Yearly Archives: 2024

Liz Truss refuses to apologise for her role In mortgage rate rises In excruciating Interview

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/liz-truss-refuses-to-apologise-for-her-role-in-mortgage-rate-rises-in-excruciating-interview/ Many articles from LeftFootForward today.

“Do you have an apology for the people whose mortgages went up so much when you were in office?”

Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has refused to apologise for her disastrous economic policies which led to an increase in mortgage costs, before she was booted out of office.

Truss has been promoting her new book ‘Ten Years to Save the West’ during a round of media appearances, in which she has shown little humility, blaming everyone else for her economic policies which resulted in financial turmoil, a collapse in the pound and the Bank of England having to step in to save pension funds.

Appearing on Sky News, Economics Editor Ed Conway asked: “Do you have an apology for the people whose mortgages went up so much when you were in office?”

Truss replied: “Well, I question the premise of what you’re asking me, Ed. Because the fact is, mortgage rates have gone up across the world.

“The issues that I faced in office were issues of not being able to deliver the agenda I’d set out, because of a deep resistance within the British economic establishment.”

Borrowing from the Trump playbook, Truss has blamed the ‘deep state’ for her failures in office.

She added: “I think it’s wrong to suggest that I’m responsible for British people paying higher mortgages. That is something that has happened in every country in the free world.”

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/liz-truss-refuses-to-apologise-for-her-role-in-mortgage-rate-rises-in-excruciating-interview/ Many articles from LeftFootForward today.

Continue ReadingLiz Truss refuses to apologise for her role In mortgage rate rises In excruciating Interview

Tory ministers accused of ‘rigging the rules’ to help rail firm bosses get bonuses 

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/tory-ministers-accused-of-rigging-the-rules-to-help-rail-firm-bosses-get-bonuses/ Many articles from LeftFootForward today.

‘They are desperate to help their chums, the privateers, keep their private snouts in the public trough’

The Shadow Transport Secretary has accused the Tories of a “scandalous misuse of taxpayers’ money” after it was revealed that more rail operators have had their performance targets lowered, helping company bosses get bonuses. 

At least eight rail firms have had their performance targets lowered by the Government as Labour accused ministers of “rigging the rules” to reward “abject failure”.

In February it was reported that Tory ministers cut the standards for train cleanliness, ticketing, staffing and customer services at Govia Thameslink Railway, after the company had failed to reach service quality standards on most measures. 

Now the Mirror has revealed that a further seven other operators have had service standards on key measures lowered, after failures to meet targets. Government rule changes in 2020 mean that companies are now paid an annual fee for operating lines and have the chance to earn bonuses for performance on top. 

Rail bosses have raked in billions in bonus payments from the Government, with the two Chief Executive of First Group, which owns major stakes in South Western Railway, sharing a £1.3m bonus.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/tory-ministers-accused-of-rigging-the-rules-to-help-rail-firm-bosses-get-bonuses/ Many articles from LeftFootForward today.

Continue ReadingTory ministers accused of ‘rigging the rules’ to help rail firm bosses get bonuses 

Chris Packham takes apart UK Government’s climate policies

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/chris-packham-takes-apart-uk-governments-climate-policies/ Many articles from LeftFootForward today.

Chris Packham by Garry Knight from London, England - People's Walk for Wildlife 2018 - 04, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia image
Chris Packham by Garry Knight from London, England – People’s Walk for Wildlife 2018 – 04, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia image.

‘Our government’s policies.. are not only cooking the planet, they are justifying that by cooking the books’

Naturalist Chris Packham obliterated the UK Government’s climate policy achievements during a debate about the government’s record on tackling climate change.

It followed an interview with the Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho on Sunday where she defended the government’s approach to the environment and argued that Tories had a “very strong track record of delivery”. 

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Coutinho also repeated the Conservative Party line that it is tacking a “sensible and pragmatic” approach to achieving net zero, as she argued she didn’t want to “heap costs on families”. 

However environmental activist and broadcaster Chris Packham took apart the government’s rhetoric, accusing ministers of “cooking the books” over their climate policy achievements. 

“Our government’s policies at the moment are not only cooking the planet, they are justifying that by cooking the books,” said Packham. 

“She’s saying we’re ahead in all of our targets. That’s not actually the case, it’s the way that data is presented and analysed. 

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/chris-packham-takes-apart-uk-governments-climate-policies/ Many articles from LeftFootForward today.

Continue ReadingChris Packham takes apart UK Government’s climate policies

A ‘car crash’ of different disasters has left UK with among the worst bathing conditions in Europe, campaigners warn

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/a-car-crash-of-different-disasters-has-left-uk-with-among-the-worst-bathing-conditions-in-europe-campaigners-warn/

Campaigners are attributing privatisation, extreme weather, and politics to collectively creating the water pollution crisis.  

Almost all of Britain’s waterways are polluted. In 2023, sewage spills into England’s waterways more than doubled. Recently released figures from the Environment Agency show that there were 3.6 million hours of spills compared to 1.75 million hours in 2022.

A separate report from the Rivers Trust confirms the ‘desperate state’ of the country’s seas and rivers.

The State of Our Rivers Report concluded that no single stretch of river in Northern Ireland or England is in good overall health. The report follows an earlier damning verdict by a House of Commons Committee report in 2022, which concluded that no river in England was free from chemical contamination.

Within Europe, Britain’s polluted waterways have been described by Loughborough University as an “anomaly,” which have fallen behind other European countries in reporting significant improvements in bathing water quality in recent decades. In France, for example, authorities have spent billions of euros improving storm water and sewage treatment in an effort to clean up the River Seine for Olympic swimming events this summer.

As research lays bares the deterioration of the state of the nation’s waterway quality, anger is mounting over the dumping of untreated sewage into Britain’s seas and rivers, which are now ranked among the worse countries in Europe for water pollution.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/a-car-crash-of-different-disasters-has-left-uk-with-among-the-worst-bathing-conditions-in-europe-campaigners-warn/

Continue ReadingA ‘car crash’ of different disasters has left UK with among the worst bathing conditions in Europe, campaigners warn