Morning all …
Brexit
Express
THE EU has warned the Brexit deal could be “nixed” if the UK acts unilaterally, snubbing Liz Truss’ attempt to dismantle the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Brussels ambassador to London, Joao Vale de Almeida, said no “credible alternative” to the protocol had been identified and warned that Ms Truss’ proposed unilateral action to override it could “nix” the agreement altogether. Mr Vale de Almeida said the two sides “need to create a better atmosphere”.
Speaking in Westminster, he said the EU has “low levels of trust” in the UK. Mr Vale de Almeida added that the EU would be the “last ones” to “turn off the lights and close the door”.
It comes after the EU warned it would take retaliatory measures if the UK presses ahead with Liz Truss’s plans to take unilateral action to scrap part of the trade deal.
Illegal migration
Guardian
After 10 years of hostile environment, critics say immigration crackdown has had a devastating human cost.
Frontline Home Office staff have warned of a “culture of fear” where they are being put into dangerous situations, and may be asked to act illegally, on the 10th anniversary of the launch of the hostile environment.
On 25 May 2012 Theresa May, the then home secretary, gave an interview to the Telegraph in which she said: “The aim is to create here in Britain a really hostile environment for illegal migration.”
The phrase became shorthand for a series of strict policies aimed at cracking down on people who had overstayed, making it harder for them to work in the UK illegally and access housing and bank accounts.
A decade on and the hostile environment has evolved hugely but politicians and others from across the political spectrum question whether it has achieved its stated objectives. Critics point to its devastating human cost.
Rail strike
Mail
Railway workers have voted overwhelmingly to strike in a bitter dispute over jobs, pay and conditions, threatening massive disruption to the network which could result in no trains after 7pm.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail and 13 train operators backed launching a campaign of industrial action, and the union’s leaders will now decide when to call strikes.
A walkout by Network Rail signallers will have a significant impact on services, possibly leading to trains only running for part of the day, such as from 7am to 7pm and only on main lines.
Services could be reduced to around a fifth of the normal weekday timetable.
The union said it was the biggest endorsement for industrial action by railway workers since privatisation.
A total of 71 per cent of those balloted took part in the vote with 89 per cent voting in favour of strike action and 11 per cent voting against.
The union will now be demanding urgent talks with Network Rail and the 15 train operating companies.
Independent
Railway workers have voted overwhelmingly to strike in a dispute over jobs, pay and conditions, the RMT union has announced.
The result was announced within four hours of the ballot of more than 40,000 railway workers closing.
The RMT said: “Railway workers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action across Network Rail and the train operating companies, in the biggest endorsement for industrial action by railway workers since privatisation.”
Of the 71 per cent of those eligible to vote, 89 per cent backed a strike – representing 63 per cent of the workforce balloted, and more than 25,000 workers.
Sun
RAILWAY workers have overwhelmingly voted for the biggest strike in decades.
Union leaders are now set to decide when to call the strikes, which will bring huge parts of the rail network to a standstill.
It is possible that trains will only run for part of the day, such as 7am to 7pm and only on main lines.
Some 71 per cent of more than 40,000 balloted Rail, Maritime and Transport union members took part.
And 89 per cent voting for the strike.
Services affected include Chiltern Railways, Cross Country Trains, Greater Anglia, LNER, East Midlands Railway, c2c, Great Western Railway, Northern Trains, South Eastern Railway, South Western Railway, Transpennine Express, Avanti West Coast and West Midlands Trains.
BBC News
Railway workers have voted to go on national strike threatening major summer travel disruption across the UK.
Members of the RMT union have voted in favour of strike action across Network Rail and 13 train operating companies.
General secretary Mick Lynch said “members want a decent pay rise, job security and no compulsory redundancies”.
The Department for Transport said strikes should always be the last resort not the first.
A spokesperson said: “It is hugely disappointing and premature that the RMT is calling for industrial action before even entering discussions.”
Metro
Train network staff have voted to press ahead with what could be the biggest rail strike in modern history.
RMT members from Network Rail and 13 major franchise operators from across the country will walk out this summer over a pay, jobs and conditions dispute.
With signalling staff signed up to join the action, as many as four fifths of services could be axed, including all early morning and late night trains.
The government has already started to plan for the impact on freight, with the prospect of empty shelves in supermarkets worrying ministers.
