Yvette Cooper

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

Labour’s immigration crackdown plans set a ‘dangerous precedent,’ campaigners warn

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labour-immigration-crackdown-plans-set-a-dangerous-precedent-campaigners-warn

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on patrol with officers from West Yorkshire Police during a visit to Halifax Police Station, December 20, 202

LABOUR boasts of an immigration crackdown and plans for sweeping new seize and search powers set a “dangerous precedent” and embolden the far right, campaigners warn.

Ahead of a crunch parliamentary vote on their Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill today, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s government has gone on the offensive, trumpeting thousands of arrests of exploited “illegal” migrants made since assuming office in July.

Between polling day and January 31 2025, 5,424 visits were made by immigration officers to workplaces across the country, leading to 3,930 arrests — numbers they proudly proclaim to be 38 per cent higher than a year earlier.

Hailing a record 609 arrests in January alone — almost twice the tally of 352 a year earlier under ther Tories — Labour Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government was boosting enforcement to “record levels.”

She said: “The immigration rules must be respected and enforced.

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Continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labour-immigration-crackdown-plans-set-a-dangerous-precedent-campaigners-warn

Continue ReadingLabour’s immigration crackdown plans set a ‘dangerous precedent,’ campaigners warn

Changes to law would give police ‘licence to kill’, UK rights groups warn

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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/09/changes-to-law-armed-police-uk-accountability-review

Later this year, new laws will be introduced giving anonymity to firearms officers who shoot someone, unless they are convicted. Photograph: Grant Rooney Premium/Alamy

Review into accountability soon to report as police seek greater protection from prosecution over use of force

Police want changes to the law giving them “a licence to kill”, leading rights groups have warned as the government prepares to give officers new protections from prosecution.

A government-ordered review into police accountability is expected to report within weeks. It followed fears of a walkout by angry armed officers in London after a police marksman, Martyn Blake, was tried for murder over the shooting of Chris Kaba. Blake was acquitted in October by a jury in three hours.

Police say they want the system to be fairer and protect officers who use force as part of their duties. Rights groups believe the system holding police to account is already too weak, and diluting it would “undermine public trust”.

In a letter seen by the Guardian, groups including Inquest, the Centre for Women’s Justice, Liberty and Black Lives Matter warn the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, against weakening police accountability.

“This review is less a kneejerk reaction but rather a dangerous and calculated attempt to use a high-profile case to push for less scrutiny and accountability of police actions,” they said.

“The number of cases where police officers are prosecuted for a death is vanishingly small (since 1990 there has only been one successful prosecution of an officer for manslaughter and none for murder).

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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/09/changes-to-law-armed-police-uk-accountability-review

Continue ReadingChanges to law would give police ‘licence to kill’, UK rights groups warn

Thoughts of the Day 22 January 2025

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Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper are whipping up a moral panic about the Southport killer Axel Rudakubana who killed three children and injured ten others. I’m sorry to state the obvious, that terribly tragic as it is, it pales into insignificance compared to the thousands on thousands of children murdered in Gaza with the active support and encouragement of Starmer, Cooper and the UK Labour Party. Starmer and Cooper are escalating the issue out of all proportion. Yes it was tragic and awful that innocent young children were murdered but the perpetrator was by definition mentally ill and it wasn’t like a mass shooting event that we see abroad.

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

I’m otherwise busy atm and don’t have much time to blog.

Continue ReadingThoughts of the Day 22 January 2025