Government confirms it will ban Palestine Action group under anti-terrorism laws
The government has said it will ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws, making it a criminal offence to belong to the pro-Palestinian campaign group which last week damaged two UK military planes in a protest.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement that the draft proscription order will be laid before parliament on 30 June and would become law after it goes through the parliamentary process.
Two members of the group entered a Royal Air Force base on Friday, spraying paint into the engines of the Voyager aircraft and further damaging them with crowbars. Police have claimed Palestine Action’s members have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage.
A protest was due to be held at Westminster today over the prospect of a banning order. It was moved to Trafalgar Square, and PA Media is reporting there have been clashes between demonstrators and the police.
More details soon …
Key events
My colleague Jasper Jolly has produced this explainer on the industrial strategy document published by the government today.
Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey discuss how Keir Starmer’s government is responding to the US president’s decision to launch attacks on Iranian nuclear sites in Politics Weekly UK, which you can listen to here.
Kemi Badenoch has taken aim at the assisted dying bill again. This time, the Tory leader is upset about the way the bill is moving through parliament, saying it is “thoughtless” and driven by narcissism at a Policy Exchange event.
I have always been a supporter of assisted dying in principle. I had a great-aunt who died in the most horrific way … but you look at the way that this bill has been drafted, rushed through, the way the committees have been selected, the dropping of the safeguards, and it’s all done in such a way just to shove things through and in a thoughtless manner.
There is too much thoughtlessness in our legislative procedure. There are too many people who are creating laws so they can put something on social media and say ‘I did this’, rather than look at the ramifications of what the legislation that they’re putting through are going to have.”
Earlier in June, MPs voted 314 to 291 in favour of allowing adults with a terminal illness and less than six months left to live to receive medical assistance to end their lives.
Badenoch also had it in for net zero, “a 90-minute debate that has cost us hundreds of billions of pounds, and nobody even had a chance to vote on it,” she says, adding that she wishes she were in show business rather than politics. “How do I get myself on TV?” she asked.
Well, in November, she might have her chance to follow in Edwina Curry and Matt Hancock’s footsteps when I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! returns to our screens.
Scotland’s first minister concerned UK could be drawn into Iran conflict
First minister of Scotland John Swinney has said he is “concerned” the UK could be drawn into the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Speaking during a visit to a school in Glasgow on Monday, Swinney urged the international community to find a resolution.
“I share the concerns of Scots about the events in Iran over the weekend,” he said.
“To wake up to what we woke up to yesterday morning is very, very frightening and alarming, and I don’t think any of us should underestimate the significance and the severity of the situation that we face.”
He added: “That’s why I have made a strong plea for every resource of the international community to be deployed to de-escalate the situation and to get the world to step back from the brink.”
Swinney encouraged the UK government to “put all of their weight” behind diplomatic efforts to stem the conflict.
Asked if he was concerned about British involvement in the conflict, he said: “There’s obviously the potential for this to have very wide-ranging implications, and they could involve the UK. So, of course, I’m concerned about that point.
“I think we need to step back, to find a negotiated settlement to the issues that have been raised and to avoid any further escalation, which will simply increase the severity and the significance of the dangers that we all face.”
King Charles has met Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Windsor Castle, PA reports.
Charles welcomed Zelenskyy to an audience on Monday before the Ukrainian president’s afternoon meeting with prime minister Keir Starmer in London.
The pair were pictured chatting as they made their way through the castle and shaking hands in the Grand Corridor.
The Green party of England and Wales MP Ellie Chowns had earlier expressed concern over the government’s threat to ban Palestine Action using terrorism legislation. She described the move, now confirmed by home secretary Yvette Cooper, as “a shocking overreaction to a couple of protesters using paint” about which she was deeply concerned”.
Earlier chancellor Rachel Reeeves defended the plans, saying “What I would say about Palestine Action is that their behaviours in the last few weeks, and particularly in the last few days, are totally unacceptable. To cause damage to military assets, but also to cause such damage to privately owned assets, it is unacceptable whatever your views are on what’s happening in the Middle East.”
Downing Street had said Palestine Action had committed what it called “unacceptable actions that risk our security”, adding: “We keep the list of proscribed organisations under constant review.”
Government confirms it will ban Palestine Action group under anti-terrorism laws
The government has said it will ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws, making it a criminal offence to belong to the pro-Palestinian campaign group which last week damaged two UK military planes in a protest.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement that the draft proscription order will be laid before parliament on 30 June and would become law after it goes through the parliamentary process.
Two members of the group entered a Royal Air Force base on Friday, spraying paint into the engines of the Voyager aircraft and further damaging them with crowbars. Police have claimed Palestine Action’s members have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage.
A protest was due to be held at Westminster today over the prospect of a banning order. It was moved to Trafalgar Square, and PA Media is reporting there have been clashes between demonstrators and the police.
More details soon …
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is currently speaking at a Policy Exchange event. You can watch it here if you would like.
Downing St: preventing Iran getting nuclear weapons is ‘good thing’ for the UK
A Number 10 spokesperson has just given a briefing, with PA Media reporting that much of the focus was on questions about the US strikes on Iran.
Downing Street said preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons is a “good thing” for the UK. The spokesperson said “We’re clear that the prevention of Iran getting nuclear weapons is a good thing for this country. But our focus is on diplomacy. That is the priority and that is what every member of this government is working towards and that’s been the focus of the calls with international partners over the weekend. Iran should take the opportunity presented by the US to re-enter talks.”
