Latest news with #JonathanBrash
BBC News
8 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
Decision on Hartlepool's nuclear future could be made next year
A decision over whether to bring new nuclear reactors to a north-east power plant could be made next year, says local Labour nuclear power station is due to be decommissioned in March 2027, but private firm X-energy UK has drawn up plans to install and run 12 Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs) on the site, which developers say will provide a "similar" amount of electricity to the current plant's power output.A company spokesperson highlighted the benefit of existing skills and land "already earmarked for nuclear".Jonathan Brash, MP for Hartlepool, said he was "very much hoping" for a final decision this year or in early 2026 - with the site up and running in the early 2030s. The AMRs would be built externally and then installed on site to generate can be used as individual units, to power high-energy facilities like AI data centres, or combined in 'four-packs' to increase power generation more current plan is to install three 'four-packs' at the Hartlepool site, generating nearly 1GW of energy. Nuclear investment Brash said he believed Rachel Reeves' spending review had given a "huge boost" to the proposed plans."The Chancellor has set aside £30 billion for new nuclear investment," he pointed out."I'm very much hoping we can get some final decision in 2025 or early 2026. "If that comes to pass, there will be a few years for development, and in the early 2030s, we'll be up and running."X-energy's UK corporate affairs spokesperson, Leon Flexman, said Hartlepool was the right venue, capitalising on the region's nuclear know-how."It's a particular good location because of the existing nuclear power station, the expertise, the skills - and there is land available that is already earmarked for nuclear," he added AMRs create high-temperature steam, which could be used to de-carbonise Teesside's heavy polluting industries. 'Nuclear culture' However some have raised concerns over the potential gap between the existing plant shutting down and the new AMRs becoming functional, even if the plans are Emden, from the Institute for Public Policy Research, said the government should act now to ensure skilled jobs and local nuclear expertise are protected."How do you make sure those high-paying, highly-skilled jobs in these power stations stay in the area? "With the promise of new nuclear - if indeed it is going to come," he saidEchoing Mr Emden, Chris Batty, a Unite trade union representative, said it was vital the skills and knowledge he and his colleagues at the nuclear power station have amassed are preserved."If we don't get a decision to get new nuclear power on this site we are going to lose all those skills. We are going to lose the nuclear culture." Follow BBC Tees on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Telegraph
29-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Labour MP calls for abolition of ‘two-tier' Sentencing Council
A Labour MP has called for the Sentencing Council to be abolished because it is 'completely out of step with the British people'. Jonathan Brash, MP for Hartlepool, is the first Labour politician to say the quango should be scrapped amid an ongoing row over its 'two-tier' justice rules. From Tuesday the Sentencing Council will enforce new rules requiring judges to consider the racial, cultural and religious background of offenders before passing sentence. The body has rejected government demands that it drop the controversial change that critics say will result in softer sentences for certain groups. Following news that the Sentencing Council had rejected the Government's objections, Mr Brash wrote on X: 'Abolish the Sentencing Council.' Abolish the sentencing council — Jonathan Brash MP (@JonathanBrash) March 29, 2025 The Labour MP told the Telegraph: 'It is a question of democracy. Clearly the decision of the Sentencing Council is completely out of step with the British people and with what elected politicians think. 'For the council to say they are not interested in what the Justice Secretary has to say is unacceptable. 'There's a more fundamental question here about who decides on behalf of the British people about how the country is run.' 'We can't persist with a system where the Sentencing Council pushes forward guidelines that the democratically elected government doesn't agree with.' Mr Brash said: 'I can think of a number of MPs who are sympathetic to my position.' Blue Labour, a party organisation, has also called for the council to be abolished if it doesn't change course. On X, the group wrote: 'If the Sentencing Council won't listen to democratically elected politicians, Parliament must legislate to shut it down. 'The principle of equality before the law is non-negotiable.' Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, has opposed the sentencing changes because they 'represent differential treatment, under which someone's outcomes may be influenced by their race, culture or religion'. On Friday the Sentencing Council said the guidelines did not require revision despite Ms Mahmood's demand that changes be made. She has threatened to pass legislation that will force the council to change course. The Prime Minister has said he is 'disappointed' by the council's rule change. He suggested the Government will intervene to reverse the change. 'We are considering our response, and all options are on the table,' he said on Friday. Under the new sentencing guidelines courts are urged to order pre-sentence reports for offenders from certain ethnic and religious backgrounds. Critics argue that such pre-sentence reports could lead to more lenient sentences for some offenders simply because of their ethnic or religious background. Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, has said the new rules represent 'blatant bias, particularly against Christians, and against straight white men'. Mr Jenrick has said Ms Mahmood's threat to legislate is 'too little, too late'. He is seeking a judicial review of the rules on the grounds that they are discriminatory. In a pre-action letter Mr Jenrick asked the council to pause the introduction of the rules until the High Court had been able to hear the case. The council has yet to respond. Lord Justice William Davis, the chairman of the council, has defended the change, arguing that pre-sentence reports will prevent rather than encourage discrimination in the criminal justice system. Defending pre-sentence reports for offenders from minority backgrounds, Lord Justice Davis told the Justice Secretary: 'Any judge or magistrate required to sentence an offender must do all that they can to avoid a difference in outcome based on ethnicity. The judge will be better equipped to do that if they have as much information as possible about the offender.' He said there would be 'some clarification of the language' in the guidelines following 'widespread misunderstanding' of their intent. A government source said: 'We will overturn this. We are now figuring out how, and how quickly.'
