Monthly Archives: May 2023

Government blocks attempts to prevent foreign influence in elections

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/05/government-blocks-attempts-to-prevent-foreign-influence-in-elections/

MPs have voted down attempts to prevent foreign influence in UK elections yesterday [Wednesday], in a move which has drawn strong criticism from political transparency campaigners.

The House of Commons yesterday voted against tightening the rules on foreign interference in elections after the government whipped its MPs to oppose an amendment to the National Security Bill proposed by the House of Lords.

253 MPs voted to oppose the amendment, all of whom were either Tories or independent MPs who were elected as Tories. 134 MPs backed the Lords’ proposals – with Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Greens all voting in support. Just one Tory – Julian Lewis – voted to tighten foreign interference in elections.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/05/government-blocks-attempts-to-prevent-foreign-influence-in-elections/

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BREAKING NEWS: Shell selling stake in controversial Cambo oil field

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Could this mean that Cambo is to be abolished?

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-65497983

Shell is selling its stake in the controversial Cambo oil field, it has been announced.

The project – which is west of Shetland – is the second-largest undeveloped oil and gas discovery in the UK’s North Sea.

The oil major is looking for a buyer for its 30% holding.

Cambo has been the focal point of many protests, and Shell has been rumoured for months to be looking for someone to take over its part.

The remaining 70% of the field is owned by Ithaca Energy.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-65497983

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Keir Starmer Now Opposes Scrapping Westminster’s Voting System for PR in Blow for Reformers

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https://bylinetimes.com/2023/04/27/keir-starmer-now-opposes-scrapping-westminsters-voting-system-for-pr-in-blow-for-reformers/

His spokesperson told Byline Times that the Labour Leader has a “long-standing view against PR”

Labour Leader Keir Starmer actively opposes a move to proportional representation for the House of Commons – putting him at loggerheads with the party membership and trade unions, Byline Times can reveal.

On Wednesday, this newspaper reported that the 350,000-strong union USDAW had become the latest to call on Labour to back scrapping Westminster’s winner-takes-all voting system, First Past the Post.

Two-thirds of trade unions that support the Labour Party now back a major change to Westminster’s voting system amid a mounting campaign among the party and union grassroots.

But Starmer’s official spokesperson has now revealed that the Labour Leader has a “long-standing view against proportional representation”. When asked to clarify if the Labour leader was against PR he said “yes”.

“He isn’t looking to change the electoral system…It’s not something that’s a priority for him,” Starmer’s spokesperson added.

Labour delegates overwhelmingly backed PR at last year’s party conference – after mega-unions Unison and Unite supported the shift. But they do not control the manifesto – a process that is steered by the Labour Leader and his allies on the National Executive Committee.

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https://bylinetimes.com/2023/04/27/keir-starmer-now-opposes-scrapping-westminsters-voting-system-for-pr-in-blow-for-reformers/

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Corbyn leads calls for ‘immediate release’ of Assange on World Press Freedom Day

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Image of Jeremy Corbyn MP, former leader of the Labour Party
Jeremy Corbyn MP, former leader of the Labour Party

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/corbyn-leads-calls-immediate-release-assange-world-press-freedom-day

JEREMY CORBYN led calls today [Wednesday] for the immediate release of imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on World Press Freedom Day.

The former Labour leader highlighted how Mr Assange has spent four years in maximum security prison Belmarsh for exposing the truth.

He said: “We cannot stand by and let governments silence those who seek to expose the truth.

“Today, let’s defend free and democratic journalism everywhere.”

In 2010, Mr Assange published US government records on WikiLeaks that revealed its military committed war crimes against civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq, including the killing of two Reuters journalists.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/corbyn-leads-calls-immediate-release-assange-world-press-freedom-day

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Labour ‘betrays millions of young people’ after dropping pledge to abolish university tuition fees

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/labour-betrays-millions-of-young-people-after-dropping-pledge-to-abolish-university-tuition-fees

STUDENTS and education unions slammed Labour’s “betrayal of millions of young people in desperate need of hope” today after the party’s increasingly right-wing leadership dropped a pledge to abolish cripplingly high university tuition fees.

Sir Keir Starmer’s latest U-turn on yet another left-wing pledge which got him elected leader in 2020 will help to condemn “millions of future students to a life of debt” and leaves Britain even further away from the publicly funded higher education system it needs, they stressed.

The move is likely to draw criticism from the party’s left, which has repeatedly warned that attempts to please the right-wing press while failing to offer a genuinely progressive alternative will only benefit Tory Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

With Tory MPs branding Jeremy Corbyn’s successor “Sir Flip-Flop,” Mr Sunak attempted to capitalise on the situation in a fiery Prime Ministers Questions today saying Sir Keir has made a “series of broken promises.”

These include now abandoned pledges to renationalise public services, increase income tax for the highest earners and defend freedom of movement post-Brexit.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/labour-betrays-millions-of-young-people-after-dropping-pledge-to-abolish-university-tuition-fees

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