Scrap plans to scan accounts of benefit claimants or risk new scandal, MPs told

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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/04/ministers-urged-to-scrap-plans-for-surveillance-of-benefit-claimants-bank-accounts

The DWP is seeking powers to require banks to trawl the accounts of millions of people who receive benefits. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Campaigners say ‘fully automated’ approach risks repeat of Post Office Horizon scandal

Plans for automated surveillance of millions of bank accounts to catch welfare cheats should be scrapped, campaigners have said, warning the approach risks a repeat of the Post Office Horizon scandal.

But campaigners for welfare claimants, disabled people, human rights and privacy warned ministers it represents an “unprecedented and disproportionate invasion of the public’s financial privacy, the effect of which will be felt most sharply by the most vulnerable”.

The net would also trawl the private banking data of people related to welfare claimants including partners, parents and landlords. It would save around £360m a year – less than 5% of the total lost to welfare fraud, according to the government’s best estimate.

In a letter to Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, 42 organisations, from Disability Rights UK to Big Brother Watch, said: “There are approximately 22.6 million individuals in the welfare system, including those who are disabled, sick, caregivers, job seekers, and pensioners. They should not be treated like criminals by default … The Horizon scandal saw hundreds of people wrongfully prosecuted using data from faulty software. The government must learn from this mistake – not replicate it en masse.”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/04/ministers-urged-to-scrap-plans-for-surveillance-of-benefit-claimants-bank-accounts

Continue ReadingScrap plans to scan accounts of benefit claimants or risk new scandal, MPs told

Morning Star: We need an emergency Budget – but there’s no relief in sight

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Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 11 Downing Street, London, with his ministerial box before delivering his Budget in the Houses of Parliament, March 6, 2024

BRITAIN needed an emergency Budget today, one that addressed the profound crises facing local authorities, healthcare, education, you name it.

It got nothing of the sort. A scattering of headline investments like the “NHS productivity plan,” focused on IT systems and ignoring the staff shortages that have led to waiting lists seven million long.

A 2p cut to National Insurance that benefits higher earners more and, by reducing the tax take, tightens the funding squeeze on essential services. Bigger cuts to capital gains tax, incentivising the property speculation that has helped drive the housing crisis.

It was a complacent Budget, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt spending longer trying to explain away Britain’s “technical” recession as some kind of economic success (the same Chancellor said last year he was “comfortable” with Bank of England policy causing a recession to reduce wages) than he did outlining new measures that might make a difference.

Britain has “turned the corner” on inflation, he claims, though prices rising more slowly doesn’t mean prices falling and millions of us know what we pay for food, energy and a roof over our heads has soared in recent years.

There is plenty of money. Last month Britain’s Big Four banks announced their highest annual profits ever.

We see record-breaking profits in the energy cartels, big agribusiness, soaring profit margins in the FTSE 350 table of big companies. These aren’t “difficult economic circumstances.” It is class war.

And if Labour won’t strike a blow for workers in that war, unions will need to find another way to change our country’s direction.

Continue ReadingMorning Star: We need an emergency Budget – but there’s no relief in sight

Hunt gambles on tax as services crumble

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/hunt-gambles-tax-services-crumble

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 11 Downing Street, London, with his ministerial box before delivering his Budget in the Houses of Parliament, March 6, 2024.

PUBLIC services are at still greater risk as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt gambled the Tories’ election hopes on a last-ditch tax-cutting Budget.

Mr Hunt announced a 2 per cent cut in National Insurance in a bid to put more money in workers’ pockets before Britain goes to the polls later this year.

But the price will be a major squeeze in public spending in the next parliament, with many department budgets likely to fall in real terms.

The Chancellor also abolished the non-dom tax rule which lets the wealthiest avoid paying taxes on overseas earnings, a key Labour pledge, and brought more families within the scope of child benefit payments.

The Budget therefore leaves Labour more politically denuded than ever — it will either have to find other ways to raise the money it had planned for public services from scrapping the non-dom loophole, or more likely drop residual spending commitments altogether.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told MPs that Labour supported the National Insurance cut too, leaving the parties exchanging rhetorical sound and fury on economic policy but with no significant differences.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/hunt-gambles-tax-services-crumble

Continue ReadingHunt gambles on tax as services crumble

‘Pre-election gimmicks’: How trade unions reacted to the Budget

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/pre-election-gimmicks-how-trade-unions-reacted-to-the-budget/

From missed opportunities to ‘Tory hot air’, trade unions weigh in on the Spring Budget announcements

Responding to Jeremy Hunt’s spring budget statement today, union leaders have shared their thoughts on what it will mean for workers across the UK, with warnings of deepening crises in their respective industries. 

