UK News and Discussions

[Time_Traveller]

UK security services must seek approval to access telecoms data, judges rule

Fri 24 Jun 2022

The security and intelligence services must acquire “prior independent authorisation” to obtain people’s communications data from telecom providers, a civil rights campaign group has said, after it won a high court challenge.

Liberty hailed a “landmark victory” and said two judges ruled it was unlawful for MI5, MI6 and GCHQ to obtain individuals’ communications data from telecom providers without having prior independent authorisation during criminal investigations.

Lord Justice Singh and Mr Justice Holgate delivered their ruling on Friday after considering Liberty’s challenge at a high court hearing in London. The campaign group took legal action against the Home Office and Foreign Office, with the litigation the latest stage of a wider challenge to provisions of the 2016 Investigatory Powers Act.

The Liberty lawyer Megan Goulding said: “This judgment is a major victory in the fight against mass surveillance. The court has agreed that it’s too easy for the security services to get their hands on our data. From now on, when investigating crime, MI5, MI6 and GCHQ will have to obtain independent authorisation before being able to access our communications data.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... udges-rule

[Time_Traveller]

‘The game is up’: Tory rebels see fresh opportunity to oust Boris Johnson

Fri 24 Jun 2022

While Boris Johnson was in Rwanda, having an early-morning swim in the luxurious pool of the conference hotel, his Tory critics were already planning another go at ousting him.

The backbench plotters had previously been despondent about the prospects of kicking Johnson out after he narrowly won a confidence vote of his MPs and the cabinet rallied round him.

But they have been given fresh hope of removing him in the coming weeks because of renewed anger and incredulity among Tory MPs about the disastrous byelection results, as well as the scandal over attempts to get a government job for his then girlfriend and now wife, Carrie Johnson. “It’ll be a random walk, but we’ll get there erelong,” said one former cabinet minister cheerfully.

Johnson’s No 10 aides insist he still has scope to turn things around by being “humble” and accepting that more needs to change while not “over-panicking” about midterm results. However, there was evidence on Friday that even some of Johnson’s erstwhile backers believe his time may soon be up. “It wouldn’t do him any harm if he wanted to look in the mirror. He needs to ask himself: have I got the stomach for this, and am I going to be able to do this. Is it me?” said one Tory MP and grandee who has been supportive of the prime minister up until now.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ion-losses

[Time_Traveller]

Boris Johnson eyeing up THIRD term that would keep him in power until 'mid-2030s'

25 Jun 2022

Brazen Boris Johnson has said he is “thinking actively” about a THIRD term in office - that would last until the “mid-2030s”.

Despite two by-election drubbings, the shameless Prime Minister claimed questions over his leadership were “settled” and declared he would win the next general election.

“Will I win? Yes,” he said of a 2024 poll.

And asked by the Sunday Mirror if he’d still like to serve a full second term to 2028 or 2029, he boasted: “Well look, at the moment I am thinking actively about the third term.

“And you know, what could happen then. But I will review that when I get to it.”

Asked what exactly he was thinking about, he told reporters during a Commonwealth summit in Rwanda: “About the third term - you mean this is the mid-2030s.”

Boris Johnson has only been PM since July 2019, less time than Theresa May, and is in his first full term of office following the December 2019 election.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/ ... d-27327549

Johnson is definitely delusional and can't be voted back in 2024 especially going into the 2030s.

[Time_Traveller]

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab says criminal barrister strikes are 'regrettable' as first walkout begins

Monday 27 June

Criminal barristers will stage court walkouts for several days from today, a move which the justice secretary has described as "regrettable".

The lawyers are taking industrial action over legal aid funding and will refuse to accept new cases and to carry out "return work" - stepping in and picking up hearings and other work when colleagues are on cases which overrun.

The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) represents barristers in England and Wales and said around 81.5% of its 2,000 members voted on the ballot.

Those who voted for walkouts also supported the option to refuse new cases.

In a statement released on the eve of the strikes, Dominic Raab - who was a trainee solicitor at Magic Circle law firm Linklaters in 2000 - said: "It's regrettable that the Criminal Bar Association is striking, given only 43.5% of their members voted for this particular, most disruptive, option.

"I encourage them to agree the proposed 15% pay rise which would see a typical barrister earn around £7,000 more a year.

https://news.sky.com/story/justice-secr ... s-12640917

Oh look, another walkout to do with pay rise.

[Time_Traveller]

South London tram drivers’ strike to follow national rail walkout

Mon 27 Jun 2022

Tram drivers in south London are to become the latest rail staff to strike when they walk out for 48 hours on Tuesday in a dispute over pay.

