News

As British voters prepare for the greatest act of democracy in decades, the concept of democratic government is in retreat almost everywhere else. It's easy to criticise Britain's archaic first-past-the-post system and unelected upper house, but the last five years have seen referenda on Scottish indepence and electoral reform, stronger devolved administrations and a much more democratic Labour Party. Yet from Warsaw to Washington, democracy is under sustained attack. Poland's recently elected government's attempts to seize control of the country's...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The social media giant received 113 times more of taxpayers’ money to advertise on the site than the social network paid back in corporation tax. Various government departments spent a whopping £489,329 in 20014-15 on adverts with Facebook in the UK. In return the multi-billion dollar company gave the public purse £4,327, a lot less than most people in the UK paid in tax for the same period. Astonishingly, Facebook claimed they only needed to...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The pay rise for our esteemed elected officials, which was first reported around a month ago, has now been signed off. Come April they will find almost an extra grand a year in their already inflation busting pay packets. The salaries and expenses watchdog confirmed the payments (a 1.3% rise) would begin this April. The politicians, currently on £74,000-a-year, will get the further boost this spring. An Ipsa spokeswoman said: "The annual adjustment to MPs’...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor There have been claims that Cameron wants to force a further forty Tory peers into the House of Lords to ensure no more defeats for his party. It is hoped that this influx of Tory Lords would mean the upper chamber could not block government laws, like it did in the case of the tax credit cuts. Iain Duncan Smith's plan to cut a vital benefit for sick and disabled people was also halted in...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor In the previous PMQs Cameron told the the house that Israeli settlement policy in East Jerusalem was "genuinely shocking." He said: “Yes, we are supporters of Israel, but we do not support illegal settlements, we do not support what is happening in East Jerusalem. “I am well known as being a strong friend of Israel but I have to say the first time I visited Jerusalem and had a proper tour around that wonderful city and...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A Labour MP has discussed a comment from a colleague that would shock any right minded individual. Dawn, who is a black woman, said on BBC Five Live's Piennar's Politics that another MP assumed she was a cleaner. Butler didn't name the bigot but said it happened in the Members'-only lift in the Palace of Westminster. She said: "It was a Members’ lift that Members of Parliament use specially in cases (where) we have get...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A Freedom of Information request has found that 85% of calls to the Government’s benefit cheat hotline were not pursued due to lack of evidence. Over a million calls have been dealt with since 2010, leading to accusations that the Tories have cynically attempted to turn the poor against themselves; with some claiming friends, family and neighbours are cheating the system. However, 887,468 of the 1,041,219 reports of fraud were closed and deemed to have...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A study has revealed that the available carbon budget is half as big as thought, if the 2C limit is going to be kept. It is troubling news for the 195 nations who agreed to the limits in Paris in December, they will now have to cut fossil fuel use at a rate nobody had predicted before and puts the agreement in France in doubt. Joeri Rogelj, research scholar at the International Institute for Applied...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Shockingly the amount of people sleeping rough on the streets of England rose at an “unprecedented” rate in 2015. According to a Government report on any evening in autumn 2015 there were 3,569 people without shelter. This is a 30% rise compared to the same count the year before, and also signals the largest annual rise since there reporting methodology began six years. Rough sleepers are defined as anyone found, either sleeping or about to...