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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/26/taking-out-the-trash-heres-the-bad-news-buried-by-the-tories
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| Taking out the trash: here is the bad news the Tories tried to bury | Taking out the trash: here is the bad news the Tories tried to bury |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| They have finally gone away. The prime minister tried to get rid of parliament a few days early, but couldn’t muster the votes. There was so much bad news to bury, it would have been easier to scuttle off sooner: nothing is good news for her these days, so scores of written ministerial statements slipped out in the last couple of days, in the hope that no one would notice. | They have finally gone away. The prime minister tried to get rid of parliament a few days early, but couldn’t muster the votes. There was so much bad news to bury, it would have been easier to scuttle off sooner: nothing is good news for her these days, so scores of written ministerial statements slipped out in the last couple of days, in the hope that no one would notice. |
| It’s a tradition – a bad one – used by all governments called “take out the trash day”, which occurs on the last day of the session, with no time for MPs to summon ministers to explain highly controversial decisions. They hope to duck under the radar, or that the opposition will forget in the long six-week break. | It’s a tradition – a bad one – used by all governments called “take out the trash day”, which occurs on the last day of the session, with no time for MPs to summon ministers to explain highly controversial decisions. They hope to duck under the radar, or that the opposition will forget in the long six-week break. |
| On the final day, no fewer that 21 separate ministerial statements emerged, plus stacks of reports with embarrassing statistics. Another 18 statements had appeared in the days before, on a welter of subjects with opaque titles such as “home office update”, “schools update”, “teachers update”, “Department of Health update”, “housing policy” and more. | On the final day, no fewer that 21 separate ministerial statements emerged, plus stacks of reports with embarrassing statistics. Another 18 statements had appeared in the days before, on a welter of subjects with opaque titles such as “home office update”, “schools update”, “teachers update”, “Department of Health update”, “housing policy” and more. |
| Traditionally, the dreariest titles hide the most controversial news, such as the innocuous-sounding “machinery of government” announcement: that’s the one that stripped Brexit secretary Dominic Raab of his negotiating role and transferred it to Olly Robbins at the Cabinet Office’s Europe unit. The timing misfired: it hit the decks just as the two of them were up before the Brexit committee, sitting awkwardly together. | Traditionally, the dreariest titles hide the most controversial news, such as the innocuous-sounding “machinery of government” announcement: that’s the one that stripped Brexit secretary Dominic Raab of his negotiating role and transferred it to Olly Robbins at the Cabinet Office’s Europe unit. The timing misfired: it hit the decks just as the two of them were up before the Brexit committee, sitting awkwardly together. |
| The guess has to be that if it was good news, it would not have been sneaked out | The guess has to be that if it was good news, it would not have been sneaked out |
| Here are a few they hoped to skip past MPs: just after loud RAF centenary celebrations, BBC programmes with heroes recalled and a fly-past bringing central London to a standstill, out slips a written statement saying both RAF Linton-on-Ouse and RAF Scampton are to be closed. RAF Scampton, home of the Red Arrows, is home to the RAF Heritage Centre. The Ministry of Defence was not eager to draw attention to another last-day report revealing a doubling of personnel seeking mental health support in the last decade, with long waits for treatment for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. | |
| The transport minister, Chris Grayling, snuck out a report that is no news to rail users: crush-hour overcrowding is worsening with too few carriages, some carrying two-and-a-half times more people than designed for. | The transport minister, Chris Grayling, snuck out a report that is no news to rail users: crush-hour overcrowding is worsening with too few carriages, some carrying two-and-a-half times more people than designed for. |
| Seven more courts are to shut, from Banbury to Fleetwood, whispered the justice secretary, David Gauke. Losing courts leaves great holes in communities, breaking the connection between justice and locality, forcing many to travel miles, with long court delays. Interesting note: the only one reprieved was Cambridge (a marginal seat), where the consultation yielded the most vociferous protests, something the city is good at. | |
| A radical change to planning laws was smuggled out by the Department for Communities. Councils lose the right to block developments if they have failed to build their fair quota of new housing. Unscrutinised, who knows if this will be gift for developers to build greenfield identikit executive homes wherever they want, however unaffordable? The local government association’s Tory chair says it “punishes local communities”. The guess has to be that if it was good news, it would not have been sneaked out. | |
| Fracking got the green light, with shale company Cuadrilla permitted to drill in Lancashire, despite vigorous local protests. | Fracking got the green light, with shale company Cuadrilla permitted to drill in Lancashire, despite vigorous local protests. |
| Scotland will be shocked at the slippery way the MoD announced a stop to the contract for five Type 31e frigates to be built at Rosyth and on the Clyde, risking local jobs. This was once a sweetener to keep Scotland in the union: Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson used it in her 2016 Holyrood election campaign, promising the order would definitely go to the Clyde. Not anymore, because the MoD wanted them too cheap for anyone to build. | Scotland will be shocked at the slippery way the MoD announced a stop to the contract for five Type 31e frigates to be built at Rosyth and on the Clyde, risking local jobs. This was once a sweetener to keep Scotland in the union: Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson used it in her 2016 Holyrood election campaign, promising the order would definitely go to the Clyde. Not anymore, because the MoD wanted them too cheap for anyone to build. |
| Other last-minute statements were made on sex education, immigration, defence spending, the Grenfell Tower disaster and police conduct. These will take time to mull over. So will all the things not there but promised for “before the summer recess” – above all, no social care policy. | |
| One item came as an intended end-of-term good news fanfare – the pay rise for public servants, with some due for 3.5%. But it quickly blew up when the true figures showed pay still not rising above inflation for most police, teachers, armed forces, doctors, dentists and others. Real wages in the public sector are still lower than they were in 2010. Worse still, it emerges that the Treasury won its austerity battle: it will contribute not one penny. All the money must be found from the existing Department for Education budget. Imagine the hellish summer holiday for civil servants who have to choose which programmes to salami slice next: it is the funds aimed at improving teaching and leadership, and for general school improvement, that are thought to be most at risk. | |
| All these decisions will mightily affect many people’s lives and livelihoods – and under scrutiny, more details will emerge. This underhanded skulduggery is a reminder of the value of a parliament holding the executive to account. As a way to conduct government, it is a disgrace: take no garbage from any minister promising “transparency” when this take-out-the-trash deviousness has become an end-of-term ritual. | |
| • Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist | • Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist |
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