BBC should not show Kneecap's Glastonbury set, says Culture Secretary
Liam Og O hAnnaidh was charged for allegedly displaying a flag in support of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah at a gig in London in November last year.
Last week, the 27-year-old, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was cheered by hundreds of supporters as he arrived with bandmates Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh at Westminster Magistrates' Court in 'Free Mo Chara' T-shirts.
READ MORE: Who is on tonight's BBC Question Time panel in St Andrews?
He was released on unconditional bail until his next hearing at the same court on August 20.
Nandy said: 'This is a band who have thrived on the oxygen of publicity, and as well as the terrorist offences, there have been very serious comments they've made encouraging attacks on elected members of parliament, not from my own party, but it is my job to stand up against that.'
When questioned whether the BBC should cover the band's set, she said: 'It's horrific – personally I do not want to see that on TV screens.'
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South Wales Guardian
11 minutes ago
- South Wales Guardian
Labour sees biggest first-year poll drop for governing party since 1990s
Sir Keir Starmer's party has averaged 24% in polls in the past month, down 10 points from 34% in the weeks following the 2024 election. It is common for political parties to experience a slide in the polls after taking power – it has happened to every UK government bar one in the past 40 years – but a drop of this size is unusual. The last time it was in double digits was 1992-93, when the Tory administration led by Mr Major saw its poll numbers fall 12 points, from an average of 43% in the weeks after the April 1992 election to 31% a year later. The findings have been compiled by the PA news agency, using its own archive of national poll data combined with figures published in the long-running British General Election academic studies. Polls measuring voting intention do not always appear in the immediate aftermath of an election – for instance, the first polls of this parliament were not carried out until the start of August 2024, one month after Labour's victory on July 4. To compare Labour's poll performance fairly with that of previous governments, the average poll numbers in the weeks after a general election have been compared with those for the month leading up to the first anniversary of that election. Almost every government in the past four decades has seen their poll standings slip over this period, but mostly by single digits – and often from a much higher starting point than Labour's 34% in 2024. For example, the Labour government led by Tony Blair saw its vote share in the polls drop by an average of six points during its first year in office in 1997-98, though from the lofty heights of 59% to 53%, still well ahead of all other parties. Labour's second term under Mr Blair saw a larger poll drop of seven points, but from 49% to 42% – again, comfortably ahead of its rivals. The Conservative government led by Boris Johnson elected in 2019 saw its first-year poll ratings also slip by seven points, but from 46% to 39%. There were smaller drops at the start of Labour's third term in 2005-06 (down five points in 12 months) and at the start of Conservative leader David Cameron's first term as PM in 2010 (down three points), though Mr Cameron's second win in 2015 was followed by a larger six-point fall. The one recent exception to this trend was the Conservative minority government led by Theresa May that was elected in 2017, with Tory support in the polls increasing by two points over 12 months, from 40% to 42%. A first-year drop in the polls for a governing party is typically accompanied by a rise in support for the main opposition in Parliament. But the past 12 months have seen something different and new in UK politics: a simultaneous and large fall in support for both the government and the opposition, with the Conservatives slipping from an average of 25% in the aftermath of the 2024 election to 18% over the past month. And while Labour and the Tories have both slid in the polls, smaller parties have risen – notably Reform, which has climbed from third place on 17% to first place on 29%. The Liberal Democrats have also edged up, from 12% to 14%, while the Greens have increased from 6% to 9%. Opinion polls are snapshots of the prevailing public mood, not projections or forecasts – and they do not predict what could happen at the next general election. But the amount of movement in recent polls, in particular the fall in support for both Labour and the Conservatives, points to an unsettled mood among voters and a volatile political landscape. Sir Keir's personal approval ratings make similarly challenging reading for the Prime Minister. Polling company Ipsos has measured public satisfaction with prime ministers since the late 1970s. Its data tracks the proportion of adults in Britain who say they are either satisfied or dissatisfied with how the PM is doing their job. The difference between these two numbers represents the approval score. The most recent Ipsos survey, completed in early June – not quite a full year since the general election – suggests 19% of adults are satisfied with Sir Keir's performance and 73% are dissatisfied, giving him a net approval score of minus 54. This is lower than any other score recorded by Ipsos for a prime minister roughly 12 months after taking office. The next lowest score is minus 48, for Labour's Gordon Brown in June 2008, and minus 37 for the Conservatives' Rishi Sunak in October 2023. The highest approval ratings were for Mr Blair in May 1998 (a plus score of 44) and Mr Major in November 1991 (plus 15). The other scores are minus 3 for Mr Cameron (May 2011); minus 7 for Conservative PM Margaret Thatcher (June 1980) and minus 25 for Mrs May (July 2017), while Mr Johnson had a net approval rating of zero a year into office in July 2020, with the same proportion of people saying they were satisfied and dissatisfied. Sir Keir's current score of minus 54 is not quite the worst ever approval rating for a prime minister reported by Ipsos, however. Mrs Thatcher dropped as low as minus 56 in March 1990, while both Mr Major and Mr Sunak sank as far as minus 59, in August 1994 and April 2024 respectively.
