Labour peer says in meantime it is essential to try to reduce damage of Brexit deal struck by Boris Johnson
Peter Mandelson has suggested the UK could start talks on rejoining the EU in 10 years’ time, much earlier than Keir Starmer believes.
Lord Mandelson told an audience in Edinburgh the “truth is that [reversing Brexit] could be a conversation which starts in 10 years’ time”, but only if EU member states were willing to consider it.
Continue reading...Police discovered ‘much-loved’ Martin Forgie dead at property in Ellon on Wednesday
A 44-year-old man has been arrested after the death of a “much-loved” 36-year-old man in Aberdeenshire.
At about 8.35pm on Wednesday, police were called to a property in the town of Ellon, where Martin Forgie was found dead.
Continue reading...Willow was event’s surprise victor, and is now strategising for the world championships in Finland
Hannah Willow had little doubt what she wanted. She wanted the glory of being crowned Glasgow’s first champion tree hugger. And she got it.
“I thought it was just a charity event,” Willow said, after her triumph in the inaugural event on Sunday. “When I was told it was a competition my inner child took a somersault; I didn’t realise that until just before it started.
Continue reading...Trio face one more round of voting by MPs before party members have their say on final two
The prison system in England and Wales was “teetering on disaster” when Labour came to power, James Timpson, the prisons minister said today.
Speaking at his first Prison Governors’ Association conference in Nottingham since he took on the role, Timpson said:
It has not been easy to rehabilitate offenders in a system teetering on disaster.
We have to take the tough decisions bringing changes to release to ease the pressure on our prisons. It was quite frankly a rescue effort. If we had not acted our justice system would have grinded to a halt – we would have faced a total breakdown of law and order.
Unison said it has given notice to Perth and Kinross Council for strike action by members in schools and early years centres.
The union, which is the largest local government trade union in Scotland, hopes targeting the action in Swinney’s constituency will “bring home to him the importance of finding a fair settlement” to the council pay dispute.
Continue reading...Health leaders tell government to follow Scotland and Wales on cost of cheap booze after Darzi report on death toll
Ministers are facing pressure to introduce minimum unit pricing for alcohol after Lord Darzi’s investigation into the NHS highlighted the “alarming” death toll in England caused by cheap drink.
Public health leaders are this weekend calling for urgent action to increase the price of cheap alcohol in supermarkets and off-licences. A two-litre bottle of cider can be bought in England for under £2, which equates to 22p per unit of alcohol.
Continue reading...One year on, we speak to those who have lost more than 50 relatives and who call some ministers’ support for the Israeli government ‘shameful’
In September 2023, 45-year-old Mohammed Ghalayini travelled to Gaza from Manchester, where he had lived since 2004, to visit family. He was still there on 7 October when Hamas’s attack on Israel killed 1,200 people. In Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza – which to date has killed more than 41,000 people – he and his family were displaced multiple times, faced shortages of food and water, and endured the relentless sound of drones.
Ghalayini is now back in the north of England, but nearly a year into Israel’s war in Gaza, he says every day still brings bad news – whether from family members in WhatsApp messages, or in updates on Facebook, which has become like an “obituary page”. Ghalayini said he feels helpless.
Continue reading...Scottish standup posts video saying she is getting palliative care and will be going into a hospice
The comedian Janey Godley has revealed she is receiving end-of-life care after her terminal cancer spread.
The 63-year-old announced she would be getting palliative care and going into a hospice in a video shared on social media on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Further devolution next year will bring allowance under Scottish control just months before Holyrood elections
Scottish Labour believes access to the winter fuel allowance could be widened in Scotland as it tries to fight off its opponents’ attacks before the next Holyrood election.
Scotland will be able to decide which pensioners get the allowance from October next year under further devolution of benefits to Holyrood, eight months before a Scottish parliamentary election that Labour sees as critical to its revival.
Continue reading...Scotland secretary says Labour must show it deserves power in Holyrood by delivering on promises to electorate
Labour faces big challenges to win the next Scottish election because of the “dire” economic situation and the country’s volatile electorate, the Scotland secretary has said.
Ian Murray said the Labour government and the wider party had to accept they had “a big hill to climb” to regain power in Holyrood in elections scheduled for May 2026.
Continue reading...Council of Europe also calls for more support for Cornish, Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and Manx Gaelic
The UK is being urged by Europe’s leading human rights organisation to push ahead with strategies to promote the use of Irish and Ulster Scots languages in Northern Ireland despite continued tensions over the issue.
The Council of Europe experts also want to see the strengthening of teaching of all minority languages in the UK including Cornish, Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and Manx Gaelic in the Isle of Man.
Continue reading...Jagtar Singh Johal is being arbitrarily detained and targeted for his human rights activism, say campaigners
Delhi’s high court has denied bail to the British activist Jagtar Singh Johal, who has been imprisoned in India for nearly seven years, in seven cases brought against him by the country’s National Investigations Agency.
