Rishi Sunak

UK BLOCKS DETAILS ON ISRAEL MILITARY TRAINING IN BRITAIN

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https://www.declassifieduk.org/uk-blocks-details-on-israel-military-training-in-britain/

An Israeli F-15 takes off from RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire on Exercise Cobra Warrior in 2019. (Photo: John Lambeth / Alamy)

The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) is refusing to give parliament any information about the Israeli military personnel currently being trained in Britain.

In February, the government admitted that “there are currently six Israeli Armed Forces officers posted in the UK”. It added that “Israel is represented by Armed Forces personnel in its Embassy in the UK, and as participants in UK defence-led training courses”.

Yet when asked this week by Alba MP Kenny MacAskill about the ranks of these personnel and where they are posted, defence minister Leo Docherty, Grant Shapps’ deputy, refused to say. 

He replied in a written answer to parliament: “This information is being withheld in order to protect personal information and to avoid prejudicing relations between the United Kingdom and another State”.

The MoD also refused to say how many British military personnel are currently stationed in Israel. 

Docherty again replied evasively, writing: “The UK has a number of Armed Forces personnel across the Middle East, working closely with partners to carry out defence engagement and to uphold regional stability. I cannot go into specifics for operational security purposes.”

The UK government is clearly imposing a blackout on providing much information to the public about its support for Israel as it continues its mass attacks on Palestinians in Gaza.

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https://www.declassifieduk.org/uk-blocks-details-on-israel-military-training-in-britain/

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People with depression or anxiety could lose access to benefits in Tory welfare reforms

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/people-depression-or-anxiety-could-lose-access-benefits-tory-welfare-re

At eternity's gate by Vincent Van Gogh portreys depression. Copyright expired.
At eternity’s gate by Vincent Van Gogh portreys depression. Copyright expired.

PEOPLE suffering from depression or anxiety could lose access to sickness benefits as part of the government’s major welfare reforms, the Work and Pensions Secretary said today.

Mel Stride announced plans to overhaul disability benefits in a statement to the Commons, with proposals aimed at providing “more tailored support in line with their needs.”

In a green paper published alongside Mr Stride’s statement, ministers set out plans to reform personal independence payments (PIP), the main disability benefit, through changes to eligibility criteria and assessments.

The proposals follow Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement of major changes to the welfare system earlier this month, saying that “people with less severe mental health conditions should be expected to engage with the world of work.”

Tom Marsland, policy manager at the national disability charity Sense, said recent government narrative around disability benefits has been “divisive and deeply damaging.”

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/people-depression-or-anxiety-could-lose-access-benefits-tory-welfare-re

Continue ReadingPeople with depression or anxiety could lose access to benefits in Tory welfare reforms

Morning Star: The Tories have wrecked the NHS – but that doesn’t mean Labour will rescue it

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/tories-have-wrecked-nhs-doesnt-mean-labour-will-rescue-it

The NHS overtook the economy as voters’ biggest concern in February, according to polling by Ipsos. Small wonder when waiting lists have hit 7.5 million: there can hardly be a person in the country who doesn’t have a friend or relative who has been affected.

And the Conservatives bear a heavy responsibility.

In the decade up to the pandemic, real-terms healthcare spending per head rose on average by just 0.4 per cent a year — in four years it actually fell, despite rising pressures on the service.

That compares very poorly to the record of the last Labour government, which raised spending by 5.7 per cent a year on average from 1997-2010. It even compares badly to that of the Thatcher and Major Conservative governments, which averaged a 2.1 per cent annual increase.

But we should be more cautious than Poulter about endorsing Keir Starmer’s solution.

Starmer and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting have pointedly refused to offer the increases in NHS budgets that the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown governments delivered. Streeting is emphatic that he will not “pour money into a 20th-century model,” instead demanding reforms which, in increasing reliance on the private sector, both mimic existing Conservative policy and are unlikely to make a difference to waiting lists (because private healthcare in Britain recruits from the NHS, so overall capacity will not grow).

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Britain’s public services are collapsing under the strain of decades of neoliberal policy. In the NHS, hospitals have been undermined through outsourcing services to the private sector as well as by the cost of PFI debt — both issues with their origins in the Blair years.

To restore our NHS to health, we need a reversal of privatisation and outsourcing and a forced end to all PFI contracts, as well as a significant increase in overall funding to bring us closer to healthcare spending levels in France or Germany.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/tories-have-wrecked-nhs-doesnt-mean-labour-will-rescue-it

Continue ReadingMorning Star: The Tories have wrecked the NHS – but that doesn’t mean Labour will rescue it

Government failure to tackle NHS dentistry crisis has left morale at all-time low

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/government-failure-tackle-nhs-dentistry-crisis-has-left-morale-all-time-low

A dentist at work, May 19, 2011

THE government’s failure to tackle the growing exodus from the NHS workforce has left morale among dentists at an all-time low, official data shows.

Figures reveal that 64 per cent of dentists in England are thinking of leaving the NHS.

The British Dental Association (BDA) has described the government’s recent recovery plan as “unworthy of the title” and hit out at the “non-stop spin from ministers attempting to defend their unambitious and unfunded policies.”

It also slammed the Tories for rejecting the health and social care committee’s key recommendation to break with the discredited NHS contract, “which is fuelling this exodus.”

Any progress will “hinge on real reform and sustainable funding,” it said.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/government-failure-tackle-nhs-dentistry-crisis-has-left-morale-all-time-low

Continue ReadingGovernment failure to tackle NHS dentistry crisis has left morale at all-time low

Home Office to detain asylum seekers across UK in shock Rwanda operation

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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/apr/28/home-office-to-detain-asylum-seekers-across-uk-in-shock-rwanda-operation

Officials plan to hold refugees who turn up for routine meetings at immigration service offices. They will be transferred to detention centres. Photograph: Benjamin John/Alamy

The Home Office will launch a surprise operation to detain asylum seekers across the UK on Monday in preparation for deportation to Rwanda, weeks earlier than expected, the Guardian understands.

Officials plan to hold refugees who turn up for routine meetings at immigration service offices and will also pick people up nationwide in a two-week exercise.

They will be immediately transferred to detention centres, which have already been prepared for the operation, and held to be put on later flights to Rwanda. Others identified for these flights are already being held.

It is thought the launch of the operation has been timed to coincide with Thursday’s local council elections in England, to boost Rishi Sunak’s claims he is cracking down on illegal migration.

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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/apr/28/home-office-to-detain-asylum-seekers-across-uk-in-shock-rwanda-operation

Continue ReadingHome Office to detain asylum seekers across UK in shock Rwanda operation