Markus Andrews

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar was subjected to “horrendous” abuse by a former Brexit Party candidate outside the Scottish parliament.David Ballantine, who has reportedly described Islam as a “child rapist death cult”, targeted the party leader as he attempted to give an interview – accusing him of being part of a “globalist, Islamo-Marxist party”.The former Brexit Party candidate followed Mr Sarwar and made a series of derogatory remarks about Islam, as well as unsubstantiated allegations of child abuse by asylum seekers.The Scottish Labour leader told Mr Ballantine that his questions “say more about you sir than me”, before telling him to “take his far-right nonsense elsewhere”.Mr Sarwar was praised for “keeping his cool” as he was then followed for several minutes by Mr Ballantine, branded a “racist bully” by the ITV News reporter Peter Smith.The journalist was praised for intervening and attempting to interrupt the wild tirade, telling Mr Ballantine: “I know a racist when I see one.”Commenting on the incident on social media, Mr Smith said: “This was racist abuse from a bully, and I’m just sorry I couldn’t do more.”Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayThe Scottish Tory leader at Holyrood Ruth Davidson was among several MSPs and political candidates who issued their support to Mr Sarwar. “Solidarity with Anas Sarwar who handled himself brilliantly, and respect to Peter Adam Smith for stepping up.”Neil Gray, an SNP MP, tweeted: “This is horrendous. So sorry Anas Sarwar is getting this abuse and well done to Peter Adam Smith for stepping in to provide support.”Mr Sarwar later thanked the ITV News journalist for his intervention. “I can’t thank Peter Adam Smith enough for his kindness and support. He didn’t have to get involved, but chose not to be a bystander.”Mr Ballantine stood for the Brexit Party in Edinburgh South West constituency at the 2019 general election, gaining only 625 votes.Twitter removed Mr Ballantine’s video of his verbal attack on Mr Sarwar after Mr Smith drew it to the attention of the platform on Tuesday. However, his videos remain on YouTube. More

Voluntary work helping the world’s poorest countries cope with the pandemic will stop “immediately” next month under savage government cuts, an inquiry has been told.The charity Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) is preparing to wind down operations in 14 countries – and make 200 people redundant – unless ministers agree to rethink.Its chief executive, Philip Goodwin, said there was disbelief that the UK was abandoning its long-standing reputation as “a global power” in voluntary work responding to disasters.A Lords committee was told that funding of £47m two years ago was set to shrivel to as little as £11m from April – with the VSO still in the dark, with just days to go.Mr Goodwin pointed to everything from supporting quarantine centres in Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia to first-aid training amid the coup in Myanmar.Read more:“That would to stop, all of that work,” unless the grant was restored, he told peers, adding: “We would have to stop it immediately.” Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayThe cuts are also poised to remove at least half of funding to the conflict zones of Yemen, Syria, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Nigeria and the Lebanon.Mr Goodwin called the situation “staggering”, asking: “Why would any government want to walk away when it wants to be a soft power superpower?” VSO is credited with giving generations of young Britons their first experience of foreign travel, as they helped poorer communities with disaster relief and development.By the 1960s, thousands of volunteers were working around the world on grassroots projects before going to university in a forerunner of today’s gap year.Channel 4 newsreader Jon Snow, Leo Varadkar, the former Irish prime minister, and Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, are among those who joined the scheme. “In Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia, we were using our youth networks to support the quarantine centres in making sure that social distances are maintained and taking body temperature,” Mr Goodwin told the Lords international relations committee.“In Myanmar, we were providing the psychosocial first-aid training of the people who are particularly worried and concerned or affected by Covid-19.”He added: “In disaster preparedness, we’ve been supporting the establishment of emergency operation centres for disease response in nine countries.” More

