Political Headlines – Brexit customs plan, hospitals missing targets, JLR’s warning and McVey

Today’s Political Headlines include the new Brexit customs plan, hospitals missing targets on the NHS’s 70th birthday, Jaguar Land Rover’s Brexit warning and McVey misleading parliament.

Government reveals some details of its new Brexit customs proposal
The BBC reports that the Government has set out some details of its new customs plan, as Theresa May prepares to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel today. The ‘facilitated customs arrangement’ would allow the UK to set its own tariffs, with technology used to determine whether UK or EU tariffs would be payable on goods, and the UK would mirror EU regulations, with Parliament deciding where to deviate from them. The Daily Telegraph claims that Brexit Secretary David Davis has written to May to warn her that the plans will not work and that the EU will reject them.

Hospitals missing targets as NHS celebrate 70th birthday
An investigation conducted by The Times to mark the 70th birthday of the NHS has found that just one hospital trust met its main targets last year, with 25 out of 139 trusts failing on all three main targets – seeing 95% of A&E patients in four hours, treating 85% of cancer patients in 62 days, and offering 92% of non-emergency patients treatment in 18 weeks.

Jaguar Land Rover warns of hard Brexit impact
The Financial Times says that the Chief Executive of Jaguar Land Rover, Ralf Speth, has warned that a hard Brexit would cost the firm £1.2bn in trade tariffs and that the wrong deal would lead to the firm having ‘to close plants here in the UK’. He revealed that the company needs certainty in order to invest £80m over five years and that it has already spent £10m on contingency plans for Brexit.

McVey faces calls to resign after she admits misleading parliament
According to The Guardian, Labour and the Lib Dems are calling Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey to resign after she had to apologise for misleading parliament. She had told MPs that the National Audit Office had called for the roll out of universal credit to be sped up, but the body’s head Sir Amyas Morse said that this was a misinterpretation of its report on the programme which had actually called for a ‘pause’ in implementation.

New cybercrime court announced
The Times reveals that the Lord Chancellor David Gauke has announced that a new specialist court to tackle cybercrime and fraud is to be constructed at a cost of £300m. Gauke said that the new court would be ‘a further message to the world that Britain both prizes business and stands ready to deal with the changing nature of 21st century crime’.

Councils better at improving inadequate schools, research shows
The BBC carries details of research commissioned by the Local Government Association that shows that council-maintained schools are better at improving schools judged to be inadequate than sponsor-led academies. Changes introduced in 2016 mean that all schools found to be inadequate must now be taken over by an academy chain or trust.

Corbyn calls for bank holiday if England win World Cup
The Daily Telegraph says that Jeremy Corbyn is calling on the Government to introduce a bank holiday if England win the World Cup. Meanwhile, Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Matt Hancock has accused the SNP of deliberately forcing votes in the Commons during England’s game against Columbia.

Mordaunt becomes first MP to use sign language in Parliament
The Sun reports that Equalities Minister Penny Mordaunt made history yesterday, becoming the first MP to use sign language in Parliament. She was making a statement announcing the Global Disability Summit on 24 July, which will be jointly hosted by the UK and Kenya. Speaker John Bercow also responded in sign language.

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