Moment of silence held to mark anniversary of Southport murders
Axel Rudakubana killed nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar, six-year-old Bebe King, and seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, who were attending a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
Rudakubana also attempted to murder eight other children and two adults. Widespread violent disorder followed the attack in the seaside town.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch have expressed sorrow and solidarity with the victims' families and the Southport community.
The community says it is focusing on positive rebuilding, with plans for legacy gardens and a new playground in memory of the victims, and encouraging donations to local causes.
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North Wales Chronicle
30 minutes ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Homelessness minister must resign over rent hike after tenants' exit, Tories say
Four tenants who rented a house in east London from Rushanara Ali were sent an email last November saying their lease would not be renewed, which also gave them four months' notice to leave, the i Paper reported. Ms Ali's property was then re-listed with a £700 rent increase within weeks, the newspaper said. Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative party chairman, called for the minister to stand down, accusing her of 'staggering hypocrisy' over her handling of the rental property. A spokesperson for the minister said: 'Rushanara takes her responsibilities seriously and complied with all relevant legal requirements.' The house, rented on a fixed-term contract, was put up for sale while the tenants were living there, and it was only re-listed as a rental because it had not sold, according to the i Paper. Tory frontbencher Mr Hollinrake said: 'I think it shows staggering hypocrisy. Rushanara Ali has been somebody who's obviously a Government minister in charge of homelessness. 'She's spoken out about exploiting tenants, about providing more protections to tenants. 'You can't say those things, then do the opposite in practice, as a landlord. She's got to resign.' He said the conduct appeared to be 'unethical, not illegal' but 'we can't just say one thing and do another'. Speaking to the i Paper, Ms Ali's former tenant Laura Jackson said she was one of four tenants who received an email giving four months notice to leave the property, for which they collectively paid £3,300 in rent. Ms Jackson, a self-employed restaurant owner, said she saw the house re-listed weeks after she and her fellow tenants had left, but with a rent of around £4,000. The 33-year-old told the i Paper: 'It's an absolute joke. Trying to get that much money from renters is extortion.' She also said two letting companies managing the property for Ms Ali had attempted to charge £395 in cleaning fees and £2,000 to repaint the house when they left. The tenants successfully challenged this, as landlords are prohibited from charging tenants for professional cleaning, and from repainting costs unless serious damage has occurred. A Labour voter, Ms Jackson suggested it was a 'conflict of interest' for MPs to be landlords, especially in their own constituencies. Ms Jackson declined to comment further when approached by the PA news agency but confirmed the details of the i Paper's story. The minister's actions have also faced scrutiny from rental rights campaigners, as the Government seeks to clamp down on what it sees as unfair rental practices. The Renters' Rights Bill includes measures to ban landlords who end a tenancy to sell a property from re-listing it for six months. The Bill, which is nearing its end stages of scrutiny in Parliament, will also abolish fixed-term tenancies and ensure landlords give four months' notice if they want to sell their property. Ben Twomey, chief executive of Generation Rent, described the allegations as 'shocking and a wake-up call to Government on the need to push ahead as quickly as possible to improve protections for renters'. He added: 'It is bad enough when any landlord turfs out their tenant to hike up the rent, or tries their luck with unfair claims on the deposit, but the minister responsible for homelessness knows only too well about the harm caused by this behaviour. 'These allegations highlight common practices that the Government can eradicate. 'The Renters' Rights Bill would ban landlords who evict tenants to sell the property from re-letting it within 12 months, to deter this kind of abuse – but unfortunately members of the House of Lords have voted to reduce this to six months. 'The Government can also use its review of the deposit protection system to penalise landlords who make exaggerated claims at the end of the tenancy.' Tom Darling, director at the Renters' Reform Coalition, said: 'It's mind-boggling that we have a homelessness minister who has just evicted four people in order to rake in more rent – something that will soon be illegal under the Renters' Rights Bill her own department is bringing through Parliament. 'The Government are currently considering an amendment to the legislation from the House of Lords which reduces the ban on re-letting after eviction from 12 months to six months. 'The Government must remove this amendment, and at the very least minister Ali must recuse herself from any discussions on this within Government.' Mairi MacRae, director of campaigns and policy at homelessness charity Shelter, said it 'beggars belief that after months of dither and delay, the Government's own homelessness minister has profited from the underhand tactics the Renters' Rights Bill is meant to outlaw'. Cabinet ministers lined up to defend Ms Ali when questioned about the allegations. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, speaking to broadcasters, said: 'I don't know any of the details of this but I understand that she has followed all of the rules in this case.' Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she 'didn't understand' why the Conservatives were calling for Ms Ali to resign, as she was interviewed in South Wales, saying: 'I don't know the details but Rushanara Ali seems to have done everything in accordance with the law.'
