Oil companies’ decarbonisation scenarios inconsistent with the Paris Agreement, finds new report

A new study by Climate Analytics finds institutional decarbonisation scenarios from major oil companies' would be classified as inconsistent with the Paris Agreement as they fail to limit warming to ‘well below 2°C’.

• 19 August 2022
 
• Press Release

A new study by Climate Analytics finds institutional decarbonisation scenarios from major oil companies' would be classified as inconsistent with the Paris Agreement as they fail to limit warming to ‘well below 2°C’.

This study analyses six institutional decarbonisation scenarios published between 2020 and mid-2021, including four from the oil companies BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Equinor (two from BP), and two developed by the International Energy Agency IEA.

It finds that most of the scenarios would be classified as inconsistent with the Paris Agreement as they fail to limit warming to ‘well below 2°C’, let alone 1.5°C, and would exceed the 1.5°C warming limit by a significant margin.

Robert Brecha, Professor of Sustainability, University of Dayton and Gaurav Ganti, Ph.D. Student in Geography, Humboldt University of Berlin published a blog on The Conversation that explained how they have been working with the nonprofit science and policy research institute Climate Analytics to better understand the implications of the Paris Agreement for global and national decarbonization pathways – the paths countries can take to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, exploring the roles that coal and natural gas can play as the world transitions away from fossil fuels.

When analyzing the energy companies’ decarbonization scenarios, they found that BP’s, Shell’s and Equinor’s scenarios overshoot the 1.5°C limit of the Paris Agreement by a significant margin, with only BP’s having a greater than 50% chance of subsequently drawing temperatures down to 1.5°C by 2100.

These scenarios also showed higher near-term use of coal and long-term use of gas for electricity production than Paris-compatible scenarios, such as those assessed by the IPCC. Overall, the energy company scenarios also feature higher levels of carbon dioxide emissions than Paris-compatible scenarios.

Of the six scenarios, they determined that only the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero by 2050 scenario sketches out an energy future that is compatible with the 1.5°C Paris Agreement goal.

Read the report here.

British Sikh activist ‘tortured in India after tip-off from UK intelligence’

Matthew Weaver - THE GUARDIAN


A British Sikh campaigner is facing a possible death sentence after the UK intelligence services passed on information about him to the Indian authorities, according to a high court complaint.


Jagtar Singh Johal was arrested in the Punjab in 2017, where he had travelled for his wedding.© Photograph: Family handout/PA

Lawyers for Jagtar Singh Johal from Dumbarton, Scotland, say he was tortured, including being given electric shocks, after his unlawful arrest in the Punjab in 2017 where he had travelled for his wedding.

The campaign group Reprieve, which is representing him, says it has uncovered documents suggesting MI5 and MI6 tipped off the Indian authorities about Johal.

“No one should ever be tortured, especially not with the assistance of the UK government,” it said in a petition about the case.

Johal’s brother, Gurpreet Singh Johal, a solicitor and Labour councillor in West Dunbartonshire, told the Guardian he was “astonished” to discover the UK’s involvement.

He said: “We’ve repeatedly been told that they are raising the case at the highest level. It feels as if it was all just lip service. They’ve never told us what they’re actually doing.”

He added: “Jagtar’s wife is heartbroken because she really came to the UK thinking that the UK government will be bringing her husband home.”

This month, Johal’s lawyers, Leigh Day, lodged a claim in the high court against the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the attorney general, his brother confirmed.

It alleges UK intelligence agencies unlawfully shared information with the Indian authorities when there was a risk of torture.

Reprieve is calling on the UK foreign secretary to intervene. It said: “As foreign secretary and potential future prime minister, Liz Truss has a duty to right the wrongs of foreign secretaries before her and, in good faith, to bring Jagtar home and reunite him with his family; ban intelligence sharing where there is a real risk of torture or the death penalty; [and] give torture survivors a right to know if the UK was involved in their abuse.”

It added: “Our government should protect us, not expose us to torture and the death penalty.”

Boris Johnson acknowledged this year that the Indian authorities had arbitrarily detained Johal, adding that the UK government had consistently raised concerns about his treatment and right to a fair trial.

After four and half years in detention, Johal’s lawyers were told he would be charged with conspiracy to commit murder and being a member of a terrorist gang, for which he faces a possible death penalty. He is expected to be formally charged next month.

The Indian authorities say the charges relate to Sikh nationalism. He denies any wrongdoing.

