Foreign Office faces legal challenge over pause in UNRWA funding for Gaza  

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/foreign-office-faces-legal-challenge-over-pause-in-unrwa-funding-for-gaza/

UK could be sued over decision to stop funding a key UN agency delivering aid to Gaza

A legal challenge is to be launched against the Foreign Office over its decision to pause funding for the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency. 

On behalf of a British-Palestinian man with family in Gaza, Bindmans LLP has issued a pre-action letter to the government department warning, if funding is not reinstated by Tuesday 2, April, the client will issue judicial review proceedings in the High Court. 

The legal challenge claims that the government’s decision to withdraw funds from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on 27, January was decided, “illogically and without due consideration of evidence, of international obligations, or of FCDO decision-making frameworks”.

Funding was paused by 10 governments including Australia, the United States and Canada following allegations by the Israeli authorities that several UNRWA staff were involved in the October 7 Hamas attacks. 

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/foreign-office-faces-legal-challenge-over-pause-in-unrwa-funding-for-gaza/

‘Death Sentence for Thousands’: Israel Bars UNRWA Food Aid to Northern Gaza

Continue ReadingForeign Office faces legal challenge over pause in UNRWA funding for Gaza  

‘Heartbreaking’: Shocking decline in public satisfaction with NHS under Tories

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/heartbreaking-shocking-decline-in-public-satisfaction-with-nhs-under-tories/

‘The NHS isn’t failing, it’s being failed. What an appalling act of state vandalism’

Public satisfaction with the NHS is at its lowest ever level, plunging for the first time in the 41-year history of the survey to show less than a quarter of people are satisfied with the way the health service is currently running. 

Compared to 2010 when 70% of the public were satisfied with the NHS, the latest survey findings lay bare what 14 years of a Tory government stripping funds and resources from the NHS has had. 

Campaign group Keep Our NHS Public has called it “an appalling act of state vandalism” commenting that the NHS “isn’t failing, it’s being failed”. 

NHS workers have expressed heartbreak over the shocking decline in public satisfaction for the service under the Tories while unions have called for immediate action to address the staffing crisis.

One palliative care doctor wrote on X: “14 years of Tory government understaffing, underfunding & private sector outsourcing have trashed the NHS into a travesty of the service we want to give you.

“It is heartbreaking and so disgustingly wrong.”

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/heartbreaking-shocking-decline-in-public-satisfaction-with-nhs-under-tories/

Continue Reading‘Heartbreaking’: Shocking decline in public satisfaction with NHS under Tories

Children ‘forgotten’ as figures show record poverty with top earners only ones better off

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/children-forgotten-figures-show-record-poverty-top-earners-only-ones

A preschool age child playing with plastic building blocks, January 24, 2016

CHILD poverty hit a record high as only the top earners were better off last year, official figures revealed today.

Campaigners said youngsters were being forgotten as the statistics showed food insecurity soared by 53 per cent, 100,000 more working households fell below the poverty line and more pensioners were unable to afford basic goods such as food and heating.

The Department for Work and Pensions estimated 4.33 million children in households in relative low income – below 60 per cent of median income after housing costs — in the year to March 2023.

This is up from 4.22 million the previous year and the highest since comparable records for Britain began in 2002/03.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/children-forgotten-figures-show-record-poverty-top-earners-only-ones

Continue ReadingChildren ‘forgotten’ as figures show record poverty with top earners only ones better off

Bombshell poll suggests Tories could end up with just 36 seats after next election

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Response to Rishi Sunak's extremism speech at Downing Street 1 March 2024. Second version of this image with text slightly altered.
Response to Rishi Sunak’s extremism speech at Downing Street 1 March 2024. Second version of this image with text slightly altered.

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/bombshell-poll-suggests-tories-could-end-up-with-just-36-seats-after-next-election/

The latest poll will do little to calm Tory nerves ahead of the general election, with a number of factions within the party looking at replacing Sunak.

