Category Archives: UK news

Police consider interviewing Starmer face to face over Beergate claims

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News comes as it emerges Labour is preparing dossier to show team worked late on night in question

Detectives investigating Keir Starmer’s alleged breach of lockdown rules are considering interviewing the Labour leader face to face, with his Beergate agony likely to last at least a month before a decision on a fine is made.

Questionnaires are expected to be sent to those who police identify as having been present at a meal of takeaway curry and beer, but some may be questioned in person, the Guardian understands.

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Dentist shortage in south-west England leaves patients doing DIY treatments

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Children and adults forced to live in agony because they are unable to register for NHS care in Somerset, charity says

Many patients in south-west England are being left in dental pain because they are unable to register for NHS care, with some so desperate that they are even resorting to DIY treatment, it has emerged.

The charity Healthwatch in Somerset has reported that it is almost impossible for a new patient to register for an NHS dentist in the county, which is leading to adults and children living in agony, self-treating, or travelling out of the area for help.

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Hundreds of mentally ill prisoners denied urgent treatment in England

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Most seriously ill inmates left to wait in cells often due to bed shortages at secure hospitals, data shows

Hundreds of severely mentally ill prisoners in urgent need of hospital treatment are being left in prison cells due to bed shortages in secure NHS psychiatric units, an investigation has discovered.

Freedom of information (FoI) responses from 22 NHS trusts reveal for the first time that just over half of the 5,403 prisoners in England assessed by prison-based psychiatrists to require hospitalisation were not transferred between 2016 and 2021 – an 81% increase on the number of prisoners denied a transfer in the previous five years.

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Just one of 50 aviation industry climate targets met, study finds

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Charity’s report says nearly all targets set since 2000 have been missed, revised or quietly ignored

The international aviation industry has failed to meet all but one of 50 of its own climate targets in the past two decades, environment campaigners say.

A report commissioned by the climate charity Possible assessed every target set by the industry since 2000 and found that nearly all had been missed, revised or quietly ignored. The charity says the findings undermine a UK government plan to leave airlines to reduce their emissions through self-regulation.

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UK cybersecurity unit tackles record number of online scams in 2021

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More than 2.7m attempted frauds interrupted, including fake celebrity endorsements and extortion emails

Britain’s cybersecurity unit has reported a record crackdown on internet scams after tackling more than 2.7m attempted frauds last year, a near-fourfold increase on the figure for 2020.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), an arm of the GCHQ spy agency, said the interrupted scams included fake celebrity endorsements and bogus extortion emails. It stressed, however, that the increase in detection reflected aggressive targeting by the unit rather than an increase in scams.

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Sheku Bayoh inquiry must be ‘watershed moment’, say campaigners

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Hearings to examine 2015 death in custody in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, come after intense pressure from family

The public inquiry into the death in police custody of Sheku Bayoh, which starts taking evidence this week, must be a “watershed moment” with the potential to prompt a wider dialogue about racism in Scotland, campaigners have said.

The hearings begin almost exactly seven years since the father-of-two died after being restrained by officers in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on 3 May 2015, and marks the first major public examination of institutional racism in Scotland since the Black Lives Matter movement galvanised around the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

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Priti Patel blames lawyers as she admits Rwanda plan will ‘take time’

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Home secretary attacks ‘specialist lawyers’ as Labour calls delayed plan little more than a press release

Priti Patel has admitted that it will take time to establish the government’s high-profile plan to send people who arrive in the UK without authorisation to Rwanda, amid growing suspicion that it will not solve the migration crisis in the Channel.

In a further attack on the legal profession, the home secretary blamed “specialist lawyers” as the main reason for the delays in setting up the scheme.

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Leaked Beergate memo could clear Starmer, lawyer believes

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Adam Wagner, a barrister specialising in lockdown rules, says document shows purpose of meal was political, not social

A barrister specialising in lockdown rules has said a leaked document showing Keir Starmer attended a prearranged meal in Durham during an election could be used to clear the Labour leader of allegations that he broke the law.

The document, published by the Mail on Sunday, shows that an 80-minute dinner with the Labour MP Mary Foy, featuring a takeaway curry, was planned as part of his schedule.

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‘Access is vital’: picnicking protesters target Duke of Somerset’s woods

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Group of 200 Totnes residents trespass and eat sandwiches and Victoria sponge to highlight lack of right to roam

On a beautiful Sunday in May a spot under the trees in an ancient woodland would seem like an idyllic location for a picnic for residents of the Devon town of Totnes.

But when a group of 200 people settled down on the grass to enjoy sandwiches and slices of Victoria sponge next to the publicly funded woodland, they were actually breaking the law.

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Dennis Waterman, Minder and New Tricks star, dies aged 74

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Actor starred as bodyguard Terry McCann in Minder and tough cop George Carter in The Sweeney

The actor Dennis Waterman – who starred in the TV shows Minder, The Sweeney and New Tricks – has died at the age of 74.

Waterman, best known for his role as the bodyguard Terry McCann in ITV’s Minder, had a showbiz career that spanned 60 years.

