Migrants at Work founder Aké Achi claims police failed to act on letter sent to his home warning of harm to his family
A leading modern slavery expert who pursues employers on behalf of exploited overseas workers, recovering thousands of pounds for them in the process, has received a threat on his life.
Aké Achi, founder and chief executive of Migrants at Work, an organisation which protects workers’ rights, says the letter was posted to his home.
Continue reading...Former work and pensions secretary joins James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat and Robert Jenrick in announcing he will stand
The cost of England’s four biggest killer diseases could rise to £86bn a year by 2050, prompting calls for a crackdown on alcohol, junk food and smoking.
The ageing population means the annual cost of cancer, heart disease, dementia and stroke combined will go from the £51.9bn recorded in 2018 to £85.6bn in 2050 – a rise of 61%.
More importantly, you must now come clean on where the axe will fall under your plans and whether you intend to cut public services, raise taxes or both – having previously denied you would do either.”
The excuses currently being lined-up will set alarm bells ringing that the Labour government plans to continue Tory cuts and public services will be starved of the cash they need – just as we have seen with the failure to scrap the two-child benefit cap this week.
The SNP is ready and willing to work in cooperation with the Labour government to deliver the change voters in Scotland were promised – but we also have a duty to stand up for Scotland’s interests and hold the Labour government to account where real change isn’t forthcoming.”
Continue reading...Chancellor may raise some taxes in the autumn due to what Labour describes as its ‘shocking inheritance’ from Tories
Rachel Reeves is expected to reveal a £20bn hole in government spending for essential public services on Monday, paving the way for potential tax rises in the autumn budget.
Labour sources said the blame lay with the Tory government, describing it as a “shocking inheritance” and accusing the former chancellor of “presiding over a black hole and still campaigning for tax cuts”.
Continue reading...Ed Miliband said GB Energy would be a crucial tool to tackle the UK’s energy security concerns
The former Lib Dem leader Vince Cable is testifying at the inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal today. My colleague Mark Sweney will be sharing updates on that in the live blog here:
“The days of government ministers waging culture wars against civil servants are over,” chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden, has said.
Yesterday I met the civil service unions together with my colleague, the new minister [Georgia Gould]. We had a very positive discussion covering a whole range of issues.
I made it clear that the days of government ministers waging culture wars against civil servants are over. Instead, we want a civil service that’s motivated, valued and helps the government deliver its priorities. And on this specific issue of pay, the government will have more to say on civil service pay before the summer recess.”
We do value civil servants, and of course we want all public servants to be properly and fairly rewarded, and, like any public expenditure, what’s spent on pay has to be balanced against other priorities and fair to taxpayers as a whole.”
Departments do have flexibility on pay, they can direct pay towards the needs of their own workforces.”
Continue reading...Morgan was only candidate to put herself forward to replace Vaughan Gething as Welsh Labour leader
Eluned Morgan has been confirmed as the new leader of Welsh Labour and is to become the first female first minister of Wales.
Lady Morgan, 57, the health secretary in the Labour-led Welsh government, was the only candidate to put herself forward to replace Vaughan Gething.
Continue reading...Labour leader quizzed by SNP on benefit cap after suspending seven Labour MPs over their stance on the issue
Cabinet secretary, Simon Case, is reportedly being advised to step down permanently from his role for health reasons at the end of this year, writes Politico.
The outlet reports:
According to people familiar with the matter, Case is likely to need to step down in the new year on the advice of doctors, who are continuing to treat him for a neurological condition diagnosed more than a year ago.
Case is currently working at full capacity, but the condition is affecting his mobility and he now walks with the aid of a stick.”
Continue reading...Report warns of crisis of poverty and mental health which ‘casts a shadow’ over young people’s wellbeing
Ministers have been urged to reform the benefits system to tackle child poverty, after a report found it to be a major cause of mental illness that “casts a shadow” over young people’s wellbeing.
The report, by the Centre for Mental Health, Save the Children UK and the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, found that the number of children living in poverty in the UK had increased to 4.3 million, while one in five children and young people aged between eight and 24 had a diagnosable mental health problem.
Continue reading...Shadow home secretary says he has ‘thought about personal contribution’ to the Tories and the UK as nominations open on Wednesday
James Cleverly has warned Tory leadership rivals not to “divide up and factionalise”, responding to Suella Braverman words that the Tories must not become “a collection of fanatical, irrelevant, centrist cranks”.
Cleverly told Sky News: “Trying to carve up and divide up and factionalise … is the wrong way of thinking.”
Continue reading...Ex-Labour leader initially planned to sell personal and political documents to Canadian university for £212,500
The former UK prime minister Harold Wilson agreed to sell his archive of private papers to help fund his care, official documents have revealed.
Papers released by the National Archives and identified by the BBC show Lord Wilson initially planned to sell the collection to McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, for £212,500 – the equivalent of about £700,000 in today’s money.