ITV News
Railway workers have voted overwhelmingly to strike in a bitter dispute over jobs, pay and conditions – a move that threatens massive disruption to rail networks in the coming weeks.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail and 15 train operators backed launching a campaign of industrial action.
The union’s leaders will now decide when to call strikes, which will bring huge parts of the network to a standstill.
It’s a move that comes just days after Scotrail announced almost a third of services would be cut under a temporary timetable which could be in place for weeks as drivers stage industrial action, the company has said.
RMT said it was the biggest endorsement for industrial action by railway workers since privatisation.
Telegraph
A nationwide rail strike has been voted through in a move that threatens travel chaos and could see all trains cancelled after 7pm.
The RMT union announced on Tuesday evening that its 40,000 members, across Network Rail and 13 out of 15 train operators, had voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action in a dispute over pay and working conditions.
These were Chiltern Railways, Cross Country Trains, Greater Anglia, LNER, East Midlands Railway, c2c, Great Western Railway, Northern Trains, South Eastern Railway, South Western Railway, TransPennine Express, Avanti West Coast and West Midlands Trains.
Members at Govia Thameslink (including Gatwick Express) voted against strikes but in favour of other forms of industrial action, while workers on the Isle of Wight’s Island Line (where the union has 30 members) rejected all forms of industrial action.
Boris
Mail
Boris Johnson is bracing for the release of yet more Partygate pictures, this time from Downing Street‘s official photographers, as Sue Gray prepares to make the findings of her long-awaited report public today.
Mr Johnson is expected to apologise to Parliament, the public and his own MPs over Partygate in a bid to soak up criticism from the official report into the row later today, even with more snaps from No. 10’s vanity photographers poised to hit the press.
Deploying a ‘masochism strategy’, the Prime Minister will ‘take responsibility’ for lockdown rule-breaking in Downing Street, which is set to be savaged in the much-anticipated report.
Ministers are braced for Miss Gray to deliver her report to No. 10 this morning.
Telegraph
The Mayor of London is invoking legal powers to demand that the Metropolitan Police explains why Boris Johnson was not fined for attending an alcohol-fuelled leaving party in Downing Street.
Sadiq Khan has written to Acting Commissioner Sir Stephen House, using powers granted to all police and crime commissioners, to request urgent answers about Scotland Yard’s handling of the partygate investigation.
Mr Khan said the current lack of clarity risked eroding public trust and confidence in the force and transparency was vital to reassure people that the investigation had been handled properly.
While a mayor has no power to intervene in operational policing matters, he has made the request under legislation setting out the relationship between police and crime commissioners and chief constables.
Scotland Yard has so far refused to elaborate on why it decided to issue some people with fines for attending illegal events but let others off.
BBC News
Senior civil servant Sue Gray is to hand her completed report into Downing Street lockdown parties to No 10 later.
Her investigation was launched following media reports of multiple gatherings in or near Downing Street during the pandemic.
Her previous interim report criticised leadership within No 10 and said some events should not have taken place.
Downing Street is expected to receive the report in the morning and has promised to publish its findings.
After the report’s findings are published, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to make his promised statement to the Commons.
No 10 said it hoped this could take place at 12:30 – after Mr Johnson has faced Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions – but has warned the timings may slip depending on when the PM receives the report.
Mirror
Boris Johnson faces a day of reckoning over the Partygate scandal as Whitehall enforcer Sue Gray prepares to finally publish her report tomorrow.
The Prime Minister stands accused of lying to Parliament over his multiple claims that “no rules were broken” in No 10 during lockdown.
Downing Street staff revealed they watched in disbelief as Mr Johnson repeatedly told the Commons he had been unaware of the rules-busting gatherings.
One said: “We were watching it all live and we just sort of looked at each other in disbelief like – why?
“Why is he denying this when we’ve been with him this entire time, we knew that the rules had been broken, we knew these parties happened?”
Morning Star
MINISTERS dodged questions over Boris Johnson’s alleged partying during lockdown today after an image of the PM raising a toast fuelled more fury over “partygate.”
Cabinet ministers arriving for their weekly briefing refused to answer questions about whether the Prime Minister had let them down.
It comes after the offending photograph of Mr Johnson at a leaving do for one of his former senior aides during the strict lockdown in November 2020 was widely publicised.
