Immigrant, pop star ... and supreme court judge who will decide fate of Israel’s justice system

Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem
Sat, 23 September 2023 

Photograph: Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images

When Esther Hayut, a bespectacled woman with hair always neatly parted down the middle and pinned back with a barrette, was sworn in as the chief justice of Israel’s supreme court in 2017, she pledged to protect the country’s judiciary from politically motivated attempts to weaken it.

“It is the properly applied rule of law that serves as the glue which keeps our nation together … I pray that the justice system will not crack,” she told an audience that included Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The child of Holocaust survivors, and something of a pop star in her youth, Hayut and the attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara , are perhaps unlikely candidates for the faces of liberal Israel. But eight months into the existential crisis triggered by the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul, that is how they are viewed by supporters and detractors alike.

“I see Hayut as courageous. She knows this is not an ordinary situation and is willing to speak out,” said a former Israeli justice minister who asked to be quoted anonymously in order to speak freely. “She shares the values that defined Israel until now.”

Hayut’s term has dovetailed with mounting attacks on the judicial system. Netanyahu, who faces corruption charges he denies, led the charge. But the campaign accelerated at the instigation of the prime minister’s coalition partners: since last year’s election, his far-right allies have made judicial overhaul their raison d’être.

The government says that the changes are needed to rein in an unelected and biased supreme court. The huge protest movement opposed to the plans says the proposals amount to democratic backsliding.

So far, only one element of the overhaul has been passed into law: the abolition of the “reasonableness clause” that allows the supreme court to override government decisions. The court last week began hearing petitions against scrapping the clause, meaning top judges are now in the extraordinary position of deciding on whether to limit their own powers.

Related: Protests in Israel as supreme court hears challenge to judicial curbs

Hayut’s legacy is on the line ahead of mandatory retirement when she turns 70 next month. The final rulings of supreme court justices are usually weighty, but there has never been more at stake in Israel’s roiling body politic.

Hayut was born in 1953 in a ma’abara, or transit camp for immigrants, in the town of Herzliya. Her parents were Romanians: her mother survived deportation to Transnistria, and her father Auschwitz. They divorced while Hayut was still a toddler. An only child, she was raised by her maternal grandparents.

At 18, during her military service, she became semi-famous as a singer in a band attached to the Israel Defense Forces’ Central Command. In the 1960s and 70s, the army’s musical outfits were popular, serving as a training ground for young people who would go on to become famous musicians and performers, including pop star Dorit Reuveni.

Musicians from the time remember Hayut as charming, disciplined and smart. The group are still friends. “Even then she wanted to be a lawyer and aspired to be a judge,” Reuveni told news website Ynet in 2017. Hayut graduated in law from Tel Aviv University, opened her own practice and by 1990 had become a judge, rising to the supreme court in 2004. The presidency is decided by seniority; in 2017 she was sworn in for a five-year term.

Considered part of the bench’s liberal camp, according to the New York online Tablet magazine, Hayut has “made a career out of walking a fine line … championing the underprivileged but committed to national security”.

She is sympathetic to class actions against large companies and discrimination cases, and strengthened protection laws for foreign workers. In decisions, she often quotes poetry. Yet Palestinians would not agree with the chief justice’s image as progressive: she decided in 2014 that house demolitions of Palestinians who commit terror attacks are justified, although under international law this is considered collective punishment.

Some of Hayut’s landmark rulings have struck down government laws, for which she has been criticised by the right. Hayut was part of the majority opinion invalidating the Tal Law, temporary legislation exempting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students from military service, and cancelled privatisation plans for prisons. In some cases she approved the appointment of ministers with criminal records, in others struck them down.

For the hearings on the “reasonableness” clause, Hayut convened a panel of all 15 judges – the first time the entire bench has been called. Observers believe she is keen to show that the court’s decision will be as broad as possible.

This month’s marathon 13-hour opening session was watched closely for clues about how the justices will lean, but Hayut’s opinion appears to be clear. In a fiery and unprecedented address in January, she declared that the judicial overhaul “would fatally undermine judicial independence, giving the Knesset a ‘blank cheque’ to pass any legislation it pleases, even in violation of basic civil rights”.

Addressing the government’s legal representatives, Hayut said: “You think the duty to act reasonably applies to the government and ministers … But who makes sure they do?”

Israel’s supreme court has never struck down a quasi-constitutional “basic law” before. What is likely to be Hayut’s final ruling could also plunge the country into uncharted political and legal waters.

How Germany, France and Italy compare on net zero emission targets

Ajit Niranjan European Environment Correspondent

THE GUARDIAN
Sun, 24 September 2023 


Germany, France and Italy have pledged to hit net zero emissions around the middle of the century in a bid to stop weather from growing more extreme.

But the EU’s three biggest economies – and polluters – are all struggling to meet their goals.

Germany

Germany, Europe’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, plans to hit net zero emissions by 2045. Every big party bar the far right promised to keep the planet from heating 1.5C.


The coalition government between the Social Democrats, Greens and liberals has nearly torn itself apart fighting over policies to clean up the economy. The liberals and opposition Christian Democrats have framed proposals to phase out combustion engine cars and new gas boilers as an attack on freedom. However, laws to make it easier to build wind turbines and solar panels have been pushed through with little backlash.

