David Coburn, who was leader of Ukip in Scotland, denies involvement after Nathan Gill jailed for taking bribes
A former leading member of the group of MEPs headed by Nigel Farage has denied taking money as part of a campaign to promote Russian interests.
David Coburn, who was leader of Ukip in Scotland for four years, was responding after the jailing of his former colleague, Nathan Gill, on charges of being bribed by an alleged pro-Russian asset.
Continue reading...PM says: ‘We kept to our manifesto in terms of what we’ve promised. But I accept the challenge that we’ve asked everybody to contribute’
The Conservative party is attacking the budget on the grounds that Rachel Reeves is putting up taxes supposedly to fund more spending on benefit claimants. Even though the rationale for this claim is questionable, the Tories were making it before the budget was announced, and Kemi Badenoch firmed it up last night, claiming it was a “Benefits Street budget”.
On LBC this morning, asked if the budget meant “alarm clock Britain paying for Benefits Street”, Reeves said she did not accept that. She said 60% of the families that would benefit from the removal of the two-child benefit cap (the most expensive welfare announcement in the budget) were in work.
I don’t think children should be punished by this pernicious policy any longer. And the cost to society of this is huge, the cost for councils of temporary accommodation, when people can no longer afford the rent, putting families in B&Bs, kids having to move to school all the time because parents have moved from B&B to another lot of temporary accommodation, and there’s costs for years to come, because all the evidence shows that kids that are growing up poor are less likely to get into work and more reliant on the welfare state in the future for them.
So this is a good investment in those kids, to give them the chances that I want for my kids, and everyone wants for their kids. It also saves money for taxpayers on that accommodation, on those additional health costs, and ensuring that those kids grow up to be productive adults.
Continue reading...Environmental charity Fidra says 168 of 195 SSSIs it surveyed are contaminated with tiny pellets
Plastic nurdles have been found in 84% of important nature sites surveyed in the UK.
Nurdles are tiny pellets that the plastics industry uses to make larger products. They were found in 168 of 195 sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs), so named because of the rare wildlife they harbour. They are given extra protections in an effort to protect them from pollution.
Continue reading...Celebrations to McLean’s jaw-dropping goal picked up by seismic activity monitors at Glasgow Geothermal Observatory
When Scotland qualified for the men’s football World Cup for the first time in 28 years, supporters were propelled into wild celebration – and even made the earth move in the process.
According to the British Geological Survey (BGS), when Kenny McLean scored from the halfway line to seal a breathtaking 4-2 win over Denmark, which are ranked 18 places higher in the world than Scotland, the reaction at Hampden Park was equivalent to a very small earthquake.
Continue reading...Supreme court ruled ‘rape shield’ laws to limit intrusive cross-examination may breach men’s right to fair trial
Scotland’s most senior law officer has moved to reassure victims of sexual abuse that they will be protected after a supreme court ruling warned that Scottish laws designed to limit intrusive cross-examination could be breaching men’s right to a fair trial.
In a strongly worded statement, the lord advocate, Dorothy Bain KC, said: “I would like to make clear that I understand sexual abuse inflicted upon women and children to be the single greatest challenge our justice system faces.
Continue reading...Fallout from extraordinary briefing operation against Wes Streeting continues as calls grow for Starmer to sack his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney
Haroon Siddique is the Guardian’s legal affairs correspondent.
Five UN experts have written to ministers criticising the ban on Palestine Action as something that would be expected in an authoritarian regime rather than a liberal democracy.
In the work of UN experts in monitoring counter-terrorism laws globally, abuse of laws to proscribe organisations as terrorist that are not genuinely so has more commonly occurred in states that are authoritarian and lack legal and political cultures of respect for human rights, legality, due process and independent judicial safeguards, in order to target civil society organisations, human rights defenders, political dissidents and minorities.
It is deeply concerning that such practices appear to have spread to a number of liberal democracies. Organisations must never be listed as terrorist for engaging in protected speech or legitimate activities in defence of human rights.
We are concerned that proscription and its consequences result in unnecessary and disproportionate restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, and the rights to take part in public affairs and to liberty.
The Scottish government’s tax decisions enable us to deliver higher investment in the NHS and policies like free tuition not available anywhere else in the UK.
Continue reading...Lammy, standing in for Keir Starmer, avoided answering questions on the mistaken release during PMQs
David Lammy starts by saying the PM is in Brazil.
He says the thoughts of all MPs are still with the victims of the appalling attacks in Huntingdon and Peterborough, where, he says, he was at school for seven years.
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Mark Sedwill, the former cabinet secretary and former national security adviser, goes next. He is now a peer, and a member of the committee.
He says the deputy national security adviser, Matthew Collins, thought there was enough evidence for the case to go ahead. But the CPS did not agree. Who was right?
In 2017, the Law Commission flagged that the term enemy [in the legislation] was deeply problematic and it would give rise to difficulties in future prosecutions.
And I think what has played out, during this prosecution exemplifies and highlights the difficulties with that.
Continue reading...A charismatic, tweed-wearing grower from Perthshire falsely claimed to be able to create thriving tea plantations in Scotland. His elaborate deception took in luxury hotels, media outlets and tea growers across the country
With its large silver pouch, artistic label and delicate leaves, Dalreoch Scottish white tea might be expected to grace elegant cups with saucers, perhaps with a scone served on the side. Instead, it is nestled with an array of numbered polythene packets in a room just off a laboratory at the University of Aberdeen.
This is not an ordinary afternoon tea but evidence in a crime that science helped solve.
Continue reading...Dundee firefighters request return of donated appliance to avoid Nablus officials having to pay £16,000 Ashdod holding fees
A fully equipped fire engine donated by Dundee firefighters to their counterparts in the West Bank city of Nablus could be sent back to Scotland after being impounded for more than a year by Israeli authorities.
