IMF Warns Of 'Severe' Damage Of UK Leaving EU

Brexit could cause severe damage to the global economy, the International Monetary Fund has warned.

The IMF used its closely-watched World Economic Outlook report to slash its forecast for UK economic growth and warned if Britain were to leave the European Union it "could do severe regional and global damage by disrupting established trading relationships".

It is the Fund's first formal warning about the economic problems threatened by the forthcoming referendum, although its managing director, Christine Lagarde, has warned a number of times that Britain's departure would cause instability.

The warning came as the latest ICM tracker poll indicated a four-point lead for the Leave camp - 52% to 48%.

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ICM's Jennifer Bottomley said: "... thus far, these bleak warnings have yet to produce any real shift in public opinion. Most polls continue to suggest that it’s a very tight contest, with neither side able to gain a decisive lead.

"However, we have noted in previous posts that the Leave camp stands to benefit on polling day from higher turnout among its supporters, and this week’s ICM poll is a clear illustration of this."

The IMF report said the referendum "has already created uncertainty for investors".

Although the Fund has yet to put figures on the precise impact of Brexit, it said the post-exit negotiations would be "protracted, resulting in an extended period of heightened uncertainty that could weigh heavily on confidence and investment, all the while increasing financial market volatility".

The IMF's intervention will be welcomed by the Chancellor, who is heading out to Washington later this week for the Fund's spring meetings.

George Osborne said the IMF warning was "stark".

"For the first time, we’re seeing the direct impact on our economy of the risks of leaving the EU," he said"If the British economy is hit by the mere risk of leaving the EU, can you imagine the hit to people’s income and jobs if we did actually leave?"

In its official forecasts for economic growth, the IMF cut Britain's projected output this year from 2.2% to 1.9%, the weakest rate since 2013 and one of the biggest cuts to any leading industrialised economy.

It also cut its growth rate for global growth from 3.4% to 3.2%, only a shade stronger than last year's growth rate of 3.1%.

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Labour's Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP said the downgrading should be a wake-up call for the Chancellor.

"It should act as a signal that George Osborne needs to change course and that Tory backbenchers who wildly scream for Brexit should think again," he said.

"As these figures clearly suggest, it's the uncertainty facing the UK from the risk of leaving the EU coupled with a Chancellor who can't even meet his own targets that has led to such a concerning announcement."

The figures followed a warning from Mme Lagarde earlier this month that the recovery remains "too slow, too fragile".

The Fund's chief economist, Maurice Obstfeld, said: "Persistent slow growth has scarring effects that themselves reduce potential output and with it, demand and investment."

Peshmerga Out Of Bullets For UK-Supplied Guns

The Kurdish Peshmerga says it has run out of ammunition for the machine guns that were given to them by the British Government in 2014.

Forty Browning .50 calibre machine guns and almost half a million rounds of ammunition, were delivered to the Peshmerga to help repel Islamic State attacks in northern Iraq.

The Government gave the delivery much publicity at the time.

The last bullet, however, was, according to The Times, fired seven months ago, and has not been resupplied, despite repeated requests.

The Ministry of Defence released a statement to Sky News saying: "The UK is playing a leading role in the fight against Daesh (another name for Islamic State).

"This is why we have responded positively to past requests for equipment and ammunition, and we will always consider what more we can do.

"While the Iraqi Security Forces are making solid progress, we recognise the important role the Kurds are playing and as part of our support we have trained over 3,300 Peshmerga troops."

All requests for equipment must now be channelled to the Coalition through Baghdad.

Because Kurdistan is only a semi-autonomous region and not independent in its own right, the Iraqi government has a say on what weapons are given to the Peshmerga.

Privately, sources say that the Peshmerga constantly ask for more equipment but concede there does appear to be some fault, in this instance, with the British Government.

There is also concern within the Ministry of Defence that the Kurds could stockpile any equipment for use in future

As well as the Browning machine guns, the UK has provided over 50 tons of non-lethal support to the Kurdish Peshmerga.

Other Coalition nations have provided significant military aid.

The British military has also delivered ammunition on behalf of other Coalition nations. 

Taxpayer Pays Out Over Driving Test Fiasco

Taxpayers have been left nursing a substantial bill after Whitehall officials slammed the brakes on a contract to move the management of Britain's driving theory tests.

Sky News has learnt that the Government agreed a multimillion pound settlement this month with Learndirect, the privately owned company which was due to begin supplying the tests later this year,

Instead, ministers decided to cancel the contract and retain Pearson, the FTSE-100 education and publishing group, for up to four more years without a further re-tendering of the deal.

The decision to annul Learndirect's involvement was taken by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) with input from the Cabinet Office and the Department for Transport.

Officials refused to disclose the size of the payout to Learndirect - which ironically was once owned by taxpayers - but it is said to have run to millions of pounds.

Whitehall sources conceded that taxpayers would also suffer financially because of the cost of running the next procurement process and the fact that Pearson's deal is significantly more expensive than the one proposed by Learndirect.

It is the latest - albeit far from the most expensive - botched procurement exercise involving Whitehall officials, and another undistinguished chapter in the administration of tests for learner drivers.

A Learndirect spokesman said: "The DVSA and Learndirect have concluded an exit from the contract for the provision of the UK Driving Theory Test, which was due to transfer...in September 2016.

"Since the award of the original contract in 2013, demand for the test has increased by over 50% to 2.4 million, and is now forecast to reach 2.8 million in 2017/18.

"Against that background, and because continuity of service is of primary importance, it has been decided that now is not the right time to transfer.

"Pearson Vue will therefore continue to provide the service for some time."

The DVSA declined to say why the contract with Learndirect had been cancelled, but a source close to the agency acknowledged that the company had been infuriated by the decision.

Learndirect is owned by LDC, a private equity group which is itself part of the taxpayer-backed Lloyds Banking Group.

The fiasco follows Pearson's decision in December to abort plans to buy the e-assessments division of Learndirect after failing to agree a compromise with the competition regulator.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had warned that the deal faced an in-depth probe lasting several months.

Learndirect also runs the Life in the UK citizenship test on behalf of the Home Office and the Professional Skills Tests for potential teachers on behalf of the Standards & Testing Agency

Sources said Learndirect's other divisions continued to trade well, adding that a planned sale of its apprenticeships unit remained on track.

The DVSA, Learndirect, LDC, Pearson and the Cabinet Office declined to comment beyond the official statement.

Civil Servant Thrown Out Over Answers To MPs

Whitehall civil servants are usually sublime, majestic and inscrutable when giving evidence to a select committee of MPs.

In true "Sir Humphrey" style, most mandarins can spend three hours answering MPs' questions and reveal absolutely nothing.

But not the hapless Oliver Robbins, second permanent secretary at the Home Office, appearing before the Home Affairs Select Committee.

He was so bad that after a mere 20 minutes into his evidence he was shown a red card by the committee's colourful and charismatic chairman, Keith Vaz.

"I'm going to excuse you from this committee because I think your evidence so far has been unsatisfactory," said Mr Vaz.

Now, admittedly, Mr Vaz is an experienced select committee chairman – nine years in the job now – and one of Parliament's most forensic interrogators.

But Mr Robbins should have known that and been better prepared. But, sadly for him, he wasn't just bad, he was awful.

During his 20-minute ordeal, he muttered, mumbled and gave barely audible monosyllabic answers, much to the annoyance of the MPs on the committee.

So much so that he was threatened with being held in contempt and repeatedly criticised when he sidestepped questions put to him by the MPs.

Giving evidence on "the work of the Home Office", Mr Robbins ran in to trouble within minutes after he failed to answer questions about the finances of the Border Force.

Despite repeated questions, the civil servant would not say if Sir Charles Montgomery, the organisation's director general, had been told what his budget was for the year.

Sir Charles, who reports to Mr Robbins, had previously told the committee he expected to know the figure by the start of the financial year.

But the blustering, blundering Mr Robbins said it was "not easy to answer it in a simple yes or no".

Threatening to hold the civil servant in contempt, Mr Vaz warned him he intended to write to Whitehall's current "Sir Humphrey", Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood, to complain.

And he told Mr Robbins to go back to the Home Office and find out the answer by 6pm.

As 6pm came and went, there was no answer to the committee's questions from the Home Office or any comment about the debacle from inside Theresa May's department.

Which means the unfortunate Mr Robbins is likely to be hauled back by the committee for a second grilling in the near future.

Before then, he really ought to brush up on his "Sir Humphrey" skills.

Rise In Child Suicide Bombings In West Africa

Boko Haram is using more children as suicide bombers, with explosives hidden under their clothes or in baskets, according to a Unicef report.

The document, Beyond Chibok, claims 44 children were used in attacks last year, compared with four in 2014, and three-quarters of them have been girls.

The youngest is believed to have been eight years old.

Unicef says the bombings mainly happen in Nigeria and Cameroon, with schools and markets the main targets.

It has been two years since the group kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls

Its spokesman, Laurent Duvillier, said: "It's basically turning the children against their own communities by strapping bombs around their bodies.

"Some young children probably do not know they are carrying explosives, which are often detonated remotely."

It's not clear how the terrorists manipulate children to carry out such attacks, but the UN's child agency claims girls are often used because they do not attract as much suspicion, and boys are forced to attack their own families to demonstrate their loyalty.

