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News story
A woman from Yorkshire has been charged with money laundering after almost £2 million in cash was seized by Border Force officers at Heathrow Airport.
Tara Hanlon, 30, was stopped at the airport’s Terminal 2 at around 8pm on Saturday 3 October before attempting to board a flight to Dubai. Officers searched five suitcases and found cash totalling £1.9 million in sterling notes – the largest such detection at the border so far in 2020.
Hanlon was arrested, along with a 28-year-old woman from the Doncaster area, and the investigation was referred to the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Chris Philp, Minister for Immigration Compliance and the Courts, said:
This is the largest individual cash seizure at the border so far in 2020 and I am delighted with the efforts of Border Force officers.
Preventing the export of undeclared cash from the UK is a vital step in clamping down on organised criminal gangs.
Miss Hanlon, of Pelham Court, Leeds, was later charged with money laundering and appeared at Uxbridge Magistrates Court on Monday, 5 October where she was remanded in custody until her next appearance at Isleworth Crown Court on 5 November.
The other woman arrested has been released under investigation.
Published 7 October 2020
As part of the UK government’s ambition to boost trade globally, UK Export Finance (UKEF) can now provide increased financial support that will benefit UK exporters seeking to win business in over 100 countries worldwide.
Countries that can benefit from UKEF’s increased capacity to provide export finance include Egypt, Paraguay, Serbia, Uganda and Vietnam – allowing the UK government’s export agency to support a diverse range of international projects that will increase UK trade and create opportunities for British business.
This includes enabling UKEF to support more renewable projects overseas and providing opportunities for UK suppliers to be at the heart of the green industrial revolution, following the allocation of £2 billion of direct lending to finance green projects in the latest budget.
UKEF provides support to UK exports through guarantees, loans and insurance and is strategically positioned to provide competitive financing to overseas companies looking to do business with the UK. UKEF will continue to work with UK businesses to maximise the supply of UK goods and services into international projects, creating new trading opportunities for UK suppliers.
In 2019 to 2020, UKEF provided £4.4 billion of support for UK exports, which included over £300 million in financing for wind farms in Taiwan, £110 million for a new maternity hospital in Ghana and £40 million to rehabilitate 83 kilometres of road in Gabon. As a result of its increased risk appetite, UKEF can now support a greater number of projects in a wide range of overseas markets.
As well as negotiating new free trade agreements and removing trade barriers, we are able to offer export finance support that can unlock the potential of the UK sup-ply chain. UKEF helps overseas buyers access the financial support they need to procure from the UK. This helps UK companies win more business on the world stage.
UKEF’s huge increase in capacity can be a real game-changer for the prospects of UK exporters, and will be vital to thousands of suppliers across the country.
Recently, UKEF provided £70 million of support for Contracta Construction UK to build the Kumasi market in Ghana, which directly benefited UK business and local economies. To access UKEF’s support, Contracta sourced goods and services from the UK supply chain, including from family-run manufacturer BHC Ltd based in Scotland. BHC won a £20 million export contract to provide 8000 tonnes of steelwork and 100,000m2 of metal decking for the Kumasi Market after being introduced to Contracta at a UKEF-run supplier fair event, which has generated growth and opportunities for the business.
UKEF connected more than 500 UK suppliers with international projects through its supplier fair programme in 2019 to 2020, and will continue to do so following the recent expansion of its capacity to provide export finance and support to more countries.
UKEF helped us secure a huge international contract. Not only has this helped our business, but it has also bolstered the local economy during these difficult times.
We look forward to winning more overseas business off the back of this deal.
UKEF’s Country Limits are regularly reviewed and may be subject to change if sovereign ratings are upgraded or downgraded.
Country Limit capacity can reduce as UKEF supports new business, so please go to the website for the most up to date position.
UKEF also complies with the OECD’s Sustainable Lending Principles, which means that for some countries the amount of new business it can do with sovereign and public entities may be restricted by the IMF’s and World Bank’s Debt Limits Policy.
Expansion of Manchester’s Piccadilly and Airport stations and an extra rail connection from Crewe to the North are among a range of measures being proposed by HS2 Ltd today to facilitate better journeys between the North and Midlands.
The government body has launched a public consultation, seeking views on plans for the design of HS2’s Western Leg between Crewe and Manchester and how it can be linked up with Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) to deliver seamless integrated services across the country.
Also proposed is the construction of a new HS2 rolling stock depot in Annandale, Scotland, which would create up to 100 jobs in the local area.
The consultation has been launched following recommendations from the Oakervee Review to deliver HS2 in smaller sections and consider how best to deliver the project alongside other schemes through the development of an Integrated Rail Plan, with the aim of improving capacity and connectivity across the North and Midlands and delivering services more quickly and effectively to people across the UK.
HS2 Minister Andrew Stephenson said:
HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail are an integral part of this country’s future rail network, vital for improving connections between our biggest cities and regions, boosting jobs and kickstarting economic growth as we build back better.
