Apparently incorrect use of a basic tool shows the prime minister is out of touch with everyday life, Labour suggests
It may not be the most complicated of tools to master. But Rishi Sunak was mocked on social media for ostensibly having difficulty handling a hammer – after being told to use it sideways as part of a craft session.
Sunak was taking a lesson in hammering jewellery in Farsley in West Yorkshire during a visit.
Continue reading...After the death of four teens, many are asking if restrictions such as on night driving or carrying passengers could save young lives
The number of passersby who paused at the police cordon blocking the narrow, winding country road in north Wales where four teenagers died was striking.
They wanted, primarily, to express their sorrow and send messages of comfort to the relatives and friends of Jevon Hirst, 16, Harvey Owen, Wilf Fitchett, both 17, and 18-year-old Hugo Morris. But many felt compelled also to share their family or community’s stories of losing young people in road accidents. Some were in tears as the described an agony that never goes away – and many asked if more needed to be done to reduce such tragedies.
Continue reading...Net migration to the UK in 2023 is estimated at 672,000, and the PM says a more ‘sustainable’ level is needed. This live blog is closed
When Nigel Farage was leading the Brexit party, it was considerably influential for a party with no MPs, winning the European elections in 2019 and helping to push the Conservative party into a harder position on Brexit. After the 2019 election it was renamed Reform UK, Richard Tice took over as leader and it became much more marginal. But in an interview on the Today programme this morning Tice claimed that the government’s failure to bring down immigration was presenting it with an opportunity. He told the programme:
The British people voted to control immigration, and the government have betrayed the people’s promises. And that’s why so many thousands of people, former Tory members, are joining us. Our polling numbers – we got record polling last week, four different polls where we’re in double figures. This week, we’ve had Tory donors joining us. Frankly, I fully expect Tory MPs who are furious and angry with the government to be calling me next week.
[Cleverly] has made the point that he says that it was not aimed at a particular place. Knowing James well, he’s not the sort of person, in my opinion, who would have made that kind of remark in that kind of context.
But he has accepted that this was certainly unparliamentary language and he has rightly apologised.
Continue reading...Trade unionists from US and Europe stand with staff at Coventry hub over local pay dispute amid global day of action
Hundreds of strikers outside Amazon’s Coventry warehouse were joined on Black Friday by trade unionists from Europe and the US as part of a global campaign calling for better working conditions at the internet retailer.
Wearing orange beanie hats branded with the GMB union logo, activists from Germany, Italy and California, on strike at their respective Amazon workplaces, expressed solidarity with the Coventry strikers, who have taken 28 days of industrial action since January.
Continue reading...Thankfully the 12-year-old survived five nights away but there’s still the gas bill to worry about
The child returns home today from his first ever school trip away (which is also, because we are useless, at the age of 12 his first trip abroad). He has been away for five nights, which is five times more nights than he has ever been away from us before (see uselessness above) and I have coped extremely well. Yes, I could periodically be found lying prostrate on the sofa or staring white-faced at a wall, praying to a god I don’t believe in not to let him be kidnapped, lost or killed while my husband futilely attempted to console me with the thought that school trips are not like they were in our day. “They chip them and rope them to a teacher at all times now. They probably don’t even go on the trip. They’re probably just in a room on a Luton industrial estate with some convincing holographics on the wall all week. He’ll be fine.”
Continue reading...Dutch general election results show how populist and far-right parties are advancing into political mainstream
Geert Wilders’ shock victory in the Dutch general election confirms the upward trajectory of Europe’s populist and far-right parties, which – with the occasional setback – are continuing their steady march into the mainstream.
There is no guarantee that Wilders, whose anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV) won 37 seats in Wednesday’s ballot – more than twice its 2021 total – will be able to form a government with a majority in the Netherlands’ 150-seat parliament.
Continue reading...Home secretary under pressure over abusive comments in Commons, with Tory mayor among those condemning them
James Cleverly is coming under pressure over abusive comments he made in the Commons after his explanation that he was insulting the local MP, not calling a Labour-held constituency a “shit-hole”, was met with scepticism.
After Ben Houchen, the Conservative mayor for Tees Valley, condemned what he called Cleverly’s “childish and unprofessional language”, the Labour MP concerned, Alex Cunningham, said he simply did not believe the home secretary.
Continue reading...UK foreign secretary hopes situation will provide opportunity to ‘get hostages out and get aid into Gaza’
David Cameron has met Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, during a visit to Israel, expressing hope that the planned temporary truce with Hamas would be an “opportunity to crucially get hostages out and get aid into Gaza”.
The ceasefire is due to begin on Friday morning from 7am local time, with aid “going in as soon as possible”, according to Qatari officials. The first set of civilians held captive by Hamas are expected to be freed at about 4pm local time on Friday, including 13 women and children.
Continue reading...The Irish PM has accused the party of trying to take away democracy through threats as press freedom organisations raise concerns
In Ireland, Mary Lou McDonald, the leader of Sinn Féin, is suing the national broadcaster RTÉ for defamation, while her husband, Martin Lanigan, is suing the author of a biography of McDonald. Chris Andrews, a Sinn Féin member of Ireland’s parliament, is suing the Irish Times and one of its reporters.
In Northern Ireland, Gerry Kelly, a Sinn Féin member of the Stormont assembly, is suing two media commentators. John Finucane, a Sinn Féin MP, is suing a unionist councillor over Twitter claims. Michelle O’Neill, the party’s deputy leader, recently sued another unionist councillor over a Facebook post.
