Category Archives: Politics

Ministers studying plans for UK child-specific terrorism orders

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Exclusive: Official adviser recommends giving those arrested for low-level crimes a choice to accept help or face jail

New legal terrorism orders specifically for children should be brought in to tackle the growing numbers being arrested, the official adviser on terrorism law has told the government.

Ministers are studying plans that would result in children being compelled to accept help or face jail, devised by Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation.

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Week of rail strikes to cause more travel disruption in UK

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RMT staging two 48-hour strikes from Tuesday and Friday and Aslef has called strike for Thursday

Rail passengers will face fresh travel disruption this week because of strikes by tens of thousands of workers in bitter disputes over pay, jobs and conditions.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail and 14 train operators will stage two 48-hour strikes from Tuesday and Friday, while drivers in the Aslef union will strike on Thursday.

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Suspect identified in only one in 10 bicycle theft cases in England and Wales

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Figures uncovered by Lib Dems show that only 1.7% of 74,421 cases over 12 months resulted in a charge

Almost 90% of all bicycle theft cases reported to police over the past year were closed without a suspect even being identified, and just 1.7% resulted in someone being charged, analysis of crime statistics shows.

The Liberal Democrats, who uncovered the data from statistics for England and Wales from July 2021 to June this year, said it was indicative of under-funded police forces being unable to properly investigate such crimes.

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People turning to DIY health treatment amid shortage of GP appointments

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Lib Dems say face-to-face GP bookings ‘almost extinct’ in some areas as their survey shows a rise in self-prescribing

Almost one in four people have bought medicine online or at a pharmacy to treat their illness after failing to see a GP face to face, according to a UK survey underlining the rise of do-it-yourself treatment.

Nearly one in five (19%) have gone to A&E seeking urgent medical treatment for the same reason, the research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats shows.

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Welsh Labour is readying for snap general election, says Mark Drakeford

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First minister claims Tories in Westminster are ‘staggering’ and could be months away from collapse

The Welsh first minister has told the Labour party in Wales to be prepared for a general election in the new year, believing the UK government could be months away from sudden collapse.

Mark Drakeford claimed the Conservative government in Westminster was “staggering”, and that at any moment it could be “overwhelmed” and forced to call a snap UK election.

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Sunak’s U-turn on China Covid tests is a political move, say scientists

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Chief medical officer Chris Whitty told health secretary Steve Barclay there was no evidence tests on travellers would have any effect

Rishi Sunak’s decision to perform a U-turn and impose Covid checks on travellers from China was dismissed on Saturday night as a purely political manoeuvre that would make no difference to the rise or fall of cases in the UK.

The health secretary Steve Barclay was briefed by the chief medical officer Chris Whitty on Thursday and was told there was no clear evidence of significant benefits from testing travellers from China. The Observer has learnt that on the following day, Barclay discussed the issues with Sunak, who nevertheless decided it was more important for Britain to align itself with those nations – the US, Japan, Italy and Spain – that had already imposed such tests.

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UK’s problems will not ‘go away’, admits Sunak after ‘tough’ 2022

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Prime minister’s new year message makes no mention of the chaos that has plagued the Tory party in 2022

Rishi Sunak has blamed Covid and the Ukraine war for what he acknowledged had been a “tough” 12 months, and warned in a prime ministerial new year message that the country’s problems will not disappear in 2023.

Often taking an openly party political stance, Sunak praised his government’s record and made no mention of the chaos within the Conservative party that contributed to 2022’s difficulties.

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New year honours list includes outspoken critics of government

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Chris Bryant and Julian Lewis receive knighthoods while Michael Marmot gets Companion of Honour

Sir Michael Marmot, the world-leading expert on health inequalities, has been made a Companion of Honour in the new year honours, among a series of people to be rewarded despite their often outspoken criticism of ministers and government policy.

Marmot, who headed a landmark inquiry into UK health inequalities and has since been vocal about the lack of action to address them, receives one of the most prestigious honours in existence.

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Newly released files reveal plan to move Millennium Dome to Swindon

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Labour government received bid to relocate controversial London building before it was rebranded as the O2

The “Swindon Dome” does have a ring to it.

It has emerged Tony Blair’s government received a proposition to move the Millennium Dome – later redeveloped and rebranded as the O2 – to Swindon.

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Blair aide feared 1997 cabinet portrait would look ‘triumphalist’

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National Archives documents show concerns raised over Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s proposal

Downing Street feared that a group portrait of Tony Blair’s cabinet that the Scottish National Portrait Gallery wanted to commission to mark New Labour’s 1997 election victory would look “triumphalist” and be unlikely to win votes in Scotland, newly released documents reveal.

The gallery proposed a portrait by Peter Howson, a distinguished member of the new wave of expressionist artists who emerged from the Glasgow School of Art in the 80s, and was willing to pay. With the fee likely to be “substantial”, Downing Street aides were also concerned about negative coverage if any public funds were used, the documents released by the National Archives show.

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Blair government had misgivings about Mandela mediation role over Lockerbie

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Files show Downing Street felt former South African leader’s attempt to mediate was ‘unlikely to be helpful’

Downing Street believed Nelson Mandela’s attempt to play mediator between it and the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi over the question of compensation after the Lockerbie bombing was “unlikely to be helpful”, documents reveal.

