Russia denies any link to Keir Starmer arson attacks after 3 charged over ‘plot to torch two homes and car linked to PM'
Two homes and a car previously owned by the Prime Minister were torched earlier this month.
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Officials have been probing whether the three Ukrainian-born men charged with arson or conspiring to commit arson were recruited by the Kremlin, according to senior Whitehall figures.
This is just one of many lines of investigation being explored.
But the Kremlin has denied the claims, calling them "false, unsubstantiated" and "ridiculous".
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The Sun
25 minutes ago
- The Sun
Keir Starmer's end-of-term report card is in and it makes for grim reading – he has three big problems
IT is the end of the school year and Parliament is shutting down for the summer holidays. But if Sir Keir Starmer is hoping to spend August in his swimming trunks larking about by the pool, he should think again. 1 The PM's end-of-term report card is in — and it makes for grim reading. The economy is shrinking, his popularity is plummeting and his pesky backbenchers are busy rebelling. The only thing on the up in Britain is illegal immigration and crime. Across the board, Sir Keir and his chums in Labour's class of 2024 are at risk of scoring straight Fs — and failing the British public. In Opposition, Keir Starmer campaigned like a swotty prefect. Dull, yes, but a safe pair of hands who promised to fix broken Britain and restore integrity in politics. But in No10 he has been more Dunce than headboy. The PM has a big problem with his three Rs: Reeves, recession and rebellions. He must master each of these to turn things around. Let's start with Rachel Reeves. On the campaign trail she promised the most 'pro-business' government in British history, and cosplayed Margaret Thatcher by declaring herself the 'Iron Chancellor'. PM vows to drastically increase the numbers of channel migrants sent back to France But once safely tucked up in the Treasury, she dropped a £40billion tax bomb on us — clobbering businesses with that crippling NICs hike. The results were predictable. Britain's economy has gone from the fastest-growing in the G7 to one that is SHRINKING after the tax rises kicked in. Unemployment numbers are up and struggling businesses are thinking twice before hiring because of the eye- watering costs. You don't have to be a maths whizz to work out the numbers don't add up. If Keir Starmer is not careful he could end up with another big problem — a recession. Labour has always had a bad reputation with money. The problem is simple: They love spending money but are rubbish at making it. Now, Labour MPs are busy clamouring for a new wealth tax. ('What wealth?', I hear you cry.) This would be a grave mistake. Eye-watering costs If you squeeze people and businesses with higher and higher taxes they will stop spending, stop hiring, and stop investing. That is how we have ended up in this doom-loop where people feel poorer and cut back on treats like holidays and dinners out. It hacks away at people's happiness and optimism. If you work hard but life isn't getting better, your local pub or shop is closing down, and your kids have fewer opportunities than you had, then what's the point of the Government? If the Starmer regime plunges Britain into recession within its first 18 months in power then it is hard to see how Labour recovers. Which brings me to the third R — rebellions. Labour MPs won by a landslide a year ago, but they have already got a taste for mutiny. The recent welfare rebellion forced No10 into yet another humiliating U-turn and left a £5billion hole in the Budget. Last week Starmer hit back — suspending four rebel MPs for what one insider called 'persistent knobheadery'. I've seen the past four PMs torn down by bitter party feuding. Voters handed Labour a giant majority for a reason: They want change. If the Government fails to deliver it, voters will flock elsewhere. And Nigel Farage's Reform UK party is lurking on the horizon. But Keir Starmer CAN turn things around — it is not too late to turn those Fs into As. First he must stand by Rachel Reeves as Chancellor. Yes, she has made big mistakes, but she knows the importance of providing certainty and stability for the market. Another Labour Chancellor might bring in a wealth tax and go on an even bigger spending splurge. That would be a terrible mistake. Next, he must stop punishing businesses. No more big tax hikes. No more suffocating red tape. Having a wobble Restrictive licensing laws should be torn up. Incentives to take over empty shops should be brought in. Third, he must take on the rebels. No PM can be a hostage to his backbenchers. He must be free to lead. But, to do this, Keir must be braver and make the big arguments. He must stop trying to sneak in piecemeal reform by the back door. On welfare, he should come back with a package of measures that ends the scandal of teenagers and young adults being signed off work for anxiety, depression and bad nerves. It is killing their life chances with misplaced kindness. It is not too late for the Government to turn things around. As any parent of a spotty teenager will tell Keir, lots of people have a wobble in their first year. But the PM must pull his socks