Civil service

Mail
Civil servants are ‘woefully unprepared’ for the ‘seismic’ changes that Downing Street will bring in once Britain has left the EU, the architect of Boris Johnson‘s manifesto claimed. Rachel Wolf, the co-author of the Conservative Party’s election blueprint, said Mr Johnson and his chief aide Dominic Cummings want to run ‘the most dynamic state in the world’. As part of a large-scale transformation, age-old practices will be axed and the civil service will be modernised from top to bottom, she said. She warned many officials ‘cannot believe the PM and Dominic Cummings mean business’ and ‘as a result, they seem woefully unprepared for what is coming’. As part of the wholesale reforms, civil servants could be forced to sit regular exams to prove they are competent to work in Whitehall.

Telegraph
Civil servants could be forced to sit regular exams to prove they are competent to work in Whitehall under “seismic” changes being planned by Downing Street, the architect of Boris Johnson’s manifesto has said. Rachel Wolf, the co-author of the Conservative Party’s election blueprint, says officials are “woefully unprepared” for wholesale reforms being planned by the Prime Minister to transform the way the Government is run. Writing in The Daily Telegraph, she says widely-reported plans for merging, creating or abolishing departments represent a “tiny fraction” of the revolution that Mr Johnson and his chief aide Dominic Cummings will implement in the spring once Britain has left the EU.

Mail
Boris Johnson has ordered a major probe into the leaking of confidential Government documents to Labour during the election campaign. Government sources said the Prime Minister is concerned that a ‘Labour mole’ could be operating at a high level within Whitehall. Mr Johnson faced embarrassment when a confidential Treasury document that appeared to contradict some of his claims on Brexit was leaked to Jeremy Corbyn a week before polling day. The document – understood to have been circulated to a relatively small number of officials – claimed that the PM’s Brexit deal could require checks on goods passing between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. The Labour leader brandished a copy of the secret Treasury analysis during his final TV debate with Mr Johnson.

Labour leadership

Mail
Sir Keir Starmer is the early front-runner to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader, according to the first major poll of the contest.  The centrist shadow Brexit secretary would beat Rebecca Long Bailey by 61 per cent to 39 per cent in a run-off, according to the YouGov survey.  The poll, reported by the Guardian, shows Mr Starmer in the lead in every UK region and age group.   Mr Starmer has yet to say whether he will run, while Ms Long-Bailey – seen as the preferred choice of Mr Corbyn’s allies – has said she is considering it. The poll of 1,059 Labour party members put Mr Starmer on 31 per cent of first choice votes, with Ms Long-Bailey on 20 per cent.  Jess Phillips, the outspoken MP for Birmingham Yardley who has yet to declare her intentions, is in third place in the poll with 11 per cent.

Sky News
Keir Starmer has opened up a solid lead over his rivals in the race to succeed Jeremy Corbyn, according to the first poll of Labour members seen by Sky News. The shadow Brexit secretary beats Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary and favourite of many of those around Mr Corbyn, with Jess Phillips in third place. YouGov polled 1,059 Labour members for the Economic and Social Research Council’s Party Members Project who they’d vote for in the last 10 days of December. The Labour members were asked to list the likely contenders in terms of their order of preference, as they will be when they vote. Some 31% chose Sir Keir, 20% Ms Long-Bailey, 11% Ms Phillips, 7% Yvette Cooper and Clive Lewis, 6% Emily Thornberry and 5% Lisa Nandy.

Sun
MILLIONAIRE barrister Sir Keir Starmer is the favourite to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader, a poll last night revealed. In a major blow to the hard-left, a YouGov survey of party members found nearly a third (31 per cent) picked moderate Sir Keir as their first choice. He beat the Corbynista favourite Rebecca Long Bailey, who only got the backing of a fifth of members. The findings will send alarm bells ringing across the Corbyn camp, who are desperate for Ms Long Bailey to get the job so the left can maintain their grip on the party. The poll found that shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir has stormed to an early lead among all age groups, social classes and regions of the UK.

Guardian
Keir Starmer has emerged as an early frontrunner in the Labour leadership race to succeed Jeremy Corbyn after a poll of members suggested he was the first choice in all regions of the UK, age groups and social classes. The shadow Brexit secretary is yet to formally launch his campaign but is expected to do so in the first few weeks of the new year. The new leader will be elected in March after Corbyn said he would step down following the party’s catastrophic general election defeat. Polling by YouGov for the Party Members Project put Starmer as winning with a 61% vote share to 39% for the shadow business secretary, Rebecca Long Bailey, in the last round.

EU

Express
LEO VARADKAR has released a new year video outlining his government’s goals for 2020, including securing a trade deal with post-Brexit Britain a top priority. Referring to the goals, Mr Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach (prime minister), said: “Steer Ireland though the next phases of Brexit by securing a trade deal between the EU and the UK. Giving our business and farmers access to the British market. The is going to be really important to protect jobs and our economy, and has to be done by the end of 2020.” But last Friday, the Taoiseach hinted at the difficulty of arranging a trade deal with a post-Brexit UK. He said that “it’s going to be difficult to secure a good trade deal” in upcoming negotiations on a future relationship between the UK and EU because Mr Johnson “has fixed on a harder Brexit.”