The Foreign Office said it would not comment on an ongoing legal case.

A statement from the all-party parliamentary group on extraordinary rendition said that if substantiated, the allegations suggested the UK had facilitated arbitrary detention and torture.

In a statement, its co-chairs, Stephen Timms and Andrew Tyrie, said: “The government’s own principles on torture – designed to ensure that the UK is not involved in it – appear to have been breached. Parliament and the public cannot have confidence that the UK is not involved in kidnap and torture.”

Walmart ordered to pay Oregon man $4.4M for racial profiling after worker allegedly 'spied' on customer, called police

Walmart spokesperson Randy Hargrove said the company does "not tolerate discrimination" and branded the verdict "excessive."

Aug. 23, 022

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — DDA Multnomah County grand jury has ordered Walmart to pay $4.4 million in damages to a man who sued the store, saying he was racially profiled and harassed by a Walmart employee at a Portland, Oregon, area store in 2020.

According to the lawsuit the employee “spied” on Michael Mangum while shopping, ordered him to leave and called police when he refused, KGW reported.

According to the lawsuit and a news release from his attorneys, Mangum, who was 59 at the time, visited the Walmart in Wood Village on March 26, 2020, to buy a light bulb for his refrigerator. After Mangum arrived, he noticed store employee Joe Williams watching him as he shopped.

Williams told Mangum to leave the store, but Mangum refused, saying he’d done nothing wrong. Mangum’s lawyers said Williams told Mangum he was going to call the police and tell them Mangum had threatened to “smash him in the face.”

Williams called the non-emergency police dispatch line and told the operator he “had a person refusing to leave,” the lawsuit states.

According to Mangum’s lawyers, deputies from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office responded and “refused to take action against Mangum.” The lawyers said deputies made that decision based on Williams’ “shifting explanations” for the reason he called and because of his “reputation for making false reports to police.”

According to Mangum’s lawyers, the next day, Sheriff’s Sergeant Bryan White and another deputy met with the director of the Walmart and the assistant manager and explained that deputies had noticed a “pattern of behavior” in which Williams would call police to report “dangerous active situations, such as customers physically assaulting him or other employees,” that were not happening.

The store and Walmart corporate officials kept him on the job for several more months. and fired him in July 2020 for “mishandling $35 of Walmart property,” the lawsuit said.

 

Chinese workers dig deep to keep crops watered after drought hits largest lake

23 August 2022, 09:24

China Drought. Picture: PA

There has been a huge decline in water coverage in Poyang Lake in Jiangxi province.

With China’s biggest freshwater lake reaching historic low levels thanks to drought, work crews are digging trenches to keep water flowing to irrigate crops.

The dramatic decline of water coverage in Poyang Lake in the central province of Jiangxi would
have otherwise cut off irrigation channels to neighbouring farmlands in one of China’s key rice-growing regions.

Crews using diggers to create trenches only work after dark due to the daytime heat, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Luoxingdun Island is seen in the dried lake bed of Poyang Lake (Xinhua via AP)

High temperatures have sparked mountain fires that have forced the evacuation of 1,500 people in south-west China, and factories have cut production as hydroelectric plants reduce their output amid drought conditions.

The drought and heat have wilted crops and shrunk rivers including the giant Yangtze, disrupting cargo traffic and reducing power output.

Fed by China’s major rivers, Poyang Lake averages around 1,400 square miles at high season, but has contracted to just 285 square miles amid the recent drought.

Work crews are digging trenches to keep water flowing to irrigate crops (Xinhua via AP)

A wide area of western and central China has seen days of temperatures exceeding 40C in summer heat waves that have started earlier and lasted longer than usual.

In the hard-hit city of Chongqing, department stores have delayed their opening to 4pm. Residents
have been seeking respite from the heat in air raid shelters dating from the Second World War.

That reflects the situation in Europe and elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere, with high temperatures taking a toll on public health, food production and the environment in general.

By Press Association

Popular weed killer linked to animal convulsions

Researchers applied 300 times less Roundup than 

the amount recommended on the bottle label.

KENDRA LEON / August 23, 2022

Akshay S. Naraine, MSc., project lead and a Ph.D. student at Florida Atlantic University 

and the International Max Planck Research School for Synapses and Circuits. (Florida Atlantic University)

(CN) — Researcher Akshay Naraine of Florida Atlantic University acknowledges we know little of the effects weed killers have on our nervous systems. But he has discovered one thing: a link between the active ingredient in Roundup and convulsions in soil-dwelling roundworms.

