County Hall sale to be pulled says Kent council leader
The authority established the Department of Local Government Efficiency (Dolge) in June claiming this initiative was "going to save a lot of money", with Kemkaren saying in her speech the party aims to "quit schemes and memberships that cost the council £180,000 a year".Kemkaran added that Reform wants to create an office "repopulation plan", meaning she aims to get 500 workers back at their desks.She expressed the party's opposition to local government reorganisation plans, adding they are "considering what options are available after the November deadline".Kemkaren added that, in autumn, the party aims to run a campaign event to relaunch Eurostar services.
Liberal Democrat leader of the opposition, Antony Hook, has criticised the Reform council agenda for being "too thin" with the leader "covering a lot in a verbal report" and "lacking detail"."If you want change, you have to put it on paper, you can't run a council like this," he added."Reform are caring too much about photos with party VIPs, headline grabbing soundbites, without substance of policy on paper."I'm fast losing the confidence in this council, and it appears to me the public are," the opposition leader told the full council.
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The Independent
21 minutes ago
- The Independent
Ministers must summon the courage to right an ‘obvious injustice'
The very judges who handed out 'unfair' indefinite prison sentences have joined The Independent 's campaign to resentence thousands of offenders who are still trapped by a law that was abolished in 2012. Sir John Saunders, a former High Court judge, tells us that he would apologise to offenders he sentenced to imprisonment for public protection (IPP) terms. 'I should say I'm really sorry this has happened; it's extremely unfair,' he said. 'I didn't want to be party to unfairness. I would feel very bad about it, I would apologise to them.' The sentences, described as an 'obvious injustice' by one former senior judge, were introduced by David Blunkett as home secretary in 2005 in an attempt to deal with a small number of offenders who might continue to be a danger to the public. Such prisoners were given no release date, were subject to stringent assessment before being let out, and were then liable indefinitely for recall to prison if they broke the conditions of their release. However, the sentences were used more often than Lord Blunkett intended, and the psychological effects of indefinite detention caused more problems than it solved. Lord Blunkett now describes the policy as his 'biggest regret'. The law was repealed by the coalition government in 2012, but it continued to apply to the thousands of prisoners still serving IPP sentences. Victims of the scandal, whose tragic cases have been taken up by The Independent, include Leroy Douglas, who has served 19 years for stealing a mobile phone; Thomas White, who set himself alight in his cell and has served 13 years for stealing a phone; and Abdullahi Suleman, who is still inside 19 years after he was jailed for a laptop robbery. The Independent supports a plan put forward by an expert panel convened by the Howard League for Penal Reform, which calls for IPP prisoners to be given a release date within a two-year window at their next parole hearing. They should, in effect, be resentenced and treated henceforth on the same basis as all other offenders. James Timpson, the prisons minister, says: 'We have significantly improved support for these offenders, with greater access to rehabilitation and mental health support. There is more work to do as we reduce the number of IPP offenders in custody, but we will only do so in a way that protects the public.' We understand why ministers in successive governments have been reluctant to go further. They are fearful of the consequences if someone released from an IPP sentence goes on to commit a serious offence. And they are right to make the protection of the public the highest priority. But that will not be achieved by the continued indefinite detention of 2,500 prisoners who were unlucky enough to be sentenced at the wrong time. Especially when a greater risk to the public is probably posed by the early release of prisoners to free up space in our overcrowded prisons. Simon Tonking, the former recorder of Stafford, told The Independent that the Labour government should use its majority to end the injustice by taking up the Howard League's proposals: 'Virtually everybody who has had any professional dealings with IPP knows that it is unjust and now is the time to act.' It is no use for former ministers such as Lord Blunkett and Alex Chalk, the former justice secretary, calling for justice to be done after they have left office. It is up to Lord Timpson, his boss Shabana Mahmood and ultimately Sir Keir Starmer to do the right thing while they can.
The Guardian
21 minutes ago
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on car finance scandal redress: mis-sold loans demand action, not excuses or spin
With its ruling in the car finance case, the UK supreme court sent a clear message: some motorists purchased vehicles with deals that were indeed unfair, but it's not the judiciary's job to redraw the boundaries of consumer protection law. That burden, the justices suggested, rests with regulators and elected governments. This reasoning is in line with a major speech in June by the court's president, Lord Reed, who argued that judges aren't policymakers – and shouldn't be. He led a bench that nonetheless upheld a finding of unfairness in the case of the factory supervisor Marcus Johnson. The court flagged the danger, defined the threshold – but stopped short of imposing redress itself. Now, the baton has been passed. Millions could get payouts if the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) follows the court ruling with its proposed redress scheme, now out for consultation. The regulator admits what courts and campaigners have long suggested: that hidden commissions and opaque contracts were endemic, and that consumers were misled on a large scale. It may be 2025, but the roots of this scandal stretch back decades. More than 90% of new car purchases are financed, and for years, buyers weren't offered the best deal – just the one that earned the broker the biggest cut. Last October, the court of appeal saw hidden commissions as tantamount to bribes – secret incentives to push pricier loans. Banks had been on the hook for potentially £40bn in compensation had that view prevailed. But the supreme court disagreed. Dealers aren't fiduciaries, it said. They're not priests or doctors. They're salespeople and everyone knows it. The Treasury had tried, and failed, to intervene on behalf of banks that feared big payouts. The supreme court dismissed that petition with waspish brevity. Rachel Reeves may argue she was guarding financial stability, but it is not a good look to be siding with lenders over misled consumers, especially when there is a strong case to suggest regulators had been asleep at the wheel. The FCA now admits that many firms broke the rules. It plans a compensation scheme covering loans dating back to 2007, including both discretionary and some non-discretionary commission arrangements. The potential bill? At least £9bn, and possibly double that. Most individuals will probably receive less than £950 in compensation. The court's refusal to stretch the law to encompass issues of trust wasn't a shrug; it was a signal. The law allows unfairness to be addressed. But the heavy lifting must be done by the state. This episode lays bare a deeper malaise. Britain's credit system often runs on skewed incentives and asymmetric information. Brokers pose as advisers but act as commission-driven salespeople. In Mr Johnson's case a £1,650 hidden commission – a quarter of the car's price – went undisclosed. That's not a quirk; it's economics' classic lemons problem. In car finance, consumers didn't know how much brokers were pocketing or how that skewed the deal. Without trust or clarity, quality suffers – and everyone overpays for 'lemons' (duds). The court of appeal did focus minds; and failing to interpret the law robustly in the face of clear wrongdoing is itself a judicial choice. The supreme court smartly redirected the narrative. The regulator is stirring. Ministers must now support a consumer-facing system of redress and not shield the City from the consequences of its own mis‑selling. The public will be watching.
