Markus Andrews

Ministers have been privately warned that millions of consumers face a massive increase of more than one-third (34 per cent) in energy prices next spring, The Independent can reveal.Energy industry sources said that they told the government that the huge hike in the energy price cap will be needed next April, based on current trends, to avoid further companies going under.A 34 per cent rise in the legal maximum charge for fuel would mean bills soaring by an average of around £434 a year for customers on default tariffs paying by direct debit, and even more for those with pre-payment meters.It would be the second abrupt hike in quick succession in the cap, which is set by regulators Ofgem to protect consumers from excessive charges.And it would leave annual prices for the 15 million consumers covered by the cap at around £1,711 for direct debit and £1,754 for pre-payment.Details of the warning have emerged just days after Boris Johnson brushed off fears of rising inflation at the Conservative annual conference in Manchester.Asked in a TV interview on Tuesday whether he was concerned by the prospect of rising prices, the prime minister said: “People have been worrying about inflation for a very long time. I’m looking at robust economic growth. And by the way, those fears have been unfounded.”Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley warned that there may have to be an “adjustment” in the cap when it comes up for its next six-monthly review in April.Gas prices have escalated sharply in recent months, driven by increased demand from China, amid concerns that Vladimir Putin is using the issue to win leverage over the West in a row over a controversial new gas pipeline linking Russia with Germany.Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng was today meeting with representatives of high energy-use industry to discuss their response to any further spikes in costs.Speaking on Thursday, Mr Brearley said: “Although the gas price rise is unprecedented today, we will need to plan on the basis that shocks like this could happen again.”He said the cap was “designed to reflect fair costs and therefore will need to adjust over time to reflect the changes in fuel costs that we are seeing today”.Consumers are already reeling from an increase in the price cap on 1 October, when those on default tariffs paying by direct debit saw an increase of £139 from £1,138 to £1,277 and prepayment customers were hit by a rise of £153 from £1,156 to £1,309.But industry sources said that this 12.5 per cent increase did not reflect much of the recent spike in wholesale prices globally.They said a far larger increase will be needed in April to absorb the growing cost to suppliers of accessing the energy sources which the UK needs.One told The Independent: “Ministers have been warned that the cap will have to rise by a third.“There will be strong political pressure on them to stop Ofgem raising it. But they will have a huge dilemma because, if they do that, even more energy companies will go under.”Industry sources speculated that chancellor Rishi Sunak could seek to cushion the impact on hard-pressed consumers by announcing help with bills for low-income households or imposing a temporary cut in the 5 per cent rate of VAT on domestic heating fuel.Government sources said that Ofgem would not start calculating any changes the level of the cap until spring, so it was difficult to make predictions at this point.Mr Kwarteng has made clear that his priority is to protect consumers, said a source. It is understood that there is an acceptance within his Department for Business (BEIS) that the cap may force some smaller supplies out of business.An Ofgem spokesperson declined to speculate on the future level of the cap, but added: “Ofgem’s number one priority is to protect customers. We know this is a worrying time for many people.“The energy price cap covers around 15 million households and will ensure that consumers don’t pay more than is absolutely necessary this winter.“Any customer worried about paying their energy bill should contact their supplier to access the range of support available.”An Energy UK spokesperson added: “Suppliers are very aware that many customers will be facing a difficult time this winter and the immediate priority is protecting their interests while trying to minimise the disruption to the sector. “This includes ensuring that the Supplier of Last Resort process can continue to successfully transfer customers of suppliers who have exited the market to a new provider. Suppliers are clearly facing a challenging time but are committed to providing as much support and help to customers as possible. “The government, Ofgem and the energy industry will continue to watch the situation very closely.” More

