New garden waste charge to be reviewed in Shropshire
Kidd, the leader elect, said her party was "committed to reviewing the way that waste services are delivered, including looking at alternative models of operation for garden waste".That would include looking at how it can collect food waste from 2026, when it becomes mandatory for councils to do this, she said."We know that finances are tight, we feel there are other options we want to explore as part of a review," she added.The people who had voted for new leadership at Shropshire Council in last weeks local elections were "rightly expecting change", she added.
This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.
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North Wales Chronicle
30 minutes ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Starmer: Small business owners should not have to put homes on the line
A crackdown on late payments that businesses waste time chasing is also being launched as part of the Government's newly published small business plan. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said late payments were the 'number one issue' raised by small businesses as he and Sir Keir Starmer visited a Swindon co-working space in a former train shed. The plan also aims to boost access to finance after small businesses said they were struggling to secure loans. 'I don't want anybody who is willing to take a risk and start a business to feel that their family home might be a risk if that doesn't go right, so working again with private lenders to give people that reassurance,' Mr Reynolds said. The Prime Minister said being an entrepreneur in the UK was a matter of putting 'your whole self' into it. 'You put your whole self in, you put your whole self in, you put your family in, you put so much into running a business.' But he said he wanted to make access to business finance easier, after hearing from the owner of a salon business who told him she had faced 'astronomical' interest rates when she had first opened her business and looked at a bank loan. He said: '(We're) making sure people can access that more easily, more readily, don't necessarily have to feel that they've got to put their equity, their house on the line.' He said he had been shocked to learn that £11 billion is lost through late payments annually and that it is often big businesses paying late. Upcoming legislation will introduce maximum payment terms of 60 days. The small business commissioner will also get new powers to fine large companies persistently paying suppliers late. The commissioner will also be able to enforce a rule that customers must pay their supplier within 30 days of receiving a valid invoice, unless otherwise agreed, with spot checks to help identify breaches. The plan will also pump £4 billion of financial support into small business start-ups and growth. This is set to include £1 billion for new firms, with 69,000 start-up loans and mentoring support over the next four years. And the British Business Bank will have its financial capacity increased to £25.6 billion. Andrew Griffith, the Conservative shadow business secretary, said: 'Cracking down on late payments will be welcome for small business but will mean nothing for the 218,000 businesses that have closed under Labour. 'The reality for businesses under Labour is a doubling of business rates, a £25 billion jobs tax and a full-on strangulation of employment red tape. 'Only the Conservatives are on the side of the makers and will support businesses across Britain to create jobs and wealth.' The Lib Dems said the announcement 'falls far short' of a proper plan. Sarah Olney, the Lib Dem business spokesperson, said: 'Small businesses are the beating heart of our economy and our local communities, yet they've had to suffer through years of chaos under the last Conservative government and are now being badly hit by this Government's damaging national insurance hike. 'Ministers can't go on burying their heads in the sand about the huge challenges that SMEs face. We must urgently see a proper plan centred on scrapping the national insurance rise, fixing business rates and cutting sky-high energy bills.' Mr Reynolds said about half of all businesses in the UK were paying the same or lower national insurance employer contributions. 'But we will always acknowledge there have been some difficult decisions the Government had to make on the public finances. 'That makes it even more important to deliver on these measures that will make a practical difference to save businesses time and money wherever we can.' Sir Keir said rising business rates were a 'real cause of concern' and that his Government was going to stabilise it. 'So, it's not changing year on year. So, lower it because that's really important for these small and medium sized businesses,' he told ITV West Country.
