Category Archives: Politics

Calls for buffer zones around abortion clinics in Scotland after protests

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SNP urged to act by Scottish Labour and campaigners as fears grow threat to Roe v Wade in US could embolden anti-choice movement

The Scottish government is facing growing calls to impose buffer zones around abortion clinics amid fears that potential changes to abortion rights in the US are emboldening anti-choice protesters.

A leaked US draft supreme court ruling overturning Roe v Wade has sharpened anxieties over delays in implementing the SNP’s 2021 manifesto pledge to support local authorities to establish protest-free zones around clinics.

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Local election leaflets show Tory candidates are ‘ashamed’ to be associated with Boris Johnson, Labour says – as it happened

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Angela Rayner says Tory candidates at the local elections ‘are trying to hide from their own government’s record’. This live blog is closed – please follow this one for updates on the war in Ukraine

Savanta ComRes has published some new polling on voting intention in Scottish parliaement elections. Here are the figures for the constituency section.

And here are the figures for the list section.

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Climate sceptic thinktank received funding from fossil fuel interests

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Exclusive: Global Warming Policy Foundation has led the backlash against UK government’s net zero policy

An influential thinktank that has led the backlash against the government’s net zero policy has received funding from groups with oil and gas interests, according to tax documents seen by the Guardian and OpenDemocracy.

Though the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) has always said it is independent of the fossil fuel industry, the revelations about its funding will raise questions over its campaigning.

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‘Embarrassed to be British’: Brexit study reveals impact on UK citizens in EU

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Exclusive: Survey of Britons on continent shows ‘deep transformations’, shame and disappointment

The first major study since Brexit of UK citizens living in the EU has revealed its profound impact on their lives, with many expressing serious concerns over their loss of free movement and voting rights – and a very different perception of Britain.

The survey, of 1,328 British nationals across the continent, showed that if “the public narrative suggests Brexit is done and dusted, it has brought deep transformations to the lives of British citizens in the EU and EEA”, the study’s co-lead, Michaela Benson, said.

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Boris Johnson says police have not contacted him about Lee Cain party

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PM is reported to have given speech and poured drinks at leaving do for former spin doctor in November 2020 despite lockdown

Boris Johnson has said he has not been contacted by police about a leaving party held for his former spin doctor Lee Cain in November 2020.

The prime minister said he had not yet received a questionnaire in relation to his alleged attendance at the party for Cain, his former director of communications, even though other people present are reported to have got them. Johnson is said to have given a speech and poured drinks at the event on 13 November, despite it being at the time of a stay-at-home lockdown.

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Boris Johnson’s ‘out of touch’ comments on cost of living crisis anger Tory MPs

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PM’s interview on Good Morning Britain causes concern about party’s performance in upcoming local elections

Boris Johnson’s fumbled defence of the government’s record on the cost of living has exasperated Conservative MPs and sharpened fears about the party’s performance in Thursday’s local elections.

Asked about a pensioner forced to travel around on buses to stay warm and keep heating bills down, the prime minister’s first response was to boast that he introduced free travel for older people. During the interview on Tuesday, he admitted that the government had failed to do enough to alleviate the pain of soaring costs.

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Civil servants called UK Covid testing scheme ‘unlegit’, court hears

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Details of emails released in Good Law Project challenge to awarding of contracts to Abingdon Health for antibody tests

Civil servants described the government’s Covid testing programme as “unlegit” and “no way to do business” in emails revealed in a high court challenge to the awarding of up to £85m in contracts for antibody tests.

The campaigning organisation Good Law Project (GLP) is challenging the health and social care secretary, claiming the contracts with Abingdon Health, a medium-sized UK firm, were unlawful because they were not advertised nor open to competition, and the correct procurement process was bypassed.

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Partygate means all Covid fines should be overturned, lawyer argues

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Call for penalties to be scrapped in light of Boris Johnson’s defence of breaches, as 23 already struck down

Covid fines should be overturned en masse in light of the prime minister’s defence for attending lockdown-breaching events, a lawyer has argued, as it emerged more than 20 penalties imposed on businesses had been struck down in recent months.

Lucinda Nicholls, who successfully represented 23 firms and is still fighting on behalf of seven more, said serious deficiencies in the evidence presented against her clients – as well as Boris Johnson’s own apparent confusion about how to apply his own rules – called every penalty imposed under Covid legislation into question.

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BP profits soar to $6.2bn amid calls for energy windfall tax

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Company beats forecasts thanks to high oil and gas prices but is hit by offloading its stake in Russia’s Rosneft

BP’s profits more than doubled to $6.2bn (£5bn) in the first three months of the year, boosted by soaring oil and gas prices.

It was well ahead of the $4.5bn of expected by analysts and is likely to revive calls for a windfall tax on oil and gas companies from Labour and the Liberal Democrats, who argue the money raised could be used to ease the burden for those hardest hit by the cost of living costs.

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‘Teesside, Tyneside, all the same to him’: Johnson appears lost on campaign trail

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Prime minister ridiculed over apparent location confusion in since-deleted tweet

Boris Johnson is facing ridicule after he appeared confused about the location of his campaign activity in north-east England.

In a since-deleted tweet, the prime minister called for his followers to vote Conservative in Thursday’s local elections and stated that he was in Teesside where the Conservatives are “delivering a massive programme of investment as part of our plan to level up the whole of the UK”.