A new poll shows just how much Tory support among the public has collapsed, as the party continues to trail the Labour Party and Tory MPs plot to remove Rishi Sunak.

The poll, carried out by YouGov for the Times, shows that the Tories are set to win just 36 seats at the General Election, handing Labour a comfortable 398 majority in the House of Commons.

It puts the Tories on just 19%, which is the same share the party received at their lowest ebb in the aftermath of Liz Truss’s mini-Budget. Meanwhile, the Labour Party is on 44% of the vote, while Reform UK received their highest ever poll rating at 15%.

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/bombshell-poll-suggests-tories-could-end-up-with-just-36-seats-after-next-election/

Continue ReadingBombshell poll suggests Tories could end up with just 36 seats after next election

Court of Appeal Rules Climate Crisis A Matter of ‘Opinion’

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Original article by Tim Crosland republished from DeSmog.

When environmental defenders are tried in future they will be barred from giving evidence of climate impacts to the jury to explain their motives, writes Tim Crosland, director of climate justice charity Plan B Earth.

Environmental activist Trudi Warner is ejected from the Royal Courts of Justice on February 21. Credit: Defend Our Juries

The Court of Appeal this week delivered another blow to the rights of climate activists to defend themselves in court.

The case centred on a jury’s decision to acquit a group of activists last year after hearing evidence of the consequences of climate breakdown as part of the defence.

It was one of a number of “not guilty” verdicts in similar cases, which showed how seriously juries take such evidence – as long as they are allowed to hear it.

For the climate movement, It was a major boost to see that the public, in the form of juries, was on its side.

But on Monday, following an appeal by Attorney General Victoria Prentis, Lady Justice Carr delivered a ruling to the effect that the juries should not be allowed to hear that evidence in the future.

What this amounts to is that from now on, when environmental defenders are tried for criminal damage in the future, they will no longer be able to give climate impacts as evidence to explain their motives.

‘Show Trials’

This defence was one of the last available to activists in an increasingly hostile climate that has seen the UK, under Rishi Sunak’s administration, dish out some of the most punitive sentencing for peaceful protest in recent history.

The implications are grave. From now on, we will see jury trials turn into show trials, in which the defendants are banned from explaining to the jury their principled motivation for taking action.

Lady Justice Carr’s ruling was made even though the relevant legislation (the Criminal Damage Act of 1971) expressly provides for a jury to take into account the “circumstances” of environmentalists’ action. 

The key question here is what counts as the “circumstances” of criminal damage, which is often the crime of which peaceful protestors stand accused. That might take the form of causing damage to property with graffiti, say by spray-painting #ShellKnows onto the oil company’s headquarters.

In this example, climate activists would argue they do this in order to hold those responsible for climate breakdown – and that the message serves to highlight the company’s decades-long knowledge and obfuscation of the impacts of fossil fuels on global heating.

The legal ‘logic’ of the new ruling is that “circumstances” refers to objective matters and therefore excludes a defendant’s beliefs. In the words of Lady Justice Carr, who read out the ruling of the court:

“The circumstances would not include the political or philosophical beliefs of the person causing the damage … Evidence from the defendant about the facts or effects of climate change would be inadmissible.”

The flaw in this logic is obvious. The climate crisis is not a matter of belief. It is a terrifying and objective reality. Not just according to scientists or the British parliament, but as evidenced by the well-documented destruction and mass loss of life that is already occurring across Europe and around the world. 

Lady Justice Carr might try explaining that the climate crisis is all in their minds to the UK home-owners, whose properties are now uninsurable due to repeat flooding, or the mothers whose children’s bodies washed up on a Libyan shore after dams collapsed in the wake of heavy rains.

Sadly, this ruling, which is based on such obviously flawed reasoning, was widely predicted. 

That’s because the ruling perpetuates an antagonism within the justice British system that has become impossible to ignore. 