Mr Johnson did not receive a fixed-penalty notice from the Metropolitan Police for the date in question, with the picture, published by ITV, showing that there was at least eight other people in the room at a time when people were banned from social mixing.
Cost of living
Telegraph
Boris Johnson is this week poised to announce help for millions of households to pay their energy bills as he battles to move on from Sue Gray’s partygate report.
The Treasury is finalising plans for a windfall tax on energy firms, which will be used to fund new support for those struggling most with the cost of living crunch.
On Tuesday, it emerged the energy price cap is set to jump to £2,800 in the autumn, according to estimates from the regulator Ofgem – an increase of around £800.
The support is set to be unveiled in the wake of the report by Ms Gray, a senior civil servant, into lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street. It is expected to be published on Wednesday.
Her findings are set to be highly damaging and name and shame senior politicians and civil servants as she concludes there was widespread flouting of Covid rules and leadership failings.
BBC News
A government plan to help support people with the rising cost of living could come as soon as Thursday, the BBC understands.
The PM and chancellor have been under growing pressure to act as prices for fuel, food and energy continue to soar.
But BBC political editor Chris Mason said the government was also desperate to shift the agenda on from Partygate.
Downing Street denied the announcement was timed to distract from Sue Gray’s report into lockdown gatherings.
The senior civil servant’s report into events held in Downing Street is expected to be sent to No 10 on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister is to meet Chancellor Rishi Sunak soon to finalise plans, with an announcement possible on Thursday.
Independent
The Treasury is understood to be finalising plans for a new windfall tax on energy firms that would be used to help those who are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.
Boris Johnson is reportedly poised to announce a multibillion-pound package of measures to alleviate some of the pressures facing households across the country, who are being hit with the soaring cost of energy and food.
The move has previously been suggested by Labour and some senior Tories, but has until now been resisted by ministers.
The Times said measures which could be introduced include increases in the warm homes discount, winter fuel allowance and a cut in council tax, while a VAT cut is said to be being mooted.
Mail
Billions of pounds of state support for families hit by the cost of living crisis will be announced in days.
With officials warning that energy bills are on course to hit almost £3,000, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are working on a major intervention that could be unveiled as soon as tomorrow.
The move – initially planned for the summer – has been fast-tracked amid concerns the Government risks looking out of touch.
Senior Tories believe it could also help the Prime Minister ‘move on’ from the Partygate scandal, which is set to dominate headlines today when Whitehall ethics chief Sue Gray finally publishes her report into the affair.
It follows a warning from Ofgem yesterday that the energy price cap is on course to rise by another £800 to £2,800 in October.
Energy
Express
BORIS Johnson’s Government should consider cutting green levies instead of focusing on a windfall tax that won’t make much of a difference, Net Zero Watch director Benny Peiser has warned.
The Director of Net Zero Watch has warned Boris Johnson’s Government that a windfall tax won’t suffice to cushion the effect of rising inflation on household energy bills. Instead, he calls on the Government to cut green levies – environmental and social obligation costs that finance energy policies. Conservative MPs have been urging UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to scrap them, as they claim green levies account for a quarter of energy bills.
In a rewed effort to convince the Government to act, Mr Peiser said: “The energy crisis is diabolical.
“Millions of families are struggling.
“Something has to be done.
“And the government has no idea what they can do.”
BBC News
The typical household energy bill is set to rise by about £800 a year in October, the energy regulator warns.
Ofgem boss Jonathan Brearley said the energy price cap, which limits how much providers can raise prices, is expected to increase to £2,800 a year, due to continued volatility in gas prices.
Mr Brearley said the price rises were a “once in a generation event not seen since the oil crisis in the 1970s”.
He also said the number of people in fuel poverty may double to 12 million.
A household is in fuel poverty when it has to spend 10% or more of its disposable income on energy.
The energy price cap already rose sharply in April to £1,971, meaning that homes using a typical amount of gas and electricity are now paying an extra £700 per year on average.
Metro
Household bills are set to go up yet again, with energy companies set to be allowed to charge an extra £800 per year.
Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley said the UK energy regulator is expecting an energy price cap in October ‘in the region of £2,800’.
The current cap is £1,971, so could mean a rise of over £800 for many – or a 42% increase.
It comes after the price cap already rose 54% in April, going up from £1,277 to the current level – an increase of £693 a year.
