Month: July 2022

Writing in The Times, he said Ms Truss was “authentic” and had the experience to address the country’s challenges.

Mr Wallace, popular among Tory members for his handling of the war in Ukraine, was himself seen as a contender in the race, but ruled himself out early on.

His endorsement comes after Ms Truss and Rishi Sunak took part in the first official Conservative husting in Leeds.

Mr Wallace’s article marks his first major intervention in favour of any candidate since the race got under way earlier this month.

He said he had sat with Ms Truss, the current foreign secretary, in “cabinet, bilateral meetings and international summits”.

He said that she may not be a “slick salesperson”, but that she “stands her ground” and “is straight and means what she says”.

He listed some of the issues facing the country, including the economic aftermath of the Covid pandemic, global inflation, and the threat posed by President Putin, adding: “These are not normal times.”

“[Ms Truss] is the only candidate who has both the breadth and depth of experience needed to confront these challenges,” he said.

He added that he thought Mr Sunak was a “capable cabinet minister” and that he was sure “he could do the job of prime minister”.

But he continued: “From day one the new prime minister needs to know their way around the international community as well as the Treasury. Only Liz can do that.”

Mr Wallace, a former soldier who held the rank of captain in the Scots Guards, also emphasised what he saw as the importance of maintaining defence spending, and welcomed Ms Truss’s commitment to increase it to 3% of GDP by 2030.

“I have read thousands of intelligence reports and can say with confidence that the threat to us and our nation is growing,” he said.

“The threats are not going away by themselves. [Ms Truss] understands the world in which we are now living. She recognises the potential that Britain can harness as a global defence power.”

The first hustings in the leadership race, hosted by LBC presenter Nick Ferrari, took place on Thursday night.

The event saw Ms Truss’s rival, Rishi Sunak, discuss reforms he would introduce to the education system. Asked if he was in favour of the return of grammar schools, he replied: “Yes”.

“It’s not about throwing more money at the problem, it’s about reforming the system to get better outcomes,” he said.

His team later clarified that he would expand existing grammar schools in “wholly selective areas” and maintain commitments under the Selective School Expansion Fund, which funds the expansion of certain state schools which select by ability.

During her own appearance, Ms Truss, who spent her school years in Leeds, said it was “fantastic” to return to her old stomping ground.

She said she learned “grit, determination and straight-talking” from Yorkshire, calling it a useful skill as “we face a huge global economic crisis”.

She also repeated her pledge to deliver the Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme in full.

Speaking to voters, she said she wanted to “channel the spirit of Don Revie” – the former title-winning Leeds United and England manager – because “we need to win”.

Speaking at a Korean War anniversary event, Mr Kim added that the country was “fully ready for any military confrontation” with the US, state news agency KCNA reported.

The comments come amid concern that North Korea could be preparing a seventh nuclear test.

The US warned last month that Pyongyang could conduct such a test at any time.

North Korea’s most recent nuclear test was in 2017. However, tensions have been rising on the Korean peninsula.

The US special representative to North Korea Sung Kim says North Korea has tested an unprecedented number of missiles this year – 31 compared to 25 during the whole of its last record-breaking year, 2019.

In June South Korea responded by launching eight missiles of its own.

Although the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, North Korea claims it as a victory against the US. The annual “Victory Day” celebrations are marked by military parades, fireworks and dancing.

In his speech to mark the event, Mr Kim said nuclear threats from the US required North Korea to achieve the “urgent historical task” of beefing up its self-defence.

The US had misrepresented North Korea’s regular military exercises as provocations, he added.

Mr Kim also appeared to address reports that South Korea is moving to revive a plan to counter the North Korean nuclear threat by mounting precautionary strikes in the event of an imminent attack.

The so-called “Kill Chain” strategy, first elaborated a decade ago, calls for pre-emptive strikes against Pyongyang’s missiles and possibly its senior leadership.

Some analysts have warned it carries its own risks and could fuel an arms race.

At the Victory Day celebration Mr Kim said that South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s government and military would be “obliterated” if he carried out pre-emptive strikes.

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, BBC News

Kim Jong-Un’s warning that the Korean peninsula is “on the brink of war” sounds extremely scary. But North Korean rhetoric is often fiery, especially on significant anniversaries.

What it indicates is just how angry the North Korean regime is about South Korea’s new President Yoon Suk-yeol.

Since taking office in May, President Yoon has laid out a new, more aggressive defence policy. It would allow South Korean forces to pre-emptively strike the North, if Seoul believes it is under imminent threat of a nuclear attack from Pyongyang.

This so-called “Kill Chain” strategy would allow South Korea to launch pre-emptive ballistic missiles and air strikes on North Korean targets, including taking out the North Korean command and control structures. In other words, attempting to kill Kim Jong-Un himself.

Pyongyang is also quite unhappy with the lack of engagement from Washington since President Biden replaced Donald Trump.

All of this could suggest we are headed towards some sort of deliberate escalation by the North.

Everyone now expects that Pyongyang will carry out a seventh underground nuclear test. Preparations have been underway at the Punggye-ri test site since March.

