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It's a quiet Friday in Westminster. Brexit's practically silent and most MPs are away in their constituencies.

The perfect time, you might think, to slip out some bad news.

From a £350million Crossrail bailout to plans for a 32% judges' pay rise, ministers have been pumping out more than the usual quantity of 'written statements'.

These appear silently on Parliament's website with no debate in the House of Commons.

For some unfathomable reason, there are often lots of them at the end of the week.

We're sure the last thing Tory ministers want is for you to miss that these things happened, and go off for a nice weekend in blissful ignorance.

So to help them out, we've outlined three of today's bigger statements below.

1. Crossrail has been given a £350m bailout

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

The government has been forced to hand over a £350million bailout to complete the late-running Crossrail line through central London.

Rail Minister Jo Johnson said the money is "short term repayable financing" while the government and Transport for London discuss how much it'll cost.

He described the action as an "interim measure" which will ensure "full momentum is maintained" behind the project.

In March it emerged the capital's new east-west railway will open in autumn 2019 rather than December 2018.

The project's budget was increased from £14.8 billion to £15.4 billion due to "cost pressures". It is being predominantly funded by Transport for London (TfL) and the Government.

2. Straight civil partnerships aren't coming quite yet

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

With great fanfare - and after losing a Supreme Court fight - Theresa May finally said this month that straight couples will be allowed to get civil partnerships.

It was a victory for 3.3million unmarried couples who want the social, legal and tax rights of marriage but not its historic baggage.

Yet now it's been confirmed the change won't happen for at least a year.

That's despite a Tory MP's Bill to allow the move clearing the Commons today.

Tim Loughton won support in Parliament for his backbench law.

Yet in a written statement, equalities minister Penny Mordaunt said the issues, including converting marriages to civil partnerships, "are not all straightforward" and she needed more time to consult.

That means the government will have to bring forward a separate Bill of its own, which won't be introduced to Parliament any earlier than summer 2019. It'll then have to go through a long approval process all over again.

Tory MP Christopher Chope fumed: "I despair at the way in which the Government has been dragging its feet over this issue for so long."

3. High Court judges could get a 32% pay rise

(Image: AFP)

Tory ministers are formally considering a £1,100-a-week pay rise for High Court judges - a move which would spark fury among other public sector workers.

Two weeks ago newspaper obtained an experts' report recommending the 97 justices should receive a 32% salary hike - taking them from £181,500-a-year to £240,000.

The report by the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) has now been made public - and ministers say they are formally considering it and taking it "very seriously".

Justice Secretary David Gauke said there was "evidence of a recruitment problem" among judges and "we are now carefully considering what changes might be made".

A rise on that scale could infuriate other public sector workers - such as nurses, soldiers, teachers and prison officers - who all got less than experts recommended.

It's also a blow to the hundreds of lower-level judges, who it emerged today are only getting a pay rise of 2% in 2018/19 - less than the 2.5% experts asked for.