Parliamentary schedule for Thursday June 26
House of Commons:0930 Transport questions1030 Business questions to Commons Leader Lucy Powell1130 Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) (No. 2) Bill: second and third readingGeneral debate on armed forces dayAn adjournment debate on potential merits of floating solar panels
Westminster Hall:1330 Select committee statement from Joint Committee on human rights1350 IVF egg donation in young women1510 Funding of the BBC World Service
House of Lords:1100 Oral questions1150 Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill – committee stage (day one)
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Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Penny Mordaunt reveals she is a victim of 'humiliating and violent' AI-generated deepfake porn - and says she is not the only politician whose face has been used
Penny Mordaunt has revealed that she has been the victim of 'deliberately humiliating and violent' deepfake porn. The former Leader of the House of Commons made the candid confession in an interview with Victoria Derbyshire on Tuesday. She told the BBC Newsnight interviewer that the perpetrators should consider the consequence of their actions and called for tighter controls on social media. The former MP for Portsmouth North also revealed that upsetting instances of abuse such as deepfake porn are a regular occurance. She told the BBC programme: 'Well, not a week has gone by in my parliamentary career when something of this nature hasn't happened.' Non-consensual deepfake pornography is the production of an image using artificial intelligence. The creator combines a photograph and uses AI to remove clothes or create a fake nude photo in the likeness of a real person. Ms Mordaunt explained she had first learned that she had been a victim of a deepfake image following an investigation by Channel 4 presenter Cathy Newman who uncovered 250 famous individuals whose likeness had been stolen. She added: 'My face had been used, AI porn generated, deepfake porn. It happened to a number of parliamentarians.' Other victims included Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, former education secretary, Gillian Keegan, and Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, Priti Patel. Following her 'humiliating' experience, the former MP has called for tighter controls on social media and online platforms and raised concerns around access by children to deepfake pornogpraphy. 'I would ask the people behind this, don't they realize the consequences in the real world when they do something like that,' she said, 'because although I haven't seen this myself, it was deliberately humiliating and violent and that plays across into the real world. 'It plays across in to people taking actual real world actions against ourselves and that has happened to me, it's happened to a lot of my colleagues. She added: 'The worry for me is actually more with children and we wouldn't want people to see these things on the walk to school. 'If they did, they'd be in therapy. But we have seemed to be perfectly happy for them to see it online. And so I'm with the Australians on this. We need to go much further, and we need to recognize the real harm this is doing to young people.' Victoria Derbyshire clarified that Ms Mordaunt was referring to the social media ban for under-16s in Australia to which the former Minister for Women and Equalities explained that she wanted the government to do more in tackling the harmful act. Ms Mordaunt even called on X owner Elon Musk to step in and improve age verifications to protect children. She said: 'I would ban certain social media platforms. And I think the government needs to have some courage here in addressing these issues with people like Elon Musk. 'That man is taking the human race to Mars. I'm sure he can figure out age verification and what needs to follow from that.' She ex-parliamentarian added that despite the more difficult sides of being in the public eye, she found that her role in Parliament was still generally positive. The creation of deepfake porn is illegal in the UK following a new Online Safety Act which was brought in last year. It includes the sharing or threatening to share intimate photos of someone without their permission and this includes deepfake images.
