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Black people were more likely to be subjected to prolonged Taser discharge compared with white people, according to a new review by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).The watchdog also uncovered evidence that some officers made inappropriate comments, including derogatory remarks, during these incidents, in an analysis of 101 investigations involving Tasers between 2015 and 2020.Some 60 per cent of Black people involved in Taser discharges were subjected to continuous discharges of more than five seconds, compared with 29 per cent of White people; the longest length of continuous use was 67 seconds. Police risk “losing the trust and confidence of the communities they serve” if they do not address serious concerns over the use of Tasers, the IOPC further warned.Mr Michael Lockwood, Director General of the IOPC, said: “Tasers are available to more officers than ever before. Our engagement with communities has highlighted a stark difference between their expectations about when a Taser should be used, and the situations in which Taser can be used under current national guidance, particularly on those who are vulnerable. “Police forces must be able to explain this clearly or risk further eroding public confidence – it is a gap which must be closed,” he said.“In particular, people from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic backgrounds deserve a clear and transparent answer from police on why such disproportionality still exists – failure to address this risks undermining the legitimacy of policing. He added: “I welcome the research announced in December last year by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing to understand and tackle the root causes of racial disproportionality in police use of Taser.” The IOPC also raised concerns about the increased use of Tasers on children and the mentally ill, and said there were several examples of “missed opportunities” for police to de-escalate the situation before drawing the weapon, which works by sending electric pulses through the body, causing temporary incapacitation.Mentally ill people who were Tasered were more likely to be Black and aged 25 years or younger while cases where mental health was a factor were much more likely to result in death or serious injury investigation.On one occasion, police Tasered a 14-year-old individual, of an ethnic minority background, who was known to have a learning disability after one officer said the individual “had an attitude from the off”, “looked like he wanted to fight”, and had “unbelievable strength”. Another case involved a Black 17-year-old, who was an in-patient at a mental health centre for young people. After approaching officers in distress and repeatedly stating that they had mental health concerns, the situation escalated and they were Tasered three times, struck with a baton over 20 times and subjected to incapacitant spray and restraint.The report comes amid ongoing concern over the disproportionate use of Tasers in cases involving Black people.The weapon also featured prominently in the recent court case of police officer Benjamin Monk, who was convicted of manslaughter when he kicked former footballer Dalian Atkinson in the head, following an “excessive” 33-second Taser deployment.This comes after the watchdog called for greater scrutiny of Tasers last May, warning that the weapons are being used disproportionately against Black men and mentally ill suspects.Black people were also seven times more likely to be involved in incidents involving Tasers than white people outside London, and five times more within London, Home Office figures show.Deborah Coles, director of INQUEST, welcomed the review but said the recommendations do not go far enough to create the systemic change needed. “Tasers are highly dangerous weapons which have resulted in serious injuries, harm, and deaths. They are increasingly used as a first not last resort; the disproportionate and inappropriate use of Taser against Black people, people with mental ill health, learning disabilities and Autism, and children underscores longstanding concerns about racism and discrimination in policing,” she said.“We don’t just need more scrutiny, community oversight, or training or guidance. We need the IOPC, police chiefs and oversight bodies to hold police officers to account when they abuse their powers and to confront the reality presented by this evidence.Alison Lowe, the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners lead of equality, diversity and human rights, said: “Disproportionality in the use of Taser and other police powers has many complex causes, which we are committed to addressing through the APCC Race Disparity Working Group. “We can help all the communities we represent have greater confidence in the police by ensuring transparent and inclusive scrutiny processes are in place.According to Amnesty International, some 18 people in the UK have died after a Taser was discharged against them by police since the weapons were introduced 16 years ago. More

