17 September 2015
Week In Brief: UK NEWS
LABOUR LEADER: On Saturday it was announced that left winger Jeremy Corbyn had been elected leader of the Labour Party with nearly 60% of the vote. Tom Watson, who comes from the centre of the party, has been elected deputy leader. Mr Corbyn’s team includes John McDonnell as shadow chancellor, Andy Burnham as shadow home secretary, Hilary Benn as shadow foreign secretary and Lord Falconer as shadow justice secretary. Concern has been expressed at the appointment of John McDonnell rather than a more moderate candidate as shadow chancellor. There are a number of policy differences between members of the team. For example Maria Eagle, the shadow defence secretary has voted to replace Trident, a position at variance with that of Mr Corbyn. Similarly John Woodcock is pro-EU whereas Mr Corbyn’s position is less certain. A number of major Labour figures including Yvette Cooper, Chuka Umunna and Liz Kendall have retired to the backbenches.
Mr Corbyn has attracted criticism for not singing the national anthem at the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
RELIGIOUS REGISTER: Proposals to make religious readers who speak at public events sign a register and take government training has caused outrage. However the proposals are in general only expected to apply when the event in question is publicly funded.
PENSIONS: Leading insurer Zürich Insurance has urged the Chancellor to replace the current tax break on pension contributions with a flat 33% state contribution. This follows a similar call by Aviva last week. The insurers believe that the new system would be fairer and simpler.
NHS: Figures released by NHS England revealed that patients ready to be discharged waited a total of 1,685,604 days last year. This is an increase of 16%. Patients awaiting discharge block the availability of beds for other patients.
DIESELS: A report by DEFRA indicates that 9% of annual deaths in the UK are caused by air pollution, in particular nitrogen dioxide and particles of oily soot. The report suggests that cities should consider charging polluting vehicles – particularly older diesels.
RAIL JOURNEYS: A study by the Rail Delivery Group indicates that the number of passenger journeys undertaken by rail has more than doubled since the mid 1990s. The annual total is now 1.65 billion. The average person now makes 24.7 rail journeys each year, which is 60% up on the level in 1998.
POLICE VOLUNTEERS: Home Secretary Teresa May has announced proposals under which chief constables will be able to give power to deal with minor matters to police volunteers. The volunteers could be used for tasks such as the investigation of white-collar crime, issuing on the spot fines for minor offences and requiring suspects to give their name and addresses. It is envisaged that there could be up to 7,000 of them in all and (unlike Police Community Support Officers) they will be unpaid. They would have their own uniform.
The volunteers will help make good the shortfall in police manpower resulting from government cuts.
SEXIST COMMENTS: Charlotte Proudman, a young barrister, has exposed on twitter a message received from a much older solicitor, Alexander Carter-Silk, on LinkedIn on the grounds that she regarded it as unacceptable and misogynistic. Both parties have been widely criticised in the media: him, for sending an inappropriate message; her, for publishing private correspondence.
ASYLUM SEEKERS: Britain will pay £90 million to assist in the relocation of European asylum seekers. Although Britain has an opt out from accepting asylum seekers, it is still responsible for its share of the costs of implementing EU policy.
Kent county council has asked for help in dealing with a flood of unaccompanied children arriving as refugees. The number, 720 this summer, has trebled since last year.
Britain has sent a frigate, HMS Richmond, to the Mediterranean to assist in operations against people traffickers. Another Royal Navy ship, HMS Enterprise, previously sent to rescue immigrants, will remain committed to EU operations there. The interception of ships on the high seas will be illegal under international law as Russia and China have blocked attempts to get UN authorisation for the mission.
EUROPEAN RULING: The European Court of Justice has ruled that EU member states are not obliged to allow unemployed migrants from other EU countries access to non-contributory social benefits, even if they have been previously employed for a short period. The decision does not cover in work benefits
PLANE SAVED: A British Airways plane burst into flames while taking off at Las Vegas en route to London, Gatwick. The pilot, who has been much praised for his skill, brought the plane to a halt and the passengers were successfully evacuated. It has emerged from the subsequent investigation that there were cracks in the engine casing.
DRONE PROSECUTION: Nigel Wilson, 42, has been fined £1800 and banned from using a drone for two years in the first prosecution for drone misuse. Mr Wilson had broken rules against flying drones over a built-up area and flying them without maintaining visual contact.
TRAVELLING TO WORK: The European Court of Justice has ruled that, for the purposes of the Working Time Directive, workers without a fixed place of work should be regarded as working during the time they spend travelling to their first engagement of the day and the time spent returning home from their last engagement. The ruling is likely to increase the amount which has to be paid to comply with minimum wage legislation.
NORTHERN IRELAND: Peter Robinson has resigned as First Minister of Northern Ireland, in protest at alleged IRA involvement in the murder of Kevin McGuigan, a former member of that organisation. Three other Democratic Unionist party ministers have also resigned, leaving Arlene Foster, the Finance Minister, to take over as acting First Minister as well.
PAULA RADCLIFFE: Paula Radcliffe has published the three blood test results which had given rise to discussion regarding doping. The readings were 114.86, 109.86 and 109.3, of which only the first exceeds the women’s altitude training cut-off of 111.7. That reading is claimed to be invalid on the basis of high temperature and dehydration. Ms Radcliffe has requested the World Anti-Doping Association to review the data.
PARKING: It has emerged that certain employees at UK Parking Control altered timestamps in order to extract parking fines from innocent motorists. The matter is being investigated by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, part of the city of London police.
POLL: A poll taken by YouGov indicates that if a vote on Scottish independence were held tomorrow it would be rejected by 52%: 48%.
ASSISTED DYING: The Assisted Dying Bill was comprehensively rejected by the House of Commons. The majority against was 330:118. Assisting and encouraging suicide will therefore remain a criminal offence but, as before, prosecution will only take place when in the public interest.
LONDON MAYOR: Sadiq Khan, MP for Tooting and a human rights lawyer, has won the Labour nomination to stand as Mayor of London next year. In the final round he beat Tessa Jowell, the Blairite candidate, taking 59% of the vote. He will resign from the Commons if he is elected Mayor.
CRICKET: The Australians beat England in the one day series by 3 games to 2.
