HMRC to recoup less than half of the £5.8bn lost from pandemic fraud and mistakes November 21, 2021 HM Revenue & Customs (HRMC) have admitted it will struggle to recoup the the estimated £5.8bn it paid out incorrectly during the pandemic, through fraudulent claims or departmental mistakes.
Met faces legal challenge after it doesn’t investigate Tory cash for peerages claims November 21, 2021 The Metropolitan Police is facing a legal challenge over its decision to not investigate claims that the Tory party systemically gives peerages to its largest donors. The Metropolitan Police will not investigate research done by the Sunday times/OpenDemocracy that showed the past 16 Tory party treasurers, who have all donated more than £3m to the [...]
Andrew Bailey: Public sector hiring surge is squeezing UK job market November 21, 2021 A surge in public sector hiring is helping contribute to labour market shortages in the UK, according to Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey. Bailey said the public sector has grown so much that it created as many jobs as were lost during the pandemic. “Public-sector employment has increased – we reckon it’s about 200,000 [...]
British Virgin Islands denies reports that it is ‘laying the groundwork’ for an independence referendum November 21, 2021 ands (BVI) have pushed back against reports that it is gearing up for a referendum to remove the Queen as head of state amid supposed corruption of the UK government.
Frost: EU must show ‘more ambition’ to clinch Northern Ireland Protocol deal November 21, 2021 The EU has not done enough to present solutions to the problems surrounding the Northern Ireland Protocol and must instead show “more ambition”, Lord David Frost has said. The UK’s defacto Brexit minister chided Brussels negotiators for not pushing talks fast enough, stressing that “we need more … urgency if we are to sustain the [...]
Javid: England ‘firmly’ still in plan A Covid restrictions November 21, 2021 Sajid Javid has signalled that new Covid restrictions are still not needed, saying today that England is still “firmly” in Plan A. The health secretary said the government must “remain cautious, not complacent in any way”, but that he hoped people could “look forward to Christmas together”. Cases are rising across Europe, with a national lockdown called [...]
Former Chancellor predicts PM will U-turn on HS2 cuts November 21, 2021 Former Chancellor George Osborne has predicted Prime Minister Boris Johnson will make a U-turn on the government’s decision to cut HS2’s eastern leg. Talking to the Financial Times’ Payne’s Politics podcast, Osborne – who was Chancellor from 2010 to 2015 during David Cameron’s government – labelled the decision to scale back on HS2 as “pretty [...]
Weak oversight led to Greensill Capital putting millions of taxpayers’ money at risk November 20, 2021 Weak internal controls at the state-owned bank overseeing Covid-19 loan schemes led to Greensill Capital putting millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money at risk. A probe by the Public Accounts Committee, a group of MPs that scrutinise the government’s spending, found the British Business Bank, the state-owned bank that oversaw the Covid-19 emergency loan schemes, [...]
UK drivers banned from using hand-held devices November 19, 2021 UK drivers will be banned from filming or searching for playlists on hand-held devices from next year under government plans to boost road safety.
EU: ‘change in tone’ from UK but post-Brexit trade deal is ‘linked’ to solving Northern Ireland Protocol November 19, 2021 European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic has said the post-Brexit trade deal is “intrinsically linked” to settling the Protocol. Sefcovic was speaking at the Brexit Institute at Dublin City University, immediately before negotiations with Lord David Frost. Sefcovic said: “Settling the divorce has always been and remains a precondition for our future relationship. “It was [...]