Published in Scientific Reports, Naraine's study focused on Roundup’s active ingredient glyphosate and explored its effects on animal and human nervous systems. Concerned about the lack of data, Naraine tested the effects based on a colleague’s lab technique.

“Electroshock convulsion analysis in soil-dwelling roundworms was a technique developed in Dr. Ken Dawson-Scully’s lab, and while the majority of the work focused on screening novel antiepileptic drug candidates, I wanted to flip the script and test an environmental chemical,” Naraine said in an email. “There was little evidence that glyphosate affected convulsive behavior prior to our study, so the project started in an exploratory manner to determine if the lab’s assay could detect changes brought on by pesticides.”

The study shows glyphosate and Roundup increased seizure-like behavior in the soil-dwelling roundworm species C. elegans. Specifically, glyphosate targets GABA-A receptors, chemical connection points in the roundworm's nervous system.

“In these roundworms, GABA-A receptors are essential for movement and blocking them impairs movement,” Naraine said in the email. “But in the human brain, blocking GABA-A receptors can affect sleep and contribute to depression and anxiety disorders.”

Before testing on the roundworms began, the researched worried when they found that the concentration was at “significantly less levels” than recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“The concentration listed for best results on the Roundup Super Concentrate label is 0.98% glyphosate, which is about 5 tablespoons of Roundup® in 1 gallon of water,” Naraine said in a statement accompanying the study. “A significant finding from our study reveals that just 0.002% glyphosate, a difference of about 300 times less herbicide than the lowest concentration recommended for consumer use, had concerning effects on the nervous system.”

Per the study, researchers first tested glyphosate on a single soil-dwelling roundworm. Then, they tested the U.S. and United Kingdom versions of Roundup from before and after the U.K.’s 2016 ban on polyethoxylated tallowamine (POEAs). Not an easy task considering the secrecy of the Roundup adjuvant composition.

“The adjuvant is the trade secret mix of other chemicals meant to enhance glyphosate’s weed-killer effects, and since it is a trade secret, the chemical contents are not publicly disclosed,” Naraine wrote.

Naraine and the team found glyphosate exacerbated convulsions in the roundworms, a species already vulnerable to convulsions due to thermal stress. This suggests the GABA-A receptor was a neurological target for the observed physiological changes.

“Our data strongly implicates glyphosate and Roundup exposure in exacerbating convulsive effects. This could prove vital as we experience the effects of climate change,” Naraine said.

The researchers say their findings provide further evidence that chronic exposure to glyphosate and weed killers may lead to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease.

“A 2012 study from King College in Tennessee showed that high amounts of glyphosate degraded dopamine neurons in soil-dwelling roundworms, but more research needs to be done to clarify what chronic exposure effects may result in,” wrote Naraine, adding the roundworms' reactions to the short period of exposure was concerning. “It is truly unique to uncover that glyphosate and Roundup can lead to such significant changes in movement at levels over 300-fold lower than those recommended on the back of the bottle of Roundup.”

As it stands, the study says more than 13 billion pounds of glyphosate was sprayed worldwide from 2005 to 2014, and its use is projected to dramatically increase in the future.

UK

Fury as sewage dumped in shellfish water by water companies

Analysis by the Liberal Democrats has found sewage was dumped into waters containing shellfish a staggering 29,000 times last year.

Daniel Clark

Content Editor & Politics Reporter

22 AUG 2022

Fishermen loading shellfish

Monitors being used for measuring the amount of sewage being pumped into the sea across the UK are faulty or not even installed, the Liberal Democrats have said. Environment Agency data shows water companies are failing to monitor sewage discharges along the coast, including at seaside resorts, according to the party’s analysis.

It comes as dozens of pollution warnings were put in place across beaches and swimming spots in England and Wales last week, after heavy rain overwhelmed sewer systems, leading water companies to release sewage into the natural environment. Ministers are facing growing calls to clamp down on the water firms who are being criticised for not investing money back into the UK’s outdated water infrastructure.

Boris Johnson’s father has blamed his son’s administration for the sewage problem. In an interview with the Prime Minister’s sister, Rachel Johnson, on LBC radio, Stanley Johnson said: “We have to blame the Government for not pressing this matter as hard as it should’ve done.”

