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Labour MPs ordered to sink landmark climate and environment bill

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/23/labour-mps-ordered-to-sink-landmark-climate-and-environment-bill

Climate campaigners, MPs, and ex-Olympians held a boat race along the Thames earlier this month to promote the bill. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Getty Images

Guardian Exclusive: Supporters of bill say Labour has already insisted on removal of clauses requiring UK to meet targets agreed at Cop and other summits

A landmark bill that would make the UK’s climate and environment targets legally binding seems doomed after government whips ordered Labour MPs to oppose it following a breakdown in negotiations.

Supporters of the climate and nature bill, introduced by the Liberal Democrat MP Roz Savage, say Labour insisted on the removal of clauses that would require the UK to meet the targets it agreed to at Cop and other international summits.

Although it is a private member’s bill, more than 80 Labour MPs, including several ministers, had publicly signed up to support it.

Some Labour MPs have been ordered to attend the bill’s second reading on Friday morning and to prepare speeches, to deliberately make it run out of time and avoid a vote. Another possibility would be a three-line whip to vote against the bill, leaving any rebels at risk of disciplinary action, including losing the party whip.

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/23/labour-mps-ordered-to-sink-landmark-climate-and-environment-bill

Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.
Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.
Continue ReadingLabour MPs ordered to sink landmark climate and environment bill

Unpaid internships ‘locking out’ young working-class people from careers

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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jan/23/unpaid-internships-young-working-class-people-careers

Unpaid or under-paid internships persist in spite of law changes since 2018, making up 61% of those on offer. Photograph: OJO Images/Rex Features

UK charity calls for positions of four weeks or longer to be banned to help close social mobility gap

Young people from working-class or disadvantaged backgrounds are being “locked out” of careers by unpaid or low-paid internships that benefit middle-class graduates, according to a social mobility charity.

Research by the Sutton Trust found that middle-class graduates made more use of internships as stepping stones into sectors such as finance or IT, even in cases where the internships paid nothing or below the minimum wage as required by legislation.

Nick Harrison, the chief executive of the Sutton Trust, said: “Internships are an increasingly critical route into the best jobs, and it’s shocking that in this day and age, many employers still pay interns below the minimum wage, or worse, nothing at all. They should be ashamed.

“The government has pledged to ban unpaid internships, which is absolutely the right thing to do. Clearly not all young people can get support from the ‘bank of Mum and Dad’, so banning this outdated practice will help to level the playing field for these valuable opportunities. It’s a no-brainer and should be implemented without delay.”

A survey of 1,200 recent graduates commissioned by the trust revealed that 55% of middle-class young people had undertaken internships, compared with just 36% from working-class families – and that the gap between the two groups had widened “substantially” since its previous survey in 2018, from 12 to 19 percentage points.

Unpaid or underpaid internships had persisted in spite of law changes since 2018, making up 61% of those on offer and forcing interns to “subsidise themselves during their placements, which locks many of those who can’t afford it out of these vital opportunities”, the trust said.

A Downing Street spokesperson said the government’s position “will be set out at second reading”.

Nature and climate charities have urged ministers to adopt Savage’s bill, saying it would introduce vital concrete steps to tackle nature depletion and the climate crisis.

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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jan/23/unpaid-internships-young-working-class-people-careers

Continue ReadingUnpaid internships ‘locking out’ young working-class people from careers

Israeli general on secret trip to London questioned over war crimes

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https://www.declassifieduk.org/israeli-general-on-secret-trip-to-london-questioned-over-war-crimes/

DECLASSIFIED UK Exclusive: A high-ranking Israeli military delegation tried to quietly visit London today [22 January 2025] but was quizzed outside the Ministry of Defence by Declassified.

An Israeli military delegation led by Major General Oded Basyuk visited Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) today, Declassified can reveal.

Basyuk is the head of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Operations Directorate, which is responsible for preparing the Israeli military for war.

The unit works alongside the IDF’s regional commands as well as the air force and navy.

Basyuk was on the ground in Gaza during Israel’s most recent onslaught and presided over decision-making on last year’s offensive in southern Lebanon.

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UK-Israel military collaboration

The visit highlights the ongoing high-level military collaboration between the UK and Israel, despite Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu being pursued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Keir Starmer spoke over the phone with Netanyahu yesterday, with both politicians agreeing to continue “close co-operation on defence and security matters”.

According to Downing Street, the goal of this cooperation is to support “wider stability in the region – particularly in the face of the ongoing threat posed by Iran”.

Netanyahu’s office recounted a different version of events. 

It said the Israeli prime minister “raised the issue of the weapons export licences to Israel that have been frozen in the UK”, with Starmer responding “that an evaluation of the issue is being carried out”.

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https://www.declassifieduk.org/israeli-general-on-secret-trip-to-london-questioned-over-war-crimes/

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
Continue ReadingIsraeli general on secret trip to London questioned over war crimes

Minister mulls ‘unprecedented privacy intrusions’ to tackle benefits fraudsters

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/totally-unprecedented-privacy-intrusions-and-punishments

Campaigners warn DWP proposals could be counterproductive and create a two-tier justice system

PLANS to ban benefit fraudsters from driving and seize money from their bank accounts will create a two-tier justice system that destroys innocent lives, campaigners warned today.

The elderly, disabled and hard-up families would face “totally unprecedented privacy intrusions and punishments” under proposals by the Department for Welfare and Pensions (DWP).

Employment minister Alison McGovern insisted that banning benefit cheats from driving would be a “backstop” used in “extreme” cases ahead of the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill’s introduction to Parliament today.

But director of privacy and civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch Silkie Carlo said: “We must be extremely cautious about the government creating a second tier justice system, reserved for people who rely on welfare, that side-steps fair hearings in courts to take away people’s funds and freedoms.

“The public and Parliament will rightly be very sceptical about empowering the government to go directly into anyone’s bank accounts to take our money and even our driving licences, least not to target the elderly, disabled and people on the poverty line whose lives could be destroyed by mistaken punishments.”

Public and Commercial Services (PCS) national president Martin Cavanagh said: “While PCS understands the government’s desire to deal with benefit fraud, it should not be their main priority right now, and these proposals will be counterproductive.

“The reality is that is public funds lost to benefit fraud are a drop in the ocean compared to revenues lost through tax avoidance and evasion. This should be the government’s focus if they are serious about boosting the economy and bringing monies into the Exchequer.

“PCS is at a loss to understand how taking away driving licenses, thereby reducing opportunities to work, can help achieve their stated aims.”

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The original article gets better, see for yourself at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/totally-unprecedented-privacy-intrusions-and-punishments

Continue ReadingMinister mulls ‘unprecedented privacy intrusions’ to tackle benefits fraudsters