Germany strengthened its climate law two years ago after the top court ruled the previous version was “partly unconstitutional”. But sectors like buildings and transport have since failed to meet their yearly targets. The government’s scientific watchdog said the transport minister’s last “immediate action plan” was too weak even to assess. The cabinet has now decided to scrap sectoral targets.

France

Related: EU states must bridge ‘planning gap’ in order to hit climate targets, report warns

France aims to reach net zero emissions by 2050. But while it plans to go slower than Germany, it is already closer to the target. In 2021, it spewed half as much greenhouse gas as Germany, mainly because of a vast fleet of nuclear power plants making low-carbon electricity.

France wants half of its energy to come from nuclear power by 2035 and 40% of its electricity to come from renewable sources by 2030.

But France has struggled to cut emissions from agriculture, which are the highest of any country in Europe, and transport. In 2018 the “yellow vest” protest movement forced French president Emmanuel Macron to ditch a planned hike on fuel taxes.

This May the Conseil d’État, France’s top court, found “no credible guarantee that the trajectory of reducing greenhouse gas emissions shall be effectively respected”.

Italy

Europe’s third biggest polluter has a net zero goal of 2050.

In a draft national energy and climate plan, it said it aims to use renewable sources to make 65% of its electricity by 2030 and cover 40% of its energy demand.

Italy relies heavily on fossil gas for heating and power, mostly from abroad. Its clean energy industries have grown slowly over the last 10 years, though recent reforms are set to pick up the pace of installations. Italy is also offering a “superbonus” tax break to insulate homes.

Yet as heatwaves killed people in July, the environment minister said he did not know “how much [climate change] is due to man or Earth”. The IPCC has shown that global heating is entirely down to humans.

ICYMI

Methuselah arrived in the US in 1938. She’s now the oldest fish in captivity

Katharine Gammon
Sun, 24 September 2023 

Photograph: John G Mabanglo/EPA

She’s super gentle, and doesn’t get overly excited. She enjoys eating earthworms, fruits and vegetables, and slowly moving around her tank. Her favorite food – at least for what is in season now – figs.

If Methuselah sounds like a grand old dame, it’s because she is: the fish is the oldest living specimen in captivity, aged somewhere upwards of 92 and potentially as high as 101 years. She arrived on a steamship from Australia along with 230 other fishes to the Steinhart aquarium in San Francisco in 1938 as a young, small fish. And Methuselah’s story unfolded in a typical way, for a fish in an aquarium: she grew. Humans came to look at her. She peered back through glass at humans.

But 1938 was a different time: bread cost nine cents a loaf. A racehorse named Seabiscuit was winning races. Germany was persecuting Jews, foretelling a coming conflict in Europe.

Then there is Methuselah, who is no ordinary fish. She’s the only fish still living from the steamship. And most importantly, she’s a lungfish – a species more closely related to humans or cows than to ray-finned fish like salmon or cod – which can breathe air using a single lung when streams become stagnant, or when water quality changes. Lungfish are also believed to be an example of the original creatures that crawled out of water and moved to land in evolutionary history. The species was discovered 1870 – and the scientist who first described the fish originally thought it was an amphibian.

Lungfish like Methuselah have long held secrets, but scientists have only recently attempted to understand their evolution and life history. For one thing, the fish’s genome is the largest of any animal, containing 43bn base pairs – roughly 14 times the number in the human genome. The previous record holder, the Mexican axolotl, has a genome made up of 32bn base pairs.

“Genetics is really quite straightforward for normal fish – but for lungfish they’re so unique and so different that all of those techniques didn’t or don’t work,” said David T Roberts, a senior scientist with Seqwater, statutory authority of the government of Queensland in Australia, where the fish still live in a handful of rivers in the wild. “It’s always pushed the envelope on uncovering some of its secrets to be able to manage and conserve it – and age is a really important one.”

Methuselah lives at the Steinhart aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate park in San Francisco, California. Photograph: John G Mabanglo/EPA

A fish’s age is critical to know because it tells scientists information like growth rates, maturity, longevity and how long they breed – which is vital fundamental knowledge to manage a protected species.

Lungfish – a vulnerable species – have proved especially challenging to age because they grow a lot at the beginning of their lives, but then grow extremely slowly (yet continuously) for the remainder of their lives. Ear bones that are harvested after most fishes’ death can be counted like tree rings, but lungfish, always the outlier, don’t have the same composition to their ear bones.

So scientists started to use radiocarbon to date the fish – relying on a technique that basically imprints living things with a signature of carbon resulting from the atomic bomb tests back in the 1950s. The problem there is that it doesn’t work well in animals born before 1950, when the carbon signature changed.

Now, scientists are using DNA tools that look at methylation – the way that DNA is turned on or off – to age the fish. For younger fish, it can offer an exact number of age, but for older fish it gives a range.

It wasn’t the first time this technique had been used. Last year, scientists estimated a lungfish named Granddad who lived at the Shedd aquarium in Chicago to be 109 years (give or take six years) at the time of his death, confirming that lungfish can live well over 100 years. The analysis also revealed that Granddad started his life in the Burnett River in Queensland, Australia, the location of the species’ original discovery in 1870.

