Tag: uk news
-
BBC caller asks Theresa May for honest referendum answer
Video Caller asks Might for truthful solution -
Training charges reduce to £6,500 but higher for technological know-how?
Symbol copyright Getty Images Symbol caption A Final choice on the way forward for training fees is expected early subsequent yr
Tuition charges in England’s universities could be minimize to £6,500 – however with much upper fees, as much as £THIRTEEN,500, proposed for some subjects that would result in higher profits, akin to drugs or science.
That’s an idea that seems to be beneath critical consideration through the high minister’s evaluation of publish-18 education, headed by way of Philip Augar.
Or extra to the point, that’s what universities are privately fearing is heading in their route.
Before arts students get started celebrating a cut of their fees, it isn’t a conclusive determination – that won’t be recognized until the overview experiences back subsequent year – so this remains the territory of leaks, hypothesis and self- kite-flying.
Different fee levels
But there turns out to be a course of trip towards the theory of charging other levels of charges for various subjects.
Symbol copyright PA Image caption Must different lessons have different fees, in line with most likely future earnings? the idea can be that should you were learning drugs, a few sciences, maths or engineering, your most probably long run income are going to be higher than in the event you studied an arts or humanities subject.
It’s also the case that arts and arts subjects – like historical past or English – are less expensive to teach than sciences, which require more apparatus and feature more instructing hours.
As such, there’s an argument that there shouldn’t be a flat fee for all subjects, and the associated fee of charges need to be adjusted accordingly.
‘Two-tier gadget’
But many universities might hate this with a passion.
they’d see this as making a two-tier machine with a decrease status for arts and humanities, which would be starved of investment.
the degrees that make you wealthy… and those that don’t Is the schooling fees ‘financial illusion’ about to unravel? Students want more hours for their training charges
they’d additionally argue that one of these machine is socially regressive – pushing poorer scholars away from medicine and technological know-how subjects and directly to other inexpensive courses.
Having commissioned a review to tackle considerations that training fees and compensation rates are too high, the federal government can be stressed to return up with one thing that looks less expensive.
It’s also a time while a central authority being suffocated by Brexit desires to show it’s capable of make a difference at the domestic front.
The university sector will want to head off the speculation of one of these plan for different ranges of fees – so be expecting extra briefings, counter-briefings and pre-emptive strikes on changes to training fees, because the choice approaches within the following few months.
The Department for Education says the put up-18 assessment will are looking for price for cash for college students, however is not going to comment on hypothesis or pre-empt the review’s findings.
-
UNITED KINGDOM ‘will now not industry away fishing’ in Brexit deal – Might
Symbol copyright Getty Photographs Image caption The executive’s plan has received a cautious welcome from the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation
The United Kingdom executive has insisted its Brexit agreement will protect the fishing industry despite claims it’s getting ready to “promote out” fishermen.
The government’s draft agreement on put up-Brexit family members says the united kingdom shall be an “impartial coastal country”.
The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation gave the document a wary welcome while it was published on Thursday.
However First Minister Nicola Sturgeon predicted the industry could be used as a “bargaining chip” in the future.
And Scottish Conservative MP Ross Thomson, a prominent Brexiteer who has been an outspoken critic of Top Minister Theresa Would Possibly’s option to Brexit, mentioned the settlement was once “unacceptable” because it intended “sovereignty over our waters” would be “sacrificed for a business deal”.
Image copyright BBC / PA Image caption David Mundell and Nicola Sturgeon had clashed over plans for fishing put up-Brexit The Final draft of the political assertion – a textual content outlining the long run dating among the eu and the united kingdom after Brexit – accommodates impartial language about fishing.
It says each side will “use their best endeavours” to finish talks in time for the uk to leave, and adds that they need to cooperate on access to waters and quota stocks “throughout the context of the overall financial partnership”.
Look back on FMQs on Holyrood Live Will the uk and the eu succeed in a deal on fishing?
Mr Thomson and Ms Sturgeon each argue that the latter element presentations ministers may use fishing as a “bargaining chip” in negotiations with Europe put up-Brexit, and each have called on Mr Mundell to consider his place.
The first minister instructed MSPs that the announcement “represents some other Tory promote out of Scottish fishermen”.
She said: “What we see is that the Scottish fishing industry will probably be used as a bargaining chip in wider business talks.
“In phrases of David Mundell’s position I Might merely say this – his position is a matter for him, but when David Mundell is still in place of job by means of the top of today in light of this political statement he’s going to have forfeited perpetually any last ultimate scrap of concept or credibility that he had.”
Skip Twitter put up by way of @RossThomson_MP🐟The political statement commits UNITED KINGDOM to “identify a brand new fisheries settlement on, inter allia, access to waters and quota stocks”. This Means sovereignty over our waters sacrificed for a industry deal. that may be unacceptable. We need to be a normal Unbiased coastal state like Norway. pic.twitter.com/wRCzdSNahf
— Ross Thomson MP (@RossThomson_MP) November 22, 2018
DocumentFinish of Twitter publish via @RossThomson_MP
The Scottish Secretary hit again, announcing he was once “no longer taking lessons on standing up for fishermen from Nicola Sturgeon”.
He said: “The prime minister has fiercely resisted the efforts of ECU states to make an explicit hyperlink among get entry to to our waters and get entry to to markets.
“we will negotiate and judge, as an unbiased coastal state, on get admission to and quota on an annual foundation, similar to Norway and Iceland do now.
“The most reliable solution to ensure the ecu get right of entry to to Scottish waters can be to rejoin the CFP – exactly what Nicola Sturgeon is demanding.”
Mrs Might informed MPs later within the day that “the fisheries settlement is not one thing we shall be trading off in opposition to any other priorities”.
‘Practical sovereignty’
The govt has gained a few backing from the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, with chief executive Bertie Armstrong pronouncing the declaration “offers the uk the facility to say its place as an impartial coastal state with practical sovereignty over our waters and natural tools”.
However he brought that “we all know that a number of EU nations won’t surrender their attempts to link get admission to with industry so as to keep absolute rights to fish round our coastline”.
He delivered: “we will proceed to hunt assurances from the uk executive that it’ll stay steadfast. we will be able to not relax until the long run arrangements are signed, sealed and delivered and we safe this very important keep watch over over get admission to to our waters and who catches what shares, where and while.”
Labour in the meantime has criticised the political assertion as “26 obscure and bold pages of buzzwords”.
Shadow Scottish Secretary Lesley Laird said the file “makes a mockery” of the “purple line” set down by way of the Scottish Tories, announcing that “David Mundell must surrender with rapid impact, and his colleagues should make clear that they won’t improve this half-baked deal”.
-
Brexit plan will prevent EUROPEAN migrants ‘jumping the queue’ – May
Image copyright EPA
The Labour leader said Mrs Might’s “botched” deal “breaches the high minister’s personal pink strains” and “makes no mention of protecting frictionless trade”.
Mr Corbyn recommended the european could imagine re-writing the draft agreement “at the eleventh hour” if MPs rejected the proposals.
He additionally suggested the uk’s exit from the eu should be a catalyst for far-reaching economic and social modification and a “radical programme of investment” in infrastructure, training and skills.
Why are other people unsatisfied with the deal?
The draft report sets out the terms of the united kingdom’s departure, including how so much money can be paid to the european, main points of the transition period, and citizens’ rights.
The transition length – lately due to remaining until 31 December 2020 – will imply the uk is formally out of the european, however still abiding by means of such a lot of its regulations. during this time, the two sides hope to negotiate a permanent trade deal.
The UK and the eu need to keep away from a hard Northern Ireland border no matter what occurs, