TREACHEROUS Tuesday happened this week – the last day of the UK parliamentary term before the summer recess when the government slipped out a huge number of “difficult” policy announcements, as usual. In Scotland the focus was on the betrayal of the Clyde shipyards over the latest frigate order. But looking at ALL the shabby decisions, backtracks and evasions delivered in one 24-hour period, you get the full measure of Theresa May’s government. The list demonstrates callousness and catastrophically low standards of governance – both bound to worsen as Brexit approaches.
First – the decision to shelve plans for a new generation of cheap frigates. This betrayal of Clyde shipyards is a direct result of the UK Government’s calamitous competition policy, which has driven down prices and avoided investment in one specialist area (the Clyde). The result is that no British yards could submit a bid.
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Talk about cutting your nose off to spite your face. But add the fact that MPs debated shipbuilding in the Commons only a few weeks ago. Ministers must have known what they planned to do but as SNP MP Stewart McDonald pointed out: “They didn’t have the decency to share it with MPs, industry, unions or the public. This takes cynicism to a whole new level.” It does.
Second came the Monty Pythonesque announcement that the Brexit department will no longer negotiate Brexit. When Theresa May became prime minister she created the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) to lead negotiations with Brussels. But now that DExEU is being run by the right-wing Brexiteer Dominic Raab (pictured below), the PM has decided to “take back control” and lead negotiations herself. Ouch. Only two weeks in the job and Dom has been bombed oot.
Could that be because he managed to spell “European Union” wrongly in a white paper, revealing (to the annoyance of fellow Brexiteers) that “some parts” of the European Communities Act will continue to apply in Britain until the end of the Brexit transition period in 2021? In the foreword, Raab assured the public that: “The content of the Europen Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill will ultimately depend on the final terms of the Withdrawal Agreement.” Wow.
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The pro-EU People’s Vote campaign group said: “We know Raab doesn’t have a laser-like focus on the details, but this is what happens when he tries to spell out his vision for the future.” Quite.
The third “interesting” bit of news sneaked out on Treacherous Tuesday involved UK business secretary Greg Clark. He plans to block foreign takeovers of British businesses to “ensure that critical national infrastructure is protected to safeguard national security”.
My how we laughed. Greg Clark is way too late. Most British infrastructure (power generation and supply, railways etc) is already owned by foreign businesses – some of them the state-owned public utilities of their own countries. North of the Border we have poured cold water on this catastrophic fire sale approach to public service provision. Scottish Water wasn’t flogged off, the Scottish NHS is still run without the help of Richard Branson and the Scottish Government aims to turn ScotRail into a publicly run railway when the present contract with Dutch state operator Abellio ends. But hey. We can all rest easier now because arch Tory Greg Clark is on the case. It would be funny if it weren’t so serious.
Meanwhile, also on Tuesday, the ultimate “don’t panic” message was delivered by the UK Health Secretary. A week before the 50th anniversary of Dad’s Army is on our screens, Matt Hancock said the NHS in England will be stockpiling medicines in case the UK crashes out of the EU without a Brexit deal. Coming on top of warnings by Amazon’s boss that Britain would face “civil unrest” within weeks of a no-deal Brexit, that is a dramatically awful prospect. Yet still the broken boat Brexit sails on.
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Tuesday’s bad news announcements continued with Energy Minister Claire Perry who sneaked out permission for fracking in Lancashire despite months of local protest there. Energy firm Cuadrilla will start work in a few weeks. Green MP Caroline Lucas says locals will try and stop the diggers. It’s a lot easier if you have a government that listens. The Scottish Government announced an effective ban on fracking in 2017.
In other Tuesday news the defence review said the Red Arrows base in England will close but did not clarify the fate of eight defence bases in Scotland earmarked for closure in 2016 – including Redford Barracks in Edinburgh, Glencorse in Penicuik, Fort George near Inverness, and MoD Caledonia in Rosyth.
Back in March, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson promised he would “shortly provide an update on the Better Defence Estate plan”. But in Tuesday’s update, there was still no news. Och well, maybe Gavin’s waiting for a wee reminder from Siri. Meantime, thousands of service families must continue to wait and worry.
On Tuesday, UK Government ministers also announced the closure of seven courts in England to save cash; a £600m rise in the cost of the massive Crossrail project in London, and another delay to publication of a new policy on social housing promised in the wake of the Grenfell Towers disaster. But then housing for the masses isn’t much of a Tory priority, is it?
The Grenfell Tower fire resulted in 72 deaths
Nor is reform of the shocking conditions endured by refugees in immigration detention. Shamefully, Britain is the only EU country without a statutory time limit for detainees. Some asylum seekers have been incarcerated for almost four years with no idea when they’ll be released or allowed contact with the outside world. As a result, 2017 was the deadliest year on record. Ten people died in Britain’s immigration detention centres – most are thought to have committed suicide but causes of death are not made available to the public. The tally included a Chinese man at Dungavel in South Lanarkshire whose name was not even released.
Robina Qureshi, director of refugee and migrant homelessness charity Positive Action in Housing, said: “Dungavel is worse than a prison. In a prison, you know what crime you committed and when you are getting out. What worse psychological terror can there be than to be locked up indefinitely despite having committed no crime?
“If there is a language difference the sense of loneliness, hopelessness and isolation is magnified a thousand times.”
So after Windrush, after an assurance that Theresa May’s “hostile environment” policy would end, after a critical Government report handed to the Home Office in April, the Home Secretary announced on Tuesday that there will finally be a statutory time limit for detainees in Britain – right? Wrong.
Sajid Javid simply announced a review with no specific recommendation on the statutory time limit issue. SNP MPs Stuart McDonald and Joanna Cherry have been demanding access to Dungavel to check on prisoners’ welfare for months. Still no date’s been set for their visit. Nor can MSPs visit. Labour MSP Pauline McNeill was told by the Home Office: “Requests to visit are carefully considered to preserve the privacy and dignity of the individuals detained and to avoid a disproportionate number of visits.” An outrageous lie.
THERESA May’s team did have some good news on Tuesday for (mostly) English public sector workers. The pay freeze for teachers, doctors, police, prison officers and the armed forces will end – but the pay rises will be below inflation. In other words, the PM giveth and the PM taketh away. By contrast, NHS Scotland staff will be offered at least a 9% pay rise over the next three years – the highest NHS pay uplift in Britain. And since there is so often cynicism about percentages let’s spell that out. By 2020/21, pay for a porter at the top of Band 2 will be £1200 more than anywhere else in the UK; a healthcare assistant at the top of Band 3 will earn £1450 more; a ward nurse at the top of Band 5 will get £1030 more and a paramedic at the top of Band 6 will earn £1280 more. Of course the UK Government insists its Brexit bonus will eventually raise NHS salaries south of the Border too. I know which promise I’d rather rely on.
So there it is. One day in the life of Theresa May’s government and one tsunami of bad news touching almost every part of society. But why should Treacherous Tuesday be any different from the eight long years since the Tories regained power at Westminster or the four painful years since Scots opted not to take back control. Hopefully though, one thing has become crystal clear to most progressive voters here. Never mind the NHS. Human dignity is not safe in the UK Government’s hands.
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