Review may look at communications between police and City Hall after clash with Sadiq Khan but will not ‘change any outcomes’
Cressida Dick has won a victory after the government agreed to a review of how she came to leave office after a clash with the London mayor, Sadiq Khan.
The Home Office is expected to announce it will ask Sir Tom Winsor to examine how Dick came to be ousted as commissioner of the Metropolitan police last month, a government source confirmed.
Continue reading...Met police decided not to proceed after ‘thorough assessment’ of allegations relating to actor
Claims by 20 women of sexual harassment and bullying against the actor Noel Clarke will not lead to a criminal police investigation, according to the Metropolitan police.
Clarke was the subject of complaints of groping and sexual misconduct in incidents between 2004 and 2019. He is best known for his work on the “hood” series of films, beginning with Kidulthood in 2006, and the BBC’s Doctor Who.
Continue reading...A cold front will push down from the north in midweek and temperatures will plummet, Met Office says
Snow could fall in parts of the UK this week, with temperatures set to plummet over the coming days, forecasters say.
The Met Office said the country would see colder, cloudier and more unsettled weather from Monday, with the risk of wintry weather in the middle of the week.
Continue reading...Positive Action in Housing says visas not being granted and refugees seeking sponsors are putting themselves in danger
A charity that is helping Ukrainian refugees trying to come to the UK has said no visas have been granted to those it is supporting, nearly a fortnight after a government scheme was launched.
The head of Positive Action in Housing, Robina Qureshi, said the government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme had given people “false hope” and amounted to a “gimmick”.
Continue reading...Suspect arrested as victim of attack in Bethnal Green is named as Yasmin Begum, 40
A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman was stabbed to death while her children were at school.
The victim of the attack in Bethnal Green, east London, has been named as 40-year-old Yasmin Begum, who was from the area.
Continue reading...The transport secretary is expected to close loopholes to ensure ferry companies pay the UK minimum wage
Grant Shapps is writing to the chief executive of P&O Ferries urging him to announce a U-turn on the decision to sack 800 workers without notice, as unions pledged to “ratchet up the fight” after a weekend of protests.
The transport secretary is expected to present a package of legislation on Wednesday to close loopholes and ensure ferry companies running regular services to and from the British Isles pay their crew the UK minimum wage.
Continue reading...Bethany Haines says she will plead with El Shafee Elsheikh to reveal where remains of her father and other western hostages lie
The daughter of a British man murdered by Islamic State will demand to know the whereabouts of his remains when one of his alleged kidnappers goes on trial in the US this week.
Bethany Haines, 24, will fly from her home in Perthshire, Scotland, to Virginia to confront El Shafee Elsheikh in person, nearly eight years after her father, David Haines, was killed.
Continue reading...Royal couple say they are ‘committed to service’, which is not ‘telling people what to do’, at end of Caribbean tour
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have insisted they are interested only in a “better future” for the Commonwealth, not in who leads it, at the end of their tour of the Caribbean.
William said foreign tours were an “opportunity to reflect” and he and his wife were committed to “serving and supporting” the people of the Commonwealth, not “telling them what to do”, in a statement published on the couple’s Twitter account.
Continue reading...Nadhim Zahawi said it was for the Russian people to decide Vladimir Putin’s future
A UK cabinet minister distanced the government from Joe Biden’s call that Russia’s Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” amid criticism that the comment could bolster the Kremlin.
Though no government figure has been overtly critical of the comments – unlike the French president, Emmanuel Macron – Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, said it was “for the Russian people to decide how they are governed” after the unscripted remark from Biden at a speech in Poland on Saturday, which the White House later said was not a call for regime change.
Continue reading...Lawyers and unions condemn scandal of international health workers forced to pay out if they quit their jobs early
• Overseas nurses in the UK forced to pay out thousands if they want to quit jobs
When Laura Sanchez was offered a job as a nurse in the NHS, it sounded like the opportunity of a lifetime.
At home in the Philippines, she had seen Facebook ads similar to those on the site today, promising “an attractive relocation package” and inviting her to “Start your UK dream!”
Continue reading...Justice secretary Dominic Raab’s proposals will ‘slash away’ at rights of ordinary people to challenge government, group says
Amnesty International has criticised plans by the justice secretary Dominic Raab to replace Labour’s Human Rights Act with a British bill of rights.
Raab has argued that the proposal will better protect the press in exposing wrongdoing and said he feared free speech was being “whittled away” by “wokery and political correctness”.
The deputy prime minister told the Daily Mail that under plans being drawn up, there would be only limited restrictions placed on the protections on free speech with checks to stop people abusing it to promote terrorism.
Laura Trevelyan, Amnesty’s human rights in the UK campaign manager, hit out at his plan on Saturday.
“Scrapping the Human Rights Act has long been the intention of Mr Raab and others not because they want to extend any protections, but because they want to slash away at the powers ordinary people have got to challenge the government and its decisions,” she said.
Continue reading...Unions and Labour criticise plan that is among suite of changes to be set out on Monday
Schools in England will have to offer a minimum school week of 32.5 hours as part of a package of reforms aimed at raising standards, which Labour and unions have condemned as insufficient to support schools that have been left “battered and bruised” by the pandemic.
