the source of large secret donations has still had to be recorded even if not published. The government’s plan is for those records to remain secret despite the Electoral Commission’s calls for transparency over donations made in recent years too. So the full story of that £435,000 for the Brexit referendum may never be known.

* This transparency is not perfect, as continuing disputes over unincorporated associations in particular demonstrates, but it is pretty widespread.”

https://www.markpack.org.uk/150676/northern-ireland-political-donations-transparency/

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

30 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Scrutiny, Sleaze, Standards Committee, Transparency

“Judge lifts stay on council continuing investigation into conduct of councillor”

“The claimant in Hussain v Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council [2017] EWHC 1641 (Admin), Cllr Mahboob Hussain, was alleged to have been engaged in various transactions in early 2012 which involved procuring the sale of council assets to family friends at a substantial undervalue.

The councillor, an elected Labour member of the Labour controlled authority, was also alleged to have used his power and influence as a senior politician within Sandwell to have parking tickets issued to his family expunged.

The council’s audit committee had commenced an investigation after various allegations circulated in 2014 in the press and on social media that there had been serial and longstanding wrongdoing by elected members.

An external firm of solicitors were brought in to assist. The firm interviewed Cllr Husssain on two separate occasions about the allegations.
“Regrettably, towards the end of the process, the solicitor conducting the investigation made a personal and derogatory observation about the claimant and his family to the chief executive,” Mr Justice Green said.

The chief executive, Jan Britton, then considered whether it was proper to continue with the firm given the risk of bias. It was decided that – with the investigation at an advanced stage – the work should be completed. But it was also decided that the evidence and report should be submitted to leading counsel for independent advice.

The solicitors’ report was presented to Sandwell Council in April 2016. A QC then advised in May 2016.

“The gist of the advice was that there was a serious case to be met by the claimant and that the solicitors report and the opinion should be placed into the public domain to address criticisms then being made in the press that the authority was suppressing wrongdoing and not taking its obligations seriously,” Mr Justice Green said in a press summary of the ruling.
Counsel also advised that a formal investigation of the allegations against the claimant under the Localism Act 2011 be initiated.

The judge said the investigation then became ‘political’ in the sense that the investigation was used by members against each other during elections of a new Leader of the council. The solicitors’ report and the QC’s opinion were leaked.

When the council said it intended to publish the two documents, Cllr Hussain sought permission for judicial review and an order prohibiting publication.
The High Court refused permission for a judicial review challenge, but the Court of Appeal went on to grant permission. Sandwell’s investigation was stayed by the High Court pending the outcome of Cllr Hussain’s challenge. This also prevented the authority from convening a standards committee investigation to hear and then rule upon the allegations against him.

The claimant advanced a number of grounds of challenge. The judge said these raised issues about the scope of the powers of local authorities generally to investigate alleged wrongdoing under the Local Government Act 1972 and the Localism Act 2011 and the interaction between these measures and the Data Protection Act 1998.

The claimant argued that:

The investigation was and remained flawed and unlawful because it was infected by bias, politically motivated, oppressive, irrational and unreasonable.

There was no lawful power to investigate alleged misconduct pre-dating the coming into effect of the Localism Act 2011 (1 July 2012), and no power more generally to invoke the powers in the Local Government Act 1972 and the Localism Act 2011 in support of investigations into this sort of alleged misconduct.

In relation to the decision to place the solicitors’ report and the QC’s opinion into the public domain, this was an irrational and politically motivated act, that it was infected by bias, and in any event the decision was unlawful under data protection legislation and violated the rights of Cllr Hussain and his family under Article 8 ECHR.

Dismissing the claim for judicial review, Mr Justice Green said: “On the evidence before the Court there is a serious prima facie case against the claimant. The allegations should now be investigated properly in accordance with the formal arrangement instituted by the council under the LA 2011 [Localism Act].

“The council has ample powers to conduct investigations into this sort of impropriety. The argument that Parliament intended an amnesty to be accorded to those engaged in wrongdoing before the coming into effect of the LA 2011 (on 1st July 2011) is rejected. The decision to publish the solicitors report and the opinion were fully justified and in the public interest and were not prohibited by data protection laws or Article 8 ECHR.”

The judge said he had also decided that even if he were wrong in his analysis of the powers of the local authority and that it had in the past acted unlawfully that none of these breaches would be material or have any real impact on the fairness of the investigatory procedure going forward.
“A striking feature of the case is that the standards committee, which will hear and adjudicate upon allegations made against the claimant, has not yet been convened, due to the stay that the claimant successfully obtained from the High Court,” Mr Justice Green said. [His emphasis]

“When the stay is lifted, which it will be by Order of this Court, the claimant will have a full opportunity to present his case and establish that the allegation against him are to be rejected.”

The judge said he agreed with the position adopted by the council that the allegations were serious and that there was a powerful public interest in those allegations being thoroughly and fairly tested and adjudicated upon.

“The fact that the issues have acquired a ‘political’ flavour to them is not a reason for the council, as a body, to act differently. On the contrary it must act independently and objectively throughout, as it has done,” he noted.

The stay on all proceedings was lifted.

Commenting on the ruling, Sandwell’s Britton said: “We welcome the judgment that the claim for a judicial review has been rejected in totality and that the council’s case has been vindicated.

