03 November 2016

Week in Brief: UK

Government

HEATHROW: A series of legal challenges is now getting underway against the new runway at Heathrow.  One group, representing Teddington residents, has suggested that Sir Howard Davies, who chaired the enquiry which recommended the proposal, was biased because of his links with GIC Private Ltd, an owner of the airport.  At the same time Friends of the Earth has criticised the procedure by which the decision was made. No doubt other litigants will emerge.

It has also been suggested that the £147 billion boost to the economy which the new runway was predicted to provide is an overstatement. The Department for Transport is now said to believe that the benefit will be £61 million, about £7 billion more than would have been obtained by expanding Gatwick.

PENSION LOCK: Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader and one time Work and Pensions Secretary, has added his voice to calls for the current triple lock on state pensions to be replaced by a double lock. That would mean that pensions would rise at the higher of the rate of inflation and the rate of earnings, but there would no longer be a minimum rise of 2.5% per annum.

A consultation has been launched today into the position of claimants who are seeking new employment and those who are not fit to work.

ACADEMIES PLAN DROPPED: Plans to force all state schools to become academies by 2022 have now been abandoned, although the government retains the ability to compel failing schools to convert. It is not entirely clear how the development of the academy system will interact with the government’s proposal to allow the introduction of further grammar schools.

NISSAN: Pressure is building for the government to reveal the assurances which it gave to Nissan to induce it to build its next generation of cars in the UK. Greg Clark, the business Secretary, may have to give evidence to the House of Commons business committee which will press to see the letter of reassurance which enabled Nissan to make its decision. Ford has called for some form of indemnity against the effect of tariffs across the industry. Mr Clark says that Nissan were not given any specific financial favours. See comment The Nissan Deal.

RAPE: The attorney general, Jeremy Wright QC has said that the rules about when a complainant’s sexual history can be brought to the attention of the jury in a rape trial may need to be reformed. This follows complaints about the admission of such evidence by Cardiff Crown Court and the acquittal of footballer Ched Evans. In Mr Evan’s case the history of similar incidents involving the complainant was used to show a pattern of behaviour which undermined the Prosecution’s case that she had not consented.

PRISON REFORM: Assaults in prisons are now running at a record level of 65 a day, largely due to the widespread availability of “legal highs”.  In the year to June, assaults between prisoners rose by 32% and assaults on staff by 43%. A White Paper on prison reform is to be published shortly.

BRITISH DEPLOYMENT: British planes, soldiers and tanks will be deployed to Romania and Estonia next year as part of a 4000 strong NATO force sent in response to Russian military manoeuvres in the area.

CYBER THREATS: Philip Hammond, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has announced a £1.9 billion programme to counter cyber attacks. It is understood that the programme will contain an offensive element under which Britain will strike back at attackers, presumably by hacking into and destroying their cyber systems.

Three hospitals run by the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Trust were closed down for two days by computer hackers.

ORGREAVE: Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, has said that there will be no official enquiry into the Battle of Orgreave, a violent confrontation between police and striking miners which took place in 1984. Various people have said that they are shocked and dismayed.

BANK OF ENGLAND: Mark Carney is to leave his post as Governor in June 2019, one year later than was originally proposed but two years short of the end of the extension offered to him. That should take Britain through its departure from the EU which is expected to be in March 2019.  There have been tensions between him and the government with Mrs May warning of side effects from the Bank’s loose monetary policy. He is also thought to have personal reasons for returning to Canada.

Courts

OPERATION ELVEDON: The only conviction of a journalist secured by the police as a result of the enquiries into payments made to public officials has been overturned by the Court of Criminal Appeal.  Although 33 public officials had been convicted of taking money for information, the score on convicted journalists (apart from one who pleaded guilty) is now nil. The enquiry cost just over £14 million.

CLIFF RICHARD SUES: Sir Cliff Richard is to sue the BBC and South Yorkshire police for colluding over the filming by the BBC of the search of his Berkshire flat.  It is understood that the claim is for at least £200,000 in damages plus a proportion of legal costs.  The BBC has already apologised to Sir Cliff but says that it stands by its journalism.

UBER: A London Employment Trade tribunal has held that two Uber drivers should be classed as employees rather than self-employed. They claim back pay and holiday pay. It is understood that Uber is to appeal. Should they lose, HMRC will presumably have to consider the application of PAYE and National Insurance.

Health

WEEKEND PATIENTS: According to NHS Digital, the health service data provider, patients admitted to hospital at the weekend are 15% more likely to die and 40% more likely to return as emergency patients in the next week.  It was figures like these which lay behind Jeremy Hunt’s decision to impose the new contract on Junior doctors.  As before, there is disagreement as to what lies behind the figures. Are they distorted because less sick patients avoid going to hospital at the weekend or is it because the weekend cover is less comprehensive?  Nobody really knows.

PHARMACY: The NHS is proposing to attach pharmacists to GP surgeries and care homes to deal with minor procedures.  They will also check that older people are not taking too many pills and could regulate the way in which they take them.  At the same time the government is proposing to cut money paid to pharmacists although Keith Ridge, the chief pharmaceutical officer of NHS England, says this should not result in many closures.

SHOOT UP ROOMS: Britain’s first fix rooms in which heroin addicts can inject or obtain heroin under medical supervision are to be set up in Glasgow following a decision of the city’s health board. The idea is to stop people injecting on the street and also to break the power of suppliers. A similar facility has just been opened in Paris and there are others in Australia, Germany Holland and Switzerland.

Education

UNIVERSITY PROTESTS: In scenes reminiscent of the Cambridge Garden House Riot of 1970, Pakistani students disrupted a meeting of the Friends of Israel at University College London. No arrests were made and the University will consider disciplinary action.  It will be recalled that the Garden House incident, which involved the violent disruption of a Greek evening, led to protesters receiving sentences of up to 18 months imprisonment, a piece of deterrent sentencing which brought to an end the wave of violent student protests. No doubt this incident was much less violent but it would be a pity if the currently accelerating trend towards violent protests had to end the same way.

PINK INITIATIVE: Jeremy Corbyn has called for the national curriculum to cover gay rights and LGBT issues. A Labour government would extend the curriculum to include Oscar Wilde and Alan Turing – presumably focusing on the fact that they were gay rather than on their achievements..

Miscellaneous

PHONING BEHIND WHEEL: The number of people given a fixed penalty notice for driving while using a phone has fallen 43% to 17,000 a year. The number of points awarded for the offence is to be increased from three points to six points next year.

 

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