The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
Local authorities should be given greater powers over ‘unfair' council tax, MPs warn
Councils should be granted greater control over council tax, MPs have warned, arguing that the current disconnect between local charges and service quality risks undermining the very foundations of local democracy. An inquiry into the financial sustainability of local government concluded that interim powers should be devolved to councils, ahead of a more comprehensive overhaul of what it described as "the most unfair and regressive tax in use in England today". The Commons Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee's report recommended that individual authorities be empowered to revalue properties in their areas, define property bands, set the rates for those bands, and apply discounts. Beyond council tax, the report suggested that a broader devolution of fiscal powers, such as the ability to apply a tourist tax, should also be considered to address the growing financial strain on local government, exacerbated by austerity measures introduced in the 2010s. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner recently voiced her support for "more push" towards fiscal devolution, aligning with the government's commitment to transfer central decision-making to local areas. Furthermore, the committee advocated for replacing central government ringfencing of funding with "a rigorous outcomes-based system of accountability". This would ensure local authorities are held responsible for achieving agreed outcomes within their overall budgets, rather than simply meeting spending targets. Council tax bill rises hit 5 per cent in April for the third year in a row, as almost all councils increased bills up to, or close to, the maximum permitted. The revaluation of properties has long been called for, with council tax bands in England still based on property values in 1991. The Institute for Fiscal Studies found that the most expensive properties (Band H) attract three times as much tax as the least valuable (Band A) despite being worth more than eight times more now, as prices have risen most in affluent areas. 'Council tax is therefore both increasingly out of date and arbitrary, and highly regressive with respect to property values,' it added. A recent analysis commissioned by the County Councils Network found allowing councils to administer and retain taxes generated locally would boost funding for services by more than £4 billion in many areas and 'supercharge' economic growth. Florence Eshalomi, Labour chair of the committee said: 'When residents are paying more and more in taxes but seeing less and less in regular, everyday services, such as libraries and fixing potholes, then trust in local democracy is at risk of being undermined. 'Government in England is overcentralised. The current financial pressures on local government are also driven largely by mandatory, high-cost, demand-led services, such as social care and special educational needs or disabilities, where councils have little control over these needs. 'Councils are trapped in a straitjacket by central government, with local authorities lacking the flexibility or control to devise creative, long-term, preventative solutions which could offer better value for money. 'If, as a country, we are going to deliver growth and improve local services, Westminster needs to ease its grip and let councils have more power to control their own affairs and be accountable to their own electorates.' The report also called called for the Government to reconsider its decision to freeze local housing allowance rates and extend its support for local authorities to acquire new housing stock through the local authority housing fund. Responding to the findings, the Local Government Association (LGA) said the findings provide further evidence of the fragile state of local government finances. Pete Marland, chair of the LGA's economy and resources board, said: 'Greater financial certainty and a simpler funding system are important. However, all councils remain under pressure and face having to increase council tax bills to try and protect services at the same time as making further cutbacks. 'A sustainable, long-term financial model for local government must lead to all councils having adequate resources to meet growing cost and demand pressures.' London Councils, which represents the capital's 32 boroughs, said the report shows 'change is long overdue', but raised concerns over the Government's plans for changing the way funding is distributed. Claire Holland, chair of London Councils, said: 'The Government's plans to reform council funding are pivotal for ensuring local areas receive funding that genuinely matches their levels of need and enables them to cope with fast-rising costs and pressures. 'It's right that the Government is targeting deprivation in the new formula, but we are concerned that the measures used in the current proposals will not sufficiently account for London's extreme housing poverty. 'This could mean London is left without the funding we need to deliver vital local services and return to financial stability.' A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: 'The Government is taking decisive action to fix the broken council funding system, so local leaders can deliver the vital public services their communities rely on. 'We have announced over £5 billion of new grant funding for local services on top of the £69 billion already made available this year to boost council finances, and we will go further to reform the funding system to make it fit for the future. 'This will ensure councils get the support they need and protect residents from further costs by keeping a 5% limit on the amount council tax can be raised without a referendum.'
Daily Mirror
6 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats reach major new deal in illegal working clampdown
The Home Office will share information about the location of asylum hotels in a bid to tackle illegal working, which the Government says encourages small boat crossings Food giants Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats have signed up to new measures to stop asylum seekers working illegally. The delivery companies have committed to crack down further on account sharing. A new agreement with the Home Office will see locations of asylum hotels shared with them - allowing them to see "patterns of misuse". The Government says this will tackle gangs who use the promise of jobs to sell places on small boats. By law those seeking asylum in the UK are not allowed to work while their application is being processed. But there is growing evidence that some are earning cash working for delivery firms. The companies are required to suspend accounts that are shared with asylum seekers who are not allowed to do paid jobs. They have already agreed to bring in facial verification checks and fraud detection tools. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: 'Illegal working undermines honest business, exploits vulnerable individuals and fuels organised immigration crime. 'By enhancing our data sharing with delivery companies, we are taking decisive action to close loopholes and increase enforcement. The changes come alongside a 50% increase in raids and arrests for illegal working under the Plan for Change, greater security measures and tough new legislation.' Since Labour came to power there have been more than 10,000 illegal working visits, leading to 7,130 arrests. This is an increase of 50% compared to the year before. In one operation in South London, three asylum seekers arrested for working in a car wash and deported within a month. The Indian nationals, who had overstayed their visas, were removed in late May and early June. Border Security Minister Dame Angela Eagle told The Mirror: 'This operation is a clear example of our commitment to not only disrupt people who ignore the rules and try to work in the UK illegally, but to remove those who do as quickly as possible." New laws will make it a legal requirement for all companies - including the gig economy - to check that anyone working for them has the legal right to do so. This will be introduced as part of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.
