THE Scottish Greens have called on the SNP-Green Scottish government to levy a “super-tax” on private jets.
The demand for a £1,000 per passenger levy on the more than 10,000 Scottish private flights, comes as carbon emissions in the sector have been rising in recent years.
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dizzy: The article continues saying that the powers to impose such a tax are not devolved. Perhaps Scotland could refuse permission to land or divert them to the Faroe Islands instead? Permission to land please Edinburgh. Sorry, can’t do it, you’ll have to divert to Faroe, Norway or Scilly Isles or maintain a holding position for 16 hours ;)
Labour policy is shifting ever further rightwards. That won’t and can’t change as long as only tainted City money is filling the party’s empty coffers
Image of Keir Starmer sucking up to the rich and powerful at the World Economic Forum, Davos
What has happened to Britain’s opposition Labour Party under Keir Starmer? The familiar adage “follow the money” helps make sense of the party’s policy shifts ever further rightwards.
Labour plumbed new depths earlier this month when it conceded that, in power, it would maintain the government’s cap on child benefit, restricting financial help to the first two children in a family.
The cap, one of the Conservatives’ most socially regressive measures, was denounced as “heinous” and “obscene” by shadow cabinet ministers after it was introduced. Even Starmer called it “punitive” when he was trying to win over Labour members in the 2020 leadership vote.
Hundreds of thousands of children and their families are reported to have been driven below the breadline since the benefit cap came into effect in 2017.
No other country in the world has a similar policy. But in Britain, punishing children is now a bipartisan issue.
US records show Starmer met with Attorney General Eric Holder and a host of American and British national security officials in Washington in 2011, when he was in charge of Julian Assange’s proposed extradition to Sweden.
Starmer was in Washington three times while in charge of Assange’s proposed extradition to Sweden
Starmer led five-person British delegation that met with Holder for 45 minutes in Washington in November 2011
Delegation included the UK liaison prosecutor to the US, who dealt with extradition
Meeting was also attended by head of US Department of Justice’s national security division
CPS refuses to clarify to Declassified if destruction of the Washington documents is routine procedure
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), England and Wales’ public prosecutor, has deleted all records of its former head Keir Starmer’s trips to the US, it can be revealed.
Starmer served as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) from 2008-13, a period when the body was overseeing Julian Assange’s proposed extradition to Sweden to face questioning over sexual assault allegations.
Starmer, who became an MP in 2015, is now leader of the Labour Party. Assange, meanwhile, faces imminent extradition to the US to face up to 175 years in prison under charges mostly related to the US Espionage Act.
While DPP, Starmer made trips to Washington in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013 at a cost to the British taxpayer of £21,603. It was his most frequent foreign destination while in post. Max Hill, the current DPP, has made just one trip to Washington during his five-year tenure.
During Starmer’s time in post, the CPS was marred by irregularities surrounding the case of the WikiLeaks founder.
During Starmer’s time in post, the CPS was marred by irregularities surrounding the case of the WikiLeaks founder.
The organisation has admitted to destroying key emails related to the Assange case, mostly covering the period when Starmer was in charge, while the CPS lawyer overseeing the case advised the Swedes in 2010 or 2011 not to visit London to interview Assange.
An interview at that time could have prevented the long-running embassy standoff.
Assange and WikiLeaks began publishing classified US diplomatic cables – in alliance with some of the world’s largest newspapers – in November 2010. In the same month, Sweden issued an international arrest warrant for Assange over allegations of sexual misconduct, leading to a protracted legal battle, in which the CPS was heavily involved.
Italian journalist Stefania Maurizi has been waging a years-long legal fight to access documents related to the CPS and Assange case. However, the role of its then head, Keir Starmer, in the episode has always remained unclear.
Labour leader Keir Starmer (centre) with then US secretary of state Mike Pompeo (R) and then US ambassador to Britain, Woody Johnson, in London, 21 July 2020. Pompeo said in 2019 “we will do our level best” to stop Jeremy Corbyn getting elected. (Photo: US State Department)
Starmer served on the Trilateral Commission alongside two former heads of the CIA without telling Jeremy Corbyn—who would have blocked it, Declassified can reveal.
Declassified discovers Starmer joined the Trilateral Commission between 2017-18 while he was Corbyn’s shadow Brexit secretary
He is one of only two serving British MPs to have been a member, according to available records
Starmer spoke at group’s London event in 2017 alongside former heads of MI5 and GCHQ
Former CIA director said in 2019 “we will do our level best” to stop Corbyn getting elected
Corbyn’s former spokesman tells Declassified that Starmer’s membership “was plainly incompatible with Labour’s then-stated policies”
Keir Starmer joined an international grouping closely linked to US and UK intelligence while he was serving in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, Declassified has found.
The Trilateral Commission describes itself as a “global membership organisation” which seeks “to discuss and propose solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems”. Its meetings are strictly off-the-record.
It was founded in 1973 by billionaire banker David Rockefeller as a networking group for elites from the US, Europe and Japan. Rockefeller was close to the leadership of the CIA at the time.
Membership records seen by Declassified show Starmer joined the Trilateral Commission at some point between March 2017 and October 2018. He left at some point between April 2021 and June 2022.
Starmer was a member of the Trilateral Commission alongside two former heads of the CIA, and spoke at one of its London events alongside the former heads of MI5 and GCHQ.
The current Labour leader served as Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow Brexit secretary from 2016-19. In this role, he was integral to the push for a second referendum on exiting the European Union, a position that many fault for Labour’s catastrophic performance in the 2019 election.
