Latest news with #LordBerkeley
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Cabinet Office ‘brushed aside warnings about HS2 fraud'
The Cabinet Office brushed aside concerns about fraud and financial mismanagement at HS2. Lord Berkeley, the Conservative peer, had urged the government department to open an inquiry into claims that the high-speed rail project was set to cost billions of pounds more than Parliament had been told. He warned that HS2 had been 'promoted and procured by deception and possibly fraud from the start 10 years ago'. Lord Berkeley demanded an investigation into potential breaches of the ministerial code, something that Sir Simon Case – the then cabinet secretary, to whom he wrote – could not do. The Tory peer had alleged that ministers misled Parliament by falsely promising that HS2 would cost less than they knew it would, risking fraud going undetected. 'Fraudulent so-called activities' 'I did want to complain to the Cabinet Office while [Sir] Simon Case was there and suggested that they did an investigation into all the fraudulent so-called activities of HS2,' Lord Berkeley said. 'And his answer was, well, we need to get the Prime Minister's approval before we do anything like that, and he's unlikely to approve of it.' It comes after HMRC launched an investigation into an HS2 contractor accused of tax fraud by submitting 'fake payslips' to disguise self-employed workers as directly-employed staff. The company in question provided staff to Balfour Beatty Vinci (BBV), one of the main contractors on HS2. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by BBV. Lord Berkeley's concerns, first expressed in 2019, were that HS2's true cost to taxpayers was far in excess of the £55 billion earmarked by ministers. In correspondence seen by The Telegraph, he wrote: 'It is clear that the Prime Minister, his predecessors and other ministers were made aware of the probable out-turn cost, but none chose to inform Parliament. 'I therefore believe that the project has been promoted and procured by deception and possibly fraud from the start 10 years ago, a process that has allowed the project to proceed in stages to ensure that the true costs will only come out when it is too late to change or cancel.' Sir Simon wrote back to Lord Berkeley explaining that breaches of the ministerial code could only be investigated by the Prime Minister – at the time, Boris Johnson – and not the Civil Service. The former Cabinet secretary, who stepped down at the end of last year on health grounds, told The Telegraph: 'Lord Berkeley deserves credit, certainly, for raising the alarm so early on.' The Telegraph understands that in subsequent correspondence, the peer eventually raised his concerns about potential breaches of the ministerial code directly with Mr Johnson. News that potential fraud at HS2 was raised years ago comes as the Labour Government admitted that the high-speed railway line was in an ' appalling mess ' and would be delayed once again beyond its current opening date of 2033. Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, promised that the Government would be able to turn the project around but said on Wednesday that there was 'no route by which trains can be running' by the target date. An HS2 spokesman said earlier this week: 'We treat all whistleblower allegations seriously and are continuing to conduct our own investigation.' The Department for Transport said it has 'a zero-tolerance attitude towards fraud, bribery, and corruption' and would ensure any claims of wrongdoing were thoroughly investigated.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Cats ruled out as Parliamentary pest controllers
A Labour peer's call to bring in cats to control mice and other vermin in the Houses of Parliament has been the cat already serves as 10 Downing Street's chief mouser but there are no plans to introduce pets to tackle the pest problem in the Palace of Westminster down the road. Senior Deputy Speaker Lord Gardiner of Kimble told Lord Berkeley advice given to parliamentary authorities was that cats would face risks from construction activity, self-closing doors and the lack of arrangements for caring for them. Mice have long been an issue in the Grade I listed landmark, with thousands of pounds spent on pest control every year. In a written question, Lord Berkeley asked what consideration has been given to using cats for vermin control across the Parliamentary response, Lord Gardiner said: "On advice given previously to the House of Commons, the decision was made not to bring a cat on the estate on the following grounds."The estate had too much construction activity on site to provide a safe living environment for a free-roaming cat."The risk of self-closing doors leaving a cat trapped without sustenance for significant periods of time."The absence of assured daily arrangements for cat care."He added: "We continue to work with our pest control contractor to implement targeted and effective regimes across the Palace." Larry, a rescue cat from Battersea Cats and Dogs Home, has served successive prime ministers since he moved into 10 Downing Street back in 2011. After Sir Keir Starmer took office Larry was joined by the family cat Jojo and a new Siberian the Foreign Office enlisted a chief mouser called Palmerston in 2016. He retired to the countryside in 2020 but was recently brought back to take up an overseas diplomatic posting in Bermuda as "feline relations consultant". Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to read top political analysis, gain insight from across the UK and stay up to speed with the big moments. It'll be delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Cats ruled out for parliamentary pest patrols over welfare concerns