The Chancellor was condemned for failing to announce proper investment in public services, with trade union leaders accusing him of using “deeply cynical” pre-election “gimmicks”.

Union leaders had already warned the Chancellor of the need to provide extra cash for public services, as Jeremy Hunt has been blasted for falling well short of delivering for working people. 

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/pre-election-gimmicks-how-trade-unions-reacted-to-the-budget/

Continue Reading‘Pre-election gimmicks’: How trade unions reacted to the Budget

5 key takeaways from Jeremy Hunt’s budget

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/5-key-takeaways-from-jeremy-hunts-budget/

A budget totally out of step with what people want and need.

Today [yesterday] saw Chancellor Jeremy Hunt deliver his much-awaited Spring Budget. The stakes couldn’t be higher, with the economy in recession, millions struggling to make ends meet and a forthcoming general election.

In what is likely to be the last budget, and possibly the final fiscal event before the general election later this year, Hunt sought to present a rosy picture of the economy, one which is totally divorced from reality.

A budget totally out of step with what people want and need, opinion polls have repeatedly shown that the British public prefer investment in public services rather than tax cuts. There was no bold and radical plan to get the UK economy out of economic stagnation, to tackle poor productivity or to improve public services.

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/5-key-takeaways-from-jeremy-hunts-budget/

Continue Reading5 key takeaways from Jeremy Hunt’s budget

GB News reports 40% increase in losses to £42 million

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/gb-news-reports-40-increase-in-losses-to-42-million/

GB News is owned by All Perspectives Ltd, a holding company backed by hedge fund millionaire Sir Paul Marshall and investment firm Legatum, amongst others, with Marshall pumping millions into the channel.

Right-wing channel GB News is reporting a 40% increase in losses to over £42 million.

Pre-tax losses at the broadcaster hit £42.4m for the year to the end of May 2023, up from £30.7m a year earlier.

It comes as GB News continues to splash the cash on a number of high-profile presenters, including the likes of Nigel Farage, Jacob Rees Mogg and Boris Johnson. The channel’s wage bill soared to £21.2m last year, from £12.7m in 2022 as the average number of monthly employees rose to 295, up from 175 in 2022.

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/gb-news-reports-40-increase-in-losses-to-42-million/

Continue ReadingGB News reports 40% increase in losses to £42 million

UK REFUSES TO DISCLOSE WHAT ISRAELI MILITARY PLANES LANDING IN BRITAIN HAVE ONBOARD

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https://www.declassifieduk.org/uk-refuses-to-disclose-what-israeli-military-planes-landing-in-britain-have-onboard/

The government is withholding all information about the nine Israeli military jets that have landed in the UK since the bombing of Gaza began, raising suspicions about further British complicity in war crimes.

The UK government admitted last month that nine Israeli military aircraft had landed and taken off in Britain since 7 October. 

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) had initially refused to give any information on the number of flights, but Declassified independently found six Israeli Air Force (IAF) operated planes landing in Britain.

Soon after the Declassified revelations, the MoD reversed course and admitted the nine flights, in response to a parliamentary question from Kenny MacAskill, the Alba MP for East Lothian. 

But MacAskill recently requested further information about those flights.

When he asked what the IAF planes were carrying, when they arrived and departed, and which British airports they landed at, the MoD refused to answer.

Defence minister James Heappey told him: “It is standard practice for the Ministry of Defence to routinely authorise requests for limited numbers of allies and partners to overfly the UK and use UK air bases.”

But he added: “For operational security reasons and as a matter of policy, the MoD does not offer comment or information relating to foreign nations’ military aircraft movements or operations.”

‘No comment’

MacAskill also requested information on the next destination of the nine IAF planes that took off from Britain. The MoD again refused to answer. 

Heappey said: “It is our longstanding Defence policy to not comment on third country flight information.” 

He added: “The Diplomatic Flight Clearance policy is a robust practice and the basis on which a foreign partner may or may not be granted permission to utilise UK air bases is dependent on the nature and purpose of their activity, which is assessed in line with Defence internal policy.”