Most schools already deliver a 32.5 hour school week, which is equivalent to 8.45am to 3.15pm from Monday to Friday. However, the government believes there are discrepancies across the country, since 20 minutes less teaching time a day equates to a loss of two weeks of schooling a year.
However, teaching unions said they were “unconvinced by the benefits” of introducing a minimum length for school weeks since Department for Education figures suggest three-quarters of schools already offer 32.5-hour weeks.
Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said it was important to understand the reasons why some schools have fewer hours, for example, some rural schools may choose start and finish times to suit transport arrangements.
He said: “Adding time on to the school week may sound straightforward, but there are many issues which need to be considered in individual schools, and we would encourage the government not to rush any changes.”
Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of school leaders’ union National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), was sceptical that adding under 20 minutes to the school day would “bring much, if any, benefit”, and asked that the plan be underpinned by a review of evidence.
Labour criticised the plans for being too limited in scope to tackle the scale of the problems with educational standards, with 200,000 primary age children living in areas with no schools rated as good or outstanding and the pandemic widening the learning gap between richer and poorer children.
Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, said: “After two years of pandemic chaos and six years since the government’s last schools strategy, parents, teachers and pupils will be left wondering where the ambition for children’s futures is. For almost eight in 10 schools the education secretary’s big idea is to carry on as normal.”
Kevin Courtney, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said the plans would not “address the huge challenges that battered and bruised schools face to support all their pupils during and beyond a pandemic”.
Continue reading...Five-year investigation to conclude mothers forced to suffer traumatic births because of targets for ‘normal’ births
Three hundred babies died or were left brain-damaged due to inadequate care at an NHS trust, according to reports.
The Sunday Times has reported that a five-year investigation will conclude next week that mothers were denied caesarean sections and forced to suffer traumatic births due to an alleged preoccupation with hitting “normal” birth targets.
The inquiry, which analysed the experiences of 1,500 families at Shrewsbury and Telford hospital trust between 2000 and 2019, found that at least 12 mothers died while giving birth, and some families lost more than one child in separate incidents, the newspaper reported.
Donna Ockenden, an expert midwife who led the inquiry with the input of more than 90 midwives and doctors, said her team had been “shocked and saddened” by the scale of the tragedy.
The Ockenden report is expected to reveal that hundreds of babies were stillborn, died shortly after birth or were left permanently brain-damaged while many had fractured skulls or broken bones, or were left with life-changing disabilities.
Continue reading...Police are searching for Kyle Darren Eglington, 32, who absconded from a court prisoner transit van
Police are searching for a prisoner who escaped custody wearing just his underwear and socks.
Kyle Darren Eglington, 32, absconded from a court prisoner transit van in Poole after assaulting security officers on Saturday morning, Dorset police said.
The force said it is carrying out “extensive searches” to find Eglington and appealed to the public for information.
Boat dwellers stage demonstration about new moves by the Canal & River Trust to restrict mooring spaces
Hundreds of boaters converged in west London’s Little Venice area on Saturday to protest about what they say is a “cull” of a traditional way of life along the capital’s waterways.
The boat dwellers staged a demonstration about new moves by the Canal & River Trust (CRT), a charity which manages the waterways in England and Wales, to restrict mooring spaces in some parts of the capital and to issue enforcement notices against some who officials say are mooring their boats in the wrong areas. The CRT began issuing enforcement notices in January of this year.
Continue reading...Proposed theme park the size of 136 Wembleys will threaten protected species and local jobs, say campaigners
It promises to be one of Britain’s most unusual planning battles. On one side is an array of endangered wildlife that includes a species of jumping spider. On the other are backers of a theme park that they claim will rival Disneyland in its size and ambition.
The park, called the London Resort, would be built on the Swanscombe peninsula on the Thames, near Gravesend, where it would cover land equivalent to 136 Wembley stadiums and would include themed rides, a water park, conference venues, hotels and a shopping centre.
Continue reading...Woman stabbed to death in Bethnal Green while her two children were at school described as ‘a lovely person’
Neighbours have told of their shock and sadness after a woman was stabbed to death while her two children were at school.
Those who knew the 40-year-old from Bethnal Green in east London said she was “a lovely person” and that she had lived in the area for a long time.
Continue reading...After a £6m renovation project, the pioneering designer’s farmhouse is reopening to the public
For William Morris, the Oxfordshire village of Kelmscott was “heaven on earth”. An old farmhouse became a beloved rural retreat and inspiration for the pioneering designer, author, architectural conservationist and social reformer, widely regarded as the father of the arts and crafts movement.
Now Kelmscott Manor, near Lechlade, is reopening to the public on 1 April following a £6m renovation project, preserving and enhancing it for future generations.
Continue reading...Man and woman pronounced dead at property in Sneinton area of city
Two people have died after a large house fire in Nottingham in the early hours of Saturday morning, police and fire services have said.
Emergency services were called to reports of a major fire at a terraced house in Whittier Road, in the Sneinton suburb of the city, at 12.43am.
Continue reading...Demonstrations come after the firm sack 800 staff and the European Causeway ship is detained for being ‘unfit to sail’
Protests are taking place at UK ports over the sacking of hundreds of seafarers, as calls grow for a P&O Ferries’ boss to quit.
The demonstrations come after a ship operated by the ferry firm was detained for being “unfit to sail”.
Continue reading...