About 150 members of the Aslef union on the London Trams network, formerly known as the Croydon Tramlink, have rejected a 3% offer from operator FirstGroup.

The move comes after a week of rail strikes across the country by members of the RMT union at Network Rail and 13 train operators. Talks between the union and rail industry bosses to avert further strikes were continuing on Monday.

Finn Brennan, Aslef’s organiser in London, said the pay offer to tram drivers would mean a real-terms wage cut for people already struggling to deal with rising bills. He said: “Our members do a difficult and demanding job, working round-the-clock shifts over 364 days of the year. They deserve a fair pay settlement.”

He said FirstGroup’s profits had soared and it was returning £500m to shareholders as well as paying its chief executive £840,000 last year. While the trams are funded by Transport for London, Brennan said the company “prefers to use the money it gets from TfL to funnel cash to shareholders, and wealthy executives, rather than pay its staff a fair wage”.

A spokesperson for First Group’s Tram Operations Ltd said: “It’s hard to understand how Aslef can justify going out on strike, having benefited from a change in terms equivalent to a 5%-plus rise only in November. Aslef should call off these strikes and return to negotiations.”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... ional-rail

[Time_Traveller]

UK doctors demand pay rise of up to 30% over five years

Mon 27 Jun 2022

Doctors have thrown down the gauntlet to the government by calling for a pay rise of up to 30% over the next five years, in a move that increases the chances of strike action.

Delegates at the British Medical Association’s (BMA) annual conference voted to press ministers to agree to the increase to make up for real-terms cuts to their salaries over the last 14 years.

Some doctors who supported the motion cited striking rail workers as an inspiration for how groups of workers should pursue pay claims with Boris Johnson’s administration.

Last week members of the RMT union staged three stoppages, while teaching unions threatened strike action if their pay was not increased by more than inflation.

Frontline doctors said years of pay freezes and annual salary uplifts of 1% had caused the real value of their take-home pay to fall by almost a third since 2008. They now want “full pay restoration” to return the value of their pay to 2008 levels, and have instructed the BMA to pursue that goal with a government that has made clear it will not hand public sector workers sizeable salary increases in case it fuels already rampant inflation.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... five-years

[Time_Traveller]

Channel 4 working on new ITN deal as bosses fight privatisation plan

Tue 28 Jun 2022

Channel 4 is preparing to sign a deal to keep its news programme on air for the next five years, meaning any new private sector owner could be locked into producing a show that has repeatedly angered Conservative ministers.

It comes as the broadcaster’s management team engage in an uneasy dance over its future, with the government increasingly annoyed that they are openly fighting attempts at privatisation.

“Name me one other company where the executives would be able to go out and actively oppose their shareholders,” said one government source, who suggested it would not be tolerated for much longer.

According to individuals involved in the process, Channel 4 is in a state of “phoney war” before publication of the government’s detailed plans on privatisation, expected in July. Parliament will then be asked to approve the proposals as part of a wider piece of media legislation in the autumn, with a sale potentially taking place in early 2023.

Among the potential bidders is the actor Idris Elba, who sources said was in early discussions with the TV production company Miroma. Both parties stressed their affection for the channel and a keenness for it to stay British.

The fate of Channel 4 is increasingly linked to Boris Johnson’s ability to remain as prime minister – and the ability of external lobby groups, TV industry representatives and actors to win the support of backbench Conservative MPs.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/ ... ation-plan

[Time_Traveller]

Life for those who kill emergency workers among criminal justice reforms coming into force

Tuesday 28 June 2022

Mandatory life sentences for those who kill emergency workers are among criminal justice reforms designed to "make our streets safer" coming into force today.

The changes also toughen sentences for those guilty of pre-meditated child murder.

In such cases a whole-life tariff - where offenders are told they will never be released - will be the starting point when judges consider sentences.

In addition, the Ministry of Justice said, it is ending the automatic early release of offenders deemed to be a danger to the public.

There are also measures to protect women and girls, with a new offence of taking non-consensual photographs or videos of breastfeeding women punishable by up to two years in prison.

Meanwhile, the time limit for prosecutions of domestic abuse related common assault and battery charges will be altered from six months from the date of the offence to six months from the date it is reported to the police - up to a maximum of two years from the offence.

https://news.sky.com/story/life-for-tho ... e-12641468

[Time_Traveller]

Heathrow warns on investment as regulator eyes reduction in passenger charges

Tuesday 28 June 2022

Heathrow Airport has warned that a proposed reduction in the amount of money it can charge airlines per passenger would result in a major reduction in investment.

