Rights groups hail change to Braverman policy that denied support to people with criminal convictions
The Home Office has performed a U-turn on a policy to deprive some modern slavery victims of protection from traffickers.
Human rights campaigners and lawyers representing trafficking victims have welcomed the government’s change of heart, which they say reinstates vital protections to vulnerable people.
Continue reading...Senior Conservatives dismiss former cabinet minister’s intervention as ‘isolated’ and ‘dangerous, reckless, selfish’
Simon Clarke has been told it would be “good advice” to head to a dark room, lie down and sort himself out, after he called on Rishi Sunak to quit as Conservative leader or risk a Tory “massacre” at the general election.
The postal affairs minister, Kevin Hollinrake, said Clarke’s intervention on Tuesday night was a sign of the “panic” that is brewing in some factions, but said it was not a view held by the wider parliamentary party.
Continue reading...Owner says shutting Welsh blast furnaces will cut emissions, but it is opening a new one in India
The owner of the Port Talbot steelworks has been accused of “gross hypocrisy” as it prepares to open a new blast furnace in India, while citing a cut in carbon emissions for its decision to close two blast furnaces in south Wales, costing thousands of jobs.
Tata announced last week that up to 2,800 jobs would be cut under plans to close Port Talbot’s two huge blast furnaces and replace them with an electric arc furnace.
Continue reading...Rail services to and from Scotland suspended until at least midday with amber wind warning in place for parts of country
Storm Jocelyn has brought fresh travel disruption to much of the UK, less than two days after Storm Isha left two people dead and thousands without power.
The 10th named storm of the season brought an amber warning for wind to parts of Scotland on Wednesday morning, with much of the UK covered by a yellow alert into Wednesday afternoon.
Continue reading...Regulator sets out possible ways forward in review of requirement to deliver across Britain, six days a week
Royal Mail could save up to £650m if it delivered letters just three days a week and £200m by stopping Saturday deliveries, the communications regulator has said.
The watchdog said a reduction from six to five days a week would save £100m to £200m, and going down to three days would save between £400m and £650m.
Continue reading...Four people found dead in home named by police force as Independent Office for Police Conduct starts investigation
A man who was found dead in his home near Norwich along with three others was told to seek medical advice when he expressed concerned about his mental state in a 999 call earlier that morning, the police watchdog has revealed.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) announced on Tuesday that it has launched an investigation into Norfolk constabulary’s prior contact with the man, and its failure to respond to a call before the deaths last Friday.
Continue reading...As nuclear plant is hit by further delay, real cost will be far higher after inflation is included, as project uses 2015 prices
The owner of Hinkley Point C has blamed inflation, Covid and Brexit as it announced the nuclear power plant project could be delayed by a further four years, and cost £2.3bn more.
The plant in Somerset, which has been under construction since 2016, is now expected to be finished by 2031 and cost up to £35bn, France’s EDF said. However, the cost will be far higher once inflation is taken into account, because EDF is using 2015 prices.
Continue reading...Behailu Kebede remains ‘broken inside’ despite bearing no responsibility, as company executives listen at testimony week
The minicab driver in whose flat the Grenfell Tower fire started has said his heart is “full of pain, grief and desolation” and he can “never forget that it was in my flat, in my kitchen that the fire started … and all those lives were lost”.
Behailu Kebede, who lived in Grenfell Tower for 25 years, told a highly charged hearing in central London – attended by 24 executives from companies accused of responsibility for the fire – that he remains “broken inside”.
Continue reading...CPS accepts Valdo Calocane’s plea of manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility over killing of three people in June 2023
The families of three people stabbed to death in Nottingham have spoken of their contempt towards the killer, with one of the mothers saying she felt “utter rage and pure hatred” towards him, as prosecutors accepted his plea of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Families of the victims faced Valdo Calocane, who goes by the name Adam Mendes, in court after he denied murder but admitted the killings, and attempts to kill three others, in a spree of violence in June.
Continue reading...Comments by Huw Merriman come day after No 10 forced to deny government pursuing agenda against BBC
A minister has lashed out at a satirical Radio 4 show as being “completely biased” in the latest allegation from the Conservatives about BBC impartiality.
Huw Merriman, a transport minister, also referenced the BBC’s coverage of universal credit when challenged to give examples of supposed bias a day after a row was sparked by remarks by the culture secretary.
