Boris Johnson has been spotted in Greece enjoying his second summer holiday in two weeks despite the deepening cost of living crisis.

Adam Forrest www.independent.co.uk

The prime minister has been accused of leading a “zombie” government and failing to provide reassurance to families anxious about soaring energy bills expected to hit almost £3,600 this October.

Labour accused Johnson of treating his final weeks in office as “one big party” after he was filmed shopping for groceries in a supermarket in Greece.

Greek news websites reported that Johnson and his wife Carrie were in Nea Makri, a coastal town near Athens, and only a few hours away from where his father Stanley has a villa.

The prime minister returned from a holiday in Slovenia only last week, having enjoyed a break at a mountain resort which offered “healing energies”.

A Labour spokesperson said: “On the evidence of the last few months it seems to make little difference if the prime minister is in the office or on holiday.”

The Labour official added: “It’s all just one big party for Boris Johnson while the country struggles with the Tory cost of living crisis.”

Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson said the PM and his “zombie government” had shown “a complete failure of leadership” in recent weeks.

“As the country is gripped with drought, our health service collapses, and the cost of living emergency turns into a cost of living catastrophe, Boris Johnson puts his out of office on for the second time in two weeks.”

Speaking on Thursday, Johnson said he could not offer any new help on energy bills now – but the public can expect the next PM to provide extra financial support in September to tackle spiralling living costs.

A large majority of Tory members still prefer the current prime minister to either Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss, according to latest poll showing “Johnson nostalgia”.

The latest Opinium survey shows Truss has a healthy lead over Sunak in the Tory leadership race, ahead 61 per cent to 39 per cent among Tory members.

But the poll shows signs of regret at the PM’s political demise over the Partygate scandal, and an apparent lack of enthusiasm for either of his would-be successors.

In a head-to-head contest between Johnson and Truss, 63 per cent of Tory members would opt for the caretaker PM, compared with 22 per cent support for the foreign secretary.

Results were even starker in a Johnson versus Sunak contest. Some 68 per cent of Tory members prefer the PM over the ex-chancellor.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has also been accused of going “missing” during the cost of living crisis as he took a summer break.

Starmer, who insisted this week that his party has been “leading” on the cost of living, is setting out his party’s plans to freeze October’s energy price cap rise as part of a “comprehensive” cost of living plan on Monday.

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey – who proposed a price cap freeze a week ago – tweeted Labour: “Glad you liked my proposal to cancel the energy price rise. I also have some thoughts on electoral reform that you’re welcome to adopt.”

Devon should merge its councils into a small number of unitary authorities, the county council’s opposition leader suggests. Currently, Devon’s local government consists of three top-tier authorities – Devon County, Torbay and Plymouth – and eight lower-tier (district, borough or city) councils, including Exeter.

Ollie Heptinstall www.devonlive.com

Plymouth and Torbay became unitaries in 1998, meaning those councils are responsible for all local services, including education, children’s services and adult social care, as well as those delivered at district level elsewhere in Devon, such as refuse collection. The setup is different to Devon’s neighbouring counties. Cornwall has been a single unitary authority since 2009, while Somerset becomes one next year, when its five councils merge.

Cllr Julian Brazil, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group at Devon County Council, claims that adopting a similar approach in Devon is likely to save money and reduce bureaucracy. “Unitary to me, in this day and age, the efficiencies you get out of it outweigh any of the disbenefits,” he said.

As an example, Mr Brazil, who represents Kingsbridge, explains how district councils currently operate their own car parks but the county is responsible for on-street parking, meaning they employ separate traffic wardens. However, Cllr Brazil admitted the county’s size may prevent it from becoming one single council: “Maybe it will be the whole of Devon, I don’t know, but I think it’s more likely that we’d probably be split into three, as other counties have been.”

The Devon unitary debate has been ongoing for years. Between 2007 and 2010, significant energy was put into attempts to reorganise the county’s two-tier structure. The two options on the table then included a ‘super council’ unitary authority for Devon, apart from Torbay and Plymouth, and promoting Exeter to unitary status like Torbay and Plymouth.

The Exeter option was given the green light by the-then Labour government only to be scrapped when the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition came to power in 2010. But the issue is still bubbling away, and Cllr Brazil doesn’t think “we should rule anything out.”

He added: “With Zoom and Teams meetings, [the county] is suddenly a lot smaller … in the sense that I can now have a face-to-face meeting with somebody who lives in Barnstaple and I’m down in Kingsbridge and they’re there in the room. It’s not ideal and it’s not perfect, but it makes it easier.” However, the county council’s long-serving leader, John Hart (Conservative, Bickleigh and Wembury), opposes reorganisation and questions whether savings would be made.

“I could see advantages for a dictatorship,” he said. “But [not] once you’ve got politics involved.”

“Some things that we do as a county are right for Devon. A lot of things that the districts do are right for smaller areas. If you’re going to create a county and then split it up into the areas, you’re not really going to save very much anyway.

“I don’t see massive savings. There could be some savings, I’ll be honest, but the government would not let us be big enough to produce the savings in my view.”

“I’ve always been against on the grounds that if you go for unitary, it would have to be a united front or we would have blood on the table. [If you] go for unitary with the districts opposing you, you finish up with district members all running the council. The first thing they will do is fall out amongst themselves, because north and south won’t agree on what is required, so I would hesitate completely.”

Cllr Hart believes any attempt to split Devon into two will result in one poor and one rich area. He also suggests that were Devon “ordered to go down the unitary route, I’m sure Plymouth and Torbay would be thrown in the mix whether they like it or not, which would mean three [authorities].”

Sidmouth has seen another cliff fall this morning. The eroding cliff was crashed onto the beach below at around 9:30am in front of sun-worshippers on the seafront.

[See devonlive for video]

Lili Stebbings www.devonlive.com 

An eyewitness said: “[I heard] a low rumble and then the fall followed by a good 10 mins of dust cloud. Fingers crossed no one was on the beach.”

It comes just days after emergency services were called to the same spot as pictures showing clouds of dust and rubble emerged from the scene as the cliffs broke away. Coastguards and Police were called to the scene as people were being told to stay away.

Rural East Devon Police tweeted at the time: “Another large cliff fall this morning. Reminder to beach users not to walk on the beach East of #Sidmouth due to unstable cliffs which could fall at any time.”

One eyewitness, Lynda, told Devon Live that there were a number of cliff falls in the area before the ‘large’ one took place on the morning of August 8. She said: “There were about five or six cliff falls leading up to the large on this morning in Sidmouth.”

Sidmouth sees another cliff fall (Image: Caroline Montgomery)

It comes after it was announced that it would cost £19million to save Sidmouth’s crumbling coastline. Vital sea defences to save Sidmouth’s crumbling coastline and protect the Esplanade has now gone up by £5million increasing the estimated cost to a total of £19million.

