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  • Kevin let his “mates” takes the fall»

    Inside Labor’s leadership meltdown

    Linda Silmalis and Samantha Maiden
    The Sunday Telegraph
    March 24, 201312:00AM

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    Julia Gillard in question time on Thursday, just before the spill that never was. Source: The Sunday Telegraph

    “UNDERSTAND the thunderbolt that occurred,” Kevin Rudd says of the moment Simon Crean went on national television to demand the Prime Minister call a leadership spill.

    It was about 1pm, Thursday, March 21, the moment Rudd insists that Crean “spontaneously combusted”.

    In the Mural Hall of parliament, Crean, a former Labor leader, fronted the cameras to reveal that he had visited the Prime Minister in her office and told her to stand down.

    Crean had championed and mentored Julia Gillard during the Beazley years. Now, he sought to terminate her prime ministership.

    But Rudd insists he had no idea what Crean was about to “tap” the Prime Minister, the method used in 1991 to rip down Bob Hawke.

    “Nobody knew he was going out,” Rudd tells Agenda. “Between 1.30pm and 3.30pm, you are trying to work out which way is up.”

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    JULIA Gillard and Kevin Rudd supporters both need to wise up to exactly what happened on Thursday, and why it happened.
    ..

    Privately, some Rudd supporters are calling Crean “The Unabomber”.

    But the truth is more complex.

    For his part, Crean is disgusted. The Rudd plotters were disorganised, he says, and their candidate gutless.

    “Chris Bowen was urging me on Thursday morning to bring it on quickly,” Crean tells Agenda.

    “They seek to blame me now? They’re good,” he chuckles. “I got involved with what I believed to be the best interests of the Labor Party.”

    Rudd and Crean were an unlikely leadership duo. After all, it was Crean who helped precipitate the premature 2012 leadership spill when he lashed out on radio at Rudd’s failings.

    But, behind the scenes, Crean had been bagging Gillard over how she ran cabinet before the 2012 leadership ballot, and enthusiastically resumed transmission after she won. Gillard was flawed, he argued, and her fortunes would only improve if she listened to him.

    Crean had been encouraged to run as deputy Labor leader by cabinet ministers Martin Ferguson and Chris Bowen. He was supposed to spark the leadership coup but went rogue on the timing. When he visited the Prime Minister, effectively telegraphing his punches, he didn’t tell the Rudd camp. Then he held his press conference despite Rudd’s entreaties to check with him first.

    Crean and Rudd had held face-to-face talks twice in the lead-up to the foiled leadership spill. The first meeting was late last week, the second on Tuesday night. At that meeting, Crean again told Rudd he wanted the job as his deputy.

    With Bowen as a witness, Rudd insists he told him he could not deliver him the job. “It was completely initiated by Simon,” Rudd says. “And I did not support it.”

    Anthony Albanese, one of the few Rudd backers not to quit the front bench, was on a promise to become his deputy, Rudd insists. “Look mate, I can’t do that,” Rudd told Crean. But Joel Fitzgibbon and Bowen decided to back Crean as deputy prime minister. What they didn’t appear to have done was tell Rudd.

    “Albo released them from any agreement to install him a deputy,” a Rudd camp insider says. Albanese’s view was that if push came to shove in a ballot, he could beat Crean, but he wasn’t prepared to play an instigator’s role, as Crean ultimately did.

    On Thursday, after Question Time, Albanese advised Rudd he did not have the numbers. “This is madness,” he told Rudd.

    The party whip Joel Fitzgibbon admits the numbers were finely balanced, the Rudd backers had 47 or 46 votes in the ALP caucus, close to a majority, but not enough.

    Crean argued Rudd could not be resurrected unless he promised to change. Rudd needed to be a different, more inclusive leader and the Victorian argued he was an insurance policy, just the deputy, to ensure that that happened.

    Rudd admits he sent Crean a frantic text message on Thursday morning after hearing he had fronted the Prime Minister in her office the night before.

    Rudd’s text message was sent at 9.20am on Thursday. It read: “Gidday, Simon. I’m told you saw the PM last night. If that’s so and if it in any way touches the leadership, and if you are making any public comments, please give me a call beforehand. My position is as before. All the best, Kevin.”

