Menopausal women could be offered paid time off as part of efforts to support wellbeing of women
Menopausal women could be offered paid time off and working environments with temperature-controlled areas under Labour plans to support the wellbeing of women in the workplace.
About one in 10 women aged 45-55 left their jobs last year due to their symptoms and ultimately the lack of workplace support, according to research supported by the Fawcett Society.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Leaked emails show airport staff were guided to ease passenger waits during school holidays
Airport managers have asked Border Force officers to “deprioritise” customs work such as searching for guns and drugs in order to stop passport queues frustrating travellers.
Leaked emails show that staff at Manchester airport were told this month that customs work should be carried out only if “there is no likelihood of an excessive queue time”.
Any staff who are contingency trained should be prioritised to the PCP [Primary Control Point] when required to prevent excessive queues.
Customs work is deprioritised and will only be carried out when you are satisfied there is no likelihood of an excessive queue time or in the event of a cat A target,” he wrote.
Continue reading...PM criticised for boasting about trade benefits of new deal while denying same gains to rest of UK
Rishi Sunak has eulogised Northern Ireland’s “unique” and privileged position in having easy trade access to both the UK and EU markets – prompting critics to note that this was the case for the entire country before Brexit.
In comments that could potentially antagonise hardline Conservative Brexiters – who suspect Sunak could secretly welcome a shuffle towards closer EU single market access – the prime minister used an event in Northern Ireland to talk up what he called “the prize that is on offer” with his post-Brexit protocol.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak lauded for making ‘adult relationship’ possible between UK and EU after post-Brexit dispute
Continental media have welcomed the deal settling the EU’s bitter post-Brexit dispute with the UK over Northern Ireland, hoping it may herald a new “adult relationship” that had been unthinkable while the “untrustworthy” Boris Johnson was in Downing Street.
In France, where the president, Emmanuel Macron, hailed “an important decision” that would “preserve the Good Friday agreement and protect our European internal market”, Le Monde called the Windsor framework a significant breakthrough.
Continue reading...PM hints that Westminster is optimistic about return of power-sharing after unveiling Stormont brake
Rishi Sunak has said the true test for his new protocol deal will be the restoration of the Northern Ireland assembly, saying citizens “need and deserve” to return to functioning government.
In a hint the government in Westminster is optimistic about the return of power-sharing, Sunak said the new Stormont brake – which would allow the assembly a say over EU law applied in Northern Ireland – would be a key step towards restoring the “democratic deficit”.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: the key takeaways from Rishi Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen’s announcement of the Windsor agreement
Good morning. Where once there was protocol, now there is protocol amended by framework. I’m talking, of course, about the announcement yesterday that the UK and the EU have agreed a deal to end the interminable dispute over post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland.
The news was finally announced by Rishi Sunak and EU president Ursula von der Leyen in a highly choreographed, and conspicuously cheery, appearance at Windsor Guildhall – previously better known as the wedding venue for Charles and Camilla, and Elton John and David Furnish.
Palestinian territories | Hundreds of Israeli settlers have gone on a violent rampage in the northern West Bank, setting alight dozens of cars and homes after two of their number were killed by a Palestinian gunman. One man was reported killed in what appeared to be the worst incident of settler violence in the area in decades. Read Bethan McKernan’s dispatch from Huwara, West Bank.
UK news | A missing couple that disappeared with their newborn baby in January are in police custody after being arrested in Brighton. Police said that an urgent search was now underway for Constance Marten and Mark Gordon’s child.
US media | Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire owner of Fox News, acknowledged under oath that several Fox News hosts endorsed Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen, court documents reveal. Murdoch made the admission during a deposition in a $1.6bn lawsuit brought by a voting machine company that accuses Fox News of defamation.
Fertility law | Children born via sperm or egg donation would not need to wait until adulthood to find out more about their biological parents, under proposed updates to the law in the UK. The information would only be shared with the consent of the donor.
Politics | Betty Boothroyd, a former Labour MP and the first female speaker of the House of Commons, has died at the age of 93.The current speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, said Boothroyd “broke that glass ceiling with panache”. See her life in pictures and obituary.
Continue reading...Most Tory MPs welcome breakthrough as hardline Brexiters are mulling response
Boris Johnson is dangling the threat of a rebellion over Rishi Sunak after a new post-Brexit deal was announced that will rip up the former prime minister’s protocol on Northern Ireland and ditch his legislation to override it.
Although most Conservative MPs warmly welcomed the breakthrough after two years of negotiations, Johnson stayed away from the House of Commons chamber and is said not to have made up his mind about whether to endorse or oppose the “Windsor framework”.
Continue reading...Prime minister unveils agreement with European Commission president after four months of negotiations
Rishi Sunak has hailed a “new chapter” in the UK’s relationship with the EU as he secured a deal to end the long-running dispute over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol.
The prime minister and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, described a “decisive breakthrough” at a joint news conference in Windsor after four months of intense negotiations.
