UK

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 ThomasEditorPressure is mounting on the Labour government to rethink its policy on smartphones for under-16s, after a new survey of 10,000 parents saw more than half say they wish they had waited longer before handing the devices to their children.Experts have warned that “solutions are needed”, as three-quarters of respondents admitted they fear smartphones expose their children to internet dangers.The previous Conservative government promised to ban mobile phones from schools and was considering a ban on selling smartphones to under-16s.Sunak’s government was also looking at raising the minimum age for social media accounts 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 ThomasEditorLawlessness “characterises” pornographic websites, an MP has said, while a minister has agreed there is “much work to do” to tackle illegal behaviour online.Labour backbencher Tonia Antoniazzi labelled the laws which govern pimping and pornography a “fudge”, during a House of Commons adjournment debate she secured to discuss the prevention of commercial sexual exploitation.Victims minister Jess Phillips told the Commons that she has been unable to get images depicting her taken down from pornographic websites, weeks after Channel 4 News found more than 400 digitally altered pictures of more than 30 high-profile UK politicians online.Victims of sexual exploitation face criminal sanction for soliciting in a public place, while individuals who pay for sex only face criminal sanctions if they kerb crawl or pay for sex with an individual subjected to force, even then, the law is very rarely enforcedTonia Antoniazzi“Lawlessness characterises the online pornography trade with films featuring child sexual abuse, rape and trafficking victims found on some of the UK’s most heavily visited sites,” Ms Antoniazzi said.“Illegal content is freely accessible on mainstream pornography websites.”Gower MP Ms Antoniazzi referred to a 47-page All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Commercial Sexual Exploitation report from 2023 which featured a testimony from Alia Dewees.Ms Dewees told the APPG she had signed a contract when she took part in a pornographic film, so the organisers told her she was “expected to perform, or that (she) would be in violation of that contract”.On the buying and selling sex, Ms Antoniazzi said: “In England and Wales, there is a loose patchwork of laws relating to prostitution, with no consistent objective underpinning them.“Third-party facilitation of prostitution is illegal in some circumstances yet permitted in others.“Victims of sexual exploitation face criminal sanction for soliciting in a public place, while individuals who pay for sex only face criminal sanctions if they kerb crawl or pay for sex with an individual subjected to force, even then, the law is very rarely enforced.”Our laws have not kept pace with technological change and pimps have got rich as a resultTonia Antoniazzi MPShe claimed there had “not been sufficient political will” to update the statute books and added: “Pimping websites are commercial online platforms dedicated solely or partly to advertising women for prostitution. They function like mass online brothels, making it as easy to order women to exploit as it is to order a takeaway.“Despite it being illegal to place a prostitution advert in phone box, the same advert can be legally published for-profit on a website.“Our laws have not kept pace with technological change and pimps have got rich as a result.”Responding, Ms Phillips said: “It’s time we treat tackling violence against women and girls as the national emergency it is.The new Government policies will be announced in due course, but I want to re-state that I believe passionately that change in this area is needed and until it is achieved, we must not rest.”She told MPs: “We will build on the Online Safety Act to ensure that online companies fulfil their duties to eradicate this exploitation from their sites. There is much work to do in this particular space, as has been highlighted by (Ms Antoniazzi), and I have handled many cases where this has not been handled well at all.“I myself, there are images of me on pornographic websites that I cannot get taken down.”Earlier this month, Channel 4 News identified Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, Conservative former home secretary Priti Patel and Labour backbencher Stella Creasy among the victims of digitally altered images online – sometimes known as “deepfakes”.According to the broadcaster, some of the victims in UK politics had said they planned to call in the police to investigate. 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 ThomasEditorFacebook and X, formerly Twitter, should be forced to be more transparent about whether foreign powers are behind posts on their platforms, a watchdog has said.Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of state threats legislation, suggested new laws could be required to compel the social media giants to reveal the “extent of foreign interference” online.The senior lawyer also called for trials for alleged foreign interference offences under the 2023 National Security Act to be held in “open court beneath the public gaze”.The internet is the perfect forum for foreign interference: easy to perform, hard to attribute to the foreign hand Jonathan Hall KCMr Hall said the internet is the “perfect forum for foreign interference” because it was easy to use and “hard to attribute” to an overseas actor.“I have no reason to doubt that the online world will play an outsized role in foreign interference investigations, even though the General Election seems to have passed without signs of disturbance,” he told the Royal United Services Institute in London.The internet was a “cheap and obvious way to persuade, distract and influence”.But regulator Ofcom had “many priorities” and may not be able to police foreign interference online, he warned.And the sites were making access to their information “far too expensive for civil society organisations” to monitor, meaning that “tech platforms may ultimately be left to mark their own homework”.He wished “civil society organisations could have a greater role in monitoring the extent of foreign interference that tech companies are prepared to tolerate on their platforms” and “I would welcome legislation requiring much greater transparency from platforms”.Meta, Facebook’s parent company, defended its record, pointing to schemes such as its quarterly adversarial threat reports and tools which are available to qualified non-profit research institutions.Mr Hall also urged the authorities not to use the National Security Act to hold secret court hearings on allegations of foreign interference.He said that would undermine two of the main aims of the offence: publicly “calling out the foreign hand” and warning citizens against “entanglement” with overseas powers.He said: “Given the quality and expertise of our journalists and the strength of our judicial system, I hope that when the foreign interference offence comes to be tested, it is tested in open court beneath the public gaze.