Paul Bean may have breached civil service impartiality rules over alleged social media posts
Campaigners have complained to the Home Office after it was revealed a councillor for Reform UK also works for the government department processing asylum and immigration claims.
Paul Bean, who serves as a councillor for Crook ward at Durham county council, declared his day job as a civil servant at the Home Office in his register of interests.
Continue reading...Angela Eagle accuses other parties of offering ‘fag packet plans’ as ministers face mounting pressure on immigration
The Home Office has promised a “big surge” in asylum hotel closures in the new year, with five more to shut in the coming months, as ministers face mounting pressure over the government’s record on immigration.
Speaking after a weekend of protests and counter-protests over the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, Home Office minister Angela Eagle said the government had inherited a “border security system in tatters” and accused opposition parties of offering “the fag packet plans without the substance on delivery”.
Continue reading...Ken Loach collaborator was allegedly wearing a T-shirt that referenced banned group Palestine Action
The award-winning Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty has been arrested in Edinburgh for wearing a T-shirt that allegedly referenced the proscribed protest group Palestine Action.
Laverty was attending a protest outside St Leonard’s police station in the city centre to support Moira McFarlane, a member of Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who was due to be charged under section 13 of the Terrorist Act for wearing a T-shirt with the words: “Genocide in Palestine, time to take Action”.
Continue reading...Findings suggest since 2004 ONS failed to properly account for fact it received more data from larger employers
The UK’s gender pay gap has been underestimated for more than 20 years, according to research that could raise fresh questions about the quality of data used to inform key pay decisions across the UK.
The findings, released in the British Journal of Industrial Relations on Monday, suggest that, since 2004, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) had failed to properly account for the fact that it received more data from larger employers, when it reported its annual survey of hours and earnings (Ashe).
Continue reading...Millennial childhood staples such as Walkers and Nik Naks introduce new flavours amid pressure for brands to stay relevant
Nostalgia for the 1990s might have reached its peak with Oasis back on tour this summer, but several of Britain’s best-known brands are also trying to make a comeback, reinventing themselves with new flavours, packaging or names.
Walkers, Nik Naks and Bacardi Breezer are among some of the brands that are adapting to try to stand out in the food and drink market.
Continue reading...ONS data shows they are working for free from 1 September, almost three months earlier than Equal Pay Day for all women
Women with children earn £302 less every week than men with children: one-third less per week and almost 20% less per hour, according to analysis based on ONS data.
This means that Mums’ Equal Pay Day falls on 1 September this year, almost three months earlier than Equal Pay Day for all women. From this date, mothers are working for free for the rest of the year compared with fathers.
Continue reading...Corrie Lee Stavers remembered as a ‘much loved colleague’ at Spanish City Summer Funfair, which shut for weekend
The family of Corrie Lee Stavers, who has died while working on a fairground ride in North Tyneside, have issued a statement describing the “impossible” pain of their loss.
Stavers, 28, suffered “serious head injuries” in what Northumbria police described as a “workplace accident” at the Spanish City Summer Funfair in Whitley Bay on Saturday afternoon.
Continue reading...Exclusive: The creator of some of cinema’s most memorable music says it pales in comparison to the great works
As one of the greatest composers in film, John Williams has written some of the most memorable music in cinema for masterpieces such as Jaws, Jurassic Park and Star Wars.
But despite winning five Oscars, the 93-year-old believes that, as an art form, film music pales in comparison to history’s great works.
Continue reading...Her critics have reacted with fury but some in party feel nostalgia and ‘sense of loss for independence movement’
Nicola Sturgeon’s month-long promotional tour for her memoir Frankly comes to an end this Friday at the Southbank Centre in London, the city, according to one of many carefully placed publication interviews, where she is considering moving to escape the “goldfish bowl scrutiny” of Scotland.
The former first minister’s political memoir has generated a blizzard of headlines since its launch on 12 August. Some were diverting but ultimately inconsequential, like her choice of future base, others rubbed salt in raw wounds, reprising two of the most divisive episodes in the SNP’s recent history – the Scottish government’s investigation into allegations of sexual harassment made against her predecessor Alex Salmond, and her flagship gender recognition law changes.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Legislation that will include Texas-style scheme to shorten jail time expected to be rolled out this year
Ministers will legislate next month to abolish most short prison sentences, toughen up community punishments and introduce a Texas-inspired system whereby inmates can earn early release as part of an attempt to avert another prison crisis.
Government sources said the legislation, which will bring about the biggest shake-up in sentencing laws in England and Wales for three decades, would be introduced once MPs had returned to the Commons in September.
Continue reading...Anna Dixon accuses fellow West Yorkshire MP Robbie Moore of spreading misinformation
A Labour MP has said she has been subjected to death threats and online misogynistic abuse after a video was shared by a Conservative MP about her position on a national inquiry into grooming gangs.
Anna Dixon, the MP for Shipley in West Yorkshire, said police were investigating the threats and accused the MP for Keighley and Ilkley, Robbie Moore, of disseminating “misinformation” about her stance on the issue.
