Category Archives: Wales

MPs call for greater criticism of Israel’s policies over Gaza – UK politics live

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Palestinians trapped in a ‘doom loop of hell’, MPs told

At the end of last week Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary and runner-up in last year’s Tory leadership contest, said the child abuse grooming scandal started with “mass migration” and “importing hundreds of thousands of people from alien cultures, who possess medieval attitudes towards women”. In response Samuel Kasumu, a former Tory adviser on race issues, said that comments like that could lead to people being killed, while Kemi Badenoch defended her colleague.

In an inteview on the Today programme this morning, asked if Kasumu’s comments made him reconsider his views, Jenrick replied:

That’s complete nonsense. MPs have been killed in this country in recent times by a jihadist and by a neo-Nazi. They were killed because of the views of those individuals, not what anything an MP has said. We have to fight extremism in this country, wherever we find it, and you fight that by standing up to the extremists, you don’t fight it by shying away, by turning a blind eye, by looking the other way.

I’m not going to tiptoe around this issue. Millions of people in our country are listening to your programme this morning, and they are appalled by what is happening to young girls, and they are shocked that there might be girls in that situation today. We have to stop this.

I think some people who come from that country do. I’m not saying everybody.

NR: Did Sajid Javid’s family [the former Tory chancellor] come with a medieval culture to this county?

RJ: I’m saying some people do.

Robert Jenrick’s attempt to exploit this appalling scandal for his own political gain is completely shameless. He didn’t lift a finger to help the victims when a minister, now he’s jumping on the bandwagon and acting like a pound shop Farage.

Kemi Badenoch should sack him as shadow justice secretary and condemn his divisive comments, instead of letting him run a leadership campaign under her nose.

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UK weather warnings in place as country hit by snow and freezing rain – live updates

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Amber warnings for snow and freezing rain in place for much of Wales and England while second snow warning affects most of northern England

Some pictures of heavy snow from the Pennines

Heavy snow is threatening to postpone Manchester United’s Premier League game with Liverpool on Sunday.

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UK weather: power cuts, traffic chaos and cancelled flights due to heavy snow

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Closed roads, multi-vehicle collisions and train problems reported as Met Office warnings remain in place

Homes were left without power, roads were closed, cars stranded, and flights and train services disrupted on Saturday as heavy snow and freezing rain hit much of the UK.

The National Grid said on Saturday night that power was cut to properties across the Midlands, south-west England and south Wales, including Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff, and that work was under way to get services restored.

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Labour goes slow on rape courts pledge amid fears over shortage of lawyers

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Election manifesto promise to set up specialist tribunals to deal with huge backlog of cases has been put on hold

The government appears to have stalled on plans to set up dozens of specialist rape courts to deal with a huge backlog of cases, amid warnings there are not enough lawyers to make the proposals work.

Labour pledged during the election campaign to use vacant rooms and buildings on crown court sites to fast-track rape cases and reduce the numbers awaiting trial.

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Ice warning and travel alerts in UK as temperatures drop after flooding

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Disruption expected as rain turns to snow, after major flooding incident declared in Greater Manchester

An ice warning is in force for much of the UK as temperatures have dropped, after a major incident was declared due to flooding.

The yellow Met Office warning indicates there could be some difficult travel conditions across Scotland, Northern Ireland and north Wales, and stretching down to the Midlands, until 10am on Thursday.

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Welsh ambulance service declares ‘critical incident’ after demand soars

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Patients waiting many hours for ambulances to arrive, while those phoning 999 struggle to get through

A “critical incident” was declared by the Welsh ambulance service on Monday evening due to significantly increased demand and extensive handover delays.

The ambulance service, which covers 3 million-plus people across Wales, said more than 340 calls were waiting to be answered at the time the critical incident was declared.

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UK weather: Storm Darragh to bring 80mph gusts as amber wind warning issued

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Fourth named storm of the season follows concern over lack of flooding warnings for Storm Bert last week

An amber warning for wind has been issued for large parts of the UK, with power cuts and flying debris possible amid the arrival of the fourth named storm of the season.

Storm Darragh is expected to bring gusts of up to 80mph and heavy rain late on Friday and into Saturday.

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MPs back PR bill in vote, a symbolic win for electoral reform campaigners – UK politics live

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MPs vote to give leave to bring in private members’ bill on PR but it will have no practical effect

Lord Robertson, the former Labour defence secretary and former Nato secretary who is leading the government’s strategic defence review, is giving evidence to the Commons defence committee. He has told MPs that the Americans are being fully consulted about the review. This is from Shashank Joshi, the Economist’s defence editor.

Listening to George Robertson & Richard Barrons, who are writing the UK’s defence review alongside Fiona Hill, giving evidence to the Commons defence committee. They’re in “constant contact” with allies, Robertson says, and have a US officer on the review team.

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Water firms push for higher shareholder returns as Ofwat considers bills increase

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Companies say higher returns are needed to ensure record infrastructure investment across industry is delivered

Water companies want to see higher returns for shareholders to ensure record investment into sewage infrastructure, pipes and treatment plants is delivered.

As Ofwat, the water regulator for England and Wales, prepares to announce its decision on how much customer bills will be allowed to rise by to fund tens of billions of pounds in investment across the industry, water companies said higher returns were needed.