Last October, East Devon District Council (EDDC) and the Sidmouth and East Beach Beach Management Plan Project Advisory Group approved a new and improved £14 million outline proposal.

It is now proposing to proceed to the next stage, with plans to secure the extra funding from government or by bridging the shortfall if required. The aim is to start work on the scheme in spring 2025, giving Sidmouth seafront and East Beach the coastal defences it needs.

It’s the driest, hottest summer in 50 years, yet the Conservative leadership candidates appear to be fiddling while Britain burns.

Rowena Mason www.theguardian.com 

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have barely been asked anything about their plans for tackling the climate emergency in all their debates and hustings so far – and nor have they made it a leading campaign issue themselves.

Their main wisdom on the subject of the drought is putting water companies “on notice” that they need to fix leaks, to avoid the necessity of households facing hosepipe bans.

Although both have committed to the net zero target, neither has talked about the crisis facing the climate with much passion or interest.

Sunak has frequently characterised his young daughters as the experts on climate in his household – surely embarrassing for a former chancellor to admit – and does not like the idea of more onshore wind turbines.

He was once thought by environmentally conscious Tories to be the biggest risk to the government’s climate aspirations, as they believed he was blocking ambitious plans to transform the UK’s energy needs on the grounds of cost.

However, the signs are that Truss, a former environment secretary, could be even less committed to net zero. Her answer to soaring energy costs, worsened by extreme winter weather conditions caused by climate breakdown, is to remove green levies from household and business bills.

It is not yet clear whether she would pay for these instead out of general taxation or scrap initiatives to insulate homes and subsidise renewables altogether. In a hustings, she suggested that net zero was a problem for business rather than government to solve.

She also cut funding for solar farms while environment secretary, calling them a “blight on the landscape”, and in a hustings vowed to remove their “paraphernalia” from fields. At the same time, she is backing fracking – popular in theory with Tory activists and MPs, but not if it is planned for their own area.

Surprisingly, Chris Skidmore, a Tory MP and the founder of the Tories Net Zero Support Group, has switched sides from Sunak to Truss in recent days, but cited the former chancellor’s U-turns as the reason.

Two Tory MPs – Vicky Ford and Simon Clarke – have also cited Truss’s support for Cop26 as a reason for backing her. But Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, recalled meeting Truss at the climate crisis summit in Glasgow and said the main thing she wanted to discuss was how she could get into Vogue.

Among Conservative MPs, those opposing net zero policies – such as Steve Baker, a Truss supporter – have scented an opportunity to win back ground. One of Truss’s high-profile supporters, Lord Frost, said last week that there was no evidence of a climate “emergency” and urged the next prime minister to move away from “medieval technology” such as wind power.

In fairness, those questioning the candidates have not given the topic much airtime. Open Democracy calculated that just two minutes out of an hour of interviews on the day of the first heatwave were dedicated to the climate.

But neither candidate has been keen to portray themselves as a keen supporter of the fight against climate breakdown. A lukewarm stance on the climate may win cheers at hustings, and even sway some Tory members, but polls tell a different story about voters across the spectrum, including many Conservatives and swing voters, with the country deeply worried that politicians are not doing enough.

Fresh water is the lifeblood of civilisation. It makes life on land possible. But we have lost touch with how the water cycle works. As Britain runs further into serious drought, people are asking if we are prepared and if we should have planned better, by building more reservoirs or plugging leaks in the water distribution system.

Tony Juniper, chair of Natural England  www.theguardian.com 

These are hugely important subjects. What is not being discussed are the severe floods that may well arrive in a few months’ time. Climate change is leading to greater volatility in the water cycle. It’s time to stand back and examine our resilience to water extremes and start improving water quality.

One standout conclusion for me is that we need to have much more water in our environment. During the last 100 years, the UK has lost 90% of its wetlands. This has led to the drastic decline of wildlife and rendered the country more vulnerable to the effects of extreme conditions. Draining fens, desiccating peat bogs, drying floodplains and the claiming of coastal marshes has transformed how our land looks and works. Restoring some of those wetlands could deliver huge benefits.

Wetlands can help to keep rivers flowing, even when rain is scarce, thereby protecting the living, shimmering threads that bring life to the landscape. Water standing on the land also helps recharge the aquifers that underpin much of our public water supply. Holding more water in the environment through the restoration of wet ecosystems can reduce flood peaks and protect us from the misery of the flooding that periodically affects communities across the country.

During a recent visit to Norfolk, I saw a newly created beaver pond. The animals had been released by the farmer into a large wooded pen on the site of an old wartime base. A tiny stream had been impounded by the animals to create a quite substantial body of water topped up with winter rain. Since the rain stopped earlier this year, that pond has been sustaining a headwater stream of the Glaven, one of England’s precious chalk rivers. The new beaver pond has helped that wonderful watercourse remain in better shape than it would otherwise have been. When it does rain again, that stream will flow more evenly than if there were no beavers, therefore reducing the risk of floods.

Beaver ponds and wetlands in general are also excellent at catching carbon and other pollutants such as agricultural fertilisers, so they can play a role in meeting water-quality targets. That beaver pond was also a reminder of how wetlands can bring vibrant life back into otherwise degraded landscapes. Frogspawn, fish, birds and wetland plants had all found a home there.

Wetter conditions also diminish the risk and effect of major fires. For decades, many of our upland blanket bogs have been subject to drainage, rendering them more susceptible to fire. Making these bogs wetter can not only reduce that peril but also improve water quality, increase wildlife and reduce downstream flooding.

At Natural England, we are pleased to see lots of plans afoot to make more of wetlands. The new Environmental Land Management schemes that are replacing the EU’s common agricultural policy are a major opportunity. The new tool of biodiversity net gain, which will require developers to replace and increase habitat lost to housing and infrastructure, will add to the mix. So, too, will plans to create new wetlands to soak up nutrients from new housing developments. There is a national programme to improve peatlands and also a partnership with businesses, vigorously led by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, to create 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) of new wetlands.

There are also opportunities for water companies in the development of nature-based solutions, which harness habitat creation as a natural partner and complement to hard infrastructure. There could also be huge benefits in the careful design of engineering infrastructure such as reservoirs. One example is the Abberton reservoir in Essex, which is not only a major strategic water supply asset, it is an internationally important habitat for many bird and amphibian species.

A more natural water cycle should be a strategic national priority. Winston Churchill famously once said that we should “never let a good crisis go to waste”. The current drought, and the floods that are likely to arrive later in the year, should be an opportunity to find a new way of looking at water.

Clive Betts, chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee, talks to Mike Thatcher about lack of progress on levelling up, pork-barrel politics and why local government finance cannot be reformed until social care funding is sorted.

www.room151.co.uk 

Is levelling up yesterday’s priority? With the cost-of-living crisis dominating the political agenda and the main levelling up evangelists – Boris Johnson and Michael Gove – going or gone, there’s certainly a feeling of old news about the phrase.