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Nigel Farage under pressure to distance himself from 'racist' Ant Middleton rant
Ant Middleton - who has been close with Nigel Farage and posed with him ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration in Washington - said first, second and third generation immigrants should be banned from top government jobs Pressure is mounting on Nigel Farage to distance himself from TV hardman Ant Middleton after he was accused of "overt racism". The former soldier sparked an outcry after claiming that first, second and third generation immigrants should be barred from "top tier government positions". Middleton - who gave a speech at last year's Reform conference and has been linked with a mayoral run for the party - was pictured smiling with Mr Farage and treasurer Nick Candy in Washington DC ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration in January. The ex-SAS: Who Dares Wins host has said he will stand to be London mayor - and claimed to be "very much aligned" with Reform. Mr Farage now faces calls to clarify if he condones the remarks by Middleton or cut ties with him. It comes after a Nigel Farage watchdog probe was revealed to centres on a mysterious fishing boat. In an outburst on Twitter /X, the former Special Forces commando wrote: "Our Capital City of our Christian country needs to be run by a native Brit with generational Christian values, principles and morals coursing through their veins from which our very society was built, thrived and was forged upon." By Middleton's criteria, Winston Churchill, whose mother was born in Brooklyn, Boris Johnson and King Charles would not qualify for high office. Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty responded on Twitter: "This level of overt racism shows who he really is once he lets the mask slip." He told The Mirror: 'After his starring role as a leading speaker at the Reform party conference last year, Ant Middleton's campaign to be the Mayor of London is increasingly being characterised with dangerous rhetoric that stokes division. "Given his prison sentence for assaulting a police officer and ban from being a company director over £1m in unpaid taxes he shouldn't even pass Reform's vetting process. With Nigel Farage claiming to be tough on crime he should clarify whether he supports the views of his likely candidate to be mayor of our capital; a man who doesn't even live in the country, let alone London.' A Labour Party spokeswoman said: 'These racist comments are completely unacceptable and have no place in our politics or our society. Nigel Farage has shared appearances at Reform UK events with Ant Middleton, but is yet to distance himself from these remarks or clarify whether he condones them. "Farage must urgently confirm that Reform UK will immediately cut all ties with Middleton.' Dubai-based Middleton, who was jailed in 2013 for wounding a male police officer and assaulting a female PC, vowed that if he becomes Mayor he will "prioritise the indigenous people" above all. In June he claimed rumours that Mr Farage was looking elsewhere for a candidate were "incorrect". He said: "We are still very much aligned and no such drifting away has happened. "However I have always voiced an option to run independently which may have been a cause of certain rumours!" He was loudly applauded at Reform's conference in Birmingham last September, when he was presented as an expert in security. Middleton told the audience: 'We are at a very, very important and crucial stage before it teeters into civil unrest, which we want to avoid at all costs, but it's coming. We're on that edge where violence has hit the streets, we've all seen it, I don't need to mention what it is, we've all seen it.' And voicing his support for the party he said: "I know enough about modern day politics to realise that it's not working here in the UK. Hence, the solution is in the title Reform." Last year Mr Farage posted a photo of himself alongside Middleton, who he described as "the big man". And he was snapped alongside Mr Farage and billionaire property tycoon Mr Candy with the White House in the background in January. The TV host was a controversial figure long before his appearance at the event in Birmingham. He was dropped by Channel 4 in March 2021 after tweeting about the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. He moved to Dubai, telling GB News last year that people in the UK are "just stuck in a rut". In 2012 he body-slammed PC Christopher Brooksbank outside a nightclub and assaulted PC Katherine Alison. He was given a 14-month jail sentence the following year. He told The Mirror in 2015: "I was shocked by how I acted. I'm very ashamed of it, hence why I've put it behind me." And he said he had written to both officers to apologise. But he now claims he "never laid a finger on a woman". In March Middleton was banned from being a company director after his firm Sway and Starting failed to pay over £1million in tax. The Insolvency Service said he and wife Emilie were "taking millions of pounds out of" the company when they should have been paying tax. Sway and Starting, which provided media representation services, went into liquidation in 2022. At the time it owed £300,000 in VAT and £800,000 in corporation tax.
