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Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Man who escaped Grenfell Tower fire makes plea over ongoing 'national scandal'
Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has been warned that righting the wrongs of the 2017 tragedy cannot be 'ignored' as she faces worrying question marks over her department's budget Fixing the 'national scandal' of people living in dangerous homes like Grenfell Tower must be a priority amid tough spending decisions, campaigners have demanded. Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has been warned that righting the wrongs of the 2017 tragedy cannot be 'ignored' as she faces worrying question marks over her department's budget. It comes ahead of next week's major Spending Review (SR), where government department budgets will be set out for future years. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), which has an unprotected budget unlike the NHS or defence spending, is still yet to reach a settlement in SR negotiations. Ms Rayner is said to be battling for a bigger settlement amid unhappiness over funding for affordable housing. Grenfell United campaigner Edward Daffarn, who escaped from his 16th floor flat during the blaze, said it was 'a national scandal' that thousands of families are still trapped in homes covered in dangerous cladding ahead of the eighth anniversary of the west London blaze later this month. "The fact that eight years on, people are still living in unsafe buildings is unconscionable," he said. In a message to ministers, Mr Daffarn said: 'Cost cutting or budget constraints can never become a factor when life safety is at stake. We all understand the constraints that the government is facing at the moment. 'But the bottom line of it needs to be that the health and safety, the well-being of citizens, needs to be a priority. It's not something that can be ignored.' Joe Delaney, a campaigner with Justice4Grenfell, highlighted that money had been found for defence spending, adding: 'We can always find money.' He said ministers were getting 'bogged down in the minutiae of how much is going in this particular budget line over here, but they're not dealing with the bigger problems'. 'Does anyone feel any safer in their homes than they were then? Have things got better, or have they got worse? And I hate to say it, and I'm not normally a pessimist, but I don't think anything has got much better. 'The only thing that's increased in the past eight years is frustration, disappointment and disengagement with the political process.' It comes after Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman for England, last week said it was 'neither fanciful nor alarmist' to suggest fury over housing conditions could become 'social disquiet'. He said the 'shock of Grenfell Tower and Awaab Ishak's death resonate still'. Joe Powell, the Labour MP for Kensington and Bayswater, home to the Grenfell Tower, said there are 'some really important' decisions that the Government could announce to help the cladding crisis. 'Remediation has been far too slow. It's completely outrageous that almost eight years after Grenfell, there are hundreds of thousands of people around the country going to bed in properties which have unsafe cladding and fire defects,' he said. 'What I'm hoping is that the Spending Review will give the department the ammunition to speed up that remediation process." He said the affordable homes programme needed to get a 'big flag of money'. A £2billion downpayment was announced in March for the next year of the programme but all eyes will be on what the SR sets out for future years. Elsewhere Mr Powell called for more social landlords to have access to the Building Safety Fund (BSF). It would mean housing associations could use the funding, which has already been committed, to speed up the remediation of dangerous buildings. Currently social landlords can only apply to the BSF and the Cladding Safety Scheme where the cost of remediating a building would threaten their financial viability, or to cover costs passed onto leaseholders and shared owners. Mr Powell also said the Government must fully fund personalised emergency evacuation plans for disabled people as a matter of 'priority'. The MP also reiterated calls from the Commons' Housing Committee, of which Mr Powell is a member, for an independent body to be introduced to oversee the Government's response to public inquiries. The committee has called for a national oversight mechanism to be included in the upcoming Hillsborough Bill to hold ministers to account on how they implement change after a major disaster, such as the Grenfell fire. A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesman said: 'This government has been taking tough and decisive action after years of dither and delay, going further than ever before to speed up the unacceptably slow pace of remediation and provide an end in sight for residents who have suffered for too long. 'Through our Remediation Action Plan, we've already allocated significant funding, including £5.1billion to address dangerous cladding on medium and high-rise buildings in England. 'As we approach the eighth anniversary since the Grenfell Tower fire, our thoughts remain with the community, families and survivors and we are working at pace to make sure this tragedy never happens again.'
