Category Archives: Conservatives

G20-bound Rishi Sunak defends ‘correct’ Raac school closures

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Prime minister says example set by schools will not necessarily have to be followed by other public buildings

Rishi Sunak has defended his government’s decision to shut down schools because of problems with crumbling concrete, as he aims to use this weekend’s G20 summit in New Delhi to draw a line under another bruising week in office.

The prime minister told reporters on the trip to India that his education secretary, Gillian Keegan, had done the right thing in ordering 147 schools to shut buildings made with aerated concrete, after officials became concerned about structural defects. On Friday evening the Scottish government said 16 of 32 local authorities have identified Raac in their schools.

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PMQs: Rishi Sunak denies cutting budgets for school repairs as list of concrete-risk schools revealed

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Keir Starmer likens the Tories to ‘cowboy builders’ as the PM insists the government acted decisively in response to the problem

The DfE list shows pupils at 24 schools across England will receive some remote learning because of the concrete crisis, with four schools switching to fully remote learning, PA Media reports.

And the list shows 19 schools where the start of term has had to be delayed as a result of collapse-prone concrete.

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Keir Starmer likens government to ‘cowboy builders’ over concrete crisis

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Labour leader accuses prime minister of neglecting pupils at state schools during combative PMQs

Keir Starmer has likened Rishi Sunak’s government to a group of “cowboy builders” during a prime minister’s questions in which the Labour leader sought to portray the prime minister as out of touch over the concrete crisis.

Starmer also contrasted the chaos faced in the state system with the private education enjoyed by the PM and his children, saying Sunak neglected the problem because he saw it as a problem affecting “other people’s children”.

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More than half of dilapidated English schools were refused rebuilding money

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Only four schools were rebuilt in 2021 in government scheme intended to cover 500 schools over 10-year period

More than half of English schools that are so dilapidated they are at risk of partial closure were refused money under the government’s school rebuilding scheme, Department for Education (DfE) statistics show.

Amid mounting concerns about a wider apparent neglect of the schools estate in recent years, beyond the immediate alarm about crumbling concrete panels, it emerged that of 500 rebuilt schools planned for England over 10 years from 2020, just four were completed in 2021.

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Sunak refused to fully fund repairs of England’s crumbling schools, says ex-official

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PM shown evidence of ‘critical risk to life’ when chancellor, says former top civil servant at Department for Education

Rishi Sunak refused to properly fund a school rebuilding programme when he was chancellor, despite officials presenting evidence that there was “a critical risk to life” from crumbling concrete panels, the Department for Education’s former head civil servant has said.

After the department told Sunak’s Treasury that there was a need to rebuild 300 to 400 schools a year in England, he gave funding for only 100, which was then halved to 50, said Jonathan Slater, the permanent secretary of the department from 2016 to 2020.

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Ignoring call to halt new airports would be ‘electoral carnage’, Sunak warned

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Campaigners speak out amid suggestion government could reject Climate Change Committee’s advice

Rishi Sunak faces “electoral carnage” if the government rejects its climate advisers’ recommendations on halting airport expansion, a coalition of community groups have warned.

The prospect of a renewed political battle around airport growth in various parts of England has been reignited amid concern from campaigners at suggestions the government could reject the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) advice that all such expansions must be halted.

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Rishi Sunak rules out quick-fix trade deal with India

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Exclusive: Sources believe deal will not be struck before meeting with Narendra Modi at G20 summit

Rishi Sunak has ruled out a quick-fix trade deal with India, making it impossible to get an agreement over the line in time for this week’s G20 summit in Delhi – and possibly even by next year’s elections.

Multiple sources close to the negotiations told the Guardian the prime minister has rejected the idea of an “early harvest” deal, which could have lowered tariffs on goods such as whisky but would not have dealt with trickier subjects such as professional services.

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Ministers were ‘dangerously complacent’ on school safety, whistleblower reveals

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Senior civil servant says ‘many alerts’ crossed education secretary’s desk, but UK government was more concerned with saving money

A senior civil service whistleblower has told the Observer that Tory ministers and their political advisers were “dangerously complacent” about crumbling school buildings constructed with aerated concrete, and that they were more concerned with saving money than improving safety.

The source, who worked in the private office of Nadhim Zahawi, the then education secretary, saw regular alerts crossing his desk. He said ministers and special advisers were “trying to get away with spending as little as they could” and hoping to “make do” rather than treating the problem with the urgency it required.

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Home secretary orders review into ‘political activism’ within policing

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Labour accuses Braverman of focusing on her ‘political obsessions’ as she says officers should focus on crime and avoid ‘contentious issues’

The home secretary has commissioned a review into police activism and impartiality as she tells officers to focus on crime rather than being involved in “political matters”.

Suella Braverman said public confidence had been damaged as a result of police engaging in “contentious issues” such as officers taking a knee and policing gender-critical views on social media.

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Millions of ‘missing voters’ cost Labour seats due to electoral boundaries bias

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Analysis of official data has revealed the system for drawing constituencies is ‘warping’ democracy by omitting eligible voters

British democracy is being “warped” by an unfair system for drawing constituency boundaries that ignores millions of “missing voters” and hugely benefits the Tories, according to a new study of official data.

