Category Archives: Politics

NHS leader asks union to let striking nurses go back to work for emergencies

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Health service bosses say patient safety could be at risk when nurses in England stage 28-hour stoppage from Sunday evening

An NHS leader has urged the Royal College of Nursing to let striking nurses leave picket lines and go back to work in their hospital if emergencies occur during their strike this weekend.

Matthew Taylor made the appeal as the NHS braced itself for renewed disruption to services as a result of the first strike by nurses since they rejected the government’s improved pay offer.

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NHS medics and UK nationals faced risky route to Sudan evacuation point

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Hundreds of people were told to make own way through ongoing fighting to airbase north of Khartoum

NHS doctors and British nationals faced a treacherous route to reach an airbase north of Khartoum before a deadline for evacuations, amid ongoing airstrikes and artillery fire in the Sudanese capital.

Hundreds of people were told to find their own way to an evacuation centre at the Wadi Seidna airbase, about 14 miles (20km) north of Khartoum and its twin city, Omdurman. They had to navigate ongoing fighting as the Sudanese Armed Forces continued to attack positions across the two cities, while members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces hid among civilian buildings.

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Lords committee urges end to Brexit barriers for musicians and young people

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Chair says small changes could make big difference to cultural and educational interests on both sides of Channel

An influential House of Lords committee is urging the government to start working with EU capitals to remove Brexit barriers that block musicians, young people and professionals working easily in Europe.

After six months of research and evidence from 40 witnesses the European affairs committee says it has identified 72 areas where small changes could make a huge difference in areas of cultural and educational interests on both sides of the Channel.

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Britons in Sudan have until midday on Saturday to fly out, ministers say

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Government announces end to airlifts amid calls for NHS doctors without UK passports to be rescued

British nationals trapped in Sudan have until midday on Saturday local time to get on a flight before they stop, ministers have announced, as a doctors’ union called for NHS medics without UK passports to also be airlifted.

Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, said on Friday night more than 1,500 people had been flown out, and there had been a “significant decline in British nationals coming forward”, meaning it was time to end the operation.

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All state schools in England may shut in ‘unprecedented’ coordinated strikes

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Four main teaching unions could unite after ‘months of stonewalling’ from education secretary Gillian Keegan

All state schools in England could be closed by “unprecedented” coordinated strikes involving all four teaching unions, after their leaders vowed to increase pressure on the government to improve its pay offer.

In a joint press conference, the leaders of the four major education unions said they wanted to send a message to the education secretary that she needed to resume negotiations over pay and school funding.

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Sharp’s resignation as BBC chair is a problem and opportunity for Sunak

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PM has been accused of defending his former boss, but affair offers chance to put his own stamp on the corporation

Rishi Sunak used to work for Richard Sharp at Goldman Sachs. He brought him into government as an adviser during the pandemic. And on Friday he formally accepted his resignation as BBC chair.

Given the pair’s long relationship, Sharp’s resignation after failing to declare his role in facilitating an £800,000 loan for the former prime minister Boris Johnson might be expected to cause a political problem for the prime minister.

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Sunak under pressure to stop choosing Tories for BBC jobs after Sharp row

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Conservative party accused of undermining broadcaster by flooding it with cronies after chair’s resignation

Rishi Sunak is under pressure to stop appointing Conservatives to key positions at the BBC after Richard Sharp’s resignation prompted criticism the party had undermined the broadcaster by flooding it with cronies.

Sharp quit as BBC chair on Friday morning after an investigation concluded he had failed to disclose key information about his relationship with the former prime minister Boris Johnson when applying for the job in 2021. Sharp helped facilitate an £800,000 loan guarantee for Johnson when he was in the running to take over the broadcaster but did not tell the appointments panel.

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Pregnant woman and child stranded in Sudan due to Home Office delays, says husband

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Family have been waiting more than 12 months for documents and are now trapped amid violence in Khartoum

The Home Office has been accused of putting the lives of a heavily pregnant woman and her three-year-old daughter at risk as they remain stranded in Sudan while waiting for a UK visa.

The family have been waiting more than a year for their documents to be issued, with the mother, who is almost nine months pregnant, trying to shield her daughter from the violence on the streets of Khartoum, the capital.

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BBC chair Richard Sharp braced for potentially damning report on his appointment

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Report expected imminently will detail how Sharp came to be recommended for job by Boris Johnson

A potentially damning report on how Richard Sharp was recommended for the job of BBC chair by Boris Johnson is expected to be published on Friday morning.

Sources say the report, by the barrister Adam Heppinstall KC, could prove uncomfortable reading for Sharp.

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Meloni praises Sunak’s immigration policies on visit to No 10

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Far-right Italian prime minister in London for ‘new beginning’ aiming at deeper and wider alliance between the countries

The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has praised the work undertaken by her British counterpart, Rishi Sunak, to fight people traffickers and clandestine immigration networks, as two of the most prominent rightwing leaders in Europe met in Downing Street.

At the start of a two-day visit designed to deepen relations between the two governments, Meloni was greeted outside Downing Street by a small group of demonstrators carrying placards reading “stand up to racism” and “no to fascist Meloni”.