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Deport all foreign criminals, says Labour MP in attack on ECHR
Ministers should set aside the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and deport foreign criminals, a Labour MP has said. Jonathan Brash, the MP for Hartlepool, said the Government should exercise its 'perfectly legitimate' right to deport criminals by saying ECHR Article 8 rights to a family life do not apply in such cases. He is thought to be the first Labour MP to publicly declare that the Government should ignore the ECHR in order to return convicted foreign criminals back to their home countries. It follows a series of cases exposed by The Telegraph where illegal migrants or convicted foreign criminals have used human rights laws to remain in the UK or halt their deportations. Many have used Article 8 of the ECHR, which protects the right to respect for private and family life. They include an Albanian criminal who avoided deportation after claiming his son had an aversion to foreign chicken nuggets and a Pakistani paedophile, who was jailed for child sex offences but escaped removal from the UK as it would be 'unduly harsh' on his children. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is considering whether to restrict foreign criminals and illegal migrants from exploiting the ECHR to block their deportations. She is reviewing how Article 8 of the ECHR, which guarantees the right to family life, is being applied by immigration courts to ensure that it is being interpreted in a 'sensible' and 'proportionate' way. Speaking on GB News, Jonathan Brash said: 'I don't think it's a particularly controversial view to say that if our government wants to deport a foreign criminal, they should be able to. 'The ECHR allows for that in issues of public safety and national security. It's perfectly legitimate for a government to say Article 8 is not applying here, we are deporting a foreign criminal. 'And if that's a controversial virtual view for anyone, I don't know what they're thinking about, because quite frankly, if someone is a danger to the public in this country, they should be deported. It's as simple as that. He added: 'If you are a criminal and you are proposing harm to the British people, and you're not from this country and you're here illegally, you should be deported. 'It can't really be much simpler than that, and we have to get to a position where we deliver that. I think reviewing how it's applied, as has happened in other countries, very successfully is exactly the right thing to do. Other Labour MPs - particularly from Red Wall constituencies where Nigel Farage's Reform party is a major threat - support restrictions on judges increasingly expansionist interpretations of the ECHR to overturn deportation orders. Labour MPs attended a briefing on Monday evening with a leading barrister on the issue in Parliament which has been organised by Dan Carden, the MP for Liverpool Walton. Writing for Jonathan Hinder, the MP for Pendle and Clitheroe, said: 'Yvette Cooper is right to at least be considering how some of its articles are being applied in the courts. 'When the voters say 'we want the Government to reduce illegal migration', it is entirely reasonable for them to think that the elected governments of these islands can deliver that.' Connor Naismith, the MP for Crewe and Nantwich, said that recent rulings based on human rights rules were eroding voters' trust in politicians. He warned: 'People tell me that they don't feel like their politicians can really change things. The truth is they're not entirely wrong. 'Artificial structures and outsourced decisions have limited our democracy and the Prime Minister is right to take this on.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Deport all foreign criminals, says Labour MP in attack on ECHR
Ministers should set aside the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and deport foreign criminals, a Labour MP has said. Jonathan Brash, the MP for Hartlepool, said the Government should exercise its 'perfectly legitimate' right to deport criminals by saying ECHR Article 8 rights to a family life do not apply in such cases. He is thought to be the first Labour MP to publicly declare that the Government should ignore the ECHR in order to return convicted foreign criminals back to their home countries. It follows a series of cases exposed by The Telegraph where illegal migrants or convicted foreign criminals have used human rights laws to remain in the UK or halt their deportations. Many have used Article 8 of the ECHR, which protects the right to respect for private and family life. They include an Albanian criminal who avoided deportation after claiming his son had an aversion to foreign chicken nuggets and a Pakistani paedophile, who was jailed for child sex offences but escaped removal from the UK as it would be 'unduly harsh' on his children. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is considering whether to restrict foreign criminals and illegal migrants from exploiting the ECHR to block their deportations. She is reviewing how Article 8 of the ECHR, which guarantees the right to family life, is being applied by immigration courts to ensure that it is being interpreted in a 'sensible' and 'proportionate' way. 'It's a simple as that' Speaking on GB News, Jonathan Brash said: 'I don't think it's a particularly controversial view to say that if our government wants to deport a foreign criminal, they should be able to. 