02 June 2016
Week in Brief: UK
EU Referendum
IFS ON BREXIT: The Institute of Fiscal Studies has warned that Brexit would force ministers to extend austerity for a further two years to achieve a budget surplus. Lower GDP growth would hit government finance by between £20bn and £40bn by 2020, they said.
IMF ON BREXIT: The proposal by the IMF to publish an analysis of the cost of Brexit during the purdah period leading up to the referendum has been criticised by two members of the financial policy committee and by Andrew Tyrie, Chairman of the Commons Treasury Select Committee. Christine Lagarde has already indicated that she thinks Brexit could result in recession, a stock exchange collapse and a drop in house prices.
POPULATION GROWTH: The Office for National Statistics has predicted that the UK’s population will increase by four million by 2024, with the South-East seeing the greatest increases and London’s population set to hit 10 million.
DONS FOR REMAIN: University lecturers have been criticised for writing to students saying that they think that staying in the EU is in the universities’ interests.
EU ARMY PLANS SECRET: Plans to develop the European military force are being kept secret until the day after the referendum. Similar proposals were vetoed by Britain in 2011.
IMMIGRANT RECORD: ONS figures showed that net migration hit the second highest level ever recorded at 333,000 in the year to December, with the 184,000 coming from the EU equalling the previous record. Michael Gove and Boris Johnson have described the failure to curb immigration as “corrosive”.
PENSION SHORTFALL: The Treasury has claimed that if Britain leaves the EU the total assets held by over-65s would fall by between £170 and £300 billion due to rising inflation, the hit to financial markets and a fall in house prices. The report was seen as the last instalment in “Project Fear,” ahead of the start of the period of purdah which began on Friday 27 May.
CAMERON DEPARTURE: Tory MP and Leave campaigner, Nadine Dorries, has said that, absent a clear victory for Remain, Mr Cameron will be forced out of office shortly after the referendum because trust in him and George Osborne has been destroyed by his “lies”. To trigger a vote on the conservative leadership, a letter to the chairman of the 1922 committee has to be signed by 50 MPs.
CROSS PARTY: Sadiq Khan, the new mayor of London, has been campaigning with Mr Cameron on the Remain battle bus. The move contrasts with Mr Corbyn’s stance of not sharing a platform with senior conservatives. See The Rise And Rise Of Mr Khan.
EXAGGERATION: Andrew Tyrie, the chairman of the Commons Treasury committee, has called for both sides of the referendum campaign to stop making lurid and misleading claims. Specifically criticised were claims that Brexit would provide a £350 million windfall every week, that it might lead to war and that it would cost families an average £4,300 a year. Mr Cameron’s statement that he could restrict EU migrants while remaining in the EU was also criticised. Each side of the debate immediately seized on the criticisms made of the other.
POINTS SYSTEM: Michael Gove and Boris Johnson, leading lights of the Leave campaign, have promised to introduce an immigration points system in the event that Britain leaves the EU.
POLLS: Polls conducted by ICM show Leave leading Remain by 52% to 48%. The latest YouGov poll puts the two sides equal.
Health
BED-BLOCKING: Delays in moving fit patients out of hospital are growing due to an ageing population and cuts to social care. A report from the National Audit Office shows that bed-blocking could be costing the NHS £820 million a year.
DON’T HAVE BABIES: A senior member of the NHS, Jonathan Sher, has recommended that victims of domestic violence and obese people should be told not to have children until they have tackled their problems. Dr Sher’s proposal involves a pre-conception checklist.
DIABETES: Artifical sweeteners could increase the risk of diabetes according to a study by York University in Canada.
MENTAL ILLNESS: A report by the Children’s Commissioner for England discloses that one in eight children referred by their doctors as having a life threatening mental condition were turned away by the NHS last year. The Commissioner expressed concern that a third of the NHS mental health trusts withdrew treatment when an appointment was missed.
Borders
PEOPLE SMUGGLING: 2 Britons and 18 Albanians have been rescued from the Channel by UK coastguards and taken to Dover for questioning by UK Border Force. The two Britons have been charged with facilitating a breach of immigration law.
Tighter security at major ports has resulted in increased smuggling in small boats. Lord West of Spithead, former chief of the Royal Navy, has said that a shortage of resources has left Britain’s coastline vulnerable to illegal immigration. Although the Home Office has ordered eight new patrol boats, only four of them will come into service this year.
General Politics
YOU’RE HIRED! (AGAIN): Lord Sugar has been recruited as the government’s enterprise tsar, six years after David Cameron removed him from the role.
ANARCHY IN THE UK: Jeremy Corbyn has given overall control of policy in his office to Andrew Fisher, who urged voters to back the anarchist class war party in the general election.
PARLIAMENTARY STANDARDS: Complaints have been lodged by Tory MP Andrew Bridge that John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, has failed to declare that his economic adviser, James Meadway, is employed and paid for by the Transport Salaried Staffs Association. Dr Meadway is a former member of the Socialist Workers Party.
Transport
SMART MOTORWAYS: Official data indicate that the system under which hard shoulders are replaced by a “Red X” warning that a lane is closed has led to some 600 near misses and one accidental death since 2014. Apparently one third of drivers do not know how to respond to the warnings, with 8% believing that the best reaction is to stop. In fact the warnings indicate that the driver should move to an open lane.
RAIL ACCIDENTS: According to the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, there were at least twelve “trap and drag” accidents on the network last year, in two of which people were pulled under the train. The RAIB has issued a safety warning to train companies.
ERUV: An application for planning permission has been made to Camden Council to create a 6 mile perimeter around Hampstead. Made from poles connected with fine fishing wire, this would mark the edge of an area within which Jews can carry on activities otherwise banned on the Sabbath.
Miscellaneous
MURDER: A Scottish court has convicted Rachel Trelfa and Nyomi Fee of the murder of Rachel’s two-year-old son Liam. The child had been abused over a two-year period as had two other children living with the couple. There will be an enquiry into why no action was taken by the authorities despite warnings from the child’s nursery.
TERROR RISK: A travel alert issued by the US State Department warns US citizens travelling to Europe that they could be at risk of terrorist attacks at major events, in city centres, on public transport, etc.
MODEL COLLUSION: The Competition and Markets Authority is investigating possible collusion amongst modelling agencies to fix prices and drive up appearance fees.
LAND REGISTRY: Ahead of its privatisation, all the bidders for the Land Registry have been shown to have links to offshore tax havens.
RADICAL RSPCA: Subscriptions to the RSPCA have fallen by a third over the last decade, possibility as a result of its becoming involved in controversial issues and having a greater number of radicals on its ruling council.
WWII SUB FOUND: A Royal Navy Submarine, HMS P311, lost in a secret mission in 1943, has been found off the coast of Sardinia. The bodies of the crew of 71 were still on board.
COLOURING IN: Adult colouring books have helped generate the biggest increase in total book sales for eight years.
POLICE SACKING: The Metropolitan Police have sacked Sergeant Kirsten Treasure for gross misconduct. The allegations against the Police Sergeant include making derogatory, racist and homophobic comments about her colleagues and the public, and also refusing to allow officers to respond when a father of three was murdered as he stepped off a bus.
DNA DESTROYED: In his annual report, Alastair MacGregor, the UK’s Biometric Commissioner, has disclosed that the DNA profiles of 10% of suspected extremists have been destroyed due to procedural errors. The Commissioner has indicated that he is “broadly satisfied” with the steps taken to deal with the problem.
10,000 RUNS: The England captain, Alastair Cook, became the first Englishman, and the youngest player, to score 10,000 test runs when England beat Sri Lanka by nine wickets to clinch the three-game series on Monday.
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