The spokesperson followed the lead of several key ministers today in refusing to say whether the UK government believed the US had acted legally in attacking Iran.
“Our longstanding position on legal advice is that we don’t disclose that, so I’m not going to get into that here,” they said, adding “But as I say, the focus is on a diplomatic solution and for Iran to come back to the table with the US.”
Asked if the prime minister had been blindsided by the US decision to strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities, the spokesperson said “he acknowledges that it is a very fast-moving situation, he has an excellent relationship with president Trump, as detailed at the G7 last week when the President spoke about the strength of that relationship, but it is a fast-moving situation. The prime minister has been consistent that de-escalation and diplomacy for him is the order of the day.”
James Cleverly, who at one point last year was the frontrunner to replace Rishi Sunak as Conservative leader before a surprise exit from the leadership race, has called David Lammy’s appearance on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning “excruciating”.
During the interview, the foreign secretary was repeatedly pressed on whether US strikes on Iran were legal, and fell back to saying that it was up to the US to address that issue, and that the UK was not involved in the action.
In a post to social media, Cleverly, who was formerly foreign secretary and is widely believed to still harbour leadership ambitions, said:
The whole interview was excruciating. Why go on the radio if you have no opinions, have nothing to say, and don’t know what to do? As foreign secretary I made sure the UK was a participant in world events, not a commentator. Under Labour we’ve become mere spectators.
The health secretary has said that one of his aims is to “rebuild” the Care Quality Commission (CQC). PA media reports that Wes Streeting said:
The important thing for me is that we rebuild the CQC as an effective regulator and guarantor of patient safety because I think one of the many things that’s gone wrong in this space, and in the NHS more generally, is that the regulators are failing to discharge their duties effectively on behalf of the public, and, frankly, leaving government very exposed as well.
I am in a position where I’m supposed to be able to ask regulators to keep patients safe and to hold institutions to account in a way that, frankly, ministers are having to take direct responsibility for increasingly, because of a lack of capability and confidence in the regulators, and that’s not sustainable. We have got to help the regulators turn themselves around and that’s what we’ll be doing.
The CQC is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.
Streeting also criticised the culture of the NHS in England, saying that he wanted to “ensure better accountability for families when things go wrong.”
The health secretary said:
I have been extremely struck and moved by how hard these families have to struggle to get basic answers from providers about what went wrong. I think it’s just utterly shameful that on top of the grief and trauma they’ve experienced that they have to go into battle for an accurate and honest account of what happened and why.
That’s something we need to change in terms of the culture of the NHS, because it is a culture of legal departments saying to senior leaders: ‘You can’t say sorry, you mustn’t admit liability’. What’s the priority here? Is it really patients, or is it reputations? And my priority is patients.
Investigation into NHS maternity services in England to look at up to 10 of the most concerning units
Tobi Thomas
Tobi Thomas is the Guardian’s UK health and inequalities correspondent, and here she has more details on Wes Streeting’s announcement of an investigation into maternity services in England:
The investigation, due to conclude by December, will look at up to 10 of the most concerning maternity and neonatal units in order to give bereaved and affected families answers about what happened during their care.
Wes Streeting did not say how much the investigation would cost but that he expected it would be “somewhat less” that the “enormous” amount paid out by the NHS in clinical negligence claims.
Speaking to press after his keynote speech, he said: “There are some variables that we are still working out with families in terms of what the team looks like, what the terms of reference are and how it will work. I suspect it will be somewhat less than the enormous costs we pay in clinical negligence claims.
“Probably the most shocking statistic in this area is that we are paying out more in clinical negligence for maternity failures than we are spending on maternity services.”
The government also said on Monday a national maternity and neonatal taskforce, chaired by the health secretary and with a panel of maternity experts and bereaved families, would be established.
The announcement of an independent review of maternity services across England had been looking increasingly likely after a series of high-profile failures in maternity care seen across several NHS trusts.
You can read more of Tobi Thomas’ updated report here: Wes Streeting announces investigation into NHS maternity services in England
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride has also had a dig at Nigel Farage and his non-dom tax break policy.
In a post to social media the Conservative MP for Central Devon said “Nigel Farage is once again peddling fantasy economics. Reform’s plans simply don’t add up. To deliver them, they’d have to raise taxes or borrow more – yet they won’t admit it. That’s not straight talking, it’s the Farage mirage. Britain needs a serious and honest plan to support wealth creators and grow the economy, not populist gimmicks.”
Matthew Pearce
The current co-leader of the Green party of England and Wales and MP for Waveney Valley, Adrian Ramsay, has weighed in on Reform UK’s Britannia card policy.
Ramsay, posting on social media, said: “Nigel Farage wants to allow ultra-rich non-doms to pay a one-off £250k every 10 years rather than being taxed properly. Let’s be clear: this is chickenfeed for the super-rich – and a massive tax break for the elite who fund his party.”
Ramsay was followed by Green MP Ellie Chowns, who reposted a thread from tax expert Dan Neidle which digs into the problems behind the proposal. Chowns, who is running on a joint ticket with Ramsay to be the next co-leader of the Greens, said: “Here’s the latest proof of just how cynical Reform UK are: their latest wheeze would constitute a whopping £34 billion tax loophole for the super-rich.”
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