6:46 am, March 3, 2023
Ministers wanted to ‘get heavy’ with police over Covid rules
Ministers and senior officials discussed the need to ‘get heavy’ with the police over the enforcement of Covid lockdown regulations, according to the latest tranche of Matt Hancock’s leaked messages published by The Daily Telegraph.
The newspaper highlighted an exchange between the then-health secretary and cabinet secretary Simon Case from August 2020, in which Case raised the question: ‘Who actually is delivering enforcement?’
Hancock replied ‘I think we are going to have to get heavy with the police’, prompting Case to point out that they were due to have a roundtable meeting with ministers and the ‘cops’.
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon to appear in court after baby’s remains found
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon will appear in court after the remains of a baby were found in a wooded area.
The Metropolitan Police said they have both been charged with gross negligence manslaughter, concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice.
Officers found the body of a baby on Wednesday in the Hollingbury area of Brighton, East Sussex, following a two-day search operation. The infant is yet to be formally identified and a post-mortem examination is due to take place on Friday.
Sue Gray: Partygate investigator headed for top Labour job
Sue Gray, the investigator of lockdown-busting parties in Boris Johnson’s government, looks set to join Labour as Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff.
The Whitehall veteran quit the Cabinet Office to take on the party political job, prompting criticism by some Tory MPs, who said it throws civil service impartiality into question.
Thrust into the limelight when she took over the probe into coronavirus rule-breaking at No 10 in 2021, Gray went from an influential but little-known arbiter of conduct in government to a household name within months.
HS2 boss says delays among options being explored to curb rising costs
The HS2 rail project could be delayed among a number of potential options being considered to curb rising costs, the project’s boss has said.
In an interview with the BBC, HS2 chief executive Mark Thurston said the impact of inflation on the project over the past year has been ‘significant… whether that’s in timber, steel, aggregates for all the concrete we need to use to build the job, labour, all our energy costs, fuel’.
The latest target cost of Phase One between London and Birmingham is £40.3bn at 2019 prices. A budget of £55.7bn for the whole of HS2 was set in 2015. Thurston told the broadcaster HS2 was in discussion with suppliers and the government on finding ways to minimise the soaring costs.
Thursday Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- Exclusive: Internal system ‘likely cause’ as VW Group delays agency sales until at least 2024
- Vertu Motors: Trading is ‘in line with expectations’ against ‘complex macro backdrop’
- ‘Retail has to change’, Polestar UK boss to tell Car Dealer Live conference next week
- Ford set to cut European dealer network as firm finalises agency plans
- Musk hints that cheaper Tesla models could be around the corner as firm looks slash assembly costs in half
- Cazoo board member Anne Wojcicki resigns for ‘personal reasons’
Nearly half of people ‘have put off vehicle repairs because of cost-of-living’
Nearly half (49 per cent) of people have put off vehicle repairs due to rising living costs, a survey has found.
More than a third (39 per cent) are concerned their car will break down due to neglect while 56 per cent are concerned about how they would be able to afford any repairs, the research by Censuswide among more than 2,100 people whose household owns a vehicle found.
More than half (54 per cent) of motorists also said they had started trying to use their vehicle less to save money, according to the survey in February for Nationwide Building Society’s FlexPlus account.
BMW confirms electric Countryman is on the way
Mini has announced that it will be creating a fully electric version of its Countryman SUV.
Due to be built ‘entirely in Germany’, the electric Countryman – which is set to enter production this year – will be made at BMW’s Leipzig plant alongside BMW models like the 2 Series Active Tourer and 1 Series.
Previously, the Countryman has been available with both petrol and plug-in hybrid power, but it’s expected that this new version will ditch the latter in favour of the fully electric setup. A standard petrol version, however, is predicted to maintain a place in the line-up.
Weather outlook
A largely dry but cloudy day for many parts of the UK today, reports BBC Weather. Southern Scotland and eastern England will see brighter spells later on. Highs of around nine degrees.
Cloud will break up and disperse tonight leaving a night of variable cloud cover for much of the UK. Northern England and Scotland will see clearer skies later.
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