“Now legal issues have come to a conclusion, the council is able to proceed with its standards process.”

http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31697%3Ajudge-lifts-stay-on-council-continuing-investigation-into-conduct-of-councillor&catid=59&Itemid=27

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

29 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Democracy, General Election, Inequality, Sleaze

Tory MP hates that social media is available to all – then retweets a picture of a pink penis!

“After a tumultuous day of U-turns and PR disasters in Parliament yesterday, Theresa May probably thought things couldn’t get much worse.

However, one of her Tory MPs has just gone and said something on social media that a huge section of Britain will find highly offensive.

In typical sneering Tory fashion, the Conservative MP for South West Devon, Gary Streeter, in a heated exchange with journalist Paul Mason, said:

“This is why i (sic) hate social media. It gives a voice to people who dont (sic) deserve one”.

Yes, you read that right. A Conservative MP doesn’t think ordinary people deserve to have a voice.

In a further display of how little this particular Tory MP understands about the real world, he promptly proceeded to retweet one of the numerous responses to his elitist outburst – a response which just so happened to be a GIF of a pink penis running through a forest.

One can only imagine the thought process that an elected representative must go through when deciding that retweeting a set of galloping gonads is a good idea.

To Mr Streeter’s peculiar retweet, another Twitter user replied:

“Gary… you retweet a penis running through a forest but won’t answer a polite question from one of your constituents… #confused”

We have contacted Gary Streeter for comment on his elitist comments, but presumably his head is still firmly inserted up his own backside, because he has not as yet had the good grace to respond.”

http://evolvepolitics.com/sneering-tory-mp-says-hates-social-media-gives-voice-people-dont-deserve-one/

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

27 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Police (local), Scrutiny, Sleaze

Comments

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Hernandez friend, now Deputy PCC, revers Mrs Thatcher, adores the Queen and calls Mrs May “Mother Theresa May”!

The Chief Constable must be loving this!

“Devon’s newly revealed deputy police and crime commissioner is a “staunch” Conservative who once chained himself to a set of railings to protest about the downfall of his hero, Margaret Thatcher.

Mark Kingscote has now been officially revealed by crime czar Alison Hernandez as her second-in-command, a role which will come with an estimated salary of £30,000.

The 55-year-old NHS mental health support worker is a close ally of Ms Hernandez from the days the pair were jointly-elected Torbay councillors for Shiphay with the Willows.

Ms Hernandez faced criticism during her election campaign that she would politicise the role, including from predecessor Tony Hogg, who quit the Tories in protest at the end of his office.

However, she has opted to recruit a fellow party member from her home town, prizing his track record in mental health and diversity in an appointment which has been criticised as “smacking of nepotism”.

A brief glance at Twitter shows her deputy is a loyal Conservative who reveres Mrs Thatcher, adores the Queen and even refers to the current prime minister as “Mother Theresa” May.

Deputy police and crime commissioner Mark Kingscote once chained himself to railings in protest at Tory plot to depose Margaret Thatcher

Devon’s newly revealed deputy police and crime commissioner is a “staunch” Conservative who once chained himself to a set of railings to protest about the downfall of his hero, Margaret Thatcher.

Mark Kingscote has now been officially revealed by crime czar Alison Hernandez as her second-in-command, a role which will come with an estimated salary of £30,000.

The 55-year-old NHS mental health support worker is a close ally of Ms Hernandez from the days the pair were jointly-elected Torbay councillors for Shiphay with the Willows.

Ms Hernandez faced criticism during her election campaign that she would politicise the role, including from predecessor Tony Hogg, who quit the Tories in protest at the end of his office.

However, she has opted to recruit a fellow party member from her home town, prizing his track record in mental health and diversity in an appointment which has been criticised as “smacking of nepotism”.

A brief glance at Twitter shows her deputy is a loyal Conservative who reveres Mrs Thatcher, adores the Queen and even refers to the current prime minister as “Mother Theresa” May.

Councillor Kingscote insists his views do not prevent him from looking and thinking “outside the box” and he will not bring party politics into policing.

But he does nothing to conceal or play down his deep admiration for Mrs Thatcher and her “special aura”.

He staked out Brighton’s Grand Hotel in 1987, the first time the Tories had stayed there since the IRA bomb of 1984 which nearly killed the then prime minister, bearing a bouquet of flowers.

Three years later, he was so furious at Michael Heseltine for launching a leadership challenge that he chained himself to the railings outside the Tory MP’s Mayfair home.

“I am more of a Thatcherite than a Conservative – she was a great inspiration to me,” he told Devon Live.

“That is based on the free market, deregulation and giving people the tools to get on with their own life. I believe in giving people a hand up not a hand-out and give people a chance to make something of their life.

“People have short memories but I remember how sad and desperate Britain was before she came to power: the three-day week, public sector strikes…Britain was on its knees.”

Mr Kingscote said he received many hundreds of letters of support from around the country for his demonstration, which saw him moved on by police.

“I went to Michael Heseltine’s house and we chained ourselves to the railings – the police came along and said, ‘Behave yourselves and get on your way’.

“Later we went to Downing Street and were greeted by rapturous applause.”

Mr Kingscote also reveals how his floral tribute to the so-called Iron Lady also began on a whim in his hometown, Torbay.