    Rudd’s message was that his public declaration that he would not challenge had not changed. Only a clear majority would get him over the line to be “drafted”.

    But Crean never called Rudd back. Instead he called his press conference and went bananas. All of his pent up frustration with Gillard and Wayne Swan’s leadership and the lack of trust in cabinet processes tumbled out.

    “People have got to believe we have conviction, that we believe in what we stand for, there is a coherence of message and we are determined to pursue it,” Crean said.

    “I get so many people in frustration to me saying, ‘We are not going to allow that man (Tony Abbott) to lead this country are we?’ We’ve got to change it. I hope this circuit-breaker does this.”

    During the confrontation with the PM the night before, Crean told Gillard her excuses about Labor’s dire poll numbers were about destabilisation. Leaking was a cop out. “You need to look at your own performance,” he said.

    Victorians Kim Carr and Martin Ferguson, who lost their ministry jobs over the coup, insist Crean acted with honour, a reluctant conscript to giving the Labor Party the best chance at the next election.

    “Simon Crean did a very courageous thing but no one followed him,” Senator Carr says.

    Ferguson, a respected party veteran, quit his post not under the threat of sacking but despair over Labor. He urged the party to dump the class-warfare rhetoric embraced by Swan and Gillard’s British communications guru John McTernan.

    Defending himself against allegations he chickened out, Rudd insists that it was his own supporters who insisted he should not run.

    “I gathered my key friends and ministerial colleagues together … after Simon Crean’s statement and I asked for their views,” Rudd said on Friday. “I asked Chris Bowen for his views. I asked Anthony Albanese for his views. I asked Joel Fitzgibbon for his view, Richard Marles, Alan Griffin, as well as Kim Carr.

    “And the truth is this, I asked them: ‘What are the prospects for us obtaining a significant majority?’ Their collective response was zero.

    “Each of them said to me, ‘Kevin, I believe you should not run because it would divide the party’.”

    In the bloody wreckage that followed, three cabinet ministers, a minister, three party whips and a parliamentary secretary – all Rudd backers – were sacked or resigned.

    Some younger ministers had their fingers burned. Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare and SA Left powerbroker Mark Butler were both accused of secretly switching to Rudd before changing back. In a Facebook update on Friday night, Labor MP Laurie Ferguson accused Albanese and Butler of being “gutless wonders” for not quitting too.

    NSW secretary Sam Dastyari was in the Rudd plot up to his knees. “Kevin was never going to challenge. Some members of his camp got over-excited, including Sam Dastyari,” one source close to Rudd says. For his part, Dastyari now describes claims he tried to bind the NSW Right to Rudd as “bulls**t”.

    It didn’t seem the Right needed much urging, however.

    Some in the Rudd camp were still at it over the weekend, insisting Gillard’s take-no-prisoners approach to terminating Rudd backers was not backed by Swan.

    “Swan was trying to restrain her from doing all this. But she is on a jihad. A serious jihad,” one MP said.

    Another claim was that Swan had been “planted” in Bill Shorten’s office during the leadership rumbles to babysit the Gillard-backer Shorten to make sure he didn’t stray. “Shorten is the biggest double- dealer in history,” one Rudd camp insider snipes.

    But Shorten was doing the numbers for Gillard. He was one of the cabinet ministers dropping in on the secret council of war to sandbag Gillard’s leadership.

    The location was Communications Minister Stephen Conroy’s office. In the midst of presiding over the bungled media reforms, the Victorian powerbroker was hosting frequent talks with Gillard’s numbers men office. In the midst of presiding over the bungled media reforms, the Victorian powerbroker was hosting frequent talks with Gillard’s numbers men Senator Don Farrell, SA powerbroker, Brendan O’Connor and Craig Emerson. Shorten and another “faceless man” of the 2010 coup, David Feeney, popped in to help.

    The Prime Minister herself is businesslike, suggesting there was no great celebration after the ballot.

    “How I felt was determined,” Gillard tells Agenda. “We’re moving on.”

    As the challenge without a challenger unfolded on Thursday, Fitzgibbon, the party whip, had other coup management problems.

