Starmer has ‘made a mistake' with plan to recognise Palestinian state
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The National
an hour ago
- The National
If Lindsay Hoyle has nothing to hide, he should release his emails
LINDSAY Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons, is no stranger to controversy. In February 2024, he broke with Commons convention to effectively block a debate on a scheduled SNP motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Allegedly he gave in to threats from Keir Starmer, then leader of the Opposition, who feared a significant rebellion amongst his back bench MPs just a couple of months away from a likely general election. It was alleged, but denied by both Hoyle and Starmer, that during a private and off the record meeting between the pair prior to the debate, Starmer had threatened Hoyle with the withdrawal of Labour support for Hoyle in the election for Speaker unless Hoyle blocked what could be a politically damaging debate for Starmer. Following that meeting, Hoyle broke with convention and decided to allow a Labour amendment to an SNP motion on Gaza to go to a vote, effectively denying the SNP the chance to vote on their own motion. [[SNP]] MPs then walked out of the Chamber in protest, and the [[SNP]] Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said that he and his MPs had lost confidence in the Speaker. READ MORE: Westminster denies Lindsay Hoyle 'personally intervened' on secret Israeli emails Hoyle later claimed that he had done so out of concern for the safety of MPs, an explanation which convinced no one. A furious Flynn later told the BBC that the Speaker had effectively lied to the Commons and that Hoyle's impartiality was now in question. A motion demanding Hoyle's resignation later amassed the signatures of 81 MPs. Now, Hoyle again finds himself at the centre of a row concerning Gaza. Hoyle allegedly intervened to block the release of emails he sent to Israeli politicians, though the House of Commons has since denied claims the Speaker personally stepped in. Responding to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request lodged by Declassified UK, the UK Government said Hoyle was the individual who had chosen not to release the written correspondence since October 2023 between himself and the Israeli Embassy, Labour Friends of Israel and members or officials of the Knesset, the Israeli legislature. The response said that Hoyle "has formed the reasonable opinion that disclosure of the information would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs". The main prejudice the release would be likely to cause would be to the already tattered confidence in Hoyle's impartiality. If there was nothing of concern in the emails, why not release them? Hoyle previously visited Israel in November 2023 for a 'solidarity visit'. He has not displayed much interest in solidarity with the people of Gaza who are currently being starved to death in a man-made famine. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could decide right now that all Palestinian children in Gaza should get a full meal tomorrow and it would happen. The necessary aid is just a few kilometres away from where it is desperately needed, but Netanyahu and his cabinet of religious extremists refuse to allow aid trucks to enter Gaza in any sufficient numbers necessary to avert a famine. Instead, in a sop to the man child in the White House, he has agreed to the televisually appealing but woefully inadequate airdropping of limited aid into the territory. Airdrops can never come close to supplying the quantity of aid which is required. Wind gusts being what they are, some of the aid launched out of the back of military cargo flights ends up in the sea where desperate and starving Palestinians risk being fired upon by Israeli gun boats as they attempt to retrieve bags of flour soaked in salt water. Dropping aid from aircraft is potentially dangerous, one man in Gaza told the BBC: "When aid is dropped from the air, it risks landing directly on tents, potentially causing serious harm, including injury or even death." While acknowledging that even a little aid is better than none, aid organisations harbour no illusions about the air drop campaign. Ciarán Donnelly of the International Rescue Committee told the BBC: 'Aid drops are a grotesque distraction from the reality of what's needed on the ground in Gaza right now. They can never deliver the volume, the consistency or the quality of aid and services that's needed.' READ MORE: Palestine Action protest to go ahead with more than 500 people, organisers say Videos of pallets of aid being parachuted out of aircraft might look good on TV, and allow the likes of Starmer to claim that something is being done, but it can never come remotely close to delivering the quantity of aid that is needed. In fact, it's a literal drop in the ocean. John Curtice weighs in on independence plans Polling expert John Curtice has given his opinion on First Minister John Swinney's plan to achieve independence, which rests upon the [[SNP]] winning a majority at Holyrood at the next Scottish elections. Given the current state of play of opinion polling, Curtice believes that it is "most extremely unlikely" that the [[SNP]] can win a majority of seats at [[Holyrood]] in May next year. Speaking at The Herald's Unspun Live at the Fringe, Curtice said: "What is he [John Swinney] doing? He is saying to people: if you want independence, vote SNP. Do not vote for Alba, do not vote for the Greens. 'He does not want there to be a fragmented list vote. He wants people to vote for the SNP. The challenge facing the SNP – the thing that has not changed in Scottish politics despite the turbulence of the last two and a half years – is support for independence. 'We are still around 50/50 on the independence question.' Curtice still believes that it is most likely that the SNP will be the largest party by a considerable margin, but it will have to reach an agreement with another party, most likely the Scottish Greens, in order to form a government. Labour's position is looking difficult, although not as difficult as that of the Tories, who face potential decimation at the hands of Reform, whom Curtice expects to win more than ten seats in Holyrood.
