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The latest local and national UK and International news.
Hunt’s Deputy Dunne sacked for telling patients “There are seats available in most hospitals, where beds are not available.”
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s deputy Philip Dunne MP – who when asked why patients had no beds due to his Governmemnt's NHS crisis, suggested patients should just ‘sit on seats’ – has lost his job. The Conservative MP for Ludlow was sacked from his health minister position during Theresa May’s shambolic first day of her cabinet reshuffle. "May I press the Minister a little bit further on the photographs, which were taken by a constituent of mine, of people sleeping...
Dozens of activists protesting UK’s biggest arms fair face trials starting this week
Trials start tomorrow for activists arrested for protesting against DSEI arms fair last September in London’s Docklands. DSEI (Defence & Security Equipment International) is one of the world's largest arms fair, bringing together arms buyers and sellers to network and make deals. Critics point out that the taxpayer sponsors entertainment of some of the world’s most repressive regimes invited to the UK for DSEI to buy and sell weaponry. Even London Mayor Sadiq Khan has hit out, insisting he is...
Government cuts number of firefighters by 20% – Deaths by fire rise by 21%
Amber Rudd was yesterday forced to admit that the government had cut the number of firefighters - just months after chief fire officers warned that further budget cuts pose a risk to community safety. Official figures revealed last year showed the biggest increase in fire deaths for a decade. Figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government show that 294 people died in fires in England during 2015, an increase of 21 per cent. The figures coincide with numbers...
Theresa May’s odds of standing down slashed after reshuffle – with Leadsom a “serious contender” for Tory leadership
The odds of 2018 being Theresa May’s final year in power have been slashed by bookmakers, with the PM now just 5/4 to resign at any point in the next 12 months. After a cabinet reshuffle that saw little change, May has come under increased criticism and the leading online bookmaker thinks she’s moving closer to the exit of No.10. Chris Grayling, wrongly announced via Twitter as the new Conservative Party Chairman, keeps is role as Transport Secretary but is...
Weak and wobbly PM unable to reshuffle her own cabinet
Theresa May struggled to reshuffle her own cabinet yesterday after ministers point-blankly rejected her proposals. With very little moves to report on the day it has since been revealed that many ministers defied her attempts to change their jobs. Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, successfully faced down the Prime Minister when she asked him to become business secretary, forcing Mrs May to tear up her plans to promote or move other ministers who were already pencilled in. Hunt has overseen...
Toby Young resigns from university watchdog role as Theresa May cabinet reshuffle turns to chaos
Toby Young has resigned from his universities watchdog role apologising for the offence his social media posts and writings have caused over the years, just two days after the Prime Minister defended his controversial appointment to the role. On the weekend Theresa May said that the controversialist who had made disparaging remarks about working class students, called for genetically modifying poor people, homophobic statements, appalling remarks about women’s bodies - including MP’s and scoffed about needing tissues but not for...
Four out of five homes on NHS land are unaffordable to nurses
Instead of selling off NHS land, the Government should create a People’s Land Bank, and use the land to build genuinely affordable homes The Government’s sale of NHS land is failing to produce affordable homes and is exacerbating the affordability crisis across the UK, according to new research from the New Economics Foundation. The research involved a comprehensive analysis of the 59 NHS sites that have been sold so far under the Government’s public land sale programme. It finds that,...
Jeremy Hunt rewarded adding social care to his health role as Commons hears depth of NHS crisis
In today’s reshuffle, despite an unprecedented winter NHS crisis, Jeremy Hunt has not only retained his role as Health Secretary, but also been given control of social care. - Another area in crisis under successive Conservative cuts. A Government policy paper on social care is due to be published next summer. This means it is likely that Jeremy Hunt will now take charge of that, which worries many as he has been in charge of the increasing privatisation of the...
Immigration detainees are being paid £1 an hour – and children are still being detained.
People without immigration status are not allowed to work in the UK - unless that is, they are being detained indefinitely on immigration grounds by the Home Office. In that case they can work to buy essentials like sanitary towels and phone cards for the companies such as G4S and Serco who run them - getting paid as little as £1 an hour. This scandal was highlighted today by the Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott in the House of Commons....