Chancellor Philip Hammond announces £10m to tackle homelessness

Staff reporter(wp/es):
Philip Hammond put up £10 million to tackle homelessness today

 in an Autumn Statement to help families through Brexit.

He aimed to speed up the building of affordable housing in the capital, confirming plans for 90,000 more homes at lower cost or cheaper rents.

In a package overshadowed by massive borrowing and greater economic uncertainty from Brexit, he found spare change for a £1.5 million grant for play care and treatment of children with cancer at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Chelsea, and another  £3 million for the RAF museum at Hendon.

Announcing new money for people sleeping rough, the Chancellor said “one person” left on the streets was too many.

He praised the Standard’s Christmas Appeal to raise vital funds to launch the Centrepoint Young and Homeless Helpline, saying it would “make a huge difference to people’s lives”.

Mr Hammond briefed the Cabinet on his debut Autumn Statement this morning, with the City and MPs on tenterhooks for the first official  economic forecasts since Britain voted for Brexit.

A sharp downgrade in growth from next year and a big increase in borrowing were widely expected to limit his room for manoeuvre.

“This Government is determined to build an economy that works for  everyone, no matter their background,” Mr Hammond said as he confirmed the homeless help.

“One person without a home is one too many, and we want to identify solutions that look at all of the possible causes that lead to someone losing their home.”

He endorsed the Standard’s Christmas fundraising campaign, saying: “The Evening Standard has long been a champion of tackling homelessness and their current campaign will make a huge difference to people’s lives.

“This funding is another step in the right direction, and allows the Government to support different projects that will make a difference to people and communities across London and the rest of England.”

The cash doubles the Government’s existing Rough Sleeping Fund, which was announced earlier in the year. It will provide grants to local authorities that produce innovative projects to prevent people at risk of sleeping rough from spending even a single night on the streets, as well as giving support to those already sleeping rough. 

London is expected to be the largest beneficiary because it attracts thousands of people who are vulnerable to homelessness.

Money will be awarded to the best bidders — but among schemes being hailed in Whitehall as successes are the No First Night Out pilots in Tower Hamlets, Hackney and the City.

Mr Hammond was said to have had a dozen discussions with Theresa May in which he fended off Downing Street demands to loosen the purse strings ahead of the  possible pain of Brexit.

But the Chancellor was instead emphasising that the best way to improve Britons’ living standards was to provide economic stability, restore the public finances and boost productivity.

Policies trailed in advance by the Treasury were tailored to appeal to the 17 million who voted for Brexit in June. They included: 

Plans for 40,000 more affordable homes, with £1.4 billion of funding. In addition, restrictions will be relaxed allowing affordable housing cash to be used to support low-cost rents, shared ownership schemes and Rent to Buy.

A partial reverse to cuts in in-work benefits, by reforming Universal Credit so that families can keep more of what they earn.

A new taper will benefit three million households, according to officials, with a couple with two  children receiving housing help, where one parent earns £30,000 a year, being better off by £425 a year.

Unpopular letting agents’ fees that force renters to pay hundreds of pounds up-front will be scrapped, helping 4.3 million households in private rental homes.

Citizens Advice say such fees average £337, and Shelter says one in seven have to pay more than £500.

Reining in whiplash claims to reduce motor insurance premiums by £40 on average. 

For Labour, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said millions would still be worse off as the measures did not fully reverse “deep and damaging cuts” to benefits.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron branded the package “all smoke and mirrors”. He said: “This will prove to be about one thing and one thing only — the impact of Brexit on the British economy.”

The Evening Standard's Homeless Helpline appeal is raising money for the Centrepoint Helpline, a brand new support service that will save young people from ending up on the streets. 

NHS hospitals may require patients to show passports before treatment

Health reporter(wp/es):

NHS patients could have to produce their passports to receive treatment, a senior official has said.

The Department of Health’s top civil servant Chris Wormald said a national scheme could be rolled out that requires patients to show two forms of ID before they can receive treatments.

He told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) the Government needed to do more to reclaim money from foreign NHS users.

Some NHS trusts, including ones in London, already ask patients to prove ID but the health department was examining whether to implement a scheme across the country.

Mr Wormald told the committee: “We are looking at whether trusts should do more on upfront identification.

"The general question - are we looking at whether trusts should proactively ask people to prove identity? Yes we are looking at that.

“Some trusts are looking at the moment to see whether they need to require people to prove identity by bringing in a passport or some other form of ID - which is not the culture of the Health Service up to now.”

PAC chairwoman Meg Hillier said the scheme raised concerns for British residents who don’t have photo ID and those who would struggle to find a utility bill.

She said: "I have constituents who have no photo IDs.

"Because they have never travelled they have no passport, they have no driver's licence because they have never driven, they still live at home because they can't afford to move out so they've never had a utility bill in their name.

