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The government has repeatedly criticised prosecutors for doing “no more than applying the law”, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.Max Hill QC, the director of public prosecutions, defended decisions in two recent immigration cases that drew the ire of the Home Office as Priti Patel attempts to crack down on irregular journeys to Britain. In the first, the CPS dismissed charges against 69 Albanians who had been charged by the Border Force with entering the UK illegally, but had not reached the country.“In both cases, we have done no more than apply the law, which is for parliament and not us to decide,” Mr Hill told The Independent.“We’re absolutely clear that any prosecuting authority must be free, and is free, to make independent decisions following the law … that independence does lead to [opposing] positions taken by the general public or even by the Home Office. We have no difficulty in scrutiny of our decisions.”The CPS overturned prosecutions of the passengers, but maintained charges of facilitating illegal immigration against three alleged crew members.After the decision was announced, a Home Office spokesperson said it was “disappointed” that the proceedings were discontinued and that it was “working with the CPS urgently to resolve the issues raised by this case”.“Knowingly entering the UK without leave is a criminal offence and anyone who has committed such an offence should be prepared to face prosecution,” a statement sent to the media added.But Mr Hill said the passengers of migrant boats who have no role in organising or controlling crossings should not be charged, and “can be dealt with perfectly appropriately by immigration scrutiny and removal rather than prosecution”.A month later, the CPS dropped charges against seven Nigerian stowaways who had been accused of trying to hijack an oil tanker off the coast of the Isle of Wight.Police dealing with incident aboard ship in English ChannelProsecutors said mobile phone footage showed the ship and crew were not put in danger and there was no attempt to take control of the vessel.A Home Office spokesperson said it was “disappointed” by the CPS’ decision, adding: “It is frustrating that there will be no prosecution in relation to this very serious incident and the British people will struggle to understand how this can be the case.”Abusive posts were directed at the CPS’ Twitter account following the comment, with prosecutors called “f***ing clowns” and “pathetic”.Mr Hill said all cases were considered on their merits and the same legal tests, and that it would have been “quite wrong” to maintain charges which would not have survived scrutiny in court.“Initial reports that led to the military intervention suggested a hijack or possible hijack but on cold, calm review it transpired that the stowaways had not committed the criminal offence of endangering a vessel,” he added.“We do perform a valuable function, which is to ensure that cases that should not proceed, don’t proceed. That’s where our independence is absolutely critical and these recent two cases prove an absence of political interference. Rather, they prove our independence.” More

Scottish fishing industry workers descended on Whitehall on Monday to protest Boris Johnson’s Brexit trade deal.Footage showed dozens of large lorries driving through central London adorned with slogans showing workers’ fury after experiencing problems exporting fish to the EU.One truck was emblazoned with “Brexit Carnage”, while another said “Incompetent Government Destroying Shellfish Industry”, as they parked up just metres from Downing Street.Others had their business logos proudly displayed amid claims the sector could collapse and that fish prices have plummeted due to the bureaucracy that has left catches rotting at the border.Mark Moore from the Dartmouth Crab Company joined his Scottish colleagues for the protest and told LBC that the exporting issue was nationwide, and “we are all in this together”.He added: “The situation is almost unworkable and we need change, our industry is spiralling downwards.”Mr Moore said about 50 trucks had been due to travel to the capital. More

As Ukip welcomes Katie Hopkins as a member, Lizzie Dearden looks at the party’s journey into the far right More

The House of Lords inflicted a series of defeats on the government over the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill.It would allow public authorities, ranging from police and MI5 to HMRC and the Food Standards Agency, to authorise agents and informants to commit crimes while undercover.The proposed authorisations would not only be issued in the interests of national security or preventing and detecting crime, but also preventing “disorder” and in the “interests of the economic wellbeing of the United Kingdom”.In October, MPs voted by 317 votes to 256 against an amendment to limit the kind of crimes that could be authorised.But on Wednesday, the House of Lords approved the same curbs by a narrow majority of 299 votes to 284.The cross-party amendment, brought by Lord Dubs, Baroness Massey, Lord Rosser and Lord Paddick, said the new criminal conduct authorisations may not include actions that intentionally cause death or grievous bodily harm, pervert the course of justice, include rape and sexual offences or torture.Lord Paddick said: “We do need legislation to govern the tasking of police informants to commit crime, but this bill goes beyond what is reasonable.“The Liberal Democrats have managed to add important safeguards to the bill, but the sheer number of fundamental issues that have been raised from all sides should force the government to stop and think again.”Dan Dolan, of the Reprieve legal charity, said allies including the US, Australia and Canada had inserted “common sense limits” to similar laws.
