Section:OBS NS PaGe:5 Edition Date:140209 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 8/2/2014 18:23 cYanmaGentaYellowblack

NEWS | 5

Duchy of Cornwall and Crown Estate regularly get councils to reduce ratios of cheaper homes

Revealed: royal estates failing on aff ordable home building targets

by Nick Mathiason, Will Fitzgibbon and Jamie Doward

Two of Britain’s largest landowning bod-ies, which between them generate mil-lions of pounds a year for the Queen and Prince Charles, are regularly failing to meet aff ordable housing targets when building new homes on their land.

Amid an escalating housing crisis, planning documents unearthed by the independent Bureau of Investigative Journalism reveal that both the Crown Estate and the Duchy of Cornwall are persuading councils to allow them to cut their aff ordable housing quotas on the grounds that meeting them would be too expensive.

An investigation by the bureau for the Observer has examined the two land-owners’ plans to build 4,299 homes in

31 schemes. Of these, 14 developments, set to produce 2,470 units, fail to meet local targets, resulting in at least 213 fewer aff ordable homes being built. The bureau also found that 10 of the 19 largest Crown Estate developments have not or will not meet aff ordable housing targets.

“I find that quite concerning,” said Clive Betts MP, chairman of the Com-mons communities and local govern-ment select committee. “They have a special obligation beyond the ordinary developer and they ought to be doing what’s right by the community. They ought to be taking the lead, especially as it’s public land after all.”

In its most recent fi nancial results, the

Prince Charles has previously expressed concern at the lack of affordable housing in rural areas. Photograph by Ben Birchall/PA

Nick Clegg lobbies for ‘proper debate’ over drugs law reform

believes there is a need for politicians of all parties to confront an issue in a non-partisan way if the harm caused by drugs is ever to be tackled successfully.

“If Britain were fi ghting a war where 2,000 people died every year, where increasing numbers of our young people were recruited by the enemy and our opponents were always a step ahead, there would be outcry and loud calls for change,” Clegg says. “Yet this is exactly the situation with the so-called “war on drugs” and for far too long we have resisted a proper debate about the need for a diff erent strategy.”

His comments, which will dismay those who believe change will encourage drug taking , were warmly received by pro-reform campaigners.

“Bad drug policies have an international impact, whether it’s black market related violence or borderless health crises,” said Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch , director of the Open Society Global Drug Policy Foundation. “So charting a new course is the job of every country.

“A number of European countries developed great health services for people who use drugs, but far less attention has been paid to the issues faced by producer and transit countries.”

ing number of US states move towards a regulated trade in marijuana, and at a time when increasing numbers of Latin American countries have stated that the war on drugs doesn’t work and are demanding that the world consider alternative approaches.

During his visit , Clegg met the country’s president, Juan Manuel Santos , as well as former paramilitaries, guerrillas and human rights representatives. “All were clear about the central role of the drugs trade in perpetuating confl ict and violence and the need to build a better future,” Clegg says. “Many people in Britain and the rest of Europe will be unaware of the impact drug use in western nations has on countries on the frontline of the drugs trade.”

Reiterating his call for a royal commission on Britain’s drugs laws, Clegg says future legislation should be based on “what works, not guesswork ”. The Lib Dems are conducting a review of international alternatives which will produce what Clegg claims is “the fi rst proper UK government report examining diff erent approaches in other countries ”.

It is clear the deputy prime minister

Crown Estate said it had “outperformed the market” and achieved a £252.6 m sur-plus, 15% of which goes to the Queen to support her duties as head of state. The rest of the profi t goes to the Treasury.

George Mudie MP, chairman of the Treasury sub- committee, which scruti-nises the Crown Estate’s aff airs, agreed, saying the housing crisis should act as a wake-up call for the body: “ T hey should be setting an example by meeting aff ord-able housing targets.”

Although not legally binding, local authority affordable housing targets, usually expressed as a percentage of the number of homes to be built, are based on local housing demand, aff ordability and local wages. If a developer can dem-onstrate that a target makes a scheme unviable, that target can be changed or waived. Under planning rules, develop-ers are entitled to take 20% of the rev-enues generated by a scheme.

In its largest development, in Bing-ham, Nottinghamshire – where there are 804 individuals and families waiting for a home – the Crown Estate is propos-ing cutting the aff ordable homes quota to 200. It argued that the 1,050 - home scheme could no longer support the 300 aff ordable homes it had agreed to build, as the fi nancial return would be at “the lower end of the national benchmark”. It declined to reveal what this fi gure would be , but said it was providing a package of community benefi ts and could build up to 50 more aff ordable homes if the scheme outperformed expectations.

Local politicians have been critical . “Our experience is that the Crown Estate is not a particularly generous land-owner,” said George Davidson, a coun-cillor for Rushcliff e, the local authority.

Steven Melligan, strategic land man-ager at the Crown Estate, said it was “ proud of the contribution we make to providing much-needed new housing, both market and aff ordable,” across the country: “For new homes of any sort to be built, schemes must be commercially viable, which is why a suitable package

of wider benefi ts, of which aff ordable housing is just one part, is agreed with local councils based on their priorities for the local area.”

The bureau also found that four large housing schemes being developed by Prince Charles’s Duchy of Cornwall, failed to meet local aff ordable housing targets, in spite of the Prince’s concern about “the desperate effect the lack of affordable housing was having on the social and economic fabric of rural communities ”. At Tregunnel Hill in Newquay, Cornwall, the Duchy – from which the Prince made £19.1m last year – originally committed to build 60 aff ord-

able homes. But it persuaded the county council that the withdrawal of a govern-ment grant meant it could provide only 48. The Duchy’s revised proposal stated that it would build no homes if the coun-cil did not accept the reduced fi gure.

“Given the way Prince Charles and others associated with the Duchy make statements about social improvements, they should put their money where their mouth is,” said Cornwall councillor Dick Cole. “The bottom line for me is that the Duchy of Cornwall has to act like any other developer.”

Cornwall’s housing waiting list has grown by 267% since 2010. The region

has the highest level of street homeless-ness outside London, according to gov-ernment statistics.

The Duchy said in a statement that it is “proud of its achievements in provid-ing aff ordable housing,” and pointed to five developments of 100% affordable housing that will deliver 67 aff ordable units. “ T he objective of the planning process is to meet the needs of the area as set out by the community and the local authority. In the few instances where our developments include slightly less aff ordable housing, they instead meet requirements in other ways, such as pro-viding new schools or better transport.”

