Markus Andrews

A former Big Brother contestant who heckled Sir Keir Starmer during his conference speech on Wednesday said she expects to be thrown out of the Labour Party.Carole Vincent, 67, a carer from the Leyton and Wanstead constituency in east London, was among a group of party members who taunted the Labour leader and waved red cards at him as he closed the party conference in Brighton.Ms Vincent told journalists after the speech that it was an “absolute disgrace” the Labour Party was not supporting a £15 an hour minimum wage and she expected Sir Keir to face a leadership challenge at “some point.”She added: “He had ignored — and this conference has ignored — people that have been standing up and asking him to guarantee the 15 per cent rise for the NHS, a £15 minimum wage.”Ms Vincent, a contributor to Socialist Worker who was previously stood for election for George Galloway’s Respect party, now fears she will be kicked out of Labour after goading the leader.She told The Times: “I will get expelled for this but I’m a principled, decent, hardworking person. It is an absolute disgrace that Keir Starmer [was] not supporting a £15 minimum wage . . . it’s disgusting. He doesn’t represent the roots of a Labour movement and party.“They don’t represent the red flag, that’s for sure. The red flag was built out of the blood, toil and sweat of the trade union movement, and that’s not what we’re seeing here.”The 67-year-old heckler was previously a contestant on Big Brother 8 in 2007, where she came in fifth place.Ms Vincent was also previously accused of taking a truncheon from a police officer during an anti-war rally that was organised after a state visit to London by former US President George Bush in 2008.She was cleared after an intervention from left-wing politician Tony Benn who acted as a witness in her case.Asked about the hecklers on BBC Radio 4’s PM programme, Labour’s shadow secretary of state for child poverty Wes Streeting said: “If you are going to do the work of the Conservative party for them, out you go, you won’t be missed.” More

The government has launched legal proceedings against environmental activists for blocking the M25 in defiance of a recent court injunction.This comes as demonstrators from Insulate Britain, a climate group started by one of Extinction Rebellion’s founders, stopped traffic on the motorway on Wednesday – the seventh time they have done so in little more than fortnight.Protesters have also recently blocked other key roads such as the A20 near the Port of Dover. Last week, the government warned climate campaigners they could be charged with contempt of court if they ignored an interim injunction issued by the High Court on 22 September. Under this restriction, protesters are banned from occupying strategic roads.A spokesperson for the government confirmed on Wednesday that it had begun to serve papers to people accused of breaching it.“Police continue making arrests and are working closely with National Highways to shut down these illegal demonstrations and keep the public safe,” they added.Those who take part in such protests face unlimited fines or up to two years in prison.A total of 11 arrests were made on Wednesday morning at junction 3 in Kent, after activists glued themselves to the road on a roundabout.A further 16 people were also detained for obstructing the highway at the same spot in the afternoon.Insulate Britain said in a statement: “We are going nowhere. You can raid our savings. You can confiscate our property. You can deny us our liberty and put us behind bars.“But shooting the messenger can never destroy the message: that this country is going to hell unless you take emergency action to stop putting carbon into the air. Boris get on with the job.”The demonstrators on the M25 welcomed a promise from Keir Starmer that his party would insulate every home in Britain over the next 10 years. The Labour leader mentioned the pledge during a speech at the party’s conference on Wednesday. “That’s excellent news. Let’s get the Labour Party in,” one woman said. Additional reporting by PA More

New Zealand politicians on Thursday passed a law that makes plotting a terrorist attack a crime, fixing a legal loophole that was exposed earlier this month by a violent knife attack.The new law had been months in the planning but was hurried through Parliament after an extremist inspired by the Islamic State group grabbed a knife at an Auckland supermarket on Sept. 3 and began stabbing shoppers. He wounded five while two others were injured in the chaos. All have been recovering. Police officers shot and killed the extremist, Ahamed Aathil Samsudeen, after they said they confronted him in the supermarket and he charged at them with the knife. Authorities had been following him for 53 days straight, worried he planned to launch an attack at any moment after he was released from prison in July. However, police had found no legal reason to detain him. A year earlier, prosecutors had unsuccessfully tried to charge Samsudeen with terrorism after he bought a large hunting knife and was found with violent Islamic State videos. Prosecutors argued there was evidence he purchased the knife with the intention of killing people and to further an ideological cause. But a judge ruled the act of buying a knife wasn’t enough to proceed with the case.The judge found New Zealand’s anti-terror laws didn’t specifically cover plots. That “could be an Achilles’ heel,” the judge acknowledged at the time, adding that it was not up to a court to create new laws. After the attack this month, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern vowed to pass the new legislation by the end of September. But Ardern also said that even had the new law been in place, it may not necessarily have stopped Samsudeen.