Andrea Leadsom condemns Boris Johnson’s “unacceptable leadership failures.”
Former Prime Minister Andrea Leadsom has criticized Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “unacceptable lack of leadership” following the release of the Sue Gray report.
In a letter to his constituents, posted on social media, Leadsom said he believed it was “extremely unlikely that senior leaders would not be aware of what was happening.”
She wrote:
I therefore agree with Sue Gray’s findings that there have been major leadership failures, both political and official, at No. 10 and in the Cabinet office.
The Conservative MP for South Northamptonshire added:
Each of my fellow Conservative MPs and I must now decide individually what is the right course of action that will restore confidence in our government.
Leadsom did not ask for Johnson’s resignation in his letter.
NEW: Andrea Leadsom joins PM 👇🏼 critics
“There have been unacceptable leadership failures that cannot be tolerated and are the responsibility of the Prime Minister. My colleagues and I must now decide what is the right course of action that will restore confidence in our government.” pic.twitter.com/bQcJpfk5kn
– Pippa Crerer (@PippaCrerar) May 31, 2022
His speech is once again for Johnson, as a steady stream of Conservative MPs has called on the Prime Minister to resign following Gray’s report last week.
A committed brexiteer, Leadsom backed Johnson for leadership in 2019 after retiring herself from the contest, stressing the fact that discontent with the prime minister is spreading across the party.
Updated at 10.57 BST
Full story: Travel companies should have been prepared for the post-Covid increase, says UK minister
Jessica Elgot
The travel industry should have been better prepared for an increase in post-pandemic holidays, a government minister said, after scenes of chaos traveling to airports before the mid-term break.
Arts Minister Stephen Parkinson, a former adviser to Theresa May, said the disruption was causing “much distress” to people who had been unable to flee for several years due to the pandemic.
Flight cancellations have caused many passengers to face long delays in their mid-term breaks. EasyJet has canceled more than 200 flights to and from Gatwick between May 28 and June 6. The airline’s Twitter channel has been referring to dozens of stranded Gatwick passengers on its disruption assistance website.
Tui also made several last-minute cancellations, including in Gatwick, Birmingham and Bristol, blaming “operational and supply chain problems”.
Airports are under special pressure due to widespread use of previously canceled holiday travel vouchers, and this week will be the first school holiday in England and Wales since all travel restrictions were lifted. of Covid in the United Kingdom.
Airline Management Group CEO Peter Davies said the industry is likely to be reluctant to spend money to deal with the bottlenecks that passengers face.
He said:
When there are thousands of people arriving at Heathrow at seven in the morning, and this has been going on for years, where there are a lot of people arriving on night flights, you should be prepared to make sure you can handle these people.
But of course, this costs money and space, and people are often reluctant to do so.
Lord Parkinson said airlines and airports had been urged by the government to hire more staff to meet demand.
He told Sky News:
Colleagues from the Department of Transportation have been working with the industry for months, asking them to make sure they have enough staff so that, thanks to the successful deployment of the vaccine, as people can travel again, the people can take the holidays they have missed and deserved, ”he told Sky News.
Of course, it is causing a lot of distress to people, especially in the medium term, people with family and children with them.
It’s very distressing if you show up at the airport and your flight isn’t ready, so we’ve been telling the industry that they need to be prepared for that: they need to have the staff to make sure people can to arrive. away and enjoy the holidays.
Read more here:
Sunak’s oil subsidy in the UK could have isolated 2 million homes, says thinktank
Damian Carrington
Billions of pounds spent on a tax cut for UK oil and gas exploitation could have permanently reduced the energy bills of 2 million homes by ÂŁ 342 a year if invested in ‘isolation, according to a green think tank.
Rishi Sunak last week announced a 91% tax cut along with an extraordinary tax on the huge profits of oil and gas companies. The think tank E3G estimated that the tax cut would return ÂŁ 2.5 billion to ÂŁ 5.7 billion to oil companies over three years, while a ÂŁ 3 billion energy efficiency program over the same period would improve 2.1 million homes by -the least dependent on gas. .
Rising international gas prices are expected to more than double energy bills in a year in October, causing energy poverty in a third of households. Proponents of energy efficiency, including the insulation of attics and walls, say it is an unfortunate investment that reduces bills forever, reduces carbon emissions that drive the climate crisis, and increases jobs. Green groups said the chancellor’s subsidies to households funded in part by the unexpected tax were just a “sticky plaster.”
Another report released on Tuesday by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) found that an annual investment of ÂŁ 4bn in energy efficiency could halve permanent heating bills for homes. in 2035. Its author said Sunak was handing out “raincoats,” but “he didn’t.” fix the roof ”.
The tax cut is in line with official definitions of a fossil fuel subsidy, which the UK and other countries had promised to phase out. It encourages new oil and gas production, although a recent Guardian investigation found that the fossil fuel industry is already planning projects that would destroy the world’s chances of maintaining a livable climate.
Read the full story here:
The aviation industry is reluctant to “prepare” for thousands of people arriving due to rising costs, said the director general of the Airlines Management Group.
Asked what the industry can do to meet demand, Peter Davies told LBC:
Well, they need to be equipped as quickly as possible in terms of staff, especially through airports safely.
However, he said they are reluctant to increase the number of staff.
When there are thousands of people arriving at Heathrow at seven in the morning, and this has been going on for years, where there are a lot of people arriving on night flights, you should be prepared to make sure you can handle these people.
But of course, this costs money and space, and people are often reluctant to do so.
Arts Minister Stephen Parkinson said “the industry should have recruited people prepared” for the increased demand for travel.
When asked if the government could have done more to help the aviation industry during the pandemic, Lord Parkinson told Sky News that the government had helped, but blamed the travel industry for not recruiting enough people. ready for its busiest season, restrictions have now been lifted.
He said:
We have been helping people all over the economy with support for jobs, but of course the pandemic affected many sectors in many different ways.
There was a time when people just couldn’t travel for obvious reasons, but there have been many months when we’ve gotten back on track, especially since vaccination so far, and the industry should have recruited prepared people. .
Businesses should have people in place and we are working with colleagues in the transportation department to make sure they can get people in as quickly as possible.
He added: “We need clear communication from companies to people traveling, and colleagues in the Department of Transportation are working with industry to make sure people get there as quickly as they can.”
Updated at 10.54 BST
The government is “not ready” to increase travel
Nicola Slawson
Treasury Secretary in the shadow of the Treasury James Murray said the “government has not prepared” for the increase in travel demand.
The Labor MP told Sky News that Labor had warned that there would be problems after the travel sector cut staff during the pandemic and that they are now struggling to cope with rising demand.
He said:
We’ve been warning for months about the Covid pandemic that you can’t let the airline industry and airports fall, let them drop all their staff, and then wait to get back on track when demand returns after the pandemic. .
We were warning about this, unions were warning about this, employee representatives said during the Covid pandemic “You need a sector-specific package to support the aviation sector,” and now we’re seeing what happened. because the government has not been prepared for what would obviously come next.
He added: “The government was not working with airlines to get this industry-specific package during the pandemic.”
Murray argued that the government “did not increase” and now people are seeing the impact of this as people’s holidays are affected.
He said:
It seemed pretty obvious what was going on during the pandemic, as people weren’t traveling, they weren’t flying during the whole pandemic, but then once the pandemic started to recede, air travel would start to pick up and the government just didn’t. what was needed during the pandemic to prepare for what is happening now, and we are now seeing the impact of that.
He added that chaos had been added due to the problems people face in trying to apply for or renew their passports, which Murray says should also have been predicted before …