"(They are) perfectly entitled to health care - British born, British resident - how are you going to make sure that people have access easily to the National Health Service without having to go through a very humiliating and impossible to meet set of demands?"

Mr Wormald admitted there were challenges in the identification of people and said it was why the trial was being taken very slowly.

Last month, the National Audit Office found just £255 million of at least £500 million had been collected by NHS trusts on money spent treating foreign patients last year.

Of those, eight trusts failed to receive payment from a single overseas visitor who received free healthcare that had not been entitled.

EU leaders tell Theresa May, Brexit talks should last just 15 months

Pic:Prime Minister Theresa May
Political reporter(wp/es):

European Parliament leaders have rebuffed Theresa May’s plan to take her time about negotiating Brexit, saying talks should last just 15 months.

A day after Mrs May told UK business leaders that negotiations would “take time”, the former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt warned it would be a “tough period, very intense”.

Mr Verhofstadt, the parliament’s chief negotiator, said the process of negotiating Britain’s departure terms should be concluded within around 14 or 15 months after Mrs May triggers Article 50, which begins the formal procedure.

The speed, he said, was necessary in order for MEPs to have time to give their consent to any deal.

Mr Verhofstadt warned that MEPs would reject any deal that sought to curb EU migration while keeping access to the single market.

“It is impossible to find solutions where we destroy the so-called four freedoms,” he said.

In another sign of strained relations, a key ally of Angela Merkel attacked Britain for seeking to keep full access to the European single market while refusing to accept the “four freedoms” which include free movement of workers.

German MEP Manfred Weber, chairman of the centre-right European People’s Party, complained “there is no idea what Brexit really means”.

The two senior MEPs spoke out after talks with Brexit Secretary David Davis that were arranged in an attempt to improve relations ahead of the negotiations, due to start in April.

Mr Weber criticised the way the UK was handling the Brexit process: “What we really expect are clear proposals. In my talk with David Davis, unfortunately I have not heard anything new, I have not heard much as to how the British Government wants to tackle Brexit and what Brexit really means. I have not received any new information, quite the opposite is true.”

Mr Weber also denounced British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson as “arrogant” over comments made about Turkey joining the bloc.

“It’s a purely arrogant provocation from Johnson when he’s telling us what we have to do,” he said.

Responding to Mr Weber’s suggestion that Mr Davis had indicated the UK wants to stay in the single market, a Downing Street spokesman said: “The Government’s position hasn’t changed on this.

“We are very clear that what we want is a trading relationship that allows UK companies to trade both with and within the single market and lets European businesses do the same.”

Speaking at a Westminster media briefing, the Number 10 spokesman declined to respond to repeated questions over whether the relationship the Government is seeking would require single market membership.

Woman dies after dramatic helicopter sea rescue mission

Staff reporter(wp/es):

A 39-year-old woman died after being winched from the sea in a dramatic rescue mission off the coast of Kent.

The Coastguard, Dover lifeboat and a rescue helicopter were searching for the woman amid strong gales after reports of someone in the water as Storm Angus battered Britain.

She was found early this morning off the coast of Folkestone and taken to hospital in a critical condition. 

Police confirmed the woman later died.

According to Kent Online a woman had been reported missing from the Folkstone Harbour area.

A police spokesman said: "Kent Police was called by the coastguard at 6.54am following a report of a woman in the sea at Folkestone.

"Coastguard rescue teams, the helicopter, and the Dover lifeboat went to the sea off the harbour area.

"South East Coast Ambulance Service went to the scene and a woman was taken to a local hospital."

Teenager Ben Bamford guilty of murdering top civil servant Paul Jefferies

Pic:Bamford captured a selfie of himself in hospital hours after the killing
Crime reporter(wp/es):

A teenager has been convicted of murdering a high-ranking civil servant at his country home after they met via gay dating app Grindr.

Ben Bamford, 18, inflicted more than 40 injuries on senior HM Revenue and Customs official Paul Jefferies, 52, including slashing his throat.

Mr Jefferies, an adviser to ex-chancellor George Osborne’s Treasury team, was found naked with a tea towel over his head on a blood-splattered kitchen floor at his Grade II-listed cottage in Mayfield, East Sussex.

The 52-year-old moved to Sussex from London five years ago following the breakdown of a relationship.

Lewes Crown Court heard Bamford intended to rob Mr Jefferies on February 23 after his drug debt spiralled to around £400 which he was under pressure to repay.

The teenager, of Crowborough, denied murder, and claimed he was protecting himself from Mr Jefferies after he had "come on to him".

But jurors convicted him of murder after deliberating for three hours.

Bamford stood emotionless in the dock as the verdict was announced by the jury foreman.

He met Mr Jefferies via Grindr some two years before the killing when he was aged 15, and resumed contact in December last year following a break.