This means energy bills for many would have more than doubled between March and October this year.
Around 22 million customer pay for their energy using this price cap. The level is updated twice a year and tracks wholesale energy and other costs.
It is intended to stop energy companies from making excessive profits, ensuring customers pay no more than a fair price for their energy.
Evening Standard
Energy bills could sky-rocket in Britain to £2,800 in the autumn for millions of households, the energy watchdog said on Tuesday.
Jonathan Brearley, chief executive of Ofgem, is writing to Chancellor Rishi Sunak warning him about the huge hike in the energy price cap from £1,971 now.
He told the Commons business committee: “I know this is a very distressing time for customers.
“But I do need to be clear with this committee, with customers and with the Government about the likely price implications for October.
“Therefore later today, I will be writing to the Chancellor to give him our latest estimate of the price cap uplift.
“We are expecting the price cap in October to be in the region of £2,800,” he added, stressing that work was still ongoing over how far the cap will rise.
Public Order Bill
Morning Star
CAMPAIGNERS could be hit with “unprecedented and highly draconian” protest bans under new legislation debated by MPs later today.
The Public Order Bill, which is due to receive its second reading in the Commons, contains a provision allowing police to fit campaigners with electronic GPS tags and ban them from attending protests by using new serious prevention orders.
The measure would see individuals prohibited from attending demonstrations if they have been convicted on two occasions of protest-related offences.
Worryingly, an order can also be handed to a protester who has not been convicted but has been deemed to cause serious disruption on two occasions.
People given such orders can also face other restrictions, including on their online activity, who they can talk to and where they can go.
Gene editing
Mail
New legislation to speed up the development and marketing of ‘gene edited’ crops is to be introduced by the UK Government in a new Bill today.
It could pave the way for bird flu-resistant chickens, wheat which can withstand climate change, and crops that are more nutritious.
Under previous European rules, gene editing of livestock and plants was banned along with genetically modified (GM) produce — dubbed ‘Frankenfood’.
But post-Brexit, the Government is keen to embrace gene editing in an attempt to reduce the need for pesticides in farming, which would make it cheaper and more environmentally friendly.
Gene editing differs from GM foods because it alters the existing DNA of a plant or animal, rather than adding DNA from different species.
Boris will “‘take responsibility’ for lockdown rule-breaking in Downing Street. Then he must resign.
The Daily Express say a lot of things which are way off the mark. One just has to look at their many ridiculous headlines in winter about minus 15 temperatures, Snow Bombs and drifts of 15 feet etc, none of which actually materialise. So, I take any announcement by them with a very great pinch of salt that Liz Truss will go unilateral and ditch the Northern Ireland protocol because it just will not happen. That woman like many politicians of her ilk are full of fine words, like to talk tough, but are in fact afraid of their own shadows and weak as ditchwater, and constantly assessing how their meaningless threats might impact their own careers rather than what is good for the country. Over the Ukraine issue with Russia she has proved time and again that she has a loose cannon of a mouth who is totally devoid of any tact. She is as much use as a chocolate fire guard in my honest opinion.
I look around me and am reminded of 1960s and 70s history. Raging inflation, peak ascension of the unions, failed nationalised industries, three day week, record taxation, open gates immigration and on and on.
Today
– ten percent inflation and still printing money.
– Professional (!), teachers, lawyers, doctors, train drivers and storm troopers (sorry meant police) running the country. Not to mention dim, and (many forms of) bent politicians.
– Nhs wasting money, if not spreading it to well placed mates. Government wasting 12 thousand million on a windows xp spreadsheet for tracking the population, plus millions wasted on a ferry contract to a company with no ships, and on and on.
– Monkey lockdown coming, two more years of pain.
– taxes on everything and tax on taxes. Milk the motorist taxes, ever increasing council taxes and decreasing services.
– we make Third World punters coming here very welcome, paid for by the mugs paying all this taxation.
Next? Who knows – wage freezing (blockage des prix in France). Restrictions on taking money out of the country (half way there).
I for one don’t see a Churchill, Thatcher, Walesa, Trump saviour anywhere.
Pity the country without a hero? No, pity the country that cannot find a hero.
Without usurping your job Debbie, these are the supplementary Russia Today headlines:-
– Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban declared a state of emergency on Tuesday.