up, hit the books this summer and come back next term with bigger and better ideas. Otherwise, as one of my old teachers once told me, he risks slipping into obscurity. And he will have failed Britain. THERE is a long hot summer ahead of us and that can only mean one thing – more crime. Shoplifting, phone snatching, stabbings. Brits are sick to the back teeth with it all. A shocking poll in yesterday's Sun on Sunday revealed that half of voters think the country is becoming lawless. That is a stat to keep politicians and police chiefs awake at night. Nigel Farage and Reform UK will spend the summer shining a light on our crime-blighted streets and promising to restore law and order. Keir Starmer should be worried. People want their neighbourhoods cleaned up. If Labour can't do it, they will vote for a party that can.
Telegraph
25 minutes ago
- Telegraph
SNP ‘squanders' £20m of public money on ‘woke' jobs and training
SNP ministers have been accused of 'wasting' £20 million of taxpayers' money on 'woke' jobs and training in Scotland's huge public sector. The Scottish Tories said figures showed the sum has been spent on equality, diversity and inclusion (IDE) roles and training since 2019. The total included £2.5 million spent by Scottish councils, £1 million by the justice sector, £8.9 million by the NHS, £5.9 million by universities and £1.7 million by the Scottish Government. The Tories said the real total is likely to be much higher, as many organisations said they could not provide their spending as the figure was not held centrally. Rachael Hamilton MSP, the Scottish Conservatives' deputy leader, said: 'Hard-pressed Scots will be outraged that the SNP have squandered millions on woke training and roles, when they are making savage cuts to vital public services. Examples of the spending uncovered by the FoIs include £3,000 for membership of Stonewall's controversial Diversity Champions Scheme and £1,100 on transgender awareness training. The spending was disclosed after The Telegraph reported in February that there are 46 Scottish Government employees with 'diversity', 'equality' or 'inclusion' in their job titles. Kaukab Stewart, the SNP Equalities Minister, said they were on course to cost the public purse around £4 million in 2024-25, the equivalent of £86,326 for each post. It also emerged that more than 6,000 SNP government staff have taken part in 'mandatory annual inclusive culture training' to ensure they all feel welcome and valued in the workplace. Ms Hamilton said: 'This is yet another example of the SNP prioritising ideological projects over the issues that people actually care about. 'It's difficult to justify this level of spending when the NHS remains in permanent crisis mode, educational standards are plummeting, and Scotland continues to have the highest drug death rate in Europe. 'It's no wonder Scots are fed up with Left-wing politicians at Holyrood. They're wasting taxpayers' money like it's going out of fashion.' The IDE job costs were published amid a landmark employment tribunal brought by nurse Sandie Peggie against NHS Fife and Beth Upton, a transgender doctor who was allowed to use a female hospital changing room. Isla Bumba, the health board's equalities officers, told the tribunal last week that the definition of biological sex was 'far more complex' than whether someone had a male or female body. She said she would 'hazard a guess' that she was female, but she had not had her chromosomes tested to find out 'what my own body is made of biologically.' Ms Bumba also said that she did not need to 'know anything' about the body of Dr Upton, who was born male, before advising that the medic should be given access to the female changing room at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife. JK Rowling took to social media at the weekend to accuse NHS Fife of being 'ideologically captured' but placed blame at the door of the SNP government. 'This is Nicola Sturgeon's legacy: a government that publicly backs the hapless, unprofessional, ideologically captured health board that's persecuting a nurse for asserting her legal right to a single-sex changing room,' she wrote. The tribunal is scheduled to resume on Monday morning after NHS Fife released a controversial media statement on Friday afternoon that accused Sex Matters, a human rights charity which is backing Ms Peggie, of 'steering public opinion' on the row. It also said the debate on the case had led to staff receiving personal attacks, including a threat of physical harm and sexual violence reported to Police Scotland. But the board was forced to amend the statement at least twice after Ms Peggie's lawyers accused it of suggesting that her supporters were behind the attacks. A sentence was added saying Sex Matters had not 'contributed to the behaviour or issues mentioned above.' But Russell Findlay, the Scottish Tory leader, demanded that NHS Fife's board, including chief executive Carol Potter, resign over its 'dire' handling of the case. An NHS Fife spokesman said: 'As this is an active legal case, it would be inappropriate to respond to these comments.' A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'It would be inappropriate to comment further while judicial proceedings in an employment tribunal are ongoing.' Ms Sturgeon's spokeswoman was approached for comment.