“This bill strengthens our counterterrorism laws to better prevent and respond,” said lawmaker Ginny Andersen, from the liberal Labour Party “And these changes will also enable police to intervene earlier. If it saves lives, and makes New Zealanders safer, I believe that is a good thing.”New Zealand’s terrorism laws date back to soon after after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S. Changes were recommended after a 2019 attack, in which a white supremacist gunman killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch during Friday prayers.The conservative National Party joined Labour in voting in favor of the bill, which passed by 98 votes to 22. But some of Ardern’s traditional liberal allies in Parliament voted against it.The Green Party said their members were worried the new law had been rushed through without enough consultation, and that the definition of terrorism had been expanded to the extent it risked capturing “direct action, activism, and protest.”The Greens said they were also worried that some experts had characterized the new offense as a “thought crime,” and that accompanying powers allowing authorities to carry out warrantless searches increased the risk for human rights abuses. The new crime of planning a terrorist attack comes with a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment. The bill also criminalizes travel to or from New Zealand to carry out an attack, and weapons or combat training for a terrorist attack. Ardern has also been examining whether changes are needed to New Zealand’s deportation laws and policies after authorities canceled Samsudeen’s refugee status on the basis of fraud in 2019 and ordered him deported back to Sri Lanka. An appeal by Samsudeen was still pending when he launched his attack. More

French fishermen could block British ports or disrupt the flow of trucks into the Channel Tunnel over a post-Brexit fishing dispute with Jersey, a politician has warned.Tension over the issue intensified this week after the government of Jersey announced that it will shortly issue 12 small French vessels licences to fish in its waters, out of the 47 that had applied for them.This means that a total of 111 French boats have been promised full licences this year, and another 31 have been granted temporary ones, which will expire at the end of January. But Jersey ministers confirmed that 75 other boats did not meet its criteria, and will have to stop fishing off the Channel Island within 30 days.The decision has angered French politicians, who believe the move goes against the Brexit agreement signed by the UK and the EU late last year.Jean-Pierre Pont, who represents the Pas-de-Calais department for Emmanuel Macron’s party, La République En Marche, said French fishermen would be within their rights – “after nine months of useless patience” – to retaliate.“For example, by blocking ports or the entry of lorries towards the UK through the Channel Tunnel,” he said.His warning echoes the blockade of Jersey’s main harbour by dozens of French fishing vessels in May, which led Boris Johnson to send Navy patrol ships to the area.Four months on, the dispute has reared its head again, with Mr Pont hyperbolically describing it as “a new Hundred Year’s War which the English undertake against France, forgetting that they ended up losing this famous war”.Annick Girardin, the French minister for the sea, also expressed her displeasure. “This is a new refusal by the British to apply the conditions of the Brexit agreement despite all the work undertaken together,” she said.“I have only one watchword left: to obtain definitive licences for our fishermen as provided for in the agreement. French fishing must not be taken hostage by the British for political purposes.”Elsewhere, the European Commission issued a statement conveying its “regrets that it has not been possible to bring this issue now to an end”, adding that it would ask the UK for “full disclosure” about how it came to its decision.In Jersey, Ian Gorst, the island’s external relations minister, insisted that the Crown Dependency had taken “a pragmatic, reasonable and evidence-based approach throughout”.He said that the Jersey government would consider granting more licences, provided it received further evidence of French vessels’ fishing activity between 2017 and the start of 2020. It uses this data to determine whether or not an application is successful. However, it is not just the French who are unhappy with the latest announcement. So, seemingly, are Jersey fishermen.Reflecting on the recent development, Don Thompson, the president of the Jersey Fishermen’s Association, claimed that only 70 French vessels relied on Jersey’s waters, complaining that twice as many full and temporary licences were being granted.“The Jersey fleet is deeply disappointed. Today’s news could not have been worse,” he told the Bailiwick Express. “What might have softened the blow would have been restrictions on gear and number of days at sea, but those are not included. It is a very sad day.” More

