6:44 am, February 5, 2023
Liz Truss says she wasn’t given a chance
Liz Truss has said she was never given a ‘realistic chance’ to implement her radical tax-cutting agenda by her party and by a ‘powerful economic establishment’.
In a 4,000 word essay for the Sunday Telegraph, the former prime minister said she had not appreciated the strength of the resistance she would face to her plans.
While she acknowledged that she was not ‘blameless’ over the way her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s infamous mini-budget catastrophically unravelled, she still believed her approach to driving growth was the right one.
Nurses leaders urge Rishi Sunak to avert NHS strike
Nurses leaders have issued a direct appeal to Rishi Sunak to intervene in their pay dispute as the NHS faces its biggest day of industrial action in its history.
In a letter to the prime minister, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) general secretary Pat Cullen said that a ‘meaningful’ pay offer from the government could still avert strike action.
She drew a comparison with his swift action sacking Conservative party chairman Nadhim Zahawi after he was found to breached the ministerial code in relation to his tax affairs.
Shapps raps energy regulator over prepayment meter scandal
Business secretary Grant Shapps has told the energy market regulator to toughen up on suppliers in the wake of the prepayment meter scandal.
Shapps accused Ofgem of ‘having the wool pulled over their eyes’ by taking at face value what the energy company bosses were telling them and not listening to customers.
He said that he was giving the companies a deadline of Tuesday to report back on what action they would be taking – including compensation – with regard to customers who may have had prepayment meters wrongfully installed in their homes.
Xpeng G9 heads to Europe with 354-mile range
Xpeng has confirmed final details for its G9 electric SUV which has gone on sale in Europe.
The China-based company has made the new model available to order in Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden and it’s expected that it could go on sale in the UK by the middle of the decade.
The G9 will be available with a series of motor and battery options. Standard range and long range – both with rear-wheel-drive – will bring respective ranges of 286 and 354 miles.
The former comes with a maximum charging speed of 260kW, while the latter ups this to 300kW which is enough to charge from 10 to 80 per cent in 20 minutes when connected to a rapid charger.
Saturday Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
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Just 10 of 40 new hospitals pledged by Tories have planning permission
A Tory pledge to build 40 new hospitals by the end of the decade is in jeopardy, it has been claimed, with just 10 having so far received full planning permission.
The commitment to build the new hospitals by 2030 was one of the key planks of Boris Johnson’s 2019 general election manifesto.
However, the Liberal Democrats said details obtained through parliamentary questions and Freedom of Information requests showed the programme was behind schedule and the target was almost certain to be missed.
The party said that only 10 hospitals had received permission to begin work, while some had not even received outline planning permission.
Ryanair wants end to airport drone disruption
Ryanair has called for action by the government over disruption at Dublin Airport caused by drones.
The airline said there has been two days of disruptions and diversions at the airport.
The carrier has urged Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan to take action to prevent further drone disruptions at Ireland’s main airport.
A spokesperson for Dublin Airport said flight operations were suspended for safety reasons following two confirmed drone sightings on the airfield.
Sunshine ahead
Today, many areas of the UK will have sunshine with light winds but in the northwest it will gradually turn cloudier.
In the south this will lead to widespread frost this evening with some fog patches.
In the northwest the cloud and wind will continue but temperatures will be milder.
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