In the study on Methuselah, aquarium workers took samples the size of a peppercorn piece from lungfishes in captivity and extracted the DNA from that in order to estimate the age for the first time ever. They found her to be at least 92 years old. The scientists plan to release their findings of 30 other lungfish later this year, as part of a library of living lungfish across the world.

Knowing how long they potentially live and understanding more about how long they could reproduce could drive how we’re caring for habitat to help keep that species afloat in the wild 

Brenda Melton

“Knowing how long they potentially live and understanding more about how long they could reproduce could drive how we’re caring for habitat to help keep that species afloat in the wild,” says Brenda Melton, director of animal care and welfare at the Steinhart Aquarium. “It just really opens the doors for a lot of other conversations and questions that might be able to be asked about how we can better care for them in the wild and preserve habitat.”

Roberts is inspired to continue to conserve the fish – after all, lungfish were around before dinosaurs became extinct – and their cousins possibly split off into animals with legs and then crawled onto land and then became humans, he says. “They’re a cousin to all land animals, basically.”

Methuselah’s age is now known, but she still holds other mysteries – even her biological sex. The handlers use she/her pronouns, but they actually don’t know if Methuselah is a male or female. Some fish have differences in size or shape – but not lungfish. And behaviorally, they suspect she’s a female, but they will not be able to find out for sure until she passes away.

Another question is if the fish is feeling old – and how do fish change when they’re geriatric? Melton says it varies widely. Most fish live only a few years – so it’s rare to see really old fish in the wild. But there are some hints: some spinal changes, like a curved back, or losing weight, cloudy eyes or looking a little gray in the scales.

Two of the other fish in the new study were aged at 50 and 54 – and Melton says they look a little more similar in coloration, while Methuselah has gotten a little lighter in color over the years. “We don’t know that that’s actually tied to her age, but it’s the only thing that we have seen physically that looks different for this fish.”

Melton says just the existence of something that has lived for so long leaves her in awe. She wonders what Methuselah thinks of all her companions and living situations over the many years she’s spent at the aquarium – as the fish has the longest institutional memory of anything in the building.

“It’s incredible to me that after all of these years of having her in our care,” she says, “we’re still learning and we still have the ability to learn from animals in ways that we can’t even conceive yet.”

SCOTLAND

Juryless rape trials may be unlawful and breach human rights, SNP warned by senior judges

Simon Johnson
Sun, 24 September 2023 

Humza Yousaf backed the pilot scheme citing the 'weight of evidence' - Ken Jack/Getty

Scotland’s most senior judges have warned the SNP plan to pilot juryless rape trials may be unlawful and breach the accused’s human rights.

The Senators of the College of Justice at the Supreme Courts said it could be argued that the pilot scheme was “a court set up by the government with a limited lifespan, and subject to examination and review by the government”.

This could strip the court of its status as an “independent tribunal”, they warned, exceeding the powers of the Scottish Parliament and breaching the right to a fair trial under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

They also argued that “the combination of such a court with judges who have no security of tenure in that court may not satisfy the requirements of a fair trial”.

Under the current proposals, they said a judge could be removed from the scheme “for any or no reason and with no prior procedure other than consultation”.

Jurors of differing ages

They also argued that it is preferable for a decision to be reached collectively by jurors of differing ages and backgrounds than a single judge, most of whom they said are white, male and in “late middle age”.

The submission by judges who sit in the Court of Session, the High Court and the Court of Criminal Appeal was among almost 250 made to a Holyrood inquiry into the plans.

Although it made clear that some senior judges support juryless rape trials, it followed warnings from the Law Society of Scotland that they pose a “serious” risk to the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial.

SNP ministers want to overhaul how sexual offences are tried in Scotland, warning that the “substantially lower” conviction rate risks undermining public confidence in the justice system.

The Scottish Government’s Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill gives ministers the power to “enable a pilot of single judge rape and attempted rape trials” to be conducted without a jury “for a time limited period”.

The legislation would also establish a specialist sexual offences court, scrap the not proven verdict and reduce the number of jurors from 15 to 12.

Humza Yousaf, the First Minister, has backed the pilot, citing a “weight of evidence” that juries are affected by “rape myths” that lead them to unjustly acquitting the accused.

The latter term refers to stereotyped prejudices in rape cases, such as jurors wrongly believing that the victim “asked for it” by being drunk or seductive.

Holyrood’s criminal justice committee is examining the plans and on Wednesday will hear evidence from Angela Constance, the SNP’s justice secretary.
Security of tenure essential

In their submission to the committee, the Senators said the Bill gives the Lord Justice General, the most senior judge in Scotland, the power to remove a judge sitting presiding over one of the new sexual offence courts.

This may constitute “interference with a judge’s security of tenure”, they warned, and Article 6 of the ECHR “requires an accused person to be tried by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law”.

They cited case law that held that “security of tenure was essential for judicial independence” and said the lack of this in the new courts could be sufficient to render them “neither independent nor impartial”.

The judges opposed to the pilot scheme also questioned the Scottish Government’s claim that rape myths among jurors were partly responsible for low conviction rates.

