Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 18 March 2023

1. Covid inquiry ‘expensive and bloated’

MPs have raised concern that the Covid inquiry is becoming “very expensive and very bloated”, and that the government could be using the hearing to “kick things into the very long grass”. Ministers are planning for the inquiry to last up to seven years as more than 150 lawyers have already been hired, said The Telegraph. Graham Stringer, a Labour MP and the co-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on pandemic response and recovery, said the inquiry has become “irrelevant and very expensive”.

2. Travellers face strike disruptions

A month-long walkout at the Passport Office is expected to delay more than a million applications, said The Times reports. Additionally, passengers flying from Heathrow could also be disrupted after the Unite union announced security guards would be taking part in a 10-day strike. Meanwhile, railways will be severely disrupted again this weekend after the second 24-hour strike in three days began. Workers at 14 train operators are walking out over a long-running dispute over pay, job cuts and conditions.

3. Budget doesn’t shift public opinion

The public believes the Budget won’t help with the cost of living and will benefit the rich more than the poor, according to a poll for the inews site. The study by BMG Research found that although Rishi Sunak is closing the popularity gap with Sir Keir Starmer, the Tories still trail a long way behind Labour. The polling firm said the Budget was a “qualified success” but warned it “does very little to shift the dial”. The Tories are on 29% and Labour on 46%, putting Sir Keir on course for a landslide general election victory.

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4. MPs pass trophy hunt ban

A minister paid tribute to a lion that was shot dead in Zimbabwe as MPs voted to ban the importation of hunting trophies from big game. Environment minister Trudy Harrison declared that “Cecil the lion has not died in vain”, referring to the 12-year-old lion who was killed in 2015. The Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill will now go before the Lords. Eduardo Goncalves, who set up the Ban Trophy Hunting campaign, hailed a “huge victory”, saying “voiceless animals got a hearing today”.

5. GP closures put elderly at risk

The elderly and vulnerable are at risk after more than 1,200 GP practices closed in eight years, an investigation has found. Official data showed the number of practices in England is now the lowest on record. Leading doctors said the situation had reached a point of “crisis” and Labour said had left many people struggling to see a GP, or having to undertake complicated journeys to do so. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “We’re making progress to help patients see their GP quickly.”

6. London Bridge heroes awarded

Members of the public who tackled the London Bridge attacker in 2019 are among the recipients of the final civilian gallantry awards approved by the late Queen. The list includes a Queen’s Gallantry Medal for Darryn Frost who used a narwhal tusk to fend off Usman Khan. John Rees, who died during a stabbing at the Penygraig Co-op store in Wales, will receive a posthumous Gallantry Medal for his bravery during the incident. Future awards will be approved by King Charles III and will take his name.

7. Biden’s Irish quip backfires

Joe Biden joked that he is “really not Irish” because he does not drink alcohol and his relatives in Ireland were not “in jail”. The US president, whose family emigrated from Ireland to America in the mid-1800s, made the quips as he hosted a Friends of Ireland luncheon for St Patrick’s Day at the US Capitol. The Telegraph said there were “muted laughs” and Indy100 said the jokes were “most inappropriate”.

8. Tory MP faces lobbying probe

The Conservative MP who chairs the Commons health select committee is under investigation over claims he may have broken parliament’s lobbying rules. The parliamentary commissioner for standards has opened an inquiry into Steve Brine, the MP for Winchester, after leaked messages showed Brine had been “trying for months” to contact health bosses while acting as a paid consultant for Remedium Partners. In a statement to The Telegraph, Brine said he had been “responding in the national interest” during a “national crisis”.

9. Anger grows over felled trees

A government agency has admitted that over half a million trees have died beside a single 21-mile stretch of new carriageway. National Highways estimates the cost of replanting the trees at £2.9m. The upgrade of the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon, which cost £1.5bn, saw a number of mature trees destroyed during construction. Meanwhile, Plymouth City Council is facing calls for an independent inquiry into the decisions behind the night-time felling of 110 trees in the city centre.

10. Pilots grounded over ‘immature’ photo

A budget airline in India grounded two of its pilots after they allegedly consumed coffee and pastries inside the cockpit, sparking fears over safety. A photograph showed an uncovered cup placed “dangerously close” to the control levers inside the cockpit, said CNN, adding that the snack break that “could have gone horribly wrong had one of the hot drinks spilled”. Shakti Lumba, a retired pilot, said the “feel-good social media photo-op” from the SpiceJet pilots was “immature” and “undesirable”.