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Steve Barclay says RCN left him with no choice but to go to court to block unlawful strike – UK politics live

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Health secretary defends court action as Pat Cullen says government decision could make nurses more determined to vote for further strike action

Maclean tells MPs that the last Labour government required photo ID for voting in Northern Ireland. She claims fears that this would lead to people being disfranchised did not materialise.

Earlier, in response to opposition claims that the policy was all about voter suppression (reducing the chance of non-Tories voting), she said Labour required party members to provide photo ID when they turned up to vote to select a Labour candidate.

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UK evacuation of Sudan ‘could continue after ceasefire ends’

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Military says emergency flights will operate as long as conditions are safe, as civilians arrive in Britain

Britain could continue running evacuation flights from Sudan once the current three-day ceasefire expires on Thursday night, the army officer in charge of the rescue said, as the first planeload of civilians rescued from the country’s civil war arrived at Stansted airport.

Brig Dan Reeve said the airlift from a base north of Khartoum would continue as long as conditions were safe, including possibly beyond the ceasefire period, if people could still travel there.

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Barclay ‘wasting public money’ with legal action against nursing strike

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Exclusive: Health secretary trying to ‘wear down’ NHS nurses rather than negotiating, RCN general secretary to tell high court

Steve Barclay will be accused of wasting taxpayers’ money by pursuing striking nurses through the courts when the government seeks on Thursday to shorten their industrial action due to start on Sunday evening.

In a witness statement to be heard in the high court, Pat Cullen, the Royal College of Nursing’s general secretary, will say the health and social care secretary is trying to “wear down” nurses through legal action.

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MPs back illegal migration bill by 289 votes to 230

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Controversial asylum law will now go to Lords despite criticism from leading Conservatives

The government’s flagship asylum bill passed its third reading in the Commons on Wednesday night and will now go to the Lords despite criticism from several leading Conservatives including Theresa May.

The illegal migration bill, which is supposed to change the law so that those who arrive in the UK by irregular means can be removed to a third country such as Rwanda, was passed by 289 votes to 230. The bill is expected to face greater opposition in the Lords where it could be amended or delayed.

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MPs vote to support the Illegal Migration Bill by 289 to 230 – as it happened

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Theresa May had warned bill will cause more people to be consigned to modern slavery while Geoffrey Cox also raised concerns. This blog is now closed

Q: [From Matthew Barber, the police and crime commissioner for Thames Valley] What can the Home Office do to cut bureaucracy for the police?

Braverman says, if someone is having a mental health crisis, there should be a healthcare response, not a police response. She says police officers are having to spend too much time in hospital with people.

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Sudan: UK evacuates more than 300 people amid criticism of response

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Further flights expected to leave airfield north of Khartoum on Wednesday, but proportion of British evacuees is unclear

Britain has evacuated more than 300 people from Sudan on rescue flights from an airfield north of the capital, with the first group on their way to the UK from Cyprus, where flights have been stopping over.

Downing Street said 301 people have been evacuated on three flights and that and a fourth was being loaded. A further four flights are expected to take off on Wednesday, but it is not clear what proportion of those rescued are British.

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UK’s forced marriage unit underfunded and too Muslim-focused, report to say

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Colin Bloom’s report expected to be most sweeping review of government’s relationship with religion in more than a generation

UK ministers’ efforts to stop forced marriages are failing because the unit set up to tackle them is undervalued, under-resourced and overly focused on Muslim families, according to a report from Michael Gove’s levelling up department.

The 165-page report by Colin Bloom, the government’s faith adviser, will highlight a range of areas in which ministers are ineffective because they are too wary of tackling problems that arise within religious communities. It is expected to be the most sweeping review of the government’s relationship with religion in more than a generation

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Amazon workers in Coventry to request union recognition after membership doubles

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It would be first time a UK union wins formal negotiation rights and comes after GMB-organised strikes at warehouse

Amazon workers at the delivery firm’s Coventry depot are demanding formal union recognition, after membership more than doubled during strike action.

If granted, it would be the first time a union in the UK has won the right to negotiate with the American tech firm.

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If China invaded Taiwan it would destroy world trade, says James Cleverly

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UK foreign secretary warns a war across Taiwan strait and likely destruction of semiconductor industry would have global effects

A Chinese invasion of Taiwan would destroy world trade, and distance would offer no protection to the inevitable catastrophic blow to the global economy, the UK’s foreign secretary, James Cleverly, warned in a set piece speech on Britain’s relations with Beijing.

In remarks that differ from French president Emmanuel Macron’s attempts to distance Europe from any potential US involvement in a future conflict over Taiwan, and which firmly support continued if guarded engagement with Beijing, Cleverly said “no country could shield itself from the repercussions of a war in Taiwan”.

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Labour accuses Tories of turning country into ‘open sewer’ in Commons water debate – UK politics live

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MPs debate Labour motion that would set aside parliamentary time to pass Labour’s water quality (sewage discharge) bill

Rishi Sunak is seeking to capitalise on his improved relations with the EU with hopes of an agreement to allow British passport holders to use e-gates when travelling in the bloc, Lisa O’Carroll reports.

On small boats, Starmer told This Morning that he wanted to stop the boats. Labour would focus on two policies in particular, he said.

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