The UK government has been urged to implement a national day of remembrance for the abolition of slavery, in an effort to help “once and for all stamp out racism.” Monday is recognised globally as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition, an initiative introduced by UNESCO in 1998. It recognises the millions who suffered as a result of the Transatlantic slave trade, highlighting the impact this has had on generations of Black people around the world.The day itself is geared at helping to advocate for an end to modern day slavery in its various iterations and Unite, one of the largest trade unions in the UK, has echoed this motion, and called for a UK-specific day of remembrance. “Unite calls on the government to support the organisation of an annual remembrance day and commit resources for education and raising awareness to mark this high profile event,” the union said in a written statement. “We recoil at the leftovers of slavery still evidenced in our society today (…) The legacy of the Slave Trade continues to manifest itself in different forms, through colonialism, apartheid, racism, poverty, economic and social deprivation, unfair trade agreements and huge debts owed to developing countries to the rich developed nations. The ongoing disgraceful treatment of the Windrush generation is a prime example of this shameful legacy.”Earlier this year, the Government-appointed Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (CRED) published a report which concluded that Britain is no longer a country where the “system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities”.The findings were widely condemned by prominent figures across British politics, media, academia and by organisations including the United Nations.The commission’s chairman, Tony Sewell, was further accused of putting a “positive spin on slavery and empire” when explaining its recommendation on teaching history in schools when he wrote the following in the report’s foreword: “There is a new story about the Caribbean experience which speaks to the slave period not only being about profit and suffering but how culturally African people transformed themselves into a remodelled African/Britain.” More

The unemployment rate for Black and minority ethnic (BME) workers has risen at three times the speed of the unemployment rate for white workers, new figures reveal.Fresh latest employment figures published by the Office for National Statistics have shown that over the last year the percentage of people from these communities who are out of work has risen from from 6.1 to 8 per cent, compared with 3.6 to 4 per cent among white people.Frances O’Grady, the General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress, said: “BME workers have borne the brunt of the pandemic. They’ve been more likely to be in low-paid, insecure work and have been put at greater risk from the virus. They’ve also been more likely to work in industries that have been hit hard by unemployment, like hospitality and retail.“As we emerge from the pandemic, we can’t allow these inequalities in our jobs market to continue. Ministers must take decisive action to hold down unemployment, create good new jobs and challenge the discrimination that holds BME workers back.“And our recovery is still fragile, with more than a million workers on furlough. Instead of pulling the rug out from under the feet of businesses and workers, the chancellor must extend the furlough scheme for as long as is needed to protect jobs and livelihoods – and work towards setting up a permanent short-time work scheme to deal with future crises.”ONS figures also published on Tuesday show the number of people on zero-hours contracts has fallen slightly from 1.08 million in April-June 2020 to 917,000 in April-June 2021. Ethnic minority women are twice as likely to be on these low-paid, insecure contracts than white men.To combat this disparity, the TUC is now calling on the government to extend furlough and ban zero-hours contracts.The number of UK workers on payrolls rose by 182,000 between June and July, although at 28.9 million it is still 201,000 lower than before the pandemic struck, while the overall rate of unemployment had dipped to 4.7 per cent for the three-month period to the end of June.Analysts had predicted that the unemployment rate would stay flat at 4.8 per cent for the quarter.The ONS also reported a further surge in job vacancies as firms seek to fill roles following the reopening of the economy, rising by more than 290,000 against the previous quarter.It added that, at 953,000, the number of vacancies was the highest estimated figure since records were started in 2001. Arts, leisure and food service firms particularly contributed to the surge in job openings, it added.This comes after research earlier this year revealed that young Black people have been the hardest hit by the rise in unemployment during the pandemic.The Resolution Foundation (RF) said before the pandemic, the unemployment rate among young people with a black background was 25 per cent, compared with 21 per cent for those from an Asian background, and 10 per cent for those from a white background.However, during the crisis that rose by more than a third to 35 per cent for young black people, as against 24 per cent for those with an Asian background and 13 per cent for those who are white. More

Environment secretary George Eustice said it is an “arduous but necessary endeavour” to cull animals which test positive for bovine tuberculosis (bTB), as he defended the decision to put down Geronimo the alpaca.Helen Macdonald’s animal has been ordered for destruction after twice testing positive for the disease, but she has repeatedly questioned the tests used to condemn him.Mr Eustice said his own farming family had suffered the “soul destroying” slaughter of a cherished cow, Rose, due to bTB but he underlined the need to prevent the spread of the “insidious” disease.Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Mr Eustice said: “There has been a great deal of focus on the case of Geronimo the alpaca this week.“However, each week on average, we have to remove more than 500 cattle from herds due to infection in England alone. Behind every one of those cases is a farmer who has suffered loss and tragedy.“Farmers understand that infected animals are a risk to the remainder of their herd, so while the loss of individual animals is always a tragedy, the farming communities have worked with our Government vets in this arduous but necessary endeavour.”Mr Eustice said he first looked at Geronimo’s case more than three years ago and has examined it several times since.