“Given that the accused is asserting that there was consent, it is not surprising that on some occasions the jury finds that there is reasonable doubt about what happened. That is inevitable,” they concluded.

They added: “The majority of judges are in late middle age, male, from a white Scottish ethnic background and are educated to university level.

“Many would argue that a number of people from differing backgrounds and ages combining to reach a decision is preferable to one person deciding alone.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “The Senators of the Colleges of Justice response clearly sets out that there was not one view held on the proposal for the pilot with some supportive and some not.

“The proposed pilot is in in response to a recommendation of a review carried out by Lady Dorrian, Scotland’s second most senior judge, to improve how the justice system treats rape victims by piloting judge only rape trials.”

TWO TIERED JUSTICE SYSTEM

Royal Navy: HMS Prince of Wales sailor who shot girlfriend and attacked two women at pub spared jail

Magstirates refused to hand Moore a community service order because it would mean him losing his Royal Navy job.

Freddie Webb
Sun, 24 September 2023

 
Navy serviceman Harley Moore outside Margate Magistrates' Court. Picture: KMG / SWNS.

Magistrates even told Harley Moore, 18, they "wish him the best" with his career as a junior able seaman on HMS Prince of Wales. Moore admitted four counts of assault by beating when he appeared at Margate Magistrates' Court on Thursday, September 21.

The court heard that on May 30 he flew into a jealous rage and shot his girlfriend in her foot at their home in Deal, Kent. Prosecutor Maria Goptareva said: "They were in the bedroom discussing their relationship and he was shooting the BB gun around the room. He then turned around and shot her foot."

The attack left her "shaken up" but they went out drinking with her friend in Deal the next evening where he launched another attack. His girlfriend told police he was "practically foaming at the mouth and spitting at me" so she ran past him into The Sir Norman Wisdom Wetherspoon to get away.

Harley Moore, 18, from Deal, shot his girlfriend with a BB gun on May 30, court heard. Picture: KMG / SWNS.

Court heard Moore followed her into the pub toilets and pushed her against the wall. The victim told police: "He went to hit me and missed - but he caught me with his nails.

"Then he turned around and hit [my friend], causing her to fall backwards." A female Wetherspoons employee intervened and pointed him towards the door, but he pushed her arm away.

Moore's girlfriend suffered a scratch to her face while her friend was left with a bruised back. In a victim impact statement, Moore's girlfriend said: "The whole incident has made me feel very shaken up and upset because I never imagined he could hit me.

"I am shocked that someone I thought I loved could do this to me and my friend." Magstirates refused to hand Moore a community service order because it would mean him losing his Royal Navy job.

The Sir Norman Wisdom Wetherspoon in Queen Street, Deal, Kent. Picture: Google Street View/SWNS.

He was ordered to pay £200 compensation to his girlfriend, £100 each to her friend and the pub worker, as well as court costs of £85 and a £26 victim surcharge. Magistrates also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the BB gun.

Chair magistrate David Gibbons said: "We in no way wish for Mr Moore to lose his job – we wish him the best with that. But we can't let his job mean that he escapes justice."

He told the defendant: "Mr Moore you're aware our hands have been tied in what we can do to punish you for this. The incident was severe and you were unpleasant to three different people.

"While the offences are deserving of a community order, it has become apparent that this is unworkable, so we will be going down the route of a conditional discharge. This will be for three years.

"Should you commit another offence within that time you can be punished for today's offence and any new offences." Ian Bond, defending, said Moore was on leave from his duties on HMS Prince of Wales, which will act as the nation's flagship, at the time of the attacks.

He said Moore had been upset that his girlfriend had gone on a trip to London with another man. Describing the assault with the BB gun, he said: "It fires very small plastic rounds - about the size of a pea, a petit pois.

"Mr Moore said: 'I'm sorry - I was trying to shoot your shoe.' "But the next day things are still simmering and this young man has behaved as badly as he did because of his frustration and because he'd had too much to drink. He's genuinely remorseful."

Chief Petty Officer Darrell Binner attended court with Moore and said disciplinary action is also being taken by the Navy. He said: "The Navy takes a very seriously dim view of what Mr Moore has done and he will receive appropriate punishments from his commanding officer.

"That could mean a dock in his pay, extra duties or even being discharged. He is returning to Portsmouth while transportation is arranged to get him back on the ship - the vessel is operational and it requires a full crew.

"The Navy would not be able to comply with a court order for him to complete community service."

Hundreds descend on London to protest against Rishi Sunak’s ban on XL bully dogs

IT'S NOT THE BREED ITS THE OWNER

Daniel Keane
Sun, 24 September 2023 


Protesters marching in central London against the ban of the XL bully (PA)

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in London on Saturday to protest against the Government’s proposed ban on the XL bully.

Protesters held signs in Trafalgar Square saying “don’t bully our bullies” and “muzzle Rishi” – just hours after a man was bitten by a dog believed to be an XL bully in a south London park.

The victim, in his 40s, was attacked in Pasley Park, Walworth, shortly after 6pm on Friday and was taken to hospital suffering injuries to his arm, the Metropolitan Police said.


