After the far-right demonstration in Knowsley, 13 men and two women were arrested, Merseyside police said
Fifteen people, aged between 13 and 54, have been arrested after violent disorder outside a hotel housing asylum seekers on Friday night, Merseyside police have said.
A demonstration outside the Suites hotel in Knowsley descended into violence with a police van torched and stones thrown.
Continue reading...Erkin Tuniyaz is head of the Xinjiang region, where human rights abuses are alleged to be taking place
The former Conservative party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has joined calls for a governor from a region of China where the UN has said crimes against humanity may be taking place to be arrested during a potential visit this week.
The Tory backbencher said that the governor of Xinjiang, Erkin Tuniyaz, should be arrested if he arrives in the UK. The House of Commons heard this week that he was due to visit the UK next week and may meet Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) officials.
Continue reading...Richard Wakeling, 55, had been on the run since he fled the UK before his trial for drug smuggling in 2018
A British organised crime boss has been arrested in Thailand after being on the run for five years.
Richard Wakeling, 55, from Brentwood, Essex, tried to import £8m of liquid amphetamine into the UK in April 2016.
Continue reading...California authorities ‘remain hopeful’ of finding British actor who was reported missing on Mount Baldy last month
Authorities in southern California have said they are still “hopeful” of finding Julian Sands, but that the outcome of searches for the British actor “may not be what we would like”.
San Bernardino county sheriff’s department said conditions in the area remained dangerous, but that ground searches were planned for the future.
Continue reading...Policy Exchange paper envisages sidestepping Human Rights and Modern Slavery Acts to eliminate legal challenges
Children fleeing conflict and persecution in other parts of the world should still be deported from the UK if they cross the Channel in small boats, according to hardline new proposals from an influential conservative thinktank.
The paper from Policy Exchange – sometimes used as a platform by senior Tory ministers to trail new measures – envisages the sidestepping of the Human Rights Act and Modern Slavery Act in order to eliminate legal challenges to removing men, women and children.
Continue reading...Three people arrested as eyewitnesses say police van set on fire and counter-protesters surrounded
Disturbances have broken out in Knowsley near Liverpool after several hundred far-right demonstrators protested against asylum seekers who have been housed in a local hotel by the Home Office.
Merseyside police said three people had been arrested on suspicion of violent disorder.
Continue reading...No one hurt in ‘unplanned’ explosion of 250kg device found in Norfolk town, police say
A 250kg second world war bomb has exploded unexpectedly in Great Yarmouth, police have said.
Emergency services and agencies declared a major incident following the discovery of the large unexploded device at a river crossing in the Norfolk town on Tuesday, and had been working to disarm it.
Continue reading...Paul Ansell says family going through ‘unprecedented hell’ as search widens for missing woman
The partner of missing Nicola Bulley says he is “100% convinced” she is not in the River Wyre.
Bulley has been missing for 14 days and a specialist underwater team searching the river suspended the operation on Wednesday after no body was found. A search of the surrounding countryside carried out by Lancashire constabulary also found no trace of her.
Continue reading...Oscar-nominated film-maker died on Friday at a London hospital after a short illness, his family said
Film director Hugh Hudson, who directed best picture Oscar winner Chariots of Fire, has died aged 86 following a short illness.
A statement released on behalf of his family said: “Hugh Hudson, 86, beloved husband and father, died at Charing Cross hospital on 10 February after a short illness.”
Continue reading...Five released on bail conditions including county ban after black girl assaulted outside Thomas Knyvett college in Ashford
Five suspects arrested in connection with what police say was a racially motivated attack on a 15-year-old black girl have been banned from Surrey, while officers have urged a further teenage suspect to turn herself in.
The attack, which took place outside Thomas Knyvett college in Ashford, has sent shock waves through the community and led to demands for an inquiry by MPs.
Continue reading...Determination to get donations to stricken areas is galvanising people haunted by fears for family and friends
Dozens of volunteers are packing boxes piled high on a north London industrial estate, filling them with vital donations to be sent to Gaziantep, the south-eastern province in Turkey devastated by the earthquake that hit in the early hours on Monday.
Huseyin Goran, 36, has been helping for three days straight. “The first two days I didn’t sleep and did as much as I could. I took a three-hour rest and carried on.”
Continue reading...Hundreds of people including online influencers and conspiracists have been arriving at St Michael’s on Wyre
People living in the Lancashire village where Nicola Bulley went missing have hit out at the “ghouls” arriving at the scene to take selfies or peddle conspiracy theories over the past fortnight.
