BETA filters Key Facts (2) Liz Truss (5) Boris Johnson (4) Rishi Sunak (4) Gemma McSherry Waste workers in Scotland have launched a new offer in a bid to end the ongoing strike. Scottish council cleaning staff across much of the country are on strike over pay disputes with local authorities. A strike in Edinburgh has led to littering, including food waste piling up on the streets during the Edinburgh festival fringe – the city’s busiest time of year – and is due to end on Wednesday, while staff across the Scotland is in action at the weekend with further expansion planned for next week. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon faced backlash after attending a series of events and public appearances, while Scottish residents found themselves in what Scottish Labour’s director of operations, Neil Bibby, described as “lined streets”. “The First Minister must fund councils properly and secure a fair deal for council workers and put an end to this mess, as well as use the powers she has to help Scots struggling with their bills heights,” Bibi added. Sturgeon traveled to Copenhagen on Friday to officially open the Scottish government’s Nordic office and made several appearances at the Edinburgh festival. Peter Walker Ministers must act now on rising energy prices to avoid people being hit with a “lethal cocktail” of high inflation and recession, said Alistair Darling, Labor chancellor during the 2008 banking collapse. As Liz Truss, Boris Johnson’s expected successor, still refuses to specify what extra help she might give households to pay bills, Darling said a key lesson from the 2008 crash was that action had to be fast and radical. “You need something substantial and substantial and you need it now because the people’s bills will start coming in in a few weeks,” Darling, who served as chancellor under Gordon Brown, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “If you don’t do that, then you have the risks I’ve outlined, that the economy will slide into recession, with all that entails. And when you realize that in addition to the fact that you already have inflation at very, very high levels that we haven’t seen since the 1970s, this is a deadly cocktail, so bold action by the government is needed now, without dealing with small measures that frankly won’t make any difference.”
Home Office pays company £2m to pick up people trying to cross the channel
Rob Davis The Home Office is paying a private company £2m over six months to charter boats and crew to pick up people trying to cross the Channel, amid tension with the Royal Navy over its role in Priti Patel’s plans to prevent asylum seekers. Contract disclosures published on a government portal show that Aeolian Offshore, which is based on the Isle of Wight and normally serves the offshore wind industry, has provided three vessels. Details of the outsourcing plan were published as the number of people crossing the canal in small boats hit a new record, despite the government’s controversial plan to prevent them by striking a deal with Rwanda to deport asylum seekers to the central African state. According to the contract with Aeolian, its three vessels will work 12-hour shifts, departing from Ramsgate, Kent, and sailing to “reported sightings of migrant vessels, to collect migrants found”. The boats, which typically have room for 12 passengers and three crew, must be able to accommodate “at least 100 migrants” on deck, it says, as well as tow any craft the people on board may have used to cross. the channel. Updated at 12.44 BST Andrew Gregory In a TV studio in Stoke-on-Trend last month, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak traded blows on everything from credit card finances to Channel expats and accessories chain Claire’s. The list of issues over which the pair clashed was dizzyingly long. But there was one glaring omission. There was not a single mention of the NHS in the hour-long debate – despite it being mired in its biggest ever crisis. The NHS now shares the same characteristics as many of those who rely on it to keep them alive and well: he is elderly, has multiple co-morbidities and is in immediate need of urgent care. Summer has brought it to its knees. Worse is expected this winter. “The new prime minister will inherit an NHS at its worst,” says Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents the health care system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. “There is no escaping that the NHS is in a state of crisis.” The facts, he says, speak for themselves. “There are 105,000 vacancies. A&E is overcrowded. About one in seven hospital beds are occupied by patients who cannot be discharged. Some patients had to wait over 40 hours for an ambulance. Care is compromised by neglected buildings due to underinvestment. And then there are the waiting lists, which run into the millions for elective care, mental health and community care.” Jeremy Hunt, the chairman of the health and social care committee, is equally worried. “The new prime minister will inherit an NHS facing the most serious crisis in its history,” he warns. “A&E, ambulance, GP and social care are at serious risk across the country.” The overriding problem for Downing Street’s new owner is that, whereas in previous years problems in the NHS were concentrated in specific areas, today the whole house is on fire. Outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to urge his successor not to abandon investment in green energy in favor of quick fixes for the spiraling cost of living crisis, according to the Daily Telegraph. It is understood Johnson will argue in a farewell message that Britain can face future energy crises by pursuing its net zero targets, while supporting those struggling to pay for their heating. The Telegraph reports: His comments will be seen as a warning to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to maintain his ambition to build a new nuclear reactor every year and ensure a fivefold increase in offshore wind power by 2030, accounting for almost half of all electricity consumption in the UK. It will be seen as particularly relevant to Ms Truss, who has pledged to suspend green levies on energy bills and insisted that while she supports the existing goal of reaching net zero by 2050, it must be done “in a way that does no harm businesses or consumers”. Ms Truss, the favorite to become prime minister on Tuesday, is also considering a possible five per cent cut in VAT and an increase in personal income tax allowances to offset cost of living pressures on families. Updated at 12.41 BST Conservative leadership frontrunner Liz Truss is to declare China an official “threat” to UK national security for the first time, according to a report in The Times this morning. He plans to take a tougher approach to Beijing and, according to the foreign secretary’s allies, will elevate China to similar status to Russia – currently defined as an “acute threat”. The foreign secretary has promised to reshape foreign policy if she becomes prime minister, the Times reported, adding that she has pledged to reopen a comprehensive review, published last year, which sets out Britain’s priorities in diplomacy and defense over the next decade. Aubrey Allegretti Boris Johnson is “hoping to do a Berlusconi” and stage a “populist comeback” in Downing Street after being ousted by his own MPs, according to a former Tory cabinet minister. In an interview with the Guardian, Rory Stewart told People they needed to be reminded that Johnson was forced to stand down – following a series of scandals – because some supporters wanted Johnson to “come back”. Several of Johnson’s allies believe his critics will end up removing him from office once his successor takes office and will dismiss the poor polling as midterm blues. But some Tory MPs have privately expressed concerns that the party could lose the next general election, in part because of the damage Johnson has caused – evidenced by a string of election defeats and no lead in the polls since December 2021 . Stewart, who is running against Johnson in the 2019 Tory leadership election, called Johnson “dangerous” and said “there are people who want him back”. He added: “I think we need to remind people why he left. He should have gone much, much earlier. What he did was deeply, deeply shameful – and dangerous.” Meanwhile, Alistair Darling argued the government must take bold action to tackle spiraling energy prices to avoid a “lethal cocktail” of recession and high inflation. The former Labor chancellor told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: You need something important and meaningful and you need it now because people’s bills will start coming in in a few weeks. If you don’t do that, then you have the risks I described, that the economy will slide into recession with all that that entails. And when you realize that in addition to the fact that you already have inflation at very, very high levels that we haven’t seen since the 1970s, this is a deadly cocktail, so bold action by the government is needed now, without dealing with small measures that frankly won’t make any difference. Darling said the lesson he had learned from the 2008 financial crisis was that the government needed to do “more than people expect”, as he called for more action to tackle rising energy prices. He added: One lesson I learned from what happened in 2008 is that you have to do more than people expect and you have to do it faster than others expect if it’s going to work. It will cost money. When I announced the package in 2008 during the banking crisis, it totaled around £500…
