Fraud blow to Putin’s rival
Desperate bid to block 15% tax rise Texts leak shows plot to kill scandal
A RUSSIAN court has given prominent opposition leader Alexei Navalny a five-year suspended sentence.
He was found guilty of embezzlement, which will complicate his plans to run for president against Vladimir Putin in 2018.
Navalny said he would appeal and take part in the presidential race regardless.
He said: “We don’t recognise this ruling. I have every right to take part in the election according to the constitution – and I will do so.”
Navalny was also fined 500,000 roubles – £6,745.
THERESA May has been accused of striking a “sweetheart deal” with a Tory council so it could avoid a 15% tax hike to pay for social care.
County hall bosses had talks with the Government then scrapped plans for the massive rise, triggering claims that more money had suddenly been promised to tackle the funding crisis.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn ambushed Mrs May yesterday in the Commons by producing texts suggesting a pact had been agreed with Surrey council.
One of the messages from council leader David Hodge said: “The numbers you indicated are the numbers I understand are acceptable for me to accept and call off the R.”
“R” being an apparent reference to the referendum that would have been needed in Surrey to push through the 15% council tax rise. Cllr Hodge’s message ended “really want to kill this off ”.
It is believed he thought he was texting Nick King, special adviser to Communities Secretary Sajid Javid. But sources say the messages were accidentally sent to Nick Forbes, who leads the Labour group on the Local Government Association.
Mr Corbyn asked Mrs May at Prime Minister’s Questions: “How much did the Government offer Surrey to ‘kill this off ’, and is the same sweetheart deal on offer to every council facing the social care crisis created by your Government?” He asked her four times what offer was made, but she dodged the questions and said he was peddling “alternative facts”.
One of Cllr Hodge’s messages said: “I am advised that DCLG [the Department for Communities and Local Government] officials and my director of finance/CE have been working on a solution and that you would be contacting me to agree an MOU [memorandum
I am confident the Government now understands the real pressures in adult social care
DAVID HODGE SURREY COUNTY COUNCIL LEADER YESTERDAY of understanding].” The texts were sent four days before the 15% tax hike was abandoned. Instead, bills will rise by 4.99% – below the threshold for a referendum.
No.10 and Cllr Hodge insisted there was no deal. He said the council’s decision to axe the 15% increase “was ours alone”.
He added: “However, I am confident the Government now understands the real pressures in adult social care.”
A Labour source said of the texts: “It’s quite clear from our information and from the words used that it’s what most people would understand to be a deal.”
Elderly people across England are waiting up to a year for council-funded care visits, a freedom of information request by ITV News has revealed.