“I met Mrs Thatcher on many occasions, the most memorable being the Tory party conference of 1987,” he recalled.

“I said to my friend Vera ‘its Margaret’s birthday tomorrow I want to get her some flowers’.

“We went to Brighton and bumped into Michael Heseltine around 7am. He said, ‘You had better check with the heavy mob’ as security was tight.

“It was all cordoned off so we went upstairs and waited and waited while she was having a cabinet meeting.

“All of a sudden the door opened and I saw the outline and said ‘it’s Maggie’ and she said ‘you had better come in’ – we said we had come to wish her happy birthday to show how much we loved her.

She looked at the flowers and said ‘oh, red, white and blue – the colours of freedom and democracy in our country. May we never betray these colours’.

“We were in there for 15 to 20 minutes. It is amazing when you think how powerful she was in the 80s – there were ambassadors and heads of state waiting – she didn’t have to do that.

“There are only two people who have ever made me feel nervous in their presence: one was Maggie – she had a huge aura about her – and the other was the Queen.

“The dress, the hair, the make-up – everything about her was powerful and she used it all to maximum effect.”

The post of deputy police and crime commissioner was first raised on the campaign trail by Ms Hernandez, who toyed with the idea of campaigning for office alongside a running mate.

She eventually stood alone on the Tory ticket and was elected in her own right.

But last month, Devon Live revealed that she was considering appointing Mr Kingscote to share the workload, including increased scrutiny.

On Friday, he was formally announced before being presented to a meeting of the Police and Crime Panel next week.

His knowledge of mental health during 25 years in the NHS, his experience as Torbay’s planning committee, and a councillor since 2000, persuaded Ms Hernandez to offer him the role.

Cllr Kingscote is passionate about promoting diversity and this area will be key to Ms Hernandez’s plans to include marginalised communities in policing decisions.

He says, as a gay man, he has never experienced any prejudice, but will “speak up on behalf” of those whose views may not receive sufficient attention.

“I have never in my life experienced any prejudice but that might just be because of the person I am,” he added.

“In this day and age sexuality is not really relevant. I am also a committed member of the Church of England but you have got to have a broad outlook on life.

“You don’t have to be part of a particular group to want the best for them.”

He says his “staunch” Conservatism will be channelled into getting value for money in policing for taxpayers in Devon and Cornwall.

Asked about the recent row over Ms Hernandez’s comments over armed citizens, Cllr Kingscote feels his new boss has been harshly criticised.

He says her suggestion that allowing registered firearm users to combat terrorists was simply stimulating debate.

“Sometimes you need to debate things to know if it is a good policy or not,” he added.

“Both Alison and myself have strong views. I am not frightened to challenge my views or to challenge hers: that’s what makes a good team to challenge and influence policy

“Of course I am a Conservative and my belief in Conservative values will never change but you have got to look at the bigger picture.

“My three principles are freedom, democracy and the rule of law.”

http://www.devonlive.com/deputy-crime-czar-on-debate-diversity-and-his-love-for-margaret-thatcher/story-30411987-detail/story.html#2zwRxTOuwUIUiKWr.99

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Posted by
East Devon Watch

Posted on
26 Jun 2017

Posted under
East Devon Tories, General Election, Sleaze

Did YOU vote for the DUP?

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Posted by
East Devon Watch

Posted on
23 Jun 2017

Posted under
Accountability, Austerity cuts, Police (local), Sleaze

Meet and question Police and Crime Commissioner Hernandez in Exmouth

“Police commissioner to attend meeting in Exmouth

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall is to answer questions from the public at an event in Exmouth.

Alison Hernandez will attend an open meeting which will take place at Exmouth Community College’s Telfer Centre on July 5, at 7pm.

Residents from Exmouth and the surrounding area will be able to question her on local issues.”

http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/police-commissioner-to-attend-meeting-in-exmouth-1-5075147

QUESTIONS SUCH AS:

Why do you need a deputy.
Why did you appoint a “good friend” to be your deputy?
Did you consult the Police and Crime Panel?
How many people did you interview for the post of deputy?
Do you really believe people with guns should supplement police?

and

What exactly are you FOR?

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East Devon Watch

Posted on
23 Jun 2017

Posted under
Accountability, Police (local), Sleaze, Transparency

Hernandez appoints “old friend” as her deputy

Owl says: can this woman sink any further into the swamp? How many people were interviewed for the job, one wonders. The Police and Crime Panel has to ratify the post. Now THAT will be interesting!

“Crime czar Alison Hernandez has named a Conservative colleague from her local council days as her second-in-command.

The Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner admitted in April this year that she was considering appointing a deputy commissioner to share the workload, including increased scrutiny.

She had toyed with the idea of campaigning for office alongside a running mate last year but eventually stood alone on the Tory ticket and was elected in her own right.

Now she has revealed that fellow Conservative and Torbay councillor Mark Kingscote will be her deputy.

Cllr Kingscote, a 55-year-old NHS support worker, who specialises in mental health is chairman of Torbay’s planning committee and a councillor since 2000.

He was born in Torquay and has been in the NHS for 25 years, is the elected member for Shiphay with the Willows, a ward Ms Hernandez used to jointly represent alongside him.

Devon Live first revealed the appointment earlier this month.

