Henry Staunton claims request was made so government could ‘limp into’ the next general election
A former Post Office chair said he was told by a senior civil servant to stall compensation payouts to post office operators so the government could “limp into” the general election.
Henry Staunton, who was sacked by the business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, last month amid anger over the Horizon scandal, said the request came soon after he took up the role in December 2022.
Continue reading...Mayor Sadiq Khan thinks his new line names for the capital’s ever-expanding rail network bring clarity, but not everyone agrees
The ancient Egyptians saw names as magical. It was said that Isis tricked Ra, the sun god, into telling her his true name, to give her power over him and put her son Horus on the throne.
Londoners have a different take. The Northern line was nearly named TootanCamden in the 1920s, the historian Robert Graves wrote – a pun on the Tutankhamun craze of the time and the line’s route through Tooting and Camden.
Continue reading...Price Promise tariff gives discount on current cap and guarantees to be at least £1 per fuel under April one
British Gas has launched a fixed-rate gas and electricity deal that offers a 12% saving over most existing price-capped tariffs, adding a new choice to the hard-to-navigate home energy market.
For the past two winters, consumers have largely been spared having to seek out the cheapest deal, because, in almost all cases, it was their supplier’s price cap-protected standard tariff.
Continue reading...The drop in civil inquiries by fraud unit sparks criticism that the authority’s use of its powers of enforcement are waning
The number of civil investigation cases opened by a HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) fraud unit investigating offshore, corporate and wealthy taxpayers has fallen by more than half in five years, figures reveal.
The Observer reported last month that HMRC has not charged a single company under landmark legislation to crack down on tax evasion. Campaigners warned that HMRC was undermining its own deterrents by failing to use its criminal enforcement powers.
Continue reading...As fresh party infighting erupts after two byelection losses, the right are targeting public service funding to pay for tax cuts while others urge restraint
Rishi Sunak is being warned he risks taking his party further towards disaster by sanctioning a new public spending squeeze in a desperate pursuit of pre-election tax cuts, as more Tories said they feared an election wipeout.
With more infighting erupting this weekend after two huge byelection losses in former safe seats, Treasury officials are examining cuts to public spending should they be needed to fund tax cuts, demanded most vociferously by the right of the party.
Continue reading...Despite victory in two Conservative safe seats, a Labour government is not a foregone conclusion, say party hawks
For the past few months, with Labour enjoying a stubbornly large double-digit lead in the polls, close allies of Keir Starmer remained obsessed with the notion that complacency will slip into the mindsets of MPs, advisers and activists.
In a breathless week that saw Labour veer from having to abandon one byelection before scooping previously safe Tory seats in two others, the obsessives were given three opportunities to drive their point home.
Continue reading...Refugees will have ‘certainty and assurance’ says Home Office, but charities say move insufficient as many face homelessness
Ukrainians who sought sanctuary in the UK after the Russian invasion will be permitted to extend their visas for an extra 18 months, the Home Office has announced.
More than 200,000 Ukrainians visa holders have arrived in the UK since March 2022, with the first visas to expire in March next year. The Home Office said that the new scheme would provide “certainty and assurance” for Ukrainians in the UK.
Continue reading...Latest figures show racial disparity in use-of-force incidents among inpatients in England
The number of black inpatients injured while being restrained by police in mental health units has risen dramatically – at the same time as the number of non-black inpatients injured has fallen, according to analysis of government data by the Observer.
The Home Office’s police use of force statistics for 2022/23 show that police forces across England recorded 820 incidents of force used in mental health units against black inpatients, resulting in 36 injuries. This is up from the 770 use of force incidents and 27 injuries recorded in 2021/22.
Continue reading...British producers to back EU’s proposed regulations to stop trade in adulterated honey
Britain’s beekeepers are backing proposed new rules to combat fraud in the supply chain, ensuring a jar of honey can be traced on its journey of up to 5,000 miles from the beehive to the shop shelf.
The European parliament has agreed new labelling rules and a project to establish a traceability system for honey from harvesting to the consumer. The proposed rules are part of an overhaul of the “breakfast directives”, including the honey directive.
Continue reading...Billy (not real name) is now being home-schooled after bullying turned into physical violence
Starting secondary school had not been easy for Billy (not his real name). What started as verbal taunts from one boy soon saw him become the target of a group of four boys. Bullying became physical violence. Yet the abuse got even worse, escalating to sexual assault. The group would corner him in the toilets and grope and touch his genitals. Unsurprisingly, Billy’s mental health quickly deteriorated. He is now being home-schooled and he struggles to leave the house because of anxiety.
