All posts tagged: labour party

Resident doctors announce 6-day strike after Easter holidays | Politics | News

Resident doctors announce 6-day strike after Easter holidays | Politics | News

Published by Sam Flores

Doctors striking over pay (Image: Getty) Resident doctors in England will strike for six days from April 7 in the ongoing row over pay and jobs, the British Medical Association (BMA) has announced. The latest round of industrial action will start just after the Easter long weekend from 7am on April 7 until 6.59am on April 13, the union said. The strike will be the longest single walkout of the long-running dispute and comes after more than two months of talks since the new year. The union’s Doctors Committee chairman Jack Fletcher said the Government “will need to act fast” to prevent the six-day walkout. He said: “We cannot ignore that, thanks to global events, economic indicators now point to years of greatly increased inflation. “We are simply not going to put an offer to doctors that risks locking in further erosion of pay at a time when doctors continue to leave the UK for other countries. “We are not closing the door on talks. “We remain willing to negotiate and are eager to get …

Fury as Labour council promotes grotesque ‘antisemitic’ art exhibition | Politics | News

Fury as Labour council promotes grotesque ‘antisemitic’ art exhibition | Politics | News

Published by Sam Flores

One of the images on display (Image: -) A Labour-run council is promoting a “grotesque” art display which critics say uses antisemitic images in the guise of supporting the Palestinians. Campaigners insisted Thanet District Council must apologise after promoting the exhibition by artist Matthew Collings, which features images of Israelis as demons with blood spewing out of their mouths, and shows a pro-Israel “lobby” hypnotising the world The exhibition is labelled “Drawings Against Genocide” and Thanet District Council is promoting the show, at Joseph Wales Studio in Margate, on the Visit Thanet website, which is run by the authority’s tourism and culture team. A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “These images are grotesque. This isn’t art but incitement, drawing on classic tropes. “Modern art is often as much, if not more, about the inner feelings of the artist than about the subject, and here the artist’s inner feelings about Jews and the Jewish state are all too clear.” READ MORE: Alarming university study finds 20% of students don’t want a Jewish housemate “It’s a …

Major update on UK’s 12 new towns as first names revealed | UK | News

Major update on UK’s 12 new towns as first names revealed | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

Labour wants to build 12 new towns across England as part of a project estimated to cost a whopping £48 billion. The Government has vowed to start construction on at least three of the developments before the next general election as it lags behind its 1.5 million new homes in England pledge. At least 120,000 properties are expected to be built through the programme, with ministers reportedly set to announce a list of locations for the new towns next week. Other place names said to be under consideration include Pankhurst, named after the suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst, and Attleeton, after the former Labour prime minister Sir Clement Attlee, who started a giant postwar new towns programme. Seacole, named after the Jamaican-British nurse Mary Seacole who treated wounded soldiers during the Crimean War, is another contender, according to The Times. Another is believed to be Athelstan — regarded as the first King of England. As many as 12 new towns are expected to be unveiled in the coming days, following an independent report identifying several areas …

Labour At War As Angela Rayner Launches Leadership Race

Labour At War As Angela Rayner Launches Leadership Race

Published by Sam Flores

As leadership election launches ago, it was pretty inauspicious. Fewer than a dozen Labour MPs were present as Angela Rayner got to her feet in the basement of a Whitehall pub to make it clear she wants to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister. Addressing the soft-left campaign group Mainstream’s spring reception, the former deputy PM said the government was “running out of time” to deliver the change Labour promised before the election. “It needs to be felt, and we have to show that it’s a Labour government that will deliver it,” Rayner declared, before going on to take aim at home secretary Shabana Mahmood’s immigration crackdown. Plans to double the length of time it takes for migrants – including two million who are already in the UK – to be granted permanent residency are “un-British”, Rayner said. “That would not just be bad policy, but a breach of trust,” she told those present. “The people already in the system who made a huge investment now fear for their future. “We cannot talk about earning …

UK Foreign Aid Cuts Threaten Child Hunger Warns Labour Peer

UK Foreign Aid Cuts Threaten Child Hunger Warns Labour Peer

Published by Sam Flores

The foreign secretary’s statement on UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocations has been a year in the making. I have been dreading this day since the decision last year by the prime minister and chancellor to cut ODA spending from 0.5 to 0.3% of gross national income. Yvette Cooper’s words about UK values and “supporting those in conflict and extreme poverty” are welcome, but the reality of her statement reveals significant, real-life impacts. Girls will leave schools and children will go hungry. We will damage our international reputation, increase migration and hinder progress towards self-sufficiency through economic development. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to most of the world’s poorest countries, from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Malawi. It has a population of 1.3 billion people – and growing. Its land is degraded by climate change, many countries are ravaged by decades of conflict, and its population feels the impact of a volatile global economy far deeper than wealthy countries such as the UK. Yet this Labour government has decided to disproportionately cut aid to the …

