Boris Johnson faces challenge - censure motion?
Addressing MPs after Easter and for the first time since being fined for breaking Covid laws, Boris Johnson apologised for his ‘mistake’ 35 times. He said he had not realised he was breaking the rules but he accepted the police's decisions. MPs want to vote on a Labour plan for a Commons committee to investigate his past comments about Whitehall gatherings, but ministers now want the vote to wait until probes by the police and Sue Gray have finished. A delay in this decision will not remove the threat of a censure motion - which allows MPs to criticise government policy, an individual minister, or the government as a whole. Any MP can table one, and it only takes a simple majority to pass. If it passes, it would not force Johnson to do anything but would put him under far greater political pressure. See also
Stop working from home, civil servants
Ministers have been ordered to send their civil servants back to the office after it emerged that up to three-quarters of staff are still working from home. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the minister for government efficiency, has written to all secretaries of state saying they must send a ‘clear message’ to officials to end the work from home culture and ensure that taxpayer-funded offices are at ‘full capacity’. He wrote, ‘Now that we are learning to live with Covid and have lifted legal restrictions in England, we must continue to accelerate the return of civil servants to office buildings to realise the benefits of face-to face, collaborative working and the wider benefits for the economy. Whitehall sources accused civil servants who refuse to return to the office of failing to ‘pull their weight’. Efforts to get civil servants back to the office have been hampered by unions pushing for further concessions on flexible working.
The Queen
We pray for our Queen on her 96th Birthday. Lord, You bless us that we might bless others and so in the Name of Jesus, we speak blessing over the Queen’s life. We pray for health, strength and long life, and for You to surround her with honour as with a shield. We pray for boldness and increased wisdom. In her 1978 Christmas message she said, ‘Christians have the compelling example of the life and teaching of Christ and, for myself, I would like nothing better that my grandchildren should hold dear his ideals which have helped and inspired so many previous generations.’ So we pray, in the name of Jesus, over her wishes for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, including Prince William and Prince Harry. May they not only hold to Christ’s ideals but know the God from whom they come and for faith in Jesus to lead and guide them. May they understand the gift of reconciliation and the power of forgiveness.
Brownfield sites for wind farms
A recent study by scientists at the University of Sussex and Denmark’s Aarhus University found that if wind farms were established on the available and appropriate land, they could meet 140% of the UK and Ireland’s energy demand. Although not all this land would be used, in the interest of preserving biodiversity, they said the research showed how much potential onshore wind has to solve the energy crisis. Also, they need not blight the most beautiful parts of England because there is plenty of room for them next to rail lines and on brownfield land. In the recent energy strategy the Government decided to keep the curbs on onshore wind introduced by David Cameron; the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said the turbines were an ‘eyesore’. Boris Johnson emphasised his support for offshore wind but did not noticeably back onshore wind farms.