Hundreds of people have arrived at St Michael’s on Wyre since the 45-year-old was last seen on the morning of 27 January. She vanished within a 10-minute window while walking her dog, Willow, near the River Wyre close to her home in Inskip. Her phone, which was still connected to a work call, was found on a nearby bench.
Continue reading...Chancellor’s comments follow call from consumer champion Martin Lewis to cancel the rise in the energy price cap
This morning the Daily Mail splashed on a story about AstraZeneca building a new factory that had been planned for the north-west of England in Ireland instead. Sir Pascal Soriot, the company’s chief executive, suggested the government’s plan to increase corporation tax was a key factor (although, as my colleague Nils Pratley reports in his analysis, other factors are relevant too). The Mail is one of the Tory papers pushing for tax cuts and it reports the story as evidence that supports its case.
Asked about the AstraZeneca decision, Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, said today he was “disappointed” but that he would not implement tax cuts funded by borrowing. He told reporters:
We’re disappointed that we lost out this time and we agree with the fundamental case they’re making which is that we need our business taxation to be more competitive and we want to bring business taxes down.
But the only tax cuts we won’t consider are ones that are funded by borrowing because they’re not a real tax cut. They’re just passing on the bill to future generations.
Continue reading...Marginal expansions and contractions in 2023 will do little to solve a lack of investment and export shortfall
It was a recession in all but name: that is the conclusion of many economists who argue that while the official data shows the UK economy stood still in the last three months of 2022 rather than contracting, it is still in bad shape.
To be precise, the economy actually expanded by 0.01% in the fourth quarter, an increase so statistically insignificant that it is rounded down to zero. Had Britain not added just £77m to its £2.2tn gross domestic product (GDP) then it would have fallen into a technical recession, characterised by two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Estranged parent, 67, suggests account of neglect, drinking and abuse by stepfather probably aimed at reducing rape sentence
The mother of the rapist Metropolitan police officer David Carrick has said it is possible he overplayed his childhood trauma to reduce his sentence.
Carrick, 48, pleaded guilty to 85 serious offences including 48 rapes against 12 women. He was given 36 life sentences at Southwark crown court on Tuesday and will spend at least the next 30 years in prison for his 17-year crime spree.
Continue reading...Ashley Dalton retains constituency for Labour after resignation of Rosie Cooper last autumn
Labour has retained the West Lancashire constituency in a byelection called after its MP, Rosie Cooper, resigned last autumn.
Ashley Dalton, a part-time charity worker, won with 14,068 votes. Her comfortable win, securing a 10.2% swing from the Tories, marks Labour’s third byelection victory since Rishi Sunak became prime minister.
Continue reading...Secret international court system enables fossil fuel firms to sue governments for lost future profits
Experts have urged the UK to leave the controversial energy charter treaty (ECT), a secret court system that enables fossil fuel companies to sue governments for huge sums over policies that could affect future profits.
The European Commission said this week that remaining part of the treaty would “clearly undermine” climate targets and that an exit by EU countries appeared “inevitable”. Seven EU countries, including France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands, have already said they will quit the ECT.
Continue reading...FBU raised concerns at meeting discussing review that found service to be institutionally misogynist
London fire brigade is reviewing its relationship with the Freemasons after concerns were raised by the Fire Brigades Union, the Guardian has learned.
The concerns were raised at a recent London assembly meeting to discuss a damning independent review that found LFB to be institutionally racist and misogynist.
Continue reading...Damning report by MPs urges government to ensure safe passage for interpreters and contractors at risk from Taliban
Several thousand Afghans who helped British forces before the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 remain stranded and at risk from the Taliban because of failures of the government’s settlement schemes, according to a damning report by MPs.
The defence select committee’s report urged the government to set out what action it is taking to ensure safe passage to the UK for at least 4,600 Afghans, including interpreters and contractors, who worked for UK forces.
A lack of preparedness for the number of potential applicants resulting in under-resourcing, backlogs in applications, and errors in decision making.
Poor communications with applicants causing stress to them and increasing correspondence to MPs and others.
Unclear and frequently changing eligibility criteria.
Continue reading...Labour candidate Ashley Dalton odds-on favourite to hold seat after resignation of Rosie Cooper
Polls have closed in the West Lancashire byelection, with Labour confident of retaining the seat it has held since 1992.
The bookies have the party at 1/25 to keep hold of the seat where it had a majority of 8,336 in the last election. A result is expected between 2am and 4am.
Continue reading...