“Geronimo tested positive twice using a test called the ‘Enferplex’ test. It is the test that was requested by the British Alpaca Society at the time.”The test is “over 99 percent accurate with a ‘false positive’ in only 0.34 percent of cases”, he said.While it is accurate, it is not very sensitive – so in around 30 percent of cases it will not detect an infection even if the animal has bTB.“Two consecutive positive test results is a very strong indicator of the presence of the disease,” he said.Geronimo had four skin tests before he was exported from New Zealand, all of which were negative. The animal then had two blood tests and a skin test in the UK which were all positive.Ms Macdonald, a vet and alpaca breeder, who has a farm in south Gloucestershire, has claimed the UK tests carried out on the New Zealand-born male alpaca were inaccurate.She told the PA news agency on Friday: “It’s a total load of lies, the testing has never been validated.”She said if Mr Eustice is “willing to kill a healthy animal in front of the whole world without testing him properly first, then it’s a sorry state of affairs”.“And it will be for the world to see. Because if he sends some poor person down here with a gun to shoot Geronimo then it will get filmed by the world’s media,” she added.PA More

The government has begun talks with the food industry over moves to ban foie gras in the UK. MPs told the government last month they were losing patience over its lack of action on outlawing imports of the controversial delicacy made from the fattened livers of geese and ducks that have been repeatedly force-fed.The cross-party group of MPs told environment secretary George Eustice and animal welfare minister Lord Goldsmith they were unhappy at not receiving a response after lobbying them earlier this year, warning: “The UK public is growing impatient, as are we.”The government has repeatedly hinted it will ban imports of foie gras, which is considered so cruel that it is illegal to produce in the UK, although an estimated 200 tonnes is imported from mainland Europe each year.In its animal-welfare action plan published in May, the government pledged to gather evidence to shape a decision on imports. It had long said that banning imports was impossible while Britain was in the EU.But now sources have confirmed to The Independent that the government is holding talks with interested parties, including leaders in the UK food industry and animal welfare organisations.In an open letter to the ministers, the MPs, including Conservative backbencher Henry Smith, called for an urgent meeting.“Following our letter dated 26th March 2021, we continue to await receipt of a) a roadmap and b) a proposed timeline confirming when a ban on the importation of foie gras produced by force-feeding will be implemented (covering all sales of foie gras in the UK),” the letter said.It noted that in June the European Parliament called on the European Commission to draw up plans to prohibit the “cruel and unnecessary” force-feeding of ducks and geese.The letter, seen by The Independent, added: “We call on the UK to make the most of this unique opportunity to lead the way; we urge you to put in place this landmark legislation for animals and, in turn, encourage the rest of the world to follow suit.The signatories complained they had received little information on the government’s next steps or when a ban was likely to be written into law.For the new Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill to hold “significant meaning and weight in reality”, the letter warned, “the UK cannot continue to support torturous practices such as force-feeding ducks and geese to produce foie gras – practices known to induce undeniable anguish and pain for the sentient animals involved.“There is, and always has been, strong public momentum behind this issue, with over 200,000 people backing a petition – led by animal-protection organisation Animal Equality UK – to abolish this cruel product from our shores.”As well as Mr Smith, Labour’s Hilary Benn, the Green Party’s Caroline Lucas, SNP MP Lisa Cameron, Liberal Democrat Wera Hobhouse, Plaid Cymru’s Ben Lake and the DUP’s Jim Shannon all signed.Ms Lucas said: “We have no right to call ourselves a nation of animal lovers until foie gras is banned, once and for all.”The Animal Equality organisation, which has had several meetings with government officials to discuss issues including their call for a ban, says it is optimistic Mr Eustice and Lord Goldsmith will agree to discuss the next step.Executive director Abigail Penny said: “The science is clear: force-feeding is without a doubt absolutely agonising for the animals involved. “I invite cabinet ministers and government officials to a roundtable discussion with Animal Equality and the signatories of our open letter.”Lord Goldsmith, who is thought to support a ban, said: “There is no doubt that the production of foie gras from ducks or geese using force-feeding raises very serious welfare issues. The practice is rightly banned in the UK as it is incompatible with our own welfare standards.“As an independent nation, we now have the opportunity to go further, and through our action plan for animal welfare we have committed to looking into a ban on the import or sale of foie gras – and are building an evidence base to inform that decision.” More