Cancer

Mail
Artificial intelligence that can help diagnose breast cancer more accurately than trained doctors could save thousands of lives,  according to new research. A computer algorithm developed by British and U.S. scientists has slashed the number of missed cases from almost one in ten (9.4 per cent) to just one in thirty-seven (2.7 per cent) by spotting tumours radiologists don’t see. The breakthrough has been likened to ‘a spell-check for writing email’ and could reduce the number of ‘false negatives’ that can lead to life threatening delays in treatment.  It will also prevent ‘false positives’ during routine screening – sparing women unnecessary surgery and great stress.

Education

Times
The number of primary school children suspended for racist behaviour has risen sharply. Primary schools in England issued temporary exclusions to pupils for racism 496 times in the academic year 2017-18, an increase of 40 per cent in just over a decade. There were 350 temporary exclusions of primary school pupils linked to racism in 2006-07, analysis for the BBC found. A race equality think tank said that the rise reflected a broader trend in the number of hate crimes. Police have recorded a sustained rise in hate crime in the past seven years in England and Wales.

Mail
Some primary schools are searching young pupils for knives over fears they are bringing weapons into class. Primaries – whose pupils are aged just four to 11 – are among many schools taking drastic measures to ensure pupil safety, an audit of councils and academy chains by the Mail reveals today. Some junior schools have bought metal-detecting ‘knife wands’, while others are using stop-and-search tactics at the gates to check for weapons.

Banking

Telegraph
Thousands of customers of Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland were unable to use online banking services on New Year’s Day due to an IT outage. Problems with the online banking services of Lloyds Banking Group began around 3am, according to complaints collected by the website Downdetector. The banks directed customers to use telephone banking for any urgent transfers yesterday morning. A spokesman for Lloyds said the issue had been resolved by the afternoon: “Internet and mobile banking is now back to normal. We’re sorry that some of our customers had issues with it this morning.” The outage is not thought to have been due to a cyberattack.

Mail
Millions of Halifax, Lloyds and Bank of Scotland customers started the New Year unable to access their bank accounts after their websites crashed. Online banking was down for customers of all three banks, who took to social media to bemoan the outage on New Year’s Day.  Large parts of Britain were left unable to access their accounts on their computers or smartphone apps for several hours.  Halifax, Lloyds and Bank of Scotland have apologised for the ‘issues’ and say their systems and now up and running again.

Times
An IT glitch was blamed for locking millions of Lloyds, Halifax  and Bank of Scotland customers out of their online bank accounts for several hours yesterday. The three brands, all part of Lloyds Banking Group, suffered an outage on their websites and apps from about 4am on New Year’s Day. The problem was not resolved until midday. People trying to log on to their accounts faced an error message that said: “Sorry, we’re experiencing technical problems.” A spokesman confirmed that the problem was not caused by a cyberattack.

Train fares

Times
Flexible commuter fares are to be introduced on some of the busiest rail lines as the average cost of an annual season ticket passes £3,000 for the first time. A trial of three and four-day season tickets will begin this year in a move designed to better suit the demands of the modern workforce. The new tickets will be offered initially on Govia Thameslink Railway as an alternative to rigid week-long passes, which have slumped in popularity in recent years as more people opt to work from home. In a separate move, the price of long-distance single tickets will be halved on some intercity routes.

Sun
RAIL passengers are warned of another decade of misery — as fares rise today by an average of 2.7 per cent. Some will be hit with an annual rise of £100 despite less than two thirds of trains being on time last year. It comes as the latest survey shows most passengers are dissatisfied with the cost. Bruce Williamson, of pressure group Railfuture, warned fares were “outstripping people’s incomes”.  He added: “Welcome to another decade of misery for rail passengers.” Among the big risers is a Reading to London annual ticket which is up £132 to £4,736.

Star
Rail passengers will see a 2.7% fare hike from today as campaigners warn commuters are facing “another decade of misery”. Some long-distance commuters will see the annual cost of getting to work increase by more than £100 despite fewer than two-thirds of trains being on time last year. It comes as the Trades Union Congress (TUC) say train ticket prices have risen twice as fast as wages, with fares rising by 46%, but the average weekly wage only increasing by 23%. Campaigners Railfuture are warning commuters face “another decade of misery” as fares are “outstripping people’s incomes”.

Mail
Ministers plan a shake-up of rip-off rail fares in a bid to head off anger about today’s latest round of price hikes. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps will announce plans to trial a system of ‘flexible’ season tickets offering discounts to part-time workers travelling only three or four days a week. A separate trial on routes between London, the North and Edinburgh will today seek to sort out the controversial pricing system which means an off-peak single can cost almost as much as a return. If successful, the system could be rolled out across the country.

