
Try our newest merchandise
Authorities pronounces additional funding for protected housing for home abuse survivors
Good morning. The information shall be dominated by two overseas tales at present: the continuing response to the Hanukah killings at Bondi seaside, which we’re masking on a stay weblog right here, and the most recent talks in Berlin tonight on peace proposals for Ukraine. Keir Starmer is a key associate on this course of, and he shall be flying to Germany to attend.
However first he must spend 90 minutes on the Commons liaison committee taking questions, not on overseas coverage, however as an alternative totally on “the Plan for Change: one yr on”. These hearings usually don’t reveal as a lot as a prolonged interrogation of the PM on coverage most likely ought to, however there’s scarcity of complaints in regards to the authorities’s file over the previous yr and there are many attention-grabbing questions that might be requested.
A part of Labour’s plan for change is to halve violence in opposition to girls and women over a decade and this week we’re getting a sequence of bulletins about that. As Geraldine McElvie reported on the weekend, all police forces in England and Wales are going to get a devoted rape and sexual offences groups by 2029.
There may be extra at present. The federal government is asserting that councils will obtain an additional £19m aimed toward offering protected housing for home abuse survivors as a part of the violence in opposition to girls and women (VAWG) technique.
PA Media has extra particulars. It says:
Ministers mentioned the funding would assist native authorities provide victims entry to a “recent begin” on prime of £480m already pledged over the subsequent three years for assist together with refuges and sanctuary schemes.
Shabana Mahmood, the house secretary, is about to unveil sweeping reforms to the legal justice system this week as a part of authorities plans to halve Vawg, which it has declared a “nationwide emergency”, inside a decade.
Round £500m will go in the direction of the home abuse protected lodging responsibility, which locations a statutory requirement on native authorities to supply assist to survivors and youngsters in protected lodging.
Measures can embody entry to housing in refuges or confidential areas, or safety upgrades corresponding to lock adjustments and alarms for folks staying in their very own dwelling.
Homelessness minister Alison McGovern mentioned: “This funding will assist native authorities present protected lodging and tailor-made assist, together with refuges and sanctuary schemes, so each survivor can entry security, stability and a recent begin.”
Mahmood will unveil the VAWG technique on Thursday, the final day the Commons is sitting earlier than the Christmas recess.
Right here is the agenda for the day.
10.30am: Rishi Sunak, the previous PM and former chancellor, provides proof to the Covid inquiry in regards to the financial response to the pandemic.
Morning: Kemi Badenoch is on a go to to advertise the Conservative occasion’s name for an finish the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel automobiles.
11am: Danny Kruger, who’s in command of Reform UK’s planning for presidency, holds a press convention.
11.30am: Downing Road holds a foyer briefing.
2pm: Keir Starmer provides proof to the Commons liaison committee.
2.30pm: John Healey, the defence secretary, takes questions within the Commons.
Afternoon: Blaise Metreweli provides her first speech on the new head of MI6. As Dan Sabbagh reviews, she’s going to warn that assassination plots, sabotage, cyber-attacks and the manipulation of knowledge by Russia and different hostile states imply that “the frontline is in every single place”.
After 3.30pm: MPs vote to overturn final week’s Lords defeat on the employment rights invoice.
Afternoon: Starmer flies to Berlin for talks about Ukraine.
5pm: Zack Polanski, the Inexperienced occasion, speaks at a press convention to announce councillor defections to his occasion.
If you wish to contact me, please publish a message beneath the road when feedback are open (usually between 10am and 3pm in the intervening time), or message me on social media. I can’t learn all of the messages BTL, however should you put “Andrew” in a message aimed toward me, I’m extra prone to see it as a result of I seek for posts containing that phrase.
If you wish to flag one thing up urgently, it’s best to make use of social media. You’ll be able to attain me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, however particular person Guardian journalists are there, I nonetheless have my account, and should you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I’ll see it and reply if vital.
I discover it very useful when readers level out errors, even minor typos. No error is just too small to right. And I discover your questions very attention-grabbing too. I can’t promise to answer to all of them, however I’ll attempt to reply to as many as I can, both BTL or generally within the weblog.
Share
Key occasions
Armed forces chief says Russian menace to Nato would require ‘entire nation stepping up’ to make UK extra resilient
Blaise Metreweli, the brand new head of MI6, just isn’t the one defence and safety determine giving a giant speech at present.
Sir Richard Knighton, who as chief of the defence employees is head of the armed forces, can also be giving a speech, to the Royal United Companies Institute this night, and he’ll say the menace from Russia is so critical that the entire nation, and never simply the army, must step as much as enhance Britain’s resilience.
Based on extracts launched prematurely, he’ll say:
The state of affairs is extra harmful than I’ve identified throughout my profession and the response requires greater than merely strengthening our armed forces. A brand new period for defence doesn’t simply imply our army and authorities stepping up – as we’re – it means our entire nation stepping up …
Our armed forces all the time have to be able to battle and win – that’s why readiness is such a precedence.