This position, which has also been applied to US Air Force flights related to Gaza using British territory, means UK bases operate as effective ‘black sites’ for foreign militaries. 

https://www.declassifieduk.org/uk-refuses-to-disclose-what-israeli-military-planes-landing-in-britain-have-onboard/

Continue ReadingUK REFUSES TO DISCLOSE WHAT ISRAELI MILITARY PLANES LANDING IN BRITAIN HAVE ONBOARD

Tory minister forced to apologise and pay damages after false allegations about academic

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/tory-minister-forced-to-apologise-and-pay-damages-after-false-allegations-about-academic/

Michelle Donelan had launched an ‘outrageous attack on academic freedom’

Science secretary Michelle Donelan has had to eat her words and retract false allegations she made about an academic for the sake of “another Tory anti-woke headline”, following a lengthy legal process.

The cabinet minister smeared Professor Kate Sang as an ‘extremist’ after falsely suggesting she supported Hamas, and had attempted to claim the academic had breached principles on how public officials should behave.

Donelan has now retracted her claim and the government has agreed to pay an undisclosed sum, at the expense of the taxpayer, following a months-long investigation by an advisory group on equality, diversity and inclusion at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which cleared the academic of any wrongdoing. 

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/tory-minister-forced-to-apologise-and-pay-damages-after-false-allegations-about-academic/

Continue ReadingTory minister forced to apologise and pay damages after false allegations about academic

Damning report warns UK on course for second ‘lost decade’ ahead of Budget

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/damning-report-warns-uk-on-course-for-second-lost-decade-ahead-of-budget/

Tories devastating record set to continue unless Budget delivers ‘desperately needed measures’ to recover living standards

In a bleak assessment of the Tories track record, the 2020s are on course to be the ‘second lost decade’ in living standards, a leading charity has warned the Chancellor ahead of his Spring Budget announcement. 

Leading anti-poverty charity, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) published the damning report on Monday, warning that, without political intervention, this Wednesday’s budget risks condemning Britain to another decade of declining living standards. 

Based on current government spending plans, working families could be £1,900 a year worse off by 2029 than in 2021. While essentials are predicted to remain less affordable relative to post tax earnings until 2029.

The cutting analysis of the UK’s economic trajectory is a warning to Jeremy Hunt that if he fails to deliver immediate measures to support living standards in the coming budget, then this will be the result. 

Decisive intervention from policy makers is what the charity has urged, as it warned that many families will be poorer by the end of the 2020s than at the start. While the Chancellor must prioritise providing long-term economic security for households requiring “the right political will” to turn the situation around. 

Currently, post-tax earnings are £2,400 a year lower for the average working family than they were in 2021, while essential goods and services for the average family are £270 a year more expensive than at the beginning of 2021, the JRF research found.

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/damning-report-warns-uk-on-course-for-second-lost-decade-ahead-of-budget/

Continue ReadingDamning report warns UK on course for second ‘lost decade’ ahead of Budget

Ofcom finds GB News broke broadcasting rules after Laurence Fox’s misogynistic comments about journalist

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/ofcom-finds-gb-news-broke-broadcasting-rules-after-laurence-foxs-misogynistic-comments-about-journalist/

Media watchdog Ofcom has once more found GB news to be in breach of broadcasting rules.

The regulator ruled that an episode of Dan Wootton Tonight on GB News in which the former actor Laurence Fox questioned who would want to “shag” a female journalist broke broadcasting rules.

Fox’s disgraceful comments about JOE Media’s political correspondent Ava Evans led to 8,867 complaints being made.

In a statement, Ofcom said: “We found that Mr Fox’s comments constituted a highly personal attack on Ms Evans and were potentially highly offensive to viewers. They reduced her contribution to a broadcast discussion on mental health – in her professional capacity as a political journalist – to a judgment on whether she, or women like her who publicly expressed their political opinions, were sexually desirable to men.

“As such, we considered that Mr Fox’s comments were degrading and demeaning both to Ms Evans and women generally and were clearly and unambiguously misogynistic.”

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/ofcom-finds-gb-news-broke-broadcasting-rules-after-laurence-foxs-misogynistic-comments-about-journalist/

Continue ReadingOfcom finds GB News broke broadcasting rules after Laurence Fox’s misogynistic comments about journalist