Angela Rayner joined Labour members in belting out a number of timeless karaoke classics, including a duet with Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.The deputy leader — who caused a stir at this year’s conference by labelling the Tories “scum” — sang Oasis hit “Don’t Look Back in Anger” to hundreds of other partygoers on the final night of the annual event.Ms Rayner was later joined on the mic by Mr Burnham – mooted as a future leadership challenger to Sir Keir Starmer – at Brighton’s revolution bar.The Mancunian duo belted out a rendition of the Proclaimer’s I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles), much to the delight of the Labourite revellers.Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth also got in on the action and joined Ms Rayner for “You’re The One That I Want’” from hit film Grease.The Labour leader did also make an appearance at the event but didn’t take the opportunity to give members an insight into his vocal range.However he did take the opportunity to speak to crowd at the packed out event, that was put on by the Daily Mirror.Sir Keir said that seeing “everybody in person for the first time has been absolutely brilliant”, reported the Evening Standard. Also at the raucous event were Ed Miliband and Wes Streeting.It comes after Ms Rayner sparked a row after reportedly calling the Tories “scum” and “homophobic, racist, misogynistic” at an event on Saturday night.The accusations prompted fury from the Conservatives and the comments were called “absolutely appalling” by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.Ms Rayner has refused to apologise and instead doubled down on her remarks.She later tweeted that people “seem to be far more concerned with my choice of language” than the Prime Minister’s own “racist, homophobic and sexist” comments.“I’m very happy to sit down with Boris. If he withdraws his comments and apologises, I’ll be very happy to apologise to him,” the Ashton-under-Lyne MP added. More

Washington is celebrating the UK’s effort to push a Chinese company out of a sensitive nuclear power project, according to people familiar with US engagement on the issue. The US, long an opponent of the UK’s energy ties with China, considers London’s plans to require Chinese energy giant, CGN to give up its 20 per cent stake in the Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk a long-fought-for diplomatic win. The British government’s discomfort with China’s grip on its energy sector has grown in recent months. Meanwhile, the Biden administration launched a fresh drive to protect energy infrastructure from attacks, including cyberattacks, earlier this year. This plan was created specifically with adversaries Russia and China, and their cyber-hostility in mind, according to a person briefed on the plan.It comes as the UK has sought to further cement its close security ties with Washington, via the tripartite nuclear submarine deal with the US and Australia termed ‘Aukus’ in recent weeks. The agreement is part of the wider effort to “preserve security and stability in the Indo-Pacific,” prime minister Boris Johnson said in a statement earlier this month which avoided a direct reference to China. The US has also been examining the energy security of its NATO allies, and their respective dependence on China and Russia. Now, an effort to take control of the CGN stake by the British government is viewed as a pay-off for Washington, after it lobbied London over China’s ties to Britain’s sensitive nuclear energy infrastructure.“It’s a win for sure, for the US, and for the UK. Serious threats posed by some countries to energy security seem to be getting the right attention,” one of the same people familiar with US energy security policy said.Britain is weighing taking hold of CGN’s 20 per cent stake in the £20 billion Sizewell C nuclear plant project. The government may then sell the stake to institutional investors, or float it on the stock market, according to a person familiar with the government’s thinking. EDF, which holds the remaining share of the Sizewell project and Hinkley point C, declined to comment. CGN did not respond to a request for comment.There is no official figure which captures the full extent of Chinese ownership of British assets within the energy sector, in part because it is hard to determine the extent of the regime’s use of intermediaries. However, China’s hold over a range of parts of the UK’s energy infrastructure is considerable. The Chinese state holds an interest in UK gas distributor, Cadent Gas, via its sovereign wealth fund after the Chinese Investment Corporation led a consortium to buy the network from National Grid. State-backed Chinese companies also own stakes in British oil and gas companies, and renewable energy sites, including windfarms.CGN is also involved in building the Hinkley Point C site in