The former prime minister has pleaded with her party to provide an “orderly transition”, amid fears the upcoming leadership contest could become messy.
The Prime Minister is right to provide a roadmap for an orderly transition.
MPs must now be prepared to compromise. It is our duty to provide sensible, competent government at this critical moment for our country.
Other Conservative MPs have shared similar thoughts this afternoon – including Justin Tomlinson, who said this was the “last-chance saloon” for the party to maintain credibility.
A vicious leadership contest would further divide an already split party that is about to see its third prime minister in the space of a few months.
The programme, according to the government and organisers, has expanded employment possibilities and access to culture in more than 100 towns, cities, and villages across the United Kingdom.
An investigation has been launched into the £120m “festival of Brexit” amid concerns visitor numbers were less than 1% of early targets.
A cross-party parliamentary committee has asked the National Audit Office (NAO), the public spending watchdog, to look into how the project was managedto “help get to the bottom of how so much taxpayer money could be frittered away for so little return”.
Originally unveiled in 2018 by Theresa May as Festival UK 2022 – it was supposed to be a nationwide celebration of creativity following the departure from the EU.
Jacob Rees-Mogg dubbed it the “Festival of Brexit“ before it was rebranded as the Unboxed festival.
However, earlier this year Politics Home reported that the festival – which is supposed to evoke the spirit of the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the 1951 Festival of Britain – had received 238,000 visitors compared with organizers’ initial “stretch target” of 66 million.
And last month the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMS) called for the investigation after finding it to be an “irresponsible use of public money” and criticising its planning as a “recipe for failure”.
Its chairman, the Conservative MP Julian Knight, said: “That such an exorbitant amount of public cash has been spent on a so-called celebration of creativity that has barely failed to register in the public consciousness raises serious red flags about how the project has been managed from conception through to delivery.
Image:People at the opening of PoliNations in Birmingham’s Victoria Square
Calling for the investigation in September, Mr Knight said the design and delivery of the festival “have been an unadulterated shambles”.
“The paltry numbers attracted to the festival despite such a hefty investment highlight just what an excessive waste of money the whole project has been,” he added.
The NAO’s comptroller and auditor general Gareth Davies has proposed a “short, focused report on Unboxed” which could be completed and published by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, the government and organisers claim the programme has reached every part of the UK, in more than 100 towns, cities, and villages, spreading work, and opportunities and opening up access to culture.
A spokesperson for the Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport(DCMS) said: “More than four million people have engaged in Unboxed programming so far and these numbers are set to rise further.”
Image:The SEE MONSTER is a decommissioned North Sea offshore platform that has been transformed into one of Unboxed’s largest public art installations
And a spokesperson for Unboxed: Creativity in the UK said: “The numbers reported misrepresent the public engagement with Unboxed and reflect attendance at only eight of the 107 physical locations within the programme.
“Unboxed’s art, science, and tech commissions have been presented in over 100 towns, cities and villages, engaged millions across live and digital and employed thousands of creatives around the UK.
Who can skip the line to pay their respects to the late Queen has sparked a dispute.
MPs and House of Lords members can each bring four guests to the lying-in-state without having to wait in line.
The majority of Parliamentary staff can also bypass the lines, although MP staffers are required to wait in line.
Contractors working for Parliament are required to wait up alongside cleaners and security personnel, prompting complaints that they are being treated like “second class citizens.”
There are hundreds of cleaners working across theParliamentary estate.An estimated 160 of their jobs have been outsourced. Because they don’t work directly for the parliamentary administration, they will not be entitled to gain access to the fast-track queue.
The PCS trade union said it was “time for them to be treated as equals”.
Shortly before 10:00 this morning, the government announced that the public queue was being paused for at least six hours after reaching capacity.
Mourners have been warned not to try to join the queue before 16:00 at the earliest.
The official estimate for queuing time has risen to at least 14 hours.
Former prime minister Theresa May, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, and deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner are among the MPs who have attended the lying-in-state at Westminster Hall.
Members of the public are able to attend 24 hours a day until 06:30 BST on Monday – the day of the Queen’s funeral – but the queue will close before then to ensure as many people as possible can get in.
‘Second-class citizens’
Many have waited more than eight hours for the opportunity to pay their respects.
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS union, which represents civil and public servants as well as private sector workers on government contracts, said: “It’s symbolic that hard-working security guards, cleaners, and catering staff in Parliament are treated as second-class citizens.
“As we usher in a new era, it’s time for them to be treated as equals and at least given a pay rise to help them through the cost-of-living crisis and beyond.”
Those who work for MPs or peers must also queue with the public to attend the lying-in-state.
One MP staff member said many were upset by this, adding: “We’ve seen in the parliamentary response to a succession of scandals involving the bullying and sexual harassment of MPs’ staff that we are treated as an after-thought, and this is yet another example.”
According to an internal House of Commons memo, leaked to The Spectator, MPs’ staff have been told that “it is not possible to open up access further without the risk of impacting access for queuing members of the public”.
Some of the members of the public who had waited for several hours to pay their respects were infuriated by the fact MPs and peers were allowed to take four guests with them when they skipped the public queue.
“Personally, I think it’s outrageous,” said Christina from Balham in south London. ”I can understand that for security reasons MPs might not want to stand in the public queue but they shouldn’t be able to take four guests in and neither should the peers.”
Louise, from Keston in south-east London, also said she felt this was unfair, adding: “This day is supposed to be for the people.”
But other people who had just emerged from Westminster Hall did not mind.
“I’m not bothered, it’s one of the perks of their job,” said Alan, from Kent. He and his wife Sue were pleased to have progressed along the queue in five hours.
Alan and Sally Prince from London also said they ”weren’t fussed”, in part because they had really enjoyed being in the queue. “The atmosphere was fun. It felt like the nation was coming together,” they said.
