Cabinet draws up plans for simultaneous no-deal Brexit and second Covid wave August 23, 2020 The government has drawn up plans to deal simultaneously with a second coronavirus wave and the effects of a no-deal Brexit after December 31. The Cabinet Office’s emergency plans include telling the Navy to protect the UK’s waters from illegal EU fishing boats and deploying the army on Brtain’s streets to quell civil unrest. The [...]
Jeremy Corbyn aides believed he sabotaged his 2019 election campaign August 23, 2020 Jeremy Corbyn’s closest aides thought he was sabotaging himself during the 2019 General Election campaign, according to a new book on Labour’s disastrous defeat. Corbyn reportedly intentionally missed events by making his schedule run over time during the campaign as the party’s leadership squabbled over campaign tactics. The revelations come from the soon-to-be-released Left Out [...]
Gavin Williamson was on holiday in lead-up to A-level results chaos August 23, 2020 Under fire education secretary Gavin Williamson cancelled a key meeting and went on holiday to the seaside a week before the A-level results fiasco, it has been revealed. The Sunday Times reports that Williamson went away to Scarborough, Yorkshire, on the week starting 3 August, just over a week before England’s A-level results came out. [...]
Are the Democrats sleepwalking into the US election? August 20, 2020 The first three days of the Democratic National Convention have progressed in the same conservative, risk averse manner of Joe Biden’s campaign so far. Despite having addresses from three former presidents, one former presidential nominee and a host of party grandees, there will be little if anything that will be remembered from the past three [...]
McKinsey paid £560,000 to consult on Public Health England axeing August 20, 2020 Management consulting giant McKinsey was paid more £500,000 by the government to advise on the formation of a new public health authority in England. Health secretary Matt Hancock announced in a speech on Tuesday that Public Health England was to be replaced with a new body called the National Institute for Health Protection. The new [...]
Record number of students receive highest GCSE grades August 20, 2020 More than one-in-four GCSE students in England received the highest possible grades this year, after the government’s U-turn on how grades are assessed. Ofqual released this year’s GCSE results today, with 25.9 per cent awarded a 7, 8 or 9 – equivalent to A or A* under the old system – which is up from [...]
Proposed House of Lords relocation to York shelved August 19, 2020 A proposal to move the House of Lords to York during parliament’s planned renovations has been shelved. The idea was first floated at the start of the year and continually came up this year as something Boris Johnson was exploring, however the body responsible for Westminster’s restoration has said the York move “will not…be considered” [...]
EU threatens Belarus with sanctions over alleged election fraud August 19, 2020 The EU has threatened to impose sanctions on Belarus, after its President Alexander Lukashenko was accused of election rigging. The European Council President Charles Michel said today that the bloc did not accept the election result, which saw Lukashenko get 80 per cent of the vote. His opponent Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was said to have won [...]
English councils face £2bn black hole from coroanvrius August 19, 2020 English councils are facing a £2bn black hole over the coming months if the government does not provide emergency funding, according to a leading think tank. The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ (IFS) new report said Covid-19 has depleted local government revenues and many “face a difficult choice between depleting their reserves to low and potentially [...]
Brexit free trade talks stalled over UK truckers’ access to EU August 19, 2020 The EU has reportedly denied the UK’s request for British truckers to maintain full access to mainland Europe as post-Brexit trade talks resume today. The UK wants its truckers to be able to make pick ups and drop offs inside and between EU member states after the Brexit transition period ends on 31 December, according [...]
