Firefighters from the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) take part in the Cuts Leave Scars rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, October 26, 2023
DEPUTY Prime Minister Angela Rayner was urged today to end the slow processing of firefighters’ pensions claims that leaves thousands losing out on hundreds of pounds every month.
Fire Brigades Union (FBU) general secretary Steve Wright has written to Ms Rayner, who is also head of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, calling on her to intervene.
He said: “It is disgraceful that some fire authorities are still failing to give retired firefighters what they are legally entitled to.
“Thousands of firefighters are losing as much as hundreds of pounds a month.
“People who spent their careers protecting the public have been left in financial difficulty.”
A High Court ruling in 2018 said that about 10,500 affected firefighters were entitled to transfer seven additional years of contributions back from an older more generous pension scheme.
Judges said that the transitional arrangements of a less generous firefighters’ pension scheme imposed by the government in 2015 were discriminatory on the grounds of age.
Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.Angela Rayner wears her “benefits in kind” donation from multi-millionaire Lord Alli.
London Luton Airport hopes to almost double annual passenger numbers to 32 million by 2043 after the government approved expansion plans, including a new terminal.
It came despite the Planning Inspectorate recommending Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander rejected them over environmental concerns.
Luton Rising, the airport’s owner, said the decision could bring “significant economic, employment and social benefits for our town”.
However, environmental campaigners said “with climate change worsening, the last thing any of us need is 70,000 more aircraft a year”.
Luton was the UK’s fifth busiest airport last year, with 16.9 million people travelling on 132,000 flights.
The expansion plans involve building a new terminal, new taxiways and increasing capacity in the existing terminal, from its current 18 million passengers a year.
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A spokesman for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “pleased” with the decision.
Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Mourners gather around the bodies of 8 Red Crescent emergency responders, recovered in Rafah a week after an Israeli attack, as they are transported for burial from a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, March 31, 2025
The massacre of Red Crescent and civil defence aid workers has elicited little coverage and no condemnation by major powers — this is the age of lawlessness, warns JOE GILL
IT IS difficult to be shocked after 18 months of Israel’s genocidal onslaught on Gaza.
Brazen crimes against humanity have become the norm. World powers do nothing in response. At best, they put out weak statements of concern. Now the US does not even bother with that. It is fully on board with genocide.
Israel and the US are planning the violent ethnic cleansing of Gaza, knowing full well that no-one will stop them. The International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court are sitting on their hands, despite what appeared to be significant rulings last year on Israeli war crimes by the ICC, and on the “plausible risk” of genocide by the ICJ.
As Israeli anti-zionist commentator Alon Mizrahi wrote this week:
“As Israel and the US announce and begin to enact plans to ethnically cleanse Gaza of Palestinians, let’s remember that the International Court of Justice has not even convened to discuss the genocide since May 24 2024, when it was using very blurry language about the planned Rafah action. Tens of thousands have been exterminated since then, and hundreds of thousands have been injured. Babies starved and froze to death, and thousands of children lost limbs. Not a word from the ICJ.
“Zionism and US imperialism have rendered international law null and void. Everyone is allowed to do as they please to anyone. The post-World War II masquerade is truly over.”
Under the Joe Biden administration, secretary of state Antony Blinken and the smirking US spokesperson Matt Miller would make performative statements about “concern” over the killing of Palestinians (they would never use a word as clear as “killing,” always preferring the perpetrator-free “deaths”).
Today, under the Donald Trump regime, the mask of respect for the rituals of international diplomacy has been thrown aside. This is the law of the jungle, and the winner is the government that uses superior force to seize what they believe is theirs, and to silence and destroy those who stand in their way.
WORKING-AGE households are set to be an average of £400 worse off in the year ahead amid income squeezes and bill hikes, the Resolution Foundation has warned.
A new report by the think tank estimates that the disposable income of a typical household will fall by 1 per cent, while those across the poorest half of Britain are set for a sharper 2 per cent fall, losing the equivalent of £300.
One contributing factor is council tax rises, with households facing an £80-per-year average increase as rates rise by 5 per cent across most of England, 7 per cent in Wales and 9 per cent in Scotland.
Above-inflation increases in water charges will hit even harder, pushing bills up by an extra £120 on average.
Ofgem’s 6.4 per cent increase in the energy price cap adds another £111 a year on average from this month, although the Resolution Foundation believes that the impact of the change will be limited, with prices expected to fall in July.
Working-age benefits will not keep pace with inflation this year, the think tank warned, with April’s 1.7 per cent boost falling short of the 3.2 per cent consumer prices index rate projected for this year.
Meanwhile, private rents have risen by 9 per cent since the local housing allowance was last set.
Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
