Top story: Carillion advisers ‘pocket millions’ after collapse
Good morning again. I’m Warren Murray and here are the stories that matter.
Accountants and lawyers will earn £70m managing the fallout from the collapse of Carillion, according to the National Audit Office, with taxpayers expected to foot a bill of more than £150m from the outsourcing disaster.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, which earned £17m in fees from Carillion in the decade before its demise, now stands to make £50m more from managing the insolvency. Lawyers will pick up a further £20m slice of costs. The business committee chair, Rachel Reeves, said PwC’s bill was further evidence of a lack of competition among the so-called big four accounting companies. “They make a killing in fees advising struggling companies how to turn them round and then they pocket millions tidying up when that advice fails. On Carillion, taxpayers are left to foot the multimillion-pound bill for corporate failure.”
Tens of thousands of subcontractors are owed more than £2bn by Carillion but they are slated to get just £164m. More than 2,300 staff were made redundant and a further 3,000 face uncertainty. Finding placements elsewhere for more than 1,000 of Carillion’s former apprentices is costing £12m.
Touchdown – Britain’s first four F-35 stealth fighter jets flew into RAF Marham in Norfolk last night, two months ahead of schedule. The officer commanding 617 squadron, Wg Cmdr John Butcher, landed the first one. “It was a good flight across from the United States. The weather was in our favour and it felt absolutely brilliant bringing the jets back here today,” he said.
The UK’s £9.1bn programme to buy 48 of the F-35s, the world’s most advanced fighter jet, over the next decade has come under fire over capability and expense. Reports have suggested that the effective cost of each plane is as much as £150m. The jets will be jointly flown by the RAF and the navy. Five more are expected to arrive by late July or early August.
‘She is unbelievably committed’ – Jeremy Hunt has told the Guardian that Theresa May is planning a significant funding boost for the NHS to coincide with the 70th anniversary of its creation, which falls on 5 July. The health secretary has asked for something in the order of the 4% annual increases it enjoyed before the Tory-Lib Dem coalition came to power in 2010. But the Treasury believes anything above 2% to 2.5% is unaffordable. Hunt has become the longest-serving health secretary with five years and 273 days in the job. In a detailed interview he has told Denis Campbell that Britain’s decision to leave the EU has contributed to NHS’s staff shortages; and that he is unlikely to be able to fulfil his pledge to boost the number of GPs in England by 5,000 by 2020. The total number of family doctors has fallen by just over 1,000 since Hunt made the promise in 2015. “This is not a pledge that we’re abandoning because it’s a very, very important pledge for the NHS and with general practice. It’s just taking a bit longer than I had hoped,” Hunt said.
Mary Wilson dies – Jeremy Corbyn has led tributes to the widow of former Labour prime minister Harold Wilson. Mary Wilson, who was an accomplished poet, died yesterday aged 102.
Mary Baldwin worked as a shorthand typist in a factory on the Wirral before meeting Harold Wilson, who became prime minister 24 years later. She published two volumes of poetry, Selected Poems and New Poems, in the 1970s and was friends with Jon Betjeman. “A wonderful poet and a huge support in Harold’s General Election victories,” said Corbyn last night.
End of Dacre era – The Daily Mail’s editor, Paul Dacre, is to step down in November after 26 years. Dacre will remain with the company as chairman and editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers. Competitors to succeed him are thought to include the Mail on Sunday editor, Geordie Greig, the MailOnline editor, Martin Clarke, and current Daily Mail deputy editor, Gerard Greaves. The Mail sells an average of 1.3m copies a day and continues to have enormous influence over the political agenda. Dacre relentlessly focused on what he believed to be the concerns of middle England, ranging from a tough line on immigration to taking a relentless pro-Brexit line and campaigning against plastic bags.
‘Sexy plants’ – Scientists are developing plants that produce insect sex hormones to lure or confuse the pests that attack crops and prevent them breeding. The pheromones can either be extracted from the plants and used in traps, or the plants themselves grown alongside the crops they protect. They are specific to individual species and promise to avoid the harm done to all insects by neonicotinoids, which the EU has banned from outdoor use. Nicola Patron, from the Earlham Institute UK, says the project is important not only for British agriculture, but farmers in Africa where, for example, the armyworm has become resistant to existing insecticides. “There is an urgent need for a solution because otherwise people will starve,” Patron said.
Lunchtime read: Toke and gesture
Canada is headed down the road to legalising marijuana, with the government saying it could be decriminalised by August. Many pro-cannabis campaigners are critical of the Trudeau government’s plans to strictly regulate the industry, including selling it through government stores, jailing those who sell without a licence and criminal penalties for minors found in possession.
New rules are being rushed out across the provinces in preparation – including rights for landlords to ban its use or cultivation on their properties and prohibitions on public consumption. “It’s not legalisation, it’s monopolisation,” says activist Ian Campeau. Existing dealers, who currently enjoy a lax enforcement environment, doubt it can work. Some lament that it marks the end of cannabis as a counterculture phenomenon. Meanwhile the Marijuana party is trying to work out what it will do with itself.
Sport
Danny Rose revealed he has had depression, which he believes was triggered by the treatment of a knee injury coupled with family tragedy. The England left-back also said that fears over racism at the World Cup led him to tell his family to stay away from Russia. Meanwhile, Gareth Southgate intends to maintain England’s bold attacking approach and has warned his defensive midfielders Jordan Henderson and Eric Dier that only one of them may start at the tournament.
Tyson Fury used the final press conference before his comeback against Sefer Seferi to suggest that a world belt could be back around his waist far sooner than anticipated. John McEnroe expects Andy Murray to play at Wimbledon but would be surprised if the two-time champion has much more than a decent run there. And Philadelphia Eagles player Malcolm Jenkins, who has been a central figure in the NFL protest movement, has stood silently in front of reporters and displayed hand-written cards about the protests, gun violence and social injustice in the US.
Business
Asian shares have risen to a fresh two and a half month high, supported by sound economic fundamentals, while expectations the European Central Bank (ECB) could start to wind down its stimulus boosted the euro and global bond yields.
The pound has been worth $1.342 and €1.138 overnight.
The papers
“Google braced for Brussels attack over using Android to block rivals” – the FT reports that regulators are poised to levy a fine for imposing illegal terms on device makers. The Telegraph and Times both lead with Brexit: “Davis in public battle with May” is the former’s headline, which is in line with our own story. The latter has “May accused of deceiving ministers” – it says a key document on the “backstop” plan was shared with remainers but not leavers.
The Guardian splashes with that exclusive on extra funding for the NHS. The Mail, the Sun and the Express focus on violent crime in the UK – all three front pages mention a 100-year-old woman who died after her neck was broken by a bag snatcher. “Pilot 4 times drink-fly limit” is the Mirror’s splash: Julian Monaghan, 49, was arrested after reporting for duty at Gatwick to fly a British Airways plane to Mauritius.
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