Continue reading...UK, US and others use universal periodic review to speak out over Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong
The UK, the US and several other countries criticised China’s human rights record on Tuesday as the country was subjected to rare scrutiny of its policies at the United Nations.
The UK called on China to “cease the persecution and arbitrary detention of Uyghurs and Tibetans and allow genuine freedom of religion or belief and cultural expression without fear of surveillance, torture, forced labour or sexual violence”, while the US said China should “release all arbitrarily detained individuals” and cease the operation of “forcible assimilation policies including boarding schools in Tibet and Xinjiang”.
Continue reading...James wrote A Life Inside column while serving sentence for murder and later edited Inside Time newspaper
Erwin James, the writer of an influential Guardian column about life in prison who would go on to be a leading voice on criminal justice, has died.
James, real name Erwin James Monahan, was convicted of murder in 1984 and served 20 years in prison.
Continue reading...PM rejects calls from MPs for Commons vote over military action as pressure grows to clarify long-term strategy on Red Sea crisis
Rishi Sunak has warned there could be further bombing of Yemen if Houthi attacks on shipping continue, as he came under mounting pressure from MPs to clarify Britain’s long-term strategy for tackling the deepening crisis.
The prime minister told parliament that a second round of RAF airstrikes, conducted on Monday night with the US, were taken in self-defence and rejected calls for MPs to be allowed a vote on whether to endorse the military action.
Continue reading...Six million of the poorest people would need more than double their incomes to move out of hardship, says Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Escaping poverty has become significantly harder over the past two decades, with progress to eradicate hardship in Britain having stalled under the Conservatives since 2010, a major report has warned.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said levels of hardship had deepened for millions of people across the country since the mid-1990s, having been compounded by years of “political failure” to tackle poverty.
Continue reading...Treatment takes 15 minutes and involves swallowing a capsule with no need for surgery, endoscopy or anaesthesia
A non-surgical gastric balloon which helps weight loss by restricting the size of the stomach has been made available on the NHS for the first time.
The treatment, which was approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) in 2020, takes 15 minutes and involves a capsule being swallowed by the patient which is attached to a thin tube.
Continue reading...Opposition day motion seeks to create a council-maintained register of children in England not on the school roll
Labour is planning to use an opposition day debate motion to bring forward legislation for a new register of children who are not in school as part of plans to tackle persistent absenteeism.
New Labour analysis found that “one in three children currently sitting their GCSEs have missed nearly three months of secondary school since the pandemic” and said this was likely to affect academic attainment.
Continue reading...Former Cop26 president abstains from vote saying bill breaks UK’s promise to phase out fossil fuels
Alok Sharma has said the government’s oil and gas bill going through the Commons will not cut household energy costs or create jobs and instead will break the UK’s promise to phase out fossil fuels.
The government’s offshore petroleum licensing bill passed its second reading on Monday night with 293 votes to 211 against. No Conservative MPs voted against it, and Sharma – the former business secretary who served as president of the Cop26 climate talks – abstained. The legislation would place the North Sea Transition Authority under a duty to run annual applications for new offshore oil and gas licences.
Continue reading...US officials confirmed attacks amid footage of explosions around the capital city of Sana’a
The US and the UK have conducted a further round of strikes against the Houthis in an attempt to stop the rebel group targeting shipping in the southern Red Sea.
A joint statement from both countries said that they had conducted “an additional round of proportionate and necessary strikes” against eight Houthi targets, with the support of Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands.
Continue reading...Worries about impact on neighbouring schools of money for Malmesbury primary in Wiltshire, near Dyson’s campus
A £6m donation from Sir James Dyson to help fund the expansion of his local state primary school has been approved by the government, despite concerns about the potential impact on neighbouring schools.
The education secretary, Gillian Keegan, announced on Monday that she had given the green light for the inventor’s donation to Malmesbury Church of England primary school in Wiltshire, which is close to Dyson’s research and development campus.
Continue reading...UK PM urged to apply pressure on Qatar to help free Liri Albag, Eliya Cohen and Ziv and Gali Berman
The families of four Israeli hostages have urged Rishi Sunak to apply pressure on Qatar to help free their loved ones.
The father of 18-year-old Liri Albag, the older brother of 26-year-old twins Ziv and Gali Berman, and the girlfriend of Eliya Cohen, also 26, pleaded with the prime minister to do everything in his power to secure their release after 108 days in captivity.
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