The prime minister said the Sewell report was a 'very interesting and stimulating piece of work', but made clear the government did not agree with all of its findings. 'There are very serious issues that our society faces to do with racism, he said. 'We've got to do more to fix it.'
Continue reading...Category Archives: Politics
Brexit: Scottish dog food firm relocates to France due to export red tape
Owner says he decided ‘enough was enough’ after encountering more and more trade barriers
The founder of a Scottish dog food business has told how Brexit forced him to move to France after his exports to the EU were halted because of the new trade barriers in place since 1 January.
After 10 weeks of daily calls and emails to government representatives, who he said were “absolutely terrible”, Antoon Murphy said he was left with no other option than to relocate or face losing the business.
Continue reading...‘Brazen’ government media strategy muddies detail of UK race report
Analysis: critics have accused ministers of trying to shut down debate through selective briefing
For what was billed as a landmark examination of racial disparities, set up directly by Downing Street and months in the making, the arrival of the report was curiously low-key – or, critics say, done with significant media manipulation.
The full 264-page report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities was released at 11.30am on Wednesday. But the bulk of the coverage came before that, when journalists and interviewers had very little idea what it contained.
Continue reading...Racial disparities in the UK: key findings of the report – and what its critics say
Analysis: the report’s conclusions and recommendations on education, health, terminology and more
The government has released the full 264-page report by a commission set up by Downing Street to investigate racial disparities in the UK. These are its main findings:
Overall view
Continue reading...A year of Covid crisis: a glimmer of economic hope at the end of the tunnel
Twelve months after the pandemic struck the Guardian’s economic tracker reveals real risk of lasting damage
- UK economy poised to recover after Covid-19 second wave
- Andy Haldane: only a skills plan can protect against fallout
When Boris Johnson announced the first stay-at-home order, effectively shutting down whole sections of the economy, it was hoped the tide could be turned within 12 weeks. As many months later, lockdown measures are being relaxed for a third time and Britain still faces a lengthy road to recovery from the worst recession for 300 years.
As restrictions ease, the chief economist at the Bank of England, Andy Haldane, warned that despite the reopening of the economy, the risk of a “jobs equivalent of long Covid” remains for workers across the country.
Continue reading...‘Lives will be lost,’ warn Syria aid groups as UK cuts funding by a third
Reduced £205m offer at UN pledging conference comes with 90% of Syrians living in poverty
Syrians and aid organisations have warned that “lives will be lost” as a result of the UK’s decision to cut aid funding to the conflict-stricken country.
The UN hoped to raise $10bn (£7.3bn) from governments and donors at a virtual two-day pledging conference for Syria – the biggest appeal yet to help both people inside and those displaced outside the country.
Continue reading...Two union flags flutter in hot air as Johnson tries to connect | Zoe Williams
All the pomp of the new No 10 briefing room was wasted on a Covid press conference of little substance
The prime minister arrived in his brand new, £2.6m press briefing room with the unmistakable vibe of a feckless absentee father, doing his Monday afternoon teleconference call. Trying to be so many things at once. He wants to be the fun one, so did a shout out to Ilkeston Cycle Club, who met at midnight as the clock turned on the 29 March; then a big up to Hillingdon lido, who did whatever they do there. He also wants to prove that, this time, he’s deadly serious, a grave and sober man of his word, and his brow is heavy with all the memories of why you might not believe him.
He has some new curtains he wants to show you, which are both union flags, and some rather sudden paintwork, a fierce Conservative blue, because obviously that’s the colour of authority and this is your government for ever. Though when you consider how much he could have spent on wallpaper, you have to look on the bright side. The intention of the new setting must have been jocular jingoism, but it came off a little mournful, slightly beseeching, like: “Look, I’ve bought an inflatable mattress, soon you’ll be able to stay the night!”
Continue reading...Is pornography to blame for rise in ‘rape culture’?
Analysis: experts split on whether easy access to porn has fuelled sexual harassment, abuse and assault among young people
The harrowing reports of sexism and assaults in schools detailed on the everyonesinvited.uk website has fuelled concerns of a “rape culture” in educational settings.
The disclosures have raised concerns that easy access to pornography is part of the problem.
Continue reading...British aid cuts to leave tens of thousands of Syrians ‘paperless’
Norwegian Refugee Council says move to pull funding for its legal support programme will leave many in ‘destitution’
Tens of thousands of Syrians will no longer receive legal support, leaving many “in utter destitution” without documents they need to work, travel or return home, after the British government pulled £4m in funding from a charity programme, according to its director.
News of the cut to a Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) project supporting refugees and internally displaced Syrians, comes amid reports of a planned 67% aid reduction in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) budget for Syria, which would place hundreds of thousands of lives at risk.
Continue reading...Watchdog steps in over secrecy about UK women in Syria stripped of citizenship
Exclusive: Home Office refusal to disclose how many women are in same position as Shamima Begum prompts action
The Home Office’s refusal to disclose the number of women who, like Shamima Begum, have been deprived of their British citizenship after travelling to join Islamic State is under investigation by the information commissioner.
The watchdog said it would step in after the government refused to share the data with a human rights group concerned about the conditions of British women and children detained in camps in north-east Syria, where conditions are dire.