Continued from page 1

‘Th ey talk about social improvement, but they should put their money where their mouth is’ Dick Cole, councillor, Cornwall

“

We’re not trying to take the love out of love; we’re trying to make it more effi cientTh e secrets of internet dating

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*09.02.14

Section:OBS NS PaGe:10 Edition Date:130609 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 8/6/2013 18:13 cYanmaGentaYellowblack

10 | NEWS

Costs soar for wealthy councils as benefi t cuts force families to quit their home

Hanane Toumi with her two children, Salsabile, six, and Waleed, three. Photograph by Antonio Olmos for the Observer

Bill to house the homeless in Westminster rises by 63.5% to pay for hotels and B&Bs

by Tracy McVeigh, Nick Mathiasonand Toby Helm

The government’s clampdown on bene-fi ts is forcing up, rather than cutting, the cost of housing low-income families in wealthy areas, as people are shifted into hotels and bed and breakfasts, accord-ing to new figures obtained for the Observer.

Charities are also reporting a chain of misery and chaos as children are forced to move schools, and parents have to spend much of their time ferrying them large distances to classes.

Data obtained through freedom of information requests shows that at West-minster council – one of the wealthiest areas in the country – the bill for home-lessness has shot up by 63.5% since last year as new temporary accommodation has had to be found for those hit by cuts. The fi gures show that it has cost West-minster more to place thousands of

people in temporary accommodation, including hotels, than the council has saved through the government’s welfare clampdown.

The council says it cut “around £40m” from its costs, thanks to the introduc-tion in 2011 of restrictions to housing benefi t. However, replies to FOI requests obtained by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism show that it has cost the council £135.83m to rehouse homeless people since 2009.

The council’s bill for housing vulner-able families in temporary accommoda-tion this fi nancial year alone is estimated to be £41.8m, compared with £25.5m last year.

With average monthly rents in Lon-don reaching £1,100, a rise of 8% in the last year, new figures released by the government last week showed that the

number of households made home-less in England in the fi nancial year to March 2013 has hit 53,540 – a 6% aver-age increase on the previous year and a 16% increase in the capital.

Alarmingly, rents are now rising so fast in London that charities are see-ing people who found new homes after being evicted in the fi rst round of benefi t cuts being made homeless again as costs soar.

Westminster is also potentially fac-ing expensive legal action for keeping families in B&Bs beyond the statutory minimum six-week limit.

Karen Buck, Labour MP for West-minster North, said: “We are now see-ing the costs and consequences of the government’s salami-slicing approach to housing benefi t as homelessness rises and millions are being spent keeping families in hotels and bed and breakfast. Not only are there massive costs associ-ated with homelessness, but the lives of children and families are being damaged and disrupted, with a particular impact on children’s education.”

In a statement, Westminster coun-cil said: “The eff ect of reform in West-minster was always going to be more pronounced than any other area, with limited space to build new housing and with high rents.”

It argues that it is “misleading” to link the cash the council has saved from housing benefi t reform with its tempo-rary accommodation budget. Most peo-ple forced out of rented homes because of housing benefi t restrictions are not “long-term residents of the borough”, Westminster maintains, and it says it is working hard to renegotiate the costs of rents to save housing benefi t bills.

Jonathan Glanz, the council’s cabinet member for housing, said: “Increased demand, coupled with an endemic undersupply of housing across London, has resulted in more households coming to us as homeless.”

An investigation last month by the bureau showed that London’s authori-ties have rehoused 32,643 households outside the city, with often devastating eff ects on families, jobs and children’s education. It also adds to the pressure on “dumping ground” councils such as Slough, already struggling with housing shortages and school places and now

‘Th e lives of families are being damaged and disrupted, with a particular impact on children’s education’Karen Buck, Labour MP

being stretching to breaking point by the infl ux.

Charities say cases such as that of Zara Mahamat, whose family were evicted from a three-bedroom flat in Pimlico, Westminster, in January, are common. She and her family had to leave because the housing benefi t cap meant they could no longer aff ord the rent. Within days the family will expand with the arrival of her new baby, and she does not know where everyone will sleep.

Westminster council acted quickly to move the family fi rst into a hotel in Paddington, where they stayed for four months. Then they went to a serviced

apartment where they are now, several miles away in the borough of Southwark, in an eight-storey block mainly popu-lated by tourists and short-term work-ers visiting the capital. “We’re struggling now,” said Mahamat. “Similar properties can be rented for £169 a night.”

Hamza, 11, is preparing for school exams, but much of his time is spent travelling. “It’s very frustrating,” he said. “I used to be able to get to school in two minutes and now it just takes like an hour. It’s really tiring.”

In the past two years Westminster council has secured more than 360 prop-erties outside its own borders to house

vulnerable households such as Maha-mat’s. The family are booked to stay until 25 July, but she has no idea what will happen after that date.

They are being offered support by Zacchaeus 2000 , a London-based anti-poverty charity that helps low-income households aff ected by welfare reform and debt, including those being forced to relocate. Romin Sutherland, its project manager , said London housing is in melt-down: “ Residents placed outside of the borough are being forced to commute back in to get their children to school, and often spend the whole day waiting for them in order to minimise costs.”

Hanane Toumi, 34, is exhausted. Her hair is falling out due to stress. “I’m running, every day I’m running,” she said.

“My daughter asks, ‘Mum, why don’t we move this house so it’s closer to the school?’ ” When Toumi, a single mother of two, fi nishes her four-hour cleaning shift in the early afternoon, it isn’t worth her trying to make the fi ve-mile journey home and then back, so she hangs around north London’s Edgware Road area in rain or shine, waiting to collect her children – Salsabile, six, and Waleed, three – from school. Th e family used to live close to school and work, but when her husband left she no longer had the right to live in the home registered in her husband’s name.

Westminster city council moved the family into temporary accommodation, fi rst in Hackney and now, on a three-year tenancy, to a fl at in Brent, overlooking the North Circular Road. Like many families having to shift around under the benefi t changes, the transition is painful. Far from the life she had established in Westminster, she gets up at 5.45am to prepare for the fi ve-mile race to drop her children off by 8.30am and then go on to work in Kentish Town. She is often late.