But despite misgivings, No 10 aides did not rule out using Mandela “back against [Gaddafi] if Libya rejected a reasonable offer”, the documents released by the National Archives in the UK show.

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Blair asked Bush during first phone call if he could call him by first name

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Archives reveal PM’s early attempts to establish personal relationship with president after 2000 US election

Tony Blair moved swiftly to place his relationship with George W Bush on a personal footing after the Republican won the 2000 US presidential election, asking him “early on” in their first telephone call if he could call him by his first name.

“Bush warmly assented (but stuck himself with addressing the prime minister as ‘Sir’),” according to a note of their call, which is among government files released to the National Archives. Blair was the first foreign leader to call to congratulate the president-elect. Michael Tatham, a British diplomat, noted that the eight-minute conversation had established “as good a rapport as one could hope for” from such a short call.

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SNP restores whip to MP Patrick Grady after sexual assault suspension

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Alleged victim says end of suspension is ‘slap in face to anyone who has experienced sexual harassment’

The SNP has restored the party whip to a senior MP who has sat as an independent since June after an independent parliamentary inquiry found he made an unwanted sexual advance towards a teenage party worker.

Patrick Grady quit the SNP group at Westminster after a two-day suspension from parliament, imposed after the independent parliamentary standards commissioner found he had made the advances to the then 19-year-old man in 2016. The man to whom he made the advances said the end of Grady’s suspension was “a slap in the face to anyone who has experienced sexual harassment”.

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One in 10 Tory peers have given more than £100,000 to party

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Exclusive: 27 members of House of Lords have donated almost £50m in total to Conservatives

One in 10 Conservative peers are big donors to the party, giving almost £50m in total, new analysis shows, amid controversy over more financial backers believed to have been put forward on Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.

After speculation about more donors due to get peerages within the coming weeks, figures compiled by the Guardian show 27 out of the party’s 274 peers have given more than £100,000 to the Conservatives.

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The ‘indefensibles’: donors, cronies and lackeys embody case to abolish Lords

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After Boris Johnson took political patronage to new levels by his appointments, Labour sees public mood is ripe for radical reform

What do Boris Johnson’s brother, a historian who has written favourably about him, and a defeated MP who gave him a free holiday all have in common?

All of them now grace the prestigious red benches of the House of Lords, along with 27 donors to the Conservative party.

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UK ministers under pressure to screen China arrivals for Covid

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Politicians and experts call for border testing to be introduced, but others question usefulness of move

Ministers are coming under pressure to screen arrivals from China as the number of Covid-19 cases there continues to surge after Beijing’s abrupt decision to end most of its strict pandemic restrictions.

The US became the latest country to impose controls on travellers entering the country from China on Wednesday, demanding that all such arrivals show proof of a negative Covid test.

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Unions holding government to ransom with talks demand, says Ben Wallace

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Minister ratchets up hardline stance as he rejects claim government is sabotaging efforts to end strikes

Trade unions are seeking to hold the government “to ransom” by demanding direct talks on public sector pay, Ben Wallace has argued in a further apparent ratcheting up of ministers’ hardline stance towards strikes.

Speaking at Manchester airport, where he met military personnel covering for Border Force staff, the defence secretary rejected a charge from the new TUC general secretary, Paul Nowak, that the government was sabotaging efforts to end the strikes.

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Home Office urged to reunite Eritrean family separated as they boarded boat

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Appeal for UK authorities to bring over mother who was left in France after smugglers departed shore with her three children

The Home Office is under pressure to reunite a family of Eritrean asylum seekers after smugglers forced three children, the youngest aged just five, to cross the Channel on a small boat before their mother could get on board with them.

The woman, 31, who was staying in northern France hoping to reach the UK, paid smugglers for places on a dinghy for herself and her three children, a boy aged 14 and two girls aged nine and five, to cross the Channel on 16 December. She said she believed the UK was the place where she would find safety and a respect for the human rights of her family.

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Rishi Sunak needs ‘exit strategy’ from ‘1980s playbook’ on strikes, says TUC

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Incoming general secretary, Paul Nowak, says PM has overestimated public support for confronting unions

Rishi Sunak needs an “exit strategy” from ongoing industrial disputes to avoid them escalating in the months ahead after overestimating public support for his “1980s playbook” approach to widespread strikes, the incoming TUC general secretary has said.

Paul Nowak, who takes over as Britain’s top union leader next month, predicted the government’s “war of attrition” against the unions would fail and accused ministers of having their “hands over their ears” about the severity of the situation.

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Velvet sofas and opulent curtains: the Sunaks’ makeover of No 10 flat revealed

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PM and Akshata Murty got rid of ‘very tired’ decor largely installed for former chancellor George Osborne

Rishi Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, undertook a makeover of the No 10 flat with opulent curtains and velvet sofas in jewel colours at their own expense, according to a new profile of the couple in the society magazine Tatler.

John Challis, the upholsterer behind the transformation, told the magazine that the redesign got rid of the “very tired” decor largely installed for the family of former chancellor George Osborne.

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