Protesters clash with police at pro Palestine Action Demo
Protesters clash with police at a demonstration in support of Palestine Action as the government moves to ban the group. The crowd tries to surge towards police when officers try to detain someone in Trafalgar Square in central London, while onlookers chant "let them go".
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Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
More than 100 MPs threaten to halt welfare reforms in PM's biggest rebellion
More than 100 Labour MPs have signed their names to a Commons bid to halt the Government's welfare reforms in their tracks, enough to threaten Sir Keir Starmer's majority. Some 108 MPs' signatures appear on a reasoned amendment declining to give the welfare reform Bill a second reading when it returns to the Commons on July 1. The rebellion, the Prime Minister's largest yet, would be enough to defeat the Government's plans if opposition MPs joined the Labour rebels. The amendment, published on Tuesday's order paper, notes there is a 'need for the reform of the social security system'. But it calls for the Commons to decline to continue scrutinising the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill 'because the Government's own impact assessment estimates that 250,000 people will be pushed into poverty as a result of these provisions, including 50,000 children'. There has been no formal consultation with disabled people who will be impacted by the changes, the MPs said. They also point to the fact that an analysis of the impact of the reforms on employment from the Office for Budget Responsibility will not be published until the autumn. Several Labour select committee chairs were among those who put their name to the amendment, including chairwoman of the Treasury committee Dame Meg Hillier, and Debbie Abrahams, chairwoman of the work and pensions select committee. The MPs who signed the amendment 'want the Government to listen and to think again on this Bill', Ms Abrahams said. She added: 'We are being asked to vote for this Bill before disabled people have been consulted, before impact assessments have been conducted and before we have given enough time to some of the Government's key policies – investing in the NHS, to the right to try, and to work coaching – (to) have been able to bed in.' Vicky Foxcroft, the former Government whip who resigned over the welfare plans, has also signed the amendment. Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle would need to select the amendment when MPs debate the legislation at its second reading. Under the proposals in the Bill, ministers will limit eligibility for the personal independence payment (Pip), the main disability payment in England, and limit the sickness-related element of Universal Credit (UC). Ministers have previously said the reforms could save up to £5 billion a year. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall spent Monday night speaking to backbench MPs about the reforms at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP). Those leaving the meeting insisted there was broad consensus in the room, with only few MPs standing up to make their opposition known. The Work and Pensions Secretary told the PLP that the plans are 'rooted in fairness'. She argued they are about ensuring the survival of the welfare state so there is always a safety net for those in need of it. Ms Kendall added: 'Above all, they are about our belief that everyone can fulfil their potential and live their hopes and dreams when, collectively, we provide them with real opportunities and support. 'This is the better future we seek to build for our constituents and our country.'
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘Just reach out to us': the Nationwide team helping vulnerable customers
The woman at the other end of the line sounds frantic. She's been ill and needs help sorting out some payments, but when Meg from Nationwide calls, she starts to talk about other things that are on her mind. Less than half an hour later, she confides that she's thinking of suicide and has even worked out how and where she could do it. On another day, a follow-up call to someone who reported being a fraud victim quickly takes a troubling turn. The woman's account has been used without her permission, but it was an abusive partner rather than an unknown scammer who was to blame. When Nicky asks her to explain what's happened, she tells a harrowing story involving a sexual assault and years of financial and coercive control. She had thought her former partner was taking her phone to stop her from using it, but he was actually using it to raid her accounts. These are glimpses into the work of Nationwide's specialist support team, a group whose job it is to help vulnerable customers. The building society let me listen to some of the many and varied cases its staff deal with on a daily basis. The calls highlight how money worries often go hand in hand with other problems – and, it seems, how difficult it can be for people to access help elsewhere. 'Every single week we'll see a brand-new situation, and I think it depends very much on what's going on in the outside world,' says Shannon Hancock, the specialist support team manager. 'You may have heard of [the Netflix TV show] Adolescence – that has drawn calls from people in a similar situation.' A small number of cases they have dealt with have involved exploitation – for example, children being blackmailed to send nude photos – and the team has acted on safeguarding concerns. Most banks and building societies have similar teams in place, although the type of help they focus on varies. Nationwide's team was set up 10 years ago, and its original focus was on supporting the building society's members (its equivalent of customers) who were having problems with payments because they had cancer. It worked closely with the charity Macmillan and helped people find and access any help they were entitled to, as well as addressing any problems they were having with their mortgages or other Nationwide products. A decade later, it's helped more than 100,000 people, and the workload has evolved. A big part of the now 50-strong team's job is to handle payments for people who can't bank online or get out to a branch. These customers have been identified, or have come forward, as being in need of extra help or support. Tina Grainger, Nationwide's head of specialist customer support, says some people ring 100 times a month over a period of years for this type of help. But alongside those cases are the more complicated issues involving domestic abuse, bereavement or incapacity. For these, says Grainger, 'there are not black and white solutions, but we have the time, we have the mandate and we have the resources'. Calls like the ones above are 'the lowest volume, but they are the highest impact', she says. Support is given to those taking them but, Grainger says: 'Not everyone could be on our team. You have to have a high level of resilience.' There are about 350 calls a day and, although most are not dramatic, they are all important to the people involved. I listen to a call in which Sarah speaks to a man who had fallen behind on his mortgage after his disability benefits were stopped. His family had stepped in and cleared his debt, but the team wanted to be sure that he was happy with the arrangements. During a long chat, Sarah checked if he needed help challenging the benefits decision, or with payments. When he said he felt guilty about getting his family's help, she was kind and reassuring. When she told him: 'If you do ever start experiencing financial difficulty, just reach out to us – we do have teams who can help,' his relief was audible. Calls can last from 10 minutes to two hours – the team typically work from home, and there's no clock ticking down or screen telling them that people are waiting. Listening, it's striking how valuable it is for people to be able to talk to someone who has plenty of time, with the clout of a big organisation. When the team calls the police or someone's doctor (with their permission) to report an emergency, things happen. As a result of the calls I heard, payments were sorted, the woman whose former partner had raided her account was refunded, and the woman contemplating suicide got help from her doctor. They were lifechanging – and sometimes lifesaving – conversations. * In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@ or jo@ In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Bloomberg
37 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Trump Announces Fragile Israel-Iran Ceasefire, 5% UK Defense Spending
Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes. On today's podcast: (1) Iran and Israel appeared to be nearing a pause in their 12-day war after President Donald Trump announced a surprise ceasefire in a conflict that saw key Iranian military leaders and scientists killed, US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites and a salvo of missiles launched at Qatar. (2) An attack on a US air base near Doha on Monday that Iran billed as a retaliation to American airstrikes ordered by President Donald Trump ended with missiles were intercepted in the air, and no one was killed or hurt. The Qataris knew the missile barrage was coming. So did the Americans. The Iranians had told them. (3) Oil extended a slump as US President Donald Trump announced a tentative ceasefire between Iran and Israel. (4) UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will vow to spend 5% of British economic output on security by 2035, embracing an ambitious NATO target sought by President Donald Trump without providing a path on how to get there. (5) The European Union and Canada have signed a security partnership that moves them closer to cooperation on military purchases, as Prime Minister Mark Carney aims to reduce his country's dependence on the US for defense. (6) UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed a three-year program by Inc. to invest £40 billion ($54 billion) in the British economy over the next three years, including opening four new warehouses.