Slovenia’s interior minister on Friday rejected accusations that police used excessive force to curb anti-government protests with water cannons and tear gas on the eve of a major European Union summit in the country earlier this week. The demonstrations were the third in a month, organized against virus measures and the use of COVID-19 passes, including for going to work in all state-run firms. People must show that they are either fully vaccinated or that they have taken an expensive PCR test Interior Minister Ales Hojs said in Brussels that “police did their job very well during Tuesday’s intervention” and were “within their jurisdiction.” An investigation still has opened into police actions, he added. About 25 protesters were detained and several were injured or hospitalized — mostly for inhaling tear gas.“The director of the police has already ordered a commission in accordance with the law, which will investigate the legality and proportionality of all means used by the police in these protests,” Hojs said. Officers in riot gear and on horses repeatedly used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators who threatened to block roads as EU and Western Balkan leaders were arriving for the meeting. The clashes led to hours-long chaos on the streets of the capital, Ljubljana and the detention of a protest leader.Zoran Stankovic, the leader of the Resni.ca party, has threatened to sue the state, saying he was kept in detention illegally. Stankovic’s home and his party offices reportedly have been searched as part of the police probe against protest organizers.Clashes with police have erupted at previous protests as well. On Tuesday, an AP video journalist was sprayed by a water cannon and was hit in the head with an unknown object during the police intervention.Hojs refused to comment on the potential case against Stankovic, saying it was in the hands of the prosecutors. The police intervention wasn’t ordered by politicians but provoked by the protesters, he insisted. “The number of injured police officers, which was three times the number of injured protesters, clearly shows who exceeded jurisdiction,” he said. The Resni.ca party has said they would no longer organize the protests, saying this would jeopardize the liberty of their leader. The right-wing politician has denied he was using public discontent over virus measures for political campaigning. Like much of Central and Eastern Europe, Slovenia in recent weeks has seen a rise in new coronavirus infections. The country of 2 million people has fully vaccinated nearly 48% of its population, a smaller share than in many other EU nations.Slovenia currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency. More

Keir Starmer has said it is not for him to object to Saudi Arabia’s takeover of Newcastle United, arguing that the deal should be a matter for an independent regulator. The Labour leader said fans were “glad to see the back of Mike Ashley” after the oil-rich country’s sovereign wealth fund headed a £300m takeover deal for the football club.Asked about whether the deal should go ahead amid concerns about human rights, Sir Keir said he was “concerned” but would not say he thought it should be blocked.”It’s not for me as the leader of the opposition to say who should own which football club. It is for an independent regulator. That is the scheme we’re putting forward,” he said.Repeatedly pushed on what he thought, he told BBC Breakfast: “I think an independent regulator will look very carefully … the whole point of an independent regulator is they would look at the thing in the round, and the question of whether this is a fit and proper takeover.”Sir Keir added that Conservative MP Tracy Crouch was currently reviewing football governance arrangements and that she was “respected across the House”.The takeover has been criticised by human rights group Amensty International for allegedly allowing Saudi Arabia to “sportswash their appalling human rights record with the glamour of top-fight football”.”The Saudi Public Investment Fund, which is controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, reinvests the country’s oil revenues around the world.In a statement, the Premier League said: “All parties have agreed the settlement is necessary to end the long uncertainty for fans over the club’s ownership. “The Premier League has now received legally binding assurances that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not control Newcastle United Football Club.”But it is unclear how these assurances will work in practice given Prince Mohammed’s control of the fund and the fact that six of its nine board members are government ministers. The PIF, which has provided 80 per cent of funds for the takeover as part of a consortium, has been deemed by the premier league to be separate from the Saudi state, allowing the takeover to pass the ruling body’s owners and directors test. More

Broken public transport networks are having a “crippling effect” on access to jobs in towns and cities where Boris Johnson aims to “level up”, a Conservative think-tank has warned.In a new report, Onward reveals the areas where chronic transport connectivity puts employment opportunities out of reach and describes the “shocking transport gap” between North and South.Backed by the “levelling up” parliamentary taskforce — boasting 65 Conservative MPs — it claims that public transport in London nearly quadruples residents’ access to jobs and opportunities.However, in Newcastle and Glasgow, public transport only boosts access to jobs by a third, the report adds, urging the government to prioritise transport in towns and cities as part of the “levelling up” agenda.It comes after the prime minister delivered a keynote speech to the Conservative Party conference on Wednesday boasting about his election slogan to level up the country – but was criticised for being “vacuous” on policy.Earlier this week, Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, urged the government to accept his own “levelling up” deal for the region, with a support package including a “London-style” transport system.The Labour mayor suggested there was an “outrageous” inequality between transport costs in the capital and elsewhere and would not wait while the prime minister struggled to define his levelling-up project.Ahead of the long-promised government white paper on “levelling up” — expected before the end of 2021 — the Onward think-tank added that in some areas, including Stoke-on-Trent and Bolsover, workers can only access around three-quarters of local jobs within an hour on public transport.