Toumi sometimes has to change a nappy on the bus. She tried to register her daughter at a Brent school, but was told there were no places. Nearby nurseries cost more than the £140 a week she pays in Westminster, and her monthly salary of £631 is barely adequate, even with child tax credit.

Since the family moved, Toumi said her daughter has started falling asleep in class. A teacher at the school has testifi ed to the council that the daily commute has had an

impact on her education and emotional welfare.

Westminster offi cers have recommended that she fi nd work closer to home, easier said than done for a woman without qualifi cations, and have rejected Toumi’s request to review her Neasden placement.

“Given the age of Ms Toumi’s children, I do accept that travelling from Neasden to school would not be ideal,” wrote a Westminster housing review offi cer. “However, having considered the children’s age and level of schooling, I do not see any reason why they could not attend an alternative nursery and school.”

Th e housing review offi cer accepted Toumi’s claim that travelling to school, nursery and work took more than three hours a day, but rejected it as grounds for relocation. With review options exhausted, Toumi has little hope of returning to Westminster.Will Fitzgibbon

CASE STUDY: THE HUMAN COST

Daily 3-hour trip for a single mother to link school and work

* 09.06.13

Section:GDN BE PaGe:34 Edition Date:130918 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 17/9/2013 16:35 cYanmaGentaYellowblack

*34 The Guardian | Wednesday 18 September 2013

Thousands of aff ordable homes axedCouncils cave in as developers refuse to undertake building projects unless they deliver healthy profi ts

Nick MathiasonWill Fitzgibbon George Turner

Housebuilders and councils in Britain’s biggest cities are failing to comply with aff ordable housing targets, and even rip-ping up legal commitments to build cheaper homes . A three-month study by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism for Society Guardian has established that 60% of the biggest housing developments currently in the planning system are falling short of local aff ordable housing targets, preventing thousands of cheaper homes being built.

The investigation reveals huge cuts to the proportion of aff ordable housing in one of the largest housing projects and how none of Birmingham’s biggest hous-ing developments meet its 35% aff ordable housing target. Separately, the investiga-tion also shows how financial viability assessments on behalf of a leading house-builder repeatedly persuaded councils that having larger aff ordable housing quo-tas would make schemes uneconomic.

Affordable housing includes social, rented and shared ownership for speci-fi ed eligible households that can’t aff ord to buy or rent on the open market.

The bureau’s assessment of 82 of the biggest housing developments in 10 major cities found just 40% complied with local affordable housing targets. Other than Birmingham, the cities where at least 50% of housing schemes failed to meet local affordable housing targets were Bristol, Bradford, Cardiff, Manchester and Sheffi eld.

Leslie Morphy, chief executive of the homelessness charity Crisis, says: “ With homelessness on the rise and millions of people languishing on housing waiting lists, we must do more to increase the supply of aff ordable homes. This is not just a numbers game, but about creating mixed, vibrant communities and avoiding ghettoisation of rich and poor.”

In London, where the number of people accepted as homeless stands at 14,812, one of the largest developments going through the planning system shows less than 17% of the planned 15,000 units will be aff ord-able. This is despite Lambeth, one of the two councils involved in the 195-hectare (480-acre) development in south London, stating to its tenants council two years ago that aff ordable housing could account for 35% of new units built in its section.

Pete Robbins, Lambeth council cabinet member for housing and regeneration,

sa ys: “We are serious about delivering a high level of aff ordable housing in every new development that comes forward in Lambeth. But this is much harder now because of the viability tests that give … developers a chance to avoid our aff ord-able housing targets. We continue to work hard to maximise aff ordable hous-ing levels, but the bottom line is that our hands are increasingly tied.”

Aff ordable housing targets set by coun-cils are based on local demand and supply, the costs of housing locally and local wages. The targets are usually expressed as a per-centage of new housing supply. Th e targets are not legally binding, and if a developer can demonstrate through a site-specific fi nancial viability test that the target makes a development uneconomic, then the requirement can be reduced or waived.

Viability assessment As the housing crisis intensifi es , the bureau found repeated examples of house builders and property consultancies winning council permission to signifi cantly reduce the number of affordable homes using economic viability assessments based on projections which state that schemes will only be marginally profi table.

The bureau’s analysis of St George – part of the Berkeley Group– one of the UK’s most successful developers, showed it used financial viability assessments which repeatedly persuaded local authorities that increasing the number of aff ordable homes in its schemes would stop it meeting “industry-standard” profi t margins of between 17% and 20%. St George’s published accounts show that in the six years to 2012 its margins averaged 25. 5% and its accumulated after-tax profi ts were £268m.

Michael Edwards, UCL senior lecturer in the economics of planning, sa ys: “There are well-acknowledged systemic problems with the viability system. It is not func-tioning in a way that necessarily refl ects economic reality. When developers make very large profits and yet cite viability

as a reason not to build more aff ordable homes, common sense tells you there is an anomaly. And the public can’t test whether the assumptions contained in viability assessments are fair because the assessments are confi dential.”

This “anomaly” arises because viability assessments are based on a site’s projected profi t , with little reference to the individ-ual developer’s fi nancial circumstances.

There is nothing to suggest St George or any of its related entities has failed to comply with planning conditions. The company says it is committed to deliver-ing 2,000 aff ordable homes, linked to its housebuilding pipeline, and it has already delivered thousands of aff ordable homes. In addition, it has contribute d £76m to local infrastructure beyond the supply of aff ordable housing, such as roads, schools and green spaces.

The company says anticipated profit figures are only one factor in deciding viability and are independently assessed according to industry benchmarks. It believes it is wrong to compare overall pre-tax profi ts with the development margin on an individual site. Greg Fry, chairman of St George, says: “Councils independ-ently assess the viability of a project based on the site in question, regardless of who might develop it or how profi table they are. The profi tability of the developer has no bearing on the level of aff ordable hous-ing required on a site.”

Sir Edward Lister, deputy mayor of London responsible for policy and plan-ning, sa ys that while the priority is to get new schemes off the ground, the mayor would intervene in future to raise aff ord-able housing numbers if it was shown that developers were making dispropor-tionately large profi ts: “I’m not trying to defend the property industry, but I do believe they have been through a bad time and I believe it’s more important to get building moving. Fifteen or 20% of something is better than nothing.”

Legal commitments In Birmingham, not one of the nine big-gest schemes assessed by the bureau meet the 35% aff ordable housing target . In one planned 353-unit project, even the alloca-tion of 12 aff ordable units – just 3.4% of the scheme – is considered “unviable” by plan-ning advisers representing the developer.

