7 bits of dangerous information rushed out as Parliament breaks up for Christmas

Come they told me pa-rum-pum-pum-pum, A news black hole to see pa-rum-pum-pum-pum

Our bags of trash we bring pa-rum-pum-pum-pum, Rum-pum-pum-pum, rum-pum-pum-pum

Peace on Earth can it be? Labour in power, diff’rent they’ll be

Surely they’ll not bury, All the news… that they know… nobody, Will be reading in Christmas week

Peace on Earth, Can it be?

Mister Starmer must be aware, Despite his vict’ry it’s only fair,

Fair to give him the scrutiny, That we would have giv’n Tories too.

I pray my wish will come true,

That my news desk, and your desk too, Will save some space for stories.

For all the news… that they dump… at the end…

Of a Friday night.

Peace on Earth, Bury bad news, Bury bad news…

1. Cash ‘clearly not’ going to fix all potholes

The Government had a Christmas present for councils – the allocations of cash for fixing Britain’s pothole-ridden roads. But the Transport Secretary admitted that the new funding was “clearly not” going to fix every pothole around the country.

Today, Heidi Alexander said Labour had announced a “very significant increase” in road repairs funding compared to the Tories. But she said: “I’m not pretending it’s going to sort every single pothole in every corner of the country, because it’s clearly not. But we had to reverse this decade of decline we have seen under investment on our roads for years and years.”

Her admission came only hours after Keir Starmer urged councils to “get on with the job” as ministers announced plans to fill in seven million holes next year.

The Department for Transport (DFT) said the investment, which takes the total fund for repairs to £1.6bn, goes way beyond the Labour’s manifesto promise to fix one million potholes. The Treasury announced in the Budget in October that total local road maintenance funding in 2025/26 will be nearly £1.6 billion, representing a £500million uplift compared with the previous 12 months.

While this is a lot of cash, the cost of bringing pothole-plagued local roads in England and Wales up to scratch has been estimated at £16.3 billion. The Asphalt Industry Alliance said after the Budget that the funding announced “falls short of the long-term funding horizon the sector has been calling for”.

2. NHS staff hit with hefty parking bills

NHS data released on Thursday, as MPs sat for their final day of Parliament before Christmas, showed health workers are being slapped with hefty car parking bills at hospitals. Low-paid NHS workers paid more than £70million in parking charges last year.

Martin Jackson, a nurse at Barnsley Hospital, told the Mirror that NHS workers are already “trying to keep our heads above water” as winter pressures hit without “disheartening” parking costs.

The 60-year-old has to stump up £30 a month to park – with consultants or those who can afford more paying around double that. He told the Mirror: “It’s disheartening. You feel devalued because your own company you’re working for has its own private little taxing system.”

GMB union has long campaigned for parking at its members’ places of work to be free in England – as it mostly is in Scotland and Wales. Ministers are under pressure to block NHS trusts from making overworked staff pay parking charges.

3. WASPI women ‘betrayed’

A major row erupted this week as the Government was accused of a “betrayal” of the WASPI women. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall stunned MPs by refusing to pay compensation to more than 3.5 million women who lost out on state pension payments when their retirement age was raised. Campaigners were shocked by the announcement, which came after a number of senior figures, including Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves backed the campaign in opposition.

Leaked WhatsApp messages, published by The Times, showed Labour MPs voicing their anger at the decision. Sarah Champion, chairwoman of the International Development Committee, said: “Why was it decided to announce this before recess, when journalist[s] are bored and everyone is spending time with their grannie — have we not learnt from WFP [winter fuel payment] announcement??”

Michelle Scrogham, MP for Barrow & Furness, added: “I was elected under a banner of integrity. I stood shoulder to shoulder with these women and promised to fight for them as did many of us. My integrity is worth more than this.”

4. PM admits it will ‘take time’ for people to feel better off

Keir Starmer told the Liaison Committee on the last day before the Christmas recess that the economy is still in a state, and it will take a while to fix.

“We’ve had a decade – slightly more – of stagnant growth or low growth and we’ve got to turn that around,” he said, pleading for patience. It will take some time, of course it will. One of the biggest mistakes, I think, in the last 14 years was the idea that everything could be fixed by Christmas. It can’t.”

5. Surveys reveal people worried about cost of living

Surveys published by the Office for National Statistics revealed some worrying trends. More than half (56%) of Brits say their cost of living has increased compared to one month ago.

Of these, 72% said their gas or electricity bills have increased, 92% their food shops costs have gone up, 41% said their fuel prices had increased and 15% said their rent or mortgages costs had gone up. Mr Starmer has promised to put more money in people’s pockets and raise people’s living standards as part of his Plan for Change.

On average, people rated their satisfaction with their lives as only 6.9 out of 10 and that they would rate themselves 4 out of 10 in being anxious – where a rating of 10 is completely anxious and 0 is not anxious at all. Brits also only gave a rating of 6.6 out of 10 when asked how hopeful they feel about their future.

When it comes to the NHS, 23% of those on waiting list had been waiting more than 12 months – with 12% waiting more than a year and a half. A quarter of people on waiting lists had suffered a hospital appointment being canceller or delayed in the last year. The PM has pledged to cut waiting list times but fears have been raised about he will achieve his goal.

6. ‘Bonkers’ water bills increase

Huge water bill hikes were announced on Thursday – with some areas hit worse than others. Regulator Ofwat announced Southern Water customers will face a 53% increase in bills over the next five years – significantly higher than the average bill increase of 36% across England and Wales.

It came after Southern Water experienced technical issues on Wednesday and Thursday, leaving many customers without water. One of those affected Jill Woolger, 66, a retired nurse from Dibden Perlieu near the New Forest, said she had been without water for over a day and had not received any bottled water deliveries. The retired nurse, who has ulcerative colitis, an autoimmune condition affecting her bowels, called the increase in water bill charges “bonkers”.

A Department for Environment spokesman said: “The water minister Emma Hardy has met with the chief executive of Southern Water to make sure the company is taking urgent steps to support residents and resolve the issue as soon as possible. Incidents like this are why we are forcing water companies to double the compensation provided to customers for supply issues.

“We are also carrying out a full review of the sector to shape further legislation that will transform how our water system works, increasing investment to upgrade crumbling infrastructure and strengthening regulation to better hold companies to account.”

7. *Another* consultation launched

Labour have come under fire for commissioning around 70 reviews, consultations and taskforces since being elected to power – and on Thursday, they launched another consultation. The PM has defended his government’s strategy – arguing that ministers must dig into the dire inheritance left behind by the Tories.

On the last day of Parliament, ministers set out new plans to make it easier for councils to buy land from owners who don’t want to sell. The Government said it was launching an eight-week consultation on the policy.

It said efforts to build more homes are hampered by “unrealistic compensation expectations” from landlords. Ministers are looking at ways of ensuring these landowners sell for less than they would want to – a move that will boost efforts to build 1.5million homes without affecting the Green Belt.