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Eric Garcia
Washington Bureau Chief
In a shocking turn of events, James Cleverly has been eliminated of the Tory leadership race, leaving Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch to face a vote of the party membership.
The ex-home secretary was in a leading position to make it through the latest stage after leapfrogging former frontrunner Mr Jenrick to first place on Tuesday.
But Tory MPs decided to knock him out after Tom Tugendhat, a former security minister and favourite of the One Nation caucus of Tory MPs, also lost the race on Tuesday.
Ms Badenoch emerged as the frontrunner in the final vote, securing 42 votes from MPs and positioning herself as strong contender to succeed Rishi Sunak.
Mr Jenrick closely trailed behind with 41 votes, while Mr Cleverly’s campaign took a dramatic downturn result with just 37 votes.
The final two MPs will now face an online ballot of Tory members from 10 to 31 October, with the winner of the contest announced on 2 November.
It comes as Sir Keir Starmer faced a grilling from Rishi Sunak in his first PMQs since reshuffling his Downing Street leadership team, after Sue Gray’s shock exit as his chief of staff.
Key Points
- James Cleverly knocked out of Tory leadership race
- Labour hit out at final two Tory leadership candidates
- Rishi Sunak opens with Sue Gray ‘fire and rehire’ jibe
- PM says Falklands are British and will remain British
- Labour ‘pushed’ police for royal-style escort for Taylor Swift concert
Pensions ‘could be used to help workers build a rainy day savings pot’
The next decade of workplace pensions saving should be more flexible and help low earners to build up a savings safety net that they can draw on before they retire, according to a think tank.
The Resolution Foundation said more focus is needed on addressing the different challenges faced by low, middle and higher earners.
It said the first decade of automatic enrolment into workplace pensions has improved private pension coverage and boosted people’s savings pots.
But while a “one-size-fits-all” approach has worked well for the first chapter of auto-enrolment, the next chapter will require both a boost to saving rates and a more flexible approach, to reflect the different challenges that low, middle and higher earners face, it added.
The report argues that default contribution rates into auto-enrolment should continue to rise over the next decade, initially from 8% to 10%.
Schools with falling pupil numbers may run ‘mixed-age classes’ due to pressures
Primary schools in England struggling with falling pupil numbers could be forced to run mixed-age classes to cope financially, a report has suggested.
In extreme cases, some schools with many unfilled places may have to close in the future due to budgetary pressures, according to an analysis.
The percentage of primary school places that are unfilled is projected to rise from 12% to 16% over the next five years, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) report said.
In Inner London, unfilled places are projected to rise from 20% to 30% over the same period.
The report said: “The combined picture suggests that continuing falling pupil numbers will cause more primary schools to face significant financial strife in future unless they find ways to cut costs substantially or funding is significantly increased.”
It added: “One possibility is that schools may look to create mixed-age classes in an effort to save the cost of teachers and teaching assistants.”
The Government could offer “parachute payments” to give schools some “breathing room” whilst pupil numbers are falling quickly, it suggested.
Watch: Sunak takes Sue Gray swipe at PM as he claims Starmer is ‘a convert to fire and rehire'
UK falls further behind the US in educating world leaders, study shows
The UK has fallen further behind the United States in a league table of the countries that educate the most serving world leaders who studied abroad.
Of the current serving presidents, prime ministers and monarchs educated at a university outside their own home country, 70 received higher education in the US compared to 58 in the UK.
The gap between the US and the UK is the largest it has been since the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) think tank first launched the annual “soft-power index” in 2017.
Nick Hillman, director of Hepi, has warned that the gap between these two countries could widen further in future years because of the former UK Government’s immigration policies affecting international students.
He told the PA news agency: “We have sowed the seeds for our own further relative decline and we have done it knowingly.”
UK-Mauritius deal ‘second great betrayal of the Chagossian people’
The UK’s decision to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius has been described as the “second great betrayal of the Chagossian people”.
The Chagos Islands have been in British hands for more than 200 years, but after Mauritius gained independence from France in the late 1960s, the inhabitants of the islands were forcibly expelled to make way for a UK-US military base on Diego Garcia.
Many Chagossians now live in the UK, Mauritius or the Seychelles, but the new deal will make way for them to be able to return to the islands, except Diego Garcia itself.