Somerset alongwith French energy company EDF, offering nearly a third of the investment in the site. Washington was troubled by both the Sizewell and Hinkley projects, but most concerned about plans for a plant in Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex which could use China’s own nuclear reactor technology, rather than following more familiar European technology. The same people familiar with US energy engagement expect China to be cut from the Bradwell-on-Sea project. A government spokesperson said: “CGN is a valued partner at Hinkley Point C and a shareholder in Sizewell C up until the point of the government’s Final Investment Decision. Negotiations are ongoing and no final decision has been taken.”The government, which said it believes nuclear power is a crucial part of the energy mix as the UK moves seeks to reduce its carbon emissions, is expected to put forward new legislation on how to fund big nuclear energy projects going forward.The favoured approach is a regulated asset base (RAB) route, whereby investors can collect money from consumers via energy bills during construction of a power plant.A representative for the US government did not offer a comment ahead of publication. More

Sir Keir Starmer’s conference speech won praise from Labour MPs and several union backers, who said he had set out a compelling “vision” to lead the country and fix the cost of living crisis.However, the union Unite criticised Starmer’s 90-minute address – claiming he had failed to offer hard-pressed workers much in the way of policy or show enough “anger” over pay and conditions.Centrist Labour figures shared their “relief” that Starmer had showered praise on the Labour government led by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and made a clear attempt to draw a line under the Jeremy Corbyn era.Blair’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell said you could “feel the relief in the party hearing a leader actually defend the record of a Labour government”.Lord Mandelson, the former New Labour cabinet minister, said: “With every paragraph of his speech Keir sounded more and more normal and in touch with ordinary people’s lives.”Shadow cabinet members were effusive in their praise. David Lammy described the speech as “barnstorming and inspirational”, while Ed Miliband said the leader had conveyed as “his motivation, mission and the country he wants to build”.Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, said Starmer had showed that Labour “had a plan for fixing the cost of living crisis, for delivering decent pay work and pay, and for giving our children a brighter future”.Unison general secretary Christina McAnea also said it amounted to a “new” and hopeful vision for a Labour administration, saying: “Keir’s speech shows that Labour in power could bring hope to the many families forgotten by this government. This is a serious plan for change.”But Unite bosses were less impressed. The union’s national officer Rob MacGregor said members “worried about the cost of living crisis, empty petrol pumps, abhorrent fire and rehire in our workplaces and the end of furlough just hours away, there wasn’t much for you in this speech”.He added: “We needed to hear a Labour leader who is as angry as we are about the harm being done to our workers … We’re clearly not there yet.”The National Education Union (NEU) welcomed Starmer’s promise to recruit more teachers – but condemned his plan to make Ofsted focus more on failing schools, claiming the regulator was already responsible for an “unnecessary” workload on teachers.Political commentators felt the 90-minute speech was too long, but agreed the praise Starmer offered for the New Labour-era government was a significant moment.The Mirror’s Kevin Maguire said: “Starmer boasting of the last Labour government’s achievements – NHS, schools, cutting child poverty, minimum wage – is what [Ed] Miliband should’ve done 11 years ago.”The Labour left dismissed the speech as light on policy, amid a conference row over Starmer’s failure to back a £15 minimum wage. “Starmer’s speech identified a lot of problems but offered very few solutions,” said Andrew Scattergood, co-chair of the grassroots group Momentum.“Throughout this conference members have voted overwhelmingly for transformative socialist policy – from a Green New Deal to a £15 an hour minimum wage … we intend to push these policies in the party.”Former left-wing Labour MP Laura Pidcock – now a member of the party’s NEC – called the speech “long” and “quite uninspiring”.Defending the hecklers who repeatedly shouted at Starmer during his address, Pidcock added: “There is discontent among the membership and that sometimes spills out.”Labour’s Barry Gardiner, who served alongside Starmer in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, said: “I think we do need to have more from him about wages, I do think we need to have more from him about workers’ rights.” More