    Dick Adams, the giant Tasmanian MP, was AWOL. Fitzgibbon had pleaded with him to stick around for the ballot but Adams had instead boarded a plane to a parliamentary conference in Ecuador. Some in the Rudd camp claim there was also a demand that Crean “show us the numbers”. They wanted Crean to send in the MPs he claimed to control in terms of votes so that they could “see the whites of their eyes”.

    It was this delegation of Crean supporters that the Rudd plotters were waiting for before they wanted Crean to detonate.

    But the Crean numbers never turned up. When Fitzgibbon heard that Crean had done a press conference anyway, he admits he couldn’t believe it.

    “Oh mate, I thought. About what?” Fitzgibbon says.

    And when Rudd was handed a note on Thursday afternoon advising him of the Crean explosion, Rudd was aghast.

    “What the f*** is going on!” Rudd asked his supporters.

    It was a good question.

  • Will more NBN delays affect you?

    Will more NBN delays affect you?

    Patrick Lion – National Political Reporter
    News Limited Network
    March 22, 20138:32PM

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    THE Federal Government is refusing to say which areas will suffer under the latest delays to the National Broadband Network.

    The silence came as Stephen Conroy’s future as Communications Minister was questioned by the Opposition after a disastrous week for two key policy areas of his portfolio.

    Shadow communications minister Malcolm Turnbull lashed Mr Conroy for incompetence over media reforms, as well as more delays for the multibillion-dollar National Broadband Network.

    Mr Conroy’s office declined to comment on the Coalition attacks.

    Amid the drama of Thursday’s Labor leadership turmoil, the NBN admitted only a maximum of 220,000 premises would be passed by June, not the 341,000 forecast.

    NBN blamed construction contractors for the delay.

    A department spokeswoman said while she couldn’t name affected areas, information would be updated on the website in coming weeks.

    .
    . .

    “This is a 12-week delay in a decade-long national infrastructure project, and we now expect to achieve the 341,000 target by the end of September,” the spokeswoman said.

    “We still expect to deliver the total project by June 2021.”

    The delays came after Mr Conroy failed to win support for his media reforms – criticised for restricting freedom of speech and regulating the press – forcing Prime Minister Julia Gillard into an unsuccessful intervention to win crossbench support.

    The laws were eventually pulled from a vote on Wednesday.

    Mr Turnbull said Mr Conroy’s pursuit of media reforms had undermined Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s authority in a way Kevin Rudd could only dream.

    The latest hiccups come after the Government’s problems with other key policies overseen by Mr Conroy including the abandoned controversial internet filter and the botched Australia Network tender.

    “Stephen Conroy’s remaining Communications Minister shows that competence is not a relevant consideration for being included in the Gillard Cabinet. Loyalty to the boss and her factional backers is the only qualification,” he said.

    “This past fortnight has been an unmitigated disaster for the senator from Victoria.”

    .

  • German institute pulls out of Canadian tar sands project

    German institute pulls out of Canadian tar sands project

    Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres drops out of research into tar sands impact over fears of reputational impact
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    Arthur Neslen for EurActiv, part of the Guardian Environment Network

    guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 20 March 2013 16.24 GMT

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    One of Syncrude Canada Ltd’s tailing ponds at a tar sands development in Alberta, Canada Photograph: Veronique de Viguerie/Getty Images

    Germany’s largest and most prestigious research institute has pulled out of a Canadian government-funded CAN$25 million research project into sustainable solutions to tar sands pollution, citing fears for its environmental reputation.

    As many as 20 scientists at the world-famous Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres have ceased involvement in the Helmholtz Alberta Initiative (HAI), after a moratorium on contacts was declared last month.

    “It was seen as a risk for our reputation,” Professor Frank Messner, Helmholtz UFZ’s head of staff said over the phone from his offices in Leipzig.

    “As an environmental research centre we have an independent role as an honest broker and doing research in this constellation could have had reputational problems for us, especially after Canada’s withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol,” he said.

    The HAI had been tasked with upgrading bitumen and lignite coal to reduce energy consumption, and finding ways to deal with overspill from the tar sands industry such as ‘tail ponds’- toxic lakes that now cover up to 176 square kilometers of Alberta.

