More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Efforts to strike a Brexit deal look set to dominate the political agenda this week and Boris Johnson - in isolation at Downing Street - will be hoping to move on from the turmoil that engulfed the government and led to the departures of two of his key aides.
Many MPs want the Prime Minister to use the opportunity to ‘reset’ the government and revert back to to the traditional way of conducting business rather than have unelected and unaccountable special advisers decide on policy.
Lord Michael Howard, the former Folkestone and Hythe MP and Conservative party leader, dispensed his own prescription for putting the Prime Minister back on course in a newspaper article at the weekend.
He wrote that it was “extraordinary that less than a year after winning a resounding majority in December’s election, there have been so many rebellions on the Conservative benches.”
He claimed special advisers had little regard for those who Boris Johnson depended on - namely MPs - and argue some urgent bridge building was needed.
Brexit
While negotiations continue between Brussels and the UK, the practicalities of Brexit and the import and export of goods will be in the spotlight today.
A cross-party committee of MPs will be probing arrangements being made to minimise delays and congestion around cross-channel Ports. It comes after a committee of peers heard last week how a new IT system for customs declaration was still not ready.
Houses
Meanwhile, there could be some good news for those who have been battling the government over its house building targets.
There are reports the government could be set to jettison the algorithm that ministers were using to calculate targets. In Kent’s case, the algorithm had led to some bizarre increases in areas already under pressure from extensive developments and prompted a furious backlash from the county’s MPs.
It seems the government has been listening, as reports over the weekend say the algorithm is being ditched.
In a statement, a spokesman for the government said: “We are working on a fairer formula, which still meets our housing targets but is rebalanced so that more homes are built in urban areas, particularly in the Midlands and the North.”