Johnson described levelling up as the “defining mission” of his government, while Gove, as levelling up secretary, set out in the levelling up white paper how undervalued communities could “take back control”.

But levelling up has been discussed rarely during the Conservative leadership hustings, and it has not been a differentiator between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. If Truss does become the next prime minister, as the polls suggest, it is hard to see levelling up being the focus of her speech outside No 10 as it was for Johnson three years ago.

So will levelling up go the way of David Cameron’s Big Society – a slogan that never really had any tangible impact and was then quietly forgotten?

Who better to ask than Clive Betts, the chair of the parliamentary Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee? Betts has chaired the committee in its different guises since 2010, and has conducted inquiries most recently into the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, long-term funding of adult social care, the regulation of social housing and the planning system.

The veteran Labour MP will be discussing levelling up at the Room151 Local Authority Treasurers Investment Forum and FDs’ Summit on 13 September. He tells Room151 that the next PM might not see levelling up as their top priority, but it would be hard for the government to abandon the philosophy altogether.

Has levelling up lost its lustre?

“The cost-of-living crisis may politically have to be top of the new PM’s in-tray. But they still have to address their red-wall seats and I don’t think they will let levelling up just go,” he says.

Betts expresses disappointment at the lack of progress on the levelling up agenda. He says that Gove succeeded in raising the profile of the concept, and helped it to be seen as a key challenge for the country. But he believes that there is no evidence to demonstrate that it has made a significant difference to the experience of those in the more deprived parts of the UK.

“There are far too many disparate pots of money that councils have to bid for and no linking up of those, no overall strategy and, essentially, no fundamental change in overall government departmental budgets towards the deprived areas.”

Both Gove and Neil O’Brien, the former levelling up minister, talked about moving away from what became known in local government as the “tyranny of competitive funding” to a more formula-based approach. O’Brien told Betts’ committee that what was needed was a “balanced diet” of funding.

Betts says now that ministers talked the talk, but there has been little sign of any change of emphasis. When asked if there is political manipulation of the funding for both the levelling up and towns funds, he says “it looks like it”.

Political manipulation

Opponents of levelling up have seen it as a move to US-style “pork-barrel politics”. It is tempting to agree, given that 40 out of 45 of the towns receiving funding from the towns fund had a Conservative MP. And, of course, Sunak openly admitted, in a campaign speech, that as chancellor he had started to change the formulas so that towns like Tunbridge Wells received funding rather than “deprived urban areas”.

Betts points out that Sunak’s leafy Richmond constituency was favoured over towns like Barnsley when it came to bids for the levelling up fund. And he admits to being depressed by the level of debate between Truss and Sunak.

“Local government has been treated worse than any other part of the public sector since 2010. It has had bigger reductions in its spending and there doesn’t seem to be any recognition that if there is spare money around at the Treasury, local government, and particularly priorities like social care, ought to be at the top of the list of spending rather than corporation tax cuts.”

Both Sunak and Truss have signed up to the four pledges put forward by the Northern Research Group of Conservative MPs. The four pledges are: a minister for the north; Voxbridge (two vocational institutions in the north of England); a right to devolution for all areas of the UK; and a levelling up formula to ensure that “forgotten areas” are no longer left behind.

Spending commitments on care

But Betts says he wants more than pledges. What is really missing are spending commitments, and particularly an appreciation of the urgent need for more social care funding.

“You are only going to get levelling up if you address the fundamental inequalities of government spending currently. Until you get core departmental budgets redirected, you won’t get levelling up.

“They have got to find a way of getting money to social care on a long-term basis with a degree of certainty. When we did our inquiry, it was said over and over to us by both Conservative leaders in local government and Labour leaders, until you sort social care funding out you can’t sort local government finance out.”

Social care is vital, he says, but the focus on care means that other local government services – libraries, parks, buses, street cleaning and environmental health – have had to face cuts of up to 50%.

“There is a real danger that many members of the public who don’t receive social care, and their families don’t, which is most of the public, are paying more and more council tax every year for less and less service. That is a real challenge to local democracy and to people’s willingness to support it.”

So what is the solution to that? “Sorting out social care funding,” he says.

Under the heading: “Unlike households, businesses do not benefit from an energy price cap”

[Aren’t we householders are sooo lucky? – Owl]

Simon Jupp writes:

“I will be using future columns to talk again about consumer energy bills and more support this autumn.”

Stay calm and await announcements

Simon Jupp’s article can be found here www.devonlive.com

Martin Shaw July 27, 2022

It is now official – East Devon is one of the top eight districts in the country for rising population (up 13 per cent up in a decade). The further you go from Exeter, the more the new arrivals are retirees. In town after town and village after village, housing estates catering partly for middle-aged incomers are changing the landscape. In Seaton this month, a developer has showcased a new scheme to build 130 dwellings, many of them bungalows, on the town’s outskirts.

Seaton Wetlands – increasingly surrounded by housing?

Urban growth is not necessarily a bad thing. Towns change and growing populations need housing. The shortage of housing for local people is one of our biggest scandals, made worse by the Conservatives’ low priority for social housing, the poor quality of some private rented accommodation, landlords switching to holiday lets, and the house price boom – artificially stimulated by the government – which prices younger people out of the market to buy while simultaneously pushing up rents.

More housing, but not any old housing – or any old place

So we need more housing, but not any old housing as the government believes. A town like Seaton with one of the most elderly populations in the country – 45 per cent are over 65 – needs more retirement bungalows like a hole in the head. We’ve already had one revolt over this issue, when developers wanted to divert a site earmarked for a hotel to build more retirement flats. The community stood firm and in due course the hotel was built. The developers making the current proposal, Baker Estates, say that bungalows will facilitate downsizing freeing up family homes ‘elsewhere’. It’s little consolation for Seaton to know that houses will be available in the Midlands or the Home Counties! 

The housing we need also can’t be in any old place. Planning policies exist for a reason – if they didn’t, the whole of the Devon coast would have wall-to-wall development, ruining the very beauty which draws people to the area. ‘Green wedges’ between towns and villages is another key policy, maintaining a rural edge for urban areas as well as the identities of distinct communities. People in Seaton and Colyford have shown over the last decade that they value the Green Wedge between the two, and have twice fought off attempts to build it over. The proposed development will further surround the precious Seaton Wetlands with housing, and threatens the bat and bird life which are so important to them.  

Baker Estates promise up to 25 per cent ‘affordable homes’, although even with shared ownership, properties at around £300,000 are hardly affordable for many, and these dwellings (if built) will doubtless end up in the least desirable corner of the estate, with the smallest gardens. I say ‘if built’ because Seatonians are familiar with the ‘vanishing affordable homes’ trick, since what is now the Pebble Beach estate was supposed to have 40 per cent of them, then 25 per cent, and ended up with precisely none. 