Councillor Ian Ward, deputy leader of Birmingham city council, says aff ord-able housing targets haven’t been met because major developments in the city centre focus on affl uent urban profession-

If a developer can show that a council’s aff ordable housing target makes a development uneconomic, the requirement can be reduced or waived

als. “Requirement to provide aff ordable housing is lower in this area than for other areas of the city, as there is less demand for family accommodation,” he points out.

But freedom of information disclo-sures obtained by the bureau show that over five years more than 2,300 afford-able homes have been axed from housing schemes across the UK even after builders and councils signed off section 106 legal agreements specifi ed these homes must be built. Section 106 is a clause within the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act that provides a mechanism to recoup contribu-tions from developers for infrastructure requirements to enable a scheme to go ahead. It has become the main way aff ord-able housing is delivered. But under new legislation that came into force in April, developers now have the ability to fast track challenges against a “section 106” if it can show that building the low-cost homes required makes a scheme unviable.

In Cheshire, a council decision to allow a consortium of leading housebuilders to axe 252 aff ordable homes in the 1,200-unit Winnington Urban Village in Northwich after legal sign-off has “opened the fl ood-gates” to developers requesting similar reductions, says Labour councillor Brian Clarke. Cheshire West and Chester council says that under the revised arrangement, money for aff ordable housing “will be avail-able if the development can aff ord it”.

In south Devon, research by the bureau shows that 109 aff ordable homes have been scrapped after legal sign-off . Anne Fry, an independent Teignbridge district council-lor, warns: “Developers are just picking us off at the moment.” She says she and her colleagues struggle to cope with the tech-nical demands of developers seeking to reduce aff ordable housing contributions.

The district council state s: “Teign-bridge has not lost 109 aff ordable homes through the s106 process – those homes would never have been provided because the developments were not viable. By demonstrating fl exibility and an aware-ness of market conditions, Teignbridge has ensured the delivery of a viable level of aff ordable housing.”

Councils are bracing themselves for a big increase in retrospective appeals by housebuilders. T en of the biggest builders – which between them own enough land to build more than 300,000 homes – together made pre-tax profi ts of £1.1bn last year, according to bureau analysis.

T he burden to maintain low-cost housing supply is increasingly being left to housing associations. Yet Chancellor George Osborne’s spending review in June announced that housing associations would receive only £3.3bn in the three years from 2015, which amounted to a cut of 2.2% on top of the overall 63% funding reduction made in 2010.

There are 1.85 million people on coun-cil waiting lists in England – up 69% in 10 years – and, as of last June, there were 56,210 households in temporary accom-modation, up 9% in the past 12 months.

Data in June showed the number of aff ordable house building starts backed by the government-funded Homes and Com-munities Agency and the Greater London Authority in the fi nancial year to 2013 was 36,206 – 33% lower than when the coali-tion came to power.

“In high-value areas the problem social landlords face is access to land, and sec-tion 106 agreements gives them access to these sites,” says Rachel Fisher, National Housing Federation head of homes and land. “Local councils therefore have a responsibility to their communities. They must ensure that the planning system continues to take into account what local people and families need – and be commit-ted to delivering these homes.”

Additional research by Victoria Hollingsworth and Jude McArdle at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism thebureauinvestigates.com

In numbers

2,300The number of aff ordable homes axed across the UK over the last fi ve years after section 106 renegotiations

60%The percentage of Britain’s biggest housing developments falling short of local aff ordable housing targets

£1.1bn The combined pre-tax profi ts made last year by 10 of the UK’s biggest housing developers

‘When developers make large profi ts and yet cite viability in not building more aff ordable homes, common sense tells you there is an anomaly’

12-27-2013

Mark Steel Haven’t you heard? It’s all the foreigners’ fault!VOICES P.17

John Lichfield Our man in Paris on the fate of François HollandeWORLD P.27

Rosie Millard Twitter shows us the true meaning of Christmas ANOTHER VOICE P.37

Geoffrey Macnab Five stars for a stunning new Robert Redford film ARTS P.40

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FRIDAY 27 DECEMBER 2013

victims. The confidential report, obtained by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism for The Independent, found basic forensic protocols were rou-tinely breached at the London centre, which was set up to provide a “gold standard” in support for rape victims, and to improve conviction rates.

Dozens of samples taken from victims of sexual attacks that should have been sent for forensic analysis were found left in a fridge, according to the report, which also exposed “multiple deficiencies” in the unit’s dealings with children and vulnerable adults.

Staff at the unit described

working in “an oppressive, tense environment” and told investigators that they dreaded their shifts but were afraid to complain to managers.

The report concludes that many of the problems “ech-oed the underlying failures

µ Shocking standards exposed in damning report with echoes of Mid Staffs crisis

NHS ‘covered up’ scandal at centre for rape victims

Continued on P.6 >

A peculiarly British scene: residents of Matlock in Derbyshire brave heavy rain and cold to cheer on competitors in the annual charity raft race, which raises funds for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Britain is braced for more severe weather. NEWS, P.4-5

The NHS was accused last night of suppressing a damn-ing report that found Mid Staffordshire-type failings at a pioneering centre for rape

Salmond ‘hid legal reality of Scotland’s EU status’

Alex Salmond is facing accu-sations of hiding the full legal reality behind the Scottish Government’s assurances that an independent Scotland would enjoy fast-tracked membership of the EU.

The SNP leader launched his administration’s White Paper on independence last month by claiming legal advice given to the UK Gov-ernment earlier this year described as “realistic” a period of 18 months of entry negotiations between Edin-burgh and Brussels.

Holyrood’s Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, recently claimed a breakaway Scot land would have a “smooth and quick” transition to full EU membership.

But both Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon failed to men-tion a subsequent legal “clari-fication” given to the Edin-burgh government on the politically crucial issue of EU membership.

The advice, shown to The Independent, highlights “seri-ous unresolved issues” and potential difficulties in the process. Likely problem points include voting rights in both the European Council and Parliament, the validity of current UK opt-outs, the use of the euro and what was termed “further financial questions”.

Catherine Stihler, a Labour MEP who has campaigned for greater transparency over Scotland’s position on EU membership, said: “Alex Sal-mond has form saying one thing in public but knowing the opposite to be true. On this issue you can’t trust a word he has to say. The idea that everything will be all right on the night just because he says so isn’t credible.”