‘Embarrassment to the State’

On the one hand you have the juries, who represent our communities. They keep acquitting environmental defenders when they hear the full story.

And then you have some judges, paid by the state, who are taking increasingly bizarre measures to prevent the juries from giving not guilty verdicts (Judge Silas Reid has even banned the use of the words ‘climate change’ in court proceedings).

In February 2023, a jury acquitted campaigners who had splashed pink paint over Conservative and Labour Party HQs. In October, another acquitted a group who sprayed the Treasury with fake blood; and in November, yet another acquitted the HSBC 9, who broke windows to protest the bank’s £80 billion investments in fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement.

Such jury acquittals come as an embarrassment to the state. Since juries are composed of randomly selected members of the public, they expose a media-constructed fiction. The public doesn’t want the government to get tough on those taking measures against climate breakdown, they want it to take measures to stop climate breakdown. 

As long as juries are allowed to hear evidence about a) the extreme danger of the climate crisis, b) the government’s systematic failure to follow the pathways that science dictates, and c) the efficacy of nonviolent direct action, it follows that those activists who are acting on the science are acquitted.

The British legal system, however, seems increasingly determined to prevent juries hearing the full facts. Judge Silas Reid has not only banned the words, he has sent people to prison simply for saying “climate change”.

At the end of February, almost as if he’d been tipped off on the Court of Appeal’s likely ruling, he used his office to cast doubt on the objective reality of the climate crisis:

“The circumstances of the damage do not include any climate crisis which may or may not exist in the world at the moment… Whether climate change is as dangerous as each of the defendants may clearly and honestly believe or is not, is irrelevant and does not form any part of the circumstances of the damage.”

Reid then threatened the jury with criminal charges if they applied their conscience to the case. 

But such oppressive rulings are backfiring. The public, as evidenced by jury acquittals, knows that the climate crisis is real and urgent. When courts suggest otherwise the legal system loses public support, undermining the social contract and the rule of law.

Last year hundreds of people demonstrated outside Crown Courts across England and Wales in solidarity with Trudi Warner, who was arrested for holding a sign outside court that explained the right of juries to acquit a defendant as a matter of conscience. Many actively invited the Attorney General to prosecute them for contempt of court. 

In February, more than a hundred members of the public staged a ‘peaceful makeover’ of the Royal Courts of Justice, conducting a lawful assembly into the courts’ erosion of democratic freedoms, until they were forcefully ejected by court security.

For as long as judges believe they can rule away our collective desire to live and to protect those we love, the situation will only escalate.

Tim Crosland is a former government lawyer and director of the climate justice charity Plan B.Earth.

Original article by Tim Crosland republished from DeSmog.

dizzy: The climate crisis is of course a matter of established fact. 2023 is the warmest year ever, climate records are getting broken monthly, they’ll be getting broken daily again in the summer. Capitalism has destroyed the climate and intends to destroy it more, fossil fool companies are pursuing more oil and gas extraction ignoring the established fact that it’s destroying the climate – so that rich cnuts get richer. Courts are supposedly independent, impartial and separate from the state instead of clearly part of it.

7.30am Equinox update: It’s a totally irrational denial of reality mirroring Rishi Sunak UK government’s own legislating that black is white, up is down, in is out. There’s a psychological term – reaction formation – that applies. The problem is that judges are meant to make wise, considered decisions and here they are instead behaving totally irrationally.

Image of InBedWithBigOil by Not Here To Be Liked + Hex Prints from Just Stop Oil's You May Find Yourself... art auction. Featuring Rishi Sunak, Fossil Fuels and Rupert Murdoch.
Image of InBedWithBigOil by Not Here To Be Liked + Hex Prints from Just Stop Oil’s You May Find Yourself… art auction. Featuring Rishi Sunak, Fossil Fuels and Rupert Murdoch.
Continue ReadingCourt of Appeal Rules Climate Crisis A Matter of ‘Opinion’

Lord Deben: ‘Why I’m backing court action against the government’s weak climate strategy’

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https://www.politics.co.uk/comment/2024/03/10/lord-deben-why-im-backing-court-action-against-the-governments-weak-climate-strategy/

Urgency is a word in constant use to emphasise the immediacy and scale at which our changing climate demands action. After more than ten years at the helm of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), I recognise the opportunities that this urgent action offers — economic, social, and environmental — as well as the disastrous consequences of failing to respond quickly enough.

