Labour leader speaks after union reportedly moved to cut its contributions to party
Keir Starmer has said he has a “very good relationship” with the Unite boss, Len McCluskey, after the union moved to cut its affiliation money to the Labour party.
McCluskey, who was a strong supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, first ordered a review into Unite’s contributions in August following Starmer’s decision to pay damages to former party staff who became whistleblowers over antisemitism.
Continue reading...Mohammed bin Nayef and Ahmed bin Abdulaziz have not been seen in public since March
A group of MPs and lawyers have asked to visit Saudi Arabia to discover the fate of two high-profile Saudi princes, the former crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz.
The panel has been set up to investigate and report on the detention of the princes as well as other key political figures detained in the region. The princes have reportedly been denied legal advice, medical care and contact with their family since they disappeared in March.
Continue reading...UK prepared to retain act in order to secure security ties with EU, sources say
Boris Johnson is prepared to make a major compromise to secure security ties with the EU by pledging in a deal on the future relationship not to rip up the Human Rights Act.
The UK is said by EU sources to be “moving” in negotiations on the issue in Brussels after previously insisting that the government would not tie its hands in any agreement on the future relationship.
Continue reading...Latest updates: Johnson asked to defend Covid strategy in PMQs; Prof Stephen Reicher warns UK risks chance to avoid stringent lockdown
Boris Johnson has always been weak at PMQs, but mostly that has primarily come over as a performance problem. Today he was a bit stronger than usual performance-wise, but it was obvious that, even if he possessed the parliamentary oratorical brilliance of someone like William Hague, he would have failed to have come out on top because he’s handicapped by a fundamental policy problem; he is trying to defend a Covid strategy that just isn’t working.
Sir Keir Starmer highlighted this best in his fourth question. He asked:
In Bury, when restriction were introduced, the infection rate was around 20 per 100,000. Today it’s 266. In Burnley it was 21 per 100,000 when restriction were introduced. Now it’s 434. In Bolton it was 18 per 100,000. Now it’s 255. The prime minister really needs to understand that local communities are angry and frustrated. So will he level with the people of Bury, Burnley and Bolton and tell them, what does he actually think the problem is here?
In the prime minister’s own local authority Hillingdon, today there are 62 cases per 100,000 yet no local restrictions. But in 20 local areas across England, restrictions were imposed when infection rates were much lower. In Kirklees it was just 29 per 100,000. Local communities, prime minister, genuinely don’t understand these differences. Can he please explain for them?
For the prime minister’s benefit, let me take this slowly for him. We support measures to protect health. We want track and trace to work. But the government is messing it up and it’s our duty to point it out.
Taiwo Owatemi (Lab) says Coventry is running out of brownfield sites. So where will the new homes it needs be built?
Johnson says there is abundant brownfield space all over the country. He says as the former planning authority for London, he knows. He says rules are making building difficult. He will turn generation rent into generation buy.
Continue reading...Simon Coveney says talks will not progress without signal that UK is ready to show some realism
The EU’s Michel Barnier will not move Brexit talks into the so-called “tunnel” of more intense negotiations “unless he gets a very clear signal from the UK that they are willing to show some flexibility and realism” in its approach to a deal, Ireland’s foreign affairs minister has said.
Simon Coveney, who played a significant role in the first three years of talks, also said the talks would blow up completely if the UK went ahead with clauses in the yet-to-be-tabled finance bill giving ministers unilateral powers over the Northern Ireland protocol for a second time.
Continue reading...One in seven people tested in Belgian capital is positive; Facebook and Twitter act against Trump for suggesting Covid just like flu
The European Commission has agreed with US company Gilead to buy additional doses of its Covid-19 drug Remdesivir to treat about 3,400 patients, amid shortages of the medication in Europe.
A spokesman for the EU executive said Brussels agreed with Gilead last Friday to supply nearly 20,300 additional doses “which help almost 3,400 patients” at a cost of €7m ($8.24m). That is in addition to 30,000 courses of treatment it bought at the end of July.
For White House staff and senior visiting officials and journalists, the coronavirus outbreak in Donald Trump’s inner circle has become like a whodunnit amid a shortage of information and mounting anxiety.
As cleaners in hazmat suits have been pictured disinfecting areas – including briefing rooms and the White House press and communications “shop” where three staff have been infected – the questions now being asked are: who caught Covid from whom and when and where? And who might be next?
Related: White House coronavirus cluster: who has tested positive?
Continue reading...They may be a common sight, but privately owned motorised scooters are still illegal on Britain’s roads and pavements. But with rental scheme trials taking place across the country, could they be answer to getting to work in the pandemic?
Standing upright, you glide, ghostlike, along the street. You have no emissions. You are alone, outside, unlikely to catch anything or pass anything on. You are no burden to the public transport system, nor do you contribute much to congestion. You take up little space.
Now you join a busier road, one with buses. Perhaps you feel small, vulnerable. But when the traffic bunches up and stops, you can pass. Ha! This is the future of urban travel, isn’t it? Make that the present: it is here, you are here, going somewhere else quickly, with a smile. You are also breaking the law.
Continue reading...RBKC used ‘decisive influence’ to remove original contractor over budget concerns
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) used “decisive influence” to remove the original contractor on Grenfell Tower despite its claims to have delegated responsibility for the works, the public inquiry into the disaster has heard.
In evidence that places the Conservative-controlled council at the heart of a key decision in the run up to the June 2017 fire, the inquiry was told that Laura Johnson, RBKC’s director of housing, lost patience with Leadbitter when it said the project was going to cost £1.2m more than the budget.