Boris Johnson’s government is expected to open England’s borders to allow US and EU travellers who are fully vaccinated against Covid to enter without the need to quarantine, according to reports.The plans, which would be a boost to the aviation and tourism sectors, are expected to be discussed by ministers at a Covid operations committee meeting on Wednesday.The prime minister confirmed his government was considering a travel corridor with the US that allows people to “come freely from the US in a way that they normally do” during a LBC interview.“We’re talking to [the US] the whole time,” he told LBC. “At the moment we’re dealing with a Delta wave, the US is dealing with a Delta wave, but be assured that we are on it the whole time. As soon as we have something to say about travel corridors you’ll be hearing from us.”Talks are also expected between Whitehall officials and the devolved administrations on whether the change would apply to England only, or all four nations of the UK.The changes are expected as soon as next week, while countries outside the EU and US could be allowed inbound quarantine-free travel at a later date, according to The Times.It comes after aviation firms claimed a trial has demonstrated the UK can safely exempt fully vaccinated US and EU visitors from self-isolation.Heathrow Airport, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic said their 10-day pilot scheme proved the vaccination status of travellers can be efficiently and accurately checked away from the border.Around 250 fully vaccinated passengers on selected flights from New York, Los Angeles, Jamaica and Athens earlier this month presented their credentials using paper or digital formats before boarding the plane.Some 99 per cent of their documents were verified as authentic, with just two passengers’ credentials rejected.In one case there was a discrepancy between the name on the vaccine card and the name on the passport, while another involved someone who had been fully vaccinated less than 14 days before travel.Currently, people arriving in the UK from amber list locations, such as the US, Jamaica, Spain, Italy and Greece, must have been had both doses of a coronavirus jab as part of theUK’s vaccination programme to avoid the requirement to self-isolate for 10 days. This excludes those who have been jabbed elsewhere in the world.The Department for Transport (DfT) has committed to holding a formal review of its rules for arriving travellers before Sunday. It is expected to announce when it will begin recognising vaccines administered in other countries.BA chief executive Sean Doyle said the trial provides “the evidence the government needs” to allow fully vaccinated visitors from low-risk countries to enter the UK without the need to self-isolate.He went on: “The UK needs to safely reopen its borders as soon as possible to ensure loved ones can reunite, business can thrive and global Britain is able to take advantage of the UK’s world-leading vaccination programme.”His counterpart at Virgin Atlantic, Shai Weiss, warned that continuing the UK’s “overly cautious approach” towards international travel will harm the economic recovery from the virus crisis and put half a million jobs at risk.He claimed the trial shows airlines would ensure an easing of the amber rules is “implemented smoothly at pace”.Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye said: “The vaccine has been a miracle of science, and these trials have shown that we can allow fully vaccinated passengers from the EU and US to visit the UK without quarantine. There is now no reason to delay with rolling out the solution from July 31.” More

Britain’s most senior police officers were not consulted about Boris Johnson’s new plan to “beat crime” – or even aware it was being drawn up, The Independent can reveal.The measures, which the prime minister unveiled on Tuesday, include electronic tags on burglars, longer sentences for some crimes, and an extension of controversial blanket stop-and-search powers.But police bodies and victims’ advocates say they were not involved in the formulation of the “beating crime plan”, and were only sent the full details on Tuesday – a day after it had been distributed to members of the media.The 50-page document is believed to have been written by central government in a matter of days, and contains some measures that had not been requested by criminal justice agencies or experts.Anger is also growing among rank-and-file police officers, who lashed out at government “gimmicks” days after a vote of no confidence in the home secretary, Priti Patel, over a pay freeze.Martin Hewitt, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), which represents the country’s most senior officers, said on Tuesday: “We received the plan today and will now be reviewing it carefully to understand how we deliver it operationally.”He said it appeared to contain a mix of issues where police had previously engaged with the government and “some new ideas”. Neither the NPCC, the Police Federation, the Police Superintendents’ Association nor the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners were formally consulted on the plan.Police chiefs were first informed of its existence, but not its full contents, in a briefing with the policing minister Kit Malthouse on Monday evening.The shadow home secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, told The Independent: “This just goes to show how out of touch, arrogant and dismissive of policing this Conservative government are. Little wonder that the plan itself is paper-thin and contains nothing new.“To not even consult officers on a plan for policing is ridiculous – perhaps they were worried about picking up the phone after the insulting zero per cent pay award offered this week.”Boris Johnson says stop and search policy is ‘kind and loving’In a letter delivered by hand to Downing Street on Tuesday afternoon, the Police Federation said its 130,000 members were “sick of gimmicks and government contempt for police”.“Just this weekend, we found out through a Sunday newspaper column about a new so-called beating crime plan,” said the letter to the prime minister.