Yet, the meaning of  ‘urgency’ seems lost on those who need to grasp it most – our political leaders. They alone have the power to set in motion the rapid transformation that is necessary to deliver on our climate goals. That was recognised by the UK when they hosted the UN climate talks in Glasgow in 2021. We led the world in setting the tough targets we need to avert disaster and to turn this immense problem into a real opportunity to build a better world. Alok Sharma and his team rose to the occasion and, with all its deficiencies, my view is that COP26 set us on the path to Net Zero in 2050.

Yet, necessary as they are, targets are only the beginning of the process and the CCC has consistently emphasised the necessity of a detailed programme if those targets are to be achieved. It was the lack of that which led the High Court to insist that this Government produce a clear delivery programme by the end of March 2023. In response, the Government published a many-paged document which, it claimed, met the Court’s requirement.  In fact, upon detailed expert analysis, it became clear that this document gave even less assurance of meeting our legally binding targets than had been previously thought. It was because of this that I took the decision to support a legal challenge in the High Court by Friends of the Earth. Their challenge over the inadequacy of the government’s climate strategy was heard last month alongside two separate, but related, cases brought by Good Law Project and ClientEarth.

I was still in post at the CCC at the time the Government produced its updated climate strategy. In the many years I led the organisation, the CCC would get advanced information about any plans published under the 2008 Climate Change Act. Yet ahead of the publication of the UK’s new climate strategy in March 2023, this failed to happen. The departure from established ways of working has led me to believe the Government did not want its official advisers to examine the draft plan before it was published.

https://www.politics.co.uk/comment/2024/03/10/lord-deben-why-im-backing-court-action-against-the-governments-weak-climate-strategy/

Continue ReadingLord Deben: ‘Why I’m backing court action against the government’s weak climate strategy’

ANDREW MITCHELL: APOLOGIST FOR GENOCIDE

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https://www.declassifieduk.org/andrew-mitchell-apologist-for-genocide/

Andrew mitchell with prime minister Rishi Sunak (Flickr)

Britain’s foreign minister has played the lead government role in defending the indefensible – the UK’s support of Israel as it engages in the mass killing of Palestinians.

Andrew Mitchell has consistently defended and apologised for Israel’s war on Gaza since it launched its brutal campaign following the Hamas attacks of 7 October last year.

His support, delivered in numerous parliamentary debates and questioning, is part of the UK government’s extraordinary backing of Israel. 

This includes substantial military activities not reported by Britain’s mainstream media, defence of Israel at the United Nations and ongoing negotiations to increase trade between the two countries – all taking place as Israel has killed over 30,000 Palestinians.

Mitchell’s tireless assistance to Israel while it accused by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of “plausibly” conducting a genocide, has covered numerous aspects of Israel’s war.

‘Wrong and provocative’

In particular, the foreign minister has led the vociferous UK government rejection of South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the ICJ. 

Mitchell has said that “South Africa’s decision to bring the case was wrong and provocative”. Indeed, he has dismissed the charge of genocide against Israel as “hideous”.

In parliament, Mitchell has repeatedly said the case is “unhelpful and we do not support it”. He has added: “We do not believe that calling this genocide is the right approach. It is wrong to say that Israeli leadership, and Israel as a country, have the intention to commit genocide”. 

https://www.declassifieduk.org/andrew-mitchell-apologist-for-genocide/

Continue ReadingANDREW MITCHELL: APOLOGIST FOR GENOCIDE

Thousands rally across Britain against ‘Tories’ ramping up of racism’

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/thousands-rally-across-britain-against-tories-ramping-up-of-racism

People take part in an anti-racism march in central London orgainised by Stand Up To Racism and trade unions, March 16, 2024

THOUSANDS of anti-racism campaigners rallied across Britain at the weekend to reject the Tories’ “desperate attempt” to win votes by ramping up division and to show support for MP Diane Abbott.