Continue reading...Johnson urges caution as England takes first big step out of lockdown
Outdoor group socialising allowed from Monday but ad campaign stresses Covid risks of indoor meeting
Boris Johnson will stress the need for people to be cautious on Monday as England takes its first significant step towards easing lockdown restrictions for adults.
People will now be able to meet up legally outdoors in groups of six, or in two households, including in private gardens, and organised outdoor sport can resume.
Continue reading...Brexiters seek to raise £1m to set up ‘neutral’ Museum of Brexit
Leave campaigners behind project only won charitable status by vowing it would tell balanced story
Leave campaigners have begun raising funds to open a Museum of Brexit after the long-awaited project was granted charitable status.
The trustees are seeking to generate £400,000 to buy a home for the museum – possibly in a pro-Brexit town such as Dudley in the West Midlands – plus another £250,000 to set up the institution and a strategic financial reserve of £350,000.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson: Bristol ‘kill the bill’ protest violence is ‘disgraceful’
PM condemns violence at latest protest against police, crime, sentencing and courts bill
Boris Johnson has condemned violent scenes in Bristol as “disgraceful”, after a protest against a new policing bill on Friday night resulted in clashes between demonstrators and police.
The protest was against the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill, which would give police greater powers to restrict protests, and initially attracted around 300 people before the crowd swelled to more than 1,000.
Continue reading...The Guardian view on China, Xinjiang and sanctions: the gloves are off | Editorial
Beijing wants to silence critics of its treatment of Uighurs. But the impact will be broader
China’s response to criticisms of horrifying human rights violations in Xinjiang is clear and calculated. Its aims are threefold. First, the sanctions imposed upon individuals and institutions in the EU and UK are direct retaliation for those imposed upon China over its treatment of Uighurs. That does not mean they are like-for-like: the EU and UK measures targeted officials responsible for human rights abuses, while these target non-state actors – elected politicians, thinktanks, lawyers and academics – simply for criticising those abuses.
Second, they seek more broadly to deter any criticism over Xinjiang, where Beijing denies any rights violations. Third, they appear to be intended to send a message to the EU, UK and others not to fall in line with the harsher US approach towards China generally. Beijing sees human rights concerns as a pretext for defending western hegemony, pointing to historic and current abuses committed by its critics. But mostly it believes it no longer needs to tolerate challenges.
Continue reading...Regional museums break ranks with UK government on return of Benin bronzes
Aberdeen says it will repatriate a bust while Cambridge museum has ‘expectation’ its collection could be returned
Regional UK museums could lead a wave of repatriations of disputed Benin bronzes – most of them looted by British forces in 1897 – in defiance of the British government’s stance that institutions should “retain and explain” contested artefacts.
On Thursday, the University of Aberdeen confirmed it would repatriate a bust of an Oba, or king of Benin, which it has had since the 1950s, “within weeks”, a landmark move for a British institution.
Continue reading...UK government in talks over expanding Covid travel ‘red list’
Ministers under growing pressure to prevent variants undermining vaccine programme
Discussions are under way in Whitehall about expanding the travel “red list” of countries as ministers face mounting pressure to prevent coronavirus variants undermining the vaccine programme.
The Guardian understands that officials met on Friday to consider the case for taking a tougher approach. British residents and nationals returning from countries on the red list must quarantine in an airport hotel for 10 days at a cost of £1,750, while other arrivals are banned. It remains illegal to go on holiday.
Continue reading...France claims UK will struggle to source second Covid jabs
EU will not be blackmailed over Oxford/AstraZeneca doses, says foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian
The war of words with the EU over vaccines has escalated as France’s foreign minister claimed Britain will struggle to source second Covid jabs but that Brussels would not be “blackmailed” into exporting doses to solve the problem.
Jean-Yves Le Drian, a close political ally of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, claimed that the UK’s success had been built on driving forward with first jabs without having secured the second doses necessary for full vaccination.
Continue reading...EU leaders back ‘global value chains’ instead of vaccine export bans
Refusal to support measure despite Ursula von der Leyen highlighting 21m doses sent to UK
EU leaders backed “global value chains” rather than support Brussels in using new powers to block Covid jab exports to highly vaccinated countries, despite being told that 21m doses had been sent to the UK.
At a virtual summit, attended briefly by Joe Biden, the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, highlighted the large shipments sent over the Channel, amounting to two-thirds of the jabs given in the UK.
Continue reading...Pint of milk protest: Charles Walker’s surreal Commons speech – video
‘I want to talk about milk,’ begins Charles Walker. ‘I am going to walk around London with a pint of milk on my person, because that pint will represent my protest.’ In a convoluted speech, he concludes that unless you cherish freedoms, you will lose them. ‘Unless you fight for freedoms, every day they end up being taken away from you’
- Tory milkman delivers speech surreal even by Commons’ standards
- MPs vote to extend emergency powers for six months
UK diplomacy masks private fury in Covid vaccine row with EU
Tussles over supplies could last months despite commitment in public to work together
Tussles with the EU over vaccine supplies could continue for months, UK government insiders fear, despite a joint statement in which both sides committed to working together.
From Boris Johnson’s phone calls to EU leaders to the foreign secretary Dominic Raab’s discreet lobbying on the fringes of this week’s Nato meeting, a significant amount of senior government time and energy is being invested in trying to resolve the issue.
Continue reading...