People urged only to travel if absolutely necessary on last weekend before Christmas
Rail passengers face another day of reduced services on Saturday as thousands of Rail, Maritime and Transport workers’ union (RMT) staff continue a 48-hour strike.
People have been urged to only attempt travel if absolutely necessary on the last full weekend before Christmas, with only a skeleton service running and all train journeys ending by early evening.
Continue reading...NHS Providers boss says nurses’ strike had ‘significant impact’ as senior Tories urge government to negotiate
Planned strikes next week will be “very challenging” for the health service, hospital bosses have warned, after they conceded that Thursday’s nurses strikes had had a “significant impact”.
The comments from NHS Providers came amid mounting pressure on the government from senior backbenchers and usually supportive newspapers to try to resolve the dispute.
Continue reading...Payout awarded for period in which Avanti was UK’s worst train operator for delays, Labour analysis found
Avanti West Coast was handed millions of pounds of taxpayer-funded bonuses for a period in which it was Britain’s worst train operator for delays, according to Labour party analysis.
The analysis, which used Department for Transport (DfT) figures published on Thursday, found the company was awarded the highest possible rating for “operational performance” and “customer satisfaction” between 1 April and 18 September last year. Those ratings contributed to a bonus payout of £4.1m.
Continue reading...Pressure grows on Elon Musk as EU says social media platform could face sanctions over suspensions
The United Nations is “very disturbed” by Twitter’s abrupt suspension of a group of US journalists, a spokesperson has said, warning that the move sets a “dangerous precedent” – as the EU said the social media platform could fall foul of forthcoming digital regulations.
Stéphane Dujarric said on Friday the UN was “very disturbed” by the barring of prominent tech reporters at news organisations including CNN, the Washington Post and the New York Times who have written about Musk and the tech company he owns.
Continue reading...Prime minister says he is ‘committed’ to fixing issues but says there is no deadline on talks
In his latest column, Simon Jenkins argues that instead of fighting for the centre ground, Keir Starmer should look to the radical changes pushed through under Harold Wilson.
Wes Streeting has declined to say whether a Labour government would agree to a pay rise for nurses.
Continue reading...Exclusive: White powder residue found after events held at Chevening and Downing Street, say sources
Traces of a suspected class A drug were found at a government grace-and-favour home after parties attended by political allies of Liz Truss, the Guardian has been told.
The white powder was discovered at the Chevening estate last summer in the days before Truss won the Tory leadership contest and became prime minister, according to sources.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak announces £1.6bn contract led by shipyard Harland and Wolff that will create 900 jobs in Belfast
Shipbuilding is to be revived in Belfast after 20 years as part of a £1.6bn Ministry of Defence contract for three new naval vessels, Rishi Sunak has announced.
A consortium led by the shipyard Harland and Wolff has secured the preferred bidder status which will create 1,200 jobs across three companies, 900 of which will be in Belfast.
Continue reading...Multiple Labour MPs join picket lines after Tory MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich urges government to improve offer
On the picket line outside St Thomas’ hospital in Westminster, Linda Tovey, a critical care nurse, said: “It’s increasingly difficult to come to work and go home and think: ‘Actually I don’t think I can turn the heating on.’
“My wages aren’t bad for a nurse but I still have to think about what I’m doing with my money every month and that is not the position I imagined myself being in.
“People do a huge amount of extra work, in terms of studying and all that kind of stuff, and you don’t get the recognition in terms of wages.
Majority of MPC rate-setters back hike of 0.5 percentage points despite fears UK is entering a long recession
Mortgage payers are braced for higher borrowing costs, after the Bank of England pushed up its base rate by 0.5 percentage points to 3.5% despite saying inflation has peaked and Britain is about to enter “a prolonged recession”.
The Bank hiked interest rates on Thursday for the ninth time in a year, to the highest level in 14 years, but told borrowers to prepare for fresh increases in the new year.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Leaked annual survey shows fourfold rise in harassment claims in justice ministers’ office
A third of the staff in Dominic Raab’s private office at the Ministry of Justice have claimed to have been bullied or harassed while working in their current team in the past year, according to an internal Whitehall survey.
The results of the civil service survey from this week, which have been leaked to the Guardian, show that 10 of the 33 people who worked most closely with the justice secretary said they had been a victim of bad behaviour.
Continue reading...Scottish government promises to tackle health and social care crisis to protect weakest and poorest
The Scottish government has promised to spend another £1bn on tackling the crisis in health and social care by raising taxes on higher earners and holiday homes.
John Swinney, Scotland’s acting finance secretary, said the burden of increasing NHS funding would fall heavily on everyone earning more than £43,663 in Scotland as part of a “social contract” to protect the weakest and poorest.
The abolition of a cap on council tax increases next year, alongside £550m extra for councils.
The uprating of all Scottish welfare benefits by 10%, increasing welfare spending by £433m.
£222m on school support for the poorest and extra free school meals in primaries.
£15m for a pilot project to scrap peak-time rail fares.
£336m on home energy efficiency and reducing fuel poverty.
The abolition of non-domestic rates for 100,000 smaller shops and businesses and a freeze in business rates charges, which would cost £356m.
