Indy TV

Sir Ed Davey has described the Post Office scandal as a “conspiracy on a huge scale”.The Lib Dem leader was postal affairs minister from 2010 to 2012 and has been accused of having “fobbed off” victims of the Horizon IT scandal.“I wish I knew then what I know now,” Sir Ed told Sky News on Monday 8 January.“This is quite a national scandal and at the front of our minds should be those subpostmasters who had their lives ruined.”Sir Ed added that justice must be served and victims should be “properly compensated”. More

Conditions on the Bibby Stockholm barge are “harrowing and humiliating,” a Labour MP has claimed.Nadia Whittome met with asylum seekers housed on the vessel and asked them about the conditions on board.“The men I met said it felt like living in a prison,” Ms Whittome said, adding that their testimony was “emotional and harrowing”.“Conditions are cramped, but their ability to leave the barge is restricted… they’re searched not only on the way in but also the way out. It’s time-consuming and it’s humiliating.”Ms Whittome shared further testimony from Bibby Stockholm residents in the video she posted on social media and vowed to fight for an asylum system that “treats people with dignity and care” on her return to parliament. More

A Lancashire resident had a sweet reaction to meeting Rishi Sunak at the Accrington Stanley Community Sports Hub on Monday, 8 January.The prime minister met members of the football club’s first team, a disability sports group, and students studying BTEC Sports courses.Mr Sunak also played bowls during his visit to the club.It came as Mr Sunak spoke in the town a year after he announced it would receive £20m in levelling-up funds.Accrington also received a further £20m boost after it was identified as one of the government’s 55 so-called “forgotten towns” in the country. More

Sir Keir Starmer has said the government’s response to flooding is not “good enough” and vowed Labour would take pre-emptive action earlier in the year to get ahead of the problem.“What that means: earlier in the year in the autumn, having a taskforce that brings together local authorities, emergency response, local people, to ensure that the prevention work is done,” Sir Keir said, speaking on a visit to the East Midlands.Sleet and snow showers have been forecast for parts of the country on Monday 8 January, as some regions are still trying to grapple with flooding following intense rainfall. More

Rishi Sunak denied that he had significant doubts about the Government’s Rwanda bill after leaked No 10 documents revealed his uncertainty.He appeared on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on BBC One on Sunday, 7 January.When asked to admit the doubts by Mrs Kuenssberg, he said: “No. I haven’t seen these documents so I can’t comment on them specifically but I discussed it with the prime minister and ultimately funded the plans and the scheme.The documents revealed the Prime Minister’s doubts back in 2022, where he questioned whether it would actually stop boats crossing, and if it was value for money. More

The Liberal Democrats have demanded that Rishi Sunak launch a general election for May rather than “clinging on to power”.Mr Sunak has the power to hold the vote as late as January 2025, but Sir Ed Davey has urged him to call one much earlier.“I think people are fed up of waiting for a general election. They want change and it really shouldn’t be in the power of the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, to call that,” the Lib Dem leader said.“He’s clinging on to power, desperate for something to turn up. That’s not right.” More

Shaun Bailey said Carol Vorderman “can’t be both” a serious political commentator and have “pictures of her bums and her boobs” on her Instagram during an appearance on GB News on Thursday, 28 December.”I would have some sympathy for that if she conducted herself like a grown-up… On one hand… she’s a serious political commentator, and then if you look at her Instagram it’s all pictures of her bums and her boobs… She can’t be both,” Lord Bailey said.Ms Vorderman called the Conservative peer a “misogynist” as she reposted a clip of the comments on X/Twitter. Lord Bailey said:  “I used a clumsy form of words to describe Carol Vorderman’s Instagram posts. The point I was trying to make is Carol lives in a world of glitz and celebrity, as her Instagram portrays, but simultaneously demonises and bullies those who hold different political views to her own.” More

Liz Truss’s long-awaited resignation honours list has been branded “rewards for failure” by Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth.The Electoral Reform Society has also called for urgent reform to the “rotten and out of control” peerage system and criticised the list which proposes a new peer for every day-and-a-half Ms Truss was in office.The list which includes Tory donors and special advisers was fraught with controversy before being published, with calls for Rishi Sunak to block the handout of honours given the short-lived nature of Ms Truss’s premiership.The former prime minister resigned last October after the fallout from her disastrous mini-budget, becoming the country’s shortest-serving prime minister after just 49 days in office. More