Coalition urges health secretary to back changes as long-term sickness levels reach record high
A coalition of charities and health experts has called for an overhaul of the UK’s “broken” sick pay system, as the number of people prevented from working by long-term sickness reached a record high.
The health secretary, Steve Barclay, was urged in a letter to support changes that the campaign says would not just address widening health inequalities but also benefit the economy.
Continue reading...Wes Streeting says announcement of £250m to provide 900 extra beds ‘comes nowhere near the 12,000 beds’ cut in the last 13 years
Back on the PSNI data leak for a second, former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has questioned how the details of PSNI officers and staff were all kept in one system.
“What’s happened, why it’s happened, I don’t know, I don’t get it – how 10,000 people were all in one system, particularly intelligence people – but I’m sure that will all come out in the wash,” PA Media reports he told Newstalk.
Continue reading...Ursula von der Leyen aide reported to have ruled out ‘returns agreement’ in leaked copy of memo
The EU has rejected reports that it is not open to a new deal with the UK on returning people who have crossed the Channel, after a leak of purported discussions between London and Brussels.
A leaked copy of a memo on discussions with the UK’s national security adviser, Sir Tim Barrow, was reported to have included mention of an aide to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, ruling out a post-Brexit “returns agreement”.
Continue reading...Many issues remain to be resolved after asylum seekers were evacuated on Friday because of a potentially deadly bacteria
The Home Office’s decision to use the Bibby Stockholm barge to accommodate asylum seekers generated controversy long before the first person set foot onboard.
But issues with its use came to a head on Friday when the government confirmed the asylum seekers were being evacuated just days after moving in because of legionella, a potentially deadly bacteria, being found in its water system. While officials have provided a plan to use an RAF base instead, many questions remain.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Martin Forde KC says fellow professionals are ‘bewildered’ at silence over case of Jacqueline McKenzie
Keir Starmer is facing calls to defend the legal profession against government attacks on “lefty lawyers”, amid further concerns for the safety of an immigration solicitor subjected to a “targeted campaign” by the Conservative party.
Martin Forde KC, the senior lawyer commissioned by Starmer to investigate the Labour party’s culture, said legal professionals from across the political spectrum had expressed their bewilderment that the Labour leader had not said anything after such personal attacks, even after former Conservative law officers criticised the political rhetoric aimed at “lefty lawyers” on Friday.
Continue reading...Proposals to ‘streamline’ treatment, which government says are clinically led, would cut number of targets from nine to three
Keir Starmer has accused the government of “moving the goalposts” as the number of NHS cancer waiting time targets is expected to be reduced.
The government has been consulting on the proposed measures to streamline NHS cancer care, which would replace the nine existing cancer targets with just three. The target of all patients seeing a specialist within two weeks of an urgent referral for cancer tests by the GP is expected to be scrapped.
Continue reading...Andy Street, seen as most powerful Conservative outside London, vows to fight party’s retreat from climate pledges
The most powerful Conservative outside London has warned he will not hesitate to stand up to the party should it attempt to retreat from its pledge to tackle the climate crisis.
There are already serious concerns that Rishi Sunak and his advisers are using green policies as a political dividing line with Labour in an attempt to revive the party’s fortunes. The prime minister recently backed “maxing out” oil and gas reserves, while cabinet minister Michael Gove said net zero should not become a “religious crusade”. Tory MPs have also demanded a delay to the ban on petrol car sales by 2030.
Continue reading...Paul Johnson, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, issues plea for honesty from Labour and the Conservatives about tax and spending choices ahead of election
Unveiling significant tax cuts before next year’s general election would put Britain’s “scary” public finances in further peril and risk the nightmare scenario of even higher interest rates, one of the country’s most influential economists has said.
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, also made a plea for honesty from both main parties over the profound tax and spending choices they would face should they win power.
Continue reading...Moderate Tories fear the party’s attack on human rights will alienate many voters and damage the UK’s global standing
The Conservatives risk being seen once again as the “nasty party” by trying to win votes with a divisive attack on human rights, senior party figures have warned.
Rishi Sunak is under increasing pressure from his party this weekend over his pledge to stop the boats crossing the Channel. It follows another week that ended in Channel deaths after the capsizing of a boat, while the total number of people making the dangerous crossing since 2018 rose above the 100,000 mark.
Continue reading...Hunt is on for survivors after at least six people die, while activists call for more safe and legal routes
The government’s controversial asylum policy faced renewed criticism on Saturday when at least six people died after a small boat crossing the Channel capsized and sank.
Another two people are still believed to be missing after the sinking, prompting fresh calls for the government to urgently introduce safe routes for asylum seekers to prevent further tragedies.
Continue reading...Asylum seekers removed from Bibby Stockholm after bacteria which can cause serious lung infection found in water
Suella Braverman is under pressure to abandon plans to house asylum seekers on a barge after 39 people had to be removed from the vessel after the discovery of potentially deadly bacteria in the water system.
