Fury as woke Labour council bans Army vehicles – including open-top Jackal – from ARMED FORCES DAY parade
The Labour authority's leader in York said the decision was due to 'residents' concerns' and fears of protests — and 'reflects our city's diverse views'.
1
But soldiers from local reserve unit the Queen's Own Yeomanry withdrew from the event in protest, defence sources told The Sun.
One said: 'It was like asking the cavalry to come without horses. It is humiliating.
'They wanted to attend with the Jackal but they were told that they were not welcome.'
A whistle-blower told the Fill Your Boots military blog that the council was worried about 'triggering a protest'.
But Labour's veterans minister Al Carns, who won a Military Cross in Afghanistan, said: 'The only reason people have the right to protest is because our military provide the freedoms to do so.'
Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake slammed the ban as 'plain bonkers'.
He said: 'This is a snub on our servicemen and veterans to appease a tiny minority.
'We shouldn't be ashamed of our military showing off their equipment and uniform, it's something we should be proud of.'
Council chief Claire Douglas claimed it was 'a mutual, local decision'.
Instead, the authority has promoted a new 'family friendly' Armed Forces Day Trail taking in the city's key military sites.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South Wales Argus
29 minutes ago
- South Wales Argus
Call for Flying Start to be extended in Blaenau Gwent
Flying Start is a Welsh Government funded programme, which provides intensive support services to families with children up to the age of three who lives in disadvantaged areas across Wales. The first Flying Start areas in Blaenau Gwent were set up in 2006 and around a third of the county borough comes under its wing. The pre-school service was brought up at a meeting of the council's Children 's Young People and Families scrutiny committee on Tuesday, July 1, due to fears children who are not receiving Flying Start support, start attending schools with behavioural problems and lacking in social skills. Key figure in Wales' glory years leaves Dragons after just a year in the job Drivers face delays of twenty minutes after two car collision A look at Caerleon's 'Festival of Arts' happening today with 10 days of fun The county borough hit the headlines last Christmas when it was revealed that parents had received a letter from the director of education, Dr Luisa Munro-Morris saying that parents would be contacted and expected to come to school to change their child if they had soiled themselves. Cllr Haydn Trollope (Labour) said: 'I'm aware there's a two-tier system, children that have gone through Flying Start and those who haven't due to where they live. 'It's a post code lottery.' He hoped that the council could research the issue and take their data findings and lobby the Welsh Government to fund rolling out Flying Start right across Blaenau Gwent. Cllr Trollope said that he had been told by head teachers that children who had been supported by Flying Start are 'easily identified' compared to those who had not. Cllr Sonia Behr (Labour) backed his call and said the issue had been brought up as part of councillors visits to schools. Cllr Behr said: 'A teacher took me to one side and said that the biggest problem is that children are coming to school unable to articulate themselves, hardly able to speak and he wondered if it was something to do with early usage for screens. 'I don't think it would be an enormous piece of work to make a comparison.' School's inclusion manager Julie Sambrook said that there was lots of information available as work tracking the comparison between Flying Start and non-Flying Start children had been taking place on the issue of toilet training. Ms Sambrook said: 'Health visitors have now established toilet training workshops in response. 'The impact of that is our teachers are actually able to teach because they are not out of class changing nappies all day.' She added that the council was already in touch with the Welsh Government about increasing Flying Start provision in Blaenau Gwent 'It's ongoing work,' said Ms Sambrook. Cllr Trollope added that being toilet trained was just one element, and that his concerns included children's social interaction with each other as well as learning to: 'use a knife and fork to feed themselves.' 'We need Flying Start all over the borough,' he stressed. Head of children's services, Loredana Moruz added that Flying Start also has an 'outreach programme' which can look at children who have been referred to it in areas not covered. The committee agreed that the research needs to be done.
