Safety of Jewish community ‘canary in mine’ for British political system, communities secretary will warn in speech
Michael Gove is to warn that Britain risks “descending into the darkness” if it fails to tackle growing antisemitism in the wake of the 7 October attacks.
In a major speech, the communities secretary will say the safety of the Jewish community in the UK is the “canary in the mine” for the health of the whole political system.
Continue reading...Angela Rayner to promise party will build homes on sites by end of its first term and support private developers
A Labour government would aim to announce the sites for a series of new towns within a year of taking office, with the promise that homes would be built in them by the end of a first term, Angela Rayner is to say in a speech.
Giving more detail to a plan first outlined in Keir Starmer’s party conference speech in October, Rayner will tell a housing conference that Labour will strongly support private developers who create high-quality and affordable housing.
Continue reading...Labour sees no electoral gain in flagging sector’s funding crisis – but losses cannot be sustained much longer
Why are universities in such financial dire straits? According to one sector leader, it’s because they are losing money on two of their three income streams, while their third source is under attack by the government.
“We are already in a state where teaching home students operates at a loss, doing research operates at a loss, and the international student market has been diminished by the government’s rhetoric and policy. And those are the three areas where universities get their income,” said Rachel Hewitt, chief executive of the MillionPlus association of modern universities that includes Bath Spa, Wolverhampton and Sunderland.
Continue reading...Labour leader’s appearance on chatshow reflects politicians’ more general move away from hard news outlets to cosier, more niche settings
When Keir Starmer appeared on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch to cook his favourite tandoori salmon recipe, host Tim Lovejoy had a question: “What on earth are you doing here? You should be on the BBC with Laura Kuenssberg.”
“This is so much nicer!” replied the Labour leader.
Continue reading...Stephen Watson says process will be carried out ‘fairly and impartially’ in his most extensive public comments on the claims
The chief constable of the police force examining claims against Angela Rayner has defended the decision to investigate the Labour party deputy leader, vowing it would be done “fairly and impartially” and would establish whether “culpability is proven or otherwise”.
Stephen Watson, who leads Greater Manchester police (GMP), gave his most extensive public comments so far on the investigation, which was triggered by a complaint from a senior Conservative.
Continue reading...Coventry MP, whose antipathy for David Cameron sparked her interest in politics, has largest TikTok following in parliament
When the UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, sat in the BBC TV studio last Sunday morning, he clearly had no idea of the identity of the woman sitting on the panel opposite him, simply referring to her as “the Labour MP”.
By contrast, Zarah Sultana, the MP for Coventry South, knows everything about Lord Cameron, telling the Guardian that it was her hatred of him as prime minister that first brought her into politics as a young, leftwing, Muslim woman. Her whole political outlook has been shaped by Cameron: the trebling of tuition fees and austerity.
Continue reading...Shadow minister says it is Justin Welby’s job to speak out but Labour could not commit to scrapping policy
The shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, has praised the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, for calling on Labour to scrap the two-child benefit cap, saying it was “literally his job” to speak out on such matters.
Streeting said he did not like the cap, which campaigners say has pushed hundreds of thousands of families into poverty, but that the party could not commit to ending it until it knew how this would be financed.
Continue reading...Anthony Olubunmi George, 61, has been refused leave to remain despite living most of his adult life in Britain
A disabled man who has lived in the UK for 38 years has been threatened with removal from the UK by the Home Office.
Anthony Olubunmi George, 61, came to the UK at the age of 24 in 1986 from Nigeria. He has not left the UK since and has no criminal convictions. In 2019, he had two strokes, which left him with problems with speech and mobility.
Continue reading...Former chancellor, who was one of those who urged Johnson to go, says Tories should have realised ‘Twitter was not the country’
Former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has said he and his Conservative colleagues were wrong to force out Boris Johnson as prime minister in 2022.
Johnson resigned after less than three years in No 10 after more than 50 resignations from government of MPs and staff and waves of backbenchers urging him to quit over the handling of the Chris Pincher affair and numerous other scandals. He resigned as an MP a year later.
Continue reading...In latest Opinium poll, only 16% say accepting rightwing Tory MP’s defection was the right move – against 33% who see it as a mistake
More voters believe Keir Starmer was wrong to allow a rightwing Tory MP into Labour than think it was the right move, after anger from within the party’s ranks over the defection.
Natalie Elphicke, the Dover MP, said the Tories had become “a byword for incompetence and division” when she made her shock departure to Labour earlier in May. The party leadership regarded it as a major coup to win the support of the MP on the frontline of the Channel crossings issue that Rishi Sunak has attempted to prioritise. The move came despite concerns among MPs that her views conflict with Labour in a variety of areas.
Continue reading...As the inquiry publishes its final report, the chancellor is under pressure to find £10bn to put right a longstanding injustice
The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, will come under pressure to stay true to his word and sign off on immediate compensation payments totalling up to £10bn to victims of the contaminated blood scandal when the long-awaited final report on the affair is published on Monday.
