Ex-PM urges UK and allies to impose sanctions on Afghan regime over its ‘brutalisation’ of women and girls
Gordon Brown has called for the Taliban to be prosecuted for crimes against humanity, as he urged the UK government and its allies to impose sanctions against the Afghan regime.
The former Labour prime minister appealed to the international criminal court to prosecute those responsible for the “systematic brutalisation of women and girls”.
Continue reading...Campaigners say absorbent alternative to tampons and sanitary towels should not be classed as garments
MPs, retailers and charities have written to the government urging it to axe the 20% VAT on period pants, the absorbent underwear designed to be worn as an alternative to tampons and sanitary towels.
Period pants are classed as garments but campaigners are asking Victoria Atkins, who as financial secretary to the Treasury is the minister responsible for VAT, to get them reclassified as period products in the chancellor’s autumn statement later this year.
Continue reading...Robert Jenrick had said government would do ‘whatever is necessary’ to stop small boat crossings
The UK would be an international outlier along with Russia and Belarus if it left the European convention on human rights, a leading law body has warned, after a senior minister signalled that the move could be an option to stop small boat crossings.
Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, said the government would do “whatever is necessary”, even if that meant pulling out of the ECHR, the 70-year-old pan-European treaty that protects human rights and political freedoms in the continent.
Continue reading...Gamblers Consumer Forum aims to derail planned betting reforms and claims to act on behalf of ordinary punters
The company behind a lobby group that wants to derail planned overhaul of UK gambling laws and claims to act on behalf of ordinary punters is co-owned by a consultant for the betting industry.
Ministers proposed a series of changes in April that they said would make gambling safer by imposing tighter regulations on online betting firms, though they added that further consultation was needed before a bill could be put before parliament.
Continue reading...US data firm wanted to brief Tom Pursglove on how its technology could help recover ‘large amounts’
The US tech firm Palantir lobbied the UK disabilities minister to adopt new technology to crack down on benefits fraud, emails released to the Guardian have revealed.
The company wrote to Tom Pursglove to brief him on technology it had recently deployed elsewhere, promising that it had the potential for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to rapidly “recover large amounts of fraud”.
Continue reading...Move designed to demonstrate PM’s commitment to ‘stop the boats’ policy criticised by legal experts
Lawyers who “coach” people to lie in their asylum applications will be targeted as part of a new government-led panel tasked with pursuing more prosecutions.
The move is designed to demonstrate Rishi Sunak’s commitment to “stop the boats”, but it was criticised by legal experts who said the record asylum backlog was the fault of the Home Office.
Continue reading...BMA highlights government’s ‘complete disregard’ for the health service and its patients
Consultants in England will strike for two additional days in September if the government continues to refuse pay talks and fails to present the profession with a credible offer, the British Medical Association has said.
The BMA said on Monday that it had written to the health secretary, Steve Barclay, to inform him that on top of strikes by consultants on 24 and 25 August, there would be additional strikes on 19 and 20 September, unless the government agrees to further negotiations.
Continue reading...No 10 backtracks on minister’s claim 500 asylum seekers could be on barge by end of week
According to a report in the Times, Liz Truss named 16 people on her original honours list – four for peerages, and 12 people getting other honours. Two people have declined, but there are still 14 names on the list, the Times says, one person for every four days she was in office.
The Labour MP Chris Bryant says resignation honours lists should be abolished.
Continue reading...If both parties win election in 2024, their ideological closeness would make them strong allies, says Nick Thomas-Symonds
Labour’s ideological closeness to the Democrats puts the party in an ideal position to sign trade deals with the US should both parties win their elections next year, the shadow trade secretary has said.
Nick Thomas-Symonds told the Guardian he thought Labour’s shared economic values with the Biden administration meant his party would have more success than the Conservative government has had in making trade agreements across a range of sectors.
Continue reading...Tens of thousands of students face likely drop in As and A*s as ministers aim to return results in England to pre-pandemic levels
Tens of thousands of A-level students face disappointment on results day next week, amid warnings that nearly 100,000 fewer As and A*s could be awarded as the government seeks to return grades to pre-pandemic levels.
Up to 50,000 candidates this summer are likely to miss out on the top grades they might have expected last year, according to one estimate, throwing applications for the most competitive universities into doubt.
Continue reading...Committee’s report says devices including home security systems used to coerce and control victims
MPs have called on the UK government to tackle “tech abuse”, as they warned devices including smart home security systems were being used to coerce and control victims of domestic abuse.