The Guardian
32 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Ban on Palestine Action to take effect after legal challenge fails
Being a member of, or showing support for, Palestine Action will be a criminal offence from Saturday after a last-minute legal challenge to suspend the group's proscription under anti-terrorism laws failed. A ban on Palestine Action, which uses direct action to mainly target Israeli weapons factories in the UK and their supply chain, was voted through by parliament this week but lawyers acting for its co-founder Huda Ammori had sought to prevent it taking effect. After a hearing at the high court on Friday, however, Mr Justice Chamberlain declined to grant her application for interim relief. Ammori said: 'The home secretary is rushing through the implementation of the proscription at midnight tonight despite the fact that our legal challenge is ongoing and that she has been completely unclear about how it will be enforced, leaving the public in the dark about their rights to free speech and expression after midnight tonight when this proscription comes into effect.' Chamberlain said: 'I have concluded that the harm which would ensue if interim relief is refused but the claim later succeeds is insufficient to outweigh the strong public interest in maintaining the order in force.' Ammori sought permission to appeal against Chamberlain's decision in an 8pm hearing that lasted approximately one hour at the court of appeal on Friday night, in an attempt to prevent the ban coming into force. But at about 10.25pm – less than two hours before it was due to take effect – the three judges, led by the lady chief justice, Sue Carr, refused permission. It means Palestine Action will become the first direct action protest group to be banned under the Terrorism Act, placing it in the same category as Islamic State, al-Qaida and the far-right group National Action. Raza Husain KC, representing Ammori, described the proscription decision in the hearing before Chamberlain, as 'an ill-considered, discriminatory and authoritarian abuse of statutory power'. He said it was 'absurd' to label a civil disobedience direct action protest group that does not advocate violence as a terrorist organisation. 'The main target has been stopping Elbit Systems … which markets itself as the backbone of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces],' said Husain. 'As my client says: 'The aim of terrorism is to take lives and hurt people, that's the opposite of what we do.'' He said before making the decision the government had engaged with the Israeli government, Elbit Systems and pro-Israeli lobby groups, while Palestine Action and other pro-Palestine groups were not consulted. Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC, also representing Ammori, said what was going on in Gaza was 'an annihilation, it is a genocide' and Palestine Action was 'seeking to disrupt and prevent' UK complicity in it. Ben Watson KC, representing the home secretary, focused on the proscription procedure in his submissions. 'All of these issues, all of that evidence is supposed to go to the secretaries of state… it's only after that process, after the secretary of state has had a chance to consider … then the matter goes before Poac [the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission].' He said only then could the case go to the court of appeal and then, potentially, the supreme court. Watson said Palestine Action's activities met the statutory test for proscription and that if the ban took effect but the group subsequently won a judicial review against proscription it would not cause 'irreparable harm' to it. He told the court that if a temporary block was granted, it would be a 'serious disfigurement of the statutory regime'. The protest group Defend Our Juries wrote to the Met police commissioner, Mark Rowley, on Friday to tell him that it 'may be committing offences under the Terrorism Act' in Parliament Square from 1pm on Saturday. It said non-violent protesters would hold signs saying: 'I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.' The letter said that they 'refuse to be bystanders to what's happening to the people of Palestine, who are bombed, starved and gunned down as they queue for food'. Several hundred protesters gathered, waving Palestinian flags and carrying signs saying 'Free Palestine' and 'We are all Palestine Action' outside the Royal Courts of Justice. UN experts, civil liberties groups, cultural figures and hundreds of lawyers have condemned the ban as draconian and said it sets a dangerous precedent by conflating protest with terrorism. Another hearing is scheduled for 21 July when Palestine Action will apply for permission for a judicial review to quash the order. In the meantime, and unless the judicial review is successful, membership of, or inviting support for, the group will carry a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The Independent
32 minutes ago
- The Independent
Rachel Reeves to announce review of workplace pensions contributions — here's what it could mean
Rachel Reeves is set to announce an overhaul of the pensions regime when she delivers a major speech at Mansion House this month. The chancellor is due to appoint a commission looking at the adequacy of the pensions system, including the amount of savings among the self-employed, the state pension and auto-enrolment rates. It was announced last July after Labour won the general election, but put on hold after the chancellor's brutal tax-hiking Budget amid anger at the pressure piled on businesses. But two executives familiar with the plans told the Financial Times she plans to appoint the commission in the 15 July speech, with the chancellor believing the UK pensions industry has long been ripe for reform. The chancellor's overhaul is reportedly planning to shake-up auto-enrolment rules, which mandate that staff pay at least 8 per cent of their earnings above £6,240 into the pot each year, with at least 3 per cent coming from their employer. Experts, including the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), have warned that the current rate of contribution will leave many pensioners without enough money in retirement. Almost four in 10 pensioners who have worked in the private sector face a cliff-edge in retirement with the current contribution level, the think tank warned. It called last week for 'decisive action' to create a pension system 'fit for the next generation'. It called for an end to the system of employer pension contributions only having to be made if the employee also contributes, recommending that all employees should receive at least 3 per cent of their total pay as contributions. And the IFS called for targeted support for those hardest hit by increases in the state pension age, as well as solutions to help people manage their pension wealth through retirement. Former work and pensions secretary David Gauke said the IFS report was timed perfectly to coincide with the imminent conclusion of the chancellor's pensions review. 'The government should provide a secure pension income, further increases in the state pension age should be accompanied by more support for those hardest hit, and both employees and employers should gradually contribute more to help achieve greater financial security in retirement,' the ex-Tory minister, who has advised the Labour government, said. And IFS director Paul Johnson said: 'There is a risk that policymakers have become complacent when it comes to pensions. Without decisive action, too many of today's working-age population face lower living standards and greater financial insecurity through their retirement.' Mr Johnson said the think tank's recommendations would 'shore up the state pension, help workers save more – but only in periods when they are better placed to do so – and help individuals to make the most of their pension pots through retirement'. The government's review will also look at the level of the state pension, currently £230.25 per week, or £11,973 per year for those who have contributed through national insurance for 35 years. Labour has repeatedly committed to the triple lock, which increases the state pension amount by the highest of inflation, average earnings growth or 2.5 per cent. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was asked to comment.
