Midwives alarmed by maternity unit cuts

Plans to downgrade maternity units in four London boroughs and other parts of the country are unacceptable and will deny women choice in how and where they give birth, leading midwives have said. Maternity services in Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham are underfunded and shortstaffed, with an overspend predicted to be £57 million a year by 2010-11.

However, the Royal College of Midwives said that it has “significant reservations” over plans to cut costs by closing at least one – and probably two – maternity units and providing more home births and deliveries by midwives. The planned changes mirror proposals in other parts of the country, with maternity units in Greater Manchester, Teesside, and Oxfordshire already earmarked for radical overhauls.

Flooding pays for the Treasury

The Treasury has been accused of making more than £400 million profit from the floods that last year devastated parts of the country. The TaxPayers’ Alliance said that VAT on home repairs meant that the Government made £525 million on building work on damaged property but had put forward only £86 million into a fund to help those affected. Matthew Elliot, its chief executive, said: “It’s disgusting that the Treasury has profited.”

Road crash kills four

A mother and daughter were victims of a road accident that killed four people. Agnes Graham, 52, died with her daughter, Kathryn Graham, 22, and her sister, Mary Kennedy, 53, Cumbria Police said. The crash, which occurred at about 8pm on Saturday in Moota, near Cockermouth, Cumbria, involved two other cars. Andrew Pattison, 23, from Whitehaven, was also killed.

Coastal change

Basking sharks will become a common sight around the coast by the end of the century but grey seals are likely to decline, according to the National Trust (Lewis Smith writes). Coastal erosion and warmer waters forecast over the next 100 years will also mean a fall in sandhill rustic moths and four species of tern. Sea levels are estimated to rise by about 2ft, and storms will be worse and more frequent.

Plodding talk

The police are being urged to use simpler language. The Plain English Campaign says that increasing numbers of senior officers are talking “peculiar police gobbledygook”. It says that there are too many examples of police forces being “customer-led” and having “mission statements”. A campaign spokeswoman said: “I think ‘ploddledygook’ is the term to describe it.”

Man questioned over river body

Police were questioning a 20-year-old man over the murder of a man whose body was found in a river close to a supermarket.

The investigation began after a shopper spotted the body on Saturday morning. The unnamed victim was found floating in the River Avon at Salisbury, Wiltshire.

Officers arrested the suspect late on Saturday and he remained in custody, being questioned on suspicion of the killing.

More prisoners self-harming

Rates of self-harm in jail have risen substantially. The Howard League for Penal Reform said that the number of prisoners injuring themselves had increased from 16,393 in England and Wales in 2003 to 22,459 last year, a 37 per cent rise.

£4m cannabis factory found

Humberside Police have found a cannabis factory containing a quantity of the drug worth up to £4 million. A spokesman said that the find, near Scunthorpe, was substantial, but he could not confirm the exact amount recovered.

Judgment criticised

Lord Goldsmith, the former Attorney-General, has urged the Serious Fraud Office to appeal against a High Court judgment that found it had unlawfully halted a corruption investigation. Lord Goldsmith said yesterday that it was right for the SFO to halt an inquiry into the links between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia on the ground of national security. He said that the judges were not living in the real world.

Miliband scraps perk

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, is set to give up his access to the palatial mansion No 1 Carlton Gardens, which has traditionally been a perk of the job. The John Nash-designed 14-bedroom house has only been used for official functions by Mr Miliband. The Crown Estate and Foreign Office confirmed that they were discussing the building’s future but that no decision had been taken.

Missionary is killed in robbery

A British missionary has been killed in Kenya during a robbery. Bryan Thorp, 77, from Bamford, Derbyshire, was found dead on Thursday in Lamu. It is thought that he had been at a mission there since 1968. Police are investigating.

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