Analysis by the political commentator and pollster Peter Kellner shows that if constituencies were determined according to the size of their populations rather than the number of registered voters – as happens in most other advanced democracies – then the number of extra Labour seats created would cut the Tories’ Commons majority by 22.

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Ex-Tory MP apologises for ancestors’ links to slavery

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Antoinette Sandbach ‘struggling with difficult history’ after initially threatening to sue University of Cambridge over academic’s research

A former Conservative MP has apologised “for the acts of my ancestors” after an academic named her as a descendant of a merchant with links to the slave trade.

On Thursday, Antoinette Sandbach had threatened to sue the University of Cambridge over an online TED Talk given by Malik Al Nasir. On Friday she said she had raised the matter with the university over concerns for her personal safety, but that she did not object to being linked to a history “that is absolutely there”.

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Grant Shapps appointed defence secretary as Claire Coutinho takes energy brief in mini-reshuffle – UK politics live

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Energy secretary appointed defence secretary in mini-reshuffle, with Claire Coutinho taking the energy security brief

Grant Shapps said he is “honoured” to become defence secretary and praised Ben Wallace for his time in the role.

Shapps tweeted:

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.

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Tories accused of hypocrisy in Ulez row after call to extend congestion charge

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Ministers have claimed Ulez is cash-raising ploy – but letter reveals Grant Shapps backed a separate charge for same reason

Ministers have been accused of hypocrisy in claiming Sadiq Khan expanded London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) to raise revenue after it emerged the Department for Transport urged the mayor to extend the city’s congestion charge for the same reason.

On the first day of Ulez covering every London borough there was renewed bickering between the Labour mayor and the government, with Khan castigating Mark Harper, the transport secretary, for what he called factual mistakes after the pair crossed paths at a TV studio.

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Rishi Sunak defends government’s green credentials after housebuilding water pollution rules scrapped – UK politics live

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Government claims ripping up EU-era protections on nutrient neutrality will allow for an additional 100,000 homes

Chronic under-investment, exploitation and low pay is leading to widespread poverty among workers in the care sector, according to damning research from the Trades Union Congress.

As it publishes its first workforce blueprint for the care economy, the TUC argues that the “Cinderella sectors” of social care and childcare need urgent investment to head off a demographic timebomb.

If the government is willing to strip away vital protection to save money for developers in polluted catchments, then where will it draw the line? This could be the most serious blow for environmental law in decades.

What the government is proposing here is to remove legal protections for nature, throw away requirements for polluters to pay, and instead use taxpayers’ money to try to fill the gap.

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Tory donor issued with demolition order for hotel where Brexit deal signed

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Surinder Arora told to demolish all or part of Fairmont Windsor Park hotel where Northern Ireland deal was agreed

A multimillionaire businessman with close links to the Conservative party has been told to knock down part or all of a luxury hotel that hosted the signing of Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal because he breached planning regulations.

A planning enforcement notice issued by Runnymede borough council said Surinder Arora’s hotel company had until 7 October to take action at the Fairmont Windsor Park hotel near Windsor.

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Clean air ‘a right not a privilege’, says London mayor as Ulez is expanded

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Sadiq Khan defends expansion of ultra-low emission zone as government continues to criticise it

Clean air is “a right not a privilege”, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has said as the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) was expanded to include the outer boroughs of London.

People who drive in the zone in a vehicle that does not meet minimum emissions standards are required to pay a £12.50 daily fee or risk a £180 fine, reduced to £90 if paid within 14 days.

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Government to use Ulez expansion to attack Labour over ‘war on motorists’

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Ministers hope anti-green message will impress voters, as London mayor says he is ‘a doer, not a delayer’

The government is to use the expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) to go on the attack over what it has called “Labour’s war on motorists”, part of a wider battle against green policies it hopes could prove popular with voters.

With the extension of the clean air scheme to every London borough beginning at midnight on Monday, Sadiq Khan, the capital’s Labour mayor, said that while the decision was difficult, the devastating health effects of toxic exhausts trumped other considerations.

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Suella Braverman restates wish for UK to leave European court of human rights

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Home secretary calls the court ‘politicised’ and refuses to rule out mass tagging of asylum seekers

Suella Braverman has reiterated her wish to leave what she called the “politicised” European court of human rights (ECHR) and refused to rule out the mass tagging of asylum seekers, a move one refugee charity said would treat people as “mere objects”.

Marking a return to the political fray after a summer recess in which a series of Home Office policy hiccups prompted speculation she could be replaced as home secretary, Braverman said the government would “do whatever it takes” to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

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Suella Braverman says ‘we will do whatever it takes’ if Strasbourg thwarts Rwanda plan

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Home secretary confirms government considering fitting some migrants with electronic tags

Suella Braverman has said the government will “do whatever it takes” if its plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is “thwarted in Strasbourg”, and confirmed the government is considering fitting some migrants with electronic tags.

In an interview with the BBC, the home secretary stepped up her attack on the European court of human rights (ECHR), calling it politicised and interventionist.

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Nadine Dorries formally resigns as MP after 11-week delay

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Former culture secretary’s resignation letter accuses Rishi Sunak of risking her safety by ‘whipping a public frenzy’

Nadine Dorries has handed in her resignation letter 11 weeks after announcing she would resign in protest over not receiving a peerage.

The MP for Mid Bedfordshire announced that she would be leaving her seat with “immediate effect” in June but had failed to do so until today.

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