Unite, Labour’s biggest trade union backer, has refused to endorse the party’s general election manifesto, saying it does not go far enough on protecting workers’ rights and jobs in the oil and gas industry.
Union leaders were at a meeting on Friday to finalise the party’s 2024 election platform ahead of its launch next week.
The BBC understands that at the meeting Unite announced they would not endorse Labour’s plans.
There is now a question mark over whether Unite will fund the party at the general election. In 2019, Unite gave £3m to Labour’s campaign.
Green Party previews manifesto with extra spending on health and social care rising to over £50bn per year by 2030
This sits alongside an additional £20bn capital investment to bring crumbling hospitals, primary care buildings and outdated equipment up to modern standards
Greens will increase NHS frontline workers’ salaries including doctors, dentists and nurses
“Cast-iron Green guarantee” promise that Green MPs will fight privatisation of the NHS
Green Party Co-leader Adrian Ramsay. Wikipedia CC.
Green Party Co-Leader, Adrian Ramsay and the party’s Health and Social Care Spokesperson, Dr Pallavi Devulapalli, today announced a “game-changing” package for the NHS and social care totally £50 billion a year in investment by 2030 and an additional £20 billion in capital investment to improve crumbling buildings.
Ramsay said “Today’s announcement represents a game changing package that is more than any other political party is offering. It has been fully costed and could be fully delivered.”
Mr Ramsay, who described his personal experience in recent months supporting a family member both through hospitals and then into the care system, said that “many people” could see that the NHS was “stretched to breaking point” despite the “commitment of hard-working NHS staff”.
The Greens used the announcement to reveal a package of spending pledges alongside a “Green cast iron guarantee” that Green MPs would fight the privatisation of the NHS at every stage. The announcement included a commitment to :
Invest £20bn in a capital investment to bring our crumbling hospitals and old equipment up to standard.
Invest £50 billion per year by 2030 into health and social care – more than any other major party – and would use the money to:
Dramatically reduce waiting lists
Offer everyone access to an NHS dentist
Guarantee rapid access to a GP when there is urgent need and dramatically reduce waiting times for all
Ensure people needing mental health support can access relevant therapies within 28 days
Invest £5bn per year to boost NHS salaries and keep our wonderful nurses and doctors in the UK
Invest £20 billion per year into adult social care to ensure dignity for those in need of care and take pressure off the NHS – including introducing free personal care.
Restore public health budgets with £1.5bn uplift in spending .
The large spending commitments they say is part of a fully costed manifesto due to be released on the 12th June in Brighton that includes commitments to “tax wealth fairly” by introducing a wealth tax of 1% on assets over £10 million and 2% over £1 billion.
Just Stop Oil supporters disrupt Duke of Westminster’s wedding
Two Just Stop Oil supporters have disrupted the ‘society wedding of the year’ between the Duke of Westminster and Olivia Henson. The pair of Just Stop Oil supporters are taking action to demand an emergency plan to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.
At around 12:30 pm, two Just Stop Oil supporters used fire extinguishers to project powder paint near the entrance to Chester Cathedral, whilst billionaire aristocrat Hugh Grosvenor and his new wife Olivia Henson made their way towards a waiting luxury 8-Litre Bentley, after leaving their wedding service and standing for photos. Police quickly intervened and arrested the two ladies.
One of those taking action today is Polly, 73, a care worker from Norfolk, who said:
“Weddings are a time of coming together in celebration to make a commitment to the future. However, for countless millions around the world there is no future unless we come together to stop oil and gas. That’s why we are demanding that the next UK government work with other countries to phase out fossil fuels by 2030.”
Experienced climbers scale a rock face near the historic Dumbarton castle in Glasgow, releasing a banner that reads “Climate on a Cliff Edge.” One activist, dressed as a globe, symbolically looms near the edge, while another plays the bagpipes on the shores below. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion and Mark Richards
Also taking action today is Sheila, 69, from Bristol, who worked as an NHS nurse for 50 years. She said:
“What do we value most? The wealth of billionaires like the Duke of Westminster OR the lives of the billions who are being destroyed by the fossil fuel industry? Extreme wealth and the climate crisis are both symptoms of a broken system that is not serving most ordinary people.”