The Liberal Democrats said water companies have either installed Event Duration Monitors (EDMs) – devices which measure the number and length of sewage dumps from storm overflows – that do not work 90% of the time or have not been installed at 

The party found that 1,802 monitors installed by water companies across the UK did not work for at least 90% of the time, while there were no monitors installed during 1,717 storm overflows. In total, 24% of sewage discharges went unmonitored last year, it said.

Anglian Water has the highest rate of failure, with 49% of all its sewage discharges not measured due to faulty or no monitors installed, according to the party. This is followed by South West Water with 30% and Severn Trent Water with 29%.

One in eight of South West Water’s sewage monitors installed at designated bathing locations across Cornwall and Devon are either faulty or not installed, the party said.

It comes as analysis by the Liberal Democrats has found sewage was dumped into waters containing shellfish a staggering 29,000 times last year. The party has raised fears this could be taking place again this summer.

This equates to 207,013 hours worth of sewage in shellfish waters in England in just one year alone. The worst offenders were South West, Southern Water and Anglian Water.

Liberal Democrats have called for a Sewage Tax on water companies, after firms which pump sewage into lakes and rivers made over £2.8 billion in profits. The tax on their profits would produce a fund worth hundreds of millions to prevent sewage polluting rivers.

In Parliament Lib Dem MPs backed amendments to the Environment Bill to end sewage discharges. However, this was blocked by Conservative MPs who voted against sewage discharges into rivers and coastlines being banned.

Tim Farron, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Environment said: "England’s treasured shellfish, our prawn, crayfish, lobsters and crabs, are the forgotten victims of this environmental scandal.

“The past week we’ve seen our beaches closed because of these polluting water companies. All the while, they are raking in billions of pounds in profits and forking out eye-watering bonuses to their CEOs. Frankly, the whole thing stinks.

“Why aren't Government Ministers listening to the public on this? They are ignoring the country's outrage at this scandal.

“Conservative MPs voted against a ban on sewage dumping. That means right now water companies are still pumping disgusting sewage into the homes of shellfish.”

Mr Farron added: “These water companies could be guilty of gross negligence by failing to install sewage monitors. This is a national scandal and these new figures stink of a cover-up. Britain’s seaside resorts are being swamped by foul sewage yet the Government is nowhere to be found. Why on earth are Conservative ministers letting them get away with this?

“Sussex has been devastated in recent days by disgraceful sewage dumps because of Southern Water. The CEO of Southern Water should go to Seaford to check on this sewage monitor immediately. The public needs to know how safe, if at all, popular beaches are for swimming.”

In response to the issue, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) released a response last week outlining the action it is taking.

Water minister Steve Double, the MP for St Austell and Newquay, said: “We are the first government to take action to tackle sewage overflows. We have been clear that water companies’ reliance on overflows is unacceptable and they must significantly reduce how much sewage they discharge as a priority.

“This is on top of ambitious action we have already taken, including consulting on targets to improve water quality which will act as a powerful tool to deliver cleaner water, pushing all water companies to go further and faster to fix overflows. Work on tackling sewage overflows continues at pace and we will publish our plan in line with the September 1 statutory deadline.

Rachel and Stanley Johnson blame Boris Johnson for sewage shame – This pic sums it up

"So LBC has Rachel Johnson interviewing her father Stanley about the policies of her brother the prime minister. And some people claim the UK is rife with nepotism...:"

 by Joe Mellor
2022-08-22 


The Government’s failure to control the water industry is to blame for the “sorry mess” of sewage pumped into Britain’s beaches, an environmental campaigner has said.

In case you have missed it, here’s one beach closed off to the public as raw sewage is pumped into the sea.

Sharkey

Feargal Sharkey said three decades of poorly regulated profiteering among water companies and a “vacuum of political oversight” had resulted in a state of “extraordinary chaos”.

Reacting to reports that monitors being used for measuring the levels of sewage in the sea are faulty, he warned that beach-goers have no clear picture of the amount of waste in the water they swim in.

Mr Sharkey told BBC Breakfast: “It appeared yesterday that over the last six years water companies have now spent almost nine and a half million hours dumping sewage into the environment.

“And if the data is as faulty as it seems, that number could be a multiple of that by another multiplier of your choosing.

“It’s just a desperate sign of the extraordinary state of chaos that this industry has managed to get itself into.”