At the time Cllr Kingscote said he had not “had a conversation about” nor been offered the post, which carries an estimated salary level of £50,000 a year though it is expected to be part-time and cost the taxpayer closer to £30,000 annually.

However, he said he believed he had the experience to take on the role.

“I am more than capable of doing the job so I don’t see why not,” he added.

“I am chairman of the planning committee, have been on the scrutiny panel for more than four years and am perfectly capable of putting my hand to lots of different things.

“I have known Alison for a long time and we have worked together on lots of community projects in the past.

“I went down to help her last week – she said “do you want to come along?” and I said “yes”. It was quite casual, just supporting her really.

“I have been doing community engagement for a long time so it’s not unusual that I would get involved in a thing like that.

“I have been involved in diversity and supporting the police in wards I represent.”

Ms Hernandez is free to appoint a deputy, as other commissioners have, without approval from the Police and Crime Panel, which is set to convene early next month.

The commissioner’s predecessor, Conservative Tony Hogg, also took on paid help in the role.

He recruited Jan Stanhope for strategic support after he was elected, paying her around £20,000 a year for a two-day post, although she was not officially designated as his deputy.

Phillipa Davey, a Labour city councillor in Plymouth and a member of the panel which oversees the work of the commissioner, said that the appointment smacked of nepotism.

“I have to be careful what I say as at the moment I don’t know anything at all about the appointment or his credentials, she told Devon Live.

“It does seem a bit odd – jobs for people’s friends.

“I would be interested to know what experience he has and how qualified he is to do the job especially as this is a new post which we will all be paying for.”

The plans for a deputy come after the £100,000 a year chief executive of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner left at the end of last month.

Andrew White, who was recruited by Mr Hogg, has been hired by Lincolnshire Police to work as second-in-command to chief constable Bill Skelley.

Chief cons Skelly, who left his previous job as assistant chief constable in Devon and Cornwall last year, has hired White to become the force’s most senior civilian officer.

Ms Hernandez said she will next week ask the Police and Crime Panel to support the appointment of Mark Kingscote as her deputy.

She said he has significant experience in scrutinising the use of tax-payers money, planning, health (particularly mental health) and diversity.

“I have every confidence that Mark is the right person for this role,” she added.

“He is a strong individual who will represent the most vulnerable in our communities well, is committed to building safe, resilient and connected communities and with a track record in the areas we need to enhance efforts on.”

http://www.devonlive.com/crime-czar-appoints-old-tory-council-colleague-as-deputy/story-30406322-detail/story.html#1owjoWtiXb0PpTha.99

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East Devon Watch

Posted on
20 Jun 2017

Posted under
Accountability, Austerity cuts, General Election, Lobbying, Minority Government, Sleaze

“Too busy” Prime Minister dines on green asparagus and truffle salad with Tory donors this evening

“Theresa May was schmoozing multi-millionaire Tory donors at the Savoy while Grenfell Tower residents faced homelessness and talks with the DUP stalled, HuffPost UK can reveal.

The Prime Minister spent 50 minutes hobnobbing with Conservative backers at the lavish London hotel on Tuesday, despite aides insisting she was too “busy” for other engagements.

Her appearance comes in the wake of recent terror attacks, as Brexit negotiations open and the day before the Queen’s Speech is put before Parliament.

May was accused of a lack of “humanity” after she dodged survivors of the Grenfell Tower blaze during a swift 15-minute tour of the site in the immediate aftermath.

But at the Savoy event – where tables cost up to £5,000 – the Prime Minister posed for selfies and a bottle of champagne was raffled to raise funds.

Ian Lavery, chairman of the Labour Party, hit out at May’s decision to attend the event, adding: “At a time when the country is facing some of the most difficult and challenging times in recent memory, it speaks volumes of the Prime Minister that her priority was to spend time raising money for the Tories.

“One day before the Queen’s Speech and in the midst of the Brexit negotiations, Theresa May should be focused on providing the leadership this country so badly needs, not wining and dining big Tory donors so that she can refill her party’s election coffers.

“This is yet another example of the appalling lack of judgement and tact she has shown over recent days. The British people deserve a government that will stand up for the many; what they’ve got is a Prime Minister and government that always stands up for the few.”

…At the Savoy event, which HuffPost UK attended, May devoted almost an hour of her time to party members, delivering a lengthy speech and joking the election result “didn’t turn out quite as I planned”.

Guests ate a green asparagus salad with truffle and soft boiled egg, followed by slow roasted salt marsh rump of lamb with caramelised heirloom carrots and a tarragon jus.

Among the guests at the luncheon were a string of wealthy City bankers and Ukrainian-born British businessman Alexander Temerko, who has provided a steady stream of cash to the Tories when David Cameron was leader.

…Conservative association chairman Patrick Evershed pleaded with the super-rich guests to hand over cash before he introduced the prime minister.

He asked those gathered to show “even more generosity” because “times are very tough”.

He said: “This election is not what we all hoped for and it certainly is not what we deserve. Despite that Theresa May got 5% more votes than David Cameron did two years ago.”

“We need a lot more to do even better than we have in the last one, so please be very generous.

“The minimum prescription is 25 but I think several of you here are pretty well off.”

The party received £12.7m in donations between May 3 and June 8, while Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party received £4.5m and the Lib Dems £1.1m.