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Post-Covid home working has failed to level up UK economy, study finds
The post-pandemic shift to greater home working among highly skilled professionals has failed to level up Britain's economy and help struggling regions as many had predicted it would, according to academic research. Hybrid working – where workers split their time between the workplace and another remote location such as home – has surged since the height of the Covid pandemic, yet is mostly available to older, high-skilled professionals based in London and other major cities. The researchers found that just over half (52%) of all UK workers never work from home, but this falls to less than a third (29%) of highly skilled workers. The prevalence of hybrid roles over those that are fully remote means most staff who can work from home are still tied to a city centre workplace. This has dashed hopes that the post-Covid world of work would prompt professionals to move and thereby spread talent around the country, according to a report from academics at the universities of St Andrews and Southampton and others. 'There has been no mass relocation of highly skilled workers to cheaper places as we might have hoped at the start of the pandemic,' said Dr David McCollum, one of the report's co-authors and a senior geography lecturer at St Andrews. 'People are still opting to live in places that offer the best wages and the best opportunities for their profession. If they are relocating, they are not moving that far away as they still have to go to their place of work on a weekly basis, usually a few days a week.' When highly skilled workers move house, the main reason tends to be a need for more space rather than it being determined by their job, the researchers found. The report, which was funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Economic and Social Research Council, urged policymakers to take action to prevent home working from deepening regional divides, as local challenges such as skill shortages, economic inactivity and low-quality jobs cannot be solved just by attracting the most-skilled workers. 'If high earners relocate, that can push up house prices, which can exacerbate inequalities at a local scale,' McCollum said. Related: Parents working from home is affecting school attendance, says Ofsted chief At a time when the Labour government is aiming to have 50% of all senior civil servants based outside London within five years, the report's authors have called on ministers to consider incentivising firms to establish remote or hybrid work hubs in the UK's second-tier cities, as well as investing in co-working and business support spaces outside the capital to help redistribute economic activity. Employees who are able to work from home value hybrid working the same as an 8% pay rise, according to Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford economics professor who has studied home working for two decades. 'If you think of somebody that is working 45 or 50 hours a week in an office, they've got a 45-minute additional commute. If they get to work from home two, three days a week, they're saving about 8% of their total time,' Bloom told a House of Lords committee, set up to investigate how the rise of remote and hybrid working has affected employers, employees and the wider British economy. 'I would say hybrid helps retention and recruitment and, if it's well organised, is about net zero on productivity,' Bloom told peers on Tuesday. Earlier in May the world's biggest asset management company, BlackRock, became the latest company to call time on an era of remote working by ordering its senior managers back to the office full-time, in a change from its previous four-day-a-week policy. The New York-based company, which employs more than 21,000 people globally, is one of a handful of companies to have followed the Amazon by reinstating pre-pandemic ways of working. Bloom said he believed companies issuing full return-to-office mandates hoped this would make staff leave, thereby helping them reduce their headcount. 'That fifth day in particular, it just annoys people. To force them in on Friday doesn't seem to improve productivity,' he said.
New Statesman
22-05-2025
- Business
- New Statesman
Angela Rayner has fired a warning shot at Rachel Reeves
Photo by. Who wields power inside Labour? One government aide recently suggested to me that the answer is three people: Keir Starmer, Morgan McSweeney and Rachel Reeves. But this week was a reminder that there is a fourth force: Angela Rayner. The Deputy Prime Minister's leaked memo to Reeves, in which she proposed eight tax rises, has exposed the cabinet's private divisions and intensified the debate over Labour's future. Rayner's allies deny that they were the source of the leak, maintaining that she does not engage in such tactics (the Telegraph, they suggest, is hardly the natural place to win a fair hearing for higher taxes). But to others inside government this stretches credulity. 'When you write a letter like that and you share it on a copy list that wide, you basically write it to get leaked,' one Labour aide says (the memo's placement in the Telegraph is, by this logic, a cunning ruse). To the classic question 'cui bono?' most believe the answer is Rayner. 