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Trade union warns Labour it could withdraw financial support
A trade union leader has warned that its financial support for Labour is under review because of a dispute between a Labour-run council and refuse collection workers.
Members of Unite in Coventry have been on strike for weeks in a long-running row over pay.
General secretary Sharon Graham said in a message to strikers on Wednesday: “Let me be very clear – the remaining financial support of the Labour Party is now under review.
“Your behaviour and mistreatment of our members will not be accepted. It’s time to act like Labour, be the party for workers.”
She has said: “The Coventry Labour council has time and again totally misrepresented the union’s claims for its bin drivers. It should be ashamed of the spin it has tried to make about its own workers’ pay rates.
“These dreadful misrepresentations are deliberately designed to enrage the general public which directly risks the welfare of workers who are taking part in an entirely legal dispute, and this, a Labour council.”
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Detectives to begin contacting Downing Street ‘party attendees’ this week
Detectives investigating allegations of breaches of Covid regulations in Downing Street and Whitehall will by the end of this week begin contacting people believed to have taken part in the events in question to get their accounts, the Met Police said.
In an update, the Met said that officers working as part of Operation Hillman will begin sending formal questionnaires to more than 50 people.
This document, which asks for an account and explanation of the recipient’s participation in an event, has formal legal status and must be answered truthfully.
Recipients will be informed that their responses are required within seven days. Many will be contacted by email.
Contact will be made with alleged attendees of eight parties – including a party held on the evening before Prince Philip’s funeral on April 16, 2021.
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Sturgeon: ministers should ask if they have ‘moral authority’ to lead
UK ministers should ask whether they have the “moral authority” to lead the country during the pandemic, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The First Minister said Boris Johnson had not taken responsibility for “serial and repeated” breaches of Covid rules.
She told broadcasters: ““I think the difficulty with Boris Johnson is that how can he allow a minister to resign over Covid breaches when he is sitting there refusing to take any responsibility for the serial and repeated breaches that everybody believes he has made of Covid regulations.
“In terms of previous examples in the Scottish Government, I think there is a stark difference right now between the former chief medical officer and UK politicians. The difference between taking responsibility and not taking responsibility.
“So I would hope the UK Government will look long and hard to all of these instances right now and ask themselves the question, whether they have any longer the moral authority to lead the country through the remaining stages of a pandemic.”
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Sturgeon ‘not opposed to oil and gas windfall tax’
Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said she is not “ideologically opposed” to a windfall tax on oil and gas.
Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday, the First Minister said she believed those with “the broadest shoulders here should be playing a part in contributing to helping families the length and breadth of the UK”.
“I was questioned last week about the idea of a windfall levy on energy companies. I’m not ideologically opposed to that,” the First Minister said.
“I don’t have the powers to do it. If the UK Government comes forward with a proposal like that, I would encourage them to think about all options.
“And my only request is that we don’t want to see only the north-east of Scotland bearing the brunt of what we need to do to deal with the cost of living crisis.”
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Tory MP says he ‘won’t defend the indefensible’
Tory MP Neil Hudson has said he will not “defend the indefensible” after a new image emerged of Boris Johnson and a bottle of wine during a Christmas quiz held during Covid restrictions.
“I’m incredibly disappointed and upset. Yet again I have to say that categorically I will not defend the indefensible,” the Penrith and The Border MP told GB News.
“The concept that the people at the heart of Government making the rules were then potentially breaking the rules is completely abhorrent so I will not defend that.
“What I’m really, really sad about is the democratic process, democracy is completely paralysed at the moment because this keeps coming up. It will be drip, drip, drip, more and more upsetting images like this.
“We need to get closure on this, we need to get all the evidence out in the open, make the judgment, make the evidence-based call and then move on.”
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No10 appoints new perm sec
Samantha Jones, the Prime Minister’s adviser on the NHS and social care, has been appointed as the new No 10 permanent secretary and chief operating officer, Downing Street said.
Boris Johnson said: “I promised to make changes to my senior team so that we can get on with better delivering for the British people.
“That is what we are now doing by bringing in the very best skills and management experience with a clear vision to unite and level up our country.”
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Met to review position over Christmas Party
The Metropolitan Police will review its assessment that a Christmas “Zoom quiz” allegedly held by Boris Johnson and aides during lockdown did not meet the threshold for criminal investigation.
It comes after the Daily Mirror published a picture of the prime minister and three other Downing Street staff with an open bottle of champagne.
The Met said in a statement: “The MPS previously assessed this
event and determined that on the basis of the evidence available at that time, it did not meet the threshold for criminal investigation.
“That assessment is now being reviewed.”
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Met won’t launch probe into MPs’ blackmail claims
Scotland Yard has said officers are not launching an investigation into allegations that MPs seeking to remove Boris Johnson from No 10 had been blackmailed.
The Metropolitan Police said: “We can confirm that the MPS has received information related to concerns of inappropriate influence being exerted on Members of Parliament.
“The information has been carefully assessed by specialist detectives who have determined that no criminal offences have been identified and therefore no investigation will be commenced.
“Should further significant information become available it will be considered.”
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Further 276 Covid deaths
A further 276 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the total to 158,953, the Government said.
These figures now include deaths in England following possible reinfections of Covid-19.
Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have been 182,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
There were 68,214 cases of Covid-19 reported in the UK on Tuesday, the Government said, which includes reinfections in England and Northern Ireland that are more than 90 days after a previous positive test.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/london-politics-latest-news-watch-pmqs-today-boris-johnson-downing-street-keir-starmer-savile-b981524.html
