
Sir Keir Starmer must show that he is on side of strivers over skivers to avoid further voter resentment
LABOUR'S successes have so far been few and far between.
But they have succeeded in one thing — uniting huge numbers of voters in a feeling that the Government is presiding over a country rank with unfairness and double standards.
Accusations of the UK becoming a two-tier society started after last summer's riots.
This week has shown how that has now morphed into other areas of British life.
Chief among the furies of voters is the ongoing incompetent handling of illegal migration.
Far from delivering on a promise to smash the gangs and stop the boats, Labour has let in 50,000 illegal migrants in record time.
Hard-working but hard-up families who despaired at the £5.7 million a day bill for asylum hotels, now watch in horror as young single men are moved into blocks of flats next door, rent-free.
Meanwhile, Labour-run Birmingham council lavishes money on celebrations of Pakistan Independence Day and allows the unfurling of thousands of Palestinian emblems across the city — while insisting English St George flags must be torn down.
From taxing small farmers, to driving pubs to closure, Government economic policy has also been woefully unfair.
Rachel Reeves's National Insurance rise has cost tens of thousands of ordinary people their jobs and stamped out growth.
Yet Labour's union paymasters are handed inflation-busting pay hikes.
Families face more massive tax rises in the Autumn — on their hard-earned savings, their pensions and their kids' modest inheritances — to fill the Chancellor's £50billion black hole.
Small boat crossings under Labour are on brink of hitting 50,000 - one illegal migrant every 11 mins since the election
The diminishing number of people who DO still have a job now must pay more than ever to fund EIGHT MILLION on Universal Credit — where half are under no obligation to look for employment at all.
There is no plan for tackling this ruinous waste of money and human potential since ministers caved in to their Left-wing backbenchers over welfare reform.
This all adds up to a highly damaging impression that Labour is not treating voters equally.
We are told Number Ten now recognises just how important 'fairness' is to the electorate. Good.
Now Sir Keir Starmer must show that he really is on the side of the strivers over the skivers.
Does our former human rights lawyer Prime Minister have the courage to rip up or radically reform the ECHR, the only way to stop the boats?
Will he put money back in families' pockets, or keep relentlessly taxing them to fund projects beloved by the hard-Left of his party?
Labour has already squandered public goodwill from its landslide victory.
It can ill afford to allow voter resentment to fester further.
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The Guardian
7 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘No room for tolerance': Cyprus greets resignation of UK trade envoy after visit to breakaway north
Cyprus has welcomed the resignation of the UK's trade envoy to Turkey, Afzal Khan, saying it sends 'a resounding message' amid widespread criticism of the Labour MP's recent visit to the island's breakaway Turkish-occupied north. Khan had defended his trip on 8 August in a letter to the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, claiming it was conducted 'in a personal capacity during the parliamentary recess'. But acknowledging the furore the visit had caused, the MP for Manchester Rusholme, who faced calls to resign, also said he felt it was 'best to stand down at this time so not to distract from the hard work the government is doing to secure the best possible trade deals for this country'. On Saturday, within hours of the British government confirming the resignation, the Cypriot foreign ministry called the decision an 'important development' that showed there could be zero tolerance for an entity recognised by no country except Turkey. In a statement it said: 'The recent illegal visit of British MP Afzal Khan to the areas of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by Turkiye, as well as his meeting with [the territory's leader] Mr Ersin Tatar were unacceptable and provocative actions.' The episode had, the foreign ministry added, sent a resounding message 'that there is no room for tolerance'. 'It is clear … there must, and may be, political consequences regarding [the north] … especially for those who foster, assist or tolerate it.' Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when a coup aimed at union with Greece, engineered by the hard-right junta then in power in Athens, prompted Ankara to launch a military operation in the name of protecting the island nation's Turkish Cypriot minority. After years of inter-communal violence following independence from Britain, the two-phase invasion resulted in Turkish troops seizing 37% of Cyprus's territory and triggering mass displacement, with the majority Greek Cypriot population moving south of a UN-patrolled ceasefire line and Turkish Cypriots fleeing in the opposite direction. In 1983, the breakaway north unilaterally declared independence – prompting Britain, a guarantor power, to immediately convene a meeting of the UN security council condemning the declaration as 'legally invalid'. Successive governments in London and elsewhere have refused to engage in diplomatic relations with the entity ever since. Despite relentless efforts by Turkish Cypriot authorities to win recognition, only the international republic of Cyprus in the Greek-speaking south is acknowledged. When Keir Starmer last year made the first official visit to the island by a British prime minister in more than 50 years, Starmer refused to meet Tatar, instead holding talks with the Cypriot president, Nikos Christodoulides. Turkey, to this day, maintains about 35,000 troops in the north. Sign up to This is Europe The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment after newsletter promotion On Saturday Tatar, a hardline nationalist who advocates a two-state solution to resolving the Cyprus problem, decried the pressure put on Khan, saying the British MP had visited the self-proclaimed mini-state at his own invitation. 'The fact that an elected MP was forced to resign from his position as the UK's trade envoy to Turkey simply for engaging with the Turkish Cypriot people is a warning sign for all those who believe in democracy and equality,' said Tatar. Diaspora groups in the UK where large numbers of Greek and Turkish Cypriots settled after 1974 said Khan's visit had been especially 'politically insensitive' because it coincided with the 51st anniversary of the invasion, the second phase of which began in mid-August 1974, as well as continuing UN efforts to restart talks to reunite the island. 'Afzal Khan was right to resign as the UK trade envoy to Turkey following his deeply inappropriate and unacceptable visit to the occupied north of Cyprus,' said Christos Karaolis, who heads the National Federation of Cypriots in Britain. 'His actions compromised the UK's longstanding foreign policy on Cyprus, contravened international law and disrespected the lived experiences of our UK Cypriot community, many of whom are refugees or descendants of those forcibly displaced by Turkey's 1974 invasion. We now look ahead to continued collaboration with HM government in support of a free and reunited Cyprus.'