'The ECHR allows for that in issues of public safety and national security. It's perfectly legitimate for a government to say Article 8 is not applying here, we are deporting a foreign criminal. 'And if that's a controversial virtual view for anyone, I don't know what they're thinking about, because quite frankly, if someone is a danger to the public in this country, they should be deported. It's as simple as that. He added: 'If you are a criminal and you are proposing harm to the British people, and you're not from this country and you're here illegally, you should be deported. 'It can't really be much simpler than that, and we have to get to a position where we deliver that. I think reviewing how it's applied, as has happened in other countries, very successfully is exactly the right thing to do. Other Labour MPs - particularly from Red Wall constituencies where Nigel Farage's Reform party is a major threat - support restrictions on judges increasingly expansionist interpretations of the ECHR to overturn deportation orders. Labour MPs attended a briefing on Monday evening with a leading barrister on the issue in Parliament which has been organised by Dan Carden, the MP for Liverpool Walton. Writing for Jonathan Hinder, the MP for Pendle and Clitheroe, said: 'Yvette Cooper is right to at least be considering how some of its articles are being applied in the courts. 'When the voters say 'we want the Government to reduce illegal migration', it is entirely reasonable for them to think that the elected governments of these islands can deliver that.' Connor Naismith, the MP for Crewe and Nantwich, said that recent rulings based on human rights rules were eroding voters' trust in politicians. He warned: 'People tell me that they don't feel like their politicians can really change things. The truth is they're not entirely wrong. 'Artificial structures and outsourced decisions have limited our democracy and the Prime Minister is right to take this on.'
BBC News
06-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
North East and Cumbria illegal working fines 25% higher than average
Fines for employing immigrants illegally have been issued in Cumbria and the north-east of England at a rate 25% higher than the UK 150 firms - mainly takeaways, restaurants, car-washes and barber shops - have been told to pay more than £2m in the last five years, according to Home Office penalties ranged from £10,000 to £90,000, and 11 businesses have been fined more than Labour MP for Hartlepool, Jonathan Brash, said: "British workers are being undercut by illegal immigrants." Using Office for National Statistics data for the number of local business units, the rate at which fines were issued from July 2019 to September 2024 can be calculated. Across the UK, about 1 in 1,200 companies received a fine; in the North East and Cumbria that figure was 1 in 960. In Hartlepool, a town of 90,000 people, more than 1 in 250 firms were fined. One - Marmaris Barber in Guisborough - is still trading despite having to pay out £80, shop confirmed it was still giving haircuts but did not respond to further requests for comment. Brash said a blind eye had been turned to the issue and that Hartlepool was a place already struggling when it came to employment and its local economy. "We can't afford to be undercutting illegal workers," he said. "It is something we've got to crack down on. It is in plain site."I have no issue with people coming here to work but they have to do it legally."The government said, since it came into power in July last year, arrests and illegal working visits by enforcement officers had gone up 38% compared with the same period 12 months previously. The chairman of Reform UK's Sunderland Central branch, Chris Eynon, said the government needed to do "way more". "We don't have a clue about how many illegal workers are actually in the North East and that's part of the problem," he said."We have a crisis of unemployment."We need to get British people who've lived here and paid in to the system for many years, they need to be going for these jobs not people who shouldn't be working illegally." Immigrants and asylum seekers Illegal working laws apply not only to those who are in the UK illegally, but also to those who are allowed to be in the country but cannot work, such as asylum someone claims asylum, they are provided with basic accommodation and usually just under £50 per if their claim is refused, they may be permitted to stay but can no longer receive any public money, or money from any employment. Pete Widlinski, who co-founded the Teesside-based Mary Thompson Fund which supports asylum seekers, said he understood why some people might take work despite not being allowed to do many cases, after having an asylum claim refused, "you're still legally allowed to be in the UK", he said."So they have every right to be here but they've got nothing. "You can understand that the least worst thing they can do is working illegally, rather than go robbing, burglary, or mugging people in the street." The minister for border security and asylum, Dame Angela Eagle, said people coming to the UK have often been sold false promises."This ends up with unscrupulous employers undercutting law-abiding businesses and exploiting migrant workers, often treating them in inhumane ways," she said."That's why, as part of our plan for change, we are cracking down on illegal working at every level to end the abuse of vulnerable people, the immigration system and our economy." Follow BBC North East on X and Facebook and BBC Cumbria on X and Facebook and both on Nextdoor and Instagram.