“This compares to some towns in London’s hinterland, like Redbridge, Barnet or Epping Forest, where an hour on public transport unlocks access to seven times more jobs than exist locally,” the authors said.The think-tank claims the findings demonstrate the government should “ruthlessly target transport investment towards the intra-city networks of regional cities — especially Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham”.“Outside the south of England, poor public transport is holding back opportunity and growth,” said the author of the report and senior researcher at Onward, James Blagden.“Improving connectivity within city regions and between city centres and outlying towns, will be key to the success of levelling up”.“All of our major cities, except London, lag behind the national average for public transport connectivity. Mass transit boosts access to jobs by 51 per cent in Birmingham and 35 per cent in Newcastle, but this rises to 270 per cent in London.”The director of Onward and former No 10 adviser, Will Tanner, added: “Levelling up must amount to much more than transport projects alone. But this report reveals the crippling effects that broken public transport networks are having on access to jobs in many of the regional towns and cities that the government hopes to level up.“A jobseeker in Halifax or Mansfield today can reach half the number of jobs as someone in Aldershot or Horsham – not because the local labour market is bigger but because chronic public transport leaves them more isolated. “This undermines wages, reduces regional productivity and leads to worse social outcomes too. If the Government wants to level up economic opportunity, this is where transport investment should go.”Welcoming the report Rob Largan, the MP for High Peak, said: “If levelling up is to mean anything, then it must be about fixing this and reducing transport inequalities between regions. I sincerely hope the government take this report on board carefully.” More

The average private school fees are 90 per cent higher than spending per state school pupil, according to a new report that found the difference in funding had widened further. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found the gap between private and state school spending has doubled in just over a decade.An education union said it “does stick in the throat” to see the gap widen “to such a huge extent”. Private school fees were on average £13,600 for the last academic year, the IFS found.By comparison, the total spending on state schools per student was £7,100 for the same year, according to the research institute’s report.This meant the average private school pupil had £6,500 – or 91.5 per cent more – spent on them during the 2020-2021 academic year than the average peer at a state school.Around a decade before, the gap was £3,100, or 39 per cent, the IFS found.The research institute said private school fees had grown by more than 20 per cent after inflation since 2009-10.Meanwhile, average spend per state school pupil had dropped by nine per cent in real terms.Kate Green, the shadow education secretary, said school budgets have been “hammered” over the past decade and this was “holding children back”.Geoff Barton from the Association for School and College Leaders (ASCL) said: “It is pretty outrageous that the government has cut funding in real terms to schools and colleges over the past decade while independent school fees have increased over the same period.“The funding gap between the two sectors has always been there of course, but the fact it has widened to such a huge extent does stick in the throat.”He added: “It means that while state schools and colleges have been forced to cut back on things like subject choices, pastoral support, and extra-curricular activities – and with secondary class sizes rising – independent schools have been able to improve their provision in all these areas.”The new report comes shortly after Labour pledged to tax private schools £1.7bn in order to fund improvements to state schools at the party’s conference.Luke Sibieta from the IFS, who was the report’s author, said: “Longstanding concerns about inequalities between private and state school pupils, which have come into sharp focus during the pandemic, will not begin to be easily addressed while the sectors enjoy such different levels of resourcing”.The Covid pandemic saw most pupils told to stay at home for extended periods of time twice, while students have also not been able to go into school due to positive tests and isolation. Recent analysis found the gap between remote learning and in-class learning appeared larger in schools with more disadvantaged pupils.The government and charities issued hundreds of thousands of laptops to disadvantaged pupils to support them with remote learning for when they were unable to go into school during the pandemic.But one study suggested a third of disadvanted students did not have access to a device needed for online work between May and November last year. A Department for Education spokesperson said: “This government is providing the biggest uplift to school funding in a decade – £14 billion in total over the three years to 2022-23. This includes a £7.1 billion increase in funding for schools by 2022-23, compared to 2019-20 funding levels.“Next year, funding through the schools national funding formula (NFF) is increasing by 2.8% per pupil compared to 2021-22. The NFF continues to distribute this fairly, based on the needs of schools and their pupil cohorts.” More