'It's obviously organised,' a left-wing MP comments. The Deputy Prime Minister – who enjoys her own mandate from Labour members – has long held concerns over the government's direction. She fears that real-terms spending cuts to her Housing, Communities and Local Government department could render targets such as building 1.5 million homes by the end of this parliament impossible to achieve. By proposing (and costing) tax rises that would raise billions, such as removing inheritance tax relief for AIM shares and closing the commercial property stamp duty loophole, Rayner has made it harder for Reeves to argue that there is no alternative. Should the Chancellor follow her lead at the next Budget, the Deputy Prime Minister will be able to claim credit. Should she decline, Rayner has ensured her opposition was put on record – and can one day be recalled. Heads, Rayner wins. Tails, Rayner wins. (Reeves's aides point out that she has already raised taxes by £41.5bn, with numerous measures targeting the wealthy: the abolition of non-dom status, VAT on private school fees and higher capital gains tax among them. While emphasising that her fiscal rules are 'non-negotiable', they notably do not rule out further tax rises.) Some regard Rayner's memo as a warning not only to Reeves but to Keir Starmer (who Rayner came close to challenging when removed as party chair in 2021). The Deputy Prime Minister has roamed far beyond her brief, proposing not only tax rises but also curbs on migrant benefits: restricting access to the state pension and Universal Credit and increasing the NHS surcharge on foreign patients. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe We already knew that Rayner was a serious political player. She is regarded by MPs as the frontrunner to succeed Starmer with an approval rating of +46 among Labour members (putting her second only to Ed Miliband). But now 'Raynerism' is becoming clearer: a programme of progressive tax rises and tougher migrant rules offers something to both the soft left and Blue Labour. No rival candidate enjoys greater reach across Labour's quarrelsome factions (Rayner is also close to both Tony Blair and this week's NS guest editor Gordon Brown). In the view of one former Treasury aide – who said the memo went far beyond customary ministerial exchanges – Rayner has fired a 'warning shot' at Starmer by offering 'an alternative vision from across the water'. Showing her feel for politics, the Deputy Prime Minister declared in the first line of her memo that her policies 'would be popular, prudent, and would not raise taxes on working people'. Popular is one thing Labour certainly isn't at present. Should that remain the case, Rayner has ensured that eyes will turn to her as the natural alternative. [See also: Arise, Lord Michael Gove] Related
BBC News
20-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Could swift bricks help bird populations grow?
In the last 50 years, combined bird populations in the UK and England have declined by 16%. That is almost 73 million fewer breeding birds compared to 1970.A government committee is due to consider an amendment to the planning and infrastructure bill which could make so-called "swift bricks" - which provide homes for a variety of cavity nesting birds - compulsory in any new-build developments greater than 5m (16ft) in think the government will turn its back on nature over fears of being seen as "too woke" by those on the right of politics. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government told the BBC: "We are unable to comment on the amendment at this stage, as this is still being considered." In 2020, swifts were added to the UK's red list of birds at most need of populations declined by 66% between 1995 and Betton has been a birdwatcher for more than 50 years and is a member of Hampshire's Ornithological Society. He said birds were currently struggling to cope with a change in climate and reduced insect populations."This is partly because they don't have enough insect food, we use a lot of insecticides these days," he to the latest State of Nature Report - changes in the way we manage our land for farming, and climate change were the biggest causes of wildlife decline on our land, rivers and Defra said bird populations have long provided a good indication of the broad state of wildlife. Swifts are not the only birds at to the British Trust for Ornithology, the numbers of house martins have reduced by 44% over the past three arrive in the UK in early spring - April and May - to breed, and then migrate south to Africa in the autumn."Many places where birds want to nest have literally been taken away," said Mr Betton."People very often clean away house martin nests off the walls of building."We need to do everything we can to help them have an easier time when they get here." Among conservation measures approved by wildlife experts are swift bricks which provide a cavity for swifts and house martins in new-build developments, and cost about £ part of her campaign to introduce a law requiring all new-build homes to have at least one swift brick, Hannah Bourne-Taylor walked through London, twice, wearing only pants and paint with swift-themed after support from Conservative Lord Zac Goldsmith - who first tabled an amendment to a previous planning and infrastructure bill - Mrs Bourne-Taylor fears Labour might turn down the amendment to this Bourne-Taylor, from Chipping Norton, Oxford, said she thought it was out of fear of being seen as "too woke"."I really hope the rumours aren't true but I've heard that Labour deem swift bricks, or anything to do with nature 'too woke' in the context of Reform polls shooting upwards," she said."Nature shouldn't be woke or anti-woke. It's just a crisis for the birds that we can easily solve." A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government told the BBC: "We are unable to comment on the amendment at this stage, as this is still being considered.""The National Planning