Tag: News Story

STORY

Armed police officers have returned to work in London amidst the Government’s admission that the army might have been required to support the Met Police. 300 armed officers had turned in their permits over the last week following the decision to charge an officer with the murder of Chris Kaba. The Met Police said in a statement:

“As of lunchtime on Monday, the number of officers who had returned to armed duties was sufficient for us to no longer require external assistance to meet our counterterrorism responsibilities.”

STORY

Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, has refused to rule out rumours that the proposed section of HS2 to Manchester is to be scrapped, raising fears about the economic situation in the UK where infrastructure projects need to be cancelled. The Prime Minister has faced substantial opposition today to his suggestion that the project should be delayed including from Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester as well as Boris Johnson and David Cameron, two former Prime Ministers. Burnham criticised the decision, saying “you really should not take this decision without listening to the voice of people here” and adding ““scrapping HS2 rips the heart out of Northern Powerhouse Rail. Basically it would leave the north of England with Victorian infrastructure probably for the rest of this century.”

Allan Cook, a former chair of HS2, questioned the decision to cut spending on the north of the country, saying “why in the north have do we have to make a compromise?”. George Osborne, the former Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Michael Heseltine, the former Deputy Prime Minister, also criticised the Prime Minister’s decision to consider scrapping the Manchester section.

Rishi Sunak said that an announcement on the project would be made later this week. The current cost of the HS2 project is expected to be between £72 billion and £98 billion, but there are suggestions that the cost might increase to over £100 billion due to delays and changes to the plans. If completed in full, the project would be expected to fully open in the 2040s.

RESOURCES

Andrew Adonis – 2023 Comments on HS2 Delays

STORY

Dehenna Davison, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, has announced that she was standing down from her role due to health reasons. Writing in a letter to the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Davison said that she had been “battling with chronic migraine” for some time, and that the condition had made it “difficult, if not impossible” to carry out her ministerial duties. She added:

“Though I have tried to mitigate, and am grateful to colleagues for their patience at times, I don’t feel it is right to continue in the role. At such a critical time for levelling up, I believe the people of communities like mine, and across the country, deserve a minister who can give the job the energy it needs. I regret that I no longer can. And as my capacity is currently diminished, it feels right to focus it on my constituents and promoting conservatism from the backbenches.”

Davison was elected to Parliament in 2019, becoming the first Conservative MP for Bishop Auckland in over 100 years. She was appointed to her ministerial role in September 2022 at the age of just 29 and she was responsible for overseeing the government’s levelling up agenda. Davison had already announced her decision to stand down from Parliament at the next General Election.

RESOURCES

Speeches by Dehenna Davison

STORY

In a speech at the Institute for Government the former Prime Minister Liz Truss defended her economic policies, although wasn’t drawn on why she sacked her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng who had started to implement them. Truss spoke about the UK’s long-term economic problems and gave her proposed solutions. She argued that the UK has a problem with economic growth and that the government needs to take action to address it. She proposes a three-pronged approach of tax cuts, supply-side reforms, and public spending restraint, arguing that these policies will lead to higher economic growth and investment. Truss said:

“State spending now accounts for 46% of GDP, higher than it was in every year in Britain except for 1975 and up from 34.8% in the year 2000. No other European country has seen this level of growth in state spending, apart from Greece and Spain.”

Truss blamed the political balance in the economy, despite the Conservative Government having been in power for 13 years, saying:

“We’ve all got to admit that it’s the left that made the running. And we’ve seen that regardless of which government has been in power, from the energy price gap to the 2050 climate change target to the ESG agenda in companies. There’s been a cultural shift across both business and the public sector. Towards a lot more left wing policies. And despite the long record of failure of industrial policy, it’s back in vogue again, people are talking about it”.

RESOURCES

Liz Truss’s Speech

STORY

Chris Pincher, the Conservative MP for Tamworth, has announced that he intends to stand down from the House of Commons following the loss of his appeal against an eight week suspension over groping allegations. Pincher said that “I will make arrangements to resign and leave the Commons”, leaving the seat that he first won in 2010. The Conservative Party won the constituency at the 2019 General Election with a majority of 19,634.

RESOURCES

Chris Pincher

Tamworth

STORY

Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, has said following an interview that “does anyone ever say you’ve done a good job because everyone else has sat on their arse and done nothing? Any sign of that, no?” Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, has earlier denied responsibility for the crisis and stated that he made funding available when Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The BBC reported that Downing Street condemned the conduct of the Education Secretary, starting that she was “completely wrong”. Keegan has yet to issue a statement on the comments from Downing Street.

RESOURCES

Rishi Sunak Interview with Sky News on Concrete Crisis

EXTERNAL LINKS

BBC News Story

STORY

The BBC has reported that Simon Byrne, the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, has announced his resignation. He was appointed to the role in June 2019, but there have been a number of controversial events which have taken place in the force including a substantial data loss and two officers being unlawfully disciplined. Byrne had refused to stand down over recent days, but his resignation was accepted today following a meeting of the Policing Board.

Despite the recent challenges, Byrne has been praised by many for his commitment to policing in Northern Ireland. He has spoken out against sectarianism and violence, and since taking over the role, he has worked to build relationships between the PSNI and the communities that it serves. He has also been a vocal advocate for the rights of victims of crime. Byrne will leave the role on December 31, 2023.

EXTERNAL LINKS

BBC News Story

STORY

Angela Rayner, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, will now also take on the role of Shadow Levelling Up Secretary, replacing Lisa Nandy who will now shadow International Development. Liz Kendall becomes the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary with Jonathan Ashworth, the previous holder of the role,  becoming the Shadow Paymaster General. Thangam Debbonaire becomes the new Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, swapping roles with Lucy Powell, who becomes the Shadow Leader of the House. Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, retired on health reasons and is replaced by Steve Reed.

Hilary Benn rejoins the Shadow Cabinet as the Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, replacing Peter Kyle, who becomes the Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology. Darren Jones becomes the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Shabana Mahmood becomes the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice. Sources close to Keir Starmer, the Labour Leader, have suggested that this will form the team that he intends to maintain in their roles until the General Election.

STORY

A by-election will be held in the constituency of Mid-Bedfordshire following the resignation of Nadine Dorries. The vote will be held on 12 or 19 October, with the Government expected to confirm the exact timing imminently. Dorries took the unusual decision to refuse to resign until an explanation was given to her as to why she wasn’t elevated to the House of Lords, but following public pressure she submitted a formal resignation in late August. Dorries had represented the constituency from 2005 and at the last election there was a Conservative majority of 24,664.

RESOURCES

Mid-Bedfordshire Constituency

Nadine Dorries

STORY

Grant Shapps has been appointed as the new Defence Secretary, replacing Ben Wallace who announced he was standing down from his role and from Parliament at the next General Election. Claire Coutinho, who was the Minister for Children, will take Shapps’s role of the Secretary of State for Energy Security.

Shapps said in a statement:

“I’m honoured to be appointed as Defence Secretary by Rishi Sunak. I’d like to pay tribute to the enormous contribution Ben Wallace has made to UK defence & global security over the last 4 years. As I get to work at DefenceHQ I am looking forward to working with the brave men and women of our Armed Forces who defend our nation’s security. And continuing the UK’s support for Ukraine in their fight against Putin’s barbaric invasion.”

John Healey, the Shadow Home Secretary, said:

“I congratulate Grant Shapps today. The first duty of any government is to keep our country safe & I will always work with the new Defence Secretary on this basis, especially on Ukraine. But after 13 years of Tory defence failures, a change at the top will not change this record.”