The use of cats to control vermin on the parliamentary estate has been rejected because of concerns for their safety. While Downing Street has long-serving mousing stalwart Larry, free-roaming felines to get rid of rodents across the sprawling, historical site have been ruled out as too risky by the authorities at Westminster. Construction traffic, the threat of getting trapped by automatically closing doors and a lack of guaranteed on-site cat care are among the reasons cited. Dealing with problematic pests at the Grade I listed landmark has been an ongoing issue, with plenty of nooks and crannies providing an ideal hidden habitat and piles of parliamentary papers ensuring a ready supply of nesting material. The kibosh on cats to control mice and other vermin in Parliament emerged in response to a written parliamentary question by Labour peer Lord Berkeley, who asked what consideration had been given to feline pest patrols. Responding, Senior Deputy Speaker Lord Gardiner of Kimble said: 'On advice given previously to the House of Commons, the decision was made not to bring a cat on the estate on the following grounds: 'The estate had too much construction activity on site to provide a safe living environment for a free-roaming cat; 'The risk of self-closing doors leaving a cat trapped without sustenance for significant periods of time; 'The absence of assured daily arrangements for cat care.' He added: 'We continue to work with our pest control contractor to implement targeted and effective regimes across the Palace. 'The Department of Estates and Facilities is in discussion with Churchill Cleaning Services to increase the level of intervention and with a view to this being in place by beginning of the summer recess.' Further down Whitehall, Larry has held the rat-catching portfolio at Number 10 since 2011 when David Cameron was in office and has loyally served successive prime ministers. In his role as chief mouser, the Battersea Dogs and Cats home alumnus has often been caught in the glare of the world's media, amid unfolding political events and visits by global leaders. His erstwhile rival, Palmerston, of the Foreign Office, with which he was reportedly engaged in a turf war, had retired to the countryside, but subsequently returned to frontline diplomatic duties with an overseas posting to Bermuda as 'feline relations consultant'. The Treasury also has its own dedicated mouser, Gladstone, although his social media account indicates he takes a more relaxed approach to his official duties.
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Eurostar needs as much competition as possible
At least it didn't decide that the wrong type of snow made it impossible to run any more trains, or that too many leaves on the line made it far too risky to have an extra operator. Even so, the oddly named Office of Rail and Road, or ORR, last week decided that there is only enough depot space for one extra competitor to Eurostar to run trains from Britain to the rest of the Continent. The other companies queuing up to offer a service will have to be turned away. That is crazy. The rail service needs more competition not less – and anything that gets in the way of that should be fixed before the service gets any worse. Few of us were probably aware of the ORR until last week, although the regulator has more than 350 staff doing something or other, and a budget of more than £40m a year to spend. Last week, however, it made a significant decision that will have an impact on anyone who travels between Britain and the rest of Europe by train. A whole series of rival companies had been preparing to offer rival services to Eurostar running trains through the Channel Tunnel. Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Trains was pitching to run a service on the route, and so were Gemini Trains, chaired by the Labour peer Lord Berkeley, as well as Trenitalia, the main operating arm of the Italian state rail operator. If the tunnel was genuinely opened up, plenty of other companies might have come into the market, such as Germany's Deutsche Bhan, which has expressed an interest in the past; one of the other rail companies; or indeed an airline company such as Air France KLM, which could use the train route to feed long-haul passengers into its Paris hub. St Pancras International could have been humming with new competitors pitching different possibilities. But the ORR has decided that there is only enough space at the depot for one extra competitor on the route. 'The assessment suggests there is room for at most one new operator, or for Eurostar, to grow,' it concluded. At a stroke, the vision of lots of new players has been dashed. Of course in fairness, the ORR is just doing its job, and no one would want to question its decision about the capacity at the depot. It is important that all the trains are properly maintained, and if there is not enough space for more than one extra operator at the moment, then clearly that is a problem. And yet, looking at the bigger picture, it is also completely ridiculous. If we need more depot space, then surely we should just build it. Likewise, if we need another platform, or an extra stop along the route through Kent, or even just space for another Pret so the passengers can pick up a sandwich before they hop on a train to the Continent, then we should build that as well. It would