Joe Manchin said he now backs a bill to raise corporate taxes, fight climate change and lower medicine costs.

The West Virginian previously objected to the proposal, citing fears more spending could worsen inflation.

Passage of the bill would be a major legislative victory for Mr Biden.

Salvaging a key plank of his domestic agenda could also grant a much-needed electoral boost for his fellow Democrats, who are battling to retain control of Congress as midterm elections loom in November.

“If enacted, this legislation will be historic,” said the president.

In a joint statement on Wednesday evening with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, Mr Manchin provided few specifics.

But the newly agreed bill is said to be much more modest than the $3.5tn (£2.9tn) version Democrats originally put forward.

Mr Manchin and Mr Schumer said it would help the US lower its carbon emissions by about 40% by the year 2030.

The bill would devote $369bn to climate policies such as tax credits for solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles, and tackling the impact of pollution on low-income communities.

“By a wide margin, this legislation will be the greatest pro-climate legislation that has ever been passed by Congress,” Mr Schumer said in a statement.

Mr Manchin and Mr Schumer also maintained the measure would pay for itself by raising $739bn (£608bn) over the decade through hiking the corporate minimum tax on big companies to 15%, beefing up Internal Revenue Service tax enforcement, and allowing the government to negotiate prescription drug prices.

President Biden needs the unanimous support of all 50 Democratic senators, along with Vice President Kamala Harris’s tiebreaking vote, to get the bill through the Senate and send it to the House of Representatives – where Democrats hold a razor-thin majority.

If passed, the legislation would mark a major breakthrough for the president, enshrining a number of his major policy goals into law and offering to salvage a domestic economic agenda that has in recent months stalled under failed negotiations.

The bill still amounts to significantly less than what the White House had hoped to achieve in its original $1.9tn (£1.4tn) Build Back Better agenda – an ambitious plan to comprehensively rewrite the US’s health, education, climate, and tax laws.

That earlier plan, which for months has floundered in the Senate with an uncertain future, is now “dead,” Mr Manchin said on Wednesday.

It is not clear what has prompted the West Virginia senator’s dramatic reversal to support the new bill. He is something of a political anomaly, representing a conservative state that voted overwhelmingly for former President Donald Trump.

Barely a fortnight ago, the senator exasperated the White House by saying he could only back the portions of the proposal relating to pharmaceutical prices and healthcare subsidies.

“I have worked diligently to get input from all sides,” Mr Manchin said on Wednesday evening.

Mr Schumer hopes to pass the bill with 51 votes through a budgetary manoeuvre that would allow him to circumvent rules requiring support from 60 out of 100 senators. If every Democrat backs the measure in the evenly split chamber, it would go through.

However, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a moderate Arizona Democrat who has in the past acted as a roadblock to President Biden’s agenda, could still scupper the plan. She declined to comment on news of the agreement on Wednesday night.

Republicans, who have previously tried to woo Mr Manchin to join their party, slammed him.

“I can’t believe that Senator Manchin is agreeing to a massive tax increase in the name of climate change when our economy is in a recession,” Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said.

Mr Schumer said the Senate would take the bill up next week. The House of Representatives could then take it up later in August.

Council employees who work in education settings and refuse centres voted for strike after rejecting a 2% pay offer.

Unions said the walk-outs could happen after pupils return from the summer break in August.

The Scottish government said it was urging all parties to find a resolution to avoided industrial action.

Cosla, the local authority body, said they were waiting for the Scottish government to respond to requests for extra funding for councils.

A strike ballot of about 25,000 council workers from the Unison, Unite and GMB unions was said to be the largest in more than a decade.

Unite confirmed that its local government membership in 26 councils, and members at Tayside Contracts, voted for industrial action.

The required 50% turnout threshold required by the Trade Union Act was exceeded in nine Unison local authority branches -Glasgow, North and South Lanarkshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Stirling, Aberdeenshire, Clackmannanshire and Orkney.

Workers in waste and recycling were also part of the ballot and could leave rubbish “piling up in the streets” if workers do not get a better offer, unions warned.

Wendy Dunsmore from Unite said: “Our members are at the end of their patience.

“They are being forced to take this action due to being completely undervalued despite working throughout the pandemic.

“In the coming weeks we will now plan for targeted strike action in 26 councils across Scotland and the blame for this lies squarely with Cosla and the first minister.”

Johanna Baxter, head of local government at Unison Scotland, told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme that the “measly 2%” increase council workers were offered in March was not appropriate when inflation was over 10%.

She pointed out that this week council workers in England had been offered a flat rate uplift of £1,925 – a 10.5% increase for those on the lowest pay.

Ms Baxter said workers were “fed up of being used as a political football” between council body Cosla and the Scottish government.

“We do know that local government has suffered real terms cuts to their budgets for the last 10 years or so,” she said.

“We also know that the Scottish government controls 80% of council budgets, so there is definitely a role for the Scottish government to play, but Cosla doesn’t get to wash their hands.

“Fundamentally, they do need to pay their workers more.”

