Labour Party

The Chancellor and her expenses before she became an MP

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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg75jr5284o

Rachel Reeves has had a difficult start to her ministerial career.

As well as Labour’s new chancellor taking on the challenges of the UK economy, she has faced tricky questions about her past.

They began with scrutiny of her online CV late last year.

On the professional networking site LinkedIn, the Chancellor of the Exchequer claimed to have worked as an economist at Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) immediately before becoming an MP.

One of those who challenged it was a retired former colleague, Kev Gillett.

In a public post on LinkedIn, which he asked followers to share, he wrote: “Back in 2009 Rt Hon Rachel Reeves worked 3 levels below me. Just facts. She was a Complaints Support Manager at LBG/HBOS. Not an Economist. #factcheck.”

In fact it emerged that she had worked in a managerial role within the bank’s complaint handling department and her LinkedIn profile was updated to remove the claim.

Thin grey line

Rachel Reeves’s online CV exaggerated how long she spent working at the Bank of England

Thin grey line

Gillett also made another claim about Reeves’s time at the bank from 2006 to 2009, writing that she: “Nearly got sacked due to an expenses scandal where the 3 senior managers were all signing off each others expenses.”

Reeves’s team vigorously denied the allegations.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg75jr5284o

dizzy: I’ve quoted the start of a fairly long article from the BBC by Billy Kenber, Politics investigations correspondent and Phil Kemp, Politics producer. It is the report into their investigation of UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ errors in her reported career history and an expenses fraud investigation at her former employer Halifax Bank of Scotland.

Continue ReadingThe Chancellor and her expenses before she became an MP

Morning Star Editorial: Double standards on refugees: the Trump-Starmer conundrum

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/editorial-double-standards-refugees-trump-starmer-conundrum

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer departs 10 Downing Street, London, to attend Prime Minister’s Questions at the Houses of Parliament, February 12, 2025

DOUBLE standards. The Prime Minister vows to close a “loophole” that allowed a Gaza family, whose home was destroyed by Israeli bombing, to claim asylum under a scheme designed for Ukrainian refugees.

There are deserving and undeserving refugees. Ukrainians are white, and fleeing from an army we don’t like, Russia’s. Palestinians aren’t and they are fleeing from an army we advise, fund and equip.

Labour’s anti-immigrant braggadocio won’t shorten NHS waiting lists or lower housing costs. Its zeal for action contrasts with its foot-dragging over employment rights and its indifference to rising energy and water bills. Keir Starmer only punches down: he cowers before the corporate crooks bleeding this country dry but talks tough when it comes to the powerless and penniless.

Most of all he cowers before Donald Trump. British laws can be amended if they offend the US president: an online safety Bill may be reshaped to please Elon Musk, and proper taxation of the digital sector’s huge profits may be permanently shelved.

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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/editorial-double-standards-refugees-trump-starmer-conundrum

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

Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: Double standards on refugees: the Trump-Starmer conundrum

‘A dark moment in British history’ as government blocks refugees from gaining citizenship

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/a-dark-moment-in-british-history-as-government-blocks-refugees-from-gaining-citizenship

A group of people are brought in to Dover, Kent, by the RNLI Dungeness Lifeboat following a small boat incident in the Channel, December 28, 2024

IMMIGRATION rule changes blocking refugees from gaining citizenship are counterproductive and a dark moment in British history, campaigners warned today.

Under the updated Home Office “good character” guidance which took effect on Monday, applicants who entered Britain illegally will “normally” be refused citizenship, regardless of how long they have lived here.

The new rules specifically target those who arrived via dangerous routes, stating: “A person who applies for citizenship from February 10 2025 who has previously arrived without a required valid entry clearance or electronic travel authorisation, having made a dangerous journey, will normally be refused citizenship.”

A dangerous journey, the guidance adds, includes but is not limited to travelling by small boat or being concealed in a vehicle.

The change comes as Labour’s new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which scraps the previous Tory government’s Rwanda plan, passed its first hurdle in the Commons on Monday.

The Bill includes new criminal offences and grants counter-terror-style powers to police and enforcement agencies in a bid to crack down on people-smuggling gangs in the Channel.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/a-dark-moment-in-british-history-as-government-blocks-refugees-from-gaining-citizenship

Continue Reading‘A dark moment in British history’ as government blocks refugees from gaining citizenship

Heathrow expansion cannot be quick fix to economy, campaigners warn

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/heathrow-expansion-cannot-be-quick-fix-to-economy-campaigners-warn

Activists from Fossil Free London and Green New Deal Rising take part in a protest against a third runway at Heathrow, and expansion at Gatwick and Luton, outside Siemens Healthineers in Eynsham, Oxfordshire, January 29, 2025

HEATHROW expansion cannot be the quick fix to the economy, campaigners warned today after the government backed a new multibillion-pound investment programme.

The airport’s chief executive Thomas Woldbye announced funding for upgrades and expansion ahead of its proposal for a third runway, expected to be submitted to the government this summer.

The government said that the investment programme will secure thousands of steel jobs by increasing the demand for British-made steel.

But polling by climate charities suggests a majority of the public believes expansion is the “wrong priority,” with 67 per cent of respondents also saying they did not see much, if any, benefit to taxpayers.

No Third Runway Coalition chairman Paul McGuinness called the announcement “almost Orwellian,” arguing that the government had relied on a Heathrow-commissioned report to promote the project rather than its own Treasury assessment.

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Greenpeace UK’s chief scientist Dr Doug Parr said that the “real winners” will be Mr Woldbye and “the rest of the polluting aviation industry.”

“The only ‘perks’ for most people will be noise, air pollution and climate emissions,” he said.

Dr Parr said a third runway is “bad economics,” saying: “Instead of picking up any old polluting project from the discard pile, the Chancellor should focus on green industries that can attract investment and bring economic and social benefits for years to come, like secure jobs, affordable energy bills and cheaper, better transport.”

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Continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/heathrow-expansion-cannot-be-quick-fix-to-economy-campaigners-warn

Continue ReadingHeathrow expansion cannot be quick fix to economy, campaigners warn

Labour ‘bans MPs from criticising government’ after Waspi embarrassment

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labour-bans-mps-criticising-government-after-waspi-embarassment

Labour’s refusal to honour an ombudsman recommendation to compensate Waspi women has been deeply unpopular

LABOUR MPs have been banned from publicly criticising government policies in a new clampdown by the beleaguered Starmer regime, it was revealed today.

It is understood that Labour whips have written a threatening letter to the 10 Labour MPs who voted against the government’s refusal to compensate the Waspi women over pension maladministration, as recommended by an ombudsman.

In an unprecedented injunction, the letter includes the warning that “you are not entitled to criticise the government in public.”

The move forms part of an increasing authoritarianism by Labour’s leadership as the government’s popularity plummets in the polls.

Three left MPs have had their six-month suspension for an earlier rebellion over the two-child benefit cap extended for an open-ended period, indicating that they are unlikely ever to be readmitted to the parliamentary party.

Government business managers had only imposed a one-line whip, the lightest form of parliamentary discipline, on the Waspi vote, since it was on a purely symbolic motion tabled by the Scottish National Party.

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Continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labour-bans-mps-criticising-government-after-waspi-embarassment

Continue ReadingLabour ‘bans MPs from criticising government’ after Waspi embarrassment