The ruling has shocked family and supporters who claim it should jolt the British government into recognising that Johal is not receiving justice at the hands of the Indian legal system.
Continue reading...Proposal for mega-resort on Lomond Banks turned down over concerns including loss of ancient woodland
Proposals by the theme park operator Flamingo Land to build a mega-resort on one of Scotland’s best-loved shorelines, on Loch Lomond, have been rejected, prompting celebrations among local people at the conclusion of a “David and Goliath” planning battle.
The Lomond Banks development, which would have included two hotels, more than 100 lodges, a waterpark and a monorail, had encountered fierce opposition, first from the village of Balloch, on the south-west shore of the loch, and then across Scotland, since it was first proposed in 2018.
Continue reading...Labour still more popular with voters than Conservative party but those saying they view party and leaders unfavourably has risen
The government’s defence review should consider the importance of Britain being able to “wage peace” as well as war, Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, told peers.
In a debate in the House of Lords on Sudan this morning, Welby said the strategic defence review (SDR) announced by Labour should include a “peace-building option”, to stop conflict before it happens.
A peace-building option, well developed and acting in areas of fragility, would extend our influence, protect our interests and guard against fresh waves of migration …
In other words, the SDR should be full spectrum, preparing this nation not only to wage war but to wage peace as well. I fear that may not be the case …
No, absolutely not
And let’s just try to quash this now. The budget is on October 30. So, between now and then, you are all going to ask me questions, as you did before the election, ‘will you rule out X, Y, Z?
Continue reading...Former home secretary finishes behind Mel Stride after only securing 14 votes
PMQs is starting soon. Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
Kemi Badenoch is the clear favourite of Conservative members for next leader, and will be very hard to beat if she makes it into the final ballot of two, according to a survey by ConservativeHome.
Continue reading...Shona Robison, Scottish finance secretary, says current financial situation facing Scottish government is ‘not sustainable’
Tom Tugendhat, the former security minister, is launching his campaign for the Tory leadership. There is a live feed here.
Tugendhat started by saying that he did not actually want the job, because he does not want to be leader of the opposition. He wants to be prime minister, he said.
Politics is not a game, and we all know the cost when government isn’t sober and serious. We saw it in the lives lost in Afghanistan and then in that wasted chaos of that withdrawal. We saw it during Covid, not just in the lost years of education that cost so many or the opportunities missed, or even in the grief for lost loved ones or those left to cope alone, but through the disrespect.
That’s why I’m standing before you today, because this country can change. We must change, and Britain deserves better, and we need a different government.
Continue reading...Greenpeace urges Labour to ‘fulfil international obligations’ as critics question accuracy of official data
The UK’s worst methane hotspots include the last coalmine, livestock farm clusters, landfills, power plants and North Sea oil and gas wells, according to an analysis.
The process has also thrown up serious doubts over the UK’s ability to calculate its methane emissions.
Continue reading...Lack of funding, resources and rehabilitation leads to ‘bored and angry’ prisoners, Wendy Sinclair-Gieben says
The prison system is “broken”, with inmates returning to the community “bored and angry” and “set up to fail”, according to Scotland’s outgoing chief inspector.
Wendy Sinclair-Gieben highlighted a succession of failings in a service she described as “the underdog of the criminal justice system”, as she stands down as HM chief inspector of prisons for Scotland at the end of August.
Continue reading...Lidded vessel is star object in rich Galloway Hoard and came from silver mine in what is now Iran
It is a star object of the Galloway Hoard, the richest collection of Viking-age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland, buried in AD900 and unearthed in a field in Scotland. Now a lidded silver vessel has been identified as being of west Asian origin, transported halfway around the world more than 1,000 years ago.
When it emerged from the ground a decade ago, the vessel was still wrapped in its ancient textiles, whose survival is extremely rare. Its surface could be seen only through X-ray scans. Since then, the textiles have been partially removed and preserved and the vessel has had laser cleaning to remove green corrosion over much of its silver surface. It has also undergone scientific analysis.
Continue reading...Commonwealth Games Scotland says it could host sporting event for a fraction of the Victorian government’s $6bn estimation
Victorian taxpayers could foot the bill for Scotland to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games using compensation money from dumping the event.
In July last year, the state government announced it would no longer host the 2026 Games, which were set to be held in regional cities, after former premier Daniel Andrews claimed forecast expenses had nearly doubled to at least $6bn.
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Continue reading...Planned 22 days of disrupted weekend services suspended with Aslef stating it has resolved a longstanding dispute
A series of weekend strikes by train drivers on LNER from Saturday has been called off, their trade union Aslef has announced.
Passengers travelling between London and Edinburgh had faced the prospect of months of disruption after LNER drivers earlier this month announced 22 days of industrial action from the start of September until early November.
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