Airport says ETA scheme introduced by Conservatives is ‘devastating’ for competitiveness
Heathrow airport has said it experienced a 90,000 decline in passenger numbers on routes included in a £10 a person government scheme.
It described the electronic travel authorisation (ETA) system as “devastating for our hub competitiveness”.
Continue reading...Christopher Steele says officials will ‘look very carefully’ at online instigators such as Tommy Robinson
There is “clear” Russian involvement in the far-right riots and security services will be looking closely at the instigators, a former head of the MI6 Russia desk has said.
Christopher Steele, the ex-spy who compiled a notorious dossier on Donald Trump’s relationship with Russia, said that security officials would be “looking very carefully” at the people encouraging anti-immigration riots in the past fortnight.
Continue reading...Michelle O’Neill and deputy first minister Emma Little-Pengelly call unrest in Co Down and Derry ‘disgraceful’
Northern Ireland’s first minister and deputy first minister have condemned a racist attack on a mosque in County Down and last night’s violence in Derry.
The mosque was attacked at about 1am on Saturday, when graffiti was sprayed on the front door and walls of the building in Greenwell Street.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Justin Welby condemns violent disorder of recent days as ‘unchristian’
The archbishop of Canterbury has warned Christians they should not be part of any far-right groups, criticising the use of Christian imagery in this summer’s riots as “an offence to our faith”.
Writing in the Guardian, Justin Welby condemned the violent unrest, which he described as “racist”, “anti-Muslim, anti-refugee and anti-asylum seeker”. His intervention follows a week of disorder that began after a mass stabbing of children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport last month.
Continue reading...Severe cases of far-right violence need to be recognised as terrorism and not ‘thuggery’, write Rusi researchers
The recent riots in the UK, sparked by the Southport stabbings, have exposed troubling double standards in how society perceives and responds to far-right violence compared to Islamist extremism. This disparity calls for a serious redefinition of how we address far-right extremism, recognising it as the grave threat it truly represents.
Far-right motivated violence is often classified as mere “thuggery” or hooliganism, while similar acts motivated by Islamist extremism would is likely to be swiftly labeled as terrorism. This inconsistency undermines the perceived severity of far-right threats and hinders the political will to take equivalent action.
Emily Winterbotham, Claudia Wallner and Jessica White are researchers at the Royal United Services Institute.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Defence thinktank Rusi says rightwing violence ‘often classified as mere thuggery’ by politicians and prosecutors
The UK has a “two-tier approach” to extremism that fails to treat far-right attacks as seriously as Islamist ones, a leading thinktank has said.
The Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) says rightwing violence “is often classified as mere thuggery” by politicians, prosecutors and the security services. Equivalent acts by Islamists would “swiftly be labelled as terrorism”, it says in an article in the Guardian.
Continue reading...Labour minister says she removed social media platform’s app from her mobile phone when Elon Musk took over
A government minister said she has scaled back her use of social media platform X, arguing it had become “a bit despotic” and was “a place of misery now”.
Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said although she had previously been “massively addicted to Twitter”, referencing the former name of X, she had removed the app from her phone after Elon Musk took over the company in October 2022.
Continue reading...Veteran Conservatives on the party’s liberal wing have criticised the rightwards shift by some senior figures
Tory grandees have accused senior figures in their own party of using divisive language that inflamed anger over immigration before the recent rioting, amid warnings that too many Conservatives have “turned a blind eye” to a shift to the right.
The criticisms come as fears grow on the party’s liberal wing that the leadership election risks pulling the party further into populist polices designed to take on Reform UK.
Continue reading...Using an array of technology and intelligence tools, police are hopeful of tracking down key perpetrators, even those who were masked
The hunt to find the rioters and the people who incited them began the moment the first brick was thrown. But the efforts to catch them will last weeks or months, and involve super-recognisers, specialist software, video doorbells and, in a few cases, criminal stupidity.
A dizzying number of newly convicted rioters and online agitators were this weekend waking up in a prison cell on the first day of their sentence. Of the more than 700 arrests made so far, about 300 people had been charged by Friday night, with more arrests and court appearances on Saturday.
Continue reading...Neil Basu, ex-head of counter-terrorism, says former home secretary’s remarks are divisive and untrue
The former head of UK counter-terrorism has accused Priti Patel of putting officers at risk after the Tory leadership hopeful made “divisive” comments about two-tier policing.
Since far-right riots erupted across England and Northern Ireland last week, there have been false claims on social media that police are treating white people taking part in the disorder more harshly than minority groups.