New coronavirus laws outlining how restrictions affecting the UK are to be gradually eased will come into force next week.The bill, which contains a ban on foreign travel, essentially replaces the previous tier system with a series of “steps”.Rules will gradually ease as areas move from Step 1 to Step 3. At the moment, all of England is in Step 1. These follow the government’s proposed roadmap out of lockdown for England.Entitled the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Steps) (England) Regulations 2021, the laws will be voted on by MPs on Thursday.Read more:At the same time, MPs will vote on whether to extend a separate piece of legislation, the Coronavirus Act, for a further six months.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayHere is what the changes will mean.‘Tiers’ replaced with ‘steps’ Step 1, which begins from Monday, permits up to six people meeting outdoors but restricts indoor gatherings of two or more people. Some outdoor sports are permitted.Then in Step 2, which is scheduled to start no earlier than 12 April, non-essential shops, hairdressers and outdoor areas in hospitality venues can reopen. Libraries and gyms will also be permitted to open and weddings will be able to take place with up to 15 people.Step 3, expected to apply from 17 May at the earliest, further eases rules on gatherings with groups of six allowed to meet indoors and up to 30 people outside. It suggests anyone who breaks such rules could face a £5,000 fine.There is also a £200 fixed penalty notice for failing to fill in a travel declaration form – giving personal details and reason for travel – for those planning to leave the UK.The travel ban does not apply to those going to the common travel area of the Channel Islands, Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland unless that is not the final destination.Exemptions also apply including for those needing to travel for work, study, for legal obligations or to vote, if they are moving, selling or renting property, for some childcare reasons or to be present at a birth, to visit a dying relative or close friend, to attend a funeral, for those getting married or to attend the wedding of a close relative, for medical appointments or to escape a risk of harm.Human rights barrister Adam Wagner, who deciphers the lockdown rules on Twitter for the public, said: “Previously, the ‘holiday ban’ which the government had advertised was assumed rather than explicit – because going on holiday wasn’t a reasonable excuse, it was assumed you couldn’t be outside of your home to do so. But now it is explicit.”Protests will once again be a permitted exception to rules banning group gatherings under the laws if it is organised by a business, public or political body or other group and as long as organisers take the “required precautions”, which is likely to include measures like ensuring people wear face masks and are socially distanced.It comes after campaigners, MPs and peers called on ministers to make clear protests were permitted amid the coronavirus pandemic.Sam Grant, head of policy and campaigns at human rights group Liberty, said: “It is welcome that the next stage of lockdown contains the explicit exemption we’ve been calling for – this should have remained in place throughout the current lockdown, and it is unacceptable for it to wait until next week.”How long will these last?The need for the restrictions must be reviewed by 12 April, and at least once every 35 days thereafter.The laws expire on 30 June, unless they are scrapped or amended in the meantime. What is being extended to October?On Thursday, MPs will also vote to extend emergency powers in the Coronavirus Act for another six months.If approved, it would take them beyond the 21 June date earmarked in the government’s road map for all restrictions in England ending.Ministers have said the act needs extending to support the furlough scheme, virtual court hearings and the extension of statutory sick pay.Fifteen provisions no longer required are being removed or suspended in a move that may ease tensions between the government and Tory backbenchers who are unhappy with the length of the extension. While the vote will provide the legal basis for the act to remain in place for a further six months, the entire act and all its provisions are to be reviewed in a report published every two months. More