Expert opinion from James Crawford and Alan Boyle,

EXCLUSIVEJAMES CUSICKPOLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

Continued on P.6 >

EXCLUSIVEMELANIE NEWMAN AND OLIVER WRIGHT

Elephant Appeal: Bid now in our third charity auction P.32-33

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Revealed: Labour’s mystery hedge fund donor

OLIVER WRIGHTWHITEHALL EDITOR

Continued on P.4 >

TIMOTHY ALLEN

Labour has received a huge donation from a multimillion-pound hedge fund manager whose identity the party tried to keep secret, The Independ-

ent can reveal. Martin Tay-lor has given Labour nearly £600,000 since 2012, making him the party’s fourth-largest donor, and has had at least one meeting with the Labour leader, Ed Miliband.

But party officials have refused to confirm Mr Tay-lor’s identity for several weeks

despite repeated requests from journalists. Yesterday, after The Independent said it intended to publish details of Mr Taylor’s identity – with-out the party’s confirmation – Labour released a statement from Mr Taylor confirming he was the source of the funds.

A party spokesman said it

had not previously released the information out of respect for his privacy.

But the case highlights the continuing lack of trans-parency surrounding party finances. Parties are required to provide details of all their donors who have given more than £7,500 – but only the

name of the donor is made public, making it hard to identify individuals who have a common name.

It is also embarrassing for Mr Miliband because he has been a frequent critic of the Conservatives’ reliance on

µ Party’s fourth-largest financial supporter works in industry repeatedly targeted by Ed Miliband µ Officials tried to keep Martin Taylor’s identity secret for weeks while attacking Tories over donations

Plus: Janet Street-Porter Culture vouchers are just what poor children need P.47 Boyd Tonkin How science is redrawing Britain’s history P.41 Andrew Grice Everything to play (and pay) for after a sobering Budget P.20

Foodies told to prepare for flood of counterfeit olive oil

British shoppers have been warned to beware of counter-feit olive oil – as criminal gangs exploit a disastrous Italian har-vest by selling potentially dan-gerous bootleg bottles.

A senior Italian food fraud investigator told The Inde-pendent that he has already seen evidence that criminals are moving into olive oil pro-duction and distribution.

Consumers should be particularly wary of olive oil that appears “too cheap to be true”, experts said. Fake oil produced in unhygienic conditions could put Britons at increased risk of E.coli and salmonella.

The incentive for fraud has

TOM BAWDENENVIRONMENT EDITOR

Continued on P.5 >

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Revealed: how exclusive Tory ball plays matchmaker to donors and politicians

Simon GoodleyMelanie NewmanNick Mathiason A doorstep lender, a host of property tycoons and a Ukraine-born energy mag-nate were among guests worth £22bn who attended the Tories’ most important fundraising event of the year, a table plan leaked to the Guardian reveals.

The secret list of about 570 guests attending the Tories’ Black and White Ball, held last February in London, will heighten concerns that the country’s wealthiest people are gaining access to David Cameron and senior Conservative cabinet members in private.

The revelation follows details pub-lished by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in July which showed how lobbyists and oligarchs had paid up to £12,000 for a table at the 2013 Tory summer party.

At both events, where tickets went for £450 to £1,000 , guests were seated with ministers whose portfolios were relevant to the diners’ fi nancial interests.

However, the wealth of the party goers attending the February gala – which also took place at the Old Billingsgate Market, in the City of London – is estimated to have

been double that of the summer party. The table plan for February’s dinner, again analysed by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, reveals that:• The work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, who has overseen a wide-ranging programme of welfare cuts, was seated with directors of the doorstep lend-ing fi rm CLC Finance , which advertises loans at a 769.9% annual interest rate.• The housing minister at the time, Kris Hopkins, sat with two of London’s top property executives, Bruce Ritchie, a business partner of the chef Marco Pierre White , and Paul Munford, an adviser to the Candy brothers, luxury property develop-ers whose fi rms arrange purchases of “tro-phy” London homes for rich foreigners.• David Cameron shared a table with Lord Chelsea, whose family are worth £4.2bn and are among London’s largest heredi-tary landowners.• Michael Fallon, then energy minister, dined with directors of a fi rm that supplies the off shore renewable energy industry and which has directed donations at MPs whose constituencies are in areas where off shore wind farms have been proposed .• Celebrity glamour was provided by Joan Collins, who arrived with her friend Ivan Massow, the fi nancier and gay rights campaigner.

There is no suggestion that guests discussed either policy or their business interests with the ministers and MPs at the dinner. A Tory spokesman said: “All donations to the Conservative party are declared and published by the Electoral Commission. Lists of all ministerial meet-ings with external organisations are pub-lished on a quarterly basis.

“Ministers meet a range of organisations – voluntary, commercial or educational. Any suggestion that policy is infl uenced by donations is malicious and defama-tory and will be treated as such.”

However, the fact of politicians mix-

to know, [is] that these events are taking place together with [people from] indus-tries and government – so we can track, over the forthcoming months, if policy sweeteners have been promised as an incentive to attract donations .”

Two of the directors of CLC Finance (which had three executives sharing a table at the ball with Duncan Smith) are Philip and Dominic Wilbraham, who are also members of a family company named Wilbraham Securities LLP, which has given £28,500 to the Tories over the past three years. The donations began in 2011, just as pressure was mounting on the government for tighter regulation in the high-cost credit market.

Also at that same table was George Hollingbery, MP for Meon Valley, in Hamp-shire, who is private secretary to the home secretary, Theresa May, and has a particu-lar interest in work and pensions and wel-fare legislation .

A spokesman for the Wilbrahams said it was “absolutely not the case” that the family fi rm had made a donation to the Conservative party with the intention of influencing government policy on the regulation of home credit providers.

He added: “The Wilbraham family has been supporters of, and donors to, the Conservative party for over 30 years and the Wilbraham and Hollingbery families have been

friends for over 40 years. The discus-

Joining them was Hopkins, the housing minister . Ritchie is chief executive of the Residential Land Group, which owns more than 1,200 let properties in the prime mar-ket of central London. He has called for less government intervention in the resi-dential property sector – and along with his wife and company donated £111,600 to the Conservatives in 2013, more than twice the previous year’s fi gure.