Mandatory targets for houses, but not services

East Devon’s planning policies are robust but the council is under the constant pressure of the government’s housing targets and its penalties for not meeting them. It’s noticeable that the government doesn’t enforce targets for social health provision with the same rigour, so if we accept scores more bungalows our extremely stretched health and social care services won’t automatically expand to match.

We cannot keep building over our countryside and allowing our communities to become more and more unbalanced in age terms. We don’t need a nationally imposed target for new dwellings, to be supplied in whichever form the developers find most profitable. We need more good quality social housing, fewer second homes (we should restrict those to the areas where there isn’t acute housing pressure), and a better balance between holiday lets (desirable for tourism) and private rentals (which are essential housing). Not everyone will like this, but we also need house prices to fall, to let young people back into the housing market.

“While people all over the country were following the rules during Covid, you were partying in Downing Street. Now, while millions do the right thing and reduce their water use, can you confirm whether you will commit to doing so at Chequers? Will you rule out using hosepipes and stop refilling your private pool?

“It would stink of hypocrisy if you continue to maintain a private pool while gardens dry up, paddling pools remain empty and farmers are unable to water their crops.” – Tim Farron

Restrictions are only for the little people and bonuses for Water Execs. – Owl

Helena Horton www.theguardian.com 

Downing Street has no plan to put a hosepipe ban in place in and around the prime minister’s residence, the Guardian can reveal, despite ministers calling for water companies to enforce restrictions.

Thames Water, which supplies No 10, said on Tuesday it would be putting water rationing in place in the coming weeks due to the extended dry conditions.

When asked whether hosepipes would still be used in the No 10 garden, or to wash the cars used to ferry its residents around, a spokesperson for the prime minister said a ban was not currently in place, though they added that the household was “taking steps to reduce the water used across the Downing Street site”. This did not include a hosepipe ban, though, they said.

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrats’ spokesperson on environment and rural affairs, has called for Boris Johnson to set an example to the rest of the country by reducing his water usage and draining the swimming pool at his countryside residence, Chequers, which is also supplied by Thames Water.

The spokesperson declined to comment on whether the pool would be drained, saying it was a matter for the Chequers Trust. However, the prime minister is in control of matters at Chequers, and Margaret Thatcher famously stopped heating the pool during an energy crisis that took place when she was prime minister.

In a letter to Johnson, Farron said: “Your grace-and-favour mansion, Chequers, is located in an area which will be subject to a hosepipe ban. At this moment when millions of people across the country are making sacrifices, it is vital that you show leadership.

“While people all over the country were following the rules during Covid, you were partying in Downing Street. Now, while millions do the right thing and reduce their water use, can you confirm whether you will commit to doing so at Chequers? Will you rule out using hosepipes and stop refilling your private pool?

“It would stink of hypocrisy if you continue to maintain a private pool while gardens dry up, paddling pools remain empty and farmers are unable to water their crops.”

The whole country is readying for water restrictions during the record-breaking dry weather, with some areas not seeing significant rainfall since June.

Leaked documents seen by the Guardian this week show that water companies serving areas from Yorkshire to Dorset have applied for drought permits, which would allow them to put bans in place.

At the weekend, the environment secretary, George Eustice urged water companies to put restrictions in place. On Wednesday, Eustice said he met the chief executives of water companies to discuss the measures being put in place to combat water shortages.

The National Drought Group, which would decide whether there is an official drought, meets on Friday.

It is with a sad and heavy heart that we have to announce that Val passed away on Tuesday 2nd August 2022. Val fought this awful disease with such courage and determination. She was an inspiration to us all. With a constant smile on her face to the end and a determination to never give up, we have much to learn from her life, values and spirit. A truly inspiring and loving person who will be so missed, she made our community a better place to live. We will never forget her.

Thank you to all of you who supported this appeal and gave Val precious time and hope.

Lesley Woolley and Liz Dowen

From www.gofundme.com

About Val

Val lived in Sidbury for a year in 1992 and did some voluntary work for WWII vets who were being denied disability benefits from injury sustained in the war effort. She moved to Harpford in 1993 and shortly after joined the Rainbow Playgroup committee as her boys attended there. She later joined NP school PTFA and became a school governor. She was also involved in admin for the Saturday sports club and became Treasurer of Sidmouth College PTFA. Around 2013 Val became interested in EDDC matters when it was proposed to move the council from the Knowle to new premises in Honiton. She also began to follow local development and was shocked by some of the tactics used by developers and what she saw as a very biased system, with promises made and broken, and different rules applied to different applicants. She joined the parish council in 2014 and subsequently ran as an independent councillor for EDDC in 2015 and was elected with a clear majority. She was re-elected in 2019 and has remained in post since then, now as Vice-Chariman of the Council. She became part of the Democratic Alliance which is a collaboration between independent councillors, Liberal democrats and Green candidates in a bid to put politics aside and work on behalf of residents regardless of their political alliance. Along the way she was involved in ensuring Harpford Hall was retained as a community asset, and has campaigned for the retention of the red bridge over the River Otter to ensure residents have a safe walking route to and from Newton Poppleford and Tipton, as well as safety improvement measures on Four Elms Hill which should finally complete in July.

Val taught at Exeter College from 1993 until going on sick leave in November 2020, mainly working with Access to Higher Education students across a range of pathways; these are mature students seeking a career change and access to university. She also taught first aid courses locally and shorthand to local newspaper reporters.

Her sons live and work locally and are a great support. Friends have been been amazing, accompanying her for treatment both locally and in London, providing food, hugs, mopping up tears, clearing up the house and garden, doing medical research on her behalf, walking and talking and ensuring there is still time for laughter.

A wonderful and inspiring person – Owl

The country is in the midst of yet another heatwave with temperatures set to hit the mid 30s this week as concerns surrounding global warming continue to grow. The fears have been heightened as large parts of the Jurassic coastline in Devon have plunged into the sea.

Alex Whilding www.devonlive.com 

It is likely that the warm weather is making the cliff fall and as a result cracks will form and then widen in the rocks. On Monday (August 8), walkers along the Sidmouth coastline watched in horror as part of the coastline hit the beach.

Witnesses in the area have said that several hours later, parts of the cliff were still falling into the sea. It was only last month that two more dramatic collapses took place at the same spot as the country basked in record breaking temperatures, reports The Mirror.

Experts say global warming is causing sea levels to rise and that is eroding a lot of the Jurassic coastline in Dorset. The coastline suffered its biggest rock fall in over 60 years in 2021.

Back then, around 300 metres of the cliff face was impacted when 4,000 tonnes came away and fell towards the beach in chunks with some of them the size of a car. This ongoing issue could see some homes completely wiped away.

Angela Terry, an environmental scientist and founder of One Home, warned: “Coastal communities are on the front line of climate change with little support available for those who face losing their homes or livelihoods. As we overheat, ice is melting faster and as a consequence sea levels are increasing by up to 5mm a year.