The Government has also stressed the Prime Minister is making “some progress” in helping Grenfell Tower victims after a fund was set up.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/theresa-may-savoy_uk_59493a8ce4b07499199ed1a6

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Posted on
10 Jun 2017

Posted under
Accountability, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local), Sleaze, Spin, Transparency

“Ordinary people” – millionaires!

“This morning’s BBC Breakfast show contained an absolutely astounding series of interviews about the the Tories’ hated Dementia Tax policy and the state of the NHS.

What the BBC failed to mention during the course of both sections is that their supposedly ‘impartial’ voice of concern for the NHS (a man who the BBC described as ‘loving the NHS’ was actually an ex-Tory Councillor, millionaire property mogul who had worked for a PRIVATE healthcare company for 33 years.

The ex-Tory Councillor was interviewed both as a seemingly ordinary member of the public at 07:25, saying the council had been “phenomenal” when his wife was diagnosed with dementia and needed help, and just an hour later he returned in a pre-recorded segment debating the future of the NHS with a junior Dr who was distraught at the destruction caused the Tory cuts.

The first discussion was about Theresa May’s disgusting dementia tax. The interview starts with another member of the public expressing deep concerns about the cap on social care, saying she is worried that her children will be left with nothing if her or her husband have to go into care.

The conversation then moves on to a man who is referred to just as “Gordon”, and he speaks about his experience of funding care for his wife who he says was diagnosed with dementia in 2009.

The conversation then moves on to a man who is referred to just as “Gordon”, and he speaks about his experience of funding care for his wife who he says was diagnosed with dementia in 2009.

Gordon Maclellan BBCHe says that he found the local council to be “phenomenal” in offering him and his wife support to help fund her care. He goes on to say that he would certainly benefit from the Tories proposals to raise the cap on care costs from £23,000 to £100,000.

Just over an hour later on the same programme, we encounter another interview with the same man, or to give him his full title Dr Gordon Maclellan, who introduces himself as being recently retired.

This time he’s here to talk about the NHS crisis and discuss the best way to fix it with a 33-year-old junior doctor.

Breakfast describes Maclellan as being somebody who “loves the NHS”, and the purpose of the segment is to help people decide which party is best suited to cure the NHS crisis.

Throughout the interview, Gordon consistently uses classic Tory talking points and the usual ridiculous defenses of their carving up of the NHS, at one point he defends the Tories cuts by saying:

“people died in my day too”

So, who is this Gordon Maclellan? And why does he always seem to keen to defend the Tories? …

… Dr Gordon MacLellan worked as a Private Orthopaedic consultant for the Nuffield Health Brentwood Hospital for 33 years.”

http://www.devonlive.com/five-sets-of-roadworks-to-affect-major-devon-roads-next-week/story-30381759-detail/story.html

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

8 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, General Election, Lobbying, Sleaze, Voting

At least one local paper stands up for itself – but not here

“While taking Conservative cash to place the ad, The Blackpool Gazette ran a headline above it which read: Poverty-hit families are forced to rely on food bank handouts. And inside, the paper ran a special report detailing the impact of Conservative austerity on local families [as quoted below]:

Food bank Britain

Britain is hungry. The figures from the Trussell Trust, Britain’s largest network of food banks, reveal a staggering rise in emergency food dependency across the country. As shown below, food bank dependency was virtually a non-issue in 2008/9. But the number of emergency food supplies given out now essentially accounts for one in every 60 adults in the UK.”

https://www.thecanary.co/2017/06/07/one-defiant-local-paper-absolutely-shafted-theresa-may-final-day-campaign-image/

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Posted on

10 May 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Democracy, General Election, Sleaze, Transparency, Voting

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“Is the Prime Minister fake news”

From the blog of Peter Cleasby:

“Last week the Conservative Party – rebranded nationally as “Theresa May’s Team” – bought advertising space in a dozen local papers around the country to promote the Prime Minister’s general election campaign [1]. Nothing wrong in that in principle: it’s a long-standing habit of political parties to pay for advertising. The towns and cities in question appear to be Parliamentary seats which the Tories are targeting to win. So far, business much as usual.

The commentariat has tended to criticise the tactic as a way of getting around spending limits for constituency election campaigns. It’s a targeted national campaign which doesn’t mention the local candidates so it’s not local spending, and it’s all within Electoral Commission rules.

Frankly, that’s a second-order complaint. The Conservative Party is simply doing what any advertiser would do given the opportunity. If it’s an unintended loophole in the spending rules, it can be put right. Much more insidious, and an example of further erosion of any semblance of standards in corporate behaviour, is the way in which the newspapers allowed the ads to be designed and placed.

What the local papers did – or, probably more accurately, what they were told to do by their corporate owners – was to accept the advertisement in the form of a wrap-around, with each paper’s normal masthead integrated into the paid-for “front page”. In other words, a blatant attempt to mislead readers into thinking their local paper was supporting Mrs May’s election campaign.

Defenders of the scheme have argued that people would easily see that it was an advertisement. Really? Two points here. First, at least on the fake front page of the Exeter Express and Echo, the words “ADVERTISER’S ANNOUNCEMENT” are set in a white font on a pale grey background. This is invisible to anyone looking at the paper from a distance, on a newsstand for example.