The Herald Scotland
40 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Number of children in England missing school for prolonged periods has risen
It is the highest rate for an autumn term since current data began in 2016/17. Overall, 147,605 pupils were classed as severely absent, which means they missed at least 50% of possible school sessions, in the autumn term of 2024/25, compared to 142,487 in the autumn term of 2023/24. In the autumn of 2019, the term before the pandemic, only 0.86% of pupils (60,244) were severely absent. The data also suggests 17.79% of pupils in England, about 1.28 million young people, were 'persistently absent', missing at least 10% of school sessions, in the autumn term of 2024/25. This is down on the same period in 2023/24 when 19.44% of pupils were persistently absent, but it is still higher than the pre-pandemic autumn of 2019 (13.14%). The former Conservative government announced plans to increase fines for parents who take their children out of class without permission, in February last year, as part of a drive to boost attendance since the pandemic. In September, school absence fines in England rose from £60 to £80, and a parent who receives a second fine for the same child within a three-year period will now receive a £160 fine. The latest figures show the overall unauthorised holiday rate in autumn 2024 was 0.47%, broadly unchanged from 2023 despite the increased fines, though the exact data indicates a very slight fall from 0.474% to 0.466%. An analysis by the PA news agency found the unauthorised holiday rates in the autumn were down in most regions across England compared to the same period last year, apart from the North West, East and South East, where they reached a record high at 0.59%, 0.39% and 0.38% respectively. Separate figures released by the DfE on Thursday showed that more than one in nine (11.6%) pupils in England were absent on the last day of this academic year (July 18), with 6.3% on unauthorised absence. These were the highest figures for any day in the entire 2024/25 school year, but they are lower than the equivalent figures for the last day of the 2023/24 school year (12.7% and 7.0% respectively), PA analysis shows. Overall, the pupil absence rate across the 2024/25 academic year was 6.9%, down from 7.2% last year. Margaret Mulholland, Send and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: 'It is troubling that, even as absence rates are coming down overall, the percentage of pupils missing at least 50% of their education is rising. 'We need to focus on helping these pupils overcome the barriers preventing them from being in school on a regular basis. 'This means investing in attendance services, liaising directly with families to identify the issues at play and then ensuring specialist support is available as soon as required. 'We've got to do more to ensure these pupils receive a complete education and all the benefits this brings.' Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT, said: 'Overall, these figures are another small step in the right direction. 'It is clear however that there is still a long way to go to improve pupil attendance and that significant barriers remain for some children who missed a majority of their school sessions during the autumn term. 'Schools work tirelessly to ensure children are in the classroom, but they alone are not equipped to address all the deep-seated reasons for absence which can range from routine sickness to mental ill-health and social challenges facing children and families, including poverty. 'Fining parents is a crude tool which does not address many of the root causes, what is needed is better support for families and schools.' Beth Prescott, education lead at the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), said: 'Five years on from school closures, classroom absences can no longer be viewed as a post-pandemic blip. 'The material risk now is that this issue is becoming deeply entrenched.' She added: 'Ministers must now build on the progress they have made and work with local charities and families to provide more absent pupils with the mentorship they need to return to school. 'But with the crisis deepening we need to attack the root causes of school absence, including softening parental attitudes to attendance and an education system that fails to engage thousands of young people.' Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: 'The record improvement in school attendance shows we are turning the tide on a crisis that saw a generation go missing from England's schools. 'Getting children back in classrooms, where they belong, is non-negotiable if we are to break the unfair link between background and success so we can build a fairer country, a cornerstone of our plan for change. 'When we tackle attendance head-on, everyone benefits – pupils get the consistent education they deserve, teachers can focus on driving up standards, and we build the stronger workforce our economy needs.'
South Wales Guardian
an hour ago
- South Wales Guardian
Homelessness minister must resign over rent hike after tenants' exit, Tories say
Four tenants who rented a house in east London from Rushanara Ali were sent an email last November saying their lease would not be renewed, which also gave them four months' notice to leave, the i Paper reported. Ms Ali's property was then re-listed with a £700 rent increase within weeks, the newspaper said. Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative party chairman, called for the minister to stand down, accusing her of 'staggering hypocrisy' over her handling of the rental property. A spokesperson for the minister said: 'Rushanara takes her responsibilities seriously and complied with all relevant legal requirements.' The house, rented on a fixed-term contract, was put up for sale while the tenants were living there, and it was only re-listed as a rental because it had not sold, according to the i Paper. Tory frontbencher Mr Hollinrake said: 'I think it shows staggering hypocrisy. Rushanara Ali has been somebody who's obviously a Government minister in charge of homelessness. 'She's spoken out about exploiting tenants, about providing more protections to tenants. 'You can't say those things, then do the opposite in practice, as a landlord. She's got to resign.' He said the conduct appeared to be 'unethical, not illegal' but 'we can't just say one thing and do another'. The minister's actions have also faced scrutiny from rental rights campaigners, as the Government seeks to clamp down on what it sees as unfair rental practices. The Renters' Rights Bill includes measures to ban landlords who end a tenancy to sell a property from re-listing it for six months. The Bill, which is nearing its end stages of scrutiny in Parliament, will also abolish fixed-term tenancies and ensure landlords give four months' notice if they want to sell their property. Ben Twomey, chief executive of Generation Rent, described the allegations as 'shocking and a wake-up call to Government on the need to push ahead as quickly as possible to improve protections for renters'. He added: 'It is bad enough when any landlord turfs out their tenant to hike up the rent, or tries their luck with unfair claims on the deposit, but the minister responsible for homelessness knows only too well about the harm caused by this behaviour. 'These allegations highlight common practices that the Government can eradicate. 'The Renters' Rights Bill would ban landlords who evict tenants to sell the property from re-letting it within 12 months, to deter this kind of abuse – but unfortunately members of the House of Lords have voted to reduce this to six months. 'The Government can also use its review of the deposit protection system to penalise landlords who make exaggerated claims at the end of the tenancy.' Tom Darling, director at the Renters' Reform Coalition, said: 'It's mind-boggling that we have a homelessness minister who has just evicted four people in order to rake in more rent – something that will soon be illegal under the Renters' Rights Bill her own department is bringing through Parliament. 'The Government are currently considering an amendment to the legislation from the House of Lords which reduces the ban on re-letting after eviction from 12 months to six months. 'The Government must remove this amendment, and at the very least minister Ali must recuse herself from any discussions on this within Government.' Speaking to broadcasters, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper insisted Ms Ali had not breached any rules. 'I don't know any of the details of this, but I understand that she has followed all of the rules in this case,' Ms Cooper said.
