Category Archives: Politics

Joe Biden due to address Irish parliament after saying US relationship with Ireland getting ‘stronger and stronger’ – politics live

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US president praises emerging relationship with Ireland to taoiseach Leo Varadkar

Chris Philp, the policing minister, has published an article in the Telegraph today explaining the changes being introduced to the way that police record crimes in England and Wales. The changes are being introduced following recommendations from the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

Philp says:

Firstly, we are dropping the requirement for police to record some crimes twice or more, reintroducing the previous “principal offence” rule. This will remove multiple entries on the database which effectively re-record the same incident many times.

Accurate crime recording is vital, and these changes will better reflect victims’ experience. Recording crime does not equate to investigating crime and the police will continue to pursue all offences involved in the incident.

Accurate records of crime must be kept, and crimes will be recorded. These changes to the crime-recording rules will enable police to target and focus investigations and provide victims the service they deserve.

Ambulance response times for all types of emergencies have got longer, including for life-threatening illnesses and injuries, but remain below record levels.

Meanwhile around one in 10 people arriving at major A&E departments are having to wait more than 12 hours before being admitted, transferred or discharged – the first time data of this kind has been published.

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Sunak: I can’t be sure small boats will be stopped before election

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PM calls fulfilling Channel crossings pledge ‘complicated’ in wide-ranging ConservativeHome interview

Rishi Sunak has risked provoking the ire of Conservative MPs who want a swift end to people crossing the Channel illegally, by refusing to guarantee that his pledge to “stop the boats” will be fulfilled by the next general election.

A hot topic, given that the number of landings is expected to increase as summer approaches, the prime minister tempered expectations by stressing it would not be easy to deliver on his promise.

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Why has Labour turned nasty? – podcast

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The party’s latest ad campaign launches personal attacks on Rishi Sunak. What’s behind its new ruthless approach?

Labour’s new attack ad campaign came as a shock, even to some senior members of the party. Its social media strategy ahead of next month’s local elections started with a highly personal attack on Rishi Sunak, suggesting he somehow does not think adults who sexually assault children should go to prison. It was followed by another ad focusing on the Sunak family’s taxes.

It’s a marked change from Keir Starmer’s previous approach of emphasising his personal integrity and insisting he wants to bring honesty back into politics. So what’s changed? The Guardian’s deputy political editor, Jessica Elgot, explains what it says about the party’s confidence, unity – and the threat posed by Sunak. And she tells Hannah Moore whether it could mean the next general election will be be the most ruthlessly fought yet.

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UK imposes sanctions on ‘enablers’ accused of helping Russian oligarchs

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‘Financial fixers’ alleged to have helped Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov to hide assets are among those targeted

The UK government has imposed sanctions on the “financial fixers” who have allegedly helped the Russian oligarchs Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov hide their assets.

The sanctions, announced by the Foreign Office on Wednesday, are targeted at what officials describe as “oligarch enablers”, whom they accuse of knowingly assisting the billionaire businessmen to shield their wealth.

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Junior doctors’ union asks Acas to help end strikes deadlock

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Conciliation service urged to look for ways to end logjam with government over demand for 35% pay rise

The junior doctors’ union has asked the conciliation service Acas to look into ways of breaking the deadlock in their dispute with the government over their claim for a 35% pay rise.

Tens of thousands of junior doctors in England are on the second day of a four-day strike in pursuit of their campaign to achieve “full pay restoration” after a significant loss of earnings since 2008-09. It is expected that up to 350,000 appointments and operations could be cancelled as a result.

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White House rejects claim that Biden ‘hates the UK’ as he prepares to meet Sunak – politics live

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Latest updates: US president is not ‘anti-British’ as DUP has claimed, says White House

Joe Biden is “not anti-British,” one of his most senior aides has said in response to accusations by the former Democratic Unionist party leader Arlene Foster that the US president “hates the UK”. (See 10.37am.)

Just hours after he arrived in Belfast, the purpose of Biden’s short visit to Northern Ireland was being questioned by unionists who have been boycotting power-sharing arrangements in Northern Ireland for more than a year meaning the territory has no devolved government.