Second, it’s not unheard of for national papers such as the Sun and the Daily Mail to trumpet their support for a political party as editorial matter on their front pages. If they can do it, why should people be surprised that the local papers are doing the same?

The advertising impact isn’t limited to people who buy the paper: indeed, they will soon discover the real front page inside and put Mrs May in the recycling. What the technique achieves is massive exposure of Mrs May’s slogans because the papers – typically weekly ones – are displayed on newsstands for a whole week. These stands are often to be found in prominent places in major retailers: in Exeter, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s have separate stands for the Echo in the entrance areas.

The edition of the Exeter paper that carried the fake front page also ran a leader article entitled “Delivering facts not fake news” [2]. The irony of this was lost on the paper’s editor. In response to my complaint to him about the fake front page, Mr Parker said:

“The material carried this week was part of a nationwide advertising initiative by the Conservative Party and the decision to publish it was made solely for business reasons as we are, after all, a business.

“It was made clear that this was an advertising arrangement with the Conservative party and is something we are at the moment exploring with other political parties.

“Again, any future decisions will be based on the commercial side of the business and will have absolutely no bearing on the way the Express and Echo covers editorially any news stories whether or not they are of a political nature.

“I cannot emphasise enough that we are a totally independent news operation and proud of that fact and will continue to be so.”

Taking advertisers’ money is one thing. Trying to mislead your readers – who may not be interested in the distinction between the commercial and editorial sides of the business – is quite another. And since the rules on political balance don’t apply to the press, we can assume that only those parties who can pay out hard cash for wrap-arounds will be included in the exploratory discussions Mr Parker refers to.

Up in Westmoreland, where the local paper also ran a fake front page, there is some community anger, threatening a boycott of the rag [3]. Something worth considering everywhere else, since even if local papers no longer care about their reputations, their owners do care about sales and profits.

Meanwhile Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and all other retailers giving prominence to local papers should move the newsstands carrying the fake front page to the nearest back room until normal service is resumed.”

NOTES

[1] For a list of papers and constituencies, see https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/how-the-conservatives-are-using-local-adverts-to-get-around

[2] A longer version of the article is in the online version at http://www.devonlive.com/8203-in-an-age-of-fake-stories-we-always-provide-trusted-news/story-30314208-detail/story.

[3] See https://eastdevonwatch.org/2017/05/09/northern-community-boycotts-local-paper-over-tory-wrap-around-ad/

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Posted on

9 May 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Democracy, Sleaze, Spin, Transparency

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Northern community boycotts local paper over Tory wrap-around ad

The Express and Echo was also guilty of publishing this ad, which coincidentally covered over the REAL front page detailing a local planning scandal!

“Hundreds of people have signed a petition demanding a weekly newspaper apologises for running a front page wraparound promoting the Conservative Party as the row over the adverts rumbles on.

The Westmorland Gazette was one of many regional newspapers to run the wrap last week ahead of Thursday’s local elections, but has now come under fire from readers who have demanded a full front page apology and threatened to boycott the paper until it complies.

The petition’s Avaaz page reads: “As regular readers of the Westmorland Gazette we are dismayed to see OUR community paper being misused for party political purposes.

“Whilst we would welcome balanced representation of all LOCAL candidates within the paper, we feel strongly that a front page advert for a single national party is not acceptable (especially when published on a polling day (4/5/17)!).

“We request that you publish a full front page apology in your next issue. Please note that many of us will be boycotting the paper until this occurs.”

The adverts coincided with the local elections, as readers went to the polls for council and mayoral elections.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/westmorland-gazette-newspaper-front-page-tory-advert-local-elections-conservatives-apology-readers-a7725816.html

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

6 Apr 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Democracy, Scrutiny, Sleaze, Spin, Transparency, Voting

MPs and conflict of interest: there’s no conflict if it is in their interests!

Hugo Swire says in his most recent blog that we should not worry about his mate George Osborne’s £650,000 job with a gigantic hedge fund (Blackrock). He says:

“… At Blackrock, his main job will be to advise on economic matters and to represent the company in a social capacity. As for abandoning his constituents, I shouldn’t think the hours he puts in will be any less than those of when he was Chancellor which, I might add, was also a second job and quite a considerable one at that! …”

https://www.hugoswire.org.uk/news/blog-greed-george-osborne

However, the Guardian newspaper has a different take on the matter:

” …the potential for conflicts of interest are enormous. Here is just one obvious example: BlackRock owns about 10% of AstraZeneca, the pharmaceutical firm at the centre of a political storm when US rival Pfizer launched an unsuccessful £69bn bid in 2014. If, for example, BlackRock had wished the takeover to go ahead, who better to have on board to assess the potential political reaction – and advise on ways around it – than the former chancellor?

Add in the fact that the same man is now editor of the Evening Standard – the City’s evening newspaper – and his influence is magnified further. When deals that can generate profits measured in hundreds of millions are on the table, Osborne’s £650k is a mere trifle. …

…
BlackRock … by numbers

BlackRock has a stake in every FTSE 100 company, worth a total of £145bn.
That means it owns nearly 8% of the UK’s leading share index. Its investment in the FTSE 100 accounts for around 3.5% of its total assets of £4trn. Its biggest stake by value is its £9bn investment in HSBC, its smallest a £9.3m shareholding in medical group Convatec.