Unknown to Mr Jefferies, by the time they met again Bamford was "desperate" for money to settle drugs debts and was being pressurised by a dealer called Glen.

During his defence, Bamford told the court he had met Mr Jefferies in the hope he would give him money, as he had done so in the past.

Bamford claimed he stabbed Mr Jefferies to protect himself after he "got on top of me" and carried on having sex with him after telling him to stop.

After leaving Mr Jefferies for dead on the kitchen floor at his Grade II-listed cottage, Bamford took his Audi TT car and picked up a friend en route to Eastbourne District General Hospital.

Jurors were shown a selfie picture of Bamford flicking his middle finger while lying on his hospital bed after he was admitted claiming he had self-harmed to avoid police involvement.

His mother Annmarie Bamford told the court how she was left "dumb-founded" after her son told her he had killed someone as he recuperated at home following an operation for his injuries.

Mrs Bamford told jurors: "I kept saying that I need to know what's happening. And then he shouted, 'I think I've killed somebody'.

Shocked at his claims, Mrs Bamford went online to find anything to support what he was saying - and she found a report of a suspicious death in Mayfield.

Following the verdict, Detective Chief Inspector Tanya Jones, who led the investigation for Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team, said: "This was a horrific attack by a teenage boy who preyed on his victim with the aim of exploiting him for money.

"The level of violence he inflicted on Paul Jefferies was extreme and then he fled the scene in his victim's car. He showed no remorse, smirking for a selfie photo just hours later.

"However, the jury did not believe his story.

Friends described Mr Jefferies as a “warm and humorous man” following the outcome of the trial."Although this can never undo what he has done, I hope it will bring some justice for Paul's family, friends and colleagues."

His colleague, Adrian Cooper, deputy director of specialist personal tax at HMRC, said: "Paul was a highly valued colleague and friend.

"While he was a private and reserved, he was also a warm and humorous man, kind, thoughtful, professional and dedicated to public service.

"He will be sadly missed and fondly remembered by all who worked with him."

Bamford will be sentenced at a later date.

Prince William's plea to Londoners to help young homeless

Pic:Prince William: The Duke of Cambridge has written to Londoners highlighting the plight of young homeless people /REUTERS
Royal correspondent(wp/es):

The Duke of Cambridge today joins us in telling Evening Standard readers they have “the chance to save young lives” in a letter marking the start of our Christmas Appeal.

We are partnering with Centrepoint, the youth homeless charity of which Prince William is patron, to launch a helpline for 16 to 25-year-olds who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. 

As the charity warns that 25,000 young people could be at risk this Christmas, we echo William’s call that we must help “our most vulnerable young people”. 

The money raised will do vital work by launching the Centrepoint Young and Homeless Helpline, the first such service to deliver essential information to desperate young people in London and beyond.

Together we can help save young people who are at risk of sleeping on the streets. Thank you.

The Duke of Cambridge today joins us in telling Evening Standard readers they have “the chance to save young lives” in a letter marking the start of our Christmas Appeal.

We are partnering with Centrepoint, the youth homeless charity of which Prince William is patron, to launch a helpline for 16 to 25-year-olds who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. 

As the charity warns that 25,000 young people could be at risk this Christmas, we echo William’s call that we must help “our most vulnerable young people”. 

The money raised will do vital work by launching the Centrepoint Young and Homeless Helpline, the first such service to deliver essential information to desperate young people in London and beyond.

Together we can help save young people who are at risk of sleeping on the streets. Thank you.

In a letter to Evening Standard readers, the Duke wrote: “As a society we all have a duty to help our most vulnerable young people. 

“Over the coming weeks you will see and hear more about Centrepoint and the work it does to help young people escape homelessness.

“Ending youth homelessness is not just about putting a roof over someone’s head. It’s about teaching a young person to read and write. 

“It’s about helping them to live with the consequences of abuse and neglect. It’s about stopping people becoming homeless in the first place.

“When a young person’s world falls apart, they have nowhere to go. This is why we are launching the ‘Centerpoint Helpline’ in 2017. 

“‘Centrepoint Helpline’ will provide information and support that vulnerable young people need before they become homeless. 

“Over the past decade I have met hundreds of courageous and inspiring young people trying to escape homelessness.

“Unfortunately their courage alone is not enough.

“Thanks to the Evening Standard, you have the chance to save young lives.”

Teenager fighting for life after street fight in north west London

Crime reporter(wp/es):

A teenager is fighting for life after being stabbed in a street fight in north west London.

The 19-year-old was with a group of friends when he was attacked in Northolt Road, South Harrow, at around 5.10pm on Friday.

Dramatic images on social media showed a police cordon surrounding a row of shops on the road.

Forensic officers were spotted outside Chicken Hut takeaway, near South Harrow Tube station.

The teenager was rushed to hospital where his condition remains critical.