News roundup

By Bev Haigh-Jones

So much going on over the last month that it has been quite difficult to narrow things down to a reasonable level. As usual, however, I have tried to focus on the elements that may not have been so evident.

The Rwanda Bill is something that has been very much in the media recently, with justification, but there may have been some elements of the process and argument that you have missed. For example, if you haven’t seen it, the speech by Chris Bryant during the second reading of the Bill is certainly worth watching. Despite some abstentions, the government won the vote, and you will not be surprised to hear that all six Cornish MPs voted in favour. Of course, in the run-up to the reading there was also much activity including the resignations of Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick, but the challenge to Braverman by the BBC’s Nick Robinson was an interesting and unexpected episode. Less surprising is the attitude of Jacob Rees-Mogg to immigration, as highlighted by Save British Farming, but Sky News have produced a much more factual report on the issue and how it has progressed over recent years. There could be a long way to go to get the Rwanda Bill past the finishing post, but human rights could be seriously impacted if it’s successful. Jon Danzig provides a comprehensive overview here.

The COP28 conference has been taking place in Dubai recently, and there had been high hopes for progress in plans to address fossil fuel usage, though reaching the stage of signing an agreement proved to be quite a task. Looking at this issue closer to home, though, despite assurances to the contrary, Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho revealed the truth that new oil and gas fields in the North Sea will not reduce UK prices. Bad enough you might think, but this was followed by a damning assessment of the UK government by American ex-Vice President, Al Gore, where he suggests that they seem to be in the pocket of the fossil fuel companies.

This isn’t the only environmental issue that has generated criticism of the government. In a recent Judicial Review brought by Fish Legal and Pickering Fishery Association, the High Court ruled that the government, and the Environment Agency, had failed in their mandatory legal duties to review, update and put in place measures to restore rivers and other water bodies under the Water Framework Directive Regulations. The ruling included a description from the judge that the Secretary of State’s approach was one of “smoke and mirrors”.

Many government plans are coming under criticism at the moment. The recent plan to allow the DWP to scrutinise bank accounts of benefits claimants seemed very dystopian (petition here if you object), but it transpires that this power would also extend to the accounts of state pensioners, which seems excessive and possibly a breach of our human rights.

The Covid Inquiry revelations have been well publicised, so I won’t attempt to cover all the details, but another blog post from Jon Danzig provides information on how the government and the scientists had conflicting opinions.

“Britain slipping back to social divide of Victorian era” – this is the headline on a recent press release by the Centre for Social Justice. It’s a depressing report that details the growing gap between the “haves” and the “have nots” and the impact this is having on health, including mental health, which is also affecting children. It’s a shameful state of affairs for a country that is supposedly one of the richest in the world, but the UK’s wealth is not distributed fairly, as confirmed by a Unicef report and an associated graph, which shows the UK as the worst performer when it comes to child poverty. To quote the report : “At the bottom of the chart, the five countries with orange bars saw increases in poverty of more than 10 per cent, of which the highest rise was in the United Kingdom (20 per cent).” And if that doesn’t convince you of the inequality in Britain, the BBC reports on the school in London where 80% of children are homeless!

Of course, before long we should be heading into the next election and we have a couple of related items of interest. To begin with, if you don’t have a valid photo ID, make sure that you apply for a Voter Authority Certificate to ensure that you aren’t prevented from voting. You can apply and check valid forms of ID here. Following on from this, there has been an announcement that UK citizens living abroad can now re-register to vote, but the complexities of the procedure involved does make time very tight if they are to be able to take part in the next election.

Moving on to EU and Brexit, there have been some positive developments recently. Firstly, to quote the Express, “Ursula von der Leyen, the EU’s top-ranking official, has admitted she wants Britain to rejoin the bloc as she hinted at a complete reversal of Brexit.” Further encouragement for the Rejoin movement also came from Guy Verhofstadt, when he recently tweeted, “Peace, prosperity and security need the UK and EU working hand in hand… united!” while sharing the article from the Guardian with the headline – “UK voters want closer relationship with EU”.

The route to Rejoin won’t be easy, of course, but hopefully when the time comes, we will have better negotiators than last time around. In a recent article in the Independent, Michel Barnier claimed that he “knew the former PM was not serious about his ‘madman’ claim to be ready to exit without a trade deal with Brussels”. He went on to say that “Mr Johnson’s ministers ‘did not know’ or understand the consequences of Brexit.” There was further criticism for Johnson, as well as Theresa May, but fortunately Barnier is in agreement with Keir Starmer’s idea of a possible UK/EU Veterinary Agreement.

We have never found any benefits of Brexit and we know that there are innumerable downsides, but there was apparently a eureka moment for Jeremy Hunt recently when he “blamed Brexit for years of political instability, admitting that the turmoil in government undermined Britain economically.” I doubt that any of us would argue with that and certainly The New European believes that Hunt’s Autumn Statement shows that Britain can’t afford Brexit – an opinion backed up by the recent Office for Budget Responsibility estimate that the Trans-Pacific trade deal will be worth even less than prophesised by the government.

Sadly, one more negative item to report on before we finish this section on a few positives. Save British Farming have issued a YouTube clip with a warning that Britain faces a surge in salmonella cases because of Brexit.

And now for the good news! As reported in Chris Davey’s “There is no planet B” article, it’s looking likely that the EU will delay the proposed 10% tariff on EV vehicles traded with the UK. Then there is the fact that the Mirror newspaper and their columnist, Brian Reade, won the case brought by James Dyson. As we know, Dyson was a Brexiter who moved his head office to Singapore once we had left the EU, but nevertheless thought it appropriate to complain when criticised for doing just that. Fortunately, the court upheld the right of the journalist to voice his own opinion even when that included the comment that “I DID believe he was a hypocrite for being the business face of Brexit then moving his head office to Singapore.” Our last bit of positive news is not directly related to Brexit, but is certainly good news for the EU, and that is the fact that pro-EU Anglophile Donald Tusk should soon be leading Poland’s new coalition government.

As usual, our last section relates specifically to Cornish news. We begin with a follow-up on our Stop Press from last month concerning the shortfall in replacement EU funding. This time a new article from The London Economic picks up the story.

Next a plan that you may or may not be aware of, and that is the project being proposed by South West Water to build a desalination plant at Par, in Cornwall. There have already been a couple of public meetings and many locals are very uneasy about the potential for environmental damage, but consultations are still underway while the scheme is in the planning stages, so if you want to know more, or voice your opinion, you can do so here.

In other news, the housing crisis in Cornwall continues to escalate with no-fault evictions at their highest ever level in the period between April and June, and 20% up on the previous quarter. This after the government had said they would legislate against the practice, but as this has been delayed, landlords continue to capitalise on the current legislation.

Finally, for those who aren’t aware, there is a network of Repair Cafes across Cornwall where people come together to repair and/or recycle a whole range of items from clothing to electricals, but also to learn skills from others. If this would interest you, you can find more information here.