This consultation will ensure passengers and business have their say in delivering a rail network that meets their needs, providing better journeys across the Midlands and the North as quickly as possible.
The outcome of the consultation will also inform the development of the hybrid bill for HS2’s Western Leg before it’s introduced in parliament in early 2022.
It follows extensive work by the Department for Transport, HS2 Ltd and Transport for the North to propose infrastructure designs that will best integrate HS2 with NPR, reducing the amount of extra infrastructure required in the future.
This includes proposals to boost capacity in Manchester by doubling the number of platforms at the Airport station from 2 to 4 and increasing the number at Piccadilly from 4 to 6. In addition, an extra northern service from Crewe could see 5 to 7 HS2 trains per hour calling at the station, facilitating connections to NPR and bringing the vision of a Crewe Hub a step closer.
Alongside the new consultation, 3 additional Western Leg updates have been published today which also support the development of the Bill:
The response to the June 2019 consultation has confirmed 4 proposed changes to sections of the project in Manchester and Cheshire that will proceed subject to the outcome of the Integrated Rail Plan. In addition, further route updates for local areas on the Western Leg and new safeguarding directions have been published.
Work on HS2 Phase One from London to Birmingham is already well underway at over 250 active sites, stimulating the economy and set to create over 22,000 jobs through the approximately £10 billion worth of contracts already announced, two-thirds of which will go to small and medium-sized enterprises.
Legislation for Phase 2a, from Birmingham to Crewe, is currently being considered by Parliament.
I have today published new information on the development of the Western Leg of HS2 Phase 2b, running between Crewe and Manchester with a link to the West Coast Main Line. This includes:
The government has accepted the findings in the review by Douglas Oakervee that Phase 2b should be delivered in smaller sections with legislation brought forward as it is ready. Therefore, HS2 Ltd has taken forward work to develop legislation for the Western Leg of HS2 Phase 2b.
The government has also accepted the Oakervee recommendation that plans for HS2 and other major schemes need to be brought together in an Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) for the North and Midlands. The IRP will set out the form, scope and phasing of the Phase 2b route, across the Western and Eastern legs, and the government will therefore consider responses to this consultation alongside the IRP outcomes. If the IRP favours any major changes, further redesign will need to take place. This consultation seeks to ensure that unnecessary delay is avoided in the event that the IRP does not support change.
Work on HS2 Phase One from London to Birmingham is already well underway at over 250 active sites, stimulating the economy and providing jobs through the approximately £10 billion worth of contracts already announced, two-thirds of which will go to small and medium-sized enterprises.
Legislation for Phase 2a, from Birmingham to Crewe, is currently being considered by Parliament.
The proposals I am putting forward today are the next steps in developing the design and legislation for the Western Leg of Phase 2b, following the 2019 design refinement consultation.
Phase 2b of HS2 is key to delivering Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) and the consultation includes proposals to integrate the designs at a series of ‘touchpoints’, which are pieces of infrastructure to enable future connections between NPR and HS2. These proposals have been developed in partnership with Transport for the North and will reduce the amount of infrastructure required to deliver NPR in the future.
This consultation deals with 4 technical refinements to the Western Leg of Phase 2b:
Changes at Manchester Piccadilly to facilitate Metrolink and Manchester Airport High Speed station are subject to the agreement of local funding contributions. We continue to collaborate positively with Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Manchester Airports Group and other Greater Manchester delivery partners on this matter.
Greater Manchester partners have confirmed that they are prepared to prioritise the funding of the local proposals for Metrolink underground at Piccadilly in future funding rounds. This will form part of the shared programme between the Department for Transport (DfT) and Greater Manchester in implementing the Manchester HS2 Growth Strategy. In the 2020 budget, government made £4.2 billion of funding available to 8 city regions for intra-city transport initiatives over the period 2022 to 2023 to 2026 to 2027.
In addition to today’s consultation, I am publishing my response to the proposed Western Leg changes included in the June 2019 Phase 2b design refinement consultation. The government has decided to proceed with these changes subject to the outcome of the IRP.
I have also published a route-wide update which sets out wider developments to the route. The safeguarding directions for the Phase 2b Western Leg route have also been updated to reflect the project’s updated land requirements.
Engagement with affected communities is at the heart of our plans for HS2 and it is our commitment to ensure we listen to those affected by these proposals. Restrictions put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic mean that we will not be able to hold local information events in the same way that we usually would as part of our formal consultation process. HS2 Ltd will deliver information events via digital platforms instead. These digital events will allow those affected the same opportunities to understand what refinements are being proposed and to ask any questions that they may have to our representatives. Where owners of land or property are newly affected by the proposals, they will be contacted directly by HS2 Ltd to arrange online or telephone appointments.
Copies of the consultation command paper and safeguarding directions will be placed in the House of Commons and House of Lords libraries.