Powys County Times
26 minutes ago
- Powys County Times
MPs declare more than £1m of gifts and hospitality in year since election
MPs have received more than £1 million in gifts since the election, including foreign travel, accommodation and tickets to sporting events and concerts. Rows over free tickets and other gifts given to senior Labour figures, including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, posed an early problem for the Government, which had made restoring trust in politics a major part of its election campaign. But analysis of the MPs' Register of Interests by the PA news agency shows hundreds of MPs have declared receiving gifts in the past year. Some 236 MPs declared gifts from UK sources, totalling £477,539, while 144 said they had been on overseas trips paid for by donors, charities, think tanks or foreign governments, worth another £810,761. In total, 318 MPs declared that they had received gifts in the year since the election, just under half the number sitting in the Commons. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage declared the highest value, receiving gifts worth a total of £98,709 over the past year. The bulk of these took the form of flights and accommodation on a number of trips to the United States, paid for by Reform donor Christopher Harborne and party volunteer George Cottrell. But they also include £8,413 for a helicopter journey from JC Bamford, whose owner has previously backed the Tories, and tickets worth £2,000 from boxer Derek Chisora to watch his fight against Joe Joyce last August. The biggest recipient of hospitality from UK sources was the Prime Minister, thanks to his regular attendance at Arsenal games. Sir Keir declared £11,170 worth of football tickets over the past year. A long-standing Arsenal season ticket holder, he has previously said that he is no longer able to sit in the stands because of security concerns, but has been offered a seat in the club directors' box so he can continue to attend matches with his son. The Prime Minister declared a total of £17,344 in hospitality and other gifts since the election, with other donations including tickets from Universal Music and the FA to see Taylor Swift and the loan of clothes to his wife. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch declared just one gift – £14,350 from Tory donor Neil Record to cover work space, accommodation and hospitality for a series of meetings in Gloucestershire in March this year. While several MPs received significant sums in gifts, most declared lower amounts or none at all, with the median MP receiving £1,208 in gifts over the year. Some 49 MPs received free tickets to football matches in the past year, totalling almost £59,000. But gifts from football clubs and organisations such as the FA and the Premier League totalled more than £70,000, and included concert tickets as well as hospitality at matches. The single largest gift of sporting tickets, however, was declared by shadow business minister Greg Smith, who received hospitality worth £5,160 at last year's British Grand Prix from hosts Silverstone. Four other MPs, including Leader of the Commons Lucy Powell and shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel, also received hospitality at Silverstone last year. Eight MPs received hospitality from the Lawn Tennis Association at Wimbledon in 2024, while golf's R&A provided tickets for four MPs at the Open. Another 49 MPs received tickets to awards ceremonies including the Baftas, the Brit Awards and the British Kebab Awards, while 23 were given tickets and hospitality for horse racing events, and 21 received tickets to concerts. The most popular of those concerts were part of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, with nine MPs receiving free tickets totalling £14,628, mostly from the Premier League and the FA. As well as the Prime Minister, they included Cabinet ministers Darren Jones, Peter Kyle, Bridget Phillipson and Wes Streeting, and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey. During the last election, Labour campaigned on a pledge to restore probity to public life after the scandals that had plagued the previous Conservative government. Last year Sir Keir sought to toughen up transparency rules for ministers, introducing a new monthly register of gifts and hospitality for ministers rather than the previous quarterly releases. He also changed the Ministerial Code in November to include the seven principles of public life directly in the rules and allow the independent adviser on ministerial standards to launch his own investigations. But Alastair McCapra, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, warned the continued culture of gifts and hospitality in British politics risked creating a 'full-blown crisis of legitimacy'. He said: 'At the heart of this credibility gap is the shadowy relationship between business and politics. 'The entrenched culture of gifts and hospitality in British politics creates the perception of corruption, and the suspicion of back doors to access are damaging a Labour Party that campaigned on promises of transparency, integrity and a break from the past. 'Political scandals thrive in the gaps between information and silence. 'If the Government and the business community are serious about building back trust, they must prioritise and accept a relationship that is transparent and accountable to the public.'
Daily Mail
37 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Starmer is by far the worst PM of my lifetime. But having Angela Rayner installed in No 10 would be a new order of catastrophe: STEPHEN GLOVER
Will we one day look back at Sir Keir Starmer 's disastrous prime ministership with something like nostalgia? Might we come to see his ill-starred stint in No 10 as shipwrecked sailors recall a nasty squall before the deadly hurricane that destroyed their ship, and left them utterly stranded?