Stanley and Rachel

The Johnson family have also turned on Boris Johnson’s government for letting our waterways become polluted.


Rachel interviewed her dad, yes really, Stanley Johnson, and they seemed to blame Boris for the environmental crisis on our coastlines and river systems.

Before we get there, this picture shared by Toby Earle might sum up the Johnson bonanza on LBC.

So over to Stanley who tells his daughter 

that the increase of sewage in UK’s waterways means:

 “I would say we have to blame the Government!”

Reactions

It seems like the Johnson closed loop system was

 becoming murkier by the minute.

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Related: Oh the irony! Tory MPs call for a stop to sewage being dumped in the sea

Labour claims Liz Truss’ £235 million Environment Agency cut ‘doubled sewage discharge’


Tuesday 23 August 2022 

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is accused over presiding over cuts that precipitated raw sewage discharges.

Credit: Still from video by @BEMatters / PA

Labour has accused Liz Truss of presiding over Environment Agency cuts that resulted in "doubled sewage discharge."

The 'savings' made during the Tory leadership contender's time as Environment Secretary significantly slashed funding for the Environment Agency - precipitating the recent raw sewage flows at the UK's beaches, the party claims.

Labour Party analysis of official figures shows that since 2016, when Ms Truss was in charge of Defra, raw sewage discharge more than doubled from 14.7 per overflow in 2016 to 29.3 in 2021.

This coincided with her cutting £80m of sewage monitors as part of a £235m Tory axe to the Environment Agency’s budget, which she branded “efficiency savings”.

Footage captures sewage being released into the sea at Bexhill, East Sussex, closing the beach. Video by @BEMatters

The Environment Agency works closely with water companies to ensure they are closely monitoring and reporting back on their discharge activity.

As Environment Secretary, Ms Truss justified the cuts, saying: “there are ways we can make savings as a department” citing better use of technology and inter-agency working.

Shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon said: “Under the Tories, the country is facing a crisis in our water supply. Our water infrastructure is at bursting point, with billions of litres of water being wasted every day and raw sewage being dumped into our waters.

Thousands of fish dead in sewage spill in Swindon waterway

The South West beaches still not safe to swim at

“The fact that Liz Truss was the one to cut the EA (Environment Agency) so severely, not only demonstrates her lack of foresight but also her lack of care for the detail, in recognising the need to adapt to the serious flooding that had just happened on her watch.

“Labour will address the challenges in our water supply system by strengthening regulation and ensuing that bosses of water companies are held to account legally and financially for their negligence.”

The Labour analysis comes as dozens of pollution warnings were issued for beaches and swimming spots in England and Wales following heavy rain that overwhelmed the sewage system.

Environmental charities have warned about polluted coastlines

There has been growing public outrage in recent years at the volume of raw or partially treated sewage pumped into the UK’s rivers and coastal waters.

Water firms are being criticised for not investing money back into the UK’s outdated water infrastructure, with mounting pressure on ministers to intervene.

On Monday, Number 10 said it was the duty of firms to put customers before shareholders, with a spokeswoman saying: “We have been clear that the failure of water companies to adequately reduce sewage discharges is completely unacceptable.

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“They have a duty to put their customers before shareholders and we would expect them to take urgent action on this issue or face fines.”

The spokeswoman added: “We continue to speak regularly with them. The Environment Agency undertake enforcement action and monitoring, which we have stepped up.”

Downing Street also said water companies were already facing legal action from regulators.


Sewage monitors at seasides were faulty '90% of the time', data shows


Is sewage hitting a beach near you amid the heavy rain?

The spokeswoman said: “Since 2015 the Environment Agency has brought 48 prosecutions against water and sewerage companies, securing fines of over £137 million.”

She added that since privatisation, the equivalent of £5 billion had been invested to upgrade water infrastructure, but the companies must “continue to take action”.

Sir Keir Starmer earlier accused the Government of having its head in the sand over the scale of sewage being pumped into British waterways.

Labour leader SIR Keir Starmer.Credit: PA

He said: “I think there is huge anger about the sewage situation, because we’re seeing yet again sewage pumped into our rivers and into our seas.

“What it shows is that the Government hasn’t been tough enough on the water companies and the enforcement against the water companies.

“Of course, at the same time they have been cutting money to the Environment Agency.”