Representatives from Unison, Unite and GMB are meeting later to discuss when to hold the strikes and which workers they will “take out”. Their members include school cleaners, janitors and dinner staff.

Ms Baxter warned: “It’s likely that schools would return from the holidays, it may be that we would then take action following their return.

“Bear in minds these councils are some of the largest in Scotland. This is likely to affect hundreds of schools across the country.”

It is estimated that more than half of Scotland’s 250,000 council workers earn less than £25,000 a year for a 37-hour week.

Pay settlements for council workers – apart from teachers – are the responsibility of Cosla and are determined through negotiations at the Scottish Joint Committee (SJC).

A Cosla spokesperson said: “As employers we have a responsibility to ensure that any pay deal offered is both sustainable and affordable and that is why we are unable to go beyond the current offer at this point. “

The unions said they had called for a summit with Finance Minister Kate Forbes and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in a bid to avoid strike action.

Ms Forbes wrote to Unison last month saying “it would not be appropriate to interfere in these negotiations, given their devolved nature” and “respectfully declined” a meeting proposed by Cosla.

Scottish government minister Jenny Gilruth told BBC Scotland: “Pay settlements for council workers, and that excludes teachers, are really a matter for Cosla and are determined through negotiations at the Scottish joint committee.”

She insisted that the government could not “directly intervene” in the negotiations.

Ms Gilruth added: “It is for the trade unions to negotiate with Cosla, but of course we are urging all parties to continue that dialogue to seek a resolution which avoids industrial action.”

Opposition parties have called on the SNP/Green government to do “everything possible” to avert school closures.

Miles Briggs, Scottish Conservative shadow secretary for local government, said the prospect was “particularly concerning” after the disruption to children’s education during the pandemic.

“All parties must get round the negotiating table to thrash out a deal – especially the SNP government,” said.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton added: “Children’s interests have been sorely neglected over several years of a devastating pandemic.

“The responsibility for these strikes lies squarely with the SNP/Green government. They need to step up to the plate and sort it out.”

The leader of Stirling Council also urged Cosla to pursue a meeting with the government and unions to “seek additional funding to make a decent pay offer and avoid industrial action”.

Chris Kane said he had “every sympathy” with workers seeking fair pay.

“It simply is not factual for the Scottish government to say pay negotiations are nothing to do with them when they hold the purse strings,” he said.

The Commons defence select committee report says flaws in a major defence review have been exposed by the Ukraine war and the return of the Taliban.

It adds the Ministry of Defence appears arrogant and unwilling to learn lessons by refusing to revise its plans.

The MoD said it would adapt its “strategy and response to meet emerging threats and challenges”.

The Integrated Defence and Security review, published in March 2021, was completed before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Nato’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.

But the new Defence select committee report says both those events are “seemingly dismissed as insignificant and there appears to be no intention to revisit the conclusions” of the review.

The integrated review included cuts to the number of troops, armoured vehicles and tanks to help fund investment in new technologies and to fight in the new domains of space and cyber.

But MPs say it has left “capability gaps” in Britain’s armed forces.

The committee says some military equipment is being retired before a replacement is introduced and it also criticises a reliance on untested and unproven technologies.

The MPs describe the MoD’s track record in large equipment programmes as “abysmal”.

They question reduction in heavy armour at a time when tanks and artillery are so prevalent in the war in Ukraine. The committee says that conflict has shown that tanks and artillery are still very much a part of modern warfare.

The war has also meant that, as the UK has supplied Ukraine with weapons and ammunition, its stockpiles are being depleted without the industrial capacity available to replace them.

The report says that capability gaps which were seen as acceptable at the time of the review are now no longer palatable. It says the review has left Britain’s armed forces vulnerable.

And it said the decision to cut the number of troops in the Army from 82,000 to 73,000 was “perverse”.

It noted that the armed forces were also being used as “backfill” to carry out civilian tasks by Whitehall departments which were “seemingly unable to respond to crises”.

The defence committee describes a sense of deja vu with Britain’s military ambitions once again not matched by resources. There is also a sense of deja vu with the MPs’ report – which is one of many making the case for an increase in defence spending.

While committee members welcome a recent rise in the MoD budget, worth £16bn over four years, they warn that much of that extra cash will be eaten away by rising inflation.

The report recommends a further, long-term increase, but adds the MoD must ensure that money is not wasted.

Committee chairman Tobias Ellwood MP said: “With open war raging in Europe, widespread economic instability and the catastrophic Afghanistan withdrawal underscoring the government’s lack of preparedness for international crises, we must be clear-eyed about the challenges ahead”.

He added: “We need to spend more and spend it wisely. We must act now to prepare and consolidate our nation’s defences. Anything less would be a denial of the reality we face”.

Responding to the report, an MoD spokesperson defended the review.

It said it “put a threat-led approach firmly at the heart of the MoD’s work”.

It added: “We are delivering our vision to support and equip our armed forces, including the need to invest for the long term in vital capabilities such as future fighter jets, nuclear submarines and more advanced tanks.”