6:44 am, December 11, 2023
Fraught week for Sunak as warring Tory factions mull over his Rwanda Bill
Rishi Sunak faces the most perilous week of his leadership as factions in his bitterly divided Conservative party weigh up whether to derail his Rwanda legislation and his authority with it.
The prime minister faces a threat from both the right and left as the tribes hold separate meetings on Monday to consider if they will back the flagship Bill in a crunch vote on Tuesday.
Hardline Brexiteers from the European Research Group and other factions on the Conservative right will first hold a summit on the legislation tasked with reviving his asylum policy. Then the more moderate wing of One Nation Conservatives will hold a separate evening meeting in Parliament before releasing a statement on their judgment.
Mother to appear in court charged with manslaughter over children’s fire deaths
A mother will appear in court charged with four counts of manslaughter after a fire killed her two sets of twin sons in south London in 2021.
Deveca Rose, 29, is also charged with child abandonment contrary to the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, the Metropolitan Police said.
She will appear at Croydon Magistrates’ Court having been charged on Thursday.
Rishi Sunak to be quizzed on Eat Out scheme and lockdowns at Covid inquiry
Rishi Sunak will face allegations his Eat Out to Help Out scheme fuelled the spread of coronavirus when he appears at the Covid inquiry on Monday.
The PM is expected to be grilled on whether he believed scientists were handed too much power and if insufficient consideration was given to the impact of lockdowns.
His questioning by lead counsel Hugo Keith KC in west London on Monday morning. Messages have revealed that government scientists referred to Sunak as ‘Dr Death, the Chancellor’.
Man arrested in connection with 1984 East Finchley murder of Anthony Littler
A 58-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the 1984 murder of Anthony Littler in East Finchley.
Littler was found with head injuries in an alleyway known as The Causeway, near East Finchley Tube station, north London, at 12.15am on May 1, 1984. Littler, an executive officer at Customs and Excise, was single and lived a short distance from the station.
Earlier this week, the Metropolitan Police launched an appeal for information surrounding his death. On Sunday, a man was arrested on suspicion of murder. He has been bailed until January pending further enquiries.
UK tax level rises to highest on record – OECD
The UK’s tax level across the economy has increased to its highest rate on record, according to new data from the OECD.
It came as separate figures showed the UK also now faces the highest level of property taxes across the developed world.
The OECD’s (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) annual revenues statistics update found the total tax-to-GDP ratio across the UK hit 35.3% for the 2022/23 financial year – the highest since OECD records began in 2000. It represents a 0.9 percentage point increase from the 34.3% record a year earlier.
Listen to the latest Car Dealer Podcast
On the podcast this week, the team chat about Cazoo founder ‘retiring’, Stellantis’s boss apologising, and James pitches his AI dealership project to Mike Brewer. Joining the team this week is Will Blackshaw.
Judge orders BBC to release emails related to Martin Bashir’s Diana interview
A judge has ordered the BBC to release a large number of emails surrounding Martin Bashir’s controversial interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.
Judge Brian Kennedy said the corporation had been ‘inconsistent, erroneous and unreliable’ in the way it dealt with the initial request to release material under Freedom of Information (FOI) law, the BBC reported.
The material related to how the broadcaster handled the scandal when it came to light in 2020. The judge added the BBC’s response was a “cause for serious concern”.
McDonald’s apologises after security guard mops pavement around homeless man
McDonald’s has apologised after a security guard was filmed mopping the pavement where a homeless person was sitting.
Footage of the incident on Victoria Street in central London posted on social media showed the security guard soaking the ground where the man had been sitting with his sleeping bag outside a Nationwide bank branch, next door to McDonald’s.
The fast food chain said in a statement posted to X that the third-party security guards involved have been ‘permanently removed from our restaurants’, and ‘we would like to wholeheartedly apologise to the gentleman in the video and will work with the council to locate him and make amends as part of our ongoing work to support homelessness charities in & around the area’.
Weekend Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- Used car searches expected to ‘bounce’ immediately after Christmas Day
- Judges told of ‘secrecy’ concerns as dieselgate reaches over one million UK compensation claims
- Family-owned Bowker BMW and Ribby Hall Village extend eco partnership
- Vindis car dealer group partners with college to boost awareness of automotive careers
Christmas getaway traffic to peak earlier than usual
Festive getaway traffic is expected to peak earlier than normal this year as Christmas Day falls on a Monday.
The AA predicted that Friday, December 22 and Saturday, December 23 will be the busiest days on the UK’s roads in the festive period. The AA estimated that 16.1m car journeys will take place on December 22 and 16.4m on December 23.
It issued an “amber traffic warning” for those days as it warned of “lengthy jams”.
Weather
A brighter day for many with lighter winds. Eastern areas will see patchy rain but this will clear quickly, reports BBC Weather. Temperatures will range from seven degrees in Scotland to around 11 in the south-east of England.
Heavy rain across Northern Ireland and Wales will clear north-eastwards tonight, but heavy downpours will drift into the south-west later on.