– As US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley met on Monday with allies to drum up new weapons shipments to Kiev, ǝuᴉɐɹʞՈ. They sat in front of four upside down Ukrainian flags.
After some mockery online, the union reposted the image with the flags digitally altered to face the right way, before deleting it entirely when Twitter users commented on the poor photo shopping job.
[For information: Apparently the flag of Argentinean football club, Boca Juniors].
– Soros declares ‘defeat Putin ASAP to preserve our civilization’
George Soros told the WEF that a quick victory over Russia is needed to save open society and civilization itself
Unless Russia is quickly defeated in Ukraine, the collective West won’t be able to address climate change in time to save civilization, billionaire financier George Soros told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday. He also called Russia and China the greatest threats to his concept of open society.
– Ukraine pledges to enter Crimea ‘by end of year’
– Russian oil shipments hit record high
– Bulgaria reconsidering rouble gas payments
– YouTube boss explains Russia strategy
Quote of the day.
“I can’t believe it’s monkey-pox season already and I haven’t even taken my Ukrainian decorations down.” Robin Monotti
https://www.globalresearch.ca/monkeypox-fool-me-twice-shame-on-me/5781068
“the collective West won’t be able to address climate change ” Bring it on and soon!
Wasn’t the normal leaving do in some private or public businesses, the appearance of two guards by a person’s desk to escort him off the premises after clearing any personal effects from his desk
I know nothing of crop manipulation except to say I am ‘agin what I call ‘sacrificial crops’ as I believe they try to foist on farmers who traditionally save part of their crop to use as seed next yea r and find the stuff they a forcibly supplied with, under the guise of being increased productivity are useless for seed purposes.
I believe this was part of the big beef about Monsanto
I am also against mixing animal, plant and human genes, but haven’t we been mixing plant genes for years, I thought it all started with peas in a monastery!
RT- No doubt innocently, what you say is the excuse the genetic modification gang always put forward – we have been doing this for years.
NO. Cross pollinating two similar plants to breed another with particular qualities is well known. Potatoes with blight resistance for example. Tatties with ell worm resistance.
However this eye of newt, tail of rat, genes incorporated into plants can only be done in the lab.
Genetically modified (GM) tomatoes anybody?
Oh and the arm-twisting argument for, that are put forward, are such as GM pigs modified to provide human organs (e.g. heart).
Looking down the other end of the barrel, I suppose one could give humankind a gene modification, so that pigs can use human organs.
And lets say, call it immunisation?
When I was working (NHS), the idea of booze on the premises was quite beyond the pale, never mind boozy parties in working hours.
If there was a “leaving do”, it would be after working hours down the local pub.
Cutting the “Green levy” would be the height of foolishness. The price of fossil fuels will continue to rise, we need to get off them as soon as possible. The change will cost lots of money, we should have started the process long before we did. Now it will be rushed, ineffective and far more costly than it needed to be.
i predicted all this years ago and took steps.
The coming price rises will hardly affect me.
https://independencedaily.co.uk/fossil-fuels/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=INDEPENDENCE+Daily+Newsletter1#comment-106560
HarryAgain- You are becoming a what is known as a “posting junkie”
Most of us learn at an early age “when you are deep in a hole, stop digging”.
Biscotte, HA says: “When I was working (NHS)…” Working? He recently told us he was an energy consultant. LOL. But it explains where our money goes and his devotion to the climate religion. Persuade people there is a problem so they need consultants to fix it.
Well old son you show your ignorance.
Doctors and nurses in the NHS are far outnumbered, probably 10:1 by support staff. Everything from gardeners to plumbers to Xray technicians. And even the odd energy efficiency engineer.
All are needed to make the system function.
There is an excess, in my view of administrators, especially the ones parachuted in from outside who are responsible for the money wasted.
Listing some of the many who are actually needed fixing and maintaining stuff is perfect fact check obfuscation. FYI, I have two family members working in the health service, actually working on people’s health, and the stories never stop.
In hard economic times, workers that perceive themselves to be in key positions tend to strike for more pay to the detriment of everyone else. They need to be jailed.
Presumably that includes the Great Army of the ‘no health service’ – especially doctors working from home, and God Almighty surgeons who loathe the private sector but take time out of their real job to work in it, too much of our paid for time.
Maybe not strike but, to use a strikers mantra – withdraw their services.