Rishi Sunak

Government defeated in High Court over climate plans

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68947242

The government has been defeated in court – for a second time – for not doing enough to meet its targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Environmental campaigners argued that the energy minister signed off the government’s climate plan without evidence it could be achieved.

The High Court ruled on Friday that the government will now be required to redraft the plan again.

In response the government defended its record on climate action.

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: “The UK can be hugely proud of its record on climate change. We do not believe a court case about process represents the best way of driving progress towards our shared goal of reaching net zero.”

The legal challenge was brought by environmental groups Friends of the Earth, ClientEarth and The Good Law Project.

Tony Bosworth, lead campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said it was “an embarrassing day for the government”.

Speaking outside the court to BBC News he said: “What we now need to see is a climate plan which is robust, which is comprehensive and which is fair, which makes sure we meet all our climate targets, and which does that in a way which doesn’t leave anybody behind.”

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68947242

Continue ReadingGovernment defeated in High Court over climate plans

Coming soon …

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Image of Fascists Mussolini and Hitler
Image of Fascists Mussolini and Hitler

I need to write an article about whether we are fighting modern Fascists. I think that we are. Should the Israelis and their Zionist supporters be recognised as Neo-Fascists? If Israelis are Neo-Fascists, then their supporters like the UK’s Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer are also Neo-Fascists. Should climate destroyers be recognised as Neo-Fascists? They’re often the same people.

Zionist Keir Starmer supports Israel's Gaza genocide.
Zionist Keir Starmer supports Israel’s Gaza genocide.
Continue ReadingComing soon …

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/

Continue ReadingUK BLOCKS DETAILS ON ISRAEL MILITARY TRAINING IN BRITAIN

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