The Guardian
40 minutes ago
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on the other Afghan scandal: countries are forcing refugees back to Taliban rule
The British public discovered only very belatedly that an enormous accidental data breach by an official three years ago put up to 100,000 Afghans at risk of torture and death. Some of them had worked with British forces in Afghanistan. The result was that thousands were secretly relocated to the UK. A superinjunction covered up the story for almost two years. But the shocking security lapse is far from the only example of Afghans being failed since Kabul fell to the Taliban in 2021. Many more are now at risk because the countries to which they fled are pushing them out. The mirage of a more moderate Taliban was soon shattered by their imposition of gender apartheid and the brutality faced by minorities. Three-quarters of the population struggle to meet their daily needs. Women are particularly vulnerable. Humanitarian support is being slashed. A drought and now the loss of overseas remittances are deepening the crisis. Yet almost 2 million Afghan refugees and migrants in neighbouring countries have returned or been forced to return home this year alone – thousands of them unaccompanied children, according to UN experts. More than 1.5 million Afghans have returned from Iran in 2025, with Iran accelerating expulsions after the war with Israel, which fed suspicion towards migrants. Pakistan began deporting unregistered Afghans in late 2023, after attacks by militants in border areas, but has widened its campaign to those who hold documents. More than two-thirds have never lived in Afghanistan, according to the International Crisis Group; their families fled conflict decades ago. In some cases, security forces are forcibly repatriating Afghans. In others, threats, harassment or intimidation have chased them out. The Trump administration has announced the removal of temporary protected status from almost 12,000 Afghans in the US, though an appeals court has for now blocked it from doing so. The US said that conditions in Afghanistan no longer merited the status. Tajikistan has also ordered Afghans to leave. UN experts have warned that former officials, including judges and lawyers, human rights defenders and journalists and other critics of the Taliban, along with religious and ethnic minorities, are at particular risk if they are returned. Women and girls are being deported to a country where they can no longer attend secondary school or university and are prohibited from letting their voices be heard outside the house, and where the EU has estimated that basic health services are available to just 10% of women. By driving women out of jobs and severely restricting their movements, the Taliban have ensured that female-headed households face destitution. The prospect of return is particularly frightening for women's rights activists who face imprisonment or death for their work. Pakistan and Iran should not force Afghans home – endangering lives and ending education for girls. But other governments too bear responsibility for this crisis. Poorer nations have been left to shoulder the strain of a high number of refugees, some of whom are in limbo due to Germany's closure of a humanitarian admission programme, and the bureaucracy surrounding a similiar programme in Australia. This has been a triple failure: a failure to welcome Afghans with a strong case for resettlement; to support them in countries which have accepted them; and to help those who are returning to Afghanistan. Western countries must live up to their promises to the Afghan people. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of Gary Neville's money
As a footballer Gary Neville was not known for his versatility. He was a one-club man who trundled up and down the right flank like a plough-horse. So it is heartening to see him switching things up politically. This week he became the latest Labour supporter to turn on them over tax. 'I honestly don't believe […] companies and small businesses should be deterred from employing people,' said Neville, who owns several businesses alongside his punditry gigs. 'So, I think the National Insurance rise was one that I feel probably could have been held back.' Leaving to one side the fact that Sky viewers might not mind living without his rabid commentary, there is a delicious schadenfreude in watching Neville, a noisy Labour fan, change tack. Last June, he even proved his commitment by taking Keir Starmer up the Langdale Pikes for a campaign interview, in what must have been the most tedious man-marking job of his life. Until recently Rachel Reeves has been blessed in her enemies. When she and Starmer broke a manifesto promise to whack farmers with inheritance tax, they couldn't have hoped for a better opponent than Jeremy Clarkson. Here was not some sympathetic turnip-tender on the breadline but a celeb who was on the record as saying dodging IHT was a reason he bought a farm. Number 10 must have rejoiced again in March when Alexander Armstrong, arguably the pre-eminent primetime posho, complained about VAT on private school fees. His quip that he was feeling 'extremely poor' did not land well with those who were actually feeling extremely poor. Now, even Labour's fans are rethinking. Neville was not the first. In February, the Iceland boss Richard Walker, who had supported Reeves' Budget, warned that, while it was right to look at 'levelling the playing field on tax', the Government had 'parked its tractor in the wrong place going after hard-working British farmers'. The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money. Even Gary Neville's. Lower the voting age? Here's a better solution Full credit to Jeremy Corbyn for waiting until Labour had said they would lower the voting age before announcing his new party. The Government thought letting 16 and 17-year-olds have a go at the ballot box might give them the edge in a few marginals. Instead, they might hand a sizeable bloc to Corbo and his band of plucky dreamers, not to mention the Greens and even Reform. Luckily for Keir Starmer I have a solution. Rather than lowering the voting age, he should introduce a cut-off. Many problems in the UK are, we're told, down to our limitless brigades of pensioners. As they don't have day jobs or Xboxes to occupy them, voting provides a welcome distraction. With gilded pensions and houses they bought for a shilling and sixpence, they vote to preserve their interests. But you have to reapply for your driving licence at 70, so why not your voting licence? A short quiz could determine eligibility: should we keep the triple lock? Should the winter fuel allowance be extended to summer? Is the PM too young? Are the policemen too young? Is the Pope too young? I can foresee objections, so how about a compromise: you have 50 eligible voting years in your life and you can choose when to use them. If you wanted to torch them on idealism at 16, you would be free to, but you wouldn't be able to defend your pension later. Either way, surely this would be the kind of bold move Starmer had in mind when he promised 'action, not words'. At least, that's what he told Gary Neville, on a hillside in Cumbria.