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‘He is Mr Rules’: Labour denies leak shows Starmer broke lockdown laws

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Tories claim document published in Mail on Sunday proves Labour leader is guilty of ‘rank double standards’

Labour has rejected claims that a leaked planning memo about Keir Starmer’s visit to Durham last year undermined his assertion he did not break lockdown laws, insisting he is “Mr Rules”.

The Labour document, published by the Mail on Sunday, shows that an 80-minute dinner with the Labour MP Mary Foy, featuring a takeaway curry, was planned as part of his schedule.

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UK urged to act after UN panel rules detention of Briton in India ‘arbitrary’

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Jagtar Singh Johal has been detained since 2017 and allegedly tortured, accused of helping to fund assassination plot

The UK is under pressure to insist India release Jagtar Singh Johal, a British citizen, after a UN working group ruled he had been arbitrarily detained by India and his detention lacked any legal basis.

Boris Johnson apparently raised the case when he met the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, last month and provided a written note of consular cases, but Foreign Office ministers have not confirmed whether they regard his detention as arbitrary.

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United Ireland: why is it not on cards despite Sinn Féin success?

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Sinn Féin has called for debate on Irish unification, but many obstacles exist to a referendum on the issue

Sinn Féin hailed its first victory in a Northern Ireland assembly election as a defining moment for the British-controlled region and called for a debate on a united Ireland.

The party’s president, Mary Lou McDonald, had a simple message for unionists on Saturday, telling them: “Don’t be scared, the future is bright for us all.”

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What is Beergate and why does it matter?

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Keir Starmer having a beer and takeaway has potentially become a resigning matter after reopening of investigation

The Sun first published a picture of Keir Starmer drinking a beer with Labour workers in a party office in Durham on 30 April 2021 more than a year ago. Until recently, the story was a minor Tory attack line, but it is now potentially a resignation matter following Durham police’s decision to reopen its investigation into whether the Labour leader broke Covid lockdown rules.

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UK poised to hand further £1.3bn military package to Ukraine

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Equipment will include anti-battery radar systems, plus GPS jamming and night-vision devices

An extra £1.3bn in military support is to be handed to Ukraine by the UK, in a significant increase in support for the country as it continues to resist Russia’s illegal invasion.

In a package that marks the UK’s highest rate of military spending since the end of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns, the funding was revealed before a meeting of G7 leaders to discuss what additional help can be given to Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s forces. Boris Johnson is also due to meet arms companies to ask for an increase in production.

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Six-year-old twins go missing from their garden in south London

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Emmanuel and Emmanuella were last seen about 6pm on Saturday at their home in Lambeth

Six-year-old twins have been reported missing in south London.

The Metropolitan police said Emmanuel and Emmanuella were last seen playing in the front garden of their home in Cowley Road, Lambeth at 6pm on Saturday. A relative went to check on them an hour later and found they were not there, Scotland Yard said.

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Priti Patel’s Rwanda plan for UK asylum seekers faces its first legal challenge

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Home secretary is violating international law, the UN refugee convention and data protection rules, say lawyers

The first legal action has been launched against Priti Patel’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as the UN’s refugee agency raised concerns that the UK is “inviting” other European countries to adopt the same divisive immigration policy.

Lodged last Tuesday, the legal challenge states that the home secretary’s proposals run contrary to international law and the UN refugee convention, as well as breaching British data protection law.

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Revealed: betting giants lobbied UK government over proposed crackdown

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Documents show gambling firms warned Treasury officials against tightening up industry laws

Some of Britain’s betting giants are revealed to have quietly lobbied Treasury officials against a proposed industry crackdown, claiming it will cost millions of pounds in lost tax receipts.

Executives representing Bet365, Paddy Power and Ladbrokes met officials from the Treasury and Revenue and Customs, warning a radical overhaul of the industry could drive gamblers to the black market. The meeting was with tax officials rather than ministers and was therefore not required to be automatically disclosed.

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Sinn Féin assembly victory fuels debate on future of union

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Leader Mary Lou McDonald raises issue of unification as nationalists become biggest party in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has slipped into political crisis after Sinn Féin’s triumph in the assembly election triggered calls for a referendum on a united Ireland and the Democratic Unionist party vowed to block the formation of a new power-sharing executive at Stormont.

Jubilant Sinn Féin supporters celebrated across the region on Saturday when final vote counts confirmed a historic victory that turned the former IRA mouthpiece into the biggest party, with the right to nominate the first minister.

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Starmer beer claim ‘smears’ could drag on for weeks, top Labour figures warn

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Shadow cabinet reveal their frustration after elections as police
re-examine allegations of Covid rules breach

Frustration is mounting within the shadow cabinet over Durham police’s decision to re-examine lockdown breach allegations against Keir Starmer, amid claims it has robbed them of the chance to herald Labour’s progress at the local elections.

Senior figures have already been dragged into debates over the conduct of their leader as they attempted to argue that Labour’s gains signalled it was on the road to building an election-winning programme.

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