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    ‘Bring it on’: Emily Thornberry says UK ‘desperate for election’

    The UK is “desperate for an election”, Emily Thornberry has claimed.Speaking to Sky News on Thursday 28 December, the shadow attorney general added that Jeremy Hunt’s spring Budget date of 6 March “seems to confirm” that voters will be heading to the polls in May.“It is the worst kept secret in parliament isn’t it, that we are likely to be heading for a May election,” Ms Thornberry said.“The country is desperate for an election, we really have to get rid of this lot and we want to have an opportunity to do so, that’s what people tell me.” More

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    Housing asylum seekers on Bibby Stockholm barge is discriminatory, Home Office finds

    Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailHousing asylum seekers on the Bibby Stockholm barge is discriminatory, according to the Home Office’s own review of the policy.The department’s equality impact assessment found that the policy breaks the 2010 Equality Act on the grounds of sex and age, and that changes may be needed.It said the policy is “directly discriminating in relation to age and sex” because it is only suitable for men between 18 and 65 years old.The Bibby Stockholm migrant accommodation barge at Portland Port in Dorset (James Manning/PA)But the assessment, published on Wednesday, added that the act allows discrimination “if treatment is justified as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”, arguing that this condition is met.It comes just weeks after 27-year-old Albanian Leonard Farruku was found dead onboard the vessel. There were not thought to be any suspicious circumstances, an inquest heard. His sister claimed that he had been treated like “an animal” on board and that he was heard shouting the night before he died.Around 70 asylum seekers are now living on the barge at Portland port, Dorset, after it was finally given the all clear after a series of health scares.Previously 39 migrants had to be moved off the vessel following the discovery of legionella bacteria in the water supply.The Bibby Stockholm was initially supposed to house about 500 people but the Home Office has now reduced this to a maximum of 425. Ministers hope the barge will help cut the huge bills associated with housing asylum seekers in hotels while their claims are processed.The Home Office’s impact assessment of the policy said: “As only those between the ages of 18 and 65 would be accommodated at Portland, the policy gives rise to direct discrimination on the ground of age as those under 18 and over 65 are precluded.”And it says there is “differential treatment” between men and women because the Bibby Stockholm is only being used for single adult males.But it added: “As there are far more male asylum seekers than females and many of the female claimants have children, it has been decided that it is appropriate to use the site for male asylum seekers only.”The assessment found that the policy was not discriminatory on the basis of race, religion, disability or sexual orientation.Charity bosses have repeatedly warned against housing asylum seekers on the barge, arguing it will have a detrimental impact on asylum seekers’ wellbeing.Charlotte Khan, head of advocacy and public affairs at Care4Calais said: “Placing humans in prison-like barges and camps, held behind barbed wire fences and segregated from the rest of society, is discriminatory by its very nature and it’s telling that the Government’s own equality impact assessment accepts that’s the case for certain groups.“People on the Bibby Stockholm have consistently told us that they feel that the Government are treating them like animals by putting them on the barge. “It’s no wonder then that the Bibby Stockholm has become a symbolic illustration for this Government’s proxy-war against asylum seekers. It needs closing down before the survivors of torture and persecution are put through more suffering.” More

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    James Cleverly should be ‘ashamed of himself’ for date rape joke, says Emily Thornberry

    James Cleverly should be “thoroughly ashamed of himself” over his date rape joke, Emily Thornberry has said.No action will be taken against the home secretary, as prime minister Rishi Sunak “considers the matter closed”.Mr Cleverly has faced calls to quit after last week joking about putting a date rape drug in his wife’s drink – hours after the Home Office announced plans to crack down on spiking.“That is not funny. It is a really nasty and frightening joke and he should be thoroughly ashamed of himself,” Ms Thornberry told Good Morning Britain on Thursday 28 December. More

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    ‘World-first engineering’ used to connect remote island to ultrafast broadband

    Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA communications firm has deployed “world-first engineering” as part of its efforts to connect residents on a remote Scottish island with “life-changing ultrafast broadband”.Fair Isle has been described as the most remote inhabited island in the UK, and is the most southerly island in Shetland.Businesses there have now been connected to full-fibre broadband almost two years ahead of schedule, with the local post office and shop  among those benefiting from the technology.The project represents the greatest distance that Openreach has transmitted a continuous full-fibre signal anywhere in the UK.And the telecoms company said it had to “get creative” to connect the island – which is home to about 60 people.A spur cable, which comes off a 68-mile-long subsea cable between Shetland and the Orkney Islands, was used to connect Fair Isle – which lies 24 miles south of the main island of Shetland and 27 miles from North Ronaldsay, the most northerly island in Orkney.The work was funded as part of the Scottish Government’s £404.1 million Reaching 100% (R100) North contract, which seeks to expand broadband connectivity to remote parts of Scotland, along with £17.4 million of funding from the UK Government.Regular fibre signals just couldn’t go the distance, so we had to get creative with some world-first engineering to transmit life-changing ultrafast broadband over 100km to islanders Fraser Rowberry, OpenreachIn what is believed to be a world first, Openreach deployed innovative engineering to boost the signal strength – using a super-powered adaption of the technology currently used in many homes – because of the distance between the islands.With Fair Isle, which has been owned by the National Trust for Scotland for almost 70 years, an important breeding ground for rare birds, work to connect the island also had to be planned around nesting seasons.Openreach chief engineer for Scotland Fraser Rowberry said: “Regular fibre signals just couldn’t go the distance, so we had to get creative with some world-first engineering to transmit life-changing ultrafast broadband over 100km to islanders.“We had to do everything differently on Fair Isle, from planning around bird-nesting seasons to setting up flat-packed cabins for our crew.”Mr Rowberry praised the islanders for “being so welcoming to our team”, adding: “They’ve been amazing. Now they’re connected to the world in a whole new way.“This will make Fair Isle an even better place to be – for residents, visitors and future generations – and we’d encourage people on the island to upgrade to full fibre.”Stackhoull Stores and Post Office was connected to full fibre before Christmas, with postmistress Fiona Mitchell saying she hoped having broadband would encourage more people to live on Fair Isle.She said: “We are a small population and want to grow and encourage people to be a part of our community.“Getting a full-fibre connection so that people can more easily work and live here is a major part of that. We need all hands on deck to make the island run.”Through our R100 commitment to tackle some of the hardest-to-access terrain in the country, we are improving the educational and life opportunities available to young people across ScotlandWellbeing Economy Secretary Neil GrayNeil Gray, the Wellbeing Economy Secretary in the Scottish Government, said: “I am delighted that we have achieved digital connectivity for Fair Isle almost two years earlier than planned.“Through our R100 commitment to tackle some of the hardest-to-access terrain in the country, we are improving the educational and life opportunities available to young people across Scotland.“This innovative step forward for engineering ensures children on Fair Isle are not left behind.“Internet speeds rivalling the best in the country are helping create a more attractive place for families and young people to live.”Mr Gray continued: “We committed to invest further in our digital connectivity, despite powers being reserved to Westminster, because we know that by supporting remote working and rural businesses – from Fair Isle jumpers to tourism – we can help to build an island economy which is fair, green and prosperous.” More

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    Former EU Commission president Jacques Delors dies at 98

