UK 'Unprepared' For Key Security Threats

The UK is unprepared for key threats to national security, according to a committee of Lords and MPs.

In its first report published today, the National Security Strategy (NSS) committee says key oversights include a lack of a long-term strategy over Afghanistan.

It questions why Afghanistan is not featured as part of our National Security Risk Assessment.

The committee's chair Margaret Beckett told Sky News: "The committee was concerned from the beginning that Afghanistan didn't feature in the National Security Strategy, and we were told that was because it was a current issue and the National Security Strategy was for the longer term.

• UK 'Unprepared' For Key Security Threats

"But the committee felt quite strongly that even though a date is set for the withdrawal of British troops, that doesn't mean it will cease to be a matter of national security."

The committee, which includes the former head of MI5, Baroness Manningham-Buller, also suggests a strategy to deal with the eurozone crisis is needed as "a matter of urgency".

It says the collapse of the single currency is "a plausible scenario" which could lead to "domestic and social unrest" as well as a surge of economic migrants.

As for the Arab Spring, the committee suggested the Government has been side-tracked by short-term crisis management dealing with issues like Libya and losing focus on risks over the horizon.

Mrs Beckett said: "The faster the world changes, the more necessary it is not to lose that capacity for long-term thinking. Otherwise you are just stumbling from one crisis to another without regard for where you are trying to get in the long-term. 

"Because the Government hasn't really thought through and identified the long-term goals, when something unexpected comes up like the Arab Spring, like Libya, they don't have a proper context that guides the choices."

The NSS committee also suggested the Government "reflect deeply on its defence partnership with the US".

With Washington focusing away from Europe, the committee said: "It raises fundamental questions if our pre-eminent defence and security relationship is with an ally who has interests which are increasingly divergent from our own.

"The Government needs to decide if the UK will continue to be as involved in US military action as we have in the past if the US focuses on Asia Pacific."

A UK Government spokesman said: "A strategy for Britain's long-term security and prosperity is at the heart of the Government's approach to foreign policy.

"We remain vigilant and regularly take stock of the changing global environment and threats to our security, as well as opportunities for our country to make the most of all its assets and advantages in a networked world."

The NSS committee says the UK's security strategy needs to be subject to a much wider public debate.

Flood Defense Mechanisms are not a Priority to the Government, says PAC

Flood Defense Mechanisms are not a Priority to the Government, says PAC

The U.K. government is not prepared to maintain an efficient flood defence. The government has recently decided to cut funds related to flood defence, highlighting their lack of commitment on this issue.

Though flood defence and protection is a national priority, the government has shown lack of interest and preparedness in maintaining an effective flood resistance system. Climate Change Risk Assessment has maintained that flooding heads the list of the 100 most acute national risks in the country amid climate change.

There is a wide gap between the funds allocated for flood defences and funds actually needed for the protection of 5 million homes. The cost of flood damage is estimated at £1.1 billion per annum, and is expected to rise due to ageing defences and climate change.


Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chair Margaret Hodge has said that protection from floods is a national priority and “the Department of Environment sees more funding coming from local sources”. However, in the current climate this may not continue as both local authorities and businesses are under mounting financial pressure.

Charles Tucker, chair of the National Flood Forum, agrees with PAC and expressed that the government is doing very little to address this cause. He believes this is exposing citizens to greater risk, highlighting that floods will not wait until the country is financially secure before striking.

Margaret Hodge 

In its report, The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has observed that an increase in floods is likely, and damages are expected to amplify by almost 10 times.

Prime Minister David Cameron and environment secretary Caroline Spelman are aware of the risks, but the coalition government has slashed the budget by 27% during its first year in office. About 1,000 schemes have not been implemented due to lack of funds. The government has failed to provide a solution that guarantees access to flood prevention measures. This has left people vulnerable as the existing arrangements are due to expire in mid-2013 and the insurance industry has declared that households may not be able to insure themselves thereafter.

The government’s lukewarm approach has prompted The Association of British Insurers to publish the location of houses that are at extreme risk from floods, which may not receive assistance unless the government reacts proactively and comes up with an affordable financial scheme.

