It will have fewer resources, less power and more accountability to the Government and parliament.The move follows what was in effect the renationalisation of Railtrack, the infrastructure company replaced last year by the state-backed Network Rail. Rail bosses are to be stripped of much of their power by ministers, who believe the ramshackle network is running out of control, The Independent has learnt. One, James Plaskitt, the MP for Warwick and Leamington, told BBC Radio 4 that with "more flexibility and movement" many of the critics' reservations would be met.. The leader of the Labour revolt against university top-up fees said yesterday that he would vote against the Government for the first time in 20 years as an MP, despite renewed Government promises to lessen the impact on poorer students. Nick Brown, the former chief whip, and other Labour critics of the contentious plans stood firm, dismissing suggestions that opposition to the scheme was softening.Ministers face a struggle to avert a defeat on the issue and, when the Commons returns today, Charles Clarke, the Secretary of State for Education, will try again to win round critics of the scheme to allow universities to charge tuition fees of up to £3,000.Opponents will be offered "sweeteners" in the Higher Education Bill, expected to be published on Thursday, Mr Clarke's aides said.
The US homeland security department said there had been "very specific and credible concerns" about the BA service. It finally left at 6.30pm and was due to arrive at Dulles Airport, at 2am (GMT) this morning.The same flight was cancelled on Thursday and Friday on "security advice" from the Government. The British Airways flight hit by repeated terrorist alerts was delayed yet again yesterday on the orders of the American authorities. He did not know when it would be fixed.But despite the encouragement to taxpayers to go electronic, the hiccoughs are not new. Richard Makin thought he had filed his tax returns online in November 2002, only for the Inland Revenue to fine him for failure to file He was later informed the figures had been lost. The returns eventually turned up several months later before, he claims, being lost again."I would advise the Inland Revenue to hire a few schoolkids who know about running a website, not the clowns they have now," he said.Another reader's returns were also lost after being filed online.
They said no, as they have taken the view that the returns should have been done earlier."One Apple Macintosh user, Colin Gibson, who designs websites for a living, said: "I spent all last weekend trying to submit tax returns online but was unable to get onto any of the relevant pages."A lot of people are going to go beyond the self-assessment deadline through no fault of their own."And reader Trevor Jones was told just before Christmas there had been a problem with Macs for around six weeks and that he had to submit paper returns.The spokesman admitted the Revenue knew of the problem and insisted only a "very small percentage" were affected. "I tried earlier this week to go online but the system was not working. So I put aside this weekend to do it - and it's not something I enjoy - only to find that it is offline again and will be until midnight Sunday - so it's a wasted weekend," he said."I then asked whether the deadline was going to be put back in light of this. But since The Independent on Sunday revelations of the first incident - at Christmas, when the site crashed days before another self-assessment deadline - readers have contacted the IoS cataloguing a raft of errors.John Guy, a sixth form college principal, who lives in Camberley, said yesterday he had now spent a week trying to file his accounts. The deadline for self-assessment tax returns is less than 30 days away and those who fail to meet the deadline will be fined £100 plus interest.It is the second time in just over a week that the Revenue has had to suspend its online operation for maintenance work The spokesman insisted there was nothing unusual about this. A spokesman said the site had been taken down for regular maintenance work and apologised for any inconvenience.
The Inland Revenue has left taxpayers unable to file returns over the internet for the second time in barely a week after its website was again taken offline. The Inland Revenue admitted the site had been down since 6.00am yesterday and would not be back up until midnight tonight. Cornhill Direct (see table) charges £149.17 for an annual premium or £13.85 a month, which works out at £166.20 a year. What you'll pay for buildings cover Quotations are based on a three-bed semi in West Sussex, insured for rebuild costs of £92,000InsurerAnnual premiumFortis Household£135.82Groupama Home£148.80Cornhill Homecover£149.17Trenwick Household£153.57JR Clare£188.48Legal & General£202.85Property built in 1960s with no claims in past five years and including £50 excess (£1,000 for subsidence claims)Source: . Rebuild costs are far lower and there is no advantage to being over-insured; you will just end up paying considerably higher premiums.The insurer can give you an idea of the rebuild cost of your property.