    For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsJacques Delors, the former president of the European Commission, who pushed for the creation of the euro, has died at the age of 98, his daughter said on Wednesday.He was a leading figure on the French left and a major architect of a more unified and integrated European project – a role that put him at odds with the UK’s then prime minister Margaret Thatcher.Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Mr Delors as a statesman who served as an “inexhaustible architect of our Europe” and a fighter for human justice.Michel Barnier, a European commissioner who oversaw Brexit, said Mr Delors was a “source of inspiration” in French and European politics, while former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt said: “A truly great European has left us.”Mr Delors was head of the Commission from 1985 to 1995, overseeing the Schengen border agreements, the launch of the Erasmus student exchange program, and the Economic and Monetary Union that ultimately led to the adoption of the euro.Jacques Delors was a leading figure on the French left The era was marked by forthright clashes of vision between federalists such as Mr Delors, who believed passionately in an “ever-closer union”, and Mrs Thatcher, who firmly resisted any shift of power to Brussels.So antagonistic did relations between London and Brussels become towards the end of Mrs Thatcher’s time in office, especially over the plans for monetary union, that The Sun famously ran a front-page headline reading: “Up Yours Delors”.He was once a finance minister under Francois Mitterrand and there was speculation he would run in the 1995 French presidential election but he declined. He founded a European think tank in 1996; Enrico Letta, president of the Institut Jacques Delors, said on Wednesday: “Modern Europe is today losing its founding father.”Peter Sutherland, a former commissioner from Ireland, once described Mr Delors as “extremely tense, like a coiled spring”. He said: “I liked Delors above all for his intellect. He had the most formidable brain I ever encountered.” Guy Verhofstadt, MEP and leader of the European Movement International organisation, said Mr Delors had been “the most inspirational president of the European Commission”, and his vision was needed “more than ever”.Mr Delors with then prime minister John Major and US president George HW Bush in 1992 Mr Delors was an outspoken force at the heart of the Brussels bureaucracy. He oversaw a period of rapid enlargement, with the 10-member European Community, as it was then called, growing to 12 with the accession in 1986 of Spain and Portugal, before adding Sweden, Austria and Finland in 1995.Mr Delors’ commitment to a united Germany led to a close bond with then German chancellor Helmut Kohl and helped to cement the Franco-German relationship that remains critical to the EU. He spoke often during Europe’s 2010-2013 debt crisis about his belief in the single currency, the euro, while acknowledging its faults as a project launched with strong political will but insufficient economic underpinning.Mr Delors was born in 1925 into a devoutly Catholic family; he earned a degree in economics from the Sorbonne and followed his father into a career at the Bank of France, his country’s central bank.A union member from a young age, he joined the Socialist Party in the 1970s. His death was confirmed to AFP by his daughter, Martine Aubry, the socialist mayor of Lille. More

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    Tory MP targeted by suspected arson attack says he wears stab vest to protect himself

    An MP whose north London office was targeted by a suspected arson attack on Christmas Eve says he wears a stab vest when going to public events.Mike Freer, Conservative MP for Finchley and Golders Green, said the use of vests by his colleagues is “sadly par for the course these days”.“I, personally, like some of my other colleagues, wear stab vests if I do public events,” Mr Freer told Sky News.Police on Tuesday (26 December) continued to investigate a fire started on Christmas Eve in a shed at the MP’s office.No one was in the office at the time of the blaze. More

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    Tories accused of overseeing ‘pothole pandemic’ on England’s roads

    Sixty-three claims for pothole-related damage were made by motorists every day last year, the Liberal Democrats have said.The party has called for road maintenance budgets to be fully restored by the government, accusing the Conservatives of overseeing a “pothole pandemic” on English roads.Data from 85 local authorities in England, obtained by freedom of information requests, shows that compensation paid to motorists reached £1.77 million in 2022/23 – a slight rise on the previous year.The Lib Dems said that the number of pothole claims has grown significantly in the last year, with 23,042 in 2022/23 compared with the 13,579 recorded the previous year. More

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    Rishi Sunak shares bizarre Home Alone-inspired video at No 10 featuring Larry the cat

    Rishi Sunak shared a Home Alone-inspired video message filmed in No 10 for Christmas Day.In the short clip, the prime minister asks “am I the only one here?” in an empty office before parking his work and having some festive fun.He is seen bowling a ball against stacked cans of Coca-Cola, trimming the Christmas tree and pouring syrup on spaghetti while watching Elf.Larry the cat also makes an appearance.“Merry Christmas from Downing Street,” Mr Sunak wrote, sharing the video on social media website X. More