Category Archives: Politics

Home Office delays moving asylum seekers to barge over fire safety fears

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Exclusive: Officials carry out last-minute inspections after reports Bibby Stockholm could become ‘floating Grenfell’

The Home Office has been forced to delay moving people seeking asylum on to a controversial giant barge in order to carry out last-minute fire safety checks amid concerns the vessel has not received approval from inspectors.

The Guardian understands the initial plan to move refugees on to the Bibby Stockholm in Portland, Dorset, has been moved from Tuesday to Wednesday for officials to give a final survey.

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Architect of Theresa May’s 2017 election failure selected for Hancock’s seat

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Nick Timothy chosen as Tory candidate in West Suffolk constituency set to be vacated by former health secretary

A man seen as one of the key architects of Theresa May’s disastrous 2017 election campaign has been selected by the Conservative party to fight Matt Hancock’s seat at the next general election.

Nick Timothy abruptly resigned from his post as May’s chief of staff when MPs put pressure on her to get rid of him, shortly after the party lost its majority in the 2017 vote and had to turn to the DUP to form a government.

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Rishi Sunak to use Scottish trip to attack Labour stance on North Sea oil

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Visit to Aberdeenshire intended as chance for PM to criticise opposition with reports he could announce 100 new drilling licences

Rishi Sunak is to make a visit to north-east Scotland focused on North Sea energy that is intended to draw a dividing line between the government and Labour’s plan to ban new oil and gas projects.

While No 10 said in advance only that the prime minister would use the trip to Aberdeenshire to commit to policies connected to energy security and net zero, he is expected to announce funding for a planned carbon capture scheme in the region.

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Labour: recruit police from fields such as business fraud to solve crimes

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Party says recruits with relevant skills could help tackle government’s ‘abysmal’ record on unsolved crimes

Directly recruiting new police detectives from parallel fields such as business fraud investigation could help tackle the government’s “abysmal” record on unsolved crimes, according to a proposal from Labour.

Analysis by the party found that 90% of recorded crimes do not get solved and there has been a 60% reduction in the proportion of offences that result in a criminal charge since 2015.

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UK banks are closing more than 1,000 accounts every day

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Nigel Farage calls for royal commission as data shows big jump in customers being ‘debanked’

Banks are closing more than 1,000 accounts every working day, according to new data that has fuelled the growing row over so-called “debanking” and prompted Nigel Farage to call for a royal commission to investigate what he said was a scandal.

Hours after the former Ukip leader revealed he was spearheading a website to campaign on behalf of people whose accounts had been shut, data revealed a big jump in the numbers of customers dumped by their bank.

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Ministers consider curbs on councils’ use of 20mph speed limits

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Exclusive: moves against what PM terms ‘anti-motorist’ policies follow order of review into low-traffic neighbourhoods

Ministers are considering restrictions on councils’ ability to impose 20mph speed limits as part of a new shift against green policies and traffic schemes, a stance condemned by safety and travel groups as shortsighted and divisive.

The Guardian has been told the push against what Rishi Sunak has termed “anti-motorist” policies could be extended to find ways to stop local authorities taking other measures, such as installing bus gates, that have been used routinely for decades.

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Niger coup: Britain cuts aid and neighbours ‘may use force’ to restore president

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Ecowas bloc issues one-week ultimatum, warning it will take ‘all measures necessary” to restore order

The British government has announced it will be halting “long-term development assistance” to Niger in the wake of the coup that deposed the president last week.

A powerful bloc of west African states has suspended ties with Niger after the coup and authorised the possible use of force if the country’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, is not released and reinstated within a week.

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UK’s post-Brexit policing pact put at risk by migration laws, say peers

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Committee concerned illegal migration legislation will jeopardise sharing of DNA, fingerprinting and criminal records

The UK’s post-Brexit policing pact with the EU on sharing DNA, fingerprinting and criminal records could be put at risk by Suella Braverman’s migration laws, a House of Lords committee has said.

Lady Hamwee, the chair of the Lords justice and home affairs committee, has written to the home secretary to say its members are “particularly concerned” that the new illegal migration legislation along with new data laws could lead to the “termination and/or suspension” of the security cooperation elements of the Brexit trade deal.

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Exploitation of care workers in England is ‘appalling’, says government adviser

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Brian Bell says ministers have let social care become reliant on low-paid and vulnerable foreign workers

Ministers have allowed England’s creaking social care system to become too heavily reliant on low-paid foreign workers who are vulnerable to exploitation, the government’s migration adviser has warned.

In a strongly worded intervention, Prof Brian Bell, who has just been reappointed by the home secretary, Suella Braverman, as chair of the migration advisory committee (MAC), called the government’s tacit acceptance of exploitation in the sector “appalling”.

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HS2 is officially ‘unachievable’ after being given red rating

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Problems with first two phases, from London to Birmingham and then to Crewe, ‘do not appear to be resolvable’

The HS2 rail project was last week given an “unachievable“ rating by the official infrastructure watchdog.

A “red” rating was assigned to the plans for the construction of the first two phases of the high-speed line, from London to Birmingham and then on to Crewe in Cheshire, by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA).

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Rishi Sunak orders review of low-traffic neighbourhood schemes

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Prime minister accuses Labour of being ‘anti-motorist’ and says Keir Starmer is a political opportunist

Rishi Sunak has ordered a formal review of low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) schemes as he seeks again to use green policies as a wedge issue with Labour and Keir Starmer.

In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, the prime minister also made a notably personal attack against Starmer, accusing him of lacking any guiding principles and being a political opportunist.