Liz Truss’s £235m cut to Environment Agency ‘doubled sewage discharge’

Raw sewage discharge more than doubled from 14.7 per overflow in 2016 to 29.3 in 2021, when the future PM was in charge of Defra.

 by Jack Peat
2022-08-23 


Liz Truss presided over “efficiency savings” during her time as Environment Secretary that significantly slashed funding for the Environment Agency and resulted in “doubled sewage discharge”, Labour has claimed.

Labour Party analysis of official figures shows that since 2016, when the Tory leadership hopeful was in charge of Defra – raw sewage discharge more than doubled from 14.7 per overflow in 2016 to 29.3 in 2021.

This coincided with her cutting £80m of sewage monitors as part of a £235m Tory axe to the Environment Agency’s budget, which she branded “efficiency savings”.



The Environment Agency works closely with water companies to ensure they are closely monitoring and reporting back on their discharge activity.

As Environment Secretary, Ms Truss justified the cuts saying “there are ways we can make savings as a department” citing better use of technology and inter-agency working.

Shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon said: “Under the Tories, the country is facing a crisis in our water supply. Our water infrastructure is at bursting point, with billions of litres of water being wasted every day and raw sewage being dumped into our waters.


“The fact that Liz Truss was the one to cut the EA (Environment Agency) so severely, not only demonstrates her lack of foresight but also her lack of care for the detail, in recognising the need to adapt to the serious flooding that had just happened on her watch.

“Labour will address the challenges in our water supply system by strengthening regulation and ensuing that bosses of water companies are held to account legally and financially for their negligence.”

A senior consultant for the Environment Agency told the Guardian about the cuts: “They plummeted to the point it was impossible for the Environment Agency to know what’s going on.

“They had no control or monitoring capability that was meaningful. They ceded the control of monitoring to water companies, which ended up being able to mark their own homework. They take their own samples and assess whether they are being compliant.

“We saw that doesn’t work – look what happened with Southern Water, which didn’t declare its pollution incidents and ended up being fined by the EA when they were found out.

“There are suspicions this could be happening across the board. It has been left to citizen scientists who monitor and fill in the gaps.”

Mr Lewis added: “Lots of this would have happened under Liz Truss; she was there when some of those cuts were made. She was a poor minister and the Environment Agency has been cut to the bone, and it can’t monitor or regulate effectively.”

The Labour analysis comes as dozens of pollution warnings were issued for beaches and swimming spots in England and Wales following heavy rain that overwhelmed the sewage system.

There has been growing public outrage in recent years at the volume of raw or partially treated sewage pumped into the UK’s rivers and coastal waters.

Water firms are being criticised for not investing money back into the UK’s outdated water infrastructure, with mounting pressure on ministers to intervene.

On Monday, Number 10 said it was the duty of firms to put customers before shareholders, with a spokeswoman saying: “We have been clear that the failure of water companies to adequately reduce sewage discharges is completely unacceptable.

“They have a duty to put their customers before shareholders and we would expect them to take urgent action on this issue or face fines.”

The spokeswoman added: “We continue to speak regularly with them. The Environment Agency undertake enforcement action and monitoring, which we have stepped up.”

Downing Street also said water companies were already facing legal action from regulators.

The spokeswoman said: “Since 2015 the Environment Agency has brought 48 prosecutions against water and sewerage companies, securing fines of over £137 million.”

She added that since privatisation, the equivalent of £5 billion had been invested to upgrade water infrastructure, but the companies must “continue to take action”.

Sir Keir Starmer earlier accused the Government of having its head in the sand over the scale of sewage being pumped into British waterways.

He said: “I think there is huge anger about the sewage situation, because we’re seeing yet again sewage pumped into our rivers and into our seas.

“What it shows is that the Government hasn’t been tough enough on the water companies and the enforcement against the water companies.

“Of course, at the same time they have been cutting money to the Environment Agency.”

Scots salmon industry facing 'acute' worker shortages due to Brexit warn business chiefs

The body says the industry does not have enough staff across key skill areas due to workers returning to their homes in Eastern Europe as a result of Brexit

Lauren Gilmour

 15 AUG 2022

Salmon is a major industry (Image: Getty Images/500px)

Scotland's salmon industry is facing "acute" labour shortages due to Brexit, business chiefs have warned. In letters to candidates in the Tory leadership contest, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, Salmon Scotland has called for a more "enlightened" approach to immigration to assist businesses.