“There is a power under the National Security Act to exclude the public from criminal proceedings in the interests of national security.“I recognise that such a power is inevitable in a statute designed to combat the foreign hand, but my firm hope is that the public are excluded as little as possible.” 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 attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers is wider than it was a decade ago, despite around £9 billion being spent on the problem over the last year, a damning report has found.  The Department for Education (DfE) does not have a strategy to tackle the problem or “monitoring to understand how much it spends”, according to the public spending watchdog the National Audit Office. The attainment gap measures the educational outcomes of those eligible for free school meals and compares them with pupils who have never received free school meals.The report also warned the DfE has “no clear rationale” for how it allocates funding More

Bibby Stockholm conditions ‘harrowing and humiliating’, claims MPSupport 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 ThomasEditorA set of new dossiers published by the National Audit Office have revealed the real state of government after 14 years of Tory rule. According to a NAO report, the NHS is at an “unprecedented” breaking point with health workers “working at the limits” of the system. It has also revealed Rishi Sunak’s decision to scrap the second phase of HS2 will cost up to £100m and it could take three years to shut down sites where work has begun, an official report has revealed.Sir Keir Starmer will close down the controversial Bibby Stockholm migrant barge after the Home Office announced the contract will not be renewed.The three-storey vessel, housing hundreds of refugees, will be shut in an effort to  “clear the backlog and fix the asylum system”.The prime minister is facing a major Labour rebellion after several MPs pressured him to scrap the two-child benefit cap and suspend arms sales to Israel. Today’s King’s Speech debate will end up with a vote on the matter as the Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle selected the SNP’s amendment to scrap the cap, with veteran John McDonnell confirming he will vote against the policy.Show latest update 1721746383Rollout of payment schemes causing ‘widespread uncertainty’ for farmers – reportThe rollout of new payment schemes for farmers is causing “widespread uncertainty and risks” for the sector, the National Audit Office has warned.The Farming and Countryside Programme aims to transition the UK’s agriculture sector post-Brexit to ensure profitable farms, food security and environmental health by 2028.Under the scheme, the Environment Department (Defra) is phasing out EU direct payments to farmers, which were based on land area, and replacing them with agri-environment schemes, based on delivering environmental outcomes alongside food production, such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI).The changes have come at a time when extreme weather, market conditions and sudden rises in input costs are putting farms under immense pressure.Defra has been taking an iterative approach, making changes and improvements to the new subsidy schemes over time.But the National Audit Office (NOA) released a 56-page report on Tuesday warning that chopping and changing has made it difficult for farmers to plan their businesses to remain viable, produce food and achieve the programme’s environmental goals.The spending watchdog said the take-up of the new schemes is rapidly increasing with 40,700 farmers signing up as of April 2024.Salma Ouaguira23 July 2024 15:531721745783Listen: Suella Braverman told to hang her head over Rwanda in shame by angry LBC listenerListen: Suella Braverman told to hang her head in shame by angry LBC callerSuella Braverman has been told she should be “hanging your head in shame” over the Tory party’s approach to immigration. The former home secretary, who was a guest presenter on LBC on Tuesday morning (23 July), took a call from a listener called James in Glasgow. James told her: “You should be hanging your head in shame. The Tory party has exacerbated this problem for political gain.” James also urged her to apologise for the £700 million Labour claimed she spent on the scheme. Ms Braverman asked: “What is your solution, James? “We promised and failed and for various reasons we didn’t succeed. Do you think they [Labou] are going to fix the problem?”Salma Ouaguira23 July 2024 15:431721745363Tory MP: Crime is ‘not an illness to be treated’Conservative former minister Sir John Hayes has argued that crime is “not an illness to be treated, it’s a malevolent choice made by those who are careless of the harm they do”.Referring to the early release from prison scheme, Sir John said he was “shocked” that the Government intends to “let more of those dangerous people on to our streets” after they’ve served 40% of their sentence.The South Holland and The Deepings MP argued that “punishment is not a dirty word”, adding: “I hope the new Government will recognise that in order to crack down on crime we really need do have to restore public faith, as I said, that justice will be done.”He said the Government can’t rely on “wishful thinking”, adding: “The guilty must be punished and the innocent must be protected”During Sir John’s contribution in the Commons, Labour MP Sarah Champion (Rotherham) intervened and said: “So does that mean you believe people are born wicked? Because I believe if there’s good education at a very early age, and early intervention, crimes can be prevented.”Salma Ouaguira23 July 2024 15:361721745268Farage calls for a referendum to leave ECHRNigel Farage claimed the European Court of Human Rights has “now completely outlived its usefulness” and called for a referendum to leave the body. During his maiden speech in the Commons, the Reform leader said: “We will only stop this if we start deporting people that come illegally. Then they won’t pay the smugglers. But we will only do that by leaving the ECHR.