Also joining Hopkins at the Ritchies’ table was Paul Munford, whose company arranges mortgages for wealthy foreign-ers wanting to buy high-value residen-tial properties in London. There too was James Caan, the entrepreneur and former panellist on the TV show Dragons’ Den .

The general counsel for Caan’s com-pany, Hamilton Bradshaw, said: “No policy issues were discussed with Mr Hop-kins.” He added that Hamilton Bradshaw was involved in a number of sectors but predominantly recruitment.

At the Black and White ball, Alexan-der Temerko, a Ukraine-born director of the Tyneside-based fi rm Off shore Group Newcastle, which specialises in build-ing off shore wind, gas and oil platforms, hosted Fallon and two other MPs who also have benefi ted from Temerko’s donations – James Wharton and Alun Cairns.

Temerko, who was a guest at the Tories’ 2013 summer ball, where he bought a £12,000 bronze bust of Cameron for £90,000 at auction, is also a member of

attempt by either Mr Temerko or OGN or its representatives to infl uence policy in relation to wind farms is false,” said an OGN spokesman. He added that wind power formed only a small portion of OGN’s business.

The 21 ministers listed as going to the ball in February were all asked to confi rm their attendance at it. Only Ken Clarke, then minister without portfolio, did so. The Treasury minister at the time, Nicky Morgan, and Owen Paterson, then envi-ronment secretary, said that they did not attend the event .

David Cameron and Samantha, hiswife, at the Black and White Ball. Guests included, right, from top, Joan Collins and Ivan Massow, James Caan, William Hague and Ffi on Jenkins, and, below, Iain Duncan Smith

Duncan Smith seated next to doorstep lending bosses Tycoons deny business interests were discussed

‘We need to know … if policy sweeteners have been promised’

Estimated worth of the 570 or so guests who went to the Conservatives’ Black and White Ball this year, which raised cash for the elections

£22bn

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despite a 3 per cent rise in reported rapes over the period. The number of people charged with rape by the CPS over that period has fallen by 14 per cent.

Now an investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Jour-nalism for The Independent has found disturbing links between the fall in referrals and changes to the police approach to rape cases follow-ing updated CPS guidance in 2011. It has also found evi-

dence that police may be dropping cases on the basis of informal guidance from CPS lawyers – without files being f o r m a l ly ex a m i n e d by prosecutors.

The amended CPS guid-ance puts more emphasis on police forces identifying and stopping cases where the threshold for charging is not met before they get to the CPS. Critics say that police may be dismissing cases that could be successfully prose-

cuted. The shadow Attorney General, Emily Thornberry, described the Bureau’s find-ing as profoundly concerning and suggested it may be linked to cutbacks in police and CPS resources.

Last night the CPS con-firmed it would investigate its guidelines as part of a review into the falling referral rates.

“We are exploring the reasons for the drop in rape referrals with the police,” the CPS said. “This work will

include looking at the appro-priate interpretation and application of the Director’s guidance and the evidential standard of the case files sub-mitted to the CPS.”

A document obtained by the Bureau shows that on average police forces across England and Wales sent 21 per cent fewer cases to the CPS for charging in the financial year 2012-13 than the year

µ Sharp fall in both referrals and charges follows new CPS guidelines issued three years agoµ Shadow Attorney General expresses ‘profound concern’ as victims’ groups demand investigation

Revealed: the rape cases police don’t bother with

Continued on P.9 >

Thousands of suspected rape cases may have been wrongly discontinued over the past two years because police forces or prosecutors are misinterpret-ing official guidelines.

Since 2011 the number of rape cases referred by the police to the Crown Prosecu-tion Service for charging deci-sions has fallen by a third –

MELANIE NEWMAN AND OLIVER WRIGHT

John Walsh: Why lapsed Catholics love this Pope BIG READ P.31

TUESDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2014

Section:GDN BE PaGe:23 Edition Date:141229 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 28/12/2014 19:24 cYanmaGentaYellowblack

*The Guardian | Monday 29 December 2014 23

FinancialBusiness editor: Julia Finch fi nancial@theguardian.com @businessdesk020 3353 3795

Top 10 housebuilders to rake in £2.1bn in 2014 Profi ts rise 34% as targets missed for low-cost homesResearch shows how fi rms work around council rules

Nick Mathiason

Britain’s ten biggest housebuilders will see profi ts climb to more than £2bn this year despite falling short of local govern-ment targets on aff ordable homes.

While profi ts surge to levels not seen since the last credit-fuelled boom, the number of aff ordable homes built in Eng-land has fallen to an eight-year low.

Analysis by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism shows that the country’s big-gest builders, who between them control enough land to create 480,000 homes, will make pre tax profits of more than £2.1bn in 2014 – a 34% jump on last year.

The total is based on reported and pro-jected profi ts for fi rms including Persim-mon, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt, many of which have seen sales boosted by the government’s Help to Buy schemes.

The return to pre-crash profit levels comes as offi cial fi gures forecast 42,710 aff ordable homes will be built in England in the year to April – the lowest since 2006, and a 26% fall since 2010.

Jon Sparkes chief executive of home-less campaign group Crisis, said: “At a time when the country faces a housing crisis and with homelessness having risen sig-nifi cantly in recent years, we desperately need developers to provide more aff ord-able homes .”

Steve Turner of the Home Builders Federation whose members account for 80% of houses built in England and Wales, said: “The industry was devastated in the fi nancial crash, profi ts initially fell very steeply, or disappeared into losses, and many companies disappeared. Only now are profi ts returning to pre-crash levels allowing companies to rebuild, restruc-ture and replace lost capacity.”

Aff ordability campaigners suggest part of the reason why developers have failed to achieve targets for cheaper homes is to be found in an opaque part of the planning system, known as the fi nancial viability test. Th is is widely used by housebuilders to reduce, legally, the number of aff ord-

able homes to below local authority tar-gets. More than half of aff ordable homes in England are built by private develop ers through what is known as the Section 106 system , in which tests of fi nancial viabil-ity are key. These assessments form the basis of negotiations with local authori-ties when developers want to reduce the number of low-cost homes below the local authority’s targets.

Targets typically range between 25% and 40% of the total number of homes in a scheme set according to local housing need. The assessment works by combining all costs linked to a housing development, including a 20% margin for the developer but excluding the land price. These costs are then subtracted from projected sales revenue based on current values.