“More concerning is this rate continues to increase and we can not hold back the tide. Along with stronger winds, super storms are regularly battering British cliffs which are then falling into the sea as a result.

“With Europe’s longest coastline, we urgently need to start talking about how we will drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions and aid communities to transition to safer areas before their homes literally hang over a cliff edge.”

East Beach in Sidmouth where there was a dramatic cliff fall on Monday (Image: Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)

In its latest report, the Environment Agency has warned that by 2050 around 200,000 properties could be swallowed by floodwater or even plunge over a cliff.

Meanwhile, a study conducted by the Ocean and Coastal Management has found that a third of the country’s coastline will be under pressure as a result of the change in the sea levels. Paul Griew, who lives on Cliff Road in Sidmouth, lost his summerhouse back in 2017.

Paul was about to collect something from the summerhouse when it collapsed into the sea. Paul’s neighbour has lived in their house for 25 year and claimed that he lost 20 metres of his garden.

He added that he knew the cliffs were eroding when he moved in with his wife, but he said “it’s happening faster than I thought”. He added that the offshore sea defence islands for Sidmouth were causing the erosion at first, but the sea getting warmer and the rising sea levels are speeding up the process.

An obsession with efficiency has meant infrastructure has been run into the ground rather than upgraded. Cost-cutting has been given a higher priority than capacity building.

Owl prefers to call it by another term: “short term asset stripping”.

Larry Elliott www.theguardian.com 

The government is drawing up contingency plans for power cuts this winter as it finally wakes up to the reality of what the next few months will bring.

Britain has a cost of living crisis. It also has a housing crisis and an energy crisis. Weeks without rain in southern England mean there is a looming drought crisis. The NHS is only one serious Covid-19 outbreak away from crunch point.

These crises are all distinct and special in their own way but they also have a common theme: a failure to invest stretching back decades. An obsession with efficiency has meant infrastructure has been run into the ground rather than upgraded. Cost-cutting has been given a higher priority than capacity building.

Take the NHS. International comparisons show Britain has one of the lowest number of hospital beds for each head of population of any western country, a smaller number of intensive care beds, and one of the highest bed occupancy rates. Problems with this seat-of-the-pants approach were brutally exposed by the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020.

Or take water. Since 1990 the population of the UK has risen by about 10 million to 67 million but not a single new reservoir has been built in the past three decades. More than 200,000 miles of water pipes date back to Victorian times yet the water companies are replacing them at a rate of 0.05% a year. That compares with a European average of 0.5%.

Then there’s the state of the country’s housing stock. A report by the energy firm EDF found almost 60% of 21m homes in England and Wales only met insulation standards of the mid-1970s or earlier – costing households up to £930 a year in higher energy bills.

In the early 1970s, the lights went out when the miners went on strike. If they go out again this winter it will be because there is not enough domestic capacity and supplies of imported energy are insufficient to meet demand.

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Britain is, of course, not the only country facing the possibility of energy shortages. Germany, for example, is much more heavily exposed to the whims of Vladimir Putin. Even so, there is a pattern here – one in which a misguided belief that everything will turn out well in the end has taken the place of long-term planning and strategic investment.

Let’s be clear, this is not only a government problem. Britain has the lowest rate of business investment of any G7 country and one reason for that is the private sector has tended to prefer dividend payouts and share buy-backs to higher spending on new kit.

Muddling through is the country’s default setting. The lack of any real slack in the system only really become apparent in times of national emergency. Like now, for instance.