Continue reading...Windsor agreement is intended to end poisonous disputes of Brexit years
European leaders have voiced hopes of turning the page with the British government, following a deal on the Northern Ireland protocol intended to end the poisonous disputes of the Brexit years.
“This new framework will allow us to begin a new chapter,” the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said at her joint press conference with Rishi Sunak. “It provides for longlasting solutions that both of us are confident will work for all people and businesses in Northern Ireland.”
Continue reading...Teachers in north of England to strike on Tuesday followed by members in other regions over course of three days
Tens of thousands of teachers will strike this week resulting in the closure of some schools as members of the National Education Union (NEU) take part in three days of industrial action.
With little sign of a solution to the dispute on the horizon, teachers in the north of England will strike on Tuesday, followed by members in the Midlands and eastern regions on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen say ‘Windsor framework’ has been reached after four months of negotiations. This blog is now closed
Q: Why do you say you will back the PM’s deal when you have not seen the detail? And would you like to see Northern Ireland within the scope of the European court of justice, or outside it?
Starmer says he knows Northern Ireland well and knows the detail. Any deal will be an improvement on the status quo. That is why he is saying he would back it. He says the deal will not come as a surprise.
Continue reading...Trade and governance will be at centre of new post-Brexit pact, but what about other areas of disagreement?
Named the “new Windsor framework”, the revised Northern Ireland protocol has been described as a “decisive breakthrough” by Rishi Sunak and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
What does it mean and what are the big breakthroughs?
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak accused of ‘dragging the king into a hugely controversial political issue’
The king will host the EU chief, Ursula von der Leyen, after the signing of the final Northern Ireland protocol agreement with Rishi Sunak, prompting a furious reaction from the Democratic Unionist party and Tory Brexiters, who accused the prime minister of dragging the monarch into politics.
The former DUP first minister Arlene Foster said she “cannot quite believe that No 10 would ask HM the king to become involved in the finalising of a deal as controversial as this one. It’s crass and will go down very badly in NI. We must remember this is not the king’s decision but the government, who it appears is tone deaf.”
Continue reading...First female speaker of the House of Commons was ‘one of a kind’, says Sir Lindsay Hoyle
Betty Boothroyd, the first female speaker of the House of Commons, has died, aged 93.
Lady Boothroyd, a former Labour MP, was speaker from 1992 until her retirement in 2000, and was the first person to be elected to the role after the Commons debates started being permanently televised in 1989. She was later made a life peer in the House of Lords.
Continue reading...Jeffrey Donaldson risks internal revolt if he accepts deal but rejecting it will threaten future of power sharing
The Democratic Unionist party has said any Northern Ireland protocol deal must meet its “seven tests” but they omit the one that really matters: the test of Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s leadership.
The seven conditions concern laws and trading rules, which have room for fudge and ambiguity.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Cross-party group recommends policies such as mortgage penalty for landlords of energy-inefficient homes
The UK will need to embrace innovative, community-based solutions to environmental and energy problems if it is to have any hope of meeting looming net-zero deadlines, a cross-party group of MPs and peers has recommended.
A report by the all-party group on a green new deal argues for a combination of robust, top-down policies on green issues including localised power generation, food and transport schemes. Recommendations include a mortgage penalty for landlords who let energy-inefficient homes, and also real community decision-making, notably on power schemes.
Continue reading...Home Builders Federation warns planning policy changes will result in government meeting less than half its annual target
Housebuilding in England is due to fall to its lowest level since the second world war, according to an analysis by the Home Builders Federation (HBF), owing to a range of government policies that threaten to dramatically slow development.
The study says the supply of new housing is likely to fall below 120,000 homes annually over the coming years, less than half of the government’s target, as a result of changes to planning policy and what developers say is over-strict enforcement of environmental regulations.
Continue reading...European Commission chief heading to Britain with Northern Ireland deal expected as soon as Monday
Rishi Sunak is to hold face-to-face talks with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, with a deal to revise post-Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland expected as soon as Monday.
“Today, president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and prime minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak agreed to continue their work in person towards shared, practical solutions for the range of complex challenges around the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland,” a joint statement said.
Continue reading...PM’s toughest political test comes amid plummeting interest in Brexit and elaborate parliamentary intrigue
For a Brexit-minded MP, the parallels may seem striking: an electorally embattled prime minister trying to push through a controversial Northern Ireland deal in the face of Tory and Democratic Unionist party (DUP) scepticism. But one thing has changed: this is 2023, not 2019.
Theresa May’s struggles with Brexit, and her tumbling popularity with voters, led to her being forced out as prime minister by Conservative backbenchers. While no one would dispute that Rishi Sunak faces perhaps his toughest ever political test, the stakes for him are if not necessarily lower then perhaps different.
Continue reading...New rules also cover transgender women ‘with their male genitalia intact’, says Dominic Raab
Rules barring some transgender women from female prisons in England and Wales are to come into force on Monday, the justice secretary has announced.
Dominic Raab had already announced in October that trans women with male genitalia or who had committed sexual offences would not be allowed in women’s prisons.
Continue reading...