Keir Starmer today presented himself as the serious leader needed for the crises Britain faces, as he blasted Boris Johnson as a “trivial” man without a plan.In the most important speech of his political career the Labour leader sought to reposition the party “right at the heart of British public”, disavowing the leftist approach of predecessor Jeremy Corbyn which he said had led to “obliteration” at the polls.After a bruising week which has seen rows with the left and the resignation of a shadow cabinet minister, he faced down persistent heckles from backers of a £15 minimum wage, telling them: “At this time on a Wednesday it’s normally the Tories that are heckling me, it doesn’t bother me then, and it doesn’t bother me now.”But in a mark of how far he has moved the party in his 18 months as leader, he won repeated standing ovations from delegates as he listed the achievements of the Blair and Brown governments and strode deep into traditional Conservative territory to pledge his devotion to law and order, patriotism, the armed forces, Nato and the Union.Promising – in homage to his toolmaker father – to “retool” the UK for the challenges of the modern world, Starmer stated his core principles as “Work. Care. Equality. Security”.And he drew a stark contrast with a fundamentally unserious prime minister, who he said was unable to rise to the task of dealing with the concurrent emergencies of record NHS waiting lists, rising crime, petrol shortages, supply chain disruption and the soaring cost of living.“It’s easy to comfort yourself that your opponents are bad people,” he told delegates.“But I don’t think Boris Johnson is a bad man. I think he is a trivial man. I think he’s a showman with nothing left to show. I think he’s a trickster who has performed his one trick.“Once he had said the words: ‘Get Brexit Done’, his plan ran out. There is no plan.”He contrasted his experience as chief prosecutor fighting for justice for the parents of Stephen Lawrence and domestic abuse victim Jane Clough with Johnson’s past as a newspaper columnist and celebrity guest on Top Gear, where he jokingly admitted to being a “blithering idiot”.And, in one of the few lighter moments of a 90-minute speech, he made the PM the butt of a risqué joke, telling delegates: “My dad was a toolmaker, although in a way so was Boris Johnson’s.”He targeted the prime minister’s “assumption that the rules don’t apply to him”, citing his refusal to sack aide Dominic Cummings and cabinet colleague Matt Hancock for breaching Covid restrictions and his attempt to dodge self-isolation after being “pinged”.“Politics has to be clean, wrongdoing has to be punished,” said Starmer, listing Tory controversies over PPE contracts, lobbying and the funding of the PM’s flat refurbishment.“On behalf of the public that cares about cleaning up politics, I put this government on notice.”But the heart of his assault on the prime minister centred on his failure to deal with the crises of today or the challenges of tomorrow.“These times demand a responsible leader with clear values,” he said.He also took a swipe at Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP – who Labour will have to win seats from to stand any chance of victory – saying that Scotland was “in the unfortunate position of having two bad governments”, with the Tories and Scottish Nationalists “in lock-step” in their attempts to exploit division for their own ends.Despite expectations that Starmer would use his first in-person conference speech as leader to shoot down criticisms that his policy platform lacks clarity, there was little in the way of new policy in the address.A £6bn “national mission” to fit insulation in every home in the country within a decade was presented as a means to tackle climate change, create hundreds of thousands of jobs and cut household energy bills by more than £400 a year.A “curriculum for tomorrow” would add digital skills to the core 3R subjects in schools, while children would also be guaranteed lessons in drama, music and sports, as well as two weeks’ compulsory work experience.Labour would guarantee mental health support within a month of referral and recruit more than 8,500 professionals to support 1 million more patients each year.And the legal obligations of company directors would be rewritten to require them to focus on the long term, while the state’s investment in science and research would be hiked to 3 per cent of GDP from its current 2.4.Starmer thanked the party foot-soldiers who had saved Labour from wipe-out in the 2019 general election.But he bluntly reminded those who still hankered after the Corbyn years that the result was Labour’s worst since 1935.And – a day after declaring that winning was more important to him than party unity – he made clear that securing a chance to govern the country will require seriousness about making the party electable.To those who would hurl abuse at the Tories, he asked: “If they are so bad, what does that say about us?“In 2019, we lost to them and lost badly.“I know that hurts each and every one of you. So let’s get totally serious about this – We can win the next election.“This government can’t keep the fuel flowing, it can’t keep the shelves stocked and you’ve seen what happens when Boris Johnson wants more money – he goes straight for the wallets of working people…“In a few short years from now I want to be here with  you talking about the difference we are making, the problems we are fixing as a Labour government.“That is what this party is for.” More