Summer Recess and Burying (more) Bad News

It’s a rather cynical tradition, developed by the Labour government in 2001 just after the September 11th attack on the twin towers in New York. In recent years, nothing has changed. Burying bad news is now the norm.  In the final days and hours before MPs leave Parliament for an extended break, the government usually releases a deluge of embarrassing reports, statistics, and statements in an apparently deliberate attempt to bury them – hence the term.

This summer has, of course, been no different. Here are just a few of the quite inconvenient stories Theresa May’s government has tried to bury over the past 24 hours.

 

From Business Insider: Theresa May promised that all EU law and the jurisdiction of EU courts would end after Brexit day. However, May’s government on Tuesday slipped out a new white paper revealing that ministers will legislate to ensure EU law continues to apply for at least two years after Britain leaves in March 2019. As Brexiteer MPs head off to their constituencies, the new Brexit secretary Dominic Raab revealed that the government will implement legislation that will allow the European Communities Act, which ministers plan to repeal on Brexit day, to be extended to allow EU rules to remain in force during any two-year transition. This means European courts will also continue to have jurisdiction over the UK in a breach of previous promised by the prime minister. This is a victory for those hoping to delay or cancel Brexit but will undoubtedly prompt anger among many Brexiteers.

 

The Conservative government have repeatedly used times like this to bury news of impending privatisations it would rather the public did not know.

May’s government has repeatedly committed to protecting the British military from cuts. But this is not quite as true as they would have you believe. An announcement slipped out on Tuesday afternoon and posted at the Forces.net website reveals that two RAF bases will now close their gates for the final time under a series of planned cuts by the government. RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, which is used as a training ground for pilots, will cease to be operational from 2020. Meanwhile RAF Scampton, in Lincolnshire, which is home to the RAF Aerobatics Team, will also be sold off by 2022.

The cuts are part of a wider long-term cuts plan to sell off military sites used by the RAF and armed forces.

 

The nation’s health has never been a strong point for the Conservatives ho tend to privatise anything that looks like it makes money or could do so in future.

Theresa May’s repeated promises to tackle childhood obesity with measures including a new sugar tax and health advice brought in by ministers has, well, not gone as we were told it would. A new government report slipped out as MPs leave Westminster for the summer, revealing that their attempts have so far completely and utterly failed in every way imaginable. New figures published on Tuesday afternoon show that severe obesity among 10 and 11-year-olds are now at a record high, with children in the poorest families showing the biggest rise. Overall the ‘health inequality’ gap between children in poorer and wealthier families has also widened once again.

 

Austerity and Brexit are the Conservative flagship ideologies that have both led to severe problems for Britain. Austerity is the Conservative government’s attempts to slash public spending, which then led to widespread cuts to public services. These cuts were today extended further into the courts’ system of England as May’s government quietly announced plans to sell off courts as part of a wider cost-cutting exercise.

The following 7 courts will now be closed after government officials judged they no longer represented “value for money” -although with rising crime – what ‘value for money’ means in terms of justice is a bit of a mystery known only to those in No10 and No11 Downing Street.

• Banbury Magistrates’ and County Court
• Blackfriars Crown Court
• Chorley Magistrates’ Court
• Fleetwood Magistrates’ Court
• Maidenhead Magistrates’ Court
• Northallerton Magistrates’ Court
• Wandsworth County Court

 

When Margaret Thatcher cut free school milk in schools in the 1970’s when she was Education Secretary, she was dubbed the “milk snatcher” by her opponents. You wouldn’t think any political party would even dare to venture here – but no – as parliament prepares to head off for the summer, Theresa May’s government is reportedly planning something similar for nursery school children. The plans to cut funding for free milk in nurseries were revealed by the Times on Tuesday and will be set out in an imminent public consultation.

 

 

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