Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has criticised Grant Shapps for not knowing the London to Manchester train timetable. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been invited to attend the summit in Bali. Indonesia is head of the G20 this year and has faced pressure from the West to uninvite Mr Putin over his invasion of Ukraine. She said: "I would go there, and I would call Putin out." Last month, Ms Truss - who is currently the foreign secretary - said it would be important to confront Putin in front of allies like India and Indonesia. Have a seat at the table unless and until he stops his illegal "We need to send a strong message to Putin that he doesn't Round a table with him isn't good enough when he is responsibleįor children being killed in their beds as they sleep. Responsibility to call Putin's abhorrent behaviour out. When Liz Truss's campaign was asked for her opinion, they pointed to when she said she would "call out" Mr Putin in July.Ī spokesperson for Mr Sunak said: "Our G20 partners and allies have a collective He also wants to hand recruitment of senior staff to the commissioners, as well as decisions on governance and scrutiny of strategic decisions.įollowing the news that Vladimir Putin will be heading to the G20 meeting in Indonesia in November, Rishi Sunak has said he would lobby the summit to ban the Russian president. Mr Clark has written to the council saying he intends to take a number of steps, including appointing an additional commissioner with financial expertise to help run the council's money matters. The report added that "people do not feel accountable for managing public money" as they highlighted the budgetary shortfall of £98.2m. They noted: "The services that support the running and management of the council have been hollowed out over the last decade, notably: finance, procurement and audit." The commissioners, Mike Cunningham, Joanna Killian, Neil Gibson and Deborah McLaughlin, recommended the government take action. It noted shortcomings in finance, workforce capacity and capability, decision making, risk management, and managerial leadership - and ultimately stated the council did not meet "its statutory duty to provide best value". They provided a report to Mr Clark in June this year, which found multiple failures within the authority. They will work alongside the council and City Mayor Joanne Anderson, as well as a group of commissioners initially appointed in June last year to work with the council and improve it. Levelling Up Secretary Greg Clark has appointed a steering committee consisting of the Liverpool Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram, former Chief Executive of the City of Manchester Sir Howard Bernstein, and the former Leader of Leeds City Council Baroness Judith Blake. The government is taking further control of Liverpool away from the council following a damning report into the operation of the authority which found a budget gap of close to £100m over four years. The government says it is investing £3bn in bus services by 2025. They also called for a "long-term revenue funding settlement", adding that the country needs to "move away from bailing out commercial bus companies" and towards "locally accountable transport authorities". "Given the funding announcement has been made on deadline day for bus companies registering plans for extensive service cuts it's too early to know how many bus services this funding will save." The Urban Transport Group, which represents city region transport authorities, said: "The government has stood behind public transport during the pandemic restrictions and the aftermath and we welcome this latest funding package. "At a time when people are worried about rising costs, it's more important than ever we save these bus routes for the millions who rely on them for work, school and shopping." Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: "This funding will ensure millions across the country can continue to use vital bus services, and brings the total we've provided to the sector throughout the pandemic to almost £2 billion." However, operators say the fact the decision was made on the last possible day means they have no idea if services will still be cancelled. The government has announced £130m of funding for buses in England today to last for six months.