hardly be impossible. In reality, the rail link into the Continent needs as much competition as possible. To start with, it opens up more choice for passengers. Eurostar has been operating on the route since it opened in 1994, and it does a perfectly decent job. But it is hardly setting the world alight with its customer service, or its on board meal options, or indeed its ticket prices. Of 2,500 reviews on Trustpilot it gets an average ranking of just 2.1 out of a possible five, which, to put it politely, would suggest there is some room for improvement. The one thing we know for certain about economics is that when there is a choice, service levels dramatically improve, but when there is a monopoly, they get worse. One extra operator on the service would be an improvement, but two or three would surely be far better. Next, it would open up more potential routes. It has proved impossible to build a new high-speed rail line in the UK. But the rest of Europe has been steaming ahead, with new rapid rail links connecting France, Spain, Germany and Italy. We are meant to be fighting climate change, and we keep whacking extra taxes on air travel to discourage us from getting the plane. So why not make it easier to get the train to Milan, or Barcelona, or Berlin instead of a flight? With more competitors, lots more routes would be opened up, and plenty of climate consciousness travellers could be persuaded to take a train instead. Finally, it would surely lower fares. When I just checked the price of a return from London to Paris for next weekend the best deal I could get on Eurostar was £360 return. It is not exactly cheap. Air France was offering the plane at half that price. Any rival operator coming onto the route would surely start offering more competitive fares, and the more of them there are the cheaper it would get. The tunnel needs a BA option for anyone on expenses, and an easyJet option for anyone who just wants a quick weekend away. But that is not likely to happen now. The role of a regulator is to promote competition, not restrict it. Likewise, we are meant to have a government that believes in 'growth, growth, growth', even if there is not much actual sign of it. Here is a simple suggestion. If we need a new depot to handle more trains, then let's build one, or even two. There is plenty of spare capacity in the Channel Tunnel to run more trains, and plenty of pent up demand for any rival to Eurostar that could offer more choice, more routes and cheaper fares. We should seize that opportunity. Instead, as so often, we are turning it down – and the whole country will end up poorer as a result. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
08-06-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Eurostar needs as much competition as possible
At least it didn't decide that the wrong type of snow made it impossible to run any more trains, or that too many leaves on the line made it far too risky to have an extra operator. Even so, the oddly named Office of Rail and Road, or ORR, last week decided that there is only enough depot space for one extra competitor to Eurostar to run trains from Britain to the rest of the Continent. The other companies queuing up to offer a service will have to be turned away. That is crazy. The rail service needs more competition not less – and anything that gets in the way of that should be fixed before the service gets any worse. Few of us were probably aware of the ORR until last week, although the regulator has more than 350 staff doing something or other, and a budget of more than £40m a year to spend. Last week, however, it made a significant decision that will have an impact on anyone who travels between Britain and the rest of Europe by train. A whole series of rival companies had been preparing to offer rival services to Eurostar running trains through the Channel Tunnel. Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Trains was pitching to run a service on the route, and so were Gemini Trains, chaired by the Labour peer Lord Berkeley, as well as Trenitalia, the main operating arm of the Italian state rail operator. If the tunnel was genuinely opened up, plenty of other companies might have come into the market, such as Germany's Deutsche Bhan, which has expressed an interest in the past; one of the other rail companies; or indeed an airline company such as Air France KLM, which could use the train route to feed long-haul passengers into its Paris hub. St Pancras International could have been humming with new competitors pitching different possibilities. But the ORR has decided that there is only enough space at the depot for one extra competitor on the route. 'The assessment suggests there is room for at most one new operator, or for Eurostar, to grow,' it concluded. At a stroke, the vision of lots of new players has been dashed. Of course in fairness, the ORR is just doing its job, and no one would want to question its decision about the capacity at the depot. It is important that all the trains are properly maintained, and if there is not enough space for more than one extra operator at the moment, then clearly that is a problem. And yet, looking at the bigger picture, it is also completely ridiculous. If we need more depot space, then surely we should just build it. Likewise, if we need another platform, or an extra stop along the route through Kent, or even just space for another Pret so the passengers can pick up a sandwich before they hop on a train to the Continent, then we should build that as well. It would hardly be impossible.