Source: eGov Monitor
Published Thursday, 2 February 2012 - 10:44

Fears 'thousands of elderly may die' as temperatures plummet across Britain

Fears 'thousands of elderly may die' as temperatures plummet across Britain

Thousands of people could die as the big freeze keeps a tight grip on the UK, the Department of Health fears.

While the mercury continues to plummet every day, the Department has estimated that the excess death toll could be as many as 1,560 per week with the elderly – especially women and hospital patients – the most vulnerable in adverse weather conditions.

Professor Dame Sally Davies, the Department of Health’s chief medical officer and chief scientific adviser, said in a report: “Mortality rises by 19% in winter months in England, amounting to 27,000 excess deaths or 1,560 more people per week.”

Forecasters predict that by Friday the country will see temperatures as low as -10°C at night – with sub-zero temperatures lasting through February.


©Press Association 2012

EU summit: UK and Czechs refuse to join fiscal compact

EU summit: UK and Czechs refuse to join fiscal compact

The Czech Republic has joined Britain in refusing to sign a controversial EU treaty which proposed handing more powers to Brussels.

25 out of the 27 member countries have signed the new pact which is aimed is aimed at stopping overspending by eurozone countries. Its is hoped that the agreement will reassure investors that lessons have been learned in the current debt crisis.

EU leaders met in December but have struggled to implement fiscal harmony

Mr Cameron had said in December that the UK would not sign the new pact designed to shore up the eurozone. And today at a summit in Brussels, France's president Nicolas Sarkozy said the Czech Republic did not join for constitutional reasons.

At the talks, EU leaders admitted there were no "quick fixes" to the continent's sovereign debt woes but they promised to stimulate growth and create jobs. Approximately there are 23 million unemployed people in Europe.  The EU leaders pledged they must "do more to get Europe out of this crisis" as they pledged to offer more training to young people in their search for work.

They also pledged to reduce barriers to doing business across the EU's 27 countries, and ensure small firms have access to credit but there was no offer any new financial stimulus.

Over the course of Europe's two-year debt crisis, leaders have repeatedly tried to reassure investors by pledging to cut spending and reduce their deficits. But those austerity measures have hurt growth, and Europe is now facing a new recession.

Ex-Army chief in Falklands warning

Ex-Army chief in Falklands warning.

British armed forces would be unable to reclaim the Falkland Islands if they were seized by Argentina, the former head of the Army has said.

General Sir Mike Jackson believes the demise of jets capable of launching from aircraft carriers would make it "just about impossible" to recover key strategic strongholds.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Sir Mike said British defences on the Falklands have improved "by a factor of several tens" since 1982. But the 67-year-old conceded losing the islands - which Argentina calls the Malvinas - is not out of the question, saying, "never say never".

He told the newspaper: "The official answer will be that it would not be possible for the Argentinians to gain a foothold on the islands, in particular to take Mount Pleasant airfield, which is key to the British defence plan.

"We have a large international-sized airfield to allow for very rapid reinforcement by air, should circumstances so require. But I suppose I have learned in life, never say never. What if an Argentinian force was able to secure the airfield? Then our ability to recover the islands now would be just about impossible.

General Sir Mike Jackson has said British armed
forces would be unable to reclaim the
Falkland Islands if they were seized by Argentina

"We are not in a position to take air power by sea since the demise of the Harrier force."

Tensions have been mounting between Argentina and the UK following months of escalating rhetoric. Buenos Aires reacted angrily in 2010 when Britain allowed offshore drilling for oil in the islands' waters, and the Argentinians were also irritated by the recent announcement of Prince William's forthcoming RAF posting to the islands.

The latest volley of comments has seen the South American country's president, Cristina Fernandez, hitting back at David Cameron, who accused Argentina of colonialism. She said: "When they say these things it's exactly because they don't have reasons or arguments."

Asked about job cuts in the armed forces, Sir Mike said the fewer numbers were not too much of a problem as long as the UK is not engaged in a one-on-one battle with another country. "This will be the smallest Army since the Napoleonic wars, he said. "My understanding is that we're heading for 82,000.

"Right now there is no existential threat to the UK. It's very hard to see when we would be involved in state-on-state warfare which threatens the existence of this country. If that were to happen, there would be time to move back to where we used to be."