• Two storey rear extension, first floor side extension, conversion of garage to habitable use with alterations to fenestration. 2 Marsh Green Kerswell Cullompton EX15 2ERRef. No: 22/1666/FUL | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed part two storey part single storey rear extension. 106 Manstone Avenue Sidmouth Devon EX10 9TGRef. No: 22/1664/FUL | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Horse Chestnut : prune back over extended lateral branches by 1.0 to 1.5 meters to bring back shape; clear phone line T2, Lime : reduce height only by 1.0 to 1.5 meters to maintain height. Chestnut House 3 Montpellier Road Exmouth Devon EX8 1JNRef. No: 22/1665/TRE | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of 32 x photovoltaic solar panels. Victory Hall Broadclyst Devon EX5 3EERef. No: 22/1658/FUL | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of existing lawfulness application to demonstrate the residential use of enclosed land to the west of the property known as Uplands, EX10 8SJ as part of the same planning unit within Use Class C3. Uplands Boughmore Road Sidmouth Devon EX10 8SJRef. No: 22/1659/CPE | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• 22/1656Alteration and extension of flat roof, with alteration to fenestration (for garage conversion to additional accommodation) 20 Springfields Colyford Devon EX24 6RERef. No: 22/1656/FUL | Validated: Thu 28 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion of integrated garage to habitable accommodation Mulberry Cottage Sid Lane Sidmouth Devon EX10 9AWRef. No: 22/1642/FUL | Validated: Thu 28 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replacement two storey rear tenement and single storey side return extension. 38 Temple Street Sidmouth Devon EX10 9BARef. No: 22/1648/FUL | Validated: Thu 28 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Change of use of the existing poultry rearing agricultural building to flexible commercial use being Class B8 – Storage or distribution (subsequent application as decision issued under 22/0355/PDR was quashed by the High Court) Rosamondford Farm Perkins Village Exeter EX5 2JGRef. No: 22/1678/PDR | Validated: Thu 28 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey rear extension and external refurbishment. Ladram Cottage Ladram Bay Otterton Budleigh Salterton EX9 7BXRef. No: 22/1644/LBC | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Two storey side extension and single storey rear extension. 41 Millhead Road Honiton Devon EX14 1RARef. No: 22/1653/FUL | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey rear extension and external refurbishment. Ladram Cottage Ladram Bay Otterton Budleigh Salterton EX9 7BXRef. No: 22/1643/FUL | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of Condition no.3 (Occupation) on application 18/2537/FUL. Blacksmiths Arms Plymtree Cullompton EX15 2JURef. No: 22/1641/VAR | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of lawfulness for single storey rear extension with associated external works.4 Eastfield Orchard West Hill Ottery St Mary Devon EX11 1FSRef. No: 22/1640/CPL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Change of use of ground floor office (Use Class E(g)(i)) to residential use (Use Class C3) with external and internal alterations. Kerswell Coach House Broadclyst Exeter EX5 3AFRef. No: 22/1639/FUL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion and alteration of existing buildings to create holiday accommodation with alteration to fenestration. Trafalgar Barton The Coach House Branscombe EX12 3DBRef. No: 22/1638/LBC | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey rear extension. 50 Hawkins Road Exeter EX1 3UXRef. No: 22/1636/FUL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of a replacement single storey 2-bed detached dwelling with associated drainage works and demolition of existing dwelling. Old Parsonage Bungalow Wilmington Devon EX14 9SGRef. No: 22/1627/FUL | Validated: Thu 28 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of detached dwellinghouse and creation of access Land To The Rear Of Springhayes Cottage Convent Road Sidmouth EX10 8RBRef. No: 22/1631/FUL | Validated: Thu 28 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of Lawfulness for the temporary installation of a circus tent, travelling caravans, food and beverage carts and mobile toilets.Devon Cliffs Holiday Centre Sandy Bay Exmouth EX8 5BTRef. No: 22/1629/CPL | Validated: Tue 26 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Extension of existing roof over part of cow yard, erection of a storage bunker and tractor parking space. Hayne Farm Awliscombe Devon EX14 3PRRef. No: 22/1628/FUL | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of a conservatory to the rear of the property. 15 Richard Close Ottery St Mary EX11 1FYRef. No: 22/1633/FUL | Validated: Tue 26 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a single storey rear extension with flat roof, which would extend beyond the rear wall of the original house by 3.15 metres, for which the maximum height would be 3.35 metres, and for which the height of the eaves would be 2.75 metres. 77 Birchwood Road Exmouth EX8 4LSRef. No: 22/1634/GPD | Validated: Tue 26 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Horse Chestnut : Crown reduce by approximately 2m from existing crown spread of approximately 10m. Maximum diameter of cuts approximately 100cm (appropriate arb management following failure of limb.) Flat 1 Greenacre 5 Isca Road Exmouth EX8 2EZRef. No: 22/1624/TRE | Validated: Mon 25 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a single storey side extension and alterations to fenestration 22 Swains Road Budleigh Salterton EX9 6HTRef. No: 22/1617/FUL | Validated: Mon 25 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Beech tree : To prune back all the branches which are growing towards and touching the gable wall and roof of the last property of Ernsborough Gardens making natural target pruning cuts of up to 50 mm in diameter and removing 2m; branch lengths to give clearance to the property. T2, Beech tree : To prune back 1 x branch reducing the end weight and leverage of this branch and to improve aesthetics making 1 cut of 50 mm in diameter and removing 2m branch length. T3, Cherry tree : To prune back to give a half a metre clearance inside the boundary wall reducing the end weight and leverage of all branches making natural target pruning cuts of up 40 mm in diameter. T4, Holly tree : To prune back to give a half a metre clearance inside the boundary wall reducing the end weight and leverage of all branches making natural target pruning cuts of up 50 mm in diameter. D1, Dead Maple tree : To dismantle this tree to ground level. D2, Dead Yew tree : To dismantle this tree to ground level. Reason for works : To maintain public highway safety and to improve the aesthetics of the trees and to prevent future damage to neighbouring properties. 2 Ernsborough Gardens Honiton EX14 1RXRef. No: 22/1616/TCA | Validated: Mon 25 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey side extension to include a side dormer and alterations to fenestration. High Trees Manor Road Sidmouth EX10 8RRRef. No: 22/1612/FUL | Validated: Tue 26 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of agricultural livestock building. Broadhayes Farm Stockland Honiton EX14 9ELRef. No: 22/1614/FUL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Extension of an existing commercial building on the land north of Hamlet House Land Adjacent To Hamlet House Nags Head Road GittishamRef. No: 22/1600/FUL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion of roof space to habitable use to include a side and rear dormer and 1 x rear rooflight. Replacement single storey rear extension with pitched roof to include 3 x roof lanterns. 36 Durley Road Seaton Devon EX12 2HWRef. No: 22/1605/FUL | Validated: Mon 25 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Replace 3no. windows at ground floor; 4no. at first floor and 1no. door on front (south) elevation 6 Bowd Court Bowd Sidmouth EX10 0NDRef. No: 22/1598/LBC | Validated: Mon 25 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey rear extension. 32 Fulford Way Woodbury EX5 1NZRef. No: 22/1599/FUL | Validated: Sat 30 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey side extension. 6 Hayes Close Budleigh Salterton EX9 6SRRef. No: 22/1595/FUL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed change of use of existing agricultural pig house and office/store to dog kennel and associated management office along with associate new hard surface gravelled area. Bystock Court Old Bystock Drive Exmouth Devon EX8 5EQRef. No: 22/1597/FUL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolition of two barns and three outbuildings and the construction of a residential annexe ancillary to the main dwelling house, a pool house also ancillary to the main dwelling house and an extension to the house for a home office. Mount Houlditch Farm Toadpit Lane West Hill Devon EX11 1LQRef. No: 22/1584/FUL | Validated: Tue 26 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of two new dwellings and off road parking. Meadowgate Church Road Lympstone Exmouth EX8 5JURef. No: 22/1583/FUL | Validated: Mon 25 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Remove party walls and carry out internal alterations to turn Starre House and Starre Cottage back into one dwelling Starre House Causeway Beer EX12 3JURef. No: 22/1548/LBC | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Prior approval for change of use of existing agricultural barn to 1 no dwellinghouse Windrush Poltimore Exeter EX4 0ABRef. No: 22/1549/PDQ | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of home office 13 Charles Court Lympstone Exmouth Devon EX8 5ELRef. No: 22/1540/FUL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Outline planning application for up to 1,035 residential dwellings; a neighbourhood centre with a maximum of 3,000sq.m gross of ground floor space (Use Class E and sui generis (hot food takeaways, betting shops, pubs/bars)); a two form entry primary school, with early years provision (Use Class F1); public open space, including formal open space, formal play space, allotments, amenity open space and SANGS land; a sports hub comprising playing pitches, tennis courts, a multi-use path and a pavilion (Use Class F2); up to 10.25ha of employment land (Use Classes E(g), B2 and B8); 5 serviced pitches for gypsies and travellers; an extension to the existing Cranbrook Energy Centre; sustainable drainage systems; and associated infrastructure. All matters are reserved for future consideration aside from access. Principal access is to be provided from four points off London Road (B3174), with additional access points proposed for pedestrians and cyclists Treasbeare Expansion Area Land To The North Of Treasbeare Farm Clyst Honiton EX5 2DYRef. No: 22/1532/MOUT | Validated: Thu 28 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Sub-division of land into 2no. plots for the development of 2no. detached dwellings, associated parking, garages and generous, south-westerly facing gardens. Marandor Exmouth Road Exton EX3 0PZRef. No: 22/1521/OUT | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• 2 no. externally illuminated fascia signs and 1 no. non-illuminated fascia sign, 1 totem sign. The Hayes Units Liverton Business Park Exmouth EX8 2NURef. No: 22/1520/ADV | Validated: Mon 25 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of additional two storey dwelling with associated car parking and amenity space 1A Jarvis Close Exmouth Devon EX8 2PXRef. No: 22/1516/FUL | Validated: Thu 28 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Adding court 7 adjacent to court 6, resurfacing court 6, adding lighting to courts 6 & 7, replacing light fittings to courts 1 & 2. The Pavilion Cricket Field Lane Budleigh Salterton EX9 6SYRef. No: 22/1496/FUL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Works to link conservatory to include: replace roof covering south east & north west elevations; install 2no. roof lights on south east elevation; insulate conservatory wall adjacent to the highway and new aluminium rainwater goods. Middle Slewton Talaton Road Whimple Devon EX5 2QLRef. No: 22/1451/LBC | Validated: Mon 25 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed conversion of existing garage to form 4 new townhouses and associated parking, including change of use from Hotel C1 to Residential C3 Sidholme Hotel Elysian Fields Sidmouth Devon EX10 8UJRef. No: 22/1450/LBC | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed conversion of existing garage to form 4 new Townhouses and associated parking, including change of use from Hotel C1 to Residential C3 Sidholme Hotel Elysian Fields Sidmouth EX10 8UJRef. No: 22/1449/FUL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed new dwelling Whimple House Cottage Church Road Whimple EX5 2SZRef. No: 22/1414/FUL | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a garden office on a raised decking area to include a hot tub and demolition of existing single garage New Larkshayes Hawley Bottom Axminster EX13 7HRRef. No: 22/1358/FUL | Validated: Thu 28 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Remove sufficient existing roof covering to enable damaged roof timbers to be replaced. Replacement roof covering with breathable membrane, timber battens and man-made slates (as existing); remove damaged timbers; seal any remaining charred timbers; new roof truss on South party wall; first floor remove existing ceiling to South bedroom; proposed replacement ceiling and skim finish; external walls to be decorated. Rose Cottage Village Road Woodbury Salterton Devon EX5 1PGRef. No: 22/1287/LBC | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision

Chris Skidmore has become the first MP to publicly switch allegiance from Sunak to Truss. Writing in the Telegraph, he says: “I have grown increasingly concerned by his campaign’s consistently changing position, especially on the economy, to chase votes. I am convinced that we need a bolder, more positive approach to the UK’s future.” 

How long will Simon stick to Sunak? – Owl

[Jumping Jupp Flash reference here]

Devon County Council has suspended the budgets given to councillors for local projects in their communities.

Is the County going “bust”? – Owl

Ollie Heptinstall, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

Opposition leaders have slammed the decision to halt locality budgets, which the council says will allow it to “review in-year expenditure and ensure future financial sustainability.”

The Conservative-controlled authority recently predicted a potential overspend in this financial year of up to £40 million, with a warning that it has “never before faced a combination of demand growth and price shock pressures of this scale.”

Unlike the government, local councils have to balance their budgets by law every year. Devon’s leader John Hart (Conservative, Bickleigh and Wembury) last week said: “We have a choice. We live within our means or we go bust.”

Each county councillor has an annual locality budget fund of £8,000, reduced this year from £10,000 which had been in place for many years. The cost to the council would be around £500,000 per year.

Members use the money to make grants to support activities that benefit the communities they represent.

The programme’s suspension means no new applications are being accepted, but the council will honour payments already approved.

Opposition leader Julian Brazil (Lib Dem, Kingsbridge) said he is “incredibly disappointed” at the move.

“This is a vital connection that the council has with its local communities and the money spent by the council is worth five or ten-fold when you take into account match funding and voluntary and community effort.

“It’s very short-sighted. We weren’t consulted about it and the idea that we’re just going to support it is unacceptable.”

Cllr Brazil said other areas should be cut first, including senior management.

Leader of the Labour group, Cllr Carol Whitton (St David’s & Haven Banks) acknowledged the council’s financial problems but said they are due to years of cuts by central government. She urged the ruling Conservative administration at county hall to ask for support from Westminster.

“Removing funding from local voluntary groups doing excellent work to plug funding gaps in our communities, however, is not the way to tackle the funding shortfall,” Cllr Whitton added.

“For very small sums of money these voluntary and community-based groups make a huge difference to people’s lives. Without these grants some groups may not be able to continue. Inevitably, this will hit those most in need the hardest.”

Independent leader Cllr Frank Biederman (Fremington Rural) also criticised the move, claiming “elected councillors have been excluded from the decision-making process.”

He added: “We all need to be briefed on the up-to-date position and to understand how the savings needed are going to be found. A proper debate needs to happen.

“The locality budget saving is likely to be around £400,000 [this financial year] given some will have already been spent, so a massive impact on our communities but a small dent in the savings needed.”

Cllr Hart defended the cut. He said: “We currently face an unprecedented overspend of £40 million in the current financial year caused by the cost-of-living crisis, rising demand for our services for vulnerable children and adults and potential wage settlements.

“We are currently looking at our budget line-by-line to see where we can be more efficient and effective and where we can make savings.

“We are serious about cutting expenditure and balancing this year’s budget and working towards setting a balanced budget for 2023/24 in six months.

“The locality budget is worth around half a million pounds and cannot be exempt from scrutiny. But this is a temporary suspension and we will honour payments that have already been approved.”

Last month’s financial report to Devon’s ruling cabinet, warning of the potential £40 million black hole, said: “Immediate action [is] being taken to safeguard the financial sustainability of the authority.”

A panel of senior officers is looking at options – work labelled as top priority. It could mean services are remodelled to save money and major building projects are delayed or cancelled.

Liz Truss has said she rejects the “Gordon Brown economics” of helping people directly with bills as her rival, Rishi Sunak, warned the British people “will not forgive us” if vulnerable households do not get extra help this winter.

Jessica Elgot www.theguardian.com 

At the latest Conservative hustings, the former chancellor said he would not be prepared to spend sums similar to the help offered earlier this year, and that support should be more targeted. He said: “I don’t think that will be necessary because what we are talking about now … is the extra increase on top of what we thought.

“It’s right that we target that on the people who most need our help.”

He also admitted that despite his 5p cut to fuel duty, people were “not feeling it at the pumps” and said further help was going to be needed for the most vulnerable.

Speaking at the hustings in Darlington, which was dominated by questions on rising energy bills, Truss said she did not believe in using further taxation to boost government help. “The first thing we should do as Conservatives is help people have more of their own money. What I don’t support is taking money off people in tax and then giving it back to them in handouts. That to me is Gordon Brown economics.”

Truss said that the national insurance rise was her biggest regret in government. “I do hugely regret we went ahead with the national insurance rise. It was against the manifesto promise and I spoke out against it at the time.”

The foreign secretary declined again to say if she would give any further help directly with energy bills – but tempered that by saying she would not commit details of the next budget this early. “There’s [an idea that there’s a] fixed pie, we have to share out the pie and we have to give out the money and hand out.

“My view is that we can grow the pie, and having lower taxes actually helps us generate more income into the economy so there is more money to go around.”

Sunak’s campaign for leadership, which has been trailing Truss’s in the polls for the last few weeks, was dealt a further blow last night when Chris Skidmore became the first Tory MP to switch his support from the former chancellor to Truss.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the MP for Kingswood said the “status quo cannot be an option”. The former universities minister added: “Over the past few weeks, I have grown increasingly concerned by his campaign’s consistently changing position, especially on the economy, to chase votes.”