The body says the industry does not have enough staff across key skill areas due to workers returning to their homes in Eastern Europe as a result of Brexit.

Very low unemployment and extremely limited labour availability in areas where businesses have processing facilities, namely Rosyth near Edinburgh, Argyll, Fort William, Stornoway, Dingwall and three separate sites in Shetland mean processing factories are running 20% light on staff

A change to key worker definitions, changes to the salary cap level and a broader public signal that the UK is open to people and thus to business have been cited by the body as measures to improve the issue.

They have also asked candidates to take a "pragmatic" approach to trade negotiations with the EU, avoiding a so-called "trade war", with a "clear focus on the nation's export businesses who depend on a positive, professional relationship with France and the other countries of the EU".

Tavish Scott, chief executive of Salmon Scotland, said: "Our businesses are vital to the economic performance of the UK - not only in economically fragile coastal and rural areas, but across the length and breadth of the country in processing, engineering, science and technology industries.

The former Scottish Liberal Democrat leader invited Mr Sunak and Ms Truss to visit a facility if they were elected "at their earliest convenience".

UK
Record 1,295 people in one day cross Channel in small boats


Monday’s figure surpasses previous record from last November and brings total this year to 22,600

People are brought to Dover on a Border Force vessel on Tuesday. 

Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA


Rajeev Syal

THE GUARDIAN

Tue 23 Aug 2022 


A record 1,295 people crossed the Channel in small boats on Monday, heightening concern that the Home Office’s aggressive policies have failed to curb the numbers making dangerous journeys to the UK.

It was the highest number in a single day since records began in 2018, surpassing 1,185 on a day in November last year. The Ministry of Defence said 27 boats made the crossing on Monday.

The latest figures come despite increasingly aggressive and expensive policies from Priti Patel’s department. This year, she has struck a £120m deal to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, has asked Royal Navy vessels to rescue boats in UK waters, and has threatened to turn boats around and send them back to France.

Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “It is clear this government’s cruel and nasty plan to treat people as human cargo by sending them to Rwanda is doing absolutely nothing to stop people feeling forced to cross the Channel.

“That is because these dreadful plans fail to address the reasons people come in the first place. The very high numbers of people crossing the Channel are men, women and children fleeing war and oppression in countries like Afghanistan and Syria who have no choice but to make desperate, terrifying journeys to find safety.

“The government’s own statistics show that three-quarters of asylum cases are granted refugee protection here. These are people who have endured unimaginable danger and trauma and simply want to be safe.”

In Dover on Monday, the threats did not appear to have put off people from seeking refuge in the UK. Babies and several other young children, some wrapped in blankets and wearing woollen hats, were among the people seen being brought ashore. Life vests were pictured lying in piles on the Kent dockside after dinghies and other vessels were intercepted in the Channel.

A pile of life vests on the dockside in Dover on Monday. 

Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

The crossings came after a three-day hiatus between Friday and Sunday when no arrivals were recorded.

This year to date, more than 22,600 people have arrived in the UK after navigating busy shipping lanes from France in small boats such as dinghies, the figures suggest. At the equivalent point in 2021, the cumulative total was just under 12,500.

Patel has said the five-year trial signed in the spring with the Rwandan government will discourage asylum seekers from crossing the Channel. So far no asylum seekers have been sent to Rwanda, which has already spent an initial £120m handed over by the UK.

Patel and Boris Johnson have said Rwanda is a safe destination for people seeking refuge in the UK and that “tens of thousands” will be flown 4,000 miles and told to set up a new life in central Africa.

However, the high court in London heard this month that an official at the Foreign Office who had expertise on Rwanda raised concerns about torture and extrajudicial killings of political opponents of the regime.

“There are state control, security, surveillance structures from the national level down,” the official wrote. “Political opposition is not tolerated and arbitrary detention, torture and even killings are accepted methods of enforcing control too.”

A report from the home affairs select committee last month found that the rise in crossings “may be attributed to scaremongering from people traffickers that because of new regulations coming in across the Channel it will be much harder to access the UK in future, so they had better get on with it”.

Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, the two candidates to succeed Johnson as prime minister, have said they will stick with the Rwanda scheme. However, there is growing speculation that Patel will be replaced at the Home Office under the new prime minister.

A government spokesperson said: “Our new Nationality and Borders Act is breaking these evil criminals business model, through tougher sentences for those who facilitate illegal entry into the country, with 38 people already arrested and facing further action since it became law.”