16 June 2016
Week in Brief: UK
EU Referendum
POLLS: With a week to go before the vote, the polls now show a substantial lead for the Leave campaign with YouGov, published on Tuesday, putting support for Leave at 46% and support for Remain at 39%. 11% were undecided and 4% did not expect to vote. The 7% margin compares with a 1% difference last Friday. Other polls are broadly in line, with ICM putting the lead at 6% and ORB putting it at 10%.
TELEVISED DEBATE: On Thursday, Nicola Sturgeon, Angela Eagle, Amber Rudd, Andrea Leadsom, Gisela Stuart and Boris Johnson participated in ITV’s EU referendum debate. Angela Eagle and Amber Rudd both attacked Mr Johnson for only caring about his prospects of becoming Prime Minister. Nicola Sturgeon said that she found that prospect horrifying.
END OF CIVILISATION: In an interview with the German newspaper Bild, Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, has warned that Brexit could destroy Western political civilisation. Although he believes that the EU will survive, he said that costs would be high for all EU countries and for Britain in particular.
END OF MARKET ACCESS: Wolfgang Schauble, the German finance minister, has said that if Britain leaves the EU, other members will take it as a vote against the single market and that an accession deal like those enjoyed by Norway and Switzerland will not be available
TAX RISES: The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and his predecessor Alastair Darling have said that, following Brexit, it would be necessary to put up the higher rate of income tax by 3p, inheritance tax by 5p and alcohol and fuel duties by 5%. Cuts would be required to the budgets for the NHS, education and defence.
FURTHER GLITCH: The extension by twenty-four hours of the period for voters to register has resulted in 430,000 more applications. Unfortunately, the fact that up to 200,000 of those applying were already on the register has resulted in duplicate registrations. Registrations are now being checked against information from the Department of Work and Pensions.
IMMIGRATION FIGURES: Figures from the Office of National Statistics show that in 2014 there were 2 million EU residents in the UK who had arrived in the previous ten years. The figure for people from outside the EU was 1.5 million.
RECRUITS: Sir James Dyson and Lord Bamford have both joined the campaign for Brexit. Sarah Wollaston, chairman of the Commons Health Committee, has deserted Leave in favour of Remain. The Duke of Wellington (the current one) is for Remain.
BREXIT PROGRAMME: The Leave campaign has listed the legislation which would be necessary to break away from the EU.
TURKS: Employment Minister PritiPatel has said that if Turkey were to join the EU, an extra 100,000 people would come to Britain every year. Mr Cameron has said that there is no prospect of Turkey becoming a member for decades.
EU ASYLUM STRATEGY: It is understood that the Home Secretary Teresa May is concerned at the challenge to the plans to deport migrants to Turkey posed by Greek court rulings that Turkey is not a “safe country” for asylum seekers,there. Repatriation of migrants to Turkey is a key element of the EU’s strategy for dealing with the refugee problem.
LABOUR: As senior Labour figures intervene in the referendum campaign, different stances have emerged over immigration, with Gordon Brown insisting that the real problem is illegal migration and Ed Balls calling for proper controls of economic migration. Mr Corbyn, on the other hand, is seeking to move the focus to public services by stressing the adverse effect of Brexit on the public finances.
Health
FOOD & DRINK FEDERATION: The Federation has said that it will only deal with the Department of Health and Public Health England in relation to product reformulation (such as portion sizes) and will not interact with charities, which it accuses of attempting to dictate to the food industry. This comes at a time when the Government’s strategy is itself being questioned; the low fat, low cholesterol approach taken in its Eat Well guidance being criticised by the National Obesity Forum as disastrous for public health.
CHOLESTEROL: A study published by 17 international experts in the British Medical Journal indicates that, contrary to the conventional view, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol does not increase the likelihood of heart disease in people aged over sixty. The research also indicates that the cholesterol can prevent other ailments, including strokes. The findings are highly contentious and have been criticised by the British Heart Foundation.
MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS: Research at a Canadian University has shown that a new therapy can halt, and even reverse, Multiple Sclerosis. Although the trials were on a small scale and further studies will be required, the results were sufficiently striking to hold out good prospects for effective therapy.
EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNAL: An employment tribunal has held that a surgeon, Aditya Agriwal, was unfairly dismissed by the East Lancashire NHS trust after being persecuted by fellow staff following his raising concerns about treatment at Blackpool Hospital. The trust was put into special measures in 2013 because of the number of patients who were dying, and Peter Bottomley, MP for Worthing West, has called for an independent investigation.
Miscellaneous
WET CELEBRATIONS: A giant picnic in the Mall to celebrate the Queen’s ninetieth birthday was marred by bad weather.
SIR PHILIP GREEN: Retail tycoon, Sir Philip Green, gave evidence yesterday to the Work and Pensions Select Committee regarding the collapse of British Home Stores. Apologizing for the demise of the group and conceding that he regretted the sale to a buyer linked to Dominic Chappell, he indicated that a rescue plan was being worked on in relation to the pension deficit.
ABUSER: It has been revealed that Sir Clement Freud, celebrity chef, broadcaster, Liberal MP and grandson of Sigmund Freud, abused two children who were daughters of family friends. Sir Clement died in 2009.
DEPORTATION: The Court of Appeal has held that the best interests of his children was not sufficient to prevent the deportation of a foreign criminal at the end of a four-year term of imprisonment. There was a very strong public interest in deportation and it would require exceptional circumstances to displace that.
MODERN SLAVERY: The High Court has ruled in favour of men forced to work for DJ Houghton Chicken Catching Services Ltd, entitling them to compensation for the company’s failure to pay the agricultural minimum wage, the unlawful withholding of wages, the charging of illegal fees and other employment related offences. The company’s licence to act as a gang master has been revoked.
GAY MARRIAGE: The General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church has voted in favour of gay marriage, a decision which will be ratified if passed by a two thirds majority next year. A similar decision by the Episcopal Church of the US led to restrictions in its participation in the Anglican Communion as part of a compromise with less tolerant African churches. Lambeth Palace has not yet commented on whether similar restrictions will be needed in respect of the Scottish church.
THE POLICE FEDERATION: The Federation has reported five officers to the Metropolitan Police professional standards directorate for abusing the head of the Federation on twitter. The officers have been given official warnings. One of the tweets described Mr White, the Federation chief, as “fat and useless”.
BANNED SUBSTANCES: Maria Sharapova, the former Wimbledon champion, has been banned from tennis for two years by a tribunal appointed by the International Tennis Federation. The ban relates to the use of the substance mildronate which was added to the banned list on 1 January 2016. Ms Sharapova failed to check whether the drug was still permissible.
CRICKET: England drew with Sri Lanka in the third test to win the series 2-0.
FOOTBALL RIOTS: Six England fans were jailed in Marseilles following rioting at the European Championship. Another fan is in a coma with severe brain damage. Although the violence seems to have been planned by Russian fans, who were permitted to enter the stadium with fireworks and flares and are understood to have overwhelmed the French police, none were arrested. The deputy chairman of the Russian Parliament has said on Twitter that he does not think there is anything wrong with Russian fans fighting.
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