However deterrence can also be about our resilience to those threats, it’s about how we harness all our nationwide energy, from universities, to business, the rail community to the NHS. It’s about our defence and resilience being the next nationwide precedence for all of us. An ‘all-in’ mentality.
And that may require people who find themselves not troopers, sailors or aviators to however make investments their abilities – and cash – in innovation and downside fixing on the nation’s behalf.
For example of what he means by the entire nation stepping up, Knighton will announce that £50m is being put aside to determine defence technical excellence schools. They are going to present programs wanted to coach employees for defence employers rapidly. He’ll clarify:
5 schools in England, and others throughout the UK, will achieve specialist standing and main new funding to coach folks within the abilities wanted to safe new defence jobs, and assist ship on the ambitions set out within the SDR.
Along with coaching younger folks for the brand new jobs of the longer term, this funding may also assist 1000’s of quick programs so defence employers can upskill present employees rapidly, offering the flexibility that they – and we – want.
Knighton will say that the conflict in Ukraine has proven Vladimir Putin’s willingness to focus on neighbouring states, together with their civilian populations, and he’ll say Russia has made it clear it needs to destroy Nato.
The Russian management has made clear that it needs to problem, restrict, divide and finally destroy Nato, in former President Medvedev’s phrases, aspiring to “the disappearance of Ukraine and the disappearance of Nato – ideally each”.
The Ministry of Defence is describing Knighton’s speech as “rallying cry to the nation”.
Danny Kruger, the Reform UK MP in command of the occasion’s planning for presidency, is about to carry a press convention. There’s a stay feed right here.
Based on the Solar, the occasion is asserting plans to avoid wasting £5bn by eliminating 68,000 civil servant jobs.
Yesterday the Labour MP Andrew Gwynne dismissed as “idle hypothesis” reviews he may resign his Gorton and Denton seat in Better Manchester as a part of an Andy Burnham “coup” in opposition to Keir Starmer.
Of their London Playbook briefing for Politico, Sam Blewett and Noah Keate recommend that, even when a seat like Gorton and Denton had been to change into out there, Labour’s nationwide govt committee (which is managed by Keir Starmer supporters) wouldn’t essentially let Burnham stand because the candidate.
Figures on Labour’s ruling NEC are nonetheless speaking down the prospect that Burnham would make it previous a variety board to change into a candidate, significantly if it’s a seat outdoors his Manchester fiefdom. “Why would the NEC of the Labour Celebration spend £100,000 making an attempt to get somebody elected whose intention was to run in opposition to the chief?” as one official put it to Playbook. “That will be mad and utterly self-destructive.”
However, in posts on social media, Rob Ford, a politics professor at Manchster College, questions whether or not, in follow, the NEC would really feel sturdy sufficient to dam a Burnham candidature.
‘Absolute energy’ on paper doesn’t translate to absolute energy in follow. Whether or not the NEC feels ready to do that comes right down to, I anticipate, whether or not vetoing a Burnham return would provoke a management problem or a critical PLP revolt. I think it might nicely do.
If sufficient MPs had been to say to the whips or Downing Road “When you do that, you might have principally misplaced us for good” then an NEC veto turns into a pyrrhic victory for Starmer and his colleagues – sure they’ll do it, however by doing so that they danger ending up in workplace however not in energy.
Personally I feel the larger danger for Burnham is he both (a) loses the Commons by-election or (b) wins the by-election however then Labour lose the Better Manchester Mayoral by-election that follows. Both one would critically harm his model.
By-election loss would harm his declare to be a vote winner, lack of GM would make his transfer to the Commons appear to be placing private curiosity earlier than the pursuits of the occasion (or of GM)
Yvette Cooper requires rapid launch of Jimmy Lai after his conviction for sedition offences
Yvette Cooper, the overseas secretary, has issued a press release calling for the rapid launch of Jimmy Lai after the media tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner was convicted in Hong Kong of nationwide safety and sedition offences.
Rishi Sunak to provide proof to Covid inquiry about econonomic response to pandemic
Rishi Sunak is giving proof to the Covid inquiry this morning. The inquiry has moved on to the module wanting on the financial response to the pandemic, and Sunak, who was chancellor on the time, is giving proof all at present, and tomorrow morning.
Yohannes Lowe is masking it in a separate stay weblog.
Inexperienced chief Zack Polanski has highest approval rankings of all UK occasion leaders, ballot suggests
Later at present Zack Polanski, the Inexperienced occasion chief, is because of announce some councillor defections. He’ll achieve this buoyed up by some polling from Opinium suggesting he’s the preferred of the UK occasion leaders. It says:
The Greens’ chief, Zack Polanski, is presently the preferred occasion chief with voters at web -1, with the Lib Dems’ Ed Davey shut behind on web -4.