Continue reading...Questions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland about funding for devolved governments
The Scottish government has accused the chancellor of “letting Scotland down on every count” after he unveiled a modest £545m increase in Treasury funding, and extra funds for Wales and Northern Ireland.
Jeremy Hunt announced an overall boost of £1bn for the UK’s three devolved governments, with Wales in line to receive an extra £305m and Northern Ireland £185m over the next two financial years, alongside £545m for Scotland.
Continue reading...Independent reviewer says change could harm freedom of speech and further strain overtaxed security services
No 10 should not implement plans to amend the law on glorifying terrorism after the pro-Palestine marches as it would do “no favours” to police, MI5 or the probation service, a government adviser has said.
In a 15-page report submitted to the Home Office, Jonathan Hall KC, the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said there was no need to respond to the marches with new terrorism legislation, adding that there was “good reason for caution” given both the risk of unintended consequences and the drain on limited state resources.
Continue reading...Chancellor cuts employee national insurance to 10% while abolishing class 2 national insurance
Keir Starmer has said that a pause in hostilities between Israel and Hamas must be used to tackle the “urgent and unacceptable humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.
Welcoming the deal, which is expected to involve the release of 50 hostages being held by Hamas and a number of women and teenagers from Israeli jails, the Labour leader said his party had been calling for “a substantial humanitarian pause”. He said:
There must be immediate access to aid, food, water, fuel and medicine to ensure hospitals function and lives are saved. Aid and fuel need to not just get in but be distributed widely and safely.
We must also use the space this pause creates to take more steps on a path towards a full cessation of hostilities rather than an escalation of violence.
The real function of the projected spending squeeze is as a trap for Labour. If the opposition rejects the Tory trajectory, it will be accused of planning a profligate spree with public money. And if it pledges adherence to impossible targets, it will enter government with its hands bound too tight to deliver prompt satisfaction to the people who voted for it.
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have so far operated a sensible policy of not walking into traps of this kind. That approach restored swing voters’ trust in Labour as stewards of the economy. But it tests the patience of an activist base that sees reversal of austerity as a moral imperative and can smell the incipient disappointment in promises of fiscal discipline.
Continue reading...Former deputy chief medical officer said police advised they move out of their home at one point in pandemic
Prof Sir Jonathan Van-Tam and his family were advised by police to move out of their home at one point during the Covid pandemic because of a threat that they would have their throats cut, he has told the inquiry into the pandemic.
Van-Tam, who was one of the deputy chief medical officers for England during the pandemic, said he was worried that the scale of hate from people who objected to lockdown-type measures could put off other people from doing jobs like his.
Continue reading...Alex Cunningham, MP for Stockton North, claims James Cleverly made comment during Wednesday’s PMQs
A Labour MP has claimed that his constituency was described as a “shithole” by the home secretary, James Cleverly, during prime minister’s questions.
Alex Cunningham said Cleverly had uttered the phrase when the Labour MP for Stockton North asked: “Why are 34% of children in my constituency living in poverty?”
Continue reading...Despite £27bn windfall for the autumn statement, government forecaster warns of generally more difficult outlook until 2028
The government’s official forecaster has slashed its predictions for economic growth over the next two years, and warned that inflation could take until 2025 to come back to the official 2% target.
In an updated financial health check to accompany the autumn statement, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said a more resilient economy this year had handed the chancellor a £27bn budget windfall, but it warned of a more difficult outlook up to 2028 than previously forecast at the time of the budget in March.
Continue reading...Amid less gloomy OBR forecasts the chancellor is expected to take first steps towards cutting personal taxes
Jeremy Hunt will announce 110 measures to boost Britain’s stagnant economy and bow to demands from anxious Tory MPs for tax cuts when he delivers his second autumn statement on Wednesday.
In one of the last set-piece economic events before the general election, the chancellor will pledge to “turbo charge” growth while taking the first steps to cut personal taxes after recent sharp increases.
Continue reading...Discontent among people housed at Essex site is growing, with residents complaining about conditions
James Cleverly has said he hopes to close down the controversial mass accommodation centre in Wethersfield “as soon as practicable”, in a departure from government policy to move asylum seekers out of hotels and on to sites like the Essex military base.
Wethersfield, most recently used by Ministry of Defence police, is the Home Office’s largest mass accommodation site in the UK for people seeking asylum, with several hundred people accommodated there.
Continue reading...Chief medical officer for England and chief UK medical adviser says civil servants did good job but PM took ‘unique’ decisions
Q: Was there no aspect on the pandemic on which you did not advise?
Whitty says he would not put it like that. He says he felt it important to advise on issues where advice from a scientist or doctor would be useful.
Continue reading...Chancellor says bringing down inflation remains one of his main aims as he prepares autumn statement
The UK government borrowed less than expected in the first seven months of the financial year as Jeremy Hunt puts the last-minute touches to a series of pre-election giveaways in his autumn statement on Wednesday.
Public sector borrowing between April and October was just above £98bn, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and while this was £22bn higher than in the same period last year, it was almost £17bn less than the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast in March.
Continue reading...Government paper says Britain must act robustly if interests challenged by the Chinese development model
China’s growing role in international development marks a systemic global shift that will require robust challenge by Britain if its interests are threatened, a UK government white paper on aid has warned.
With David Cameron starting as foreign secretary and under scrutiny for his previous business links with China, the document does not hold back in challenging the Chinese development model or its growing influence.
Continue reading...