    But in reply to a written question from the German socialist MP Frank Schwabe, a statement from the country’s education and research ministry on February 20 said that a moratorium had been imposed on collaboration, pending an independent assessment into its environmental bona fides which will conclude in June.

    “The assessment evaluates whether a project conforms to sustainability principles,” Thomas Rachel, the education and research minister said.

    “The purpose of the procedure is to ensure that sustainability criteria are being adhered to and that the research carried out as part of HAI can contribute significantly to the improvement of sustainability outcomes.”

    The suspension of research ties follows intense debate within Germany’s scientific and political communities, and will not go unnoticed in Ottawa.

    “It’s a clear signal that Canada’s energy and climate policy is not accepted by the international community, especially Germany,” Messner said.

    The EU is inching forward plans to assign fuel from the controversial tar sands a high-polluting tag under its Fuel Quality Directive, which mandates a 6% decarbonisation of Europe’s transport fuels by 2020, as measured against a 2010 baseline.

    Canada has the world’s third largest crude reserves – after Venezuela and Saudi Arabia – overwhelmingly in the form of tar sands.

    Mining the sands currently involves the use of huge amounts of water and chemical solvents to extract oil from bitumen, a viscous substance found in sand and clay. The extra energy required by the process of steam injection, strip mining – removing large stretches of overlying soil – and refining is a turbo-booster to CO2 emissions.

    Canada’s tar sands deposits contain twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global oil use in human history, according to James Hansen, the head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

    “If Canada proceeds, and we do nothing, it will be game over for the climate,” Hansen famously wrote. It would elevate global temperatures to levels not seen since the Pliocene era, more than 2.5 million years ago, he added.

    Environmentalists say that by 2020, a planned expansion in Alberta’s tar sands operation would sprawl to an area the size of Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland combined.

    Europe imports very little of the unconventional fuel but Canada fears that an EU ruling will influence other markets, such as the US and China and that has set the scene for a lobbyist Punch and Judy, in which science has often been used as a stick.

    A 2011 report commissioned by the EU from Adam Brandt, an Assistant Professor at Stanford University, found that the lifecycle emissions of fuel from tar sands – also known as oil sands – were between 12-40% higher than conventional crude, with the most likely barrel being 22% more carbon intensive.

    Brandt wrote that tar sands were “significantly different enough from conventional oil emissions that regulatory frameworks should address this discrepancy with pathway-specific emissions factors that distinguish between oil sands and conventional oil processes.”

    That led the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission to task a rival paper to Jacobs Consultancy, which found that output from better-performing tar sands was “within 12% of the upper range of carbon intensity for diesel from representative crude oils refined Europe.”

    On paper, this should still be enough to have it assigned a high-polluting default value, albeit by slightly less than the 107 grams of CO2 per megajoule – compared to 87.5g for conventional crude – in the EU’s Fuel Quality Directive.

    But Canada’s interpretation has been different.

    Speaking at a press briefing in Brussels in January, Alberta’s environment minister Diana McQueen told journalists: “We look at the Jacobs study and they said that the oil sands should not be discriminated against and be taken out of that basket [of conventional crudes].”

    Canada says it is being discriminated against because emissions from its tar sands operations are more transparent and better-reported than other unconventional fuel sources such as shale gas.

    “We ask why the oil sands from Alberta would be singled out and unfairly targeted, especially if the intent is truly about climate change and reducing emissions in the EU,” McQueen said.

    Canada has previously threatened to launch a suit against the EU at the World Trade Organisation if it proceeds with the Fuel Quality Directive as planned, and has raised the issue in the context of a planned $20 billion EU-Canada Free Trade Agreement.

    Within Canada though, it is often climate scientists that say they are being persecuted against.

    An atmosphere of patriotism has been stirred around tar sands by a massive PR campaign involving advertisements on national TV and in cinemas.

    Environmental and climate science budgets have been axed, and one of the world’s top Arctic research stations for monitoring global warming has been closed.

    Hundreds of scientists have lost their jobs, and those that remain have been forbidden from talking to the media without a government minder present.

    As such, environmentalists welcomed the pushback from Germany. “A number of high level EU decision makers have stated that the Canadian lobbying effort goes beyond what is considered acceptable,” Darek Urbaniak of Friends of the Earth told EurActiv.