The author of an official government report into compensation for IRA victims has said he is “surprised and disappointed” after its conclusions were shelved by ministers.William Shawcross, a former charity commission chair, had been tasked with looking into whether Libyan assets could be seized and given to victims in recognition of the role of former dictator Colonel Gaddafi in arming the group.The report was submitted a year ago without eliciting a response from government, but in a statement to parliament this week Foreign Office minister James Cleverly suggested no immediate action would be taken and the report would not be published. “Mr Shawcross was commissioned to write an internal scoping report on the subject of compensation for UK victims of Gaddafi-sponsored IRA terrorism. Mr Shawcross submitted his report in March 2020,” Mr Cleverly said. “Since it was commissioned as an internal scoping report, to provide internal advice to ministers, and draws on private and confidential conversations held by Mr Shawcross, the Government will not be publishing the report.”Read more:The minister attributed the delay in responding to “careful and thorough consideration across government given the complexity and sensitivity of the issues raised”.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayBut he said “the responsibility for providing compensation specifically for the actions of the Gaddafi regime lies with the Libyan State” as it would breach international law for the UK to take unilateral action. At a hearing of parliament’s Northern Ireland affairs committee on Wednesday following the statement, Mr Shawcross confirmed that the report was never intended to be published – a revelation which appeared to surprise some of the MPs at the hearing.But he indicated that he was not happy with the government’s response and said he had hoped further action would be taken on the basis of the report. “I was surprised and disappointed. I had been told very shortly beforehand that a written ministerial statement was to be made. I had not been told in any form what the content of that statement would be made,” he said.”In an ideal world I would like my report to be built on, and further work to be done on the basis of it, if that were deemed to be possible. “Now, obviously at the moment the Foreign Office has decided that that is not possible, perhaps because of the restrictions and the horror of Covid in the last year – and I’m sure that’s a big factor in everybody’s decision making at the moment. But yes, my report was, was, if you like, I saw it as a step, not an ending.”He added that there was “room to do more work on the basis of the report that I have delivered”.The author said ministers had not contacted him about the report since he submitted it, and that he had only had a brief video call conversation with the minister Mr Cleverly about it at his own instigation.He apologised to the committee for being unable to give more details about the contents of the work, which he said he was bound not to reveal by his mandate from the government. He however added that he had been careful to avoid using the names of people he has spoken to during the course of his inquiry.Victims groups have argued that tax generated from already frozen Libyan assets should be given to victims rather than kept by the Treasury. The revenue was estimated to around £17 million in 2019.Matthew Jury, managing partner at McCue & Partners law firm, told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: “Tea and sympathy is not enough. The US, France and Germany all leveraged their relationships with Libya to ensure their victims of Libyan terrorism were compensated.”The fact that the UK is unable or unwilling to do so should be a continuing source of shame and a national embarrassment. Two years have passed since Mr Shawcross was appointed and we are no further forward.” Innocent Victims United, which campaigns on behalf of victims, also criticised the ministerial statement. Kenny Donaldson, as spokesperson for the group, told the newspaper: “For two years the UK Government has been responsible for heaping further pain upon those already treated so shamefully.”The Shawcross Report can’t even be described as a ‘whitewash’ because it continues to be held back from victims, the full contents remain hidden.” More

The controversy blew up as the home secretary admitted she had yet to secure any new “safe legal routes” with conflict zones, which she has promised as an alternative way to reach the UK.Ms Patel was also unable to name a single EU country ready to take back asylum-seekers – after pre-Brexit agreements collapsed – saying “we are in discussions”.Under “a new immigration plan”, refugees arriving via unauthorised routes will be denied an automatic right to asylum – facing regular reassessments for removal from the UK and curtailed family reunion and benefit rights.Lawyers and charities warn the plans risk “tearing up refugee law” and would have the “cruel” effect of leaving traumatised people in a prolonged state of uncertainty.On BBC Radio 4, Ms Patel was read the words of the 1951 UN-sponsored Geneva Convention which first set out the rights of refugees and the responsibilities of nations in granting asylum.Read more:Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekday“The contracting states shall not impose penalties on account of their illegal entry, or presence, on refugees who come indirectly from a territory where life or freedom was threatened,” it reads. “In other words, you are not allowed under the Geneva Convention, it seems, to have a different system with penalties for people who come illegally,” the home secretary was told.But Ms Patel insisted: “The Refugee Convention does allow for penalties to be imposed where refugees have not come directly from a country of persecution.“And what we are proposing, through the command papers that will be published today, is in line with the Refugee Convention and in line with international law and the European Convention on Human Rights.”But, challenged that “safe legal routes” have yet to be established from a war zone such as Eritrea, Ms Patel acknowledged: “It doesn’t exist.”And, asked about the UK’s ejection from the Dublin regulation – which saw asylum-seekers returned to the first EU safe country visited – she was unable to name any that had “said they will take people back” in future. More