© Press Association 2012

EU and US economic leaders spar at Davos

EU and US economic leaders spar at Davos 

Key policy-makers from Europe and the United States thrashed out ideas for pulling the eurozone out of its debt crisis at the Davos forum on Friday, days ahead of a key European summit.

While cloistered in a snow-bound conference centre high in the Swiss Alps, the global political and business elite had one eye on Greece, hoping that a long-awaited deal to write down its debt might at last fall into place.

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is in talks with banks and insurers on a voluntary exchange of bonds that would wipe 100 billion euros ($130 billion) off the country's debt of 350 billion euros.

The deal under discussion would see private creditors take a "haircut" of at least 50 percent on 200 billion euros in debt. Previous talks stalled over the amount of interest to be paid on the remaining debt.

Any failure to strike a deal could trigger a messy default, which would be an economic disaster for Greece itself, a threat to banks holding too much sovereign debt and pile on the pressure on other eurozone state.

World markets and delegates in Davos have begun to show signs of cautious optimism that a deal is near, and that Monday's EU summit will draw a line under the debt crisis and allow governments to move on to pro-growth measures.

The finance ministers of Germany and France and the head of the European Central Bank were in Davos to debate strategy and defend the beleaguered single currency area after it was attacked by Britain's leader.

They will all then meet again on Monday in Brussels for the latest in a series of high stakes EU summits, the bloc's first since Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit rating of a slew of eurozone member states.

And US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was to debate the outlook for world economy after the Obama administration acknowledged that the eurozone slump is undermining American growth ahead of the November election.

The annual forum has been marked by gloom about the state of the global economy, and in particular about Europe's struggle to cope with yawning public deficits while at the same time seeking growth and jobs.

The euro has been under pressure -- amid fears that Greece or even eventually a giant like Spain or Italy could default on its debts -- and the 17-nation bloc's economy in on the brink of renewed recession.

A fortnight after France was stripped of its triple A credit rating, Finance Minister Francois Baroin will join his German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble in a debate entitled: "How will the eurozone emerge from the euro crisis?"

After the Friday the 13th downgrade by Standard and Poor's, Baroin said the development was "not a catastrophe" and insisted that the government rather than the ratings agencies would decide French policy.

But the Davos meeting has reverberated with calls for eurozone nations to act decisively to restore confidence, Canada's leader Stephen Harper said that Europe's capitals have been guilty of complacency.

British Prime Minister David Cameron also piled on the pressure, reviving his simmering feud with the rest of Europe on Thursday by savaging France and Germany's plans for a new financial transactions tax.

"Even to be considering this at a time when we are struggling to get our economies growing is quite simply madness," he declared.

The eurozone has caused alarm far beyond the continent and Mexican President Felipe Calderon used his speech Thursday to urge Europe to "bring out the bazooka immediately" to prevent the problem from sinking Italy and Spain.

"It is necessary to bring out the bazooka immediately, before the gunpowder gets wet," said Calderon, who holds the rotating chair of G20 world powers.

"Don't forget that we are in the same boat. It is not just a question of a possible implosion of the euro, but a crisis across the world."

Geithner's address comes a day after the Federal Reserve cut its US growth forecast to 2.2-2.7 percent, about one-quarter percentage point below the previous forecasts, citing the eurozone crisis.

"We continue to see headwinds coming from Europe," Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said at a news conference.

The third day of the Davos gathering also focused on events in the Middle East and North Africa, with an address from Hamadi Jebali, the post-revolution Islamist premier of Tunisia, and a debate on Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Jebali's appearance is designed to imbue a rare spirit of optimism but he will speak just as eyes will be turned towards the head of the UN's atomic watchdog as he discusses the implications of Iran acquiring a nuclear bomb.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano will be joined at the debate by Ehud Barak, the defence minister of Iran's arch foe Israel.

Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.

UK signs ACTA as activists urge resistance

The UK and 21 other European Union member states have signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, better known as ACTA.