Firefighters in Dundee, which is twinned with Nablus, have regularly donated kit, equipment and medical supplies to the West Bank over the past 15 years, as well as bringing Palestinian firefighters to Scotland for training.
Continue reading...The hit Scottish comedy about suburban neighbours will move from screen to stage next year at Glasgow’s Hydro
Two Doors Down, the BBC comedy series about a suburban Scottish couple with constantly knocking neighbours, is to be brought to the stage.
Unusually, it will make that journey with the full cast from the hit TV show intact. Alex Norton and Arabella Weir will reprise their roles as Eric and Beth, whose house on Latimer Crescent is consistently besieged by the street’s residents, usually expecting a drink or two. Elaine C Smith will return as the oversharing Christine, and Doon Mackichan and Jonathan Watson are reuniting as a flashy couple, with an unhealthy interest in everyone’s intimate business. The younger couple on the street will again be played by Graeme Stevely and Joy McAvoy, while Jamie Quinn will be back as Eric and Beth’s son, Ian, with standup Kieran Hodgson once more playing his partner, Gordon.
Continue reading...Nicholas Rossi, who fled US, receives first of two sentences after being convicted of raping two women in Utah in 2008
A judge has sentenced a Rhode Island man who appeared to fake his death and flee the United States to avoid arrest of at least five years in prison for rape.
The sentence handed down Monday for Nicholas Rossi, 38, was the first of two he faces after being convicted separately in August and September of raping two women in northern Utah in 2008. He is scheduled to be sentenced in November for the second conviction.
Continue reading...FoI data shows 180,000 students and graduates weighed down by private debt amid cost of living crisis
Students have accrued nearly £500m in “hidden debts” to their universities, including library fines, unpaid accommodation and support loans, according to figures that highlight the cost of living crisis on UK campuses.
The figures from freedom of information requests sent to 148 UK universities showed that 180,000 students and graduates owe private debts totalling £486m to universities, averaging about £2,650 each.
Continue reading...Members overwhelmingly endorse leadership motion that majority at next Holyrood election is only route to second vote
SNP members have overwhelmingly backed leader John Swinney’s “clear and unambiguous” independence strategy that a majority election win is the only route to another referendum.
On the first day of the party’s annual conference in Aberdeen, the vast majority of members backed the leadership’s motion that next May’s Holyrood elections should be fought on a “clear platform of national independence” and that winning a majority in the Scottish parliament – by securing 65 seats or more – would be “the only uncontested way to deliver a new vote on Scotland’s future”.
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Voting in the Labour deputy leadership election opens today. Lucy Powell, the former Commons leader, is seen as the favourite and, as Jessica Elgot reports, Powell told supporters yesterday that, if she is elected, she will use the post to argue for changes in the way the government is operating. “We can’t sugarcoat the fact that things aren’t going well,” she said.
Powell is no longer a government minister and, if she is elected deputy leader, she will do the job from the backbenches. In an interview on Newsnight last night, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary standing against Powell, said a Powell victory would be “destabilising” for the party. She said:
[Electing Powell] risks destabilising the party … we best achieve what we need to do together when we have those fierce conversations, including disagreements, behind closed doors.
Members need to understand that there’s a potential challenge around all of that – that if you’re not inside when the big decisions are being made, you’re not at that table, you’re not in those conversations.
Continue reading...Man dies in ‘weather-related incident’ in Co Donegal, while Met Office issues yellow wind warning for whole of UK
A man has died and a fresh weather warning covers the whole of the UK as Storm Amy continues to bring widespread disruption.
Irish police said the man died in a “weather-related” incident in the Letterkenny area of County Donegal, Ireland, shortly after 4.15pm on Friday.
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The Environment Agency has issued two flood alerts where “flooding is expected” for Keswick Campsite in the Lake District and locations near the River Ure, particularly around Boroughbridge Camping and Caravanning Site in North Yorkshire.
“Avoid using low-lying footpaths and any bridges near local watercourses. Take care and avoid walking, cycling or driving through flood water,” it advises.
Continue reading...Schools encouraged to also offer gender-neutral facilities for trans pupils or access to disabled and staff toilets
Schools must provide separate toilets and changing rooms for boys and girls to be used on the basis of a pupil’s biological sex, the Scottish government has said in updated guidance.
Transgender pupils can no longer use “the facilities they feel most comfortable with”, as was previously the case, but schools were encouraged to offer gender-neutral facilities or access to disabled and staff toilets for the relatively small number of children affected.
Continue reading...Mayor of Greater Manchester says he would have to be ‘wrenched’ out of city and says he wants UK to rejoin EU. This live blog is closed
In her Today interview Rachel Reeves was asked about a FT report saying she will urge business leaders to highlight the risks of a Reform UK government in her speech later.
The FT say Reeves will tell the Labour conference.
Who is standing up for Britain’s stability. A Labour government that is resolute in cutting interest rates and borrowing or a Reform party that cheered on Liz Truss’ mini-budget?
Who is standing up for Britain’s businesses? A Labour government that is forging a closer relationship with our nearest trading partners or a Reform party that talks Britain down and is hungry to cut us off from the world?
Continue reading...Exclusive: Author challenges assumption monks on Iona created manuscript, instead positing its origins are Pictish
The Book of Kells was likely to have been created 1,200 years ago in Pictish eastern Scotland, rather than on the island of Iona, according to research that challenges long-held assumptions about one of the world’s most famous medieval manuscripts.
The Book of Kells is an intricate, illuminated account of the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that was long thought to have been started in the late eighth century at the monastery on Iona before being taken in the 9th century to the monastery of Kells in County Meath, Ireland, after a Viking raid.
The Book of Kells by Victoria Whitworth (Bloomsbury Publishing, £35). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
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