Ministers said they were concerned contractors knew there were traces of legionella bacteria on the Bibby Stockholm on Monday, when the first asylum seekers boarded the vessel in Portland, Dorset. Officials have insisted the Home Office was not told about the detection until Wednesday when further tests were ordered.
Continue reading...Dominic Grieve and Edward Garnier denounce ‘lefty lawyer’ rhetoric as dossier target fears abuse will turn physical
Two former Conservative law officers have criticised the political rhetoric against “lefty lawyers” as damaging and wrong as the head of the Law Society warned it could lead to physical attacks on immigration solicitors.
Dominic Grieve, a former attorney general, and Edward Garnier, a Conservative peer and former solicitor general, said lawyers should not be attacked for doing their jobs, regardless of who they represent or their personal views.
Continue reading...Exclusive: BMA council chair says medics will have no option but to stage more industrial action until ministers make ‘credible offer’
Rishi Sunak’s “increasingly intransigent” and “belligerent” stance on medics’ pay is blocking the path to ending the industrial action in the NHS, leaving no option but to strike until the next general election, one of Britain’s top doctors has warned.
Speaking to the Guardian on Friday after junior doctors launched a fifth round of industrial action, Prof Philip Banfield, the chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) council, said the union was standing firm and that doctors would continue to hold stoppages until they received a “credible offer”.
Continue reading...UK-backed move could help spread cost of developing fighter jet and drones, but may prove controversial
Saudi Arabia has asked the UK, Japan and Italy to be made a full partner in their joint effort to build the next generation of fighter jets, in a move backed by the British government.
Companies from the UK, Japan and Italy are working together to build a new fighter jet and other systems such as drones under the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), also known as Tempest. The programme aims to deliver the first planes by 2035, a tight turnaround.
Continue reading...Asylum seekers removed from Bibby Stockholm after legionella bacteria found in water system onboard
The Scottish Liberal Democrats have announced their candidate in the forthcoming Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection.
Gloria Adebo, who works as a data analyst, will run for the party in the vote triggered by the successful recall petition for Margaret Ferrier.
The Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection is a real chance for local people to deliver a judgment on the difficulties and disasters we have been landed in by incompetent, populist governments in London and Edinburgh.
It needn’t be like this. And it is the Liberal Democrats who, increasingly, are a growing and dynamic part of an alternative way forward - offering hope in place of despair, founded on a belief in individuals, in the rule of law, in equality of opportunity and the importance of human rights here and across the world.
Continue reading...Deadline has passed for Beijing to appeal against Tower Hamlets council’s rejection of plans
China has temporarily shelved plans to build a new embassy in London, angrily accusing the British government of not doing enough to force through planning permission for the project.
China had been given until Thursday to file an appeal to Tower Hamlets council in east London after the proposals for the embassy were rejected.
Continue reading...MP failed to reveal shares in oil company for more than five years despite disclosure rules
A former environment secretary has revealed she has shares worth more than £70,000 in Shell that she did not disclose as required for more than five years.
Theresa Villiers was the secretary for environment, food and rural affairs from July 2019 until February 2020, but only this week disclosed she has had investments worth more than £70,000 each in Shell and the drinks company Diageo since February 2018. Villiers also disclosed shares worth more than £70,000 in Experian, held since July 2019, and in an investment trust, RIT Capital Partners.
Continue reading...Cutting ties with green charity is part of culture war campaign to associate Labour with ‘lefty lawyers’ and ‘eco mobs’
• Sunak will go down in history as failing UK on climate, Greenpeace says
• ‘You have adopted a bunker mentality’: Greenpeace letter to Sunak
Scaling Rishi Sunak’s empty home to drape it in black fabric in protest at oil drilling is not the first time Greenpeace has targeted the home of senior politicians.
The environmental group surrounded David Cameron’s Cotswolds cottage in 2014 to campaign against his support for fracking, and mounted the roof of John Prescott’s home in 2005 in a demonstration against the government’s slowness on climate targets. It has also previously carried out stunts at Sunak’s North Yorkshire mansion.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Joint chiefs of charity accuse ministers of pursuing culture wars as extreme weather becomes the norm
• ‘You have adopted a bunker mentality’: letter to Sunak
• Cancelling Greenpeace contradicts Tory free-speech pledge
Rishi Sunak’s government will “go down in history” as the administration that failed the UK on the climate crisis while ministers pursued a dangerous culture war, the heads of Greenpeace have said.
The charity’s joint executive directors described government briefings against the organisation in the wake of its oil protest at the prime minister’s Yorkshire home as “really dark stuff”, which revealed a worrying trend towards exploiting environmental protests as a wedge issue.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak mulls whether to follow US lead in restricting funding for advanced technologies
The British government is considering tightening rules on investment in China after the US president announced new measures aimed at limiting the dollars and expertise flowing into sensitive technologies in the country.
Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday that authorises the US treasury secretary to prohibit or restrict US investments in Chinese entities in three sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics; quantum information technologies; and certain artificial intelligence systems.
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