RAAC: thousands more schools at risk
“Thousands of more schools could be at risk from crumbly concrete with safety checks yet to be carried out, it has been revealed. It comes as fears continue to mount that children could be forced to return to lockdown style learning, while others warned that asbestos could be exposed in schools affected by the issue…With the new school year starting this week, more than 100 have been told by the Department of Education they will need to remain partially closed after being built with the aerated concrete, known as RAAC. As many as 24 could close entirely. Meanwhile, hundreds of engineers are set to scramble to schools tomorrow to inspect risky sites. It is thought up to 7,000 pose a threat.” – Mail on Sunday
News:
- Patel: “This is not a new issue and the government will have to account for its actions” – Sunday Times
- Building site classrooms may be used for years – Sunday Telegraph
- Parents demand answers – Sunday Express
- Zahawi-era education civil servant claims that RAAC wasn’t seen as priority – Observer
- Keegan: no return to lockdown – Sun on Sunday
Comment:
- “This is not pandemic school closures, and certainly not a return to extended home learning” – Gillian Keegan, Sunday Telegraph
- Why is Keegan still in her job? – Sarah Vine, Mail on Sunday
- Short-term politicians have let the educational roof cave in – Sunday Times editorial
Back to school for Sunak as Parliament returns tomorrow…
“The focus will be on how he is prepared to make the difficult decisions on things which have been ignored by other leaders for years,” a senior source said. Aides point to his Windsor agreement deal with the EU on the Northern Ireland border and the NHS workforce plan as examples of him doing things which “are right for the country even when they are hard or the benefits will take a long time”. His speech on the Wednesday of the party conference will also map out a more detailed explanation of what the public should expect from a continuation of the Sunak government.” – Sunday Times
…And he prepares to face down climate change committee over airport expansion
“Rishi Sunak will face down the Government’s climate advisers over demands for ministers to halt the expansion of airports, The Telegraph can disclose. In one of the most significant moves yet of the Prime Minister’s shift to approaching net zero in a “proportionate and pragmatic” way, the Government will reject the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) formal advice that all airport expansions must be halted. The move comes days after Mr Sunak appointed Claire Coutinho, one of his closest political allies, as Net Zero Secretary, amid a growing backlash among Tory MPs” – Sunday Telegraph
Hunt: our route to cutting taxes
“We must stay the course – that’s why when announcing pay deals for public sector workers we were clear that we will not fund them by borrowing more or increasing your taxes. While that may mean tough decisions for departments, we must prioritise halving inflation. That’s also why I announced the Public Sector Productivity Programme. The cost of our public services is on the rise, with public spending set to grow by 2% a year according to OBR forecasts. This means tax revenues would need to increase by £200 billion by 2071 in today’s money – double the basic rate of income tax. But if we can make our public services more productive, we can ease pressure on the public purse and help keep taxes down for working families.” – Sunday Telegraph
- Hunt and Sunak say inflation due to halve by Christmas – Sunday Express
- Hunt says: free up NHS staff, teachers and police from red tape to avoid taxes doubling – Sunday Telegraph
Hamish McCrae: Egg on economists’ faces as Britain’s growth is revised upwards
“As readers may recall, I have long been sceptical about the story of the country experiencing very slow growth. The International Monetary Fund, which has form for underestimating the resilience of the UK economy, has had to revise up its dire prognostications. And just on Friday the Office for National Statistics suddenly found that the UK, far from being the only major economy to be smaller than it was pre-pandemic, is actually quite a bit larger. It has discovered that the economy is nearly 2 per cent bigger than it had previously reported. In particular, we have done much better than Germany. It is nice to be vindicated and makes all those disagreeable comments about the UK’s poor performance look pretty stupid.” – Mail on Sunday
Asylum backlog clearing but interview times slashed
“Insiders said the improvements had also been driven by changes made by Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, which include doubling the number of caseworkers to 2,500, as well as new financial incentives and performance targets for staff and the use of more automation.“Productivity is rising to where it should be, the number of decision-makers is what it should be, and we are rock solid to clear the legacy backlog as promised,” a source said. But there are fears that this rapid increase in the number of people granted the right to live and work in the UK will push many councils…deeper into crisis.” – Sunday Times
Braverman woke police review