Starmer accused of U-turning on family voting crackdown to win Muslim votes | UK | News

Starmer accused of U-turning on family voting crackdown to win Muslim votes | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of abandoning plans to crack down on family voting to win over Muslim voters. The Conservatives previously worked to ensure tackling family voting, a term used to describe the issue of multiple people entering a polling booth, was a priority for the Electoral Commission. However, Labour has taken a softer stance on the plans to change voter fraud guidance with the Prime Minister accused of trying to appease the Left and win over Muslim voters. It comes after voters were accused of breaching electoral law during the Green Party victory in the recent Gorton and Denton by-election. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage reported family voting at the election to Greater Manchester Police and the Electoral Commission. As reported by The Telegraph, family voting is illegal. It is an attempt to influence someone’s vote in the polling booth and has become a particular concern in parts of the country with high Muslim populations where husbands culturally take a lead over their wives. During the recent Gorton and Denton by-election, which …

Labour Should Pledge EU Reentry Says Sadiq Khan

Labour Should Pledge EU Reentry Says Sadiq Khan

Published by Sam Flores

Labour should include a pledge to rejoin the European Union in the party’s next general election manifesto, Sadiq Khan has declared. In comments which will be seen as a direct challenge to Keir Starmer, the London mayor said it was time for the party to “be bold” in its offer to voters. In an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Khan repeated his call for Britain to rejoin the EU customs union and single market in this parliament – a move already ruled out by the prime minister. But he said Labour should go even further by pledging to take the UK back into the EU if it wins the next election, which is expected in 2029. Khan said: “I’m quite clear. On the ballot paper of the next general election is a vote for Labour, a vote to rejoin the European Union, and we should be unequivocal about the benefits of the European Union because we’ve now seen the alternative. “We’ve now seen what happens when you’re outside the European Union: less investment in …

POLL: Would Angela Rayner make a better PM than Keir Starmer? | Politics | News

POLL: Would Angela Rayner make a better PM than Keir Starmer? | Politics | News

Published by Sam Flores

Speaking at an event by campaign group Mainstream last night, Ms Rayner said Labour had come to be seen to represent “the Establishment, not working people”. She said: “As a party, and as a movement, we cannot hide, we cannot just go through the motions in the face of decline. There’s no safe ground and we’re running out of time. “The change that people wanted so desperately needs to be seen, it needs to be felt, and we have to show that it is a Labour government that will deliver it.” The Ashton-under-Lyne MP also took aim at Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s immigration reforms. She warned that changes to indefinite leave to remain for people already living in Britain would be a “breach of trust”. She said: “Many people came here to Britain – on the understanding that if they worked in the sectors where we needed them, obeyed the law and paid their taxes, they could stay. “If we suddenly change that, it pulls the rug from under those who have planned their lives …

Angela Rayner Criticises Un British Immigration Crackdown

Angela Rayner Criticises Un British Immigration Crackdown

Published by Sam Flores

Angela Rayner has launched an outspoken attack on home secretary Shabana Mahmood’s controversial immigration crackdown. The former deputy prime minister said the government was “moving the goalposts” by threatening to deport migrants who have been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK. In her fiercest criticism of the government she used to be a part of, Rayner also warned that Labour is “running out of time” to deliver the change the public voted for at the last general election. She made her comments at an event organised by the soft-left campaign group Mainstream on Tuesday night. On Mahmood’s immigration shake-up, Rayner said: “Many people came here to Britain on the understanding that if they worked in the sectors where we needed them, obeyed the law and paid their taxes, they could stay. “If we suddenly change that, it pulls the rug from under those who have planned their lives and commitments and are contributing to our economy and to our society. “That would be not just bad policy but a breach of trust. The …

Keir Starmer ripped apart by barrister over ‘shameful’ act – ‘simply staggering’ | Politics | News

Keir Starmer ripped apart by barrister over ‘shameful’ act – ‘simply staggering’ | Politics | News

Published by Sam Flores

The right for defendants to choose whether trials should take place in the magistrates’ or crown court would be scrapped, meaning some sexual assault, burglary, drug dealing and robbery cases could be heard by a single judge. Instead, judges will assess whether a case is “likely” to result in a three-year prison sentence or more. If thought to be less, it will be heard by either a magistrate or the new Crown Court Bench Division. Justice Secretary David Lammy says drastic action is needed to reduce huge waiting lists, but has faced a furious backlash over cutting people’s right to have their fate decided by their peers. Now barrister Chris Moran has sensationally resigned his Labour membership in outrage, writing to the Prime Minister personally to vent his anger at the “heartbreaking” change. Mr Moran voted for Sir Keir to become Labour leader because he “looked up to and admired” him as a former director of public prosecutions. He also believed a Labour government would “act differently” to the Tories in its approach to the …