I think the track record of of the president shows that he is not anti-British. The president has been very actively engaged throughout his career dating back to when he was a senator in the peace process in Northern Ireland and that involved engagement with leaders of all of Northern Ireland parties from both of the two main communities.

I think his message to the DUP and to all the political leaders is going to be … the continued strong support for seeing the peace process move forward here and the strong desire by this president to increase US investment in Northern Ireland to take advantage of the vast economic potential that that seems here, and to reiterate broad support for the returning of the devolved government in Northern Ireland.

He hates the United Kingdom, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.

I just think the fact he’s coming here won’t put any pressure on the DUP at all, quite the reverse actually, because he’s seen by so many people as just simply pro-republican and pro-nationalist.

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Tories hail Greek migration policies as an example. Instead, they should serve as a warning

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Experience in eastern Mediterranean proves deterrence and harsh conditions do little to discourage refugees

Prominent Conservatives openly view Greece’s self-described “strict but fair” migration policies as a model to emulate. The former home secretary Priti Patel told MPs last week that “we would not be in this current situation” had she been allowed to replicate “Greek-style reception centres”.

British interest in the Greek model dates back to May 2021, when the former immigration minister Chris Philp made an “urgent” – as internal documents seen by the Guardian called it – trip to Greece. This was followed by an official visit by Patel in August 2021, who toured a newly constructed Greek camp, went out on patrol with the Greek coastguard and spoke of working “closely with Greek partners” on migration.

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Liz Truss to say Macron trip to China was sign of weakness

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Former PM to say in speech that any attempts by western leaders to appease Xi Jinping would be a mistake

Liz Truss will say Emmanuel Macron’s recent trip to China was a “sign of weakness”, after the French president asked Beijing for support in ending the war in Ukraine.

In the latest of a series of foreign policy interventions designed to encourage Rishi Sunak to take a tougher approach towards China, Truss will say in a speech that any attempts by western leaders to appease Xi Jinping would be a mistake.

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Essex pub landlady replaces golliwog doll collection that was seized by police

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Benice Ryley plans to display new dolls despite police investigation into an alleged hate crime

The landlady of a pub whose collection of golliwog dolls was confiscated by police has assembled replacements, which she plans to display in defiance of a continuing investigation.

Last week four Essex police officers and a trainee seized all the dolls on show in the White Hart Inn in Grays as part of an investigation into an alleged hate crime.

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Derry crowd petrol-bombs police vehicle as Joe Biden heads to Northern Ireland

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Land Rover was monitoring a dissident republican parade commemorating the 1916 Rising

The British and Irish governments have condemned petrol bomb attacks on police in Derry on the eve of Joe Biden’s visit to Northern Ireland.

A small crowd threw petrol bombs and other missiles at a police Land Rover during a parade by dissident republicans in the Creggan area of the city on Monday. The vehicle briefly caught fire and was withdrawn.

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Junior doctors ‘may keep striking for another year’ says BMA insider

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Warning comes on eve of England’s 61,000 junior doctors beginning four-day action

Junior doctors may keep striking for another year in their bitter pay dispute with the government, despite NHS leaders’ growing alarm about how the industrial action is disrupting patient care.

Trainee medics in England could even hold a week-long stoppage to escalate their campaign of industrial action to secure a 35% pay rise from the health secretary, Steve Barclay.

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Tory ‘neglect’ blamed for 3.6m abandoned calls to NHS 111 in England

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Callers wait so long that nearly one in five hang up, finds Liberal Democrat commissioned analysis

Patients contacting NHS 111 in England are having to wait so long for medical help that they are abandoning millions of calls, with 3.6m ditched in the past 12 months, official figures reveal.

The national helpline service is supposed to make it quicker and easier for patients to get the right advice or treatment they need, either for their physical or mental health. It is billed as being open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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Labour to take aim at Sunak’s leadership on cost of living crisis

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Party will continue to single out PM, after campaign ad last week that led to accusations of ‘dog-whistle’ politics

Keir Starmer will shift his aim this week on to Rishi Sunak’s role in presiding over the cost of living crisis after days of anger over Labour’s crime campaign.

