Tensions escalate between Labour and major financial backer
Unite is considering ending its long affiliation with the Labour Party, with Graham stating the £1.5m annual payment is "hard to justify" and members voted to re-examine their relationship.
Rayner's allies countered that she resigned from Unite in April and would not be "pushed around," with a Labour source adding Unite rejected a deal that would have undermined equal pay.
Graham disputed Rayner's resignation timeline, suggesting she was still a member when seeking election funds and may have recently tried to leave the union.
The bin strike began over Birmingham City Council's plan to remove waste recycling roles, potentially costing 170 workers up to £8,000 annually, with talks to resolve the dispute having broken down.
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The Guardian
29 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Campaigners criticise UK plans to reveal suspects' ethnicity and migration status
Anti-racism campaigners have criticised proposals to allow police to reveal the ethnicity and migration status of suspects, after a row triggered by claims police 'covered up' the backgrounds of two men charged in connection to the alleged rape of a child. The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, this week told the BBC she hoped the Law Commission would 'accelerate' a review of contempt of court and that 'guidance needs to change' about information released when a trial is pending. But the anti-racism group the Runnymede Trust – which this month claimed 'hostile language' from politicians and the media towards immigration was fuelling 'reactionary politics' – says the proposals risk framing violence against women and girls as an issue of ethnicity instead of misogyny. The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) said the proposals would 'undermine' justice. The debate was reignited after George Finch, the Reform UK leader of Warwickshire county council, accused police of a 'cover-up' over the migration status of two suspects charged after the alleged rape of the child, claiming they were asylum seekers. The force strongly denies a cover-up, saying it merely acted in line with national guidance. The details of suspects before trials are routinely limited to ensure the fairness and legal safety of proceedings. But Downing Street has called for 'transparency' to rebuild public trust after false rumours spread after 2024's Southport murders. However, campaigners warn that politicians and media are emboldening the far right by linking migration to crime. This month, the Runnymede Trust released a report that – after analysing more than 63m words from 52,990 news articles and 317 House of Commons debates on immigration between 2019 and July 2024 – found the word most strongly associated with migrants was 'illegal'. After Cooper's remarks that 'more information should be provided … including on some of those asylum issues', Dr Shabna Begum, the chief executive of the Runnymede Trust, said: 'These proposals do nothing to address the urgent issues of male sexual violence, divert attention away from women and girls and fixate on nationality and asylum status – as part of an increasingly aggressive far-right agenda. 'Instead of recycling age-old tropes about men of colour as inherently threatening to white British women, we should be centring victims and survivors of all backgrounds. 'We all deserve better than this pantomime politics that offers us easy villains but deals with none of the wider conditions where misogyny has increased.' Runnymede's recent report said there were 'many' examples of media 'stories about distressing crimes that emphasise the immigration status of the perpetrator', claiming they were used to frame asylum seekers as a potential threat to women and 'the British way of life'. The report also cited comments made by the former home secretary Suella Braverman, in the context of 2023's illegal migration bill, which linked people arriving on boats to 'heightened levels of criminality' and Robert Jenrick's X post this year that spoke of 'importing hundreds of thousands of people from alien cultures, who possess medieval attitudes towards women'. Runnymede's report said the 'long-term effects' of such claims would be to 'normalise' violence against women and girls by making it seem as if it is 'determined by ethnicity rather than the perpetuation of misogynist practices in society'. Cooper described the release of information about suspects as 'an operational decision for the police and Crown Prosecution Service on an individual case' to the BBC, stressing ministers had to take care to avoid legal prejudice. But Griff Ferris, the interim director of communications at JCWI, said prior release of ethnicity and migration status would 'undermine what's left of justice in this country' and make all communities 'less safe'. He added: 'This deeply irresponsible and dangerous proposal is guaranteed to fuel racist narratives and further embolden the far right. 'Policies like this send a chilling message: that some people are inherently more 'suspect'.' A Home Office spokesperson said: 'The home secretary has made clear that there is a strong public interest in maximum transparency wherever that is possible. 'That is why the Home Office and College of Policing are working together to strengthen and clarify the guidance around how and when information is released.' Ahmad Mulakhil has been charged with rape and Mohammad Kabir has been charged with kidnap and strangulation after an alleged attack on a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton in July.
BBC News
29 minutes ago
- BBC News
Palestine Action protest arrests rise to more than 500
The number of arrests at Saturday's demonstration in London in support of banned group Palestine Action has risen to Metropolitan Police said the majority of arrests - 521 - were for displaying placards in support of Palestine Action at Westminster's Parliament Square, and one at a Palestine Coalition arrests were for assaulting police officers, two for breaching Public Order Act conditions, one for obstructing a constable and one for a racially aggravated public order was the biggest protest since the government proscribed the group in July under the Terrorism Act, making membership of or support for it a criminal offence, punishable by up to 14 years in prison. On Sunday the Metropolitan Police said the average age of those arrested was 54, and that its counter terrorism team was now working on bringing charges against those accused of supporting Palestine force said: "Over the coming days and weeks, officers from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command will work to put together the case files required to secure charges against those arrested as part of this operation."
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Total number of Palestine Action support arrests rises to 522
The number of people arrested for supporting banned group Palestine Action at a protest in central London has risen to more than 520. Only 18 of those people remained in custody on Sunday afternoon but were expected to be released on bail 'in the coming hours', the Metropolitan Police said. Hundreds attended the demonstration in Parliament Square on Saturday, organised by Defend Our Juries, with the force warning it would arrest anyone expressing support for Palestine Action. The Met confirmed on Sunday that 522 people were held for displaying an item in support of a proscribed organisation, out of 532 total arrests made during the policing operation. One arrest took place at the form up of the Palestine Coalition march in Russell Square, with the remaining 521 arrests at the protest in Parliament Square. There were a further 10 arrests – six for assaults on officers, two for breaching Public Order Act conditions and one arrest for obstructing a constable in the execution of their duty and a racially aggravated public order offence respectively, the force said. Detained protesters were taken to prisoner processing points in the Westminster area, and those whose details could be confirmed were bailed, with conditions not to attend any further protest in support of Palestine Action, Scotland Yard said on Saturday. Those whose details were refused, or could not be verified, were taken to custody suites across London. Some 320 people were dealt with at prisoner processing points while 212 were transported to custody, with 18 people remaining in the latter as of 1pm on Sunday, the force said. On Saturday the crowd sat silently on the grass inside Parliament Square after writing 'I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action' on white placards. Police took several hours to individually remove the protesters, some sitting and some lying flat on the grass, from the square into waiting vans. Onlookers applauded the protesters and shouted 'shame on you' at the police making arrests. Membership of, or support for, Palestine Action is a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison under the Terrorism Act 2000.