Protesters marched through the capital shouting “save our bullies” and “sit for your dog”, while one was seen wearing a t-shirt with a photoshopped image of Rishi Sunak with a muzzle on.

Demonstrators did not bring their XL bully dogs to the protest. Prior to the demonstration, activists were warned in a message that “police will antagonise and seize your dog”.

Michelle West, of Northfleet, was among those demonstrating at the rally.

She told Kent Online: “People need to take responsibility for their dog. They are blaming the wrong end of the lead.

“I've never known a dog so affectionate and soppy.”

One protester wearing a provocative sign showing Rishi Sunak in a muzzle (PA)

It comes just two weeks after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the XL bully would be added to the list of prohibited breeds under the Dangerous Dogs Act following a spate of recent attacks.

Owners of American XL bullies will not face a cull of their pets, but Downing Street said measures would be put in place to cover the “existing population” of the dogs. The ban is expected to come into place by the end of the year.

Writer and lawyer Ness Lyons witnessed the event while walking in her local park.

She wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Earlier this evening an XL bully jumped a fence and attacked a man in my local park. Partially witnessed by my son.

"Man was bitten badly in several places including his abdomen.

"Police and ambulance came, but it took an hour. Horrifying.

"The owner grabbed his dog and legged it."

Demonstrators marched through Trafalgar Square holding placards (PA)

No arrests have been made but inquiries are ongoing, a spokesperson for the Met said.

Ian Price, 52, who was mauled by two dogs thought to be XL bullies in Staffordshire in September.

The XL bully, which is developed from the American pit bull terrier, is not a recognised as a specific breed by the Kennel Club.

On Monday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said a “transition period” on a ban would be introduced, with details likely to follow a consultation on the plan.

UK
Tory big beasts turn on Rishi Sunak’s ‘insane’ plan to scrap HS2

HIGH SPEED RAIL


Jon Stone
Sun, 24 September 2023

(Getty/PA)

Rishi Sunak is facing open revolt from the top of his own party, key advisers and business leaders over HS2 after The Independent’s revelations about plans to ditch the multibillion-pound project.

Two former Tory prime ministers, the government’s infrastructure tsar, northern powerhouse groups and mayors both north and south all came out on Saturday to slam Mr Sunak.

Clamour has been building since The Independent broke the story 10 days ago, detailing how sunk costs of £2.3bn could be offset by a £34bn saving if HS2 was scrapped north of Birmingham.

This newspaper outlined how so-called Project Redwood was drawn up to enable the prime minister and chancellor to sit down face to face to discuss the cost and benefits. The nominal price tag for the first phase is expected to increase by another £8 billion thanks to inflation, compared to the most recent June 2022 estimate.

Downing Street has repeatedly refused to say whether the long-running and over-budget scheme will go ahead, despite repeated questioning from the British media.

The Independent understands a decision on the project could be announced as early as Friday, ahead of Tory conference in Manchester to try and quell discontent.

A chorus of objection to scrapping the second phase of the project came from:

• Sir John Armitt, chair of the government’s infrastructure commission, who said it would be a “disaster”

• Boris Johnson called it “Treasury-driven nonsense” which would “mutilate” HS2

• David Cameron is said to be concerned that it would be anti-Conservative

• London mayor Sadiq Khan described ditching the project as a “colossal waste of money”

• West Yorkshire mayor Tracey Brabin warned the move would damage jobs, investment and economy

• Business group the Northern Powerhouse Partnership said cutting back the line would be “wrongheaded”

Among the proposals being considered are stopping the line north of Birmingham, while another section of line into central Manchester, set to also be used by the Northern Powerhouse Rail project, is apparently on the chopping block and could be cut to save costs.

The final stretch of the line into Euston, the most expensive part of the project, could be abandoned in favour of terminating at Old Oak Common, six miles north.

Mr Johnson this weekend branded cost-saving measures “desperate”, urging the prime minister to deliver on the 2019 levelling-up pledge the Conservatives were elected on. He said it would “mutilate” the whole project.

“It is the height of insanity to announce all this just before a party conference in Manchester,” he said. “It is no wonder that Chinese universities teach the constant cancellation of UK infrastructure as an example of what is wrong with democracy.”

Mr Cameron has also privately raised significant concerns about the possibility that the high-speed rail line could be heavily altered, according to The Times.

In a letter to Mr Sunak, mayor of London Mr Khan warned that it would take longer to get from Birmingham to central London on HS2 than existing trains if plans to terminate at Euston station were abandoned.

“The government's approach to HS2 risks squandering the huge economic opportunity that it presents and turning it instead into a colossal waste of public money,” the Labour mayor said in a letter to the PM.

Sadiq Khan warned it may take longer to get from Birmingham to central London on HS2 than on existing trains (PA Wire)

When the railway first opens between London and Birmingham, expected between 2029 and 2033, its terminus in the capital will be Old Oak Common, in the western suburbs.

Mr Khan said: “Terminating the service at Old Oak Common would be a short-sighted decision which will have long-term implications, significantly downgrading the value of HS2 as a high-speed connection and leaving a ridiculous situation where a 'high speed' journey between Birmingham and central London could take as long as the existing route, if not longer.”