If the resulting total is not much higher than its current use value, the scheme is likely to be considered unviable by devel-opers who will then argue the number of aff ordable homes required must be cut. This means assumptions on sales and costs are crucial.

The bureau’s research has found that:• The process is shrouded in secrecy with many developers regularly refusing to

disclose to the public the assessments on which their fi gures are based.• Councils rarely employ external experts to scrutinise housebuilders’ fi gures con-tained in fi nancial viability submissions .• Sales projections used in viability assessments are frozen at the time a scheme receives planning consent pre-venting the council from sharing in any benefi t from rising house prices .

Housing campaign groups point to 1.4 m households on council waiting lists – a 34% rise since 1997 – and 85,000 chil-dren living in temporary accommodation . They argue the government has to put pressure on builders to meet aff ordable housing targets.

Joanna Kennedy, chief executive of housing and welfare campaign group Z2K, said Whitehall “ should be supporting boroughs in challenging developers’ ques-tionable viability assessments, instead of undermining council’s eff orts to secure planning gain through section 106 ” .

A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: “It is for local authorities to agree an appro-priate level of contribution to aff ordable housing with developers. ”

The number of Londoners buying homes outside the capital has jumped 50% in a year as rising house prices have triggered a larger than usual mi-gration to the home counties .

Londoners spent £21bn on 58,000 homes elsewhere in the UK, the high-est number since 2007, according to Hamptons International, the estate agents. The vast majority, said Johnny Morris, Hamptons’ head of research, were bought for relocation purposes.

Top spots included Brighton, Luton and Bath . Among families, popular destinations were Esher in Surrey, Brentwood in Essex and Rickmans-worth in Hertfordshire. About 80% of those relocating bought in the south-east or east of England .

“Over the [economic] downturn, many Londoners delayed life-stage moves, restricting the natural fl ow of families out of the capital and building a pent-up demand,” said Morris. Simon Bowers

Londoners relocate

A century in silverThe Royal Mint has introduced the fi rst £100 coins with a design incorporating the Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben, issued ‘to ring in the new year’. The mint, in Llantrisant, Wales, is making available 50,000 of the commemorative coins at face value. Each is composed of 2oz ( 57 grams) of silver. The mint hopes the £100 piece will be a sell out like Britain’s fi rst £20 coin, issued in 2013 , which bears a St George and the Dragon design Photograph: Dan Rowley/Rex

Childcare costs leave one in 10 families with zero earner Angela MonaghanSimon Goodley

Thousands of parents are in eff ect work-ing for zero pay, such is the high cost of childcare services in the UK, new research has revealed.

One in 10 working families with young children has an earner who brings home nothing after commuting, childcare and other work-associated expenses, according to a biannual report into family fi nances by the insurer Aviva .

The study also shows that one in four families includes one parent who brings home less than £100 a month after costs, while 4% of women surveyed said they were actually paying to work because their costs were greater than their income .

“Aviva’s findings paint a picture of a nation of parents struggling to keep their heads, and careers, above water in the face of rising childcare costs,” said Louise Col-ley, director of Aviva’s protection insur-ance operation. “It is vital that the govern-ment and employers understand the cir-cumstances and needs of these parents.”

The findings coincide with a report by employment consultancy The Jobs Economist that highlights the squeeze on some family incomes . It says the overall outlook for Britain’s jobs market in 2015 is the rosiest since 2007, but inequality in pay will rise as many people remain des-perate for work.

UK workers will fi nally see the begin-ning of a sustained rise in real wages after six years of falls, the study adds, with average weekly pay growth expected to rise to 2.5%, while infl ation is forecast to be just 1.2% by the end of 2015.

The consultancy said, however, that the divide that has emerged in the jobs market would widen . John Philpott, director of The Jobs Economist , said : “In a labour market still oversupplied with people desperate for whatever work is on off er, employers unable or unwilling to improve working conditions will con-tinue to have no diffi culty in hiring staff into minimum wage jobs or on zero-hours contracts without any fringe benefi ts.

“This will serve to further widen what has become a clear structural ‘workforce

divide’ within the UK’s ultra-fl exible and lightly regulated labour market.”

The Aviva report surveyed 2,000 fami-lies with children up to fi ve years old and found the median amount left over from the lower earner’s salary is just £243 a month among those who paid for child-care. There are 4.8 million children in the UK aged fi ve or under, according to the Offi ce for National Statistics, and 43% of those surveyed with children in that group said they use childcare to enable them to go out to work. Of those, 84% said they pay for at least some of their childcare.

There are an estimated 1.4 million zero-hours contracts in the UK , where staff are hired without being guaranteed a minimum number of hours. Workers on such contracts are paid less and have fewer rights than permanent employees, the TUC has said, resulting in a two-tier workforce in Britain.

Employment will grow solidly in 2015, according to The Jobs Economist, but less quickly than 2014 as slower economic growth and faster productivity growth curb the rate of job creation.

Tesco may have to fi nd £300m a year to plug pension hole

Simon Goodley

Tesco, after a nightmare two years, is fac-ing additional fi nancial pressure in 2015 when it must publish plans to plug a £3bn hole in its pension scheme.

The company is confronting the pros-pect of injecting an extra £300m every year for the next 10 years, according to independent pensions consultant John Ralfe . Meeting this commitment is yet another challenge for newly appointed chief executive Dave Lewis, who is tasked with returning the UK’s leading grocery business to its former glories.

Ralfe, a former head of corporate finance at Boots who made his name handling its £2.3bn pension fund, said: “2014 saw Tesco fi ring its chief executive [Philip Clarke in July], disclosing account-ing irregularities [ being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office], mothballing newly completed stores, and facing a chal-lenge to its whole business model from the discounters, such as Aldi and Lidl. Increased cash contributions to plug its pension fund is yet another problem.

“The new fi nance director [Alan Stew-art] will want to make sure shareholders have absolute confidence in all of the numbers, including pensions, which Tesco produces.”

Tesco said it could not comment in detail on its pension defi cit as the size of the shortfall in its employees’ pension fund is being assessed, via a triennial actuarial valuation which it expected to be concluded before the end of May.

The size of the gap, along with a plan to fi ll it, must be published by June and the group’s last annual report suggested the defi cit is almost £3.2bn – the diff erence between the fund’s £8.1bn of assets and its £11.3bn of liabilities.

