Entire UK government breaks ministerial code by failing to declare interests

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This article is republished from Open Democracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence.

Rishi Sunak’s failure to appoint ethics adviser means ministers are unable to comply with twice-yearly requirement

Seth Thévoz close-up

Seth Thévoz

1 December 2022, 1.00am

The entire British government appears to have broken its own ministerial code by failing to declare any conflicts of interest since May.

It is now six months since the UK government last published what is supposed to be its twice-yearly List of Ministers’ Interests, detailing outside interests and dealings for each minister. But Rishi Sunak’s government has been unable even to begin this work, which takes weeks, after failing to appoint the ethics adviser whose job it is to oversee the regime.

It leaves open the possibility that there are scores of undeclared interests held by government ministers.

This is despite Rishi Sunak having promised in July that “I definitely will reappoint an independent ethics adviser and it will be one of the first things I do” on becoming prime minister. He has so far made at least 125 other appointments in government.

Cabinet Office minister Jeremy Quin said more than a month ago: “It is absolutely the prime minister’s intention to appoint an independent adviser,” while Sunak’s spokesperson claimed five weeks ago that it would be “done shortly”.

This sort of government-wide breach of the Ministerial Code has happened just once before – under Boris Johnson – in a situation described at the time by former parliamentary commissioner for standards Sir Alistair Graham as “all pretty scandalous” and “dreadful”.

The Ministerial Code promises that “a statement covering relevant ministers’ interests will be published twice yearly”. Under previous ethics advisers, including the most recent, this has been interpreted as meaning that they are to be released six months apart.

Two resignations

Much of the chaos stems from the UK government’s last two ethics advisers having both resigned under Boris Johnson.

The first, Alex Allan, quit in November 2020, after Johnson refused to uphold Allan’s advice and sack Priti Patel over bullying allegations.

Johnson eventually appointed Christopher Geidt as his new ethics adviser in April 2021 – after dragging his feet over replacing Allan.

On taking up the post, Geidt wrote: “It is my firm intention that the twice yearly publication should now be resumed and maintained, as envisaged in the code.” He then published up-to-date Lists of Ministers’ Interests in May 2021November 2021, and May 2022.

But Geidt quit in June, after Boris Johnson “placed me in an impossible and odious position”, asking Geidt to approve the breaking of international law by advising on a plan to extend tariffs on steel imports that may have gone against World Trade Organization rules. Geidt said that Johnson was “in the business of deliberately breaching his own code”.

Threat

While all MPs and peers have to sign a Register of Members’ Interests in parliament, the reporting requirements for that are more lax than the strict standards applied to ministers in the Ministerial Code.

But the lack of an ethics adviser causes other problems. Dave Penman, secretary general of the civil service union the FDA, last month highlighted the threat it poses to public servants and whistleblowers: “If a civil servant has a complaint to make about a minister, the lack of a written process is only half the problem, as the lack of someone to even investigate it is a bigger hurdle.”

Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab is currently the subject of “multiple” complaints of bullying from civil servants, with Sunak having had to ask a lawyer to lead an investigation that would usually have been the job of the ethics adviser.

Earlier this week, it emerged that “several” candidates had reportedly all declined the ethics job, with Labour’s Angela Rayner suggesting it was “a poisoned chalice”.

At the heart of the reported reasons for the role being turned down are its limited powers – and Sunak’s refusal to change the terms of reference.

Lord Evans, chair of the committee on standards in public life, has strongly criticised the way that the job – which reports directly to the prime minister – effectively gives the prime minister a veto over which ministers are investigated. Prime ministers are also free to disregard advice from the adviser, as happened in Patel’s bullying case

A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister committed in the summer to [appoint an ethics adviser], as well as when he became prime minister. Recruitment is underway and we want to appoint as quickly as possible.” They added that “work is happening at pace”.

This article is republished from Open Democracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence.

Continue ReadingEntire UK government breaks ministerial code by failing to declare interests

Tory attempts to paint NHS strikes as helping Putin are ‘new low for this government,’ union say

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Minister without portfolio Nadhim Zahawi leaves Downing Street, London, after a Cabinet meeting

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/tory-attempts-to-paint-nhs-strikes-as-helping-putin-are-new-low-for-this-government-union-say

TORY attempts to use the war in Ukraine to justify yet more real-terms pay cuts for public workers is a “new low for this government,” unions stressed today.

The charge came after Conservative Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi claimed inflation-proof wage boosts would further stoke rising prices amid Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ongoing assault on Kiev.

“Unions should rethink and reflect on the damage and disruption to people’s lives and livelihoods at Christmas because that is exactly what Putin wants to see — let’s not divide, let’s come together.”

However, the Royal College of Nursing, which is due to launch its first ever national NHS strike over pay and declining patient safety on December 15, said the public “does not believe this kind of rhetoric and wants ministers to address our dispute.”

