Met officers seen wearing divisive ‘thin blue line’ symbol at sensitive protests despite orders to remove them
Metropolitan police officers are openly defying orders not to wear badges appropriated by the far right and linked to white supremacy.
In July, the force’s chief, Mark Rowley, banned officers from wearing the “thin blue line” badge saying that in the US an equivalent symbol had been used by “hard-right groups”.
Continue reading...Cameron says she was threatened with being ‘bricked’ in the street after joining Conservatives on Thursday
Lisa Cameron, the SNP MP who defected to the Conservative party on Thursday, said she and her family have been forced to go into hiding in Scotland after she was threatened with being “bricked” in the street.
Cameron, her husband and their two daughters have moved to a secret location in the Scottish countryside after the MP was emailed threats of violence, including “I hope someone throws a brick at you in the street”, “I hope you burn” and “Think your mental health is bad now – wail til you see what abuse and nastiness yer [sic] going to have to put up with”.
Continue reading...Deal on table would give consultants another 6% rise on top of the 6% Rishi Sunak described as final
Government officials and doctors’ leaders are holding secret talks with the aim of ending strikes by hospital consultants before the start of the NHS’s winter crisis.
In a remarkable move, the deal under discussion would give consultants in England a hefty further pay rise for this year in return for calling off their stoppages. That is despite Rishi Sunak’s previous insistence that he would not revisit the 6% award he described as final.
Continue reading...Findings raise concerns among experts who say climate funding works best when invested directly in local communities
More than £2bn of UK foreign aid aimed at helping poorer countries cope with the escalating climate crisis has been channelled through private consultancies since 2010, according to an analysis.
The investigation by Carbon Brief found that more than 10% of UK foreign aid spent on climate-related projects had gone through consultants like KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Adam Smith International.
Continue reading...Yousaf renews calls for UK government to urge ceasefire as he describes his family’s fears for trapped relatives
His mother-in-law in besieged Gaza is running out of drinking water. His brother-in-law, a doctor, is dealing with the horror of trying to identify body parts in a hospital nearby. And his four-year-old daughter, at home in Scotland, can only understand that “granny is afraid of the thunder”.
Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister, has described in brutal detail the impact on trapped family members of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza in response to the shock attacks by Hamas at the weekend.
Continue reading...Humza Yousaf says Lisa Cameron’s move was ‘the least surprising news I’ve had as leader of the SNP’
NHS waiting lists have hit a new record high, with more people facing long waits, PA Media reports. PA says:
Figures for the NHS in England show 7.75 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of August, up from 7.68 million in July.
This is the highest number since records began in August 2007 and comes despite Rishi Sunak saying cutting waiting lists is one of his priorities.
Continue reading...MPs stayed on-message, fringe events were packed and businesses wanted to get involved at a conference that passed by with barely a hitch
In the hotel bar on the last night of Labour conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, one senior aide of Keir Starmer was taking soundings from journalists about how they felt the annual gathering had gone.
The adviser nodded along when they said that it had been a competent and professional affair but it was only when one reporter replied that it had also been “a bit boring” that he broke out into a big grin. “That’s the right answer,” he said.
Continue reading...Commissioner role was vacant for 18 months and is now set to be filled by former Boris Johnson adviser
Labour has accused Suella Braverman of employing an inexperienced “Conservative patsy” as the UK’s independent anti-slavery watchdog following 18 months when the statutory role remained unfilled.
Eleanor Lyons, who was a special adviser to Boris Johnson, will take up the role of anti-slavery commissioner in December, the home secretary announced on Wednesday.
Continue reading...People are ahead of governments, says David Cooper, who blames backtracking on parties seeking ‘wedge issues’ for electoral gain
Government backtracking on environmental promises is being driven by politicians and vested interests, not the public, the acting UN biodiversity chief has said, as he called for greater support for those experiencing short-term costs from green policies.
David Cooper, acting executive secretary for the UN convention on biological diversity (CBD), told the Guardian he believed the public mood was not moving against greater environmental protections, and that vested interests opposed to action on the climate crisis and nature loss were trying to frustrate progress.
Continue reading...Labour leader says his speech was an attempt to give the public hope after ‘13 years of decline’
Good morning. Keir Starmer has been doing an interview round this morning, and he used a striking phrase when he described what he was trying to do with his conference speech yesterday. He said he was trying to reach “the inner soul of the British public”.
He told Radio 5 Live:
What I was trying to do yesterday was not so much lay out layers and layers of detailed policy, we have done quite a lot of policy in the last year or so.
What I was trying to do was to reach, if you like, the inner soul of the British public who have had 13 years of decline, 13 years of hope almost beaten out of them, and to say we can go forward, what is ruined can be rebuilt, wounds do heal and if we set our face to it we can have a decade of national renewal.
Continue reading...Leader defends lack of new announcements but says ‘another bit of policy wasn’t what was needed’
Keir Starmer has said he is “bomb-proofing” all of his policy pledges to ensure a Labour government does not break promises, as he defended the lack of new announcements in his speech to the party conference.