“The Home Secretary has launched a landmark review amid fury over rainbow clad officers dancing in the streets. She blasted an “unacceptable rise” in cops picking sides on controversial issues like taking the knee, trans debates and eco-extremism. In a letter to policing bosses, the top Tory said officers should focus on tackling crime, rather than getting involved in political matters. She wrote: “Officers should not be wearing or waving badges or flags that undermine their oath of impartiality or which may lead members of the public to question their impartiality.” They were also warned it is “grossly insulting” and inaccurate to refer to trans rapists who have a penis as “she” or “her”.” – Sun on Sunday
Other political news:
- Sunak “to declare war on rickshaw drivers” – Sun on Sunday
- Barclay urges BMA to “stop playing politics” – Sunday Express
- Birmingham’s Green Lane mosque, the imam who preached about how to stone women…and a £2 million government grant – Mail on Sunday
- New law to stop British heroes names being removed from street names – Mail on Sunday
- Sunak Commonwealth Kawczynski warning – Sunday Express
- Sturgeon avoids Rutherglen & Hamilton West by-election – Sunday Times
- ULEZ 1) Complaint cars still being fined under glitch – Sunday Times
- ULEZ 2) Khan deploys fleet of camera vans – Mail on Sunday
- ULEZ 3) It won’t help him hit his targets – Sunday Telegraph
- ULEZ 4) Khan strikes back – Observer
- Oil production at record low, industry criticises the Government – Mail on Sunday
- Cut off from reality: Truss’ 50 days in office – Sunday Times
- Wallace Chinook row with America after he was spurned for NATO Secretary-General – Sunday Times
- China hacking MPs’ phones – Mail on Sunday
- Tice was de-banked – Sun on Sunday
Shapps: Defence is in my DNA
“I’m not new to international security. From my time chairing Cobra and serving on the National Security Council, I’ve come to appreciate the dangers our nation faces. And though I might be new to defence, defence is in the DNA…at the end of the 19th Century, my family fleeing persecution and pogroms in Eastern Europe sought safe haven. They found it here in Great Britain. They found it here in a country that for the past three generations gave them opportunities that they could never have dreamt of. They found it here in the nation that gave them the gift of freedom. A gift I will do everything I can to preserve to pass on to generations to come.” – Mail on Sunday
Other political comment:
- Lack of defence experience won’t hold Shapps back – Marco Giannangeli, Sunday Express
- The Conservatives hand out money to their enemies – Daniel Hannan, Sunday Telegraph
- Sunak can learn from Taylor Swift – Rob Colvile, Sunday Times
- Eight things politicians should be talking about but aren’t – David Smith, Sunday Times
- Bercow was right to take on May – Jonathan Sumption, Sunday Times
- Jobs network of the new elite – Leo McKinstry, Mail on Sunday
- Trans activists are doomed – Janet Daley, Sunday Telegraph
- The UK must prescribe Iran’s Revolutionary Guard – David Jones, Sunday Telegraph
- Civil service chiefs sabotaging Ministers – Liam Fox, Sunday Express
- School uniform woke insurgency – John Hayes, Sunday Express
- Blame Brexit – Andrew Rawnsley, Observer
Ashcroft: voters may yearn for lower taxes, but they’re nervous about a smaller state
“It was telling that they saw the generous pandemic furlough scheme as one of the few bright spots in the Tories’ record – though even this was criticised by some as partly wasteful, ill-targeted and something the whole country was now paying for. While arguments for lower taxes are appealing, in practice even many Tory voters are nervous about the idea of rolling back the State. If the Government stopped doing things, they say, who would do them instead? Few want us to become more like America, land of rugged individualism. Many Tories might wish people felt differently about some of these things, but that is the backdrop for the next general election” – Mail on Sunday
- Ashcroft polling shows that voters now see Labour as the low tax party – Mail on Sunday
- Sunak more trusted than Starmer on economy but hammered over five pledges – Sun on Sunday
- Sunak rating slips – Observer
Starmer reshuffle tomorrow. Rayner fights demotion.
“Allies of Angela Rayner warned Sir Keir Starmer not to “defang” the firebrand Labour MP when he shakes up his top team on Monday. Sir Keir is expected to reshuffle his shadow cabinet next week as he goes guns blazing into the election year. Labour deputy leader Rayner is tipped to replace Lisa Nandy in the Levelling Up job which could see her go head-to-head with top Tory Michael Gove. But one ally of Ms Rayner said she was happy in her job as Starmer’s deputy and a wide brief under the shadow Cabinet Office. They told the Sun on Sunday: “Some people are out to put her back in her box.” And they warned: “They might try to strike us down and find us more powerful than before.”
- Sue Gray’s candidate for the next Chair of Committee on Standards in Public Life – Mail on Sunday
- Labour plan to make school uniforms cheaper – Sunday Express
Source link
#Newslinks #Sunday #3rd #September #Conservative #Home