BREAKING: NATIONAL TRUST DON'T TRUST TRUSS

Released today:

Hilary McGrady, Director General of the National Trust, said:

The National Trust has a long history of standing up for nature and our countryside, from our founders' campaigns to protect the Lake District to Operation Neptune in the 1960s. We've shaped and advocated for greater protections for nature and heritage throughout our long history, safeguarding the landscapes that make this country so special. 

It is this spirit that I am writing today. We are at a crucial moment for our natural environment. Nature is in decline and we need bold action on climate change. These concerns are shared by the public: poll upon poll show that further ambition on Net Zero and nature are widely supported.

Rather than ramp up action to support our environment, this Government appears however to be heading in the opposite direction. Environmental protections are dismissed as 'burdens', whilst investment and growth are pitted against nature and climate action. 

The new Investment Zones represent a free-for-all for nature and heritage, yet we know that green spaces and beauty are vital to attract investment and for a good quality of life. Likewise a rumoured return to EU-style land subsidies will squander one of the biggest Brexit opportunities for nature, fatally undermining improvements to the nature, soil and water upon which sustainable food production depends

The Trust will always defend protections for nature and heritage, and we will respond in full to any proposals. The UK has led the way in recent years on environment action - from farm subsidy reform to COP26. It mustn't abandon this for our future's sakes.

The new Home Secretary's Brent (Kenton and Wembley) connections

 Suella Braverman

 

This article was published on Wembley Matters in 2020, LINK when Suella Braverman was appointed by Boris Johnson. It was submitted by someone who was at school with her. It sheds some light on the new Home Secretary and her ambitions.

Following Boris Johnson's appointment of Suella Braverman (nee Fernandes) as attorney general (shortly after she attacked judges as unelected and unaccountable) it is interesting to hear from someone who was at school with her in the 1990s:

 

Sue Ellen Fernandes (who prefers to be known as Suella, so as not to be compared to a character in the 1980's TV series "Dallas") grew up in Kenton.

 

Her mother was a Conservative councillor on Brent Council, Uma Fernandes (who, as a candidate for Parliament, managed third place in the Brent East by-election won by Sarah Teather in 2003).

 

By the sixth form at school, Suella was open about her ambition to be a Conservative M.P., and to become Prime Minister, like her idol, Margaret Thatcher.

 

She studied law at Cambridge, and went on to become a barrister, specialising in planning law, but also spending time trying to get selected as a Conservative Parliamentary candidate.

 

One of the roles that helped on her Tory CV was acting as Chair of Governors for Katherine Birbalsingh's Michaela Community School LINK, although her knowledge of planning law did not seem to cover the fact that consent was needed to display a large advertisement over its building in Wembley Park LINK:

 

The advert had to be taken down after a few days - a waste of taxpayers money that could have been avoided!

Suella was elected for the "safe" Conservative seat of Fareham in Hampshire in 2015. Now, at the age of 39, this "aspirational" junior barrister has been appointed by Boris Johnson as the Government's top legal adviser.

 

Heaven help us!

 Seven years earlier I wrote on Wembley Matters about an encounter I had with her at a 'consultation' about Michaela Free School which is quite revealing of her attitude towards the public. LINK

 

Suella is a daughter of former Brent Conservative councillor Uma Fernandes who was a councillor for 16 years and stood in the Brent East parliamentary constituency, and Suella herself stood as a Conservative candidate in Fryent ward. She attended a local Brent primary school, Uxendon Manor, but her secondary education was at Heathfield School in Pinner - a Girls Public Day School Trust establishment.

Fuel Poverty Action asks the new Prime Minister 3 challenging questions

Fuel Poverty Action has today written an open letter [1] to incoming Prime Minister Liz Truss, posing three questions about her response to the energy crisis that threatens to plunge millions of people into fuel poverty, causing cold, hunger, and destitution on a scale unseen for generations.  .

The first question is: Who will benefit from the policies to be announced this week, widely expected to include a taxpayer bail-out in the form of holding prices down.  We point out that the savings from such a move will largely accrue to people who can afford to use a lot of energy, while people who are barely putting the heating on will save very little.  Nor does the public have faith that we will benefit from a government loan based on a fantasy of a crisis-free future.  

The second question is: Who will pay? Will it be the taxpayer, at the expense of expenditure on welfare benefits, health, and housing?  Or will it be the energy companies, now enjoying undreamed of excess profits?  Will the Prime Minister’s energy policy address the fact that many of the suppliers claiming that they can’t sell energy for less than the wholesale prices they pay, are an arm of the very companies choosing to charge these prices? The letter says, “Asking taxpayers to pick up the tab for the obscene prices they are charging is the latest idea [2] from an extortionate industry that puts its profits before people's lives, and is ready to sacrifice even the planet we live on.” 

The third is: Will she implement FPA’s flagship proposal of Energy For All – a free allocation of energy to cover each household’s needs for essentials like heating, lighting and cooking. Energy For All would be paid for by

• higher tariffs on higher use - beyond needs
• windfall taxes, which could almost cover the support package the new Prime Minister is expected to announce [3], and
• an end to fossil fuel subsidies from the public purse, which amount to millions of pounds every day, and further swell the coffers of wealthy individuals and extraction of a polluting, expensive fuel.

This would have the benefit of encouraging responsible energy consumption, encouraging the introduction of energy saving measures and promoting green energy investment. Unlike most of the proposals being put forward it would be at the same time universal and targeted, turning rightside-up the current upside-down energy pricing system, where you pay more per unit of energy when you use less of it. 

The concept of Energy For All has captured the public's enthusiasm and brought new hope.. More and more organisations including the TUC are now coming out with similar schemes, and a petition signed by over 550,000 people will be handed into Downing Street at 1.00 pm on September 19th, with supporters  gathering beforehand at an event including speakers. 

 

[1] https://www.fuelpovertyaction.org.uk/news/fpa-writes-to-the-new-prime-minister-about-her-energy-policy-and-the-cost-of-living-disaster/

[2] Energy UK has proposed that taxpayers foot the bill for struggling businesses to meet their surging bills in a plan that could cost anywhere between £50bn and £100bn. https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/energy-companies-plan-businesses-winter-pay-bills-leaked-letter-1827585

[3] https://www.taxjustice.uk/blog/44bn-a-year-could-be-raised-from-higher-tax-on-oil-and-gas-profits

6,000 TORIES WILL CONVERGE ON WEMBLEY ARENA THIS EVENING FOR LAST LEADERSHIP HUSTINGS. COST OF LIVING DEMO FROM 6PM.

Wembley Arena Square was cut off from the public this morning by Heras fencing and heavily policed by private security guards.

 

 

When I asked them what was going on they first said, 'A conference' and asked what the conference was for replied, 'It is to make everyone's life better.' When I said, 'Oh yeah!' they added, 'That is what we are all going to tell you.'

Huh! It turns out to be the last hustings for the Tory Party leadership with 6,000 Tories expected. Enough to declare a public health emergency in Brent!

Attempts are being made to organise a cost of living demonstration. This is last minute but if you can get along assemble from 6pm outside Brent Civic Centre. Bring banners and home made placards.