Continue reading...Former leader rallies pro-EU MPs who German ambassador says now vastly outnumber ERG group of Eurosceptic Tories
Neil Kinnock has delivered a rallying cry to pro-EU Labour MPs, telling them that “fortune favours the brave” when it comes to forging closer ties with Europe.
The “tide is shifting”, the former party leader told a reception of the Labour Movement for Europe (LME), where there was applause when Germany’s ambassador told of his delight that the grouping’s more than 100 MPs now vastly outnumbered the Conservatives’ European Research Group of Eurosceptic MPs.
Continue reading...Spokesperson cites ‘fiscal inheritance’ after apparent softening of position by Starmer and Phillipson
Keir Starmer was asked about his relationship with US vice-president Kamala Harris.
“Obviously in the first instance, it’s for the Democratic Party to decide who they want to put forward. It is then for the American people to decide who they want as their president.
Continue reading...Experts say 5.5% pay increase for public sector not ‘consistent’ with spending plans that rule out tax rises
Labour is fast approaching a moment of truth over its election pledges on tax and spending, experts have warned, after Rachel Reeves indicated the government could agree above-inflation pay rises for public sector staff.
The chancellor promised a full statement on pay board recommendations that teachers and NHS workers should receive 5.5% pay awards, ahead of an autumn budget that is set to be one of the most difficult economic balancing acts in years.
Continue reading...Keir Starmer under pressure to scrap limit as more than dozen MPs thought to support king’s speech amendment
Keir Starmer has come under further pressure to scrap the two-child benefit limit after another of his backbench MPs described the policy as “heinous”.
Writing in The Sunday Times, Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield said the cap, which came into effect under then-chancellor George Osborne in 2017, was “sinister and overtly sexist” and had been the main reason driving her to stand for parliament.
Continue reading...Minister pledges more sports and drama in curriculum review as row deepens over two-child benefit cap
• Interview Labour’s Bridget Phillipson: ‘I will help working-class pupils defy the odds to succeed’
Expanding opportunities for working-class children by broadening the school curriculum to include more sport, drama, art and music alongside core academic subjects will be top priorities for the Labour government, the new education secretary says today.
In her first newspaper interview since being appointed to the cabinet by Keir Starmer, Bridget Phillipson insists her aim is to “break the link between background and success”, and to ensure every child has the same level of opportunity, regardless of their parents’ means.
Continue reading...Previous UK government had built up backlog of 90,000 people whose claims it deemed ‘inadmissible’
Thousands of asylum seekers left in limbo for more than two years as they awaited a decision on the Rwanda scheme will now have their cases decided in the UK.
The decision, revealed during a high court challenge on Friday, is a sharp shift in position from the previous government, which had passed various laws declaring that the claims of those who arrived after January 2022 were “inadmissible” – and so could not be processed in the UK.
Continue reading...UK foreign secretary says he has talked to Trump running mate as he seeks to build bridges with senior Republicans
• UK politics live – latest updates
David Lammy has said he is already engaging with Donald Trump’s controversial running mate, JD Vance, and can identify with him because of their common working class and Christian backgrounds.
The British foreign secretary was speaking just hours after the possible future US vice-president reiterated his “America first” views, pledging to the Republican national convention (RNC) that he would not send US soldiers to war abroad unnecessarily.
Continue reading...New PM promises ‘patient work and serious solutions’ to restore trust in British politics
Keir Starmer has pledged to “fix the foundations” of the country for the long-term by boosting economic growth with reforms to energy and planning in Labour’s first king’s speech in a decade and a half.
The new prime minister said the government would require “patient work and serious solutions” to restore trust in British politics and rebuild the country, with 40 bills in the government’s new legislative programme.
Continue reading...PM meets Simon Harris at Chequers on eve of European Political Community gathering
Keir Starmer is hoping to reverse almost a decade of strained relations with Ireland over dinner with the taoiseach, Simon Harris, at Chequers on Wednesday on the eve of the biggest summit of European leaders in the UK.
Greeting Harris, Starmer said he was “very pleased to have this very early opportunity to, what I see as resetting, strengthening and deepening our relationship”.
Continue reading...There were more than 35 bills in Labour’s first king’s speech. So what does it tell us about the party’s ambitions? And with world events turning darker, can the euphoria around the Labour party last? The Guardian’s John Harris is joined by political editor Pippa Crerar and political correspondent Kiran Stacey
Continue reading...As Labour backbenchers call for Keir Starmer to scrap the cap, families reveal their struggles as a result of the two-child limit
Keir Starmer has launched a cross-government taskforce to tackle child poverty, but backbench Labour MPs are calling for the government to go further and scrap the two-child benefit cap. Here people reveal how the limit affects their families.
Alicia* is a mother of four children in Newcastle, and is separated from their father. She does everything she can to avoid going to collect a parcel from a food bank. She will often buy a big sack of potatoes and cook them in different ways throughout the week – jacket potatoes, fried chips, wedges – so her kids get variation. She often skips breakfast and lunch herself.
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