In its final proposals revealed on Tuesday, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the average maximum charge - which is passed on to passengers in their air fare - should fall from its COVID crisis level of £30.19 to £26.31 in 2026.

The airport had sought a range between £32 to £43 - bitterly opposed by airlines including BA and Virgin Atlantic which argued that the west London hub airport was already the most expensive to operate from.

The CAA said the proposed pricing reflected "expected increases in passenger numbers as the recovery from the pandemic continues and the higher level of the price cap in 2022, which was put in place in 2021 to reflect the challenges from the pandemic at the time".

It said that when the effects of inflation were removed, the proposed cap levels were equivalent to nearly a 6% reduction every year from today's level up to 2026 and would be "affordable" for consumers amid the cost of living crisis.

https://news.sky.com/story/heathrow-war ... s-12641613

[Time_Traveller]

Population revealed in census shows it has grown by 6.3% in the last 10 years

Tuesday 28 June

The population of England and Wales has grown by more than 3.5 million (6.3%) in 10 years, from 56.1 to 59.6 million, new census data reveals.

There are now more people aged 65 and over than ever before - accounting for 18.6% of the population, compared to 16.4% in 2011, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show.

Since the last census on 27 March that year, populations have increased in all English regions and in Wales - with the East of England experiencing the highest growth - an increase of 8.3%, or roughly 488,000 residents.

Separate census data for Northern Ireland shows a 5% increase in its population - from 92,200 in 2011 to a record 1.9 million in 2021. Scotland's census will not be published until next year.

The local authorities where the population has decreased the most are both in London. In Kensington and Chelsea it fell by 9.6% and in Westminster it went down by 6.9%.

By contrast, Tower Hamlets, in east London, experienced the highest population growth (an increase of 22.1%), followed by Dartford in Kent (20%).

https://news.sky.com/story/uk-populatio ... s-12641686

[Time_Traveller]

Labour MP in bid to include right to abortion in British bill of rights

Tue 28 Jun 2022

The Labour MP Stella Creasy has said she will table an amendment to the forthcoming British bill of rights to give women the fundamental right to an abortion.

Creasy said she would expect MPs to be given a free vote on the issue, as a matter of conscience. She told the Guardian the amendment would be tabled when the bill is published at second reading.

“Most women in the UK do not realise abortion is not a right but there is only a law giving exemption from prosecution in certain circumstances,” she said. “What the US teaches us is that we cannot be complacent about entrenching those rights in law.”

In a complex legal situation, only women in Northern Ireland have the guaranteed right to an abortion, after an amendment backed by MPs at Westminster in 2019 to the NI executive formation bill.

Despite that, abortions in Northern Ireland remain difficult to access. The UK government has put in place a legal framework for the services but so far they remain restricted due to an impasse at Stormont.

In England and Wales, the 1967 Abortion Act made terminations legal in Great Britain up to 24 weeks in most circumstances. But the law is framed in terms that mean abortion is not a right, but an exception when two doctors agree it would be risky for the mental or physical health of the woman. That phrasing has come under renewed scrutiny from campaigners.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... -of-rights

[Time_Traveller]

Mirror, Express and local newspapers face strike risk as NUJ rejects pay offer

Tue 28 Jun 2022

Production of the Mirror, Express and hundreds of local newspapers could be disrupted by strike action after their parent company, Reach, said it could offer staff only a 3% pay rise.

The National Union of Journalists has rejected the offer. It said its members were already having to shoulder the burden of extra domestic energy costs after Reach closed the vast majority of its offices during the pandemic. Many reporters now work permanently from home.

The union said profits at the company, which owns major regional titles including the Manchester Evening News and the Liverpool Echo, had surged in 2021, when it paid its chief executive, Jim Mullen, a total package worth £4m.

David Higgerson, a senior Reach executive, told MPs on Tuesday that his boss’s pay was not excessive for the private sector, but confirmed that reporters on the group’s regional newspapers earned £21,000 a year, with the potential for senior staff to get £25,000.

MPs pointed out that this was not enough to start repaying the student debt that many young journalists had accumulated in order to enter the profession. At a meeting of the Commons digital, culture, media and sport committee in Cardiff, they questioned whether clickbait articles on local news sites were undermining traditional public interest journalism.

Higgerson accepted that some of his staff were concerned about the use of click targets as part of their job appraisals, but insisted that many readers liked viral articles. “What sometimes gets dismissed as trivial is actually quite important to a lot of our readers,” he said.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/ ... -pay-offer

[Time_Traveller]

That backfired! Steve Bray’s legal fund balloons after police confiscate speakers

2022-06-29

Steve Bray’s legal fund has ballooned after police officers confiscated his amplifiers outside Parliament Square.