    “The fact that a renowned scientific institute from Germany has decided to pull out of cooperation with Alberta is a further blow to this strategy.”
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  • Council sets planning benchmark after accepting CSIRO’s prediction on rising sea levels

    Council sets planning benchmark after accepting CSIRO’s prediction on rising sea levels

    Rohan Smith•
    North Shore Times•
    March 19, 20132:08PM

    Areas near Stoker Park, Castlecrag, are expected to be affected by rising sea levels. Picture: Sandison Yie Source: NewsLocal

    SEAWALLS, boatsheds, jetties, a starch mill and a handful of properties in Northbridge and Castlecrag are expected to be impacted by a three-foot rise in sea level by 2100.

    That’s the prediction being made by Australia’s leading scientists at CSIRO and accepted by Willoughby Council last week as a planning benchmark.

    Willoughby Council’s director of environmental services, Greg Woodhams, said research had identified a number of properties that would be impacted.

    “The modelling shows council-owned cottages on the northern escarpment of Castlecrag could be affected and one other property, a battleaxe on the waterfront at Northbridge, will likely be affected,” Mr Woodhams said.

    He said the Sir Joseph Clifton Love starch mill on the Lane Cove River would also be impacted by a rise in sea level.

    The research was adopted by the council after lengthy debate about the viability of the science and the benefit of adopting “unsettled” research.

    “We’re predicting the future before it occurs,” Cr Hugh Eriksson said.

    He said property values could be impacted if the council adopted the science.

    Councillors Judith Rutherford and Tony Mustaca agreed that the science was not yet settled and predictions were “frightening” and “extreme”.

    But Cr Nic Wright said it was important to accept the experts’ recommendations.

    “It seems ridiculous to me that we would ignore the scientists when the topic is science,” Cr Wright said.

    Cr Wendy Norton said the council could be open to litigation if it failed to act sensibly on the matter.

    “I have an anxiety about somebody buying a property who would have every right to say to us that you had evidence that the sea level is rising and have taken no steps to protect people by noting that.”

    CSIRO is predicting a sea level rise of 40cm by 2050 and 90cm by 2100 and councils were given the option to either accept the predictions or establish their own after the NSW Government last year abandoned a state-wide approach.

  • Council sets planning benchmark after accepting CSIRO’s prediction on rising sea levels

    Council sets planning benchmark after accepting CSIRO’s prediction on rising sea levels

    Rohan Smith•
    North Shore Times•
    March 19, 20132:08PM

    Areas near Stoker Park, Castlecrag, are expected to be affected by rising sea levels. Picture: Sandison Yie Source: NewsLocal

    SEAWALLS, boatsheds, jetties, a starch mill and a handful of properties in Northbridge and Castlecrag are expected to be impacted by a three-foot rise in sea level by 2100.

    That’s the prediction being made by Australia’s leading scientists at CSIRO and accepted by Willoughby Council last week as a planning benchmark.

    Willoughby Council’s director of environmental services, Greg Woodhams, said research had identified a number of properties that would be impacted.

    “The modelling shows council-owned cottages on the northern escarpment of Castlecrag could be affected and one other property, a battleaxe on the waterfront at Northbridge, will likely be affected,” Mr Woodhams said.

    He said the Sir Joseph Clifton Love starch mill on the Lane Cove River would also be impacted by a rise in sea level.

    The research was adopted by the council after lengthy debate about the viability of the science and the benefit of adopting “unsettled” research.

    “We’re predicting the future before it occurs,” Cr Hugh Eriksson said.

    He said property values could be impacted if the council adopted the science.

    Councillors Judith Rutherford and Tony Mustaca agreed that the science was not yet settled and predictions were “frightening” and “extreme”.

    But Cr Nic Wright said it was important to accept the experts’ recommendations.

    “It seems ridiculous to me that we would ignore the scientists when the topic is science,” Cr Wright said.

    Cr Wendy Norton said the council could be open to litigation if it failed to act sensibly on the matter.

    “I have an anxiety about somebody buying a property who would have every right to say to us that you had evidence that the sea level is rising and have taken no steps to protect people by noting that.”

    CSIRO is predicting a sea level rise of 40cm by 2050 and 90cm by 2100 and councils were given the option to either accept the predictions or establish their own after the NSW Government last year abandoned a state-wide approach.