The pensions regulator typically allows companies and trustees to devise strate-gies spanning 10 years to correct defi cits, though in practice businesses often seek to correct issues over 15 years. Ralfe said he expected the actuarial valuation defi cit announced next year to be similar to the fi gure in the company’s 2014 accounts.

Tesco said its last triennial trustee’s actuarial valuation, from March 2011, showed a defi cit of £934m. Its 2011 annual report, taking in fi gures up to the end of February 2011, showed a defi cit of £1.4bn.

I n its 2013 fi nancial year Tesco made an additional injection of £180m, on top of other routine contributions designed to reduce the defi cit on the scheme.

The one-off top-up dropped to £4m in 2014. Tesco declined to explain the marked difference between the two fi gures.

How it adds up

43%Proportion of parents surveyed by Aviva who rely on childcare to enable them to work, with 84% of them paying for this

4.8mNumber of children in Britain aged fi ve or under, according the Offi ce for National Statistics

4%Proportion of women surveyed who in eff ect pay to work after childcare and work-related costs are deducted

Dave Lewis, Tesco chief, faces another problem on top of accounting foul-ups, ditching store open-ings and the dis-counters’ challenge

One of Labour’s biggest private donorsis a wealthy hedge fund boss whoseidentity the party has repeatedlyrefused to reveal.Martin Taylor, who has held at least

one private meeting with Ed Miliband,has been unmasked as the mysterybenefactor who has given the partyalmost £600,000 in three years.The revelation will provoke accusa-

tions of hypocrisy against the Labourleader, who has attacked the Tories forbeing “the party of Mayfair hedgefunds”. Mr Taylor runs a fund forNevsky Capital from an office inMayfair. At one time hemanagedmorethan £2 billion.Labour’s refusals to confirm his

identity have led to accusations that itwas failing to live up to its pledge to betransparent about its backers. Theparty has not broken any rules becauseonly the names of big donors have to bemade public. Mr Taylor’s commonname made it difficult to reveal hisidentity without the co-operation ofthe party.The Times approached Mr Taylor

this week, having first asked Labourabout his identity several months ago.The party finally issued a statementfromMrTaylor, 46, yesterday. “There isno mystery,” he said. “This ‘MartinTaylor’ is me. I am a born and bredLondoner, who also happens to be ahedge fund manager. And I am proudto support the Labour party.”He added

that it may seem “a bit odd” to peoplethat he backed Labour because “it iscommonly believed that everyone inthe financial sector supports the Con-servative party, in a quest to pay everlower levels of tax”.He said that he had a strong belief

that “everyone should contribute tosociety and that those who are luckyenough to earn a lot should contributemore”.He added that hewas domiciled here

for tax purposes, and that his familyhistory had played an important part inhis support for Labour. “My dad was alocal Labour councillor in Lewisham,southeast London, for more than 30years and my mum rose to be the headteacher of a comprehensive school,”he said. “They taught me daily aboutfairness.”He said that he opposed the govern-

ment’s decision to cut the top rate ofincome tax to 45p, while he backedLabour’s mansion tax on homes worthmore than £2 million. His support forthe mansion tax comes despite thefact that he is listed as a directorof a property developer specialisingin luxury dwellings. The company’sContinued on page 2, col 3

Michael SavageChief Political Correspondent

Veteran’s view A Chelsea Pensioner watching the eclipse from the grounds of the Royal Hospital, London, yesterday. Thebest sights in Britain were to be had in northern Scotland, where for a moment the Moon wholly obscured the Sun. Pages 6-7

Hedge fundmillionaireis Labour’scovert donor

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FTSE busts 7,000 to hit historic highThe FTSE 100 share indexhit a historic high of7,022.5 points yesterday,adding about £15billion tothe value of Britain’sbiggest listed companies.The surge was promptedby a growing view that

interest rates at home andabroad are going to staylower for longer. Theindex is up 7 per cent overthree months, and inFebruary passed the 1999dotcom-era high pointof 6,930. Page 49

IN THE NEWS

Isis threat growsEvidence has emergedthat the killing of 20people at Tunisia’snational museum was thefirst Isis-inspired assaultagainst western targetsorganised fromneighbouring Libya.Page42

Journalists clearedFour senior journalists atThe Sun were cleared ofpaying public officials forstories as an Old Baileyjury delivered a heavyblow to the longrunninginvestigation intonewspapers. Page 5

Miliband facing charge of hypocrisy over gifts

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/24/the-hostages-killed-by-us-drones-are-the-casualties-of-an-inhumane-policy 1/2

The hostages killed by US drones are thecasualties of an inhumane policy

Trevor TimmSecrecy, misdirection and lies have shielded much of the public from the realization that US dronestrikes have killed countless civilians in the past decade

Friday 24 April 2015 10.00 BST

P resident Obama’s admission on Thursday that the CIA killed two innocent hostagesin a US drone strike in Pakistan should deƌnitively prove to the American publicwhat the White House has been trying to hide from them for a while: the US

government’s secretive use of drone strikes is a transparency nightmare and humanrights catastrophe. It requires a full-scale, independent investigation.

The only thing surprising about the news that US drone strikes killed one American andone Italian civilian al-Qaida hostage - along with two alleged American members of al-Qaida who were supposedly not targeted - is that the US actually admitted it.

Secrecy, misdirection and lies have shielded much of the public from the realization thatUS drone strikes have killed countless civilians in the past decade. There is literally nopublic accountability - not in the courts nor in Congress - for the CIA and the military’skillings outside oƇcial war zones. It doesn’t matter who they kill, where, or under whatcircumstances.

What we have learned from news reports and human rights investigations over the yearshas been disturbing. Consider, for example, that the the government counts “all military-age males in a [drone] strike zone as combatants … unless there is explicit intelligenceposthumously proving them innocent”, as the New York Times reported in 2012. Formany years, the US government also regularly carried out drone strikes on people theyopenly admitted they could not identify. The CIA referred to these as “signature strikes”,which targeted people who seemed to be up to no good from the sky, but could have justbeen in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The administration supposedly curtailed signature strikes two years ago but the WallStreet Journal reported: “it can take the CIA weeks or longer to determine who was killedin a drone strike” How, then, can we believe they fully stopped it? As ACLU’s JameelJaƄer put it bluntly on Thursday: “In each of the operations acknowledged today, the USquite literally didn’t know who it was killing.”

For years, the vast majority of drone strikes victims have never been positively identiƌedas terrorists. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which has the most comprehensivedata on drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen, published a study last year showing only