Continue reading...Former Labour leader says Francesca Albanese to take part in event seeking answers over UK’s ‘role in war crimes’
A UN special rapporteur will contribute to a two-day “tribunal” being held by Jeremy Corbyn into Britain’s “role in war crimes perpetrated in Gaza”, the former Labour leader has said.
Corbyn, who is campaigning for a new political entity with the working title Your Party, said the event would take place in early September. His private member’s bill for an official inquiry into UK involvement in the Israel-Gaza war was blocked by the government at its second reading in July.
Continue reading...Counter-protests also taking place, with police separating rival groups in Bristol
Protesters have clashed with police as demonstrations against hotels housing asylum seekers began to take place across the UK.
Demonstrations under the “Abolish Asylum System” slogan were being held in towns and cities across England, including Bristol, Exeter, Tamworth, Cannock, Nuneaton, Liverpool, Wakefield, Newcastle upon Tyne, Horley in Surrey and Canary Wharf in central London.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Deal that could have cost £2bn was floated at meeting between technology secretary Peter Kyle and Sam Altman
The boss of the firm behind ChatGPT and the UK technology secretary discussed a multibillion-pound deal to give the entire country premium access to the AI tool, the Guardian has learned.
Sam Altman, a co-founder of OpenAI, talked to Peter Kyle about a potential agreement to give UK residents access to its advanced product.
Continue reading...Relatives of Annie Lewis Marffy in ‘red-tape limbo’ over recovery of her body and issuing of death certificate
The family of a British aid volunteer reportedly killed in a drone strike in Ukraine said they were very disappointed by the reaction from the Foreign Office.
Annie Lewis Marffy, 69, travelled from her home in Silverton, near Exeter in Devon in late May to deliver supplies packed into a green Toyota Rav4 in a mission arranged by the non-profit organisation Aid Ukraine UK. She was to take the vehicle in convoy with a British volunteer to Kramatorsk in the contested Donbas region.
Continue reading...Far-right agitator or leadership hopeful? MPs call hypocrisy as former minister rails against system he expanded
Robert Jenrick had been migration minister for just a few days in 2022 when he gave a broadcast interview that could easily have been given by a minister in the current government.
“Suella Braverman [the former home secretary] and her predecessor, Priti Patel, were procuring more hotels,” he told Sky News. “What I have done in my short tenure is ramp that up and procure even more. Because November, historically, has been one of the highest months of the year for migrants illegally crossing the Channel.”
Continue reading...Foreign secretary referred himself to Environment Agency after hosting Vance at Chevening country retreat
David Lammy has received a formal warning after reporting himself for fishing without a licence with the US vice-president, JD Vance.
The foreign secretary took Vance angling at his official country retreat in Chevening, Kent, on 8 August as he hosted him at the start of a holiday in Britain.
Continue reading...Ian Comfort calls for government to recognise cultural importance of event and guarantee its sustainable future
About 2 million people are expected to take to the streets this weekend at the annual Notting Hill carnival for its mix of music, food and Caribbean culture, but for the man who runs it, there is a sense of relief to see it taking place at all.
The chair of Notting Hill Carnival Ltd, Ian Comfort, told the Guardian that the event needed to secure a sustainable future after a year of funding rows, public disagreements with the Met police, and negative press after violence last year.
Continue reading...Unions receive assurances after state takes control of Liberty Steel plants that collapsed into administration
Workers at the UK’s third-largest steelworks in South Yorkshire have been assured they will receive their pay for August as well as unpaid pension contributions, after a government-appointed special manager took over the collapsed company.
Liberty Steel’s main British business, Speciality Steel UK (SSUK), collapsed into administration on Thursday afternoon after a high court judge ruled that it was insolvent and that its owner, the metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta, had no prospects of repaying debts of several hundred million pounds.
Continue reading...Labour has pledged to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers by the end of this parliament in 2029
In an interview on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Friday, MSP Jeremy Balfour who has resigned from the Scottish Conservatives (see 9.13am BST), said he feels the party has “lost its way in Scotland” and “I don’t think it represents true Conservative values”.
According to the PA news agency, when asked if Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay is the right person for the job and whether he should stay in the post, he said:
Clearly I’m no longer a member of the party so that’s no longer a decision for me to make.
I get on very well as an individual with Russell, I think he’s a good individual. Whether he’s the person to lead the Scottish Conservatives is obviously for MSPs, for the membership, to decide.
What I’m very clear about is that those with disabilities, other minorities and the people of Lothian need a voice for people to hear what we require within our country.
I’m not sure any party is actually offering that at the moment but whether I stand or not I’ll come to a view in the next few weeks.
It’s the party that’s moved, not me.
We are disappointed to read these comments but grateful for Jeremy’s service and wish him well.
The Scottish Conservatives, under Russell Findlay’s leadership, recognise that many people feel completely disconnected from politics. It is absolutely critical that our party continues to champion commonsense Conservative values and policies that focus on the issues of concern to hard-working Scots.
Continue reading...