Times
Ministers are under pressure to slow the pace of rail fare rises after figures showed that ticket prices had risen twice as fast as wages in the past decade. Operators are imposing a 2.7 per cent average increase from today with season tickets rising by 2.8 per cent. The government faced calls to scrap increases linked to the retail prices index (RPI) measure of inflation after claims that the “discredited and obsolete” system was pricing passengers off the railway. Regulated rail fares, which cover half of tickets, have been linked to RPI since rail privatisation in the mid-1990s.

Illegal migration

Sun
PEOPLE-smugglers sparked a stampede of illegal immigrants trying to enter Britain over Christmas by claiming the UK will “close” after Brexit. The warning emerged as figures revealed the number making the perilous Channel crossing has rocketed by 400 per cent in the past year.  French officials said 2,358 were saved trying to make the journey on small boats or by swimming in 2019, up from 586 in 2018. Sixty were rescued on Boxing Day, while 43 — including eight kids — were found off the coast of Dover on New Year’s Eve. But just 125 migrants who tried to slip into Britain unseen on dinghies in 2019 were sent back to Europe.  Immigration Service Union general secretary Lucy Moreton said the numbers are rocketing as trafficking gangs try to use Brexit as a twisted marketing ploy.

Yahoo News
Britain’s imminent departure from the European Union on 31 January is causing a surge in the number of migrants attempting to enter the country by small boat, a representative of Border Force officers has warned. An estimated 1,800 migrants made the perilous sea crossing over the English Channel in 2019 – more than six times the figure in the previous year, when the issue was declared a “major incident” by the then home secretary Sajid Javid. Lucy Moreton, general secretary of the Immigration Service Union, said that numbers entering the UK by small boat have increased “massively” over recent weeks.

Mail
More than 2,300 migrants were blocked in the Channel in 2019 as they tried to get to Britain illegally in 231 small boats laid on by people smugglers, it was revealed today. The extraordinary figure is four times the number picked up in the sea between France and Britain in 2018 when just 586 people were stopped, the French coastguard has said. The most recent operation took place off Dunkirk on New Year’s Eve with an average of around 200 migrants being detained every month in France. But it emerged yesterday that 1,900 migrants actually reached UK soil after crossing the Channel – including 43 people who made the hazardous journey to Dover yesterday.  But just 50 people traffickers have been prosecuted in either France or Britain in 2019.

Mail
A total of 100 ruthless people smugglers were jailed during 2019 for a total of 320 years, Priti Patel revealed last night. The Home Secretary insisted she was ‘throwing the full force of the law’ at traffickers who risk the lives of migrants desperate to reach British soil. She revealed a total of 320 years’ imprisonment were handed out by courts in this country to 100 convicted people smugglers. Among the criminals were members of organised gangs who crammed vulnerable people into unsafe vessels to cross the Channel, or placed others in grave danger by squeezing them into tiny compartments in vehicles.

Australian fires

Telegraph
Thousands of tourists in fire-ravaged coastal communities in Australia have been told to leave in less than 48 hours, with a state of emergency set to be declared in New South Wales ahead of worsening conditions this weekend. Fire services admitted they are struggling to extinguish or even control blazes as a heatwave on Saturday is expected to fan deadly bushfires that already ripped through the Australia’s southeast on New Year’s Eve. At least eight people died this week and holidaymakers have been left stranded in seaside towns ringed by flames.  At least 18 people are now known to have died in one of Australia’s most devastating bushfire seasons yet, and there are growing fears the toll could rise dramatically, with officials in Victoria saying 17 people were missing in the state.

ITV News
A week long state of emergency has been declared in New South Wales (NSW) as evacuations continue amid the worsening bushfire conditions. Thousands have fled a vast “tourist leave zone” on Australia’s wildfire-ravaged eastern coast as the military started to evacuate people trapped on the shore further south. Cooler weather since Tuesday has aided firefighting and allowed people to replenish supplies which had been running low in cut-off towns. Vehicles formed long lines at petrol stations and supermarkets, with traffic gridlocked as highways reopened. But fire conditions were expected to deteriorate on Saturday as high temperatures and strong winds return. As a result, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian declared a seven-day state of emergency beginning on Friday morning due to the “unpredictable nature of firefronts”.

Sun
AUSTRALIA is facing a “humanitarian crisis” as food, water, and fuel begin to run out while out-of-control bushfires continue to spread. Thousands of people have been given 24 hours to leave the worst hit areas, with a fleet of ships and helicopters now deployed to bring supplies and evacuate stranded residents. The death toll from the fires, which have raged across the Australian continent in recent months, has now risen to 17. Among the worst hit areas has been the region surrounding Sydney, where many roads are now impassable and petrol stations and surf clubs have been turned into evacuation areas. A naval ship has now docked outside the town of Mallacoota on Australia’s southeastern coast to begin evacuating some of the people trapped there.

Times
A man jumped into a dammed river and trod water for an hour to survive the flames raging around him in New South Wales. Grant, who did not give another name, looked out of his bushland home south of Sydney to see embers falling from a blood red sky. He climbed into his truck and drove for miles, the only light coming from the flames. After hitting a tree he leapt out of the truck just as it caught fire. He found a dam and submerged himself in the water, clutching a wooden platform he found to shield himself from the wind. “I put my head under and stayed alive,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald.

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