On a broadcast round the day after his speech in Liverpool appealed to disgruntled Conservative voters to switch support, the Labour leader said his main feeling was defiance when a protester invaded the stage at the start of the address and sprinkled him with glitter.
Continue reading...UK minister calls urgent meeting to discuss coverage as X comes under scrutiny over disinformation claims
The UK technology secretary has summoned social media executives to demand the removal of violent content from their platforms related to the Hamas attack on Israel.
Michelle Donelan called the meeting as the European Union criticised Elon Musk’s X platform about coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict on its platform including fake news and the use of repurposed historical footage.
Continue reading...Scottish first minister says he has made contact with his wife’s parents who are trapped in besieged enclave after Hamas attack
Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, has called on the UK foreign secretary to push for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from Gaza.
Yousaf revealed on Monday that his wife Nadia’s parents, who live in Dundee, are trapped in Gaza and struggling to find safe passage.
Continue reading...In keynote conference speech, party leader sets out vision of Labour undoing damage of 13 years of Conservative rule
Keir Starmer has made a direct appeal for “despairing” Conservative voters to back Labour at the next election, telling them he would repair a Britain broken by 13 years of Tory governments.
In what could be the Labour leader’s final conference speech before the next election, he set out the case for national renewal and why his party should be given the chance to reverse the decline.
Continue reading...With company chiefs in attendance and an endorsement from Mark Carney, shadow chancellor sought to demonstrate economic competence
At every turn in Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, there are signs of big business on manoeuvres. Exhibition stands for Google, Ineos and Specsavers; slick videos for Amazon and Uber, fringe events sponsored by Deliveroo and Goldman Sachs, while even the parliamentary lounge – a retreat for MPs from the throng of 16,000 delegates – was sponsored by Lloyds Banking Group.
Labour was keen to demonstrate economic credibility by basking in the presence of company bosses. For business leaders, it was a chance to check out a potential government in waiting, with many commenting on the marked contrast with the Conservative conference in Manchester.
Continue reading...Labour leader says party has ‘plan to get Britain building again’ after security breach where protester threw glitter on him at start of speech
Labour has published fresh details of how the community policy guarantee (see 9.43am) will work.
On community policing
On Starmer, told that after Reeves’ reassurance over economy, his speech designed to paint a ‘picture of hope’ & it ‘emotive rather than a big policy drop’> the word cloud on what Starmer’s about peppered with don’t know and even ‘nothing’. This his chance to hammer home values
Continue reading...What can be learned from the Labour leader’s keynote address?
In what could be his final conference speech before the next election, Keir Starmer has set out his case for why voters should back Labour to run the country. Here are the key points he made:
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: A complicated legal battle over whether the UK government plan to send thousands of migrants to Rwanda could cause a fundamental shift in how asylum seekers are treated
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Good morning. Five supreme court judges are this week deciding whether the UK government plan to deport tens of thousands of asylum seekers to Rwanda should go ahead.
The decision of the UK’s highest court will be life-changing for more than 24,000 asylum seekers issued with letters warning them that they are being considered for forcible removal. It will also either make home secretary Suella Braverman’s “dream” come true or poleaxe a key part of Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats”.
Israel | The leaders of the UK, US, France, Germany and Italy have released a joint statement expressing “steadfast and united support” for the state of Israel and “unequivocal condemnation” of Hamas. Earlier, Israel declared a “complete siege” of Gaza, cutting off water, food and power supplies.
Environment | The damage caused by the climate crisis through extreme weather has cost $16m (£13m) an hour for the past 20 years, according to a new estimate.
Transport | A list of transport projects to be funded using HS2 money, which included schemes that had already been built or were swiftly deleted, was intended only to be “illustrative”, the prime minister has said.
Labour | A new Labour government would give all towns and cities in England new powers and funding to boost local economies, Keir Starmer will announce, in the biggest expansion of devolution since Labour was last in power.
Scotland | A hoard of coins linked to a Highland chief – which may have been stashed away as he tried in vain to escape the Glen Coe massacre – has been discovered underneath a fireplace.
Continue reading...Human Rights Watch report detailing alleged abuses at home and abroad raises questions over UK government’s asylum plan
Rwandan authorities are coordinating a systematic campaign of repression at home and abroad against political activists, suspected dissidents and their family members, according to a Human Rights Watch report, raising questions about plans by the UK government to send asylum seekers there.
The US-based rights group details an alleged campaign of extraterritorial killings, kidnappings and intimidation, as well as arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances on Rwandan soil.
Continue reading...Peer warns party against over-zealous labour market reforms while dismissing former leaders as ‘weak, weak, weak’
Peter Mandelson has warned Labour not to go too far in bringing in labour market reforms to benefit workers and hit out at Unite’s Sharon Graham, while describing the past decade of party leaders as “weak, weak, weak”.
The Labour peer, a former business secretary and architect of the 1997 election victory, gave a combative speech to a City of London Corporation dinner at the party conference, where he warned against making labour market reforms that swung towards the “other extreme”.
Continue reading...