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Rachel Reeves is preparing to announce billions of pounds’ worth of extra spending for areas outside south-east England at next month’s spending review, after rewriting Treasury investment rules. The chancellor will unveil the extra capital spending after a review of the Treasury’s “green book”, which determines how officials calculate the costs and benefits of a scheme.
An imminent trade deal with Gulf states including Saudi Arabia could have a destructive impact for UK farmers, industry figures have warned, suggesting that any deal to import chicken would involve far lower welfare standards in the Gulf than British farmers must adhere to. Commenting on the £1.6bn deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Lib Dem Treasury spokesperson and deputy leader Daisy Cooper said on Friday that parliament “must have a proper chance to scrutinise” the government’s trade deals.
Children and patients deserve to be safe and comfortable in schools and hospitals across England, ministers have said as the government set out funding allocations for building repairs. About £1.2bn – part of funding packages announced in last year’s autumn budget – will be spent on repairing crumbling schools and hospitals across the country, the government confirmed.
Schools minister Catherine McKinnell said the government will make “substantial progress” in rebuilding schools, but was unable to provide a target for how much of the maintenance backlog would be dealt with. Asked on BBC Breakfast whether she could provide a figure for how much of the £14bn maintenance backlog would be eliminated or how when schools would be free of Raac (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete), she could not. Asked again about Raac in an interview on Friday with LBC, McKinnell said: “We’re not over that hurdle yet, and we’re not over it in the NHS either.”
Keir Starmer is braced for a major rebellion against his attempts to cut benefits when they come to a vote next month, with dozens of Labour MPs preparing to vote against the measures. Nadia Whittome, the Labour MP for Nottingham East, set out her reasons for rebelling against the government on Friday morning, telling the Today programme the plan is based on “very weak” evidence. Whittome’s backbench colleague Jake Richards defended the government, however, telling the programme: “The status quo isn’t working, the benefits system is not fit for purpose.”
Kemi Badenoch has accused Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage of asking people to “fund unlimited child support for others” by scrapping the two-child benefit cap. Writing in the Daily Mail, the Tory leader accused Starmer and Farage of engaging in a “race to the bottom” on welfare.
Going ahead with welfare reforms will drive more people into homelessness, a number of major charities have warned the government. Shelter and Crisis are among the signatories to a letter to the work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, voicing concerns over the risks from her proposed changes to the benefits system.
The attorney general has apologised for a “clumsy” remark that compared Conservative and Reform calls to disregard international treaties and quit the European convention of human rights (ECHR) with the early days of Nazi Germany. Richard Hermer’s words, from a speech on Thursday, were criticised by Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage.
“Millionaires” should not get “subsidy for their energy bills from the government”, a Treasury minister has suggested. Speaking to Sky News on Thursday evening, chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said: “We’re sticking to the principle that millionaires shouldn’t be getting subsidy for their energy bills from the government, so winter fuel payments will still be targeted to those that need it the most.”
Andrew Bailey has urged the UK government to deepen ties with the EU, as he warned a breakdown in global trade would make it harder for the Bank of England to control inflation. In a speech in Dublin on Thursday, the Bank’s governor said a stronger relationship between London and Brussels could “minimise negative effects” of Brexit on trade.
Reform UK will accept donations through bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Farage has announced. During an appearance at the Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, where he was introduced as a “UK presidential candidate”, Farage said: “As of now, provided you are an eligible UK donor … we are the first political party in Britain that can accept donations in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.”
Gerry Adams has won a defamation action against the BBC over a documentary that carried a claim he sanctioned the murder of an MI5 informant in 2006. A jury at Dublin’s high court on Friday found that the BBC had not acted in good faith or in a fair and reasonable way and awarded the former Sinn Féin leader €100,000 (£84,000) in damages.
The treatment of autistic people who are referred to the government’s deradicalisation scheme could be in breach of equality laws, a human rights charity has claimed. The home secretary has been warned that Prevent and Channel, the multi-agency follow-on programme, which seek to identify people at risk of extremism, are overreporting neurodivergent people.
Ministers are considering tweaks to soften their controversial welfare cuts before a crunch vote in parliament next month. The government is examining a potential change that could allow up to 200,000 people to keep their disability benefits by tweaking assessment rules.
Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, said ministers needed to vigorously investigate breaches of minimum wage rules, following reports that high street chains such as Pizza Express, Lidl and Halfords were named by the government for failing to pay some of their staff the National Minimum Wage. “Wage theft is bad for workers, families, and the economy,” he said. “Every pound stolen from a worker’s pocket is a pound not spent in local shops, cafes and high streets.”
ADHD campaigners have accused the NHS of presiding over a “widely failing system” as it emerged that as many as 2.5 million people in England could have the condition, with more than half a million people waiting for an assessment. According to the first figures of their kind published by the health service, 3-4% of adults, and 5% of children and young people, in the country have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
The energy watchdog for Great Britain has fined three companies £8m for failing to respond to some gas leak emergencies quickly enough, potentially putting the public at “serious risk”. Ofgem said the three firms – Cadent Gas, Scotland Gas Networks (SGN Scotland) and Southern Gas Networks (SGN Southern) – had agreed to pay the fine after missing callout targets that require them to attend suspected gas leaks within one to two hours in 97% of cases.
Robert Jenrick released a video of himself delivering “vigilante justice” to people he accused of fare dodging in London. The failed party leadership candidate posted a video in which he accused the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, of “driving a proud city into the ground”, adding: “Lawbreaking is out of control. He’s not acting. So, I did.”
Updated
Gerry Adams has won a defamation action against the BBC over a documentary that carried a claim he sanctioned the murder of an MI5 informant in 2006.
A jury at Dublin’s high court on Friday found that the BBC had not acted in good faith or in a fair and reasonable way and awarded the former Sinn Féin leader €100,000 (£84,000) in damages
The verdict came after a high-profile four-week trial that scrutinised Adams’s alleged membership of the IRA and his role during Northern Ireland’s Troubles and peace process.
Lawyers for Adams accused the BBC of a “grievous smear” and “hatchet job”. Lawyers for the broadcaster defended the documentary and said the libel action was a cynical attempt to launder Adams’s reputation.
The former West Belfast MP said a BBC Spotlight documentary and accompanying online article defamed him in 2016 by claiming he had sanctioned the murder of Denis Donaldson, a former Sinn Féin official who was shot dead in County Donegal months after admitting he had for decades been a police and MI5 informant. The claim about Adams was made by an anonymous source known only as “Martin”.
Adams’s lawyers accused the BBC of “reckless journalism” and of making an “unjustified” attack on a man credited with helping to bring about the peace process that drew a line under the Troubles in 1998.
The BBC said it acted in good faith and that the claim was presented as an allegation and not as a fact and had been corroborated by five other sources, including the security services. Lawyers for the broadcaster argued that because Adams was widely considered to have been an IRA commander during the Troubles he had little reputation to lose and that any damages would be a “cruel joke”.
Speaking outside the court, Adams said:
From my perspective, taking this case was about putting manners on the British Broadcasting Corporation. I know many, many journalists. I like to think that I get on well with the most of them, and I wish you well, and I would uphold your right to do your job.
But the British Broadcasting Corporation upholds the ethos of the British state in Ireland, and in my view it’s out of sync in many, many fronts with the Good Friday agreement. It hasn’t caught on to where we are on this island as part of the process, the continuing process, of building peace and justice, and harmony, and, hopefully, in the time ahead, unity.
Updated
