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Friday 24 January 2020 09:58
Boris Johnson has been urged to scrap HS2 by a group of 13 Tory MPs after a damning new report by Whitehall’s spending watchdog found the government “misjudged the complexity” of the over budget and behind schedule high-speed rail project.
It comes as the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission have formally signed the Brexit withdrawal agreement ahead of Britain’s departure from the EU next week.
Elsewhere, Labour leadership candidates get the chance to make their case before Unite’s ruling body, as the country’s second biggest union prepares to select its nominee to succeed Jeremy Corbyn today.
Labour hustings cancelled, as Keir Starmer takes time out
Saturday’s Labour leadership hustings in Leeds has been cancelled – as the frontrunner Keir Starmer’s team announced he will do no events over the weekend.
He paused his campaign on Thursday after his mother-in-law was in a serious accident and was admitted to hospital in intensive care.
A spokesperson for Starmer said: “Further to yesterday’s statement, Keir will be cancelling all campaign events this weekend. We ask that his family’s privacy is respected at this time.”
UK has financed £6bn of fossil fuel projects since 2010
The government is pumping billions of pounds into overseas fossil fuel projects that could emit up to 69 million tonnes of greenhouses gases every year, an investigation has found.
Earlier this week, Boris Johnson announced an end of financial support for countries with coal mining and coal-fuelled power stations – but activists called on the PM to also stop UK funding of overseas gas and oil energy projects.
A probe led by Greenpeace’s investigations unit discovered UKEF has financed £6bn of fossil fuel projects around the world since 2010.
More details here:
Nick Clegg tells chancellor to delay tech tax
Facebook communications chief Sir Nick Clegg has urged chancellor Sajid Javid to delay plans to impose a digital tax on US tech giants.
The former deputy PM did not rule out the proposals being used as a bargaining chip in transatlantic post-Brexit trade negotiations and urged the UK to pause the plans to work towards an international solution.
Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if he supports the US making the tax an issue in trade talks, Sir Nick said: “No-one wants to see trade wars but equally no-one wants to see what is, in the end, not a sustainable solution, which is a lot of patchwork set at different levels in different ways.
“I totally understand the political significance which is attached to this because people want to see big global companies like Facebook pay their fair share, but actually the solution the Treasury has come up with compared to total tax intake for the Treasury is very, very small indeed.
“I would simply throw the question back and say to Sajid Javid ‘Look, you’re not giving anything up by just saying you want to give the international talks more time to succeed’.”
He also said he was “very confident” that Jeff Bezos wasn’t hacked via Whatsapp.
Tory revolt over HS2: ‘We can’t go on throwing money at this project’
HS2 is over budget and behind schedule because its risks were under-estimated, according to a damning report by the Whitehall spending watchdog.
The National Audit Office (NAO) said phase one – London to Birmingham – could be “poor value” by delivering only 80p of benefits for every £1 spent. But, overall, the completed line to the north of England may deliver £1.40 of benefits for every £1 spent.
The spending watchdog reckons the government “misjudged the complexity” of the whole thing, and warned that it is impossible to “estimate with certainty what the final cost could be”.
Is the ambitious rail project now in real jeopardy?
A group of 13 Tory MPs have posted a video posted on YouTube demanding Boris Johnson scraps HS2 and spend the money on improving other transport links.
Tory MP Victoria Prentis, chair of the HS2 Review Group of MPs, described the NAO report as “incredibly damning” and urged the PM to think again.
She said: “I do hope this puts more pressure on the Government to act. We can’t go on throwing money and resources at this project.”
Labour MP Andy McDonald, shadow transport secretary, said the report showed the Tory government’s handling of the project had been “disastrous and incompetent”.
Priti Patel urged to lower threshold for migrant workers
Industry bodies representing hundreds of thousands of businesses across the whole UK economy have written to home secretary Priti Patel to call for a deep cut in the proposed £30,000 minimum salary threshold for migrant workers after Brexit.
The CBI, British Chambers of Commerce, Federation of Small Businesses, Institute of Directors, Make UK and other groups urged Patel to ensure that new immigration rules do not deny them “access to the labour and skills needed to support the economy”.
A threshold of £20,100 would be high enough to protect wages of home-grown workers, they said.
The signatories appealed for flexibility to recruit workers below any salary threshold on the basis of their skills, an extension from one to two years in temporary working visas and a “radically reformed” sponsorship process to reduce the cost and complexity of hiring from overseas.
Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has more details.
EU chiefs sign withdrawal agreement for UK’s exit
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Charles Michel have signed the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, the council has said.
It follows the Queen granting royal assent to the legislation for Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal on Thursday.
The European Parliament is expected to vote to ratify the agreement on January 29 ahead of Britain’s departure from the EU on January 31.
It will mark the start of an 11-month transition period, during which the UK will continue to follow EU rules, before the final break with Brussels at the end of the year.
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