No political chief is in web constructive territory with voters, with Keir Starmer most unpopular at web -43 (+2), whereas Kemi Badenoch is up 4 factors at web -10 and Nigel Farage stands at web -12 (+2). [Changes from Opinium polling three weeks ago.]
Opinium additionally discovered that the Inexperienced occasion outperforms Labour and the Conservatives when voters are requested to fee the events in line with a sequence of constructive indicators.
The one indicator the place Labour and the Tories beat the Greens is “prepared for presidency”, though the Greens are just one level forward of the Tories on “could be trusted to take huge choices”.
Authorities pronounces additional funding for protected housing for home abuse survivors
Good morning. The information shall be dominated by two overseas tales at present: the continuing response to the Hanukah killings at Bondi seaside, which we’re masking on a stay weblog right here, and the most recent talks in Berlin tonight on peace proposals for Ukraine. Keir Starmer is a key associate on this course of, and he shall be flying to Germany to attend.
However first he must spend 90 minutes on the Commons liaison committee taking questions, not on overseas coverage, however as an alternative totally on “the Plan for Change: one yr on”. These hearings usually don’t reveal as a lot as a prolonged interrogation of the PM on coverage most likely ought to, however there’s scarcity of complaints in regards to the authorities’s file over the previous yr and there are many attention-grabbing questions that might be requested.
A part of Labour’s plan for change is to halve violence in opposition to girls and women over a decade and this week we’re getting a sequence of bulletins about that. As Geraldine McElvie reported on the weekend, all police forces in England and Wales are going to get a devoted rape and sexual offences groups by 2029.
There may be extra at present. The federal government is asserting that councils will obtain an additional £19m aimed toward offering protected housing for home abuse survivors as a part of the violence in opposition to girls and women (VAWG) technique.
PA Media has extra particulars. It says:
Ministers mentioned the funding would assist native authorities provide victims entry to a “recent begin” on prime of £480m already pledged over the subsequent three years for assist together with refuges and sanctuary schemes.
Shabana Mahmood, the house secretary, is about to unveil sweeping reforms to the legal justice system this week as a part of authorities plans to halve Vawg, which it has declared a “nationwide emergency”, inside a decade.
Round £500m will go in the direction of the home abuse protected lodging responsibility, which locations a statutory requirement on native authorities to supply assist to survivors and youngsters in protected lodging.
Measures can embody entry to housing in refuges or confidential areas, or safety upgrades corresponding to lock adjustments and alarms for folks staying in their very own dwelling.
Homelessness minister Alison McGovern mentioned: “This funding will assist native authorities present protected lodging and tailor-made assist, together with refuges and sanctuary schemes, so each survivor can entry security, stability and a recent begin.”
Mahmood will unveil the VAWG technique on Thursday, the final day the Commons is sitting earlier than the Christmas recess.
Right here is the agenda for the day.
10.30am: Rishi Sunak, the previous PM and former chancellor, provides proof to the Covid inquiry in regards to the financial response to the pandemic.
Morning: Kemi Badenoch is on a go to to advertise the Conservative occasion’s name for an finish the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel automobiles.
11am: Danny Kruger, who’s in command of Reform UK’s planning for presidency, holds a press convention.
11.30am: Downing Road holds a foyer briefing.
2pm: Keir Starmer provides proof to the Commons liaison committee.
2.30pm: John Healey, the defence secretary, takes questions within the Commons.
Afternoon: Blaise Metreweli provides her first speech on the new head of MI6. As Dan Sabbagh reviews, she’s going to warn that assassination plots, sabotage, cyber-attacks and the manipulation of knowledge by Russia and different hostile states imply that “the frontline is in every single place”.
After 3.30pm: MPs vote to overturn final week’s Lords defeat on the employment rights invoice.
Afternoon: Starmer flies to Berlin for talks about Ukraine.
5pm: Zack Polanski, the Inexperienced occasion, speaks at a press convention to announce councillor defections to his occasion.
If you wish to contact me, please publish a message beneath the road when feedback are open (usually between 10am and 3pm in the intervening time), or message me on social media. I can’t learn all of the messages BTL, however should you put “Andrew” in a message aimed toward me, I’m extra prone to see it as a result of I seek for posts containing that phrase.
If you wish to flag one thing up urgently, it’s best to make use of social media. You’ll be able to attain me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, however particular person Guardian journalists are there, I nonetheless have my account, and should you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I’ll see it and reply if vital.
I discover it very useful when readers level out errors, even minor typos. No error is just too small to right. And I discover your questions very attention-grabbing too. I can’t promise to answer to all of them, however I’ll attempt to reply to as many as I can, both BTL or generally within the weblog.
Share