Other shareholdings worth more than £5bn are AstraZeneca, British American Tobacco, GlaxoSmithKline, and the two classes of Royal Dutch Shell shares.

In percentage terms, its top holdings are Next (nearly 14%), BHP Billiton (13.29%), information group Relx (12.88%), Land Securities (12.46%), building materials group CRH (12.46%), cruise company Carnival (12.19%), gold miner Randgold Resource (nearly 12%), easyJet (11.83%), technology group Johnson Matthey (11.83%), and Severn Trent (11.55%).

It is the biggest shareholder in more than half of the FTSE 100’s companies: Ashtead, Aviva, AstraZeneca, British American Tobacco, British Land, BHP Billiton, BP, Burberry, Centrica, Compass, Croda, CRH, Diageo, Direct Line, Experian, GKN, GlaxoSmithKline, Hammerson, HSBC, 3i, Imperial Brands, Intertek, Johnson Matthey, Kingfisher, Land Securities, Legal & General, Lloyds Banking Group, London Stock Exchange, Marks & Spencer, Mondi, National Grid, Next, Persimmon, Royal Dutch Shell A and B shares, Relx, Royal Mail, Randgold Resources, Sage, Shire, St James’s Place, Standard Life, Smiths Group, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, Smith & Nephew, Severn Trent, Tesco, Unilever, Vodafone, Worldpay, and WPP.
(Source: Thomson Reuters)

Its joint venture infrastructure investments include a business park at Heathrow, windfarms bought from Centrica, solar farms in Derbyshire and Essex and a £75m loan to Trafford Housing Trust.”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/06/why-worlds-largest-fund-manager-paying-george-osborne-650000-pounds

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

3 Apr 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Democracy, Environment (local), Scrutiny, Sleaze, Spin, Transparency

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2 Comments

How you explain snout in trough when you are a Tory MP

“A Conservative MP advocated in favour of subsidies for the biomass industry after accepting more than £50,000 in political donations and hospitality from companies in the sector.

Nigel Adams, who has accepted tens of thousands of pounds in hospitality and political donations from biomass firms both in and outside his constituency, has called parliamentary debates, tabled questions, written opinion pieces, and written to the prime minister in support of subsidies for the industry.

But records compiled by Energydesk, the journalistic arm of Greenpeace, and shared with BuzzFeed News, show that on a number of occasions he did not mention the donations when he advocated for biomass – a sustainable form of energy generation based on burning wood pellets or other materials instead of coal and gas – over other forms of renewable energy such as onshore wind.

Parliamentary rules allow MPs to accept donations and hospitalities from businesses and others provided they are declared on official registers, as Adams’ contributions were. The rules also require MPs to “open and frank in drawing attention to any relevant interest in any proceeding of the House or its Committees”.

Adams told BuzzFeed News he referred to his hospitality and donations from biomass companies in parliamentary proceedings when his interventions were “substantively” about the industry.

Hospitality he accepted includes an £8,578 three-night trip to the Ritz-Carlton hotel in New Orleans to speak at a biomass conference. Adams accepted a further four trips to the same conference in following years, held at the five-star Fontainebleau on Miami Beach, a holiday spot beloved of America’s elite.

Adams’ trips to the resort from 2013 to 2016, worth £5,460, £7,177, £4,210, and £4,950 respectively, were funded by Eggborough Power Limited and Draw Power Limited, both of which operate biomass plants in Adams’ Selby and Ainsty constituency.

Adams also accepted auction prizes worth a total of £17,800 from another biomass producer from outside his constituency, Simec, as well as a trip to Dubai worth £2,850 to attend a pro-Brexit event in the city for UK expats.

In 2015, Adams held a debate on scrapping subsidies for onshore wind, during which he described it as being “about as much use as a chocolate fireguard”, claiming it was inferior to biomass in handling spikes in demand – naming Drax and Eggborough in his speech – and stating that cutting wind subsidies would “allow other, more efficient technologies to benefit from government support”. He made no mention of his contributions from the sector in that debate.

Similarly, in March 2016 Adams urged Andrea Leadsom, then an energy minister, to increase deployment of biomass, without making any mention of his contributions from Drax, Simec, or Eggborough.

Adams heads parliament’s all-party group on biomass, which is funded by the industry, and in 2012 urged then prime minister David Cameron to prioritise biomass subsidies over onshore wind. He also held a further debate on biomass, in which he declared he had received contributions from the sector.

Adams has declared all of these donations on the official registers of MPs’ interests as required and said he believes he has not breached any parliamentary rules because he has declared his interests in parliamentary proceedings. However, his failure to declare these interests on some occasions has drawn criticism.

Tamasin Cave of the lobbying transparency group Spinwatch told BuzzFeed News Adams risked the appearance of conflicts of interest – likening his situation to that of recently appointed Evening Standard editor George Osborne.

“Who does Mr Adams think he is working for?” she said. “A few transatlantic trips and fine dining could leave someone a bit muddled.

“And as George Osborne has just demonstrated, it’s clear that some in parliament don’t take their public role that seriously. With all eyes on Brexit, we also arguably have less scrutiny of what our MPs are up to.”

Greenpeace told BuzzFeed News that Adams raised concerns about conflicts of interest.