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Families receive ‘hamper’ containing handful of items including half a pepper and carrot ‘stub’ More

Councils across England are facing having to make unprecedented cuts to services in the coming years, after coronavirus left them with multimillion-pound black holes in their funding.The cost to local authorities of the pandemic has been revealed as £1.1bn to £2.2bn, prompting leaders to describe their financial situations as the worst they have ever seen.Early intervention and prevention projects for vulnerable families, as well as recycling schemes, are among the cutbacks most likely to be in the firing line as local authorities seek to claw back cash to avoid meltdown.And council taxpayers will be asked to stump up more, with bills increasing by as much as 5 per cent, just as household incomes have been squeezed by job losses and instability.Already struggling after years of austerity, local authority finances have been badly hit as income from car parking and leisure facilities have fallen off a cliff, at the same time as councils faced unplanned bills for costs such as PPE, helping support care homes and launching test and trace systems.The Local Government Association (LGA) said councils would be forced to absorb £1.1bn in 2020-21 – and warned that given the continued impact of the pandemic, the figure could grow to £2.2bn.  Cheshire East Council, which is down by £13m this year thanks to the pandemic, is among many local authorities consulting residents on where to make cuts.Next year’s budget would be the most challenging it has ever had to set, said deputy leader Craig Browne and warned of having to make “some very tough choices” with no area of responsibility exempt. Sam Corcoran, the Labour leader of the Council, said despite several government grants, the council had not been fully recompensed for the pandemic costs, and told The Independent the axe could fall on household waste recycling centres.Cutting family early prevention services, such as Sure Start centres, would save money now but store up trouble and costs for later, he said.
“We’ve been in austerity for a number of years and it gets harder after the easy things have been cut. Residents have to face either cuts to services or increases in council tax, or both.”
John Clarke, the Labour leader of Gedling Borough Council in Nottinghamshire, told The Independent that cuts might have to be made to the support given to police and the police and crime commissioner, as well as anti-knife crime schemes.Other services such as maintenance of parks and open spaces could be threatened, as well as eco-friendly initiatives such as educating people on recycling and installing solar panels on council buildings.
Mr Clarke could not rule out redundancies among managers at the council, where the senior team has already been restructured through some natural job shrinkages.
Last month, Croydon Council in south London declared “effective bankruptcy” and imposed emergency spending limits.
In a survey by the County Councils Network, eight in 10 councils said they would have to make “damaging” cuts to services. Social care could be among the areas to suffer, the group said, unless the government stepped in.
A spokesperson for the LGA said: “It is not a pretty picture. Councils have worked closely with government throughout the pandemic to protect our local communities and save lives.”As well as a drop in income from parking and leisure, local authorities are having to deal with more people defaulting on council tax and business rates because of the lockdowns. The government is giving local authorities up to 75 per cent of that lost revenue.
Overall, ministers say local government has been given £7bn to cover Covid costs, which is being paid in four tranches. They say councils have also been given extra spending power – but it takes the form of increasing council tax precepts for social care by 3 per cent, on top of a base rate rise of 2 per cent, totalling up to 5 per cent.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned households across the UK may face an average £70 rise in council tax next year.  The spending review also provided councils with £300m of new grant funding for social care.
David Williams, leader of Hertfordshire County Council and chairman of the County Councils Network, said: “If you had told me a year ago we’d spend about £130m we hadn’t budgeted for, I’d have thought you were having a laugh. But I’ve been astounded at the amount of support we’ve had from central government. For councils that deliver social care, the government has dealt with them pretty fairly.”
He said he would be reluctant to cut services for vulnerable families, and would look for central government funding initially.But others say the support is not enough.
Leeds City Council, which has a £119m deficit, earlier this month announced a potential 914 staff redundancies, as well as council tax rises.
Newcastle City Council has revealed it has to save a further £40m over the next two years by raising fees and charges and not filling vacancies, and will raise council tax by 5 per cent.