The party will continue to single out the prime minister in the minds of voters, claiming “his fingerprints are all over their struggling household budgets”, as part of an attempt to hold Sunak – still seen by some as a change of the Tory old guard – personally accountable for 13 years of Conservative failures.

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Labour’s attack ads risk painting Starmer as just another politician

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Messaging on law and order has racist undertones, say critics, and could scupper the party’s efforts to appear to offer a ‘fresh start’

The controversy surrounding Labour’s attack advert suggesting Rishi Sunak does not support jailing child abusers dominated the headlines over the Easter break, drawing furious criticism from both the left of the party and the Conservatives.

Labour officials have insisted that the shock tactic was helping their message to cut through, putting the Tories’ poor record on crime under the spotlight. But that was not the experience of candidates doing canvassing ahead of the local elections.

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Essex police deny Braverman rebuked them over pub seizure of golliwog dolls

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Force rebuffs claim home secretary said they should focus on ‘catching criminals’ after items taken from White Hart Inn in Grays

Essex police have denied being rebuked by Suella Braverman for seizing a collection of golliwog dolls that were on display in a pub.

Officers from the force took several dolls from the White Hart Inn in Grays, Essex, last week as part of an investigation into an alleged hate crime reported in February.

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An imploding health service underpins junior doctors’ radicalisation

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With real pay down 26% since 2008 and demoralised workplaces, medics are striking not out of militancy but from deep-rooted frustration

A four-day strike this week by junior doctors in England will pit angry medics keen to secure a 35% pay rise against government ministers who scorn their demands.

The walkout from Tuesday morning to Saturday morning will be the most disruptive in the 75-year history of the NHS.

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Good Friday agreement ‘based on compromise’, Sunak says on 25th anniversary

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PM says ‘work to be done’ to restore government at Stormont ahead of Biden meeting on Tuesday

The Good Friday agreement was “based on compromise”, which should be the defining message for the next chapter in Northern Ireland, Rishi Sunak has said on the peace deal’s 25th anniversary.

The prime minister said there was “work to be done” by a new generation of politicians to restore government at Stormont “as soon as possible”, as he and Ireland’s taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, prepare to intensify work to broker a way out of the deadlock.

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‘Stand by every word’: Keir Starmer defends attack ad on Rishi Sunak

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Party leader says he will ‘make absolutely zero apologies for being blunt’ after facing widespread criticism over advert

Keir Starmer has said he will “make absolutely zero apologies for being blunt” in an article published after a row over a widely criticised Labour attack advert on child sexual assaults.

In a veiled message to critics within his own party, the Labour leader said he will “stand by every word Labour has said on this subject” and would continue to use the Conservatives’ record on crime as a legitimate criticism “no matter how squeamish it might make some feel”.

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Give teachers in England a deal similar to nurses to avoid strikes, says union

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Dr Patrick Roach of NASUWT calls on education secretary Gillian Keegan to reopen pay talks

Ministers could avoid teachers’ strikes in England this summer if they make an improved pay offer as good as that made to NHS nurses, the leader of one teaching union has proposed.

Dr Patrick Roach, the general secretary of the NASUWT union, called on the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, to reopen talks to allow pay negotiations to continue, saying strikes were “not inevitable” if a better deal could be reached.

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British science will not flourish outside EU’s Horizon scheme, academics warn

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Experts insist successes of Brussels’ €95bn programme could never be replicated by a UK-only substitute

Leading UK scientists have dismissed government plans to provide a UK alternative to the EU’s €95bn research and innovation programme, Horizon, saying that being a member of a major international programme is essential to the country’s future.

Last week, in an attempt to reassure the science sector, the government announced plans to set up a £14bn post-Brexit alternative to the UK’s membership of Horizon, which would come into operation if ministers could not agree on the terms of an “associate membership” of the EU scheme with Brussels.

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