Billy is receiving support from Embrace, a charity that works with children who have been the victims of crime. He says that he is starting to feel stronger, while his parents say his panic attacks and nightmares are receding thanks to the support he is getting. However, what he experienced was part of an increase in “peer-on-peer abuse” that is worrying schools, police and professionals who work with young people.
Continue reading...Observer investigation in England and Wales reveals 40% increase in reports of sexual assaults and rapes where both victim and perpetrator were under 18
An alarming rise in sexual assaults on children by other children is being fuelled by access to a “toxic” online culture, Britain’s most senior child protection officer has warned, as an Observer investigation revealed a sharp increase in abuse by under-18s reported to police.
Police records of rape, sexual assaults and incidents of abuse carried out by young children in England and Wales have all seen a significant increase since the Covid pandemic. The Observer has also uncovered an 81% rise in reported incidents that took place on school property. One leading expert said the problem had reached “alarming levels”.
Continue reading...Prime minister makes appeal after heavy byelection losses to Labour and support lost to Reform UK
Rishi Sunak has called on British conservatives to “come together” after two heavy byelection losses to Labour.
The loss of votes to Labour and an emboldened Reform UK party came as a twin blow to the prime minister, and were just the latest in a series of byelection defeats for Sunak.
Continue reading...Many best rates are easy access and notice options rather than ones that lock money away
This week’s news that inflation stayed steady at 4% in January means it is still possible to put your money in a savings account with an interest rate that beats the rising cost of living.
Returns on fixed-rate savings accounts have been falling, but, so far, variable rate deals have remained unchanged.
Continue reading...Glass Pharms hope its approach could show the way for all kinds of energy-intensive horticulture in the UK
For 26 years, Olivier Dehon worked in the corporate sector, ending up as chief financial officer for Xerox in the UK and Ireland before retiring four years ago. Last month he delivered his first consignment of high-strength cannabis.
Dehon’s dope is legal and above board, produced to supply the UK’s burgeoning market for medical cannabis on prescription. What’s more, Dehon and his colleagues believe it is the first carbon-neutral indoor weed grown anywhere in the world.
Continue reading...Demonstrators from Berlin to Vilnius, London to Rome chant slogans against Russian president and demand accountability over death
Hundreds of protesters, many of them Russian émigrés, gathered in cities across Europe and beyond on Friday to express their outrage over the death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
Often gathering outside Russian embassies, they chanted slogans critical of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, whom many blame for the activist’s death, holding up signs calling him a “killer” and demanding accountability.
Continue reading...The 47-year-old says he is undergoing chemotherapy, which is ‘going really well’
The Olympic champion track cyclist Chris Hoy has announced he has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.
The six-time gold medallist told followers on his Instagram account that he had hoped to keep his diagnosis private but said his hand was forced.
Continue reading...Details about leader’s finances for 2022-23 come after Rishi Sunak revealed he paid more than £508,000 of tax on £2.2m plus
Keir Starmer paid £99,431 in UK tax on earnings of £404,030 last year, according to a summary released by the Labour party.
The Labour leader’s tax summary for 2022-23 was published a week after Rishi Sunak’s, which revealed the prime minister paid more than £508,208 in UK tax last year on earnings of just over £2.2m.
Continue reading...Amina Noor travelled from north London with the child to Kenya where the procedure was carried out in 2006
A woman who was found guilty of handing over a three-year-old British girl for female genital mutilation (FGM) during a trip to Kenya has been jailed for seven years.
Amina Noor, 40, was convicted last year of assisting a Kenyan woman to carry out the procedure overseas in 2006. The conviction was the first for assisting in such harm under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003.
Continue reading...Loudest voices urge further tack to right after Reform UK gains but moderates argue general election can only be won on centre ground
For Reform UK to win 13% of the vote in a byelection is a long way from the heady days of Ukip taking 60% in Clacton in 2014.
However, that share of the vote was still a shock for the Conservatives on Friday morning, given that Reform is a newer party without the draw of Nigel Farage as leader or the rallying cause of Brexit behind it.
Continue reading...Police say formal identification is still to take place but family are being supported after teenager was attacked in Rawnsley Park
A boy who was stabbed to death by two masked attackers in Bristol has been named by police as 16-year-old Darrien Williams.
A murder investigation was launched after the teenager was attacked in Rawnsley Park in the St Philip’s area of the city by two people who fled the scene on bicycles, it had previously been reported.
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