The socialist correspondent, podcast six. Tory Crisis. The Tory government in Britain is staggering from one crisis to another. The list of issues includes the Grenfell Tower Fire, the Shambolic State of the Rail System, the NHS Crisis, the Windrush scandal, the collapse of Carilion, and Brexit.
The Tory cabinet deal struck at Chequers immediately led to David Davis's resignation, followed quickly by Boris Johnson and other Brexiteers. Johnson, in his first parliamentary speech following his resignation as Foreign Secretary, said that the Prime Minister's Chequers proposal would leave the UK in a state of miserable, permanent limbo, as well as economic facelage. He accused Mrs May of dithering and losing the original plan in what he called a fog of self-doubt. The white paper which emerged from the Chequers deal came down effectively on the side of staying close to the European Union whilst trying to pretend the opposite.
In the House of Commons, the Tory government accepted four amendments to the white paper, tabled by leading Tory Brexiteer Jacob Riesmogg, much to the angst of Tory remainers, some of whom are now calling for a second referendum. In his resignation statement as Under Secretary at the Department for Exiting the EU, Steve Baker said, we're back to what civil servants wanted a year ago, in terms of who ultimately holds the pen on the papers that go to cabinet for collective decision, it has been the cabinet offices Europe Unit, and they have clearly been operating to a different ultimate goal to the one we were operating to. There is now, in fact, open warfare on the Tory benches. However, Tory Brexiteers and remainers are united in wanting to remain as Prime Minister, as it might provoke a general election, which they fear they would lose.
The reason they, has now lost a series of ministers, including close friends and allies, Amberrod and Damien Green, and before them, Defense Secretary Sir Michael Fallon. Chris Grayling could be the next to go. Grayling, Transport Secretary, is in charge of Britain's rail system, which is in deep crisis after years of privatization and fragmentation. Thousands of trains have been cancelled or delayed across great swathes of the country, as new timetables are introduced, bringing misery to thousands of people.
It is reported that people are losing their jobs because they have been late for work so often. Virgin East Coast has had its franchise withdrawn, the third instance of the East Coast. The first instance of the East Coast was the first franchise being removed. Virgin East Coast, which is owned by stagecoach, 90%, and Virgin, 10%, had its contract terminated in June and its operations were passed to the government-owned operator of last resort, London, northeastern railway, LNER.
Four other private rail companies are teetering on the brink of collapse. Meanwhile, the rail unions have been taking industrial action for over two years to put safety first, rather than private profits. The call for rail nationalisation grows stronger and louder as the crisis deepens, and already has majority public support. The Tories have lost the argument and are faced with an ever deepening crisis on the railways – graling may have to be sacrificed.
Amber Rudd was forced to resign as home secretary when an audit of documents threw up several memos, two and from Rudd, discussing targets for deportations for 2018-19. These memos included one she wrote to Prime Minister May, setting out her intention to increase deportations by 10%. The revelation sharpened the focus on the role of the Prime Minister, the architect of the hostile environment policy that ended up persecuting the Windrush generation. In 1948, the ex-troopship Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury-Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board emigrating to Britain.
These were the first group of migrants from the West Indies to help rebuild post-war Britain, and many others followed from all over the Commonwealth. A 1971 law gave them indefinite leave to remain in Britain. Over the years, since, they and their families have made a great contribution to British society. However, many did not formalise their status because they were children who arrived on their parents' passports and never applied for their own.
Some of these, in the hostile environment created by Mrs May, have suffered abominably. Anthony Bryan, who lives in Edmonton, North London, decided to go abroad after 50 years of living in Britain. As a consequence of not having the correct papers, he subsequently lost his job, was detained twice, and was almost deported to Jamaica, a place he does not know. His case is far from unique.
The Tory government was forced into making an apology to the Windrush generation, and then, when Rudd was found to be lying about deportation targets, she resigned. The National Health Service in the UK is under pressure, underfunded, and understaffed. The growing crisis is blamed on an ageing population by the Tory government. However, if one compares the UK health care system with other countries, it becomes obvious that government policy is the problem leading to a system in crisis.
The UK has historically spent less on health when compared with the organisation for economic cooperation and development averages. UK health spending per head is markedly lower than other countries such as France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands. The figures for the number of hospital beds shows this dramatically. The social care system is in meltdown.
There is a lengthening of cues for treatment, and the NHS uses agency staff at huge cost. High rates charged by agencies are a problem, but the staff shortages in the NHS are the root of the problem. Mark Porter, the British Medical Association Council Chairman, says reliance on agency staff is a sign of stress on the system and the result of poor workforce planning by government. We need to address the root causes of the recruitment and retention problem in many parts of the NHS.
Peter Carter, Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said that instead of relying on agencies, efforts should be made to retain a skilled and experienced workforce. He said, A lack of investment in nurse training and cuts to nurse numbers mean that trusts now have no choice but to pay over the odds for agency staff and recruiting overseas. Jeremy Hunt, the Government Health Secretary, introduced curbs on the use of employment agencies in the National Health Service, but then scrapped NHS bursaries for student nurses, midwives and allied professionals and replaced them with tuition fees and loans in August 2017. Since the change, UCAS revealed a 23% reduction in applications in England for courses beginning the following term.
Carilion was the UK's second biggest construction company until its collapse. It went into liquidation in January 2018 with liabilities of nearly £7 billion and just £29 million in cash. Carilion had paid a record dividend of £79 million and large bonuses to senior executives for performance in 2016. Thousands of people lost their jobs.
It left a giant pension deficit and huge debts. Much of its work was on public sector contracts and its collapse brought into focus the disastrous nature of PFI. It also highlighted the corrupt relations between big business and the big four accountancy and audit firms. A House of Commons Joint Committee investigated the collapse of Carilion and its report is devastating in its criticism.
Carilion's business model was an unsustainable dash for cash, says the report. The mystery is not that it collapsed but how it kept going for so long. Richard Adams, as finance director between 2007 and 2016, was the architect of Carilion's aggressive accounting policies. His voluntary departure at the end of 2016 was for him perfectly timed.
The report continues. Adams sold all his Carilion shares for £776,000 just before their value plummeted. These were the actions of a man who knew exactly where the company was heading once it was no longer propped up by his accounting tricks. The report is also highly critical of its auditor, KPMG, advisors including Deloitte and EY as well as the pension regulator.
KPMG audited Carilion for 19 years, pocketing £29 million in the process. KPMG should take its own share of responsibility for the consequences. By the end a whole suite of advisors were squeezing fee income out of what remained of the company. £6.4 million disappeared on the last working day as the directors pleaded for a tax payer bailout.
Chief among the beneficiaries was EY Ernst Young, who were paid £10.8 million for their six months of failed turnaround advice as Carilion moved inexorably towards collapse. The pension's regulator's feeble response to the underfunding of Carilion's pension scheme was a threat to impose a contribution schedule, a power it had never and still has never used. The pension's regulator failed in all its objectives regarding the Carilion pension scheme. Scheme members will receive reduced pensions.
The pension protection fund and its levy payers will pick up their biggest bill ever. The report is not just a critique of how Carilion was managed, but it exposes the corrupt relationship between big business and the accountancy big four and the various so called regulators. The Tory government was still awarding huge contracts to Carilion after it became clear that it was in deep financial trouble. The report by the two House of Commons committees is in fact an indictment of 21st century British capitalism.