Continue reading...Prime minister tells virtual Tory conference that country must not return to status quo
Boris Johnson claimed the “ructions” of the Covid pandemic can pave the way for a transformation akin to the “new Jerusalem” pledged by the postwar cabinet as he sought to restore Tory morale with an upbeat party conference speech.
With Keir Starmer’s Labour party gaining in the polls, and mounting disquiet among colleagues over Johnson’s handling of the pandemic, the prime minister used his set-piece speech to set out an optimistic vision of change.
Continue reading...Exclusive: if discovery is confirmed it will have global implications as 90% of people breathe dirty air
Tiny air pollution particles have been revealed in the brain stems of young people and are intimately associated with molecular damage linked to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
If the groundbreaking discovery is confirmed by future research, it would have worldwide implications because 90% of the global population live with unsafe air. Medical experts are cautious about the findings and said that while the nanoparticles are a likely cause of the damage, whether this leads to disease later in life remains to be seen.
Continue reading...‘People are tired, we know,’ says Belgian PM of new measures; Lazio and Campania already enforcing face-covering rules
Reuters reports that US cruise operator Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd has extended suspension of sailings until 30 November, excluding those originating from Hong Kong, as the Covid-19 crisis continues to hurt the demand for voyages.
The company said its cruise brand Celebrity Cruises will suspend its 2020-21 winter program in Australia and Asia, while its Azamara cruises will suspend winter sailings throughout Australia and New Zealand, South Africa and South America.
The US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden tested negative for Covid-19 in a test conducted on Tuesday, his campaign said in a statement.
Continue reading...Loophole allowing marriage with parental consent undermines UK’s global stance on child marriage, parliament to be told
The UK is undermining its international efforts to end child marriage because an exception to the law in England and Wales that allows 16 and 17-year-olds to marry with parental consent is putting children at risk, parliament will be told today.
Pauline Latham MP will ask the House to back a bill criminalising child marriage and civil partnership before the age of 18. She will argue that current legislation is at odds with the legal requirement since 2013 for young people to remain in education or training until then.
Continue reading...Solicitors and barristers say they feel unsafe and warn Home Office attacks on lawyers are undermining the legal system
Leading immigration lawyers have told the Guardian that increasingly hostile rhetoric from the home secretary is putting them at risk of being attacked as well as undermining the legal system.
On Sunday home secretary Priti Patel used a speech at the Conservative party conference to criticise lawyers who defend migrants, linking them directly with traffickers who help asylum-seekers to cross borders.
Continue reading...Conservative and Labour MPs are unhappy with lack of evidence behind 10pm closing time
MPs could signal growing discontent with the government’s coronavirus restrictions at key votes on the regulations this week, amid growing calls for the government to publish the scientific advice behind the 10pm curfew on pubs and restaurants in the UK.
Conservative and Labour MPs have signalled they could withdraw backing for implementing the rule of six regulation and the curfew at votes expected this week.
Continue reading...PM vows to make Britain world leader in low-cost clean power with ‘Build Back Greener’ drive
Boris Johnson will promise to power every home in the UK with offshore wind energy within a decade, pledging to make the coronavirus pandemic a catalyst for green growth.
In a speech to the virtual Conservative party conference on Tuesday, he will say that the government will invest in a clean energy future to create “hundreds of thousands, if not millions of jobs” in the next decade.
Continue reading...Investigation launched into deaths of three Newcastle students and 18-year-old in Washington
Police and university leaders have issued alerts over illegal drugs after four suspected drug-related deaths in north-east England last weekend.
One of the victims, 18-year-old Newcastle University student Jeni Larmour, was described as a “spirited” and “model pupil” by her former school.
Continue reading...Appeal court sets aside ruling that gold could not be released to Nicolás Maduro-backing bank
A battle for the control of more than $1.8bn worth of Venezuelan gold stored at the Bank of England has swung in favour of the government of Nicolás Maduro after an appeals court in London overturned an earlier high court ruling concerning whom the UK recognised as Venezuela’s president.
The court of appeal granted an appeal by the Banco Central de Venezuela (BCV) and set aside July’s high court judgment, which had found that Britain’s recognition of the opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the “constitutional interim president of Venezuela” meant the gold could not be released for the Maduro-backing bank.
Continue reading...Matt Hancock says no lockdowns need to be changed because of 16,000 unreported cases
Ministers have been accused of “putting lives at risk” through data failures which led to nearly 16,000 coronavirus cases going unreported in England, but Matt Hancock insisted the problem had been addressed.
Updating the Commons after it emerged that data transfer errors between laboratories and Public Health England (PHE) meant 15,841 positive results were left off daily figures between 25 September and 2 October, the health secretary said just over half those missed were now having their contacts traced.
Continue reading...Exclusive: lawyers for Patel’s former permanent secretary Sir Philip Rutnam push forward constructive dismissal claim
Priti Patel is facing the possibility of being questioned before a 10-day employment tribunal hearing next September after lawyers for her former permanent secretary Sir Philip Rutnam pushed forward with a claim for constructive dismissal.
The home secretary, her department, and Downing Street are also being asked to disclose all correspondence related to Rutnam’s departure following claims that he was forced out of his job for intervening in her alleged bullying of fellow civil servants.
Continue reading...Quarter of fakes were stolen with some eggs tracked from thief to trafficker to consumer
Decoy eggs made by a 3D-printer and fitted with satellite tags have been placed in sea turtle nests on beaches in Costa Rica to track the illegal trade of their eggs.
A quarter of the fake eggs put among 101 turtle nests on four beaches in Costa Rica were stolen, with some eggs successfully tracked as they moved from thief to trafficker to consumer.
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