Amnesty International estimates that the Islamist group has kidnapped about 2,000 women and girls over the last two years to use as cooks, sex slaves, fighters and suicide bombers.

Although many are being rescued when the Nigerian military reclaims territory from Boko Haram, they often face stigma and rejection.

Seventeen-year-old Khadija and her baby, born of rape, now live in a camp for displaced people in Nigeria.

She said: "Some women would beat me. They said: 'You are a Boko Haram wife, don't come near us'."

Boko Haram has killed more than 15,000 people during its six-year insurgency campaign in northeastern Nigeria, according to the US military.

Unicef says children are the main victims, making up the majority of the 2.3 million people forced from their homes in Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Niger since mid-2013.

Boko Haram has also carried out mass abductions and it was two years ago this week that hundreds of schoolgirls in Chibok were kidnapped, many of whom were forced to convert to Islam and marry their captors.

The action sparked the global campaign Bring Back Our Girls.

North Korea Pens Spoof Abe Lincoln Letter To US

An open letter from Abraham Lincoln to Barack Obama accuses the current US President of hypocrisy over his stance on nuclear weapons - according to the North Korean media.

DPRK Today published the letter in which the 16th US President gives "a little advice" from the grave, warning Mr Obama will be ridiculed for demanding Pyongyang scraps its nuclear weapons programme.

Abraham Lincoln, who served in office for four years until his assassination in 1865, appears to deride Obama's push to build a nuclear-free world by questioning why the US has not taken the initiative to scale back its own nuclear arsenal.

Obama in front of the portrait referred to in the North Korean letter

"Hey, Obama," it begins. "I know you have a lot on your mind these days ... I've decided to give you a little advice after seeing you lost in thought before my portrait during a recent Easter Prayer Breakfast.

"If the United States, a country with the world's largest nuclear weapons stockpile, only pays lip service, like a parrot, and doesn't do anything actively, it will be a mockery to the entire world.

"Hey, Obama, it's the 21st Century. The tactic by past American presidents, including me, who deceived the people ... is outdated.

"That doesn't work now. The world doesn't trust an America that doesn't take responsibility for what it says."

Tensions have been on the rise since North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by a series of apparent ballistic missile tests.

The letter comes two weeks after North Korea threatened to lay waste to Washington with a submarine-launched nuclear missile in a menacing propaganda video.

The four-minute film 'Last Chance' runs through the history of US-Korea relations, including images of US prisoners of war on Korean soil.

In 2014, the North's state news agency, KCNA, called Mr Obama a "monkey." Earlier that year, it called Secretary of State John Kerry a wolf with a "hideous lantern jaw" after US and South Korean troops launched summertime drills.

The North has also called South Korean President Park Geun hye a "prostitute" numerous times.

Steel Crisis: Emergency Commons Debate

The Commons is set for an emergency debate on the future of the UK's steel industry, as the Business Secretary raises the prospect of Government help.

MPs will have up to three hours on Tuesday to discuss the crisis, after shadow business secretary Angela Eagle secured an urgent slot in the chamber.

The UK steel industry as a whole, including the plant at Port Talbot in South Wales, is losing £1m a day, with significant losses over the past year.

Labour has warned the industry is "hanging by a thread" as the search begins for a buyer of Tata Steel's UK business, with "many tens" of firms to be contacted in the hope of saving thousands of jobs.

The group's executive director Koushik Chatterjee has already said they hope to sell the business as a whole, rather than splitting it into parts.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid said the Government is ready to help, including "looking at the possibility of co-investing with a buyer on commercial terms".

Labour MP for Aberavon Stephen Kinnock, who has been leading the battle to save British steel, said the Government needed to be clearer about what "co-investing" would involve.

He said: "Sajid Javid's out-of-the-blue reference to 'co-investment' in the chamber yesterday is further evidence of the fact that this shambolic Government is making policy on the hoof.

"It is high time that Mr Javid makes a clear and comprehensive written statement, explaining what the Government is or is not prepared to do, in terms of intervention.

"The continued speculation and uncertainty is not helpful to the sales process. It seems that Business Department officials were as bemused as we are by their Secretary of State's comments yesterday."

There has been good news for Tata's Scunthorpe plant, however, which is included in a sale of Tata's Long Products business.

Investment firm Greybull Capital has signed an agreement to buy the business, which also covers two mills in Teesside, a design consultancy in York and associated distribution facilities, an engineering workshop in Workington and a mill in France.

Scunthorpe's union members are voting on whether to accept a 3% pay cut and reduced pension contributions for a yearin order to get the deal through. The result is due next week.

accepted, the deal will safeguard thousands of jobs and will provide some hope that the other parts of Tata's steel business can be saved.

At least two firms are understood to have expressed interest in the other plants, including Liberty House.