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Boris Johnson to hail Ukraine’s ‘finest hour’ in address to Kyiv parliament

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PM to be first world leader to address parliament since war began, as his chancellor faces questions over Infosys

Boris Johnson will hail Ukraine’s resistance against tyranny as an exemplar for the world as he delivers a virtual address to the country’s parliament on Tuesday.

Recalling Britain’s resolve during the second world war, the UK prime minister will say that “we remember our time of greatest peril as our finest hour”. He will say the bravery demonstrated by those who have sought to defend their country from Russian invaders means the war will come to be known as Ukraine’s “finest hour”, too.

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Sunak urged to issue green bonds with higher returns if climate goals missed

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Thinktank says following Chile’s example would give ministers greater incentive to meet targets

Rishi Sunak is being urged to issue a new generation of green bonds that would offer higher returns to investors if the UK government fails to hit its climate change targets.

The Social Market Foundation (SMF) said its plan for sustainability-linked bonds would provide ministers with a greater incentive to meet carbon-reduction goals and would help boost the UK’s prospects of being a global financial hub for green finance.

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Firebombs and death threats: councillors need more protection, say UK bodies

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Dozens of seats going uncontested as candidates step down due to ‘truly toxic’ environment

More must be done to protect councillors from abuse, according to local government bodies, as those on the frontline of local democracy describe a “truly toxic” political environment where online aggression spills over into real-life behaviour.

Candidates for council elections on Thursday across the UK have shared their experiences of escalating hostility as the chair of the Local Government Association (LGA), councillorJames Jamieson, warned that “an increasing number … are being subjected to abuse, threats and intimidation both online and in-person, undermining the principles of free speech, democratic engagement and debate”.

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Judge in Afghanistan ‘backstabbed’ by UK government’s refusal of sanctuary

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Officials say man in hiding who helped prosecute terrorists does not meet relocation criteria, despite high court ruling in his favour

A senior judge who prosecuted terrorists and is now in hiding in Afghanistan feels “heartbroken, abandoned and backstabbed” by the British government for refusing to bring him to safety despite a high court ruling in his favour.

The high-profile judge, whom the Guardian is not naming for his safety, also received strong support from two former independent reviewers of terrorism legislation.

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Local government in England ‘hollowed out’ under Conservatives

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Major report finds poorer areas worst affected by deep cuts in government funding

Poorer areas have been hit disproportionally by a combination of cuts to neighbourhood services such as parks, libraries, refuse collection and children’s centres that have left English councils “hollowed out” since 2010, a major report into local government has concluded.

The study by the Institute for Government thinktank found that while some councils coped better than others, and reduced spending did not necessarily mean worse results, a lack of information made it difficult to learn lessons.

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Kwarteng and Sunak at odds over windfall tax on oil and gas profits

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Government sources play down idea of cabinet split as business secretary quashes idea recently mooted by chancellor

Government sources have played down the idea of a cabinet split over a possible windfall tax on energy companies as the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, firmly quashed the idea, days after it was mooted by the chancellor.

In a search for solutions to a crisis over energy prices, and the cost of living more widely, Rishi Sunak said a windfall tax, as advocated by Labour, was possible if energy companies did not properly reinvest bumper profits.

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Scandals have left PM incapable of governing, says Starmer

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Labour leader attacks Tory tax rises and inability to tackle the cost of living crisis

Boris Johnson has been rendered “incapable of governing” by a series of scandals and rows that have left him unable or unwilling to tackle the cost of living crisis, Keir Starmer has warned.

In a final pitch before Thursday’s local elections, the Labour leader said that voters were hearing “the dying groans of a clapped-out government” that was attempting to use “desperate attacks and deflections” to distract from inaction over rising bills and tax increases.

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Disgraced Tory MP Neil Parish ‘broke law’ by watching porn in Commons

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Parish resigns over ‘moment of madness’, and claims ‘it was tractors I was looking at on the internet’

Disgraced Tory MP Neil Parish, who resigned his seat on Saturday after admitting he had twice watched pornography in the House of Commons chamber, appeared to have committed a criminal offence which carried a maximum two-year prison sentence, Labour said.

Parish, who had represented the safe west country seat of Tiverton and Honiton since 2010, said that on the first occasion he watched porn on his mobile phone next to other MPs, including women, he had done so by accident.

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Speaker calls for overhaul of UK parliament after series of scandals

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Sir Lindsay Hoyle says MPs should no longer employ staff directly, following revelations involving bullying and harassment

A radical overhaul of the working practices in Westminster is being demanded by the House of Commons Speaker, in the wake of a series of scandals over sexual harassment and bullying that have rocked parliament.

After a week in which MPs and staff have spoken out over their treatment in the Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle said that a review of how parliament functions was now “urgently needed” following the damaging revelations.

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Boris Johnson’s defence on Covid risk to care homes hit by new revelation

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Prime minister had broached issue of asymptomatic transmission publicly with advisers long before testing rules were introduced

Boris Johnson’s claim that a lack of knowledge about the asymptomatic transmission of Covid-19 put care homes at risk has been further undermined after it emerged he openly discussed the potential scale of symptom-free transmission.

The prime minister has already been accused of misleading parliament over the claim. He made it last week after the high court ruled that the government had acted unlawfully in ordering the discharge of patients to care homes without testing in the spring of 2020. Johnson told the House of Commons: “What we didn’t know in particular was that Covid could be transmitted asymptomatically.”

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