The countries signed the treaty, which aims to harmonise copyright enforcement across much of the world, in Tokyo on Thursday. However, the signatures of the EU member states and the EU itself will count for nothing unless the European Parliament gives its approval to ACTA in June, and digital activists have urged citizens to lobby their MEPs against voting yes.

Only five EU countries did not sign ACTA, which aims to harmonise copyright enforcement.

Poland, which was one of the signatories, saw thousands demonstrate in the streets on Wednesday, protesting against the signing.

An EU diplomat also added his signature. However, five EU countries did not sign, namely Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, Cyprus and Slovakia. Many other countries, such as the US, Japan and Australia, signed the document in September.

Although ACTA is primarily concerned with the enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR), its designation as a trade treaty meant it could be negotiated behind closed doors. This lengthy process, led by the US and Japan, was exposed in a series of leaks — some via Wikileaks — that revealed what was going on.

The final version of ACTA is very different to earlier drafts, which would have forced countries to disconnect internet users if they were found to be repeatedly sharing copyrighted content. TheEU rejected this proposal, and other ideas, such as criminalising the use of a mobile phone camera in a cinema, also fell by the wayside.

The European Commission maintains that ACTA will not require any legal changes in the Union. It argues that the treaty will align IPR enforcement standards in other countries with those already enshrined in EU legislation.

"It simply does not change EU law," trade commission spokesman John Clancy told ZDNet UK. "The freedom of the internet that existed before — people's access and the way they use the internet — will not change because of ACTA."

"The ACTA agreement is about trying to bring other key partners' standards of intellectual property protection up to the level of the EU and other leading players in IPR," he said.

Threat to freedom of speech?

Others say the toned-down treaty still poses a threat. La Quadrature du Net, for example, has complained that ACTA will lead to harsher copyright infringement laws in non-EU countries lacking the freedom-of-speech safeguards of the EU. The French digital rights organisation has also argued that the agreement will make it harder to make and distribute generic medicines.

"In the last few days, we have seen encouraging protests by Polish and other EU citizens, who are rightly concerned with the effect of ACTA on freedom of expression, access to medicines, but also access to culture and knowledge," La Quad spokesman Jérémie Zimmermann said in a statement.

"This important movement will further build up," Zimmermann added, noting the defeat in the US of the SOPA and PIPA copyright enforcement bills. "European citizens must reclaim democracy, against the harmful influence of corporate interests over global policy-making."

European Parliament vote

Regardless of the signatures that took place on Thursday, ACTA will not become EU law if the European Parliament votes against it in June. Should this happen, the signatures of the 22 EU member states and the EU itself would effectively be worthless.

The treaty will first have to be discussed by the EU International Trade Committee (INTA) at the end of February or in early March, then voted on by INTA in April or May.

The key final plenary vote is scheduled to take place in the European Parliament between 11 and 14 June. Until then, according to MEP and INTA member Marietje Schaake, the "confidence boost" following the defeat of SOPA and PIPA may provide a chance to head the new treaty off.

Read this

Web takedowns come under EU scrutiny

Read more

"If you are concerned about ACTA, you can convince the EP to vote against ACTA," Schaake noted on Wednesday in aReddit post. "In November 2010 we proposed an alternative resolution on ACTA, which intended to take away the main concerns. It was voted down by a very slight majority [... ] the difference is only 16 votes, out of 736 (or 754 as it stands now)."

"I believe internet offers tremendous opportunities to bring makers of music, film and other cultural content closer to audiences at lower prices," Schaake wrote. "However, while Europe offers the most attractive and diverse content in the world, much of it is locked behind fragmented copyright laws. Instead of focusing on enforcement, we must focus on reform, while keeping in mind that it is not the government's job to preserve certain business models against the forces of the free market."

Commission spokesman Clancy also pointed to the importance of the creative industries to the EU economy, referring to intellectual property as "Europe's raw material".

However, while Clancy said the Commission urged MEPs to back ACTA, he conceded that "if they say no, it's entirely rejected — it's back to the drawing board".

"The signature ceremony in Tokyo was just another step in the procedure that allows ACTA to now be taken to the European Parliament for a free, open and vigorous debate that we fully support," he said.