Shadow Foreign Office minister Lord Callanan said: “The transfer of the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius is a shameful day for our country.
“This is the second great betrayal of the Chagossian people under a Labour Government.
“In 1967, Harold Wilson’s Government forcibly evicted the Chagossian people from their homes.
“Now, in 2024, the Chagossians, who have no say in these negotiations, have been handed over to a foreign power that is in many ways different from their culture and lifestyles.”
Athena Stavrou9 October 2024 23:23 1728509698Chicken manure has turned river into ‘sewage dump’, Parliament told
A British waterway has been turned into a sewage dump by “chicken shit”, Parliament has been told.
The stark assessment of pollution in the River Wye and its main cause was highlighted at Westminster by long-time resident Lord Lipsey. The Labour peer said he had lived with his wife in the Wye Valley in Wales for nearly 30 years and went wild swimming in the river, but told how it was a “deteriorating experience”.
The Wye, which runs for 130 miles from central Wales to the Severn Estuary in south-west England, was downgraded by Natural England to “unfavourable” for wildlife in 2023 after years of exposure to agricultural pollution and phosphates.
Lord Lipsey raised his concerns as peers debated reforms aimed at cracking down on the discharge of sewage into Britain’s rivers and coastal waters.
He said: “Why has this happened? There are various causes, but overwhelmingly the most important is – I use the word, whatever the risk of offending – chicken shit.
“Something like 80% of the pollution in the Wye is caused by chicken shit that is not moved off the farms, lies on the fields and is driven by water into the stream, where it does untold harm.”
Watch: Starmer says Falklands are British and will remain British
Landlords selling up could force renters into temporary accommodation, MP warns
Unfit homes could be “the least of the problems” if landlords sell up, a Conservative MP has warned during a Renters’ Rights Bill debate.
Rebecca Smith told MPs she had heard from a constituent with 89 properties who planned to sell his homes, which she feared could land renters in the temporary accommodation system.
The Government-backed Bill proposes an end to no-fault evictions and a ban on bidding wars, along with new requirements for landlords to address hazards such as damp and mould.
Ms Smith, the MP for South West Devon, told the Commons on Wednesday: “The fact that the homes are not necessarily always fit to live in is almost the least of the problems because … if there are are no homes to live in, the people do not have anywhere to be.”
Athena Stavrou9 October 2024 21:31 1728503938MPs suggest rental reform tweak to offer security for tenants with pets
Rental reforms should be strengthened to remove the risk of pets being forced out midway through a tenancy agreement, MPs have heard.
The Renters’ Rights Bill’s second reading, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner told the Commons: “Pets aren’t just animals, but family too and that is why this Bill will also make it easier for tenants to request to have a pet in their home.
“It will also allow landlords to require insurance covering pet damage, so that everyone is covered and no-one is left unfairly out of pocket.”
Ms Rayner said “there is a balance”, joking: “I think there is a reasonableness, as long as it’s not a parrot that speaks all night and has antisocial behaviour, I think everyone will agree that that will be a good thing.”
Labour MP Chris Vince (Harlow), who owns a dog, later told the debate: “I would really emphasise how important a pet is to a family and the emotional bond that they create.
“Being pushed to choose between a roof over your head and your family is not a choice anyone should have to make.”
How will tribunals assess market rate rents? Asks Labour backbencher
A Labour backbencher has urged ministers to say how tribunals set up to assess if rent rises are fair will calculate what the “market rate” is.
Antonia Bance, who previously worked as head of campaigns for housing and homelessness charity Shelter, said she welcomed the Bill and was “proud” to support it, but wanted more information from the Government.
The Bill was getting its second reading in the Commons, with a vote due to take place on Wednesday evening.
The MP for Tipton and Wednesbury said: “I say to renters today, ‘we’ve got your backs, you will be able to stay in your homes, this will be law inside the year. Take heart’.
“If the landlord tries to raise the rent so high as to amount to a de facto eviction, renters will finally have recourse. They can go to a tribunal and stop a rent rise above market rates.
“I will gently say to the minister that it will be good to understand how the tribunal will find out what market rates are, because we all know that looking at Rightmove won’t help. That’s only new lets, not all lets in an area.”
Athena Stavrou9 October 2024 20:24 Newer1 / 5OlderDisclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