He said the “best case” journey time of one hour and 22 minutes from Birmingham to Euston, changing at Old Oak Common onto the Elizabeth line and Northern line, was “already one minute longer than the existing train time”.

Tracy Brabin, mayor of West Yorkshire, added: “Scrapping the project in the north of England will damage jobs, investment and the economy and leave plans to level up in tatters.

“Big infrastructure projects need long-term commitment over successive governments. There must be a better way than this piecemeal stop-start approach that we have seen from this government.”

Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, which represents businesses across the north, told The Independent: “For both the north and for London the government is considering wrongheaded choices.”

A map of the project’s proposed services (HS2)

“As Boris Johnson rightly argues, this isn’t just the worst of Treasury orthodoxy stopping the most vital sections of HS2 allowing the north to benefit, but losing Northern Powerhouse Rail – or the Charles line as leading northern Tory John Stevenson has christened it.

“It was the current prime minister who convinced Boris to make it central to his domestic policy platform and general election campaign. It is time for him to remember it was in large part down to him – remember he is a northern parliamentarian as well as just respect the mandate of the 2019 election.”

HS2’s original leg to Leeds via Sheffield was already scrapped under Mr Johnson’s premiership, while Mr Sunak was chancellor.

Labour’s official policy is to build HS2 in full, including the previously cancelled spur to Leeds – though spokespersons for the opposition party have at times in the past two weeks appeared reluctant to confirm this.

It is also understood that any move by the government to pull the legislation for the northern phase of the project – which is currently going through parliament – would significantly complicate the process for a new government attempting to complete it.

This week, Mr Hunt said the government was “looking at all the options”, adding: “We do need to find a way of delivering infrastructure projects that doesn’t cost taxpayers billions and billions of pounds.” The Treasury chief said no decisions had yet been taken.

A government spokesperson said: “The HS2 project is already well under way with spades in the ground, and our focus remains on delivering it.”

UK

Government will fail to end rough sleeping by deadline, says expert group


Aine Fox, PA Social Affairs Correspondent
Sun, September 24, 2023 

A target to end rough sleeping by next year will not be met by the Government amid “chronic and unresolved” issues in the housing system, a report by a group of experts has concluded.

The failure will come as the country faces a housing and affordability crisis which is pushing more people onto the streets, and as pressure on public services results in a lack of early support to help prevention, the Kerslake Commission said.

The independent group of 36 experts was formed in 2021 to look at the lessons from the emergency response which supported people sleeping rough during the pandemic, but said the latest official figures show long-term progress has not been made.

In September 2022, the Government published its Ending Rough Sleeping For Good strategy, which re-stated its 2019 manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping by the end of this parliament.

With a general election expected to be called at some point next year, this means the pledge would have to be met by then.

But figures published earlier this year showed that the number of people estimated to be sleeping rough in England had risen for the first time since 2017.

A snapshot of a single night in autumn last year found 3,069 people sleeping rough, up 626 (26%) on the equivalent total for 2021 and nearly three-quarters (74%) above the level in 2010 when the figures began.

Meanwhile, the numbers of households and children in temporary accommodation – considered another form of homelessness – in England are at record highs.

Some 104,510 households were in temporary accommodation by the end of March – a 25-year high, according to Government statistics released in July.

The total number of children in this situation is also at the highest level since records for that measure began in 2004 – with 131,370 children living in temporary accommodation as of the end of March this year.

The number of households who were rough sleeping when they approached their local authority for help was up by almost a fifth (18.2%) from the first quarter last year, to 3,770 households, the statistics showed.

The Kerslake Commission on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, in a report published on Monday, said: “The Conservative Government committed in its 2019 manifesto to end rough sleeping within the life span of the next parliament.

“During the pandemic, significant progress was made on rough sleeping and the Kerslake Commission was convened to learn the lessons from the emergency response and drive changes that would help end it by 2024.

“It is unfortunately the conclusion of the Kerslake Commission that this goal will not be met by the deadline.”

The late Lord Bob Kerslake was dismayed by rising homelessness, his family said (Peter Byrne/PA)

The family of the late Lord Bob Kerslake, who chaired the commission before his death in July, said he would have been “vociferous” in publishing the latest report’s conclusions and recommendations.

In a statement, they said he had been “saddened and dismayed by the rise of homelessness across our country”.

They added: “He was proud to chair the commission and totally committed to its findings. He would have been vociferous in publishing its conclusions and recommendations.

“His main focus would have been persuading those who have the power to make positive changes to read this report in depth, then work together to meet those recommendations.

“As his family, we firmly believe that this would be a fitting tribute to a great man who worked tirelessly for the betterment of others.”

Among its recommendations, the report said a lack of capacity within the system must be prioritised – blaming a severe shortage of social rented housing and supported housing for much of the current situation.

The commission also urged that homelessness and rough sleeping be treated as a priority within all Government departments “with all sectors working together in a trauma-informed way”.

The Illegal Migration Act should be repealed, the report said, highlighting that non-UK nationals “are the group the homelessness sector is most concerned about, as with the passing of (the Act) there could be as many as 190,000 people with an asylum claim deemed inadmissible, leading those with no realistic prospect of return to an indefinite period of extreme hardship and poverty”.