Leader of Newcastle City Council Nick Forbes said: “Coronavirus has cost councils across the country over £11bn this year alone. The government have so far refunded less than half of that. They have done nothing to fundamentally change the fact that councils will be forced to make severe cuts in 2021 to balance their books.”
City councillors are considering £8.4m of cuts to adult social care spending and £3.8m of cuts to children’s social care.
Extra costs and loss of income have increased costs by £90m this year, it said, despite furloughing some staff.  Byron Rhodes, cabinet member for finance, said the council was stopping non-essential recruitment and spending, and stepping up spending controls.
“Government support has been significant but not enough. Without funding reform or a major efficiency initiative, more savings will be required including service reductions.”
And Brighton and Hove council revealed it had a £20m funding gap, the “biggest black hole the council has seen for a very long time”, deputy leader Hannah Clare said.Paul Hodgkinson, leader of the Lib Dems on Gloucestershire County Council, said he feared roads and road safety measures could be the biggest victim of any cuts in his rural area.
“Our roads have a high accident rate, sadly some fatal, with a lot of single carriageways, which tend to be worse than motorways for accidents, and I would fear measures to make them safer could be in jeopardy.”
The borough council in Crawley, the town identified has having been the hardest hit by the pandemic because it is largely dependent on Gatwick Airport, this month decided to close two children’s playgrounds and close five “superloos” among other measures.
In its budget consultation, Kent County Council said it was potentially facing a financial challenge “bigger than anything we have seen over the last 10 years”.
Leader Roger Gough said the concern was less for the immediate future than for the medium and long term. “We had an in-year budget this year, which we’ve never felt the need to do before.
“We were very concerned about children’s social care. After lockdown, cases coming in were more complex because they’d been left for longer.“Local government tends to be a lower priority for government than the NHS and defence, so it’s likely council tax as a whole will increase – we’ll look at that very carefully. A 5 per cent increase will be a cause for concern and distress for many people already in financial distress.”The LGA spokesperson said early communication with councils was key, and initially, the sharing of testing data with councils was poor.“Lessons must be learnt from the past months, particularly around the importance of tapping into and using local expertise.  “We are calling on the government to address in full the financial challenges facing councils as a result of Covid-19, including all lost income and local tax losses.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “Councils have played a critical role during the pandemic, and we are ensuring they have the resources needed to deliver effective services for their communities.  “We’ve given councils an unprecedented £7.2bn package of support. This includes £4.6bn in un-ringfenced funding, recognising that councils are best placed to decide how to meet the major Covid-19 service pressures in their local area. “Next year we’re giving councils access to an additional £2.2bn to deliver services including social care and £3bn of additional support for Covid-19 pressures. This takes the total support committed to councils in England to tackle the impacts of Covid-19 to over £10bn.” More

Teachers and council leaders have criticised the government’s approach to school closures amid soaring cases of Covid-19, saying it has “no logic”. About a million primary school pupils in the areas hardest hit by coronavirus will not return to lessons as planned next week, and the expected staggered reopening of secondary schools in England will also be delayed.The announcement by the government on Wednesday, less than a week before the start of the new term, was described as a “last-minute mess” by teachers, who accused the government of failing to heed warnings from school leaders that remote learning may need to be implemented.In London, mayor Sadiq Khan said he was “urgently seeking clarification as to why schools in some London boroughs have been chosen to stay open”, while others “just down the road won’t”.Council leaders in the capital have also been critical of the government’s guidance. Danny Thorpe, the leader of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, which was threatened with legal action by the government earlier in December after it issued advice to schools to move to online learning for the last days of term, said London had been treated as “one area” throughout the pandemic and fragmenting it now would be “a massive step backwards in the boroughs’ combined efforts to fight the virus”.“In a case-by-case comparison, there appears to be no logic to how this list was brought together,” he said.“Kensington and Chelsea has one of the lowest infection rates for the whole of the capital, yet their children and young people are being afforded the extra protection that apparently Royal Greenwich students don’t need.“While we are very glad that they will benefit from these extra precautions, we can only speculate why this borough was included, yet with an infection rate more than 200 cases higher per 100,000, Royal Greenwich was not.”Richard Watts, the leader of Islington Council in north London, said: “We are now seeking urgent clarification from the government about why Islington’s primary schools are to reopen in the week of 4 January, while those in many other London boroughs will not reopen.