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Rishi Sunak warned that Tories’ key green pledges are ‘unachievable’

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Whitehall watchdog gives red rating to set of measures aimed to bring net-zero goals, amid backlash over retreat on climate policy

Rishi Sunak has been accused of showing disregard for the climate crisis after Whitehall officials warned that some of his key green pledges were already unachievable.

With the prime minister facing a backlash within his own party after appearing to row back from his commitment to green policies, an internal government audit found that a series of measures designed to help meet Britain’s net-zero goals had been allowed to run off course.

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Wes Streeting apologises to Labour MP who felt ostracised due to gender views

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MP said she felt ostracised and accused male colleagues of shouting her down for opposing transgender reforms

A senior member of the Labour frontbench has offered an apology to a fellow MP, Rosie Duffield, who has said she felt ostracised by the party because of her views on gender reforms.

Duffield had also accused male party colleagues of trying to shout her down in the Commons earlier this year when she spoke to back the government’s move to block gender reforms proposed in Scotland.

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Ulez key to tackling ‘unacceptably high’ child illness and death, doctors say

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Leading scientists and medics back London and other clean air schemes and urge politicians to keep their nerve

Leading doctors and scientists have warned politicians against watering down plans to expand city-wide schemes aimed at reducing traffic pollution levels linked to thousands of deaths each year.

They urged politicians not to lose their nerve over plans to improve poor air quality, such as the expansion of the ultra low emission zone (Ulez) in London, which they said were central to tackling “unacceptably high” levels of illness and child deaths, and called for more ambitious policies to reduce toxic air.

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Khan says climate crisis more important than party politics after Ulez victory

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London mayor to expand charging zone for drivers after high court win and rejects pressure from Labour leadership to think again

Sadiq Khan has vowed to press ahead with the expansion of London’s low emissions zone saying tackling the climate emergency and air pollution are “bigger than party politics”, despite the Labour leadership urging a rethink of the policy.

After the high court dismissed a legal challenge brought by five Conservative councils, the Labour mayor said he understood concerns of some Londoners but it was right to charge the most polluting vehicles £12.50 a day to drive in the capital’s outer boroughs from the end of August.

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High court decision due on Ulez extension as row grows over green measures – UK politics live

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Five Conservative-led councils brought legal action against Mayor of London’s plan to expand ultra-low emission zone

The SNP has pushed Labour leader Keir Starmer to commit to scrapping the so-called bedroom tax if his party wins the next election.

Labour has come under pressure in recent weeks after Starmer’s failure to commit to scrapping the two-child benefit cap due to uncertainty around the UK’s economic outlook.

Sir Keir Starmer must admit whether the pro-Brexit Labour Party is secretly planning to keep the Tory bedroom tax, which cut the incomes of almost 100,000 low income households in Scotland last year - and more than half a million households across the UK.

It’s clearer by the day that the SNP is the only party offering real change with independence and real help with the cost of living. In contrast, (Rishi) Sunak and Starmer are lurching further to the right and taking money away from millions of households across Scotland and the UK.

If Starmer’s logic is that he won’t scrap the Tory two-child cap then it is increasingly likely that if in government his Labour Party wouldn’t scrap the bedroom tax either.

It’s time for the Labour Party to come clean, if they get into government will they scrap the bedroom tax or keep it?

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Why Nigel Farage’s bank account matters so much – podcast

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Since the politician’s account with Coutts was closed, the story has dominated the news agenda. Does it show that something has gone very wrong in our banking system?

On the surface it may not sound like a story that would generate national interest. A controversial politician finds his bank account with a bank catering to the ultra-wealthy has been closed. So why has it dominated news headlines?

Last month Nigel Farage posted a six-minute video on social media explaining that his bank account had been shut, that he was struggling to find another one and that the “establishment” was trying to force him out of the UK. He thought it was his political views that were behind the decision. But a later BBC story claimed it was a lack of funds, not his beliefs, behind the closure.

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Khan dismisses Sunak’s attack on his housebuilding record in London as ‘desperate nonsense’ – UK politics live

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Mayor of London hits back at prime minister over ‘pathetic gesture politics’

Rishi Sunak has failed to give his full backing to Sir Howard Davies, chairman of NatWest, in interviews this morning, PA Media reports.

PA says that Sunak did not back calls for the resignation of Davies in a pooled interview this morning – but also that Sunak would not say whether he had confidence in him.

What I said right at the start of this was that it wasn’t right for people to be deprived of basic services because of banking, because of their views.

This isn’t about any one individual, it’s about values – do you believe in free speech and not to be discriminated against because of your legally held views?

As a result of this policy, a dozen classrooms of children, including some of the most traumatised and vulnerable children in the world, have gone missing and, sickeningly for us, 50 children are still missing from the hotel used in Brighton and Hove.

Importantly the high court also makes clear that the home secretary already has the power to require local authorities across the country to take children into foster care via a statutory rota system called the national transfer scheme.

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Nadine Dorries urged to quit as MP by council in her constituency

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Call for ex-minister to stand down comes nearly two months after she vowed to leave ‘with immediate effect’

A council in Nadine Dorries’s constituency is demanding that she immediately resign as an MP, saying “residents desperately need effective representation now”.

The former culture secretary announced on 9 June that she was standing down as the MP for Mid Bedfordshire “with immediate effect”, but she has yet to formally resign.

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Independent Scotland would base citizenship on current Irish model

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Plans, unveiled by Humza Yousaf, include significantly reducing application fees

An independent Scotland would adopt an “open and inclusive” approach to citizenship based on the current Irish model, according to proposals set out in a Scottish government paper.

The plans, unveiled by Humza Yousaf on Thursday, include ditching citizenship tests and significantly reducing application fees in contrast to Westminster’s “regressive” approach to migration.

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