MPs and ministers support campaign to locate relatives of Peter Brown, who died alone in London aged 96
A search is under way to find the family of one of the RAF’s last black second world war veterans, who died recently.
Peter Brown, a retired flight sergeant, died alone aged 96 in Maida Vale, west London. Without any known family, Westminster council and the RAF are attempting to locate any relatives of Brown to pay tribute to him at Mortlake Crematorium on 29 March.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson and Liz Truss among 22 Tory rebels voting against deal agreed with European Commission
Rishi Sunak has escaped an overly damaging Commons rebellion over his revised plan for post-Brexit Northern Ireland trade, winning a vote on the measure with 22 of his own MPs voting against the deal.
Among the Conservative rebels were Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, another former party leader, Iain Duncan Smith, and the former cabinet ministers Jacob Rees-Mogg, Priti Patel and Simon Clarke.
Continue reading...Swiss firm’s withdrawal from Leqvio trial with NHS dents government plans to attract post-Brexit research and investment
The Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis has ditched plans for a large clinical trial in the UK, in a further blow to the government’s efforts to make Britain an attractive place for research and investment after Brexit.
The company decided to scrap the Orion-17 trial of its cholesterol-lowering drug Leqvio, involving 40,000 patients in partnership with NHS England.
Continue reading...Another 10 people treated at scene as police, ambulances and fire service called to incident in Edinburgh
Twenty-five people were injured when a ship tipped over in a dry dock in Leith, Edinburgh, the Scottish ambulance service has said.
Fifteen people were taken to hospital while a further 10 people were treated and discharged at the scene on Wednesday morning. The ambulance service said 11 patients were taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and four to Western general hospital.
Continue reading...Online retailer has increased minimum hourly pay for warehouse workers by 50p an hour to £11
Amazon workers in the UK are planning further strike action as they dismissed as “an insult” a 50p an hour increase to its minimum hourly pay for warehouse workers to £11.
The company said the pay rise announced on Wednesday, which will be implemented this weekend, meant minimum pay had risen by 10% in the past seven months, putting it ahead of the legal minimum wage for those aged 23 or over, which will be £10.42 an hour from April.
Continue reading...Case that was heading to high court next week is settled, after Jon Moss claimed he was owed lost tour income following expulsion from group
Jon Moss, a founding member of Culture Club, will be paid £1.75m by his former bandmates, who have reached a settlement with him instead of commencing a high court trial.
Moss was allegedly “expelled” from Culture Club in September 2018 by manager Paul Kemsley, bringing his 37-year career as the band’s drummer to an end.
Continue reading...Lord Justice Haddon-Cave issues call for evidence, saying it is critical law-breakers be referred to authorities
A judge investigating allegations of more than 50 summary killings by SAS soldiers in Afghanistan has issued a call for anyone with evidence to come forward, saying it was critical that law-breakers be referred to authorities.
Launching his independent inquiry, Lord Justice Haddon-Cave said he was “very hopeful” there would be “full cooperation” with his work, which he said was ultimately about restoring the reputation of the military and “moral authority”.
Continue reading...Burnout, poor work/life balance and ‘unsustainable’ pressures are causing many NHS family practitioners to consider retirement
GPs in the UK have some of the highest stress levels and lowest job satisfaction among family doctors, a 10-country survey has found.
British GPs suffer from high levels of burnout, have a worse work/life balance and spend less time with patients during appointments than their peers in many other places.
Continue reading...Refugee Council figures reveal potential human and economic cost of government’s illegal migration bill
Nearly 200,000 people, including more than 40,000 children, could be locked up or forced into destitution if the government’s controversial illegal migration bill becomes law, according to new analysis by the Refugee Council.
The charity has used government data and the numbers of asylum seekers the Home Office said it hopes to deport from the UK, to project how many people are likely to either be forcibly removed or left in limbo in the first three years of the new legislation if it becomes law, at a cost to the taxpayer of around £9bn. Home Office officials say they do not recognise these figures.
Continue reading...Falling life expectancy and fears of voter unhappiness thought to be behind rethink about increase to 68 late next decade
Ministers have reportedly delayed plans to bring forward a rise in the state pension age amid falling life expectancy in the UK.
The state pension age, which is currently 66, was due to rise to 68 after 2044 but reports earlier this year suggested ministers had planned to bring the increase forward to between 2037 and 2039.
Continue reading...Mayor turns on display made up of 30,000 sustainable lights on eve of Muslim month of fasting
Sadiq Khan has switched on the London’s first ever celebratory Ramadan lights, in Piccadilly Circus.
It is the first time a European city has seen such a grand display for the festival, with the installation featuring 30,000 sustainable lights.
Continue reading...Metropolitan police commissioner says ‘institutional’ label is confusing and political as fallout from Casey report continues
Sadiq Khan has publicly clashed with the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, saying he disagrees with Sir Mark Rowley’s refusal to describe his force as institutionally misogynistic, racist and homophobic.
The mayor of London, one of two people who appointed Rowley, spoke as the fallout from Louise Casey’s bombshell report into Scotland Yard continued.
Continue reading...Timing is controversial given actions of Israel’s far-right government towards settlements and judiciary
The UK and Israel have signed a long-term agreement strengthening ties in the fields of defence, security and technology following plans announced last year to put relations between the two countries on an elevated footing.