Policy Framework already expects developments to provide net gains for biodiversity, including support for priority or threatened species such as swifts, bats and hedgehogs."The planning and infrastructure bill still has two more sessions at the committee stage before it goes through to the commons. Ms Bourne-Taylor said despite an amendment there were things we could and must do to help. Blashford Lakes in Hampshire is home to an abundance of wildlife across its site, and at Ibsley Water, a new swift tower has been installed. Jack Medley, a reserve officer for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, is one of the people behind the project. "We identified this area as a really important place. Lots of potential for swifts and house martins."They use the site already and forage over the lakes for an array of different insects, but Mr Medley said the only thing missing was somewhere for them to breed. "They don't have to be on towers, people can put boxes on the side of their house. They can put these artificial cups on the side of their house as well," he said. Mr Medley said he was worried about bird populations as they are part of the character of the UK and he believes everyone can play a part in making sure they are not lost."Whether it's putting up a box or helping out with some volunteering," he said."What can you do on your patch to make a difference?"Everyone, if we can all work together, we can make a difference." You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rayner bails out Khan as he struggles to hit housing target
Angela Rayner has slashed Sir Sadiq Khan's affordable housing target by more than a fifth as the Mayor of London struggles to build in the capital. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has agreed the cut the Labour Mayor's target for new starts on affordable homes by 22pc, marking the second time in two years that ministers have stepped in to lower the target. Sir Sadiq initially had a goal to build 35,000 affordable homes in London by March 2026. However, the last Conservative government cut that target in 2023 to between 23,900 and 27,200 homes after the Mayor struggled. Ms Rayner's department has now lowered the goal even further to between 17,800 to 19,000 homes. Susan Hall, leader of the City Hall Conservatives, said: 'Khan's record is so shambolic his own government has had to bail him out.' The cut was announced hours after official figures were published showing that affordable home starts last year were at the second-lowest level since 2008. Works began on 3,991 affordable homes in the 12 months ending March 2025. While the total marked an improvement from the previous year's record low of 2,358, it remains significantly below average. Ms Hall said: 'Sadiq is nowhere near where he should be at this stage, absolutely nowhere near. He was given billions by the last government to carry this out. His record on housebuilding has been atrocious. Londoners deserve better.' Sir Sadiq promised a 'golden era for council housebuilding' in 2023. The Mayor was handed £4bn by the previous Conservative government for his affordable homes programme. It was topped up with £100m from Rachel Reeves in last year's Budget, and another £60m earlier this year. To date, construction has begun on 5,188 homes under Sir Sadiq's affordable homes programme, which runs from 2021 to 2026. The new, reduced target means the Mayor is now just under a third of the way to reaching his 2026 objective, rather than only around a quarter of the way to meeting the lower end of his previous goal. Sir Sadiq must still start work on 12,612 affordable homes in less than 12 months to hit his goal, meaning construction activity must more than triple. The Mayor has set an overall target to build 88,000 homes a year in London, though existing plans only deliver around 40,000. In a bid to ramp up his pace of housebuilding, the mayor last week said he was 'actively exploring' options to build on parts of London's green belt. His shift in stance has been met with significant backlash from campaigners and Tory councillors. Ms Hall said: 'For nine years he has promised to avoid building on the green belt. It was the one thing I believed him on, he's been so passionate about it for so long. For him to go back on it – it's an absolute disgrace.' Tom Copley, the deputy mayor of London for housing and residential development, said the Mayor was 'taking the hard decisions to improve housing supply of all tenures'. Mr Copley blamed the 'horrendous legacy of the last government' for making it harder to build homes, including 'a lack of national funding, high interest rates, spiralling building costs, delays from bodies like the Building Safety Regulator and the lasting impact of Brexit.' He added: 'The decision to adjust our Affordable Homes Programme 2021-2026 targets will enable us to support partners to build at scale and deliver the maximum number of social and affordable homes in this programme.' A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: 'We are determined to deliver the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation but we cannot do this without London being ambitious in its approach. 'The Mayor last week put forward a bold proposal to tackle the capital's housing crisis, and we expect him to take all possible steps to build thousands more affordable homes that Londoners desperately need.' It is not the first time Labour has eased pressure on the Mayor. Last year Ms Rayner abandoned a review aimed at boosting homebuilding in London and reduced his overall housing target from 100,000. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