Times
7 minutes ago
- Times
British horse racing to go on strike over betting tax rise
British racing will take the unprecedented step of going on strike next month, cancelling all meets for a day in protest at the proposed rise to betting tax. Four events due to be staged on September 10 at Carlisle, Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, and Kempton and Lingfield Park in Surrey are to be scrapped. The first voluntary racing blackout in the sport's modern history is expected to cost the industry about £700,000. The chosen day is just before the start of the St Leger Festival at Doncaster, which prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria attended last year. The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) is campaigning against the Treasury's proposal to raise the 15 per cent tax paid by bookmakers on profits from racing and other sports bets placed in the UK to 21 per cent — the same level due on online slot and casino games. The sport is heavily dependent on the separate horseracing betting levy of 10 per cent paid by bookmakers on annual gross profits on racing wagers, which amounted to £108 million paid back into the industry in 2024-25. Industry bosses have warned that the government reforms could have catastrophic consequences. Jim Mullen, the chief executive of the Jockey Club, which owns the Kempton and Carlisle racecourses, warned the tax rise would cause 'irreparable damage that threatens a sport the nation is, and should be, proud of'. Industry experts say bookmakers are likely to seek to offset the impact of a tax hike by increasing prices, cutting bonuses and reducing advertising and marketing budgets while further promoting online gaming, which has lower overheads and fixed margins. Economic analysis commissioned by the BHA estimated the proposed 21 per cent tax rate would cause a £330 million loss in revenue to the industry in its first five years and put 2,752 jobs at risk in the first year alone. The nation's second-largest spectator sport is worth £4.1 billion to the UK economy, supports 85,000 jobs, and is attended by almost five million people a year. • Plan for betting tax will kill racing, warn sport's chiefs Gordon Brown, the former prime minister, has backed a separate plan proposed by the Institute for Public Policy Research to raise some betting taxes, including the duty on online casinos, from 21 per cent to 50 per cent. He said the moves would raise £3.2 billion a year, which could be used to lift welfare restrictions such as the two-child benefits cap. The collective decision to stop racing on September 10 is recognition of what the sport's differing factions regard as an existential threat. Race meetings in Britain usually take place on 363 days a year, with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day the exceptions. Although meetings have regularly been rescheduled due to adverse weather, and crises such as the equine virus outbreak and the Covid-19 pandemic have caused racing to be suspended in the past, this will be the first time in history the sport has decided to strike. The races will be rescheduled but the action, forecast to cost £500,000 in media rights and £200,000 in levy income, is designed to underline to the government the importance of betting revenue to the sport's health. Owners, trainers and jockeys will instead join racing leaders and MPs for a campaign event in Westminster. Mullen said: 'Our sport has come together today, and by cancelling racing fixtures, we hope the government will take a moment to reflect on the harm this tax will cause to a sport in which our country leads in so many ways.' Martin Cruddace, chief executive of Arena Racing Company, which owns Lingfield and Uttoxeter racecourses, described the threat of the tax as 'existential' to the sport. 'Unlike online casino games, British horseracing makes an enormous contribution to society and employment, has vastly different rates of gambling-related harm and is not available every ten seconds, 24 hours a day,' he said. 'We have always been taxed and regulated differently, and it is imperative for our future that we continue to be so. If the government wants Britain to be a world leader in online [casinos] and a world pauper in a sport at the heart of its culture, then tax harmonisation will achieve that aim.' • My audience with Frankel — king of racehorses Brant Dunshea, chief executive of the BHA, said: 'British racing is already in a precarious financial position and research has shown that a tax rise on racing could be catastrophic for the sport and the thousands of jobs that rely on it in towns and communities across the country. 'We haven't taken this decision lightly but in doing so we are urging the government to rethink this tax proposal to protect the future of our sport which is a cherished part of Britain's heritage and culture. 'Our message to government is clear: axe the racing tax and back British racing.' The Treasury argued in a consultation paper in April that a single duty would 'provide tax certainty and increase simplification for remote gambling'.


BBC News
7 minutes ago
- BBC News
Christchurch wins e-scooter trial after six-year wait
A town has been included in an e-scooter trial scheme after a six-year in Dorset initially received electric bicycles but not scooters under a 2019 agreement covering the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council Beryl previously said Bournemouth and Poole were chosen as good scooter test areas by the council and Department for Transport (DfT) because of their hilly terrain.E-bikes and e-scooters will be available for instant hire across the council area until 2028. BCP Council said demand for the vehicles had "far exceeded expectations".The authority is one of more than 50 areas to have conducted scooter trials to help DfT assess whether to legalise their use on public in Dorset, Beryl e-scooters are also available in Weymouth, Portland and the company's e-bike hire scheme in Wimborne, Colehill, West Parley, West Moors and Ferndown came to an end in February, six months after launch, due to low Berkhauer, operations manager with Christchurch Business Improvement District, said: "The more visitors that can be encouraged to use these convenient and accessible forms of travelling to our town centre, the better."Riders can unlock and rent a scooter through the Beryl app and must hold a valid provisional or full UK driving licence, which will be verified before the scooter is hired. You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.