Czechs begin voting Friday in a parliamentary election with polls showing Prime Minister Andrej Babis a populist billionaire, has a good chance of keeping his job despite a new scandal over his financial dealings.Two days of balloting are being held to fill 200 seats in the lower house of Parliament the main legislative body in the eastern European country that’s a member of the European Union and NATO.Euroskeptic Babis, 67, has had a turbulent term featuring numerous scandals. Among them, police recommended that he should be indicted over alleged fraud involving EU subsidies, and a recently published EU report concluded that Babis has a conflict of interest over subsidies from the bloc involving his former business empire.However all polls favor his centrist ANO (YES) movement to come first with at least 25% of the vote. But it’s not clear if Babis will win big enough to be able to form a new coalition government.The latest scandal linked Babis to offshore accounts. Findings by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, dubbed the “Pandora Papers,” alleged that Babis put $22 million into shell companies to buy 16 properties in southern France. The Pandora Papers presented details of how many of the world’s richest and most powerful people allegedly hide their wealth from tax collectors.The French properties were not disclosed in the prime minister’s required asset declarations, according to documents obtained by the journalism group’s Czech partner. Babis has denied any wrongdoing and claims that the recent report was meant to harm him in the election.Babis has led a minority coalition government of ANO and the leftist Social Democrats He has also governed with the support of the Communists, who oppose the country’s NATO membership and who thus gained an indirect share in running the country for the first time since the collapse of the communist-run Eastern Bloc in 1989. Both the Social Democrats and the Communists might struggle to win any parliamentary seats at all this time. Five opposition parties have put aside their differences to create two coalitions aimed at ousting the euroskeptic prime minister from power.The center-right Together coalition consists of the conservative Civic Democratic Party and Christian Democrats and the liberal-conservative TOP 09 party. The liberal Pirate Party and STAN, a group of mayors and independent candidates, formed a center-left coalition.Each coalition is predicted to win about 20% of the vote, and they have both signaled that they would cooperate in forming a new government if given the chance.Babis has bet on an aggressive campaign, with migration a major topic even though his country is not a typical destination for migrants and refugees. He invited Europe’s anti-migration champion, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, to attend a campaign rally. Babis has also pledged to protect Czech sovereignty, which he has claimed is threatened by the EU, and has accused his main opponents in the election of being “controlled” by Brussels. Babis is also critical of the 27-member bloc’s plan to tackle climate change, saying it would hurt the country’s economy and is responsible for high energy prices.He hasn’t ruled out forming a coalition with Freedom and Direct Democracy, an anti-migrant, anti-Muslim party that wants to lead the country out of the EU and hold a referendum on NATO membership. The party is polling at a bit over 10%. More

Schools have been urged to stock up on food ahead of anticipated shortages, with the government accused of “failing” some which have already faced disruption to supplies.One of the largest canteen suppliers in the UK has written to school catering staff advising them they should stock up on frozen and tinned food to ensure that children are properly fed over the winter.ISS supplies 450 schools – according to an email seen by ITV, the company said food availability for school canteens was being impacted by a shortage of HGV drivers as well as a lack of staff and import delays.The email urged catering staff in schools to “top up on long life, dried, tinned and frozen products to ensure that there will always be some form of food available in a worse case scenario”.In a statement, ISS said: “Our priority is always the schools, and the children, whose meals we provide.“We would like to reassure parents and carers that our ability to continue to provide nutritious school meals is not being impacted by the well-publicised shortages of items that the UK is currently experiencing.”It added: “Naturally, we have contingency plans in place to ensure that a good supply of meals remains in place. That contingency planning includes regular communication with our stakeholders during these challenging times for many schools across the country.”Labour and the Lib Dems accused the government of not doing enough over supply chain issues.Kate Green, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said ministers were “burying their heads in the sand” over problems with the supply chain, which have led to petrol pumps running dry and as well as empty food shelves.Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, has written to education secretary Nadhim Zahawi calling on him to urgently meet school caterers, school governors and local councillors in order to discuss the crisis.He said his party had heard of “stark issues” with food shortages.In his letter to Mr Zahawi, Sir Ed criticised the government and its “shocking abduction of leadership”.He wrote: “Across the country, I have heard from Liberal Democrat councillors and schools about some stark issues with food disruption in our schools for our children.“Parents have endured so much and worked so hard during the pandemic but it seems your government has failed them yet again. The least you can do is ensure a hot meal at their school for their children.“For months you and your fellow ministers have been warned about the effects the shortage crisis could have on our economy and our everyday lives, now we see this reality coming true. For you to not have this on your radar is both surprising and a shocking abduction of leadership.”Ms Green said that more HGV drivers must to be recruited and trained to help ease the supply issues. She added: “No school must be left without the food supplies it needs, and no child left going hungry.”Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT headteachers union, said school leaders were “concerned” about the disruption some were facing with supply chain issues.”We’re not hearing widespread disruption from our members but certainly the government does need to take notice of the individual cases that are occurring so that the problem doesn’t become more widespread,” he added.A government spokesperson said there was “no evidence” to suggest widespread supply issues and schools had flexibility to substitute products if particular ingredients were not readily available.They added: “We routinely consider contingency arrangements and expect schools and catering companies supplying them to do the same.“In the event of any disruption to supply, we will work with councils and the sector to ensure warm, nutritious meals can continue to be provided.”Additional reporting from PA More

Social care could be drastically cut unless chancellor Rishi Sunak provides a substantial injection of funding to local authorities, council leaders have warned.England’s largest councils say they could be forced to slash services in the face of a multi-billion-pound black hole in their finances.County councils have calculated they will have a £2.8bn cash shortfall in the next three years even if council tax bills rise by 1.99 per cent each year, the maximum allowed for general spending.The chancellor is thought to be considering allowing local authorities to raise council tax to address their shortfall without the need for a referendum, just as other household bills are already going up.But the County Councils Network said the only way to avoid major cuts to services would be to increase council tax by up to 7.99 per cent every year, which would add £392 to an average bill over the next three years.Council leaders said that with the cost of living rising, a total rise of at least 24 per cent would be unacceptable and unfair on households.A rise of that scale would mean the average Band D bill would average £2,386 a year by 2025, up from £1,898 now.Councils were already struggling from years of austerity even before coronavirus hit, but lockdowns and social distancing caused their income to plummet and they faced extra bills for supporting people through the pandemic.At the start of the year, authorities warned they were up to £2.2bn short of funding.Hiking council tax cannot be the sole answer to filling the shortfall, argued the county council chiefs, who called for a chunk of cash for the next three years in Mr Sunak’s spending review on 27 October to avoid services being slashed.Authorities said they were facing the most significant pressures in social care, so fees in adult social care could be increased and preventative services in children’s social care cut back.Other potential effects include tightening eligibility criteria, the leaders warned.The £2.8bn cash shortfall was calculated from the financial plans of the 36 councils that belong to the network, which cover almost half of England’s population.Although council tax is imposed by district councils, bills include a “precept” for the counties.They predict the legacy of Covid-19, such as greater demand for children’s services and higher costs in adult social care, will keep straining their budgets in future years.It’s thought Mr Sunak is considering letting local authorities increase the social care precept element of council tax above the 2.99 per cent limit.Carl Les, finance spokesperson for the County Councils Network, said: “County local authorities face an extremely difficult three years coming up, with rising costs of delivering services, demographic pressures and the legacy of coronavirus meaning that we need to find savings or increased income of £2.8bn over the next years to balance our books.“We are acutely aware that the cost of living is rising and that many households have suffered from the economic impact of the pandemic.“Therefore, large-scale council tax rises to make up our funding shortfall would be unacceptable and unfair for hard-pressed residents.“It would also be an unsustainable approach to funding services, raising variable amounts across the country.“We appreciate the tight fiscal environment facing the chancellor, but we are calling on the government to inject further funding into the system for local authorities over the next three years, in order to avoid a further round of large-scale reductions in services.“The government’s levelling-up agenda must begin with making public services adequately funded.”The Independent has asked the Treasury to comment. More