Continue ReadingTory attempts to paint NHS strikes as helping Putin are ‘new low for this government,’ union say

Hundreds of renters protest outside letting agents across London calling on government to freeze rents

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London Renters Union members protest outside a Foxtons letting agents Image: London Renters Union

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/hundreds-of-renters-protest-outside-letting-agents-across-london-calling-on-government-to-freeze-rents

HUNDREDS of renters protested outside letting agents in six London boroughs on Saturday to demand Britain implement an emergency rent freeze similar to that of the Scottish government.

The renters from the London Renters Union (LRU) were also highlighting the “human cost of the rental crisis” the “key role” letting agents play in “gouging rents well above inflation,” the LRU said in a press release.

The organisation has reported an average rent increase of 20.5 per cent or £3,378 per year. Those numbers are based on 150 rent rises which have been reported to the union since September 20.

Continue ReadingHundreds of renters protest outside letting agents across London calling on government to freeze rents

Hancock slammed for attempting to deny responsibility for tens of thousands of Covid deaths

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/hancock-slammed-for-attempting-to-deny-responsibility-for-tens-of-thousands-of-covid-deaths

Matt Hancock, former Health Minister and twat. Image: Crown copyright

MATT HANCOCK’S attempts to deny responsibility for the tens of thousands of Covid-19 deaths in care homes were slammed as a “deluded version” of events today.

National Care Association chairwoman Nadra Ahmed said the recollections of the former health secretary, who was forced to resign last year after breaking his own social distancing rules, “bear no resemblance to the facts.”

The West Suffolk MP, who now sits as an independent after being thrown out of the Tory Party over his widely criticised appearance on ITV’s reality show I’m a Celebrity, said that the virus was primarily brought into care homes by infected staff members.

The claim came despite the ex-Cabinet minister allowing untested hospital patients to be discharged into care settings in the early days of the pandemic in spring 2020.

Continue ReadingHancock slammed for attempting to deny responsibility for tens of thousands of Covid deaths

Protesters hold demonstrations in Harrods, British Museum and Scottish Power HQ over surging energy bills

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https://inews.co.uk/news/protesters-hold-demonstrations-in-harrods-british-museum-and-scottish-power-hq-over-surging-energy-bulls-2008244

Activists held protest in Harrods, the British Museum and Scottish Power headquarters today (3 December), as part of national demonstrations against surging energy bills and fuel poverty.

Don’t Pay UK, Fuel Poverty Action, Just Stop Oil and others groups held a series of what they describe as ‘warm-up’ protests.

Activists entered the British Museum’s great hall – the largest indoor public square in Europe – where they also protested against the Bloomsbury venue’s sponsorship links with oil giant BP.

Just Stop Oil supporters cosy up at Harrods on Fuel Poverty Day of Action

Image: Just Stop Oil, Rich Feldgate

Just Stop Oil supporters have occupied beds and sofas in Harrods to demand that the government Just Stop Fuel Poverty by insulating homes and ending our reliance on expensive, dangerous and dirty fossil fuels. 

At around 1pm, 4 Just Stop Oil supporters briefly occupied beds and sofas in Harrods department store on Brompton Road in central London and displayed signs reading “Just Stop Oil, Just Start Insulation”, “Just Stop Fuel Poverty” and “Oil Equals Death”. They were rapidly escorted out of the store by around 20 security guards.

Image: just Stop Oil.

Just Stop Oil supporters are acting today in solidarity with Fuel Poverty Action’s Energy For All campaign and the Don’t Pay UK campaign. The action is one of several Warm-Ups taking place across the UK in towns and cities including Glasgow, Liverpool, Bristol and London in support of the Warm This Winter coalition’s Day of Action on fuel poverty.

A spokesperson for Just Stop Oil said 

“This government is allowing ordinary people to starve and freeze this winter as greedy energy companies squeeze every last penny out of us. The health service is in crisis, workers’ wages are being squeezed, and nurses are using food banks. Austerity is a political choice and the cost of living crisis is an unprovoked attack on ordinary people.

“Worse still, rocketing energy prices are funding the companies who are torching the climate. Rishi Sunak’s government plans to allow over 100 new UK fossil fuel projects. They are signing our death warrants. New oil and gas is criminal, an act of genocide against billions of people in the poorest countries on earth, and an act of war against the young.

“If the government really cared about ordinary people, as they keep claiming, we’d see an emergency response to the climate and cost of living crisis. Everyone would have their basic energy needs met and bills would be shrunk through insulation, renewables and free public transport, paid for by the fossil fuel companies and the rich.”

National Energy Action estimates that as a result of rising energy costs, around 2.2 million more people have fallen into fuel poverty this year in the UK raising the total figure to 6.7 million. The chancellor’s decision to further raise the energy price cap in 2023 could see the number of households in fuel poverty rise from the current 7 million this winter to 8.6 million households by next April according to the End Fuel Poverty Coalition

Continue ReadingProtesters hold demonstrations in Harrods, British Museum and Scottish Power HQ over surging energy bills

Sunak set a ‘dangerous precedent’ by reappointing Braverman days after she resigned over security breaches

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The Morning Star reports :

RISHI SUNAK’S decision to reappoint Suella Braverman just days after her resignation over security breaches sets a “dangerous precedent,” a damning report by MPs has warned.