“We don’t need old ideas presented as new. We need genuine investment for the whole of the criminal justice system and genuine consultation over new ideas. Without that, this is just another ill-thought-out initiative.”Senior officers said many measures in the plan, including making the contact details of neighbourhood police officers available, were already in place, and money pledged for violence reduction units had already been spent.The £31m expansion of a project to reduce offending driven by drug addiction had been requested by senior police officers, but a controversial expansion of stop-and-search powers was not. When asked why a consultation had not taken place, the Home Office claimed it had been “talking to” the NPCC, senior officers and the National Crime Agency about the plan since late May.The government’s plan will relax the conditions needed for police to stop people without suspicion – a practice that critics say is ineffective and racially disproportionate – although the results of a 2019 pilot of the changes have never been published.Senior police officers, including the Metropolitan Police commissioner, Dame Cressida Dick, have been vocal in their support of “intelligence-led” stop and search, but the section 60 powers being expanded allow anyone in a designated area to be searched if there are fears of violence.The plan also promises “league tables” for the time that local forces take to answer 101 and 999 calls, but critics have questioned how useful the measure would be in judging the quality of police responses.In a foreword to the plan, Ms Patel and the justice secretary, Robert Buckland, hailed it as the government’s “blueprint for cutting crime, increasing confidence in the criminal justice system as a whole and putting victims first”.However, victims’ advocates said they had not been consulted ahead of the document’s publication. Claire Waxman, the victims’ commissioner for London, said the proposals showed a “disappointing lack of commitment to victims” and would not ensure they receive justice.“Despite referencing victims over 100 times throughout this plan, there is very little of substance that will actually lead to an improved journey through the justice system,” she said.“How can we plan to send a higher volume of people through the system when the length of time for investigations, charging decisions and court dates are at an all-time high?”Downing Street did not answer The Independent’s questions on allegations that the plan was drawn up in a matter of days without consultation with police, but insisted it contained new measures and a “fresh commitment to the country, as we build back from the pandemic, to have less crime, fewer victims and a safer society”.The Home Office said: “Working hand in hand with the police has been a cornerstone of this government’s plans to deliver less crime, fewer victims and a safer society. Over the past two years, we have been working with the police to tackle homicide, serious violence, and neighbourhood crime.” More

It is “disappointing” that the US has kept in place a Covid-related travel ban with the UK, a government minister has said.Kit Malthouse, the policing minister and MP for North West Hampshire, said he wanted to see international travel return “as soon as possible”.On Monday the Biden administration announced it will maintain restrictions on a range of countries, including the EU and China, for the foreseeable future.Both the US and the UK have a high number of Covid-positive cases caused by the Delta variant, although new infections in the UK appear to be decreasing.“Given where we are today … with the Delta variant, we will maintain existing travel restrictions at this point,” White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told a press conference.”Driven by the Delta variant, cases are rising here at home, particularly among those who are unvaccinated and appear likely continue to increase in the weeks ahead.”Under current rules, British nationals are not allowed to enter the US if they have been in the UK and a number of other countries in the previous 14 days.The UK has the US on its “amber list” of countries and travel between the two countries has been frozen since March last year.Responding to the US move to keep restrictions in place, Mr Malthouse said British citizens will have to continue dealing with uncertainty around travel until the pandemic has subsided.He told Sky News: “Obviously that is for them to assess and we are assessing the likelihood of variants coming in from other countries as well. So, it doesn’t surprise me that they are doing similar. It is obviously disappointing.”He added: “We want to get back to international travel as soon as possible. I have got lots of family overseas who I would love to go and visit, particularly in Canada.”I am afraid that the tail-end of this virus, and let’s hope it is the tail-end, we are still coping with some of that uncertainty across the world and people will have to bear that in mind as they decide their travel plans or otherwise.”The US decision came despite intense lobbying efforts from the travel and tourism industries to salvage summer travel for Europeans and others covered by the restrictions.The extraordinary US travel restrictions were first imposed on China in January 2020 to address the spread of COVID-19 and other countries have been added since then – most recently India in early May.New Covid cases continue to rise in the US and Dr Anthony Fauci, who has led the country’s response to the virus, said earlier this week that things are “going in the wrong direction”.Last week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky said the seven-day average of new cases in the US was up 53 per cent on the previous week. The more transmissible Delta variant, first detected in India, now comprises more than 80 per cent of new cases nationwide, the CDC said.Figures show there were 56,635 new cases reported nationwide on 26 July, up from 51,939 in the previous 24 hours.Positive cases have been steadily rising since the beginning of the month. More