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Man has ‘finely tuned’ plan to find £500m bitcoin thrown in tip, Cardiff court told

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James Howells seeking go-ahead to search for hard drive that was accidentally thrown into landfill in 2013

For more than a decade, a computer expert from Newport in south Wales has doggedly fought to recover £500m of bitcoin he says was accidentally thrown into a council tip.

James Howells’ bid to become extremely rich reached a judge on Tuesday with a team of lawyers arguing that it was still possible to launch a hunt for his missing hard drive containing the bitcoin.

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MPs across divide call for better palliative care after assisted dying vote

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Layla Moran and Diane Abbott say end-of-life care needs more funding after bill passed for England and Wales

MPs on both sides of the debate over assisted dying have called for improvements to palliative care, regardless of whether parliament eventually enacts legalisation.

Layla Moran, who supported the bill at its second reading on Friday, and Diane Abbott, who did not, agreed that more funding was required to improve end-of-life care during a joint-interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

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MPs back landmark bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales

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Terminally ill adults with less than six months to live will be given right to die under proposed legislation

MPs have taken a historic step toward legalising assisted dying in England and Wales by backing a bill that would give some terminally ill people the right to end their own lives.

Campaigners in favour of the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill said it was a significant move towards giving people more choice over the way they die, after the Commons backed the bill by 330 votes for to 275 against.

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Ex-activist says FBI offered him deal to inform on fugitive arrested in Wales

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Peter Young says agency sought information from him about Daniel Andreas San Diego, who was on ‘most wanted terrorists’ list

A former animal rights activist who was on the run from the FBI for more than seven years claims that he was offered a deal to inform on one of the organisation’s most wanted fugitives who was arrested this week in Wales.

Peter Young, 47, who now lives in Boulder, Colorado, went on the run after being indicted in 1998 over a string of fur farm raids across three states the previous year. He was jailed in the US for two years in 2005 after spending years hiding from the FBI in the UK.

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Storm Bert flooded 500 properties in England and Wales

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Welsh first minister to ask UK government for more money to make coal tips safe after Cwmtillery landslip

More than 500 homes and businesses were flooded across Wales and England during Storm Bert, it has emerged, as forecasters issued another severe weather warning for rain in parts of southern Britain.

In Wales, the first minister, Eluned Morgan, said 400 homes had been damaged as well as businesses and infrastructure, and reviews were being done to find out why some householders appeared not to have received warnings in time.

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Wales may introduce visitor levy for people staying overnight

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Proposal would give councils option to charge 75p-£1.25 a night to help alleviate pressure on local services

People who stay in Wales overnight, including children, are set to be charged a visitor levy under a scheme that could raise up to £33m a year to be ploughed back into tourism and culture.

All visitors would be charged 75p a night to stay in campsites and hostels and £1.25 for all other accommodation including hotels, B&Bs and holiday lets.

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Storm Bert: roads and trainlines blocked with reports of lack of warning for communities – live updates

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Natural Resources Wales to investigate whether sufficient warnings of Storm Bert and the flooding it caused were given to people in advance

Northamptonshire Police have warned people in the area “while the flooding remains ongoing, please avoid all unnecessary travel and do not drive through floodwater of any depth – it is not worth the risk.”

In Yate in the west of England, BBC Bristol reports that about 100 properties were flooded overnight, and residents had to be evacuated.

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Storm Bert: forecasterse and politicians criticised after devastating floods

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Critics claim warnings and defences were inadequate but Met Office says storm was ‘well forecast’

Weather forecasters and politicians have come in for strong criticism after hundreds of homes and businesses across the UK suffered devastating flooding in Storm Bert but the Met Office has said it issued sufficient warning.

There were growing complaints in south Wales, one of the areas most heavily hit, that the Met Office issued only a yellow warning, rather than an amber or red, and that not enough new defences had been put in place by the Welsh government since storms last wreaked havoc in the area four years ago.

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Several people killed amid ‘unprecedented’ flooding as Storm Bert batters Britain

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Rhondda Cynon Taf declares emergency as at least four deaths reported across England and Wales

Several people have been killed as Storm Bert battered the UK, with a major incident declared in south Wales.

At least four deaths have been reported in England and Wales since the storm hit amid flooding brought by heavy rain and thawing snow. Thousands of homes have been left without power.

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Millions of tourists in UK could be asked to pay local visitor levy

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Councils, politicians and campaigners hope a ‘tourist tax’ would raise money to fund services in areas affected by high visitor numbers

Millions of tourists to the UK could soon be asked to pay a local visitor levy as cash-strapped councils try to raise money to fund services.

Nearly half of Scotland’s local councils are considering a mandatory levy on overnight stays, known as a tourist tax, to help cope with a surge in visitors that has overwhelmed places such as Skye, the Callanish stones on Lewis and Orkney’s neolithic sites.

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Ministers speaking out against assisted dying ‘are giving false impression’, says peer

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Labour’s Charlie Falconer says vocal opponents are leading voters to think government is against change

Senior ministers who have spoken out against assisted dying are giving voters a “false impression” about the government’s position, a leading proponent of changing the law has said.

Charlie Falconer, a Labour peer and former justice secretary, said opponents to the change were “getting more coverage” because ministers in favour of legalising assisted dying were “playing by the rules”.

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