“I am asking my fellow citizens to peacefully, but determinedly, demand an emergency plan to stop the drilling and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030. My grandchildren, all our children and all future generations’ lives are dependent on what we all do right now.”
Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli airstrike on the El-Remal aera in Gaza City on October 9, 2023. Israel continued to battle Hamas fighters on October 10 and massed tens of thousands of troops and heavy armour around the Gaza Strip after vowing a massive blow over the Palestinian militants’ surprise attack. Photo by Naaman Omar apaimages. licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
At the last march, a serious issue emerged when the Met Police placed a counter demonstration within a metre of the main demonstration, leaving pro-Palestine protestors exposed to abuse and direct threats. The Met apologised for their actions when we made these concerns public and indicated that Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist would meet with us to ensure that such scenes would not be repeated.
No such meeting has been offered despite our repeated requests. Of even greater concern, our requests over the past two days to address with the Gold Commander in charge how the counter demonstration will be managed to ensure safety, have been rebuffed.
Despite the late stage in preparations we have asked for the third time for such a meeting.
We will not allow these issues or the actions of counter demonstrators to distract us from ensuring that the demands for an end to UK complicity in genocide once more echo on the streets of London. The demonstration will be assembling at 12.30 pm at Russell Square and marching to Parliament.
DECLASSIFIED Exclusive: Declassified is publishing the full list of British MPs who received funding from pro-Israel lobbyists.
David Lammy, Keir Starmer, Yvette Cooper and Rachel Reeves have all been funded by Israel lobbyists. (Photo: Stefan Rousseau / Alamy)
Some 180 of Britain’s 650 MPs in the last parliament accepted funding from pro-Israel lobby groups or individuals during their political career, Declassified can reveal.
That includes 130 Conservative MPs, 41 Labour MPs and three Liberal Democrats.
Three members of the DUP, two independents and Reform’s only MP complete the list.
The total value of the donations from pro-Israel groups, individuals, and Israeli state institutions amounts to over one million pounds.
Between them, the politicians made over 240 paid-for trips to Israel, at a cost of over half a million pounds.
Some of those trips involved visits to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and a small number were co-sponsored by groups which do not form part of the Israel lobby.
Remarkably, fifteen MPs have accepted funding to travel to Israel amid the Gaza genocide.
Huda Ammori, the co-founder of the direct action network Palestine Action, told Declassified: “Accepting funding from a lobby group on behalf of the perpetrators of a genocide should immediately bar anyone from standing as an MP.
“To see how politicians continue to travel to Israel and engage with the genocide lobby explains why our government continues to defy international law by facilitating Israel’s war crimes”.
The full list of MPs can be accessed at the foot of this article. Around 47 of them are not standing for re-election.
No MPs from the Scottish National Party, Sinn Fein, Plaid Cymru, SDLP, Alba, Greens, Alliance or Workers Party received hospitality or funding from the lobby.
…
Labour Friends of Israel (LFI), another opaquely funded parliamentary group, counts some 75 MPs as supporters or officers.
The organisation recently removed the list of its parliamentary backers from its website, but this can be viewed here.
LFI has paid for 32 of Labour’s sitting MPs to travel to Israel since they were first elected, contributing over £64,000 to the visits.
In Al Jazeera’s 2017 documentary, The Lobby, LFI’s Michael Rubin privately acknowledged the group’s ties to the state of Israel.
“We do work really closely together,” he said. “It’s just publicly we just try to keep LFI as a separate identity to the [Israeli] embassy”.
David Mencer, a former director of LFI and David Lammy’s unsuccessful campaign to become London mayor, is now a spokesman for the Israeli government.
Further trips to Israel have been funded by the Liberal Democrats Friends of Israel and Northern Ireland Friends of Israel.
Many of these delegations are jointly funded by the Israeli foreign ministry, indicating a close level of cooperation with the Israeli state. Over 40 MPs have accepted funding from Israeli state institutions.
Other pro-Israel lobby organisations that have funded MPs’ trips to Israel include the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Australia-Israel Cultural Exchange, Elnet UK, the Jewish National Fund and the National Jewish Assembly.
Zionist Keir Starmes is quoted “I support Zionism without qualification.” He’s asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.