On Tuesday night Sunak said Truss’s plans would not help swathes of the population and said whoever was prime minister should not rule out direct support. Truss has said she would emphasis tax cuts rather than committing to giving extra direct help with energy bills.

“If you’re a pensioner, if you’re on the national living wage, tax cuts are worth zero,” Sunak said. “That’s not a policy to help people get through the winter and I think it’s wrong to rule out help directly because we as a Conservative government have an obligation to help those who are most vulnerable.

“If we don’t do that, not only will people suffer but we will get absolutely hammered when it comes to the next election. The British people will not forgive us for not doing that.”

At the first hustings to take place in the “red wall”, one of the most significant moments of the evening came when about 40% of those present raised their hands when asked who was still undecided – a far greater number than polls have suggested. By the end of the debate, however, when the question was asked again by the host, TalkTV presenter Tom Newton Dunn, that number had fallen to 10% of the audience.

Truss said she would take more seats in the red wall as prime minister, rather than just defending seats won in 2019. “As Blair himself would say, things can only get better. If you select me to be your prime minister, I will work to take new seats in the north-east – Wansbeck, I will work to take Sunderland, and I will work to win big. And I know we can do it.”

In the audience at the Darlington Hippodrome, there were some murmurings of discontent from the crowd of Tory members. One of the biggest cheers came for Boris Johnson when he appeared on the opening video montage and one audience member shouted: “Bring him back.”

At one stage, when the Tory chair, Andrew Stephenson, said the election campaign would take place over the next two years, another member groaned loudly: “Who says?”

Bellway has reported a record year of sales as rising house prices offset increasing energy and building costs, and the housebuilder predicted a bumper 2023 despite higher interest rates and the cost of living crisis.

Mark Sweney www.theguardian.com 

The company reported a 13% increase in revenues to a record £3.5bn and 10.5% growth in completions to a record 11,198 in the financial year to the end of July.

Bellway said it benefited from a higher than expected rise in the average selling price, which rose 2.6% to £314,000.

“Bellway has delivered another strong performance, with volume output and housing revenue reaching record levels against the backdrop of a challenging operating environment and macroeconomic uncertainty,” the chief executive, Jason Honeyman, said.

Despite the growing economic pressures as the Bank of England raised interest rates despite predicting an imminent recession, Bellway forecast another record year. The number of home completions is expected to reach 12,200 – about 12% more than in pre-Covid 2019. The company’s forward orders book stands at 7,223 homes with the value rising 4.5% to £2.1bn – another record – and it said it has already sold nearly 50% of private completions.

During the year the pace of business increased as buyer demand remained strong with the reservation rate increasing by 6.9% to 218 a week, while the cancellation rate remained at a low 13%.

“Confidence among customers is strong,” the company said. “Although interest rates and fuel costs have contributed to the rise in the cost of living, Bellway’s range of modern, well-designed new homes continues to provide an attractive and affordable proposition for our customers.”

The company expects the average selling price to drop slightly to just over £300,000 in the year to the end of July 2023 owing to previously announced changes in its geographical and product mix.

Last week, Halifax reported the first fall in house prices in more than a year, as the country’s largest lender warned of the impact of higher interest rates and the broader cost of living crisis.

Last week, the Bank of England announced its biggest increase in interest rates in 27 years, in an attempt to curb soaring inflation as gas prices drive up UK energy bills this winter.

The rise of 0.5 percentage points takes the UK base rate to 1.75%, a 13-year high. At the same time it said the UK would enter a recession by the end of 2022 that would last more than a year and predicted inflation would rise above 13% – the highest since 1980.

“Record revenue, a record number of homes completed and a growing forward order book, if the rises in the costs of living and mortgage rates are about to cause the housing market to turn, no one has told Bellway,” said Anthony Codling, the chief executive of the property data firm Twindig.

“The challenge for the UK housing market seems to be a shortage of homes for sale rather than a shortage of buyers which is welcome news for those building houses.”

Former Downing Street are said to be preparing to give evidence to MPs claiming Boris Johnson did misled parliament during the Partygate scandal.

Adam Forrest www.independent.co.uk 

Three former officials at No 10 reportedly believe that the prime minister did not tell the Commons all that he knew about rule-breaking gatherings held during the Covid crisis.

One of the ex-staffers has agreed to give evidence to the privileges committee inquiry into whether the PM mislead, while two others contacted by the committee are considering whether to testify, according to The Telegraph.

One told the newspaper: “On the facts, he was definitely at lockdown-breaking events and he knew they were happening and therefore what he said to the House was knowingly inaccurate.”

Asked if Johnson misled the Commons, another said: “Absolutely, damn well he did”. And a third said Mr Johnson “knew what was going on”.

Mr Johnson denies misleading parliament. He faces the prospect of a recall petition – which could trigger a by-election in his Uxbridge constituency – if he is suspended by MPs investigating whether he lied about lockdown parties.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle confirmed last month that the inquiry – if MPs deem Mr Johnson worthy of suspension – would fall within the remit of the Recall of MPs Act.

The committee inquiry led by Labour grandee Harriet Harman expects oral evidence sessions to begin in the autumn, meaning the inquiry could hang over Mr Johnson’s head for months after he departs No 10.

A report published by the committee has made clear that when considering the allegations against Mr Johnson, the standard of proof will be “on the balance of probabilities”.

Mr Johnson’s defenders have questioned whether he “deliberately” or “knowingly” misled parliament during the Partygate saga.

But the committee made clear that such commentary is not relevant. A memo states: “It is for the committee and the House to determine whether a contempt has occurred and the intention of the contemnor is not relevant to making that decision.”

Laura Farris, Conservative MP for Newbury, revealed on Monday that she had stepped down from the privileges committee last month.

She did not say why she had taken the decision in her tweet, and it she is expected to be replaced by a fellow Tory backbencher.

Culture secretary Nadine Dorries had called on all four Tory MPs on the committee to withdraw from the “witchhunt” and Machiavellian process” – with Johnson allies previously calling the probe a “kangaroo court”.

Senior Tory MP Simon Hoare said Ms Dorries was trying to “undermine” a matter for parliament. “The committee shouldn’t give a damn what any minister thinks. This is a serious abuse of power,” he tweeted.

Paul Scully, local government minister, insisted that Mr Johnson did not deliberately mislead MPs. “There’s no way he wilfully misled parliament, in my view,” he told Sky News on Tuesday. “I can’t see how they’re going to find otherwise.”

Asked if he agreed with Ms Dorries’ view that Tory MPs should pull out, Ms Scully. “There is a process, let’s just get through the process.”

Downing Street also rejected Dorries’ call to withdraw co-operation from the inquiry.

His official spokesperson said on Monday that the prime minister and No 10 wanted to “abide by the process”, adding: “We will assist the committee in their inquiries.”