Telegraph
25 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Smoke bombs and bottles thrown at police during migrant hotel protest
Bottles and pink smoke bombs have been hurled at police during a protest outside a migrant hotel in Essex. On Sunday night, scores of police officers stood by in riot gear as the crowd gathered in the early evening outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, which was protected by a line of police vans and six-foot-high fencing. The protest was the third outside the hotel in the last week following the arrest of an Ethiopian migrant who was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. On Thursday evening, eight officers were injured and police vehicles were damaged as a demonstration at the hotel spilt over into violence. The mood of the protest on Sunday was largely peaceful at first, with several people in the crowd draped in Union flags while others carried placards, including one that read: 'You are paying billions to prop up a broken asylum system! Look after our own.' Some marched down the road carrying an England flag emblazoned with the words, 'Save Our Kids', while others in the crowd called for protests to be held weekly until the hotel closed. There were intermittent chants of 'Keir Starmer's a w----r' and 'Whose streets? Our streets', from people in the crowd, which included men, women and children. Events turned uglier as several glass bottles were thrown and shattered on the ground in front of police. At least one pink smoke bomb appeared to land on top of a police van. Essex Police had announced a Section 60AA of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 banning anyone from wearing a face covering at the protest tonight, and saying they risked arrest if they did. Several members of the crowd flouted the order by wearing balaclavas or scarves pulled across their faces with hoodies over their heads, but police did not appear to confront them. Essex Police admitted that 'one individual' had been arrested in Epping and taken into custody, but no details were given. Much of the anger at the protest on Thursday was directed against a group of anti-racism protesters who marched through the town towards the hotel. Members of the crowd hurled objects, including plastic bottles, eggs and a flour bomb, at the group as officers formed a protective cordon around them, and police vehicles were attacked. But no rival protesters turned up on Sunday night, removing the risk of a potential flashpoint, and it appeared to pass off more peacefully. An Essex Police spokesman said: 'We have a full policing plan in place to ensure the safety of everyone who is attending. 'To protect the public, this evening we have put a power in place to require the removal of face coverings (under section 60AA of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994). 'If you are planning to protest peacefully about issues which are important to you and your community, then this is entirely lawful. 'However, on Thursday night, we unfortunately saw incidents of violence and aggression which have no place on our streets.' They added: 'We will deal robustly and quickly with anyone intent on coming into Epping to commit selfish criminal behaviour. 'We will police impartially, without fear or favour, and have legal responsibilities to protect those who want to exercise their rights peacefully, and we cannot prevent, hinder or restrict peaceful assembly. 'The right to peaceful protest is protected by law and allows everyone freedom of expression, but this must be done respectfully, and if there is a risk to public order, we will act appropriately. 'Thursday's protest saw people wearing face coverings and committing serious acts of disorder. 'Anyone who refuses to remove a face covering when required to do so is likely to be arrested and, if convicted, could face imprisonment.'