The Tory-led public administration and constitutional affairs committee released its latest report on government ethics today, singling out the PM for particular criticism over the decision.

The Home Secretary was forced to resign after sending official documents via her private email to a Tory backbencher and accidentally copying in an aid.

But soon after Mr Sunak took over the premiership, he reappointed her, sparking widespread anger and concerns that Ms Braverman’s return could pose a risk to national security.

We’ve heard very little from Sue-Ellen Braverman since she was bullied recently apparently. If you can’t take it … Her remarks about the Guardian-reading tofu-eating wokerati and the anti-groth coalition while she was Home Secretary under Liz Truss were a bit mad I thought.

Continue ReadingSunak set a ‘dangerous precedent’ by reappointing Braverman days after she resigned over security breaches

The state of UK’s water industry

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The Guardian has a series of articles looking at UK’s water industry. Looks like it’s a cash cow for foreign investors with prices to consumers inflated to service debt and excessive payments to shareholders. Well worth a look (and tofu-eating is not mandatory ;) …

England’s water: the world’s piggy bank

England is one of the few countries in the world where water is fully owned by private companies. These companies answer to investors based thousands of miles away from their customers.

“What we have here is just a crazy system,” said Kate Bayliss, from the department of economics at SOAS University of London and author of several papers on England’s privatised water. “We are managing our water in the interests of offshore investors.”

These offshore investors include private and state-owned international funds, banks, multinationals and billionaires headquartered outside the UK, and they control at least 72% of English water, new Guardian research has found.

Here’s how England’s profitable water system has been sold off around the world:

Revealed: more than 70% of English water industry is in foreign ownership

Foreign investment firms, private equity, pension funds and businesses lodged in tax havens own more than 70% of the water industry in England, according to research by the Guardian.

The complex web of ownership is revealed as the public and some politicians increasingly call for the industry to be held to account for sewage dumping, leaks and water shortages. Six water companies are under investigation for potentially illegal activities as pressure grows on the industry to put more money into replacing and restoring crumbling infrastructure to protect both the environment and public health.

More than three decades after the sector was sold off with a promise to the public they would become individual small shareholders or “H2Owners”, control of the water industry has become dominated by overseas investment vehicles, the super-rich, companies in tax havens and pension fund investors. The ownership structure is such that transparency and accountability are limited, according to Dr Kate Bayliss, a research associate with the department of economics at Soas University of London.

Down the drain: how billions of pounds are sucked out of England’s water system

In the 30 years since England’s water was privatised by Margaret Thatcher, water companies have set up a system in which billions of pounds leave the network in an average year.

It’s money that could have gone towards building a more resilient water system, say academics. Among them, Dieter Helm, an Oxford professor of economic policy specialising in utilities, went as far as saying in 2021 that England’s water system was “a scandal of financial engineering”.

So where is the money going?

Continue ReadingThe state of UK’s water industry

Endless debates about soup and paintings serve those who’d prefer we ignore the climate crisis

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Just Stop Oil activists with their hands glued to the wall after throwing tomato soup on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery. Photograph: Just Stop Oil/AFP/Getty Images. dizzy: I’m assuming that this is a JSO image really.

Zoe Williams

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/01/debates-soup-paintings-action-climate-crisis-just-stop-oil-xr

Opponents of meaningful action are trying to sidestep the immediacy of the threat to our planet

Expert opinion is settled and public opinion united on the urgency of climate action. If our politics or our discourse were in any way functional, there would be no confusion, no debate. We would simply be proceeding from one bold practical action to the next, following the blueprints laid out by the Climate Change Committee.

Instead, we have energy policies stitched together from reheated cliches, which on the one hand doesn’t matter, since no prime minister has been stable or focused enough to iterate them since Brexit, but on the other hand does matter. There is nothing more depressing than to go back to Amber Rudd’s “energy reset” speech of 2015: what if, instead of dismissing renewables incentives as “Blairite”, she’d actually taken them seriously and built on them? What if she’d pushed energy-efficient homes instead of the “unfettered market”, what if she’d made a plan to reduce dependence on gas from Vladimir Putin rather than increase it? “Spoiler alert,” wrote the renewables entrepreneur Bruce Davis at the time: “this doesn’t end well for bill payers.” And nor has it.

Obviously, Conservatives are only interested in their own internal dumb-and-dumber popularity contests, and cannot be trusted to make sound, long-term decisions in the national interest. They degrade everything in public life. But they only get away with this because of the discursive cover provided by pointless debates about climate action.

Continue ReadingEndless debates about soup and paintings serve those who’d prefer we ignore the climate crisis