Westminster diary: A coal mine decision at last? Plus tributes to Doddie Weir and more

After three delays since July, it looks like the Government's decision on whether to approve controversial plans for a new coal mine in West Cumbria could finally arrive this week.

Thursday (8 December) is the latest deadline for Communities Secretary Michael Gove to make the call.

Whichever way it goes, it could well spark another Conservative civil war.

Alok Sharma, who was the president of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow last autumn but is no longer in the cabinet, posted on social media on Saturday, saying that opening the mine would be "a backward step."

Workington's Mark Jenkinson hit back on Sunday morning, saying his fellow Conservative MP had been "in-hock to climate extremists."

On Tuesday (29 November), Labour mayors from across the North of England met the Transport Secretary to discuss continuing disruption on the railways.

Afterwards, Mark Harper said: "I was very straightforward with them. I recognise that the services being delivered by Avanti West Coast and TransPennine Express are not good enough."

He pointed to how the companies are training more drivers, and how Avanti are due to increase services with a new timetable from 11 December.

During Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, responding to Cheshire Conservative MP Esther McVey, Rishi Sunak agreed there has been an "unacceptable deterioration in the quality of Avanti’s service."

On Thursday, during an urgent question in the Commons, Workington MP Mark Jenkinson said that, for his constituents trying to travel on the west coast mainline from Carlisle or Penrith to London - "the percentage of services that are running on time hardly hits double figures."

He asked: "Why are we delaying the inevitable, and when will we strip Avanti of the contract?"

In response, Rail Minister Huw Merriman said the pandemic had delayed driver training, and argued that the trade unions need to accept reforms to working practices.

Digital infrastructure is improving in Cumbria, after the government announced this week it will invest £108m to connect 60,000 homes in the county to ultrafast broadband by 2026.

The Lake District is also going to be part of a trial delivering broadband to particularly remote locations via satellite.

A lower proportion of premises in Cumbria have access to superfast broadband than the UK average.

Michelle Donelan, the Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Secretary, visited Newton Rigg on Wednesday and claimed the area will soon be "ahead of the curve."

Questioned by the Scottish Affairs Committee on Monday, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack dismissed Nicola Sturgeon's plan to turn the next general election into a 'de facto' independence referendum.

When SNP MP and committee chair Pete Wishart put forward the merits of an "electoral contest", Mr Jack said: "No, because I don't believe that people vote on one specific issue in a manifesto", and "you can't have a mandate for something that we now know you legally do not have any power over."

The Dumfries & Galloway MP was also asked about recent reports that he has been nominated for a peerage by Boris Johnson.

He replied: "I can safely say no-one in any official capacity has written me a letter offering me a seat in the House of Lords... we won't be having a by-election".

You may think those words were carefully chosen, particularly as it's been reported he and several other MPs have been asked to delay taking places in the Lords until after the next general election.

At PMQs on Wednesday, SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford sent "prayers and condolences" to the family of Doddie Weir, the Borders rugby legend who died last weekend at the age of 52.

Mr Blackford described him as "an absolute giant of a man, an inspirational figure in Scottish rugby and someone who raised £8 million for motor neurone disease charities over the past six years."

Responding, the Prime Minister said he wanted to join "in offering our condolences to the family and friends of Doddie Weir, to whom I pay tribute for his campaign to raise awareness of motor neurone disease, which has made a big difference."

After Doddie's death, campaigners have been calling on the government to deliver on their promise of £50 million funding for MND research.

On Monday, the Department of Health & Social Care said: "we remain committed to spending at least another £50 million to help find a cure to this awful illness. We’ve already funded clinical trials for various drugs which have shown promise in tackling motor neurone disease, and we encourage researchers to make applications for this funding - which is available right now.”

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