Emma Haddad, commission member and chief executive of St Mungo’s homeless charity, said the report “sets out starkly that we are working against the tide”.

She added: “We made so much progress on rough sleeping during the pandemic, which clearly demonstrated what can be done when we work together with a shared purpose and dedicated funding.

“It’s time we applied the same energy to stop this homelessness and rough sleeping crisis spiralling further.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities paid tribute to Lord Kerslake for his “life’s work” on the issue and said the Government is “focused on ending rough sleeping for good”, spending £2 billion “to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping in the areas that need it most”.

They said “significant progress” had been made “with over 640,000 households prevented from becoming homeless or supported into settled accommodation since 2018”.

Shadow homelessness minister Mike Amesbury said “This report provides a sobering assessment of rising homelessness driven by a chronic shortage of decent, secure and affordable housing after 13 years of Tory failure.

“A toxic mix of rising rents, the cost-of-living crisis and a failure to end no-fault evictions are hitting vulnerable people.”

Separately, homeless charity St Barnabas said its research suggested “worrying insights into the public perceptions and awareness of homelessness”, with 70% of people it surveyed saying they do not consider unsuitable accommodation as a form of homelessness, and 82% admitting they would not know what to do if someone they knew was homeless.

The research, surveying 2,000 UK adults earlier this month, comes as the charity launched a new campaign to improve public understanding of homelessness and a free photographic and educational exhibition in central London featuring artists who have experienced homelessness across the UK.

Net zero: Rishi Sunak 'destroying' UK green credibility, says Yanis Varoufakis

Harrison Jones - BBC News
Sun, September 24, 2023 

Rishi Sunak has been accused of a "very special combination of incompetence and cynicism" over his major change of direction on climate policies.

Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis told the BBC that the prime minister was "destroying" the UK's green credibility in a desperate bid to appeal to sections of the public.

But Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said the UK was ahead on reducing carbon.

It follows a significant shift on net zero announced by Mr Sunak this week.

The PM pushed back a ban on new petrol-only cars from 2030 to 2035 and announced delays to several other key green policies.

Some sectors of the car industry backed the government's change in direction. But many - including Ford - said it undermined planning.

The Green Party co-leader said she felt "a bit sick" after Mr Sunak's announcement, which has since been welcomed by former US President Donald Trump.

Rishi Sunak delays petrol car ban in major shift on green policies

PM denies his net zero plan is wishful thinking

Speaking to the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Mr Varoufakis - seen as a leading economic voice on the left - launched a scathing attack on the government's green ambitions.

He told stand-in host Victoria Derbyshire: "It takes a very special combination of incompetence and cynicism to manage to unite the car industry and the Greens against you, and Rishi Sunak has demonstrated that.

"It is very clear that this was the result of the Uxbridge by-election," Mr Varoufakis said - referring to the narrow Conservative win in the Uxbridge by-election in July, which some commentators attributed to anger at the expansion of London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).

Mr Sunak was trying to appeal to "nativist, rightish, anti-climate policy segments of the population... destroying all the credibility that governments have tried to build up regarding commitments to net zero", Mr Varoufakis added.

Yanis Varoufakis accused Mr Sunak of appealing to 'nativist, rightish, anti-climate policy segments of the population'

On Tuesday, Mr Sunak announced the changes to the government's stance on green policies, including a delay on a ban of new petrol and diesel car sales.

The PM's speech, moved forward following a leak to the BBC, prompted fierce criticism from environmentalists, industry leaders and the opposition.

But Mr Sunak, who was also criticised by some in his own party, said he could not impose "unacceptable costs" on British families as a result of attempts to reduce emissions.

Mr Shapps told Victoria Derbyshire that he "entirely" backed the changed deadline on selling petrol and diesel cars, and defended the UK's green record.

"We have the leading position in the G7 in terms of the amount of carbon that we have reduced," he said.

What does net zero mean?

The defence secretary argued that the UK had exceeded expectations set out in previous carbon budgets, which place restrictions on the amount of greenhouse gases the UK can emit over five years. Work is now being done on the latest version, which will start in 10 years' time.

Mr Shapps continued: "We have already identified - even after these changes in pace, to give families some relief - 90% of the things we need to do by 2037, so I am completely confident we will get there as well."

But panellist Rachel Johnson, a journalist and the sister of former PM Boris Johnson, said: "The lectern that he (Mr Sunak) stood in front of in Downing Street said something like 'long term decisions for a brighter future'. As I saw it, I thought, no, we are making short term decisions for a darker future... These are populist measures.

"He is equating green with expensive, which is wrong, green is going to be very good for the economy if they grip it."

In the USA, former president Trump - who reversed climate measures during his presidency - praised the "smart" British PM.

Railing against "fake climate alarmists that don't have a clue", he claimed green measures could "destroy and bankrupt" the UK.

"(Mr Sunak) has very substantially rolled back the ridiculous 'climate mandates' that the United States is pushing on everyone, especially itself", wrote Mr Trump, posting on his social media platform Truth Social.

On Saturday, the BBC revealed that a taskforce to speed up home insulation and boilers upgrades has been scrapped.

