UK Politics

Police officer kicks man in face at Manchester AirportSupport trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorSir Keir Starmer has said he understands public concerns after footage of police officer emerged appearing to show a police officer kicking a man in the head at Manchester Airport. The prime minister said home secretary Yvette Cooper has met with Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, to discuss the harrowing scene that prompted the suspension of one police officer. It came after Sir Keir said the “hard graft of rebuilding this country has truly started” as he accused the previous Tory government of leaving a “rot of short-sightedness and self-service” for Labour to clear up.Giving a speech in Runcorn alongside Ed Milliband, the prime minister launched the government’s plan for a state-owned energy firm to  “drive down bills”. The Conservative party has started a three-month leadership contest to replace Rishi Sunak after the general election defeat. Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat were the latest to submit their papers to challenge James Cleverly to become the new leader of the opposition. Other former cabinet ministers expected to announce bids include Kemi Badenoch, Priti Patel, Mel Stride and Suella Braverman.Show latest update 1721919368 Who will be the next Conservative leader? The Tory frontrunnersPossible candidates must win the support of 10 Conservative MPs before the Monday deadline in order to make it onto the ballot paper.With the shortlist to be whittled down gradually until a final four are paraded in front of the party faithful at October’s Tory conference, The Independent looks at the runners and riders to take the reins from Mr Sunak.Salma Ouaguira25 July 2024 15:561721918768School children unwittingly smoking spice-spiked vapes, study findsSchool children in England may be unwittingly smoking vapes spiked with the synthetic street drug spice, according to new research.Professor Chris Pudney, from the University of Bath, tested 596 vapes confiscated from schools in England and found 16.6% contained spice, which has a range of dangerous side effects including cardiac arrest.It is believed the substance is being substituted into vapes which are sold as containing cannabis oil, as it is cheaper.In total, 38 schools from across London, the West Midlands, Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire took part in the research.Results from a device than instantly detects synthetic drugs found spice was present in vapes from 28, or 74%, of these schools.The device also revealed 1.17% of the vapes tested contained THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis.Prof Pudney said: “Teenagers think they are purchasing vapes or vape fluid containing THC or nicotine when, in fact, they are laced with spice.“We know children can have cardiac arrests when they smoke spice, and I believe some have come quite close to death.“Headteachers are telling me pupils are collapsing in the halls and ending up with long stays in intensive care.”( More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorTom Tugendhat’s campaign has had to change its slogan after it spelt out a rather unfortunate word.The original slogan read: “Together we can, Unite the party. Rebuild trust. Defeat Labour” but it was soon pointed out that the first letter of the first word of each sentence read as ‘turd’. It was quietly changed on Thursday, with the final line being replaced with the words: “Win back the country”.Click here to read our live politics coverage. Mr Tugendhat, who launched his campaign on Wednesday, is seen to be a candidate from the moderate wing of the party.But he has indicated that he would be prepared to leave the European Convention on Human Rights if necessary in order to take control of Britain’s borders – something which could ruffle feathers in the moderate wing of the party.Speaking to Sky about the UK’s membership of the ECHR, he said he is “prepared to make any decision necessary to keep Britain safe”.The former security minister added: “I think you’ve got to be clear-eyed about this. We should never be a part of any organisation that doesn’t serve our interests.“We should never be part of any alliance that doesn’t promote the security – and prosperity falls into that.”His campaign has so far seen him highlight his track record of delivery, having served in Iraq and Afghanistan, done a stint as security minister and “stood up to dictators in parliament”.Tom Tugendhat was one of the first MPs to declare he was running More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorViolence and self-harm in Britain’s prisons is soaring while drugs are readily available with almost a quarter of jails overcrowded, grim new data has revealed.Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures on Thursday laid bare the scale of the chaos in UK prisons, days after the justice secretary announced emergency measures to ease the crisis.The figures showed self-harm rates in UK prisons are at their highest on record, with 73,804 incidents of self-harm in the past year, the equivalent of one prisoner hurting themselves every seven minutes. Assaults hit a post-pandemic high in the last year, with 28,292 violent assaults across the estate.Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood claimed the government had ‘no option’ but to release prisoners early (Joe Giddens/PA) More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorThe Labour government has used flights scheduled to deport migrants under the Tories’ scrapped Rwanda scheme to return failed asylum seekers to Vietnam and Timor-Leste. The Home Office has announced that a charter flight took 46 migrants to the Asian countries on Wednesday. Home secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs this week that flight planning for the scrapped Rwanda deportation scheme would be redirected to deport criminals and immigration offenders. She said: “We have immediately replaced the flight planning for Rwanda with actual flights to return people who have no right to stay to their home countries instead.”Wednesday’s flight is the UK’s first charter returns flight to Timor-Leste, and the first to Vietnam since 2022, the Home Office said. Officials said the flight arrived at Timor-Leste at around 9am on Thursday, having stopped in Vietnam. The Home Office described migrants on the deportation flight as “46 criminals and immigration offenders”. Home secretary Yvette Cooper said the government was taking ‘quick and decisive action’ More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorThe Conservatives have kicked off a leadership contest after Rishi Sunak led the party to its worst election defeat in history. A string of senior figures have thrown their hats in the ring to succeed the former PM and lead the party through the next five years in opposition. Possible candidates must win the support of 10 Conservative MPs before the Monday deadline in order to make it onto the ballot paper. With the shortlist to be whittled down gradually until a final four are paraded in front of the party faithful at October’s Tory conference, The Independent looks at the runners and riders to take the reins from Mr Sunak. Who has officially declared? James Cleverly Former home secretary James Cleverly avoided losing his seat, unlike many of his cabinet colleagues More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorTom Tugendhat has emerged as an early frontrunner in the Tory leadership contest because he has the lowest negative rating with members of the public.According to Savanta, the former security minister has a net rating of -3 with the wider public and +28 with 2024 Tory voters.It comes in stark contrast to former home secretary Priti Patel who has scored -28 net rating with the public and +7 with Conservative voters.The pair are among seven MPs understood to be entering their names into the race as nominations open today for contenders to replace Rishi Sunak. They are set to close on Monday with those getting the support of 10 other Tory MPs allowed to go forward.A four month contest will see members eventually pick from a final two decided by Tory MPs with the winner unveiled on 2 November after four months.Tom Tugendhat hs emerged as the most popular contender (Lucy North/PA) More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorWatch as John Healey and his Polish counterpart, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, made joint statements in Warsaw on Wednesday, 24 July.The new defence secretary has made his first visits to France, Germany, Poland and Estonia.His whistlestop 48-hour tour is aimed at sending a message that European security will be the government’s “first foreign and defence priority”.In Germany, Mr Healey signed a joint defence declaration agreeing to closer cooperation as the first step in a new UK-German defence relationship.He said the new Labour administration is “getting on with the job” and “resetting our relationships” with allies on the Continent.The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said ministers agreed on six priorities for tighter collaboration as part of the new accord, including “comprehensive” co-operation in the field of long-range capabilities.Other key goals are “strengthening UK and German defence industries, reinforcing Euro-Atlantic security, improving joint operations, confronting evolving security challenges” such as cyber threats, and supporting Ukraine. More