6:56 am, November 1, 2022
Suella Braverman says she will fix UK’s ‘broken’ asylum system
Under-pressure home secretary Suella Braverman has vowed to fix the UK’s ‘broken’ asylum system as she rejected calls to resign over her response to the migrant crisis.
In a combative Commons performance on Monday, Braverman denied ignoring legal advice to procure more accommodation amid warnings a temporary holding centre at Manston in Kent was dangerously overcrowded.
With the government spending £6.8m a day putting up migrants in hotels – at an average cost of £150 per person per night – she insisted she was right to order a review of the way the system was working. But she faced criticism from some opposition MPs for inflaming the situation after she said the government is committed to ‘stopping the invasion on our southern coast’.
Home Office told to ‘get a grip’ on issues at migrant centre
A watchdog has called on the Home Office to ‘get a grip’ on the problems at the Manston migrant processing centre.
Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said the government department and its contractors must speed up the processing of migrants and make ‘suitable provisions’ so people can be moved off the site near Ramsgate in Kent ‘as quickly as possible’.
His comments came as he published the findings of an inspection, carried out at the facility in July, which warned serious challenges remain for migrants crossing the Channel and arriving in Kent.
Jeremy Hunt plots tax rises to fill £50bn black hole in public finances
People across the country could face tax rises for years to come as Rishi Sunak looks to address a black hole of up to £50bn in the public finances, it is reported.
The prime minister and chancellor Jeremy Hunt on Monday agreed to freeze the thresholds at which people start to pay the different rates of income tax and national insurance, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Hunt is looking to fill the shortfall through a combination of 50 per cent tax rises and 50 per cent public spending cuts in his Autumn Statement of November 17, the paper said.
Northern Ireland secretary to hold talks with Stormont leaders amid uncertainty
The Northern Ireland secretary will hold talks with Stormont leaders later amid continuing uncertainty over whether he intends to call an election in the region.
Chris Heaton-Harris failed to set a date for a new poll last Friday, despite repeatedly indicating he would so the minute a legislative deadline for calling the poll passed.
The 24-week deadline for forming a functioning power-sharing executive in Belfast following May’s election ran out at midnight on Friday. Once the deadline passed, the UK government assumed a legal responsibility to call a fresh election within 12 weeks.
No 10 confirms Sunak could U-turn on Cop27 snub
Rishi Sunak could U-turn on his decision to skip a crunch climate summit if he feels sufficient progress has been made in planning for his highly anticipated autumn budget, No 10 has confirmed.
The PM last week insisted he must focus on the ‘depressing domestic challenges’ rather than go to the Cop27 conference in Egypt, drawing widespread criticism, including from within the Tory ranks.
But following reports this could change, No 10 confirmed on Monday that the position was “under review”.
Last Ford Escort RS Cosworth ever built heads to auction
The last Ford Escort RS Cosworth ever made is going under the hammer at auction.
Offered by online auction platform Collecting Cars, this particular RS Cosworth was owned for the last 24 years by Dieter Hahne, former manager of Ford’s Special Vehicle Engineering department. Hahne was the driving force behind the development of the famous RS Cosworth.
When series production of the Cosworth ended in January 1996 at the Karmann factory in Rheine, Germany, Ford still had enough parts left for two more vehicles. The pair were constructed, with this example being the second in line and the last one ever made by Karmann. The penultimate car was made for Wilhelm Karmann Jr., the then-chairman of the firm.
The auction is now live and will come to a close on the evening of Monday November 7.
‘Retailers want to see tougher laws on tobacco sales’
Most shopkeepers support existing tobacco laws and want the government to go further in protecting people’s health, according to a new report.
People running newsagents, off-licences, convenience stores and petrol stations are in favour of more regulation, while many are worried about vaping sales to children, it found.
The charity Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) commissioned a survey of 961 small tobacco retailers across the UK and shared its results with the PA news agency. Eight out of 10 (81 per cent) agree there should be a mandatory licence scheme for selling tobacco to prevent sales to children, illegal sales, and to give local authorities more power.
The same proportion also support mandatory age verification for anyone who looks under 25, which the report said would make enforcement in England easier.
More than 300,000 sign up for trial to save on energy bills
Nearly a third of a million households have signed up for a programme to help them save on their energy and reduce the risk of power cuts this winter.
Octopus Energy said that 320,000 of its customers had decided to sign up to the scheme, which was expected to launch on Tuesday. It is around a quarter of the 1.4m households who were eligible.
The participants will be paid if they reduce their energy use on some days during peak hours. This will help take stress off the electricity grid at time when supply is expected to be tight this winter.
Monday Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- The used cars that lost the most money in October – including one Tesla
- Britishvolt could enter into administration today as it fails to raise extra £200m for gigafactory work
- Police launch investigation after arsonists set fire to three cars at Cornish Hyundai dealership
- Pentagon Group bringing in Sunday closing to improve work-life balance of staff
- Cox Automotive takes ‘Superb’ delivery of Skodas from Hendy Group
- Fastest public EV charger goes into action in Braintree
- New survey reveals sharp rises in public EV charging prices
- Cumbrian Mercedes dealership to close with German brand advising customers to use online service instead
Home-buyer mortgage approvals fell significantly in September
The number of mortgage approvals being made to home-buyers fell significantly in September, as borrowers’ costs increased.
The Bank of England said mortgage approvals for house purchases decreased to 66,800 in September, from 74,400 in August.
A large chunk of mortgage products vanished from the market after the mini-budget was unveiled on September 23, and lenders re-priced their home loans upwards. Many of the announcements made in the mini-budget have since been reversed.
Rises in the Bank of England base rate have also pushed up mortgage rates.
Twitter planning to charge users to keep blue tick verification – report
Twitter could charge users in order to keep their blue tick verification on the social media platform, it has been reported.
New owner Elon Musk wants to expand the site’s existing Twitter Blue subscription that unlocks additional features into a more expensive service that also verifies users. According to multiple reports in the US, Twitter plans to raise the price of Twitter Blue from five dollars (£4.30) to 20 dollars a month (£17), with verified users given 90 days to sign up or lose their blue tick.
Twitter has not commented on the plans, but Musk responded to questions from users on the platform about verification by saying that the ‘whole verification process is being revamped right now’.
Weather outlook
A yellow weather warning has been in put in place by the Met Office. Strong winds which battered London and the south east overnight will push into the north west, Northern Ireland, Wales and south-west Scotland, said BBC Weather. Sunny spells in between outbreaks of heavy rain.
Showers will clear night to leave clear spells. A chilly night.