“But I have got a fun suggestion that I think would liven up politics, engage the public and see a massively increased turnout. Why don’t we have a referendum on whether we continue to be members of the ECHR?”( 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 Bibby Stockholm contract will not be renewed, the Home Office has announced, with Labour confirming plans to scrap the migrant barge next year.Extending the use of the boat, moored in Dorset, would have cost over £20 million next year, the government said. The barge will continue to be used until January 2025. The latest announcement forms part of Labour’s plan to make £7.7 billion of savings in asylum costs over the next decade. Dame Angela Eagle, minister for border security and asylum, said the Home Office has set in motion plans to save money on accommodation which is “running up vast bills for the taxpayer”. Yesterday, home secretary Yvette Cooper set out plans to clear the asylum backlog, something the department said would save “billions of pounds”. A view of the Bibby Stockholm barge at Portland Port in Dorset (Matt Keeble/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 ThomasEditorA school has been reprimanded by the data protection regulator after using facial recognition technology (FRT) to take cashless canteen payments from pupils.The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said Chelmer Valley High School, in Chelmsford, Essex, broke the law when it “failed” to complete a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) before starting to use the technology.The secondary school, which has around 1,200 pupils aged 11-18, had not properly obtained clear permission to process the children’s biometric data and students were unable to “exercise their rights and freedoms”.In March last year, the school began using the technology to take cashless canteen payments, before an assessment was made of the risks to the children’s information.We’ve taken action against this school to show introducing measures such as FRT should not be taken lightly, particularly when it involves childrenLynne Currie, head of privacy innovation at the ICOLynne Currie, head of privacy innovation at the ICO, said: “Handling people’s information correctly in a school canteen environment is as important as the handling of the food itself.“We expect all organisations to carry out the necessary assessments when deploying a new technology to mitigate any data protection risks and ensure their compliance with data protection laws.“We’ve taken action against this school to show introducing measures such as FRT should not be taken lightly, particularly when it involves children.“We don’t want this to deter other schools from embracing new technologies. But this must be done correctly with data protection at the forefront, championing trust, protecting children’s privacy and safeguarding their rights.”The reprimand comes after the ICO told North Ayrshire Council last year that its use of FRT to take canteen payments in nine schools was “likely” to have infringed data protection law.Concerns were raised when FRT was introduced in North Ayrshire schools in 2021 as part of a replacement of its existing cashless catering system.The data watchdog also found that Chelmer Valley High School failed to seek opinions from its data protection officer, or consult with parents and students, before implementing the technology.In March last year, a letter was sent to parents with a slip for them to return if they did not want their child to participate in FRT, the ICO said.This failing meant that no prior assessment was made of the risks to data subjects, no consideration was given to lawfully managing consent, and students at the school were then left unable to properly exercise their rights and freedomsICO reprimand to Chelmer Valley High SchoolUntil November last year, the ICO warned that the school had been wrongly relying on “assumed consent” for facial recognition – except where parents or carers had opted children out of the system.The data protection regulator also noted that most students would have been old enough to provide their own consent, so the parental opt-out deprived students of the ability to exercise their rights.The reprimand said: “Chelmer Valley High School has therefore failed to complete a DPIA where they were legally required to do so.“This failing meant that no prior assessment was made of the risks to data subjects, no consideration was given to lawfully managing consent, and students at the school were then left unable to properly exercise their rights and freedoms.”The school provided a DPIA to the data watchdog in January this year, and it begun obtaining explicit opt-in consent from students in November last year.Ms Currie added: “A DPIA is required by law – it’s not a tick-box exercise.“It’s a vital tool that protects the rights of users, provides accountability and encourages organisations to think about data protection at the start of a project.”Chelmer Valley High School has been approached for comment. 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 ThomasEditorRishi Sunak’s decision to scrap the second phase of HS2 will cost up to £100m and it could take three years to shut down sites where work has begun, an official report has revealed.The former prime minister’s plans also mean the government has £592m worth of land and property on the route from Birmingham to Manchester it needs to flog, which the government spending watchdog has warned could take years and distort local housing markets.The National Audit Office (NAO) laid bare the cost of Mr Sunak’s decision to scrap phase 2 of the high-speed rail plan, first revealed by The Independent last September.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the northern leg of HS2 was being axed at the Conservative conference (Hollie Adams/PA) More