Originally posted: http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/networking/2012/01/26/uk-signs-acta-as-activists-urge-resistance-40094914/

Brits Warned Flooding Set To Affect Millions

Flooding will be Britain's biggest climate risk with almost five million people to be affected over the next 100 years, a report has revealed.

Heavier rainfall predicted in a warmer atmosphere will cause more floods, worsening damage and disruption to infrastructure and property, it said.

The Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) found that if no further action is taken to address climate change, the annual flood damage bill to buildings could rise to £12bn by the 2080s, compared to the current costs of £1.2bn.

And at-risk properties may face issues with the availability of insurance and mortgages, the report said.

The research, published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs , highlights the top 100 effects of global warming and their expected impact on the UK.

It is the first comprehensive assessment of the risks of climate change to Britain - and is designed to act as a planning tool for the government, local authorities and the private sector.

The Government-funded study also predicts extreme weather events - like the 2007 summer floods and the snowfall last year that cost £600m a day - will increase significantly.

It projected that the number of days a year temperatures will rise above 26C will jump from 18 days to between 27 and 121 days in London by the 2080s, adding that the higher summer temperatures could see heat-related deaths rise to 6,000 by the 2050s.

Other risks include an increase in water shortages, with a potential deficit of between 773 and 2,570 million litres of water a day in the Thames river basin - up from a shortfall of 59 million litres a day currently.

Brits Warned Flooding Set To Affect Millions

Rising sea levels could hit natural assets such as beaches and buildings including tourist attractions and historical monuments, with knock-on impacts for businesses that rely on them.

But it is not all doom and gloom. Warmer winters will reduce the number of deaths caused by the cold by 24,000 by the 2050s.

The report also foresees opportunities to grow new crops as well as to open up a new container shipping route through the melted Arctic ice, improving trade links with Asia and the Pacific.

Secretary of State for Defra, Caroline Spelman, told Sky News, "This is a groundbreaking piece of research which means we have a much better understanding now of the risks, but also the opportunities, that climate change will bring.

Brits Warned Flooding Set To Affect Millions

"And it will allow us now to develop a national adaptation plan so we can deal with those risks and take advantage of those opportunities by working together with everyone to deal with this challenge in the future."

However, critics say there are too many uncertainties to take the assessment seriously.

Lord Lawson from the Climate Change Foundation described the predictions as "guesstimates" that are based on computer model projections that are "wrong".

"No one knows what will happen over the next 100 years," he added.

The report's chief scientific advisor, Bob Watson, said the assessment is "probably the best in the world" but he admitted "there are some uncertainties".

The Climate Change Risk Assessment is the first in a series and will be updated every five years.

First UK marine energy park to be built in south west

Wind turbines are seen
in a wind park off the coast
of Ijmuiden, in a file photo.
 REUTERS/ Michael Kooren

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's first marine energy park will be developed in the south west of the country, in a bid to speed up the commercial expansion of the wave and tidal industry from 2020, the government said on Monday.

Over the past seven years, over 100 million pounds have been invested in the south west marine energy industry.

The park will stretch from Bristol to Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The first commercial wave farms of 10 to 30 megawatts (MW) will be located off the north Cornish coast.

From 2018, larger wave farms of 100 MW or more could be put in deeper water, a document by developers Regen SW showed.

The Isles of Scilly have the potential to provide the islands with self-sufficient energy or export back to the mainland.

A report by the Offshore Renewables Resource Assessment and Development project estimates that over 1,240 MW of wave energy projects could be developed by 2030.

"This figure could be considerably higher if wave energy technology is successful in driving down costs to become competitive with offshore wind and to make it economically viable to exploit resources greater than 50 km from shore," the document said.

The government said wave or tidal energy has the potential to generate up to 27 gigawatts of power in the UK alone by 2050, equivalent to eight coal-fired power stations.

"Marine power has huge potential in the UK not just in contributing to a greener electricity supply and cutting emissions, but in supporting thousands of jobs in a sector worth a possible 15 billion pounds to the economy to 2050," said Greg Barker, energy and climate minister.

Last year, the government said it planned to double financial support for wave and tidal stream technologies.

