Job cuts part of efforts to curb Jersey public sector
He said: "While it is recognised that we have a very good and robust public sector, it has grown by more than 2,000 headcount since 2018, which is an increase of 33%."This has contributed to a rise of more than 50% in the cost of running the public sector over the same period, a level of growth that the Government considers to be unsustainable."The growth in the public sector has stabilised, and the government is considering proposals that will reduce staff numbers further as required."
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BBC News
4 minutes ago
- BBC News
Arrests after protest in support of Palestine Action
More than 20 people have been arrested after a London protest in support of the banned group Palestine Action, police say. This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.
The Guardian
5 minutes ago
- The Guardian
How a £1.5bn ‘wildlife-boosting' bypass became an environmental disaster
Lorries thunder over the A14 bridge north of Cambridge, above steep roadside embankments covered in plastic shrouds containing the desiccated remains of trees. Occasionally the barren landscape is punctuated by a flash of green where a young hawthorn or a fledgling honeysuckle has emerged apparently against the odds, but their shock of life is an exception in the treeless landscape. The new 21-mile road between Cambridge and Huntingdon cost £1.5bn and was opened in 2020 to fulfil a familiar political desire: growth. One of Britain's biggest infrastructure projects of the past decade, it was approved by the secretary of state for transport over the heads of locally elected councillors. National Highways, the government-owned company that builds and maintains Britain's A roads, promised that the biodiversity net gain from the construction project would be 11.5%; in other words, they pledged the natural environment would be left in a considerably better state after the road was built than before. But five years on from the opening of the A14, the evidence is otherwise, and National Highways has admitted biodiversity and the environment have been left in a worse state as a result of the road project. Empty plastic tree guards stretch for mile after mile along the new road, testament to the mass die-off of most of the 860,000 trees planted in mitigation for the impact of the road. Culverts dug as a safe route for animals such as newts and water voles are dried up and litter-strewn, while ponds designed to collect rainwater and provide a wildlife habitat are choked with mud and silt. With concerns that the rollback of environmental protections in Labour's planning and infrastructure bill will make it easier for developers to destroy nature, Edna Murphy, a Liberal Democrat on Cambridgeshire county council, is calling for MPs on the environmental audit committee to investigate the multimillion-pound failure of the A14 project. 'National Highways has resisted attempts by local representatives to discover what it is up to,' Murphy said. 'We have struggled over years to find out basic facts about the death of nearly all of the 860,000 trees that were originally planted and what has happened subsequently in terms of replanting. 'How can they be allowed to get away with this? How can anyone have confidence in promises about environmental mitigations in any national infrastructure projects in the future?' Murphy and her Lib Dem colleague Ros Hathorn believe the failure of the environmental improvements created in mitigation for the A14 are a shocking example of how powerful developers make environmental pledges in order to gain planning permission, which are then not upheld. They began asking questions of National Highways in 2021 when it became obvious from the scale of the tree die-off that something had gone wrong. They asked for details of how many trees were planted, how many had died, and for regular reports on the tree planting. A slide presentation in 2022 to Murphy and Hathorn indicated 70% of the 860,000 trees originally planted had died. In late 2023, Martin Edwards, a National Highways project manager, suggested to local councillors the die-off may have been only 50%. He said two re-plantings had taken place since the die-off, both of which had also subsequently failed. He blamed this on the policy to replant the same tree in the same place 'and keep your fingers crossed'. Edwards insisted that lessons had been learned and that in 2023 National Highways had carried out a full soil survey and a three-month tree analysis. This revealed they had planted the wrong species in the wrong place, and provided valuable lessons about the most appropriate season in the year to plant a tree, he said. Nicole Gullan, principal ecologist at the ecology consultancy Arbtech, said she was surprised by the approach: 'Tree planting on this scale should have been underpinned by ecological due diligence, including soil sampling, hydrological and geotechnical surveys, and an adaptive management plan to address potential failures. Proper reporting and mapping of planting locations is also essential for long-term monitoring and accountability.' A third replanting of 165,000 trees – at an estimated cost of £2.9m – took place over the autumn and winter of 2023-2024. National Highways promised to share details of their surveys and a new planting plan with Cambridgeshire council's biodiversity team. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion But in a report this June, council officers said the information had never been passed to them despite repeated requests. 'Documents that were provided to the group were basic overviews and did not contain the detailed information requested,' the officers said. 'The council therefore did not have evidence of where and why the planting had failed, which would be crucial to inform the replanting strategy, ensuring improved planting success.' Today, parts of the A14 where trees should be thriving still resemble a desert, and the whereabouts of the 165,000 new trees remain a mystery. 'The council does not know where replanting has taken place,' officials said, adding that officers had driven along the route to try to find them, but only found a few limited areas where replanting appeared to have taken place. Some residents have begun planting their own saplings. Vhari Russell from Brampton said she had grown various different trees in her garden in pots and planted all of those into the A14 embankment. 'I think we've probably put in 150,' she told local reporters. National Highways, which has been reprimanded by the office of roads and railways for failing to fulfil a key metric on biodiversity gain, has admitted that the A14 project has left nature worse off despite having pledged to improve it. In an evaluation report National Highways said the impacts on biodiversity 'were worse than expected', as were the impacts on the water environment. National Highways has faced no sanction for these failures. From 2026, biodiversity net gain will be mandatory for big infrastructure such as the A14 road. But Becky Pullinger, head of land management for the Wildlife Trusts, said developers had to be held to account once the mandate came in, so that recreated habitats had a fighting chance of survival. A recent report showed that only a third of ecological enhancements promised by housebuilders were fulfilled. Pullinger said the example of the A14 showed how important it was that harm to wildlife was avoided in the first place, reducing the need for compensation planting. 'The failures highlight the challenges of trying to recreate mature habitats: it takes years, if not decades, for saplings to turn into woodland and provide much needed spaces for the wildlife [affected] by development,' she said. A National Highways spokesperson said: 'We take our responsibility to the environment very seriously. The A14 upgrade project was not limited to just improving the road; our ongoing environmental work remains a long-term project that we will continue to monitor and support. Between October 2023 and April 2024 – the optimum planting season – 165,000 trees and shrubs were planted. These comprised 16 different species specially selected to enhance the surrounding areas and habitats. Our latest survey showed that nearly 90% of these trees have survived. Nationally, we continue to monitor, evaluate and adapt our practices to respond to a rapidly changing climate to meet the challenges that it brings.'
