6:29 am, June 15, 2023
Privileges Committee to publish verdict that Johnson lied to MPs over partygate
A long-awaited report concluding that Boris Johnson misled Parliament with his partygate denials is set to be published on Thursday morning.
After a 14-month investigation, the Privileges Committee will release its findings on whether the former prime minister committed a contempt of Parliament by misleading MPs either recklessly or deliberately by denying lockdown rules were broken in No 10.
Johnson has railed against the committee he has criticised as a ‘kangaroo court’, and dramatically quit as an MP on Friday after receiving its verdict.
Nottingham prepares for another vigil after families of victims unite in grief
Nottingham is preparing for another vigil after the heartbroken families of the two students killed in the knife and van attack in the city were joined by thousands of people in their grief at the university’s main campus.
Relatives of medical student Grace O’Malley-Kumar and history student Barnaby Webber could be seen embracing at the vigil on Wednesday.
Barnaby’s father David told those gathered that ‘his heart will be with you guys forever’ while Grace’s father Sanjoy told the students to look after each other.
Junior doctors to resume strike as row over pay continues
A strike by junior doctors in England will continue on Thursday as new figures showed that more than half a million appointments and procedures have been postponed due to industrial action since December.
Members of the British Medical Association (BMA) will mount picket lines outside hospitals across the country for the second of a three-day walkout in a long-running row over pay.
The action is expected to lead to tens of thousands more appointments and procedures being delayed. The dispute remains deadlocked, with no talks planned amid a standoff between the BMA and government.
Chancellor: ‘No alternative’ to interest rate rises to bring down inflation
The UK has ‘no alternative’ but to raise interest rates in an effort to bring down inflation, chancellor Jeremy Hunt has warned.
Households are braced for a further increase in rates – which already sit at a 14-year-high of 4.5 per cent – from the Bank of England next week.
Hunt said the government will be ‘unstinting’ in supporting the central bank in its efforts to grapple rampant inflation and attempt to bring it back towards a target of two per cent.
Bank of England to review how it forecasts inflation after pressure from MPs
The Bank of England has agreed to review the way that it forecasts inflation after pressure from MPs.
In a letter to the House of Commons’ Treasury Select Committee on Wednesday, David Roberts, who leads the Bank’s oversight board, said he was discussing how to review forecasts with governor Andrew Bailey.
It comes after serious criticism of the Bank’s forecasts over the last year. Inflation has proved difficult to forecast at a time of huge uncertainty, meaning several Bank predictions have turned out to be wrong.
Vodafone and Three unveil mega-merger to form UK’s biggest mobile operator
Vodafone and Three UK have struck a long-awaited merger deal to create Britain’s biggest mobile phone network worth £15bn.
FTSE 100-listed Vodafone and Three owner CK Hutchison will combine their UK operations, forming a business with about 27m customers and more than 11,500 staff.
The merged firm will be majority owned by FTSE 100 listed Vodafone, with 51 per cent of the combined business and CK Hutchison owning the remainder. Vodafone will have the option to buy out Three’s 49 per cent holding three years after the deal completes, as long as the firm’s value has risen to £16.5bn.
Nadine Dorries demands answers about peerage before she resigns
Nadine Dorries has said she will not formally step down as an MP until she gets answers from Downing Street about the decision to deny her a peerage – a move that will prolong the by-election struggle for Rishi Sunak.
The former culture secretary insisted it is ‘absolutely my intention to resign’ but said her requests for documents ‘is now sadly necessary’ as she accused No 10 of ‘varying and conflicting statements’ over her absence from Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.
Downing Street has expressed bewilderment at her delay in officially quitting, following her announcement last week that she would depart her Mid Bedfordshire seat ‘with immediate effect’.
Shell faces backlash for ‘destructive’ decision to abandon oil reduction plans
Fossil fuel giant Shell has been accused of an ‘utterly destructive’ decision as it decided to stop reducing the amount of oil it produces until 2030 as part of a plan it hopes will increase its share price.
The company on Wednesday dropped its plan to reduce oil production by between one and two per cent each year of this decade.
It declared victory, saying the target was reached eight years early after it sold off oil fields to others, who will extract that oil instead.
Weather
A very warm day in store with extensive sunshine across the country, reports BBC Weather. Central England, Wales and Northern Ireland might see the odd thundery shower. Highs of 27 degrees celsius.
The odd shower may persist in Northern Ireland tonight, but other areas will be dry. Patchy mist in north-western Scotland and the south-west.