China lashed out Wednesday at the U.S. over racism, financial inequality and the federal government’s response to the coronavirus in an annual report that seeks to counter U.S. accusations of human rights abuses by China’s ruling Communist Party The report issued by China’s Cabinet said the U.S. in 2020 “saw its own epidemic situation go out of control, accompanied by political disorder, inter-ethnic conflicts, and social division.” The document released by the State Council Information Office also highlighted the Jan. 6 insurrectionist attack on the Capitol as well as gun violence and health disparities. China issues the report each year in response to U.S. criticism of its record on issues such as abuses against minority groups in the western regions of Xinjiang and Tibet and a crackdown on opposition voices in Hong Kong. “To defeat the epidemic requires mutual help, solidarity and cooperation among all countries. However, the United States, which has always considered itself an exception and superior, saw its own epidemic situation go out of control, accompanied by political disorder, inter-ethnic conflicts, and social division,” the report said.“Vulnerable groups became the biggest victims of the government’s reckless response to the epidemic,” it said. The Chinese report is based on open-source material, as opposed to the U.S. document, which is largely drawn from work by diplomats, journalists and human rights activists who cannot always reveal their information because of threats of retaliation from the ruling Commounist Party. Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayThe report comes after the European Union joined the U.S., Britain and Canada in imposing sanctions on Chinese officials over accusations they abused ethnic minorities. Beijing retaliated by announcing it would penalize four European legislators, a German researcher and European-based rights organization with bans on travelling to Chinese territories or having financial interactions with Chinese institutions. China has taken an increasingly hard line against any criticism of its domestic politics or what it sees as attempts to impede its rise as a global leader. In recent days it has placed two Canadian citizens on trial in apparent retaliation for Canada’s detention of an executive of the telecoms giant Huawei who is wanted in the U.S. on fraud charges. More

No final decisions have been made on vaccinating children in the UK against Covid-19, a member of the government’s vaccine taskforce has said.It follows a report claiming that Boris Johnson’s government is considering a plan to begin giving Covid jabs to under-18s as early as August 2021.Professor Adam Finn, who sits on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said more studies would be needed before decisions are made about extending the rollout to children.Asked if under-18s could be vaccinated this autumn, Prof Finn told Good Morning Britain: “As far as I know there has been no decision made to immunise children starting in August, or indeed any decision been taken to immunise children at all at this point.”However, the University of Bristol expert said it could become necessary to vaccinate children later this year – and suggested teenagers would be the priority. “It’s certainly something that we might need to do,” he added.“If it does turn out to be necessary to immunise children, I think it is more likely that we would prioritise teenagers over younger children, simply because the evidence we have at the moment is that transmission of the virus is more likely to occur from and between teenagers who are a little bit more like adults.”The government is making provisional plans to begin immunising children as early as August, according to a report in The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, which cited two sources involved in preparations. More

Boris Johnson is facing a barrage of criticism after he told Tory MPs that he believed “greed” was behind the success of the UK’s Covid vaccination programme.Campaigners said the prime minister’s comments showed he had a “warped” understanding of how the vaccine had been developed and how why the UK’s rollout had so far been so successful. In comments first reported by The Sun newspaper Mr Johnson told told a video call with Conservative backbenchers: “The reason we have the vaccine success is because of capitalism, because of greed, my friends.”Apparently sensing he had made a gaffe, the Tory leader is understood to have repeatedly asked those at the 1922 Committee meeting to forget he used the term.But campaigners pointed out that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine that had led the charge of the UK’s vaccine effort had been developed by publicly funded universities. Read more:
Experts have also noted that the National Health Service has been effective at deploying the vaccine more quickly than health services in many other countries. Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekday“The Prime Minister will call this comment a slip of the tongue, but it’s an incredibly revealing remark. It shows just how warped his understanding of this crisis is,” said Nick Dearden, director of the group Global Justice Now.“We have a vaccine because of massive public investment and the remarkable work of scientists at publicly-funded universities. We’ve rolled it out because of our incredible National Health Service.“Greed, however, drove big pharma to privatise this work and withhold doses from millions worldwide to protect their profits. And, if Boris Johnson keeps letting it happen, there’ll be more coronavirus mutations that could send us back to square one.”Labour MP Richard Burgon described the PM’s comments as “wrong”.”Billions in public funds went into developing the vaccines,” he said, urging the government to waive patents on the treatments “to ramp up production and save lives all across the world”.Lib Dem frontbencher Layla Moran described Mr Johnson’s claim as “not helpful”, while another Labour MP Angela Eagle added: “Altruism not greed will get us through this”.The comments from the meeting come after Mr Johnson admitted that there are “many things” he wishes his administration had done differently in the fight against Covid-19.The government’s chief chief medical officer Chris Whitty meanwhile used the anniversary of the first lockdown to acknowledge that the UK’s performance in the pandemic represents “a bad outcome” internationally. More