“As an MP, he has some serious questions to answer about whose interests he’s been looking after – the common good or the biomass industry funding his trips to Miami Beach,” said Greenpeace campaigner Hannah Martin.

Martin added that Greenpeace had concerns about biomass because in its view it has question marks over sustainability not shared by other energy sources.

“Ministers have spent millions of taxpayers’ money on controversial biomass when they could have invested it in far cleaner and more mature technologies like onshore and offshore wind. As a staunch advocate of biomass and a fierce critic of onshore wind, Nigel Adams bears at least some responsibility for a policy whose environmental and economic benefits remain in doubt.”

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jamesball/a-conservative-mp-has-been-criticised-after-accepting?utm_term=.ymgj7VPY#.ro7rGP9l

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

3 Apr 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Lobbying, Scrutiny, Sleaze, Tax avoidance, Voting

The tax woes of a big Tory donor

“Lycamobile, the international phone call business and a major donor to the Conservative party, is embroiled in a £26m tax dispute with HMRC over VAT.

Accounts filed with Companies House show that Lycamobile’s UK division nearly doubled its pre-tax profits to £10.9m last year on turnover of £194m.

But the company, owned by Sri Lankan-born tycoon Allirajah Subaskaran, also revealed that it could face a bill of £26m from HMRC, including “potential penalties”, due to a dispute over VAT. …

… Auditors from KPMG have revealed that they are unable to form an opinion on the accounts due to a lack of “sufficient appropriate audit evidence”.

Last year, the accounting firm flagged up its confusion over £134m in funds owed to Lycamobile UK by related companies, adding that the knock-on effect on this year’s accounts meant it was still lacking information.

“Because of the significance of the matter […] we have not been able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion,” said KPMG. “Accordingly we do not express an opinion on the financial statements.”

It added: “We were unable to determine if adequate accounting records have been kept by the parent company.”

Lycamobile UK’s own directors’ report admitted that the tax dispute and complex structure create “material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern”.

The Labour party and tax experts said the accounts raised questions for the Conservative party, which accepted £614,300 from Lycamobile in 2016 and nearly £1m the year before.

Tax accountant Richard Murphy said KPMG’s audit report and the VAT dispute raised “massive uncertainty” about Lycamobile’s financial position.

He said: “In the circumstances anyone dealing with the company has been given notice as to the risk they take. And the Conservative party is especially vulnerable. Taking donations from a company subject to this level of doubt as to its true financial position looks unwise. They’d do themselves a favour by saying no to further offers for the time being.” …

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/apr/03/tory-donor-lycamobile-in-26m-tax-dispute

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Posted on

26 Mar 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local), Sleaze, Spin, Transparency

Surprise! Government says one thing and does exactly the opposite – this time rural pharmacies

“Ministers are planning to allow hundreds of rural chemists to close across the country despite repeated assurances to MPs this would not happen, The Telegraph can disclose.

In private letters to Theresa May, last August Philip Hammond and Jeremy Hunt warned that pharmacies would have to close because of the cut in a subsidy worth hundreds of millions of pounds a year to the hard-pressed pharmacies.

The Cabinet ministers’ warnings appear to be at odds with ministers’ repeated public claims in Parliament and in official documents that no closures are likely.

They also appear to confirm that Mrs May is concerned about the plans and had to seek reassurances from Mr Hammond, the Chancellor, and Mr Hunt, the Health secretary.

Campaigners said the letters amounted to a “smoking gun” which laid bare the Government’s indifference to saving rural pharmacies. …

… According to letters disclosed in a High Court challenge to the plans, and seen by The Telegraph, Mr Hammond and Mr Hunt warned that the cut will result in the closure of pharmacies.

Mr Hunt told Mrs May on August 2 the cut would mean that “500-900 pharmacies will close”, in a letter that was copied to Mr Hammond.

Mr Hunt said: “We cannot know exactly how individual pharmacies will be affected by the funding reductions and there is a risk that some pharmacies may close as a result of these changes, although this has never been our objective.”

Mr Hammond went further in a second letter on August 11, telling Mrs May he supported the subsidy cut to what he described as an “inefficient and over-subsidised market” to move chemists “away away from the traditional bricks-and-mortar business model”.

He told the Prime Minister: “Longer-term I would like the community pharmacy market to follow trends we have witnessed in other retail markets.

“This might include a shift away from the traditional bricks-and-mortar business model towards scaled-up, innovative supply solutions employing digital technology, where Government expenditure is minimised.”

The Government announced revised plans in October that increased the number of chemists that can access a special fund from 900 to 1,300, only half as many as the up to 900 that Mr Hunt expected to close.

Weeks later Pharmacies minister David Mowat told MPs three times that no closures were likely. He told MPs on October 17: “We do not believe that community pharmacies will necessarily close as a result of these cuts.”

The department’s own impact assessment was based on a scenario “a scenario where no pharmacy closes” as a result of the cut.

Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said Mr Hunt should explain to MPs “why he was saying one thing to the Prime Minister while Mr Mowat was telling the House of Commons something different”.

He said: “Someone in Government needs to get a grip and clarify the future of these hundreds of community pharmacies, the staff who work in them, and the patients who depend upon their services.” …”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/26/exclusive-philip-hammond-jeremy-hunt-tell-theresa-may-secret/