The timing of Tuesday’s agreement is controversial since it will be seen as a mark of approval for Israel’s far-right government, which has put settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank at the top of its agenda and faces a massive backlash over plans to neuter the role of the judiciary.
Continue reading...Former prime minister says he believes evidence shows he did not recklessly mislead parliament over Partygate
Boris Johnson claims there is no document showing that he was given “any warning or advice” than any No 10 event may have broken Covid rules. He says:
It is clear from that investigation that there is no evidence at all that supports an allegation that I intentionally or recklessly misled the house. The only exception is the assertions of the discredited Dominic Cummings, which are not supported by any documentation.
There is not a single document that indicates that I received any warning or advice that any event broke or may have broken the rules or guidance. In fact, the evidence before the committee demonstrates that those working at No 10 at the time shared my honest belief that the rules and guidance were being followed.
I accept that the House of Commons was misled by my statements that the rules and guidance had been followed completely at No 10. But when the statements were made, they were made in good faith and on the basis of what I honestly knew and believed at the time.
Continue reading...Russian leader reacts to comments by UK defence minister that Britain will supply armour-piercing rounds to Kyiv
Vladimir Putin has sought to exploit a British statement that it would supply Ukraine with tank shells made with depleted uranium, arguing that the delivery of the armour-piercing weapons would prompt a Russian response.
The Russian leader’s comments, made during the visit to Moscow by his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, came in response to a parliamentary answer given by a junior British defence minister in the House of Lords on Monday.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Guardian investigation finds deaths despite claims British weapons did not harm a single non-combatant
Multiple airstrikes that killed civilians during the campaign against Islamic State in Iraq are probably linked to UK forces, despite longstanding claims British weapons did not harm a single non-combatant there, a Guardian investigation has found.
Britain’s government and military have for years stood by the claim that in terms of protecting ordinary Iraqis, the UK fought a “perfect” war against Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak’s attitude ‘much more responsible’ than that of Boris Johnson, says former EU negotiator
The EU’s former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has praised the agreement on Northern Ireland between the union and the British government as a positive step that turns a page in relations between the two sides.
In an interview with the Guardian, the veteran French politician said the Windsor framework agreement signed by Rishi Sunak and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, last month, “operationalised” the Northern Ireland protocol he had negotiated with the British government in 2019. “There was a spirit of goodwill for the first time in three years, to find solutions that are concrete, operational and realistic.”
Continue reading...Defence team had argued David Hunter’s confession should be ruled inadmissible as evidence in trial
A court in Cyprus has ruled that the confession of a retired Northumberland coalminer accused of murdering his terminally ill wife was obtained lawfully and can be used in evidence against him.
In what will amount to a major setback for David Hunter, 75, who has campaigned to be tried on the lesser charge of manslaughter, Judge Michalis Droussiotis announced that statements of admission made by the Briton were admissible.
Continue reading...Ally’s criticism will be hard to dismiss as UK tries to push through £120m migrant scheme
Britain’s closest ally, the US, has criticised Rwanda’s dire human rights record, describing conditions in the country’s detention centres as harsh to life-threatening.
The British home secretary, Suella Braverman, took a group of journalists on a trip last week to reveal details of her £120m scheme to send all migrants arriving in the UK through irregular means to Rwanda whether they claim asylum or not. The legality of the scheme is due to be tested shortly in the UK court of appeal.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: The Casey report gives an in-depth look at the issues at the core of the capital’s police force
Good morning.
The crisis faced by the Metropolitan police has only become more acute after publication of a damning report by Lady Louise Casey, released today, that finds the force has institutional problems with racism, misogyny and homophobia. The review was commissioned after the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard in 2021 by serving firearms officer Wayne Couzens. The 300-page report leaves no stone unturned, addressing the culture of bullying and harassment, and senior leadership’s inability to adequately address the mounting number of scandals. It has also said that the Met should accept the finding of an inquiry from 2021 that deemed the force “institutionally corrupt”.
Climate crisis | The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has delivered its “final warning” on the climate emergency. The report took eight years, hundreds of scientists, runs thousands of pages long and has one clear message: act now or face irrevocable damage to the planet. There is still hope though, as the authors of the report stress that it is still possible to avoid the worst ravages of climate breakdown.
Brexit | According to party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP will be voting against the government in this week’s first parliamentary vote on the new Windsor framework for Northern Ireland. Donaldson said: “There remain key areas of concern which require further clarification, reworking and change as well as seeing further legal text.”
Strikes | Members of the RMT have voted to accept a 9% pay increase over two years, in a referendum that closed yesterday. The turnout of the vote was nearly 90%, with 74% voting for the offer, thereby ending their dispute with Network Rail.
Labour | Keir Starmer has been criticised for pledging to put in place a “zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism and racism” without having transparent systems in place to tackle them. Martin Forde KC, the senior lawyer who carried out an inquiry into the party’s culture, said “you can’t implement zero tolerance unless you’re policing things fairly rigorously”.
Banking | As the banking crisis continued to spread, shares in the regional First Republic bank based in San Francisco crashed more than 46% yesterday after reports that it may need to raise even more funds despite a $30bn bailout last week.
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