The culture, media and sport committee launched an inquiry last year to consider the benefits and harms of connected technology, including virtual assistants and fitness trackers.
Continue reading...Labour leader claims Conservatives’ onshore turbine ban costs families £180 each and makes UK reliant on gas imports
Keir Starmer has condemned the prime minister’s climate policies, declaring the failure to invest in renewables such as wind turbines a “gift to Putin”.
The Labour leader also described the Conservatives’ onshore wind ban as “ludicrous” and said it now means every family in the country is paying £180 more on their energy bills.
Continue reading...Ex-cabinet minister calls on foreign secretary to reveal how many British minors are being held in camps
The UK must urgently end its policy of funding the illegal detention of children in north-east Syria, and disclose how many British minors are being held in camps run by Syrian Kurds on behalf of the west, the former cabinet minister David Davis has said in a letter to the foreign secretary, James Cleverly.
The letter comes after it was revealed that Yusuf Zahab, a 19-year-old Australian citizen locked up in Syria since he was 14 and presumed killed in a July 2022 Islamic State (IS) attack on a prison in the city of Hasakah, may be alive after all. A year-old video of him speaking and dated after the IS attack was released on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Energy secretary says government wants to focus on cutting taxes once inflation falls
Grant Shapps has suggested it is unlikely the government will step in to protect households from rising energy bills this winter.
The energy secretary said in an interview with the Times that once inflation had fallen the government would “absolutely” need to cut taxes.
Continue reading...Plans to cut waiting lists in England were welcomed but critics say they do not address deeper staffing issues
Rishi Sunak has been warned his plan for more private sector partnerships with the NHS in England to cut waiting lists will amount to “reshuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic” without addressing deeper structural issues with staffing.
The recommendations of an elective recovery plan, published on Friday, were broadly welcomed by opposition parties and health experts, but said to be overdue. Critics also said they only addressed a fragment of the much wider capacity and staffing issues across the whole of the country’s health systems.
Continue reading...Health secretary says ‘every available resource’ must be used to help patients access diagnosis and treatment faster
More private and third sector providers should be used by the NHS to help cut post-Covid waiting lists, Steve Barclay, the health secretary, will say after a review of capacity in the health service.
Barclay will draw on the work of his “elective recovery taskforce” – a group convened by ministers to look at how to bring down waiting times.
Continue reading...Capital’s mayor moves to reduce political fallout over scheme’s extension after Tory byelection win in Uxbridge
Sadiq Khan has expanded the grant scheme for London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) to cover any household with a heavily polluting car or motorbike, spending an extra £50m after intense pressure over the political fallout of the plan.
The revised proposals, announced on Thursday, also notably increase the scrappage payments available for non-compliant vans owned by sole traders and small firms, as well as for minibuses and wheelchair-accessible vehicles.
Continue reading...Chancellor wants Financial Conduct Authority to investigate whether practice is ‘widespread’
Jeremy Hunt has asked the financial regulator to urgently investigate whether banks are barring politicians from accounts on a “widespread” basis, after Nigel Farage had his account shut down by private bank Coutts.
The chancellor said everyone must be able to express their opinions and people must have access to banking.
Continue reading...Deputy PM suggested FBU’s Labour affiliation influenced its decision to raise concerns about the Bibby Stockholm
The deputy prime minister has been accused of making “disgraceful” comments after claiming that the firefighters’ union had raised safety concerns over a barge due to house asylum seekers because of close links to Labour.
Oliver Dowden suggested that the Fire Brigades Union’s affiliation and donations to the opposition were a motivating factor behind fire and overcrowding concerns raised about the Bibby Stockholm in Portland, Dorset.
Continue reading...The FBU had said the Bibby Stockholm could be a floating ‘death trap’ for asylum seekers
The Greenpeace campaigner Philip Evans says the four activists who have been on the roof of Rishi Sunak’s house since around 6am are “holding firm for now”.
Speaking from outside the house, Evans told the PA Media news agency they had made sure the prime minister’s family were on holiday and not going to be at home before carrying out the protest, which is a response to Sunak saying he would “max out” oil and gas in the North Sea.
It’s an incredibly dangerous thing to be saying and in general there’s been an attack on the climate since the Uxbridge byelection.
Rishi Sunak’s government has been the worst government we’ve had on climate.
This is the prime minister. He is the one that was standing in Scotland going to drill for every last drop of oil while the world is burning. He is personally responsible for that decision and we’re all going to be paying a high price if he goes through with it. It is personal.
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