Leader Live
2 hours ago
- Leader Live
Titan tour operator ‘leveraged intimidation tactics' to evade scrutiny
The incident resulted in the deaths of five people in June 2023 – including British adventurer Hamish Harding and father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood. The chief executive of tour operator OceanGate Expeditions, Stockton Rush, and French national Paul-Henri Nargeolet, were also killed in the incident. On Tuesday, the US Coast Guard published a 335-page report in which identified eight 'primary causal factors' that led to the fatal implosion. The report said OceanGate had a 'toxic workplace environment' and used the 'looming threat of being fired' to prevent staff from coming forward with safety concerns. It added that analysis revealed a 'disturbing pattern of misrepresentation and reckless disregard for safety'. The report criticised OceanGate's design and testing processes and the continued use of the Titan submersible despite 'a series of incidents that compromised the integrity of the hull and other critical components'. The tour operator's former director of engineering was reported by the US Coast Guard to have said the first hull used on the Titan submersible was akin to a 'high school project'. According to the report, a contractor hired by OceanGate in 2022 voiced 'numerous safety concerns' to a company director, before being told: 'You have a bad attitude, you don't have an explorer mindset, you know, we're innovative and we're cowboys, and a lot of people can't handle that.' Authored by lead investigator Thomas Whalen and marine board chairman Jason Neubauer, it read: 'For several years preceding the incident, OceanGate leveraged intimidation tactics, allowances for scientific operations, and the company's favourable reputation to evade regulatory scrutiny. 'By strategically creating and exploiting regulatory confusion and oversight challenges, OceanGate was ultimately able to operate Titan completely outside of the established deep-sea protocols, which had historically contributed to a strong safety record for commercial submersibles. 'The lack of both third-party oversight and experienced OceanGate employees on staff during their 2023 Titan operations allowed OceanGate's chief executive officer to completely ignore vital inspections, data analyses, and preventative maintenance procedures, culminating in a catastrophic event.'
Spectator
2 hours ago
- Spectator
Reform's trans prisoner policy is a mess
Reform are in the headlines again, this time over confusion about their policy on trans prisoners. Yesterday Vanessa Frake, former prison governor and Reform's UK justice adviser, said that trans women should not automatically be removed from women's prisons, preferring an individual risk assessment. Nigel Farage seemed to echo this view, deferring to her experience and saying 'it's basically about risk assessment'. This announcement put the party at odds with the recent Supreme Court ruling on the meaning of 'sex'. It also put it at odds with reality. Reform have since issued a partial disavowal, with Andrew Southall, one of the party's MP candidates in 2024, tweeting that 'Vanessa Frake is an adviser, not a policy maker', and that the party 'does NOT support putting biological men in women's prisons'. However also wrote that no man 'belongs in a women's prison if there's any risk to safety', which leaves the door open for exactly the risk assessments Frake, along with much of the Prison Service, prefers. Frake's announcement has raised criticism from across the political spectrum, with Rupert Lowe telling me that, 'Sex is immutable, and law must reflect that…under no circumstances must males be permitted to enter female spaces, especially in prisons, where the risk of violence is elevated. That Reform are still five years behind on this debate is concerning given their present electoral prospects – they must get up to speed with where political and cultural discourse is in 2025.' Robert Jenrick, the Shadow Justice Secretary said 'men don't belong in women's prisons. It's as simple as that. It's a clear risk to the safety of female prisoners, and it unwinds the welcome, overdue change that the Supreme Court's recent decision has led to. On this, Frake's instincts are clearly out of step with the views of the majority of the British public.' At the moment Reform's position would put it to the left of the Lord Chancellor. Shabana Mahmood is very much seen as 'gender critical' within Labour politics. Despite inheriting a Tory policy under which trans prisoners can be moved to women's jails if they've had surgery and are not sex offenders, and if the Secretary of State approves it, no such moves have taken place since Mahmood took office. Indeed her remarks since the Supreme Court ruling point at her desire to tighten the rule. Interviewed yesterday, Frake said 'I'm not an expert on trans people. All that I know is that everybody should be treated with humanity and decency'. Does humanity and decency require we place men of any sort in women's prisons? From my experience I say absolutely not. When I was a prisoner at HMP Wandsworth a number of trans 'women' were jailed there. The prison kept them on the 'Vulnerable Prisoners' (VPs) wing, and one of them regularly attended the library where I worked. The prisoner dressed as a woman, and had clearly had surgery. There were no problems with them being in a men's prison. Of course, our prisons are not safe environments, but those on VP wings are safer than the average prisoner, and trans prisoners do not have their humanity or decency violated any more than any other inmate in a men's jail. Even more important though, is the way in which transferring these men to women's prisons would violate the humanity and decency of those women. More than half of women in prison were abused as children (often at the hands of men), while almost 60 per cent have been victims of domestic abuse. Forcing these women to live with men, even men who 'present as women', is abusive and likely to retraumatise them. It also presents obvious risks to their safety. There is nothing decent about choosing to prioritise the demands of a very small number of men over the needs and rights of very vulnerable women. Reform are also standing against public opinion here. Recent polling shows that the British people have become far more sceptical on trans issues. The polling company did not ask about prisons, but with 60 per cent saying that trans 'women' should not be allowed to use women's changing rooms, it's reasonable to believe that a clear majority want prisons to stay single-sex. Reality, and the Supreme Court are clear: sex matters. Trans 'women' do not have a right to enter women's spaces, and the old demands that we 'be kind' hold no power. Frake, and Reform have simply got this wrong. When the Supreme Court, the Labour Lord Chancellor, Rupert Lowe and the electorate disagree with you, it's time to think again. There are signs this morning that the party is listening. A spokesman said 'an ex-prison governor who is advising…has a different opinion. That does not constitute party policy'. Meanwhile Farage has tweeted that he has 'never supported men in women's prisons', to which Rupert Lowe replied 'you did yesterday'. The last 24 hours have not reflected well on Reform. If they are to be treated as a government-in-waiting, they need to get serious, and clear about policy.