©Reuters

UK unlocks 7 billion pounds for green networks

Britain on Monday sped up its work to connect soaring numbers of renewable energy projects to the electricity grid as regulator Ofgem unlocked 7.7 billion pounds of investment for Scottish network operators to modernise their high-speed grids.

Ofgem allowed utilities Scottish Power and SSE to make transmission charges of an initial 2.9 billion pounds between 2013-2021, with a further 4.7 billion pounds chargeable over the period if needed for additional projects approved by the regulator.

The charges will cost consumers 35 pence more per year as transmission charges make up around 2-3 percent of household energy bills, Ofgem said.

The regulator, which has the power to limit the amount of money operators can charge for transporting energy, sped up its so-called price control decision to help companies deal quickly with a growing amount of renewable energy projects.

The proposal is subject to a consultation period.

"The fast-tracked companies can now benefit from the swiftness of the process and concentrate on delivering efficient network improvements for consumers," said Hannah Nixon, Ofgem's senior partner in charge of the price control process.

SSE will receive 5.1 billion pounds and Scottish Power around 2.6 billion pounds in revenue from transmission charges, Ofgem added.

Scottish Power said it will use the money to connect around 11 gigawatts (GW) in offshore and onshore wind power projects and to double electricity export capacity on cables between Scotland and England, among other projects.

"This investment will create up to 1,500 new jobs and deliver plans to connect enough green energy for 6 million homes," said Frank Mitchell, chief executive of Scottish Power Energy Networks.

The other owner of high-voltage electricity networks in Scotland, National Grid, which was not fast-tracked, will find out about its separate allowed transmission charges for 2013 later this year, Ofgem said.

The majority of new renewable energy projects, especially wind farms, will be located in the windier regions of Scotland, while most of Britain's energy is consumed in the south, creating a challenge for electricity transmission.

Britain aims to produce 15 percent of its energy from renewable energy sources by the end of the decade, which, on the back of government incentives, has spurred a high increase in green energy projects.

E-petitions website 'misleading

The Government's e-petitions site is "misleading" people about their chances of influencing policy, MPs have said.

The website creates "unrealistically high" expectations for the impact of submissions and should be changed, according to the Commons Procedure Committee.

The e-petitions system was set up by the coalition last summer to make it easier for the public to make representations. When more than 100,000 signatures have been gathered, the House's Backbench Business Committee is notified and has the power to timetable a parliamentary debate.

So far discussions have been triggered on issues such as stripping benefits from rioters, disclosing official documents about the Hillsborough disaster and scrapping fuel duty rises.

In a report, the Procedure Committee said it welcomed the scheme's potential for engaging the public. It called for more parliamentary time to be allocated for debates on e-petitions, suggesting additional sessions could take place between 4.30pm and 7.30pm on Mondays in Westminster Hall.

However, the MPs also criticised the website for stating that e-petitions were "an easy way for you to influence government policy". They agreed with the chair of the Backbench Business Committee, Natascha Engel, that the wording was "deeply misleading".

"It is wrong for the Government to raise petitioners' expectations of the e-petitions process to unrealistically high levels," the report said. "E-petitions may be an easy way to raise awareness of an issue, to receive a response from the Government to a particular concern, or even to have a matter debated in Parliament. They are not, and should not be claimed to be, an easy way to change Government policy or legislation."

A report has called for more parliamentary time to be allocated for debates on e-petitions

The committee proposed changing the site's wording to "an easy way for you to make sure your concerns are heard by Government and Parliament". They also voiced concerns about the statement that e-petitions collecting more than 100,000 signatures would be "eligible for debate in the House of Commons". Instead the line should say that when the threshold is reached "the Government will ask the Backbench Business Committee of the House of Commons to consider scheduling a debate on it in the House".

Responding to the report, Leader of the Commons Sir George Young said the system had been a "great success", adding: "More than three million people have signed e-petitions since the system was set up, and it has enabled the strong views of hundreds of thousands of them to be debated by MPs in the House of Commons. It is clear that several of these debates have had a real influence over Government policy.

"We welcome the report of the Procedure Committee as a valuable contribution towards improving the public's engagement with the work of the Commons. We will consider the detailed recommendations of the committee's report in that context, and issue a response in the usual way in due course."