On Tuesday afternoon, a group of officers swooped on the “Stop Brexit Man” Steve Bray after they said he was protesting too loudly.

Bray was told that under the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act, which came into force earlier in the day, he was forbidden from holding a noisy protest within a designated area outside the Houses of Parliament.

The top hat-wearing demonstrator is often seen in the area playing loud music in a protest sometimes coinciding with Prime Minister’s Questions.

In social media footage, Mr Bray, who was surrounded by banners and European Union flags, could be seen struggling with officers and telling them “hands off” as they attempted to take the amplifiers.

An officer could be heard responding: “You’ve already been warned not to turn it on.”

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/polit ... rs-327877/

[Time_Traveller]

More healthcare to go online in England under digitisation plan

Wed 29 Jun 2022

People in England will receive more healthcare treatments online, enabling them to check NHS records, receive messages from their GP and attend virtual wards, under government plans to digitise healthcare.

Ministers hope that the expansion of technology will free up hospital beds and clinician time by enabling doctors and nurses to monitor about 500,000 people remotely.

The plan for digital health and social care, published on Wednesday, also sets out how patients will be able to manage hospital appointments, book Covid vaccines and have virtual consultations through the NHS app, which 28 million people now have, by March 2023.

The health secretary, Sajid Javid, said: “We are embarking on a radical programme of modernisation that will make sure the NHS is set up to meet the challenges of 2048 – not 1948, when it was first established.

“Ensuring more personalisation and better join up of the system will benefit patients, free up clinician time, and help us to bust the Covid backlogs.”

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the plan, which will use £2bn of money earmarked for NHS digitisation in the spending review, is intended to “save billions in taxpayers’ money while also promoting economic growth and private investment”.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... ation-plan

[Time_Traveller]

UK government ‘minded to accept’ takeover of Meggitt by US buyer

Wed 29 Jun 2022

The UK government has signalled it is likely to accept the £6.3bn takeover of the British defence manufacturer Meggitt, the second deal by a US buyer to receive a green light in a week.

The American industrial conglomerate Parker Hannifin said on Wednesday that it expected to complete the takeover within the next two months after receiving assent from the UK business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng.

Meggitt, based near Coventry, makes wheels, materials and electronics for the F-35 fighter jet and the A400M transporter, both used by the UK military, as well as civilian aircraft made by Airbus and Boeing. Meggitt employs about 2,300 workers in the UK and 9,000 globally.

The takeover was one of a series of approaches by US investors for mid-sized British companies amid concerns they were undervalued by stock markets after coronavirus pandemic lockdowns. A US private equity firm’s £2.6bn takeover of Ultra, another mid-sized target and a maker of electronics for nuclear submarines, received preliminary assent from Kwarteng last week, while the government is still looking at a £5.4bn deal for the satellite company Inmarsat by its US rival Viasat.

The UK government on Tuesday night said the business secretary was “minded to accept undertakings offered by Parker Hannifin to address the concerns” it had on national security and competition grounds.

To address national security concerns, Parker has agreed to honour existing contracts with the UK Ministry of Defence, retain a majority of UK nationals living in the UK on Meggitt’s board, and make sure some military technology remains in the UK.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... in-defence

[Time_Traveller]

Dominic Raab says right to abortion does not need to be in bill of rights

Wed 29 Jun 2022

Dominic Raab has expressed doubts about including the right to an abortion in the forthcoming bill of rights, saying the matter was already “settled in UK law”.

A cross-party amendment intends to enshrine the right in the bill, though abortion in England and Wales was decriminalised in the 1967 Abortion Act, which exempts women from prosecution for the procedure if it is signed off by two doctors.

Rosie Duffield, the Labour MP for Canterbury, said the justice secretary should “send a clear signal, as some of his cabinet colleagues have done this week, that Britain respects the rights of women, and will he accept the cross-party amendment to the forthcoming bill of rights which enshrines a women’s right to choose in law?”

Raab said the position was “settled in UK law in relation to abortion, it’s decided by members across this house. It’s a conscience issue, I don’t think there’s a strong case for change.” He added: “What I would not want to do, is find ourselves, with the greatest respect, in the US position where this is being relitigated through the courts rather than settled as it is now settled.”

The Labour MP Stella Creasy has said she will table an amendment to the forthcoming British bill of rights to give women the fundamental right to an abortion. Creasy said she would expect MPs to be given a free vote on the issue, as a matter of conscience. She said the amendment would be tabled when the bill was published at second reading.