The scandal is described as the worst treatment disaster in NHS history, with more than 3,000 people having died as a result of receiving contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s. It is estimated that, even today, a person infected during the scandal dies every four days.
Continue reading...‘Strikingly large’ sum being recouped from people who fell foul of system that did not flag overpayments
Ministers are clawing back more than £250m from unpaid carers over benefit infringements that occurred largely as a result of government failures, it can be revealed.
More than 134,000 people who care for loved ones are being forced to repay often huge carer’s allowance overpayments. The debts are incurred in many cases through no fault of their own, and leave carers saddled with enormous debts, and some with criminal convictions.
Continue reading...Exclusive: FoI request reveals Arts Council updated guidance after discussing Gaza conflict with DCMS
Arts Council England (ACE) issued a warning that “political statements” could break funding agreements after discussions with the government about artists speaking out over the Israel-Gaza war, newly released documents suggest.
A freedom of information request made by the actors’ union Equity has revealed that the conflict was discussed in a meeting between ACE and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in December.
Continue reading...Plaid Cymru has ended its cooperation agreement with Welsh Labour government in the Senedd over concerns regarding donations to leader Vaughan Gething
The Daily Express and Daily Mail have both asked questions about the taxing of pensions. Jeremy Hunt is on combative grounds here. He is asked when calling Labour’s plans a “myth” is he accusing them of lying. He says:
Well, calling them a myth is about as rude as I get. But frankly, it is a lie. I don’t make any bones about it. It is fake news. And it is an absolute disgrace to try and win this election by scaring pensioners about a policy that is not true.
Our argument is this is about the future growth of the economy, because we can see looking around the world that more lightly taxed economies have more dynamic private sectors, they grow faster, and in the end that is more money for precious public services like the NHS.
Continue reading...Kulveer Ranger resigns Tory whip after committee also recommends suspension from House of Lords for three weeks
A peer is set to be suspended from House of Lords bars for 12 months after he was found to have bullied and harassed two people while drunk.
Kulveer Ranger has resigned the government whip after the House of Lords conduct committee also recommended that he be suspended from the house for three weeks.
Continue reading...Unite launches bid to persuade Keir Starmer to invest more in north-east Scotland
The UK’s oil and gas workers risk becoming “the coal miners of our generation,” Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, has warned, urging Labour not to ban new North Sea licences without a clear plan to safeguard jobs.
Unite is launching a billboard campaign in six Scottish constituencies aimed at persuading Keir Starmer to commit more investment to north-east Scotland, the centre of the offshore oil and gas industry.
Continue reading...European Commission vice president, Maroš Šefčovič, cites progress on trade and economy for territory but not border checks
Talks on a post-Brexit deal to govern the border between Gibraltar and Spain have broken up without an agreement, although both sides insisted a deal was “getting closer”.
David Cameron, the UK foreign secretary, met the European Commission vice president, Maroš Šefčovič, in Brussels to discuss the British overseas territory on the Iberian peninsula, which has been in limbo since Britain left the EU.
Continue reading...Little wonder welfare ministers were so reluctant the publish the study they commissioned five years ago
There are plenty of reasons why welfare ministers were reluctant to publish the study they commissioned into unpaid carers’ experiences of carer’s allowance five years ago, and which has finally emerged under duress.
In 2019 they had undoubtedly been chastened by criticism from MPs and auditors that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) did not understand how a relatively little known benefit was causing oceans of misery and hardship for carers.
Continue reading...Pat McFadden says appealing to Tory voters is ‘the difference between losing and winning’
Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, has been giving interviews this morning about new guidance for schools in England on sex education that says “the contested theory of gender identity” should not be taught. The proposals were briefed to right-leaning papers earlier this week, but the Department for Education has only now issued a press notice. The new version of the guidance does not seem to be available online yet.
In interviews this morning, Keegan claimed the government had to act because pupils were being exposed to “inappropriate” material. She told the Today programme:
I’ve seen some materials where they talk about gender identity being a spectrum, there being many different genders looking at you know, trying to get children [to] do quizzes on you know, what’s a different gender identity and what isn’t.
Ignoring biological sex in the material I saw anyway … and a lot of that material has caused concern.
I don’t think it’s widespread, I mean, I don’t know because you know, it’s not something that we’ve gone and done a particular survey of.
Continue reading...Sir Graham Watson says rise of far right has led him to stand in North-East Italy
A former British MEP is hoping to stage a return to the European parliament in June after being invited to run in Italy by an alliance backed by the country’s former prime minister Matteo Renzi.
Sir Graham Watson, a Liberal Democrat, used to represent South West England between 1994 and 2014 and is running with the pro-European coalition Stati Uniti d’Europa (United States of Europe).
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