Continue reading...For many striking in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, staff shortages are a bigger issue than pay
In many professions, working a 14-hour day with no break would be unthinkable, but for many nurses on freezing picket lines across the country on Thursday it is increasingly becoming the norm.
“It’s tough at the moment,” said Ella Savage, a children’s specialist nurse at Leeds General Infirmary, where about 200 nurses were gathered at one of 125 Royal College of Nursing (RCN) pickets across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Continue reading...Ben Wallace and Suella Braverman ‘turned their back’ on former BBC journalists who are in danger, high court told
Ministers have unlawfully “turned their back” on former BBC journalists whose lives are at risk from the Taliban by refusing to relocate them from Afghanistan to the UK, the high court has heard.
Eight Afghan journalists, who worked in high-profile roles for the BBC and other media agencies in the country from which British troops withdrew last year, are challenging the decision to deny them UK visas.
Continue reading...Consular staff wanted for questioning by police over beating up of activists recalled to Beijing
China’s consul general in Manchester and five other diplomats have returned home and will escape questioning by police for their role in the beating up of a pro-Hong Kong democracy demonstrator outside the consulate in the city on 16 October.
The Chinese, citing diplomatic immunity, decided to recall the diplomats after the UK Foreign Office gave the embassy a week to make the diplomats available for questioning by British police.
Continue reading...Latest updates: prime minister faces Labour leader ahead of industrial action by nurses on Thursday
Yesterday Mark Harper, the transport secretary, claimed that public support for the rail strikes was declining. Today Ipsos has published some polling that backs up this claim, although support for the RMT has not collapsed, and public opinion is still divided. It puts support for the strikes at 30%, down from 43% in September. And opposition to the strikes is at 36%, up from 31%.
Yesterday Savanta published polling showing a similar trend. It said that net support for the rail workers on strike was +21 in October (those supporting them, minus those not supporting them), and that now it was down to +13.
Continue reading...Prime minister makes statement in Commons, saying he wants to abolish backlog of unprocessed asylum claims by end of next year
The Conservative MP Adam Afriyie has been made bankrupt after a judge in a specialist court heard how he owed around £1.7m, PA Media reports. A bankruptcy order was made against Afriyie, who represents Windsor, at an online hearing in the insolvency and companies court today by judge Nicholas Briggs.
This story, by my colleagues Heather Stewart and Rowena Mason last year, explains the background to this case.
We completed our enquiry into the impact of the ending of freedom of movement on the adult social care sector in April and submitted the report to government and parliament. We recommended that care workers continue to be eligible to apply for a health and care worker visa and made some additional recommendations for changes to the immigration system to ease the burden on social care employers and migrants.
However, our main recommendation was that a minimum rate of pay should be established for care workers at a premium to the statutory minimum wage where care is being provided with public funds. We suggested that this should initially be set at £1 per hour above the national living wage but expected a more substantial premium to be needed to properly address the crisis in social care recruitment and retention.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Cabinet Office to extend contract with law firm to defend claims ex-PM misled parliament, sources say
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Ministers have been accused of writing a “blank cheque” for Boris Johnson’s legal bills, as it emerged taxpayer-funded support was being extended to help defend him against claims he misled parliament over Partygate.
With just days left until a contract expires with the law firm Peters and Peters, which Johnson and the government have relied on to disparage an investigation by the privileges committee, the Guardian has learned the Cabinet Office intends to renew it.
Continue reading...PM says he has signed deal with Albania and will resume ‘hostile environment’ checks on bank accounts
Rishi Sunak has insisted he can clear a backlog of nearly 100,000 asylum claims by the end of next year as part of a set of policies that include resuming “hostile environment” checks on bank accounts suspended after the Windrush scandal.
The prime minister outlined a five-point plan in the Commons including law changes to criminalise and then remove tens of thousands of people who claim asylum after travelling to the UK by small boats, and a deal with Albania to aid removals to the Balkan state.
A small boats command, with an extra 700 staff from Border Force, the National Crime Agency and other agencies, to combat people smugglers and the surge in arrivals across the Channel.
An end to the use of hotels for more than 40,000 asylum seekers. They will be sent to disused former military bases, holiday camps and student accommodation.
Continue reading...Royal College of Nursing leader criticises ‘belligerence’ in meeting with Steve Barclay at which ministers refused to discuss pay
Nurses’ strikes will go ahead this week after a meeting between the union and the health secretary ended in deadlock, with the Royal College of Nursing condemning ministers’ “belligerence” for refusing to discuss pay.
Six hundred military personnel from all three armed forces will start training to drive ambulances to cover for striking NHS workers across the UK later this month. A further 150 are being readied to act as logistical support, defence sources said, with training for both groups to start “shortly”.
Continue reading...Treasury officials tell select committee they set out impacts of £45bn plan for former chancellor
Kwasi Kwarteng disregarded warnings that his £45bn mini-budget could trigger a backlash on the financial markets, Treasury officials told MPs today.
The department’s permanent secretary, James Bowler, said he was “absolutely confident Treasury officials set out the right advice” to the then chancellor.
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