Daily Mail
19 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Jeremy won't be happy! Far-left MP Zarah Sultana asks supporters to join 'Team Zarah' as name of new party she is launching with Corbyn remains unannounced
Far-left MP Zarah Sultana has asked supporters to 'Join Team Zarah' after Jeremy Corbyn was said to be 'furious at being blindsided' by her announcement of their new political party. The Coventry South representative re-distributed a sign-up form on her X account this afternoon insisting 'we're going to build something special'. It followed her dramatic decision to quit Labour on Thursday night and declare she would be 'co-leading' a new left-wing party with Mr Corbyn. The ardent pro-Palestinian MP is a long-term critic of Keir Starmer, and was already sitting as an independent after being stripped of the whip. But the move to announce the party's inception appeared to catch Mr Corbyn by surprise with the former Labour leader said to be 'furious and bewildered'. He commented on the development yesterday afternoon to insist 'discussions are ongoing' - saying Ms Sultana would 'help us build a new alternative' but seemingly stopping short of endorsing her as a 'co-leader'. Ms Sultana has urged people to 'join our team' via the 'Team Zarah' sign-up form adding 'we need your support'. The MP is so far some 15,000 signatures off her 51,200 sign-up target. Ms Sultana has urged people to 'join our team' via the 'Team Zarah' sign-up form adding 'we need your support' She shared a link to the form as an opportunity to 'sign up here and stay updated' and accompanied it with an extract from a Guardian article referencing her decision to 'quit [Labour] to co-lead a left-wing alternative with Jeremy Corbyn'. There still appears to be no decision on what the name of the new party will be - with with the form shared under the url 'action network', asking for supporters' name, email, phone number and home address. The sign-up page reads: 'We don't have billionaire donors or press baron friends. That's why need your support. 'Wherever you live, join our team for a brighter future.' Ms Sultana is pictured opposite Parliament wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh. Options mooted for the name of the new party have so far included 'Real Change' and 'Peace and Justice Project'. Mr Corbyn had been hinting strongly he wanted to form a new party - with polls suggesting it could attract 10 per cent of the left-wing vote and inflict major damage on Labour. In an interview on Wednesday the 76-year-old claimed there was a 'thirst' among voters 'for an alternative view to be put'. Since the General Election and his expulsion from Labour last year, Mr Corbyn has been part of the Independent Alliance, a loose grouping of independent MPs with left wing political views. In her announcement of the new party on Thursday, Ms Sultana had said: 'Jeremy Corbyn and I will co-lead the founding of a new party, with other independent MPs, campaigners and activists across the country.' She said 'Westminster is broken but the real crisis is deeper' and the 'two-party system offers nothing but managed decline and broken promises'. 'A year ago I was suspended by the Labour Party for voting to abolish the two-child benefit cap and list 400,000 children out of poverty,' the former Labour MP added. 'I'd do it again. I voted against scrapping winter fuel payments for pensioners. I'd do it again. 'Now, the Government wants to make disabled people suffer; they just can't decide how much', she said. In a post on social media yesterday afternoon, Mr Corbyn said: 'Real change is coming. 'One year on from the election, this Labour Government has refused to deliver the change people expected and deserved. Poverty, inequality and war are not inevitable. Our country needs to change direction, now. Appearing on ITV's Peston on Wednesday - after opposing plans to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group - Mr Corbyn said he was working with groups 'all around the country' 'Congratulations to Zarah Sultana on her principled decision to leave the Labour Party. I am delighted that she will help us build a real alternative. 'The democratic foundations of a new kind of political party will soon take shape. Discussions are ongoing – and I am excited to work alongside all communities to fight for the future people deserve. 'Together, we can create something that is desperately missing from our broken political system: hope.' Appearing on ITV's Peston on Wednesday - after opposing plans to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group - he said he was working with groups 'all around the country'. 'That grouping will come together. There will be an alternative view and there will be an alternative put there which is about a society that deals with poverty, inequality and a foreign policy that's based on peace rather than war,' Mr Corbyn added. Asked if he would like to lead the party he said: 'I'm here to work, I'm here to serve the people in the way I've always tried to do.'