The rallies took place just days after reports emerged that a major Tory donor had said that Britain’s longest-serving black MP “should be shot.”

And in the same week, the government ramped up its Islamophobic rhetoric, with Communities Secretary Michael Gove unveiling a new definition of extremism targeting Muslim groups.

Sabby Dhalu, co-convener of organisers Stand up to Racism, told the Morning Star: “We mobilised to reject the Tories’ ramping up of racism, Islamophobia, hatred, and division in a bid to gain votes at the general election.”

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/thousands-rally-across-britain-against-tories-ramping-up-of-racism

Continue ReadingThousands rally across Britain against ‘Tories’ ramping up of racism’

George Monbiot: Britain is becoming a toxic chemical dumping ground – yet another benefit of Brexit

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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/18/britain-toxic-chemical-dump-brexit-europe

 Illustration: Nathalie Lees/The Guardian

Perhaps our government imagines bulldog spirit will protect us from the dangerous substances that Europe rules unsafe

It’s a benefit of Brexit – but only if you’re a manufacturer or distributor of toxic chemicals. For the rest of us, it’s another load we have to carry on behalf of the shysters and corner-cutters who lobbied for the UK to leave the EU.

The government insisted on a separate regulatory system for chemicals. At first sight, it’s senseless: chemical regulation is extremely complicated and expensive. Why replicate an EU system that costs many millions of euros and employs a small army of scientists and administrators? Why not simply adopt as UK standards the decisions it makes? After all, common regulatory standards make trading with the rest of Europe easier. Well, now we know. A separate system allows the UK to become a dumping ground for the chemicals that Europe rules unsafe.

While negotiating our exit from the EU, the government repeatedly promised that environmental protections would not be eroded. In 2018, for example, the then environment secretary Michael Gove, in a speech titled Green Brexit, claimed “not only will there be no abandonment of the environmental principles that we’ve adopted in our time in the EU, but indeed we aim to strengthen environmental protection measures”. Such pledges turn out to be as dodgy as a £3 coin with Boris Johnson’s head on it.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/18/britain-toxic-chemical-dump-brexit-europe

Continue ReadingGeorge Monbiot: Britain is becoming a toxic chemical dumping ground – yet another benefit of Brexit

Morning Star: Defending democracy – how can we beat back Gove’s dangerous authoritarianism?

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/e/defending-democracy-how-can-we-beat-back-goves-dangerous-authoritarianism

Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove speaking during the Scottish Conservative party conference at the Event Complex Aberdeen, March 2, 2024

The left cannot confine ourselves to condemning what the government does. We need strategies to undo it. This applies to the toxic new definition of extremism announced by Michael Gove last week, which could have catastrophic long-term consequences.

The new definition — and its associated practice, the labelling of certain organisations as extremist by ministerial decree — must not be allowed to bed in. We need mass refusal to accept it, declarations by devolved and local government, trade unions, charities and campaigns that we wholly reject it.

The joint statement by key organisers of the mass street movement for Gaza that Gove’s “redefinition of extremism … is in reality an assault on core democratic freedoms” is the right approach.

Our defence must be to go on the attack against the extremism definition, to campaign publicly for its reversal and to sign up every organisation that cares for its democratic image to officially oppose it.

The next government should inherit a policy that is already utterly discredited and unworkable because its right to define extremists is universally rejected.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/e/defending-democracy-how-can-we-beat-back-goves-dangerous-authoritarianism

Continue ReadingMorning Star: Defending democracy – how can we beat back Gove’s dangerous authoritarianism?