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  • Heavy snow and flooding bring travel disruption to UK

    Heavy snow and flooding bring travel disruption to UK

    Emergency services respond to surge in calls as many areas brace for up to 20cm of snow
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    Press Association

    guardian.co.uk, Friday 22 March 2013 08.48 GMT

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    Ankle-deep near Rhayader, mid-Wales. Photograph: Graham Lawrence/ Demotix/Corbis

    Britain faces a day of severe disruption as heavy snow, flooding and blizzard conditions blight the country.

    Emergency services are already responding to a surge in weather-related call-outs, with government agencies issuing a string of warnings urging the public to take care on the roads.

    More flooding is expected in the south-west as Thursday’s heavy rain continues to pour throughout the day and overnight.

    Snow is expected to blanket everywhere north of the M4 corridor, with up to 20cm (8in) hitting the worst-affected areas of north-west England, north Wales and south-west Scotland.

    Higher areas could even see up to 40cm (16in) fall, while bitterly cold gale-force winds will sweep across Britain creating blizzard-like conditions and plunging temperatures down to well below freezing.

    Heavy rain sweeping across Northern Ireland will turn increasingly to snow with up to 30cm (12in) across the hills of Down and Antrim, while on the east coast rain and sleet could cause localised flooding. The Police Service of Northern Ireland has already reported road closures because of stranded vehicles on the A8 near Newtownabbey.

    James Wilby, a forecaster for Meteogroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: “It is really just nasty conditions across most of the UK. The snow will fall from the M4 northwards, quite lightly in the south but heavily in the north.

    “Along with the heavy rain and flooding in the south-west, there will no doubt be a lot of disruption for the UK today. The heavy rain, snow and strong winds will continue into the weekend, with the heavy snow spreading south to East Anglia and Bristol tomorrow.

    “And I’m sorry to say that there is no sign of things getting any better next week. It’s going to remain cold and bleak.”

    The Met Office has issued a number of severe weather warnings, urging the public to be prepared for “severe disruption” to transport and energy services. The Environment Agency has 18 flood alerts in place along the south-west coast warning of expected flooding, with a further 80 alerts issued to areas at risk.

    Between 4cm and 6cm (1.6in-2.4in) is set to fall over southern Devon and Cornwall on Friday, and up to 10cm (4in) on exposed southern slopes.

    On Thursday night, Cornwall council set up a designated control room to handle calls. A spokesman, Dave Owens, said the county’s fire and rescue service had received more than 50 calls, and eight properties had flooded. “The main problem still appears to be surface water flooding which is continuing to affect a number of areas across Cornwall,” he added.

    There are reports of flooding across the west of the county, including around Newlyn and Penzance, as well as in Mevagissey in mid-Cornwall – a community still recovering from the impact of last year’s torrential downpours.

    The Environment Agency spokesman Ben Johnstone said: “We strongly urge people to sign up to flood warnings on the Environment Agency website, keep a close eye on local weather forecasts and be prepared for possible flooding. We also ask that people stay safe and not try to wade or drive through any deep water.”

    Darron Burness, the AA’s head of special operations, said: “It’s going to be a real witch’s brew of driving wind, rain and snow, which will inevitably cause disruption on the roads. Drivers should be well prepared as even short journeys can quickly turn bad.”

    The Local Government Association said council gritting and ploughing teams would be out in force to try to ensure main roads remained passable where snow and freezing temperatures had been forecast.

    Peter Box, chairman of the Local Government Association’s economy and transport board, said hundreds of thousands of tonnes of salt had been spread this winter, but hundreds of thousands more tonnes were available in council depots and new deliveries were coming in.

    Headded: “Council staff will be out and about over the next few days checking in on the people they know to be vulnerable and delivering hot meals and portable heaters, collecting prescriptions, defrosting pipes, fixing frozen boilers and making sure they have what they need.” But he also urged residents with elderly or vulnerable family or neighbours to check in on them to make sure they were coping with the latest freeze.

    Leeds Bradford international airport has suspended all flights due to “adverse weather conditions” and a number of schools have already closed across the Bradford, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Huddersfield areas.