“It is deeply frustrating that the government has made this announcement at the last minute, just days before the start of term, weeks after it was clear coronavirus cases were surging in London.”Philip Glanville, the mayor of Hackney in northeast London, said the area should be included on the list where primary schools do not have to reopen.Greenwich had 2,176 new cases recorded in the seven days to 26 December, Hackney and City of London had 2,217 and Islington had 1,499, according to Covid-19 rates compiled by the Press Association.By comparison, areas on the list included Kensington and Chelsea, which had just 768 new cases in the same period, while Richmond upon Thames had 1,219 and Hammersmith and Fulham had 1,097.Mr Khan said it was right to delay school reopening for the worst-hit areas but said council leaders, headteachers and governing bodies were not consulted about the decision.A list of 50 areas where it is expected that some primary schools will not open as planned to all pupils next week was published by the Department for Education and featured places in London, Essex, Kent, East Sussex, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.There are 1.05 million children aged between four and 11 in these areas, according to analysis of population figures by PA.The figures may include some four-year-olds who have not started school or 11-year-olds who are no longer at primary school.Liz Keeble, a headteacher of a primary school in Basildon, Essex, said she learned from the television on Wednesday afternoon that her school would not reopen next week, before hearing from her bosses.“It’s a very difficult situation for everybody, these decisions are made right up to the wire,” she told BBC Breakfast.However, the education secretary said he is “absolutely confident” there will be no further delays to school reopeningsGavin Williamson moved to reassure teaching staff, pupils and parents the rescheduled staggered return dates for England would remain in place, despite concerns about safety and transmission rates among younger people.“We are absolutely confident that all schools are returning,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.“You’re going to see over 85 per cent of primary schools returning on Monday morning, you’re going to be seeing exam cohorts going back right across the country on January 11.”Asked if he can guarantee that, Mr Williamson said: “We are absolutely confident that is what is going to happen.” More

Life in the UK should be “much, much better” by Easter as coronavirus vaccines gradually restore normality to the country, England’s chief medical officer is said to have told Boris Johnson.The prime minister expressed optimism that people could see more freedoms by spring, depending on the availability of the Covid-19 jabs.Chris Whitty , the chief medical officer, set a target of 5 April for the relaxation of coronavirus restrictions, Mr Johnson revealed in an interview with ITV News.But he sought to manage expectations by stressing changes would depend on the success of the tiered lockdown system and that the coming weeks and months would be tough.“Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, set a sort of terminus of 5 April – Easter – when he thought things would be much, much, much better,” Mr Johnson said.
Asked how long lockdown restrictions would go on for, he said it would depend on “how fast we can get the virus under control with tough tiering, with testing that we’re rolling out, the vaccination programme”.
“I’m not going to give you a deadline, but you’ve heard what I’ve said about April – that is the terminus ante quem [before that date],” he added.The PM suggested that date could potentially be earlier if the vaccine programme gathers pace.“If – and it’s a big if – if the tiering can work to bring the virus under control, if the vaccine rollout proceeds fast enough and, in the end, we are able to inoculate to protect those millions, the most vulnerable groups, then there’s a world in which that date could be brought forward – who knows by how many weeks, but that’s obviously what we’re aiming for. I can’t give you that date today,” he said.
Mr Johnson declined to commit to vaccinating 2 million people a week – the rate calculated necessary to prevent a third wave – but said the government would go as fast as it could with rolling out inoculations, saying it depending on how fast they could “crank up” supply.  And he stressed there were still “tough weeks and probably months” ahead for the UK as the new Covid variant spreads across the country and puts hospitals under immense pressure.“But do I think that by the spring things will be much better? Am I succumbing to my optimistic bias? Yes, I do think things will be much better, I do think this country will get through it very strongly indeed, and I do think people will have a great deal to look forward to,” Mr Johnson said. “But are things going to be tough for the next few weeks and months? Yes, they undoubtedly are.”Asked about the potential for a 24-hours-a-day vaccine rollout, Stephen Powis, medical director of NHS England, told journalists: “We’re working in the NHS to roll things out as quickly as possible.”We need the supplies to come through from manufacturers.
“These are still unlicensed products; remember they have an emergency authorisation so it’s important that we do this properly by the book. But we are going as quickly as we possibly can.” More