Mr Shapps did acknowledge the country had "found it difficult" to keep up with the rest of Europe on heat pumps and insulation.

But, he added: "We want to allow more time so we are not penalising households.

"The thing we are not prepared to do is to say to every household within a couple of years... a ban on gas boilers means that perhaps an average home would spend about £8,000 on having to rip out their gas boiler.

"We think that we can both meet our 2050 commitments and give families a bit of a break and enable them to change their boilers as time comes rather than force this sort of pace which is unrealistic."

Net zero means emitting no more greenhouse gases - such as carbon dioxide - than the amount taken out of the atmosphere.

UK

‘This is just a Tory line – they don’t care about us’: Taunton’s voters refuse to buy into Sunak’s net zero U-turn


Tom Wall
Sat, 23 September 2023 

Photograph: Greg Balfour Evans/Alamy

Emergency worker Alice Bowen pauses for a moment in the golden autumnal sunshine warming the bustling centre of Taunton. She should be exactly the kind of voter receptive to the prime minister’s efforts to help struggling families by junking what he claims are costly net zero pledges.

“We are a family of four. We cannot afford to get an electric car,” she says, as shoppers and office staff queue for sandwiches and bags of chips in Somerset’s county town. “It is not feasible for us. We both work full-time. He is a civil servant and I’m in emergency services. It’s not like we have bad jobs – it’s just that the cost is very prohibitive.”

But Bowen, 34, does not for a second buy into Rishi Sunak’s attempts to position himself as a friend of hard-pressed families – and plans to vote for the Liberal Democrats, who are seeking to overturn an 11,700 Conservative majority in Taunton Deane.

Emergency worker Alice Bowen says Rishi Sunak’s wealth means he is ‘not relatable’ to ordinary working families. Photograph: Karen Robinson/The Observer


“Sunak is not relatable in any way, especially when you know what his wife does,” she notes, referring to the wealth of Sunak and his heiress wife, Akshata Murty, who are among the richest people in Britain.

This is echoed by other parents on the high street, where union jacks and Somerset red dragon flags flutter in a gentle breeze.

Grounds maintenance worker Terence Lowe, 38, who is out shopping with his daughter, scoffs at Sunak’s suggestion the old net zero goals would have imposed unacceptable costs on the British people.

“That’s just the line [the Tories] give you to make out that they are doing it for you, but they don’t care,” he says, resting on his crutches, which he is using to recover from a sporting injury. “Just look at the amount of private jets [Sunak] takes. He doesn’t care about the cost of living crisis. Let’s be honest … he lives in a totally different world than we do.”

There are also fears here that delaying the transition to a zero-carbon economy could jeopardise the green investment starting to come into the county.

Tata, the owner of Jaguar Land Rover, is building a giant electric vehicle battery factory in Somerset, creating 4,000 jobs and many more in the supply chain. “As soon as you take your foot off the accelerator, which they’re doing, then it will risk investment, because firms will go elsewhere,” says a steward at Somerset cricket ground, who asks not to be named. “They will go to other countries working to make the world a greener place.”

Even those who wholeheartedly support delaying green targets cannot bring themselves to vote Conservative again. “Sunak has made the right move politically for the party but whether it would make any difference for us … probably not at this point,” says Vivien Bowers, strolling with her husband, Tim, towards the muddy waters of the River Tone.

Taunton residents Vivien and Tim Bowers both voted Tory at the last election but say they are are disillusioned with politics Photograph: Karen Robinson/The Observer

The couple plan to spoil their ballot papers at the general election, which is expected next year. “We both voted Tory last time,” says Tim. “But we are disillusioned with politics. At the moment, we’re going to go in and write ‘politics is not working’ and spoil the ballot – at least that would be noted.”

Yet there are some staunch Conservative voters who are pleased that Sunak is delaying a ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars.

Andy Smith, 78, says electric cars are too expensive and the changing infrastructure will not be ready by 2030: “He’s done the right thing to put it off for a while because we cannot afford it.”

His friend Teresa Lawrence, however, is not convinced by Sunak’s big reset. “I don’t know if he understands because of his privileged life.” Lawrence, 78, may switch from Conservative to Labour. “I always was Conservative but I’m not in the financial situation where I should be voting Conservative. I’m torn.”

Andy Smith says he thinks Rishi Sunak has done the right thing, but his friend Teresa Lawrence is less convinced. Photograph: Karen Robinson/The Observer

There is no shortage of ideas about how Sunak could actually help those such as Lawrence feeling the pinch of rising costs.

David Waddilove, 69, who is a member of a local climate action group, says: “If it was actually about helping with the cost of living, then there were a lot of other things they could be immediately doing, including bigger windfall taxes [on oil and gas producers] and reorganising the tax system so the ultrarich are paying a little bit more and the rest of us could get by a little bit more.”.

Tory-supporting residents feel like the time might be up for Conservative environment minister Rebecca Pow, who has seen her majority in Taunton Deane slip from almost 15,500 to 11,700 since she won in 2015.

Retired maths teacher Geraldine Brearley, 72, will still be voting for Pow but she suspects the Conservatives will lose the seat: “I think people are struggling and when you struggle you think: ‘I’m going to try and change this.’”