Continue reading...Lord Falconer reveals that Keir Starmer will not block Commons vote on giving terminally ill people choice of ending their lives
Parliament is facing a once-in-a-generation chance to hand the terminally ill a choice over ending their life, the Labour peer championing a change in the law has said.
Charlie Falconer, the former lord chancellor whose bill was introduced into the House of Lords last month, revealed he had been reassured by Downing Street that it would not stand in the way of a historic Commons vote on assisted dying should its advocates secure one.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Move highlights ambition to reconnect with Beijing but minister will face pressure over human rights
David Lammy is planning a visit to China in September that would fall within the first 100 days of him taking office.
The foreign secretary is in talks over a trip to Beijing next month that would signal the UK wants to resume high-level engagement with the country.
Continue reading...The monarch held calls with Keir Starmer and senior officers and paid tribute to the emergency services
King Charles has sent his “heartfelt thanks” to the police for restoring order after speaking to Keir Starmer and senior officers following the week of unrest across the UK.
The king and the prime minister held a phone call on Friday evening, Buckingham Palace said. Gavin Stephens, a chief constable and chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, and the UK gold commander Ben Harrington, chief constable of Essex police, held a separate joint call with the king.
Continue reading...People who threw stones, hurled racist abuse and pushed a burning wheelie bin at police also sent to prison
Two men have been sent to prison for stirring up hatred and violence online after the Southport attack, in the first cases of their kind linked to the recent riots seen across the country.
Jordan Parlour, 28, was jailed for 20 months after pleading guilty to inciting racial hatred with Facebook posts in which he advocated an attack on a hotel in Leeds as part of the violent public disorder that swept England last week.
Continue reading...At Edinburgh fringe event, former first minister uses colourful language in recalling events that led to his resignation from Holyrood
The former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf has admitted that he “fucked up” by sacking the Greens from his government.
Earlier this year, the Greens forced a vote on the Bute House agreement – the alliance of the Scottish National party and the Greens – over the ditching of a key climate pledge.
Continue reading...Exclusive: London mayor warns law must be revisited ‘very, very quickly’ due to falsehoods that contributed to unrest
Laws designed to counter misinformation are “not fit for purpose” and must be revisited after the spread of online falsehoods contributed to this month’s far-right riots, the mayor of London has said.
Sadiq Khan, one of the UK’s most senior Muslim politicians, said ministers should act “very, very quickly” to review the Online Safety Act after the violent unrest in England and Belfast over the past week. There have been calls to hasten the act’s implementation.
Continue reading...Latest housing data show 151,630 children in temporary accommodation – the most since records began
More than 150,000 children in England are living in temporary accommodation, prompting calls for the government to address what it calls a “national scandal”.
Living in temporary accommodation is considered a form of homelessness and can involve people staying in hostel or bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation.
Continue reading...The Elon Musk-owned platform remains a vital tool for politicians despite misinformation about disorder in Britain
When Keir Starmer was running to be Labour leader in 2020, his aides seriously considered whether they should leave Twitter for good.
A number of those who remain close to Starmer as prime minister were then enthusiastic about moving off the platform. The party was still feeling wounded by the brutal election campaign and by the bitterness of the way it had been conducted on social media.
Continue reading...Anti-racism demonstrators turned out in large numbers on Wednesday, as threat of mass far-right disorder fizzled out
Prime minister Keir Starmer has resisted calls for parliament to be recalled, but the Northern Ireland assembly in Stormont will convene a plenary session today at noon to discuss recent scenes of violent disorder on the streets of Belfast.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is set to lead a rally outside the meeting in opposition to the rioting, PA Media reports.
We’re four weeks into a Labour government. One of our promises in the manifesto was we want to increase police numbers in neighbourhood policing. We think that’s been hollowed out over the last 14 years.
We know we’ve got a lot of young officers in service because there was a massive cut to the police in the last 14 years. At the tail end of the previous government, they did increase numbers again, but that’s a lot of young, inexperienced officers, who are doing a remarkable job, I have to say.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Zia Yusuf’s membership remained active until last week, when it was revoked after being pointed out by the Guardian
The chair of Reform UK, Zia Yusuf, was a member of the Conservatives until last week when party officials were approached by the Guardian.
Richard Fuller, the Conservative party chair, emailed Yusuf to tell him his membership had been revoked last Friday afternoon, after the Guardian asked the party whether it was still active.
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