In a complex legal situation, only women in Northern Ireland have the guaranteed right to an abortion, after an amendment backed by MPs at Westminster in 2019 to the NI executive formation bill.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... -of-rights

[Time_Traveller]

‘Ruthlessly organised’ Tory rebels plot 1922 takeover to oust Boris Johnson

Wed 29 Jun 2022

Boris Johnson is facing a fresh threat from Conservative rebels planning a takeover of the powerful backbench committee that could force the prime minister from office.

Opponents of Johnson, including some who were loyal to him as recently as last week, have set their sights on a “clean sweep” of the 1922 Committee amid a hardening of the mood against the prime minister.

The committee has the power to change the rules to allow a new vote of no confidence in Johnson within 12 months, and as soon as this autumn. In a secret ballot to decide its executive members, which will be held within three weeks, rebels hope to seize all 18 positions that are up for grabs.

The contest will be viewed as a proxy vote on whether the prime minister should face another no-confidence ballot, after this month’s saw more than 40% of his MPs oppose him.

Opposition to Johnson has hardened in the past week after a disastrous double byelection loss, his open pursuit of a third term and a series of scandals.

Two previous supporters of the prime minister told the Guardian they would not back him in another confidence vote, while negotiations have begun to agree a unified slate that would ratchet up pressure on the prime minister to quit.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... is-johnson

[Vakanai]

Dominic Raab says right to abortion does not need to be in bill of rights

Wed 29 Jun 2022

Dominic Raab has expressed doubts about including the right to an abortion in the forthcoming bill of rights, saying the matter was already “settled in UK law”.

A cross-party amendment intends to enshrine the right in the bill, though abortion in England and Wales was decriminalised in the 1967 Abortion Act, which exempts women from prosecution for the procedure if it is signed off by two doctors.

Rosie Duffield, the Labour MP for Canterbury, said the justice secretary should “send a clear signal, as some of his cabinet colleagues have done this week, that Britain respects the rights of women, and will he accept the cross-party amendment to the forthcoming bill of rights which enshrines a women’s right to choose in law?”

Raab said the position was “settled in UK law in relation to abortion, it’s decided by members across this house. It’s a conscience issue, I don’t think there’s a strong case for change.” He added: “What I would not want to do, is find ourselves, with the greatest respect, in the US position where this is being relitigated through the courts rather than settled as it is now settled.”

The Labour MP Stella Creasy has said she will table an amendment to the forthcoming British bill of rights to give women the fundamental right to an abortion. Creasy said she would expect MPs to be given a free vote on the issue, as a matter of conscience. She said the amendment would be tabled when the bill was published at second reading.

In a complex legal situation, only women in Northern Ireland have the guaranteed right to an abortion, after an amendment backed by MPs at Westminster in 2019 to the NI executive formation bill.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... -of-rights

It was "settled" here in the U.S. too until our conservative majority decided it wasn't...

[Time_Traveller]

Dominic Raab says right to abortion does not need to be in bill of rights

Wed 29 Jun 2022

Dominic Raab has expressed doubts about including the right to an abortion in the forthcoming bill of rights, saying the matter was already “settled in UK law”.

A cross-party amendment intends to enshrine the right in the bill, though abortion in England and Wales was decriminalised in the 1967 Abortion Act, which exempts women from prosecution for the procedure if it is signed off by two doctors.

Rosie Duffield, the Labour MP for Canterbury, said the justice secretary should “send a clear signal, as some of his cabinet colleagues have done this week, that Britain respects the rights of women, and will he accept the cross-party amendment to the forthcoming bill of rights which enshrines a women’s right to choose in law?”

Raab said the position was “settled in UK law in relation to abortion, it’s decided by members across this house. It’s a conscience issue, I don’t think there’s a strong case for change.” He added: “What I would not want to do, is find ourselves, with the greatest respect, in the US position where this is being relitigated through the courts rather than settled as it is now settled.”

The Labour MP Stella Creasy has said she will table an amendment to the forthcoming British bill of rights to give women the fundamental right to an abortion. Creasy said she would expect MPs to be given a free vote on the issue, as a matter of conscience. She said the amendment would be tabled when the bill was published at second reading.

In a complex legal situation, only women in Northern Ireland have the guaranteed right to an abortion, after an amendment backed by MPs at Westminster in 2019 to the NI executive formation bill.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... -of-rights

It was "settled" here in the U.S. too until our conservative majority decided it wasn't...

Exactly, so i don't trust what any Tory has to say at the moment including our so-called deputy Prime Minister.

[Time_Traveller]

As this government continues to wrest and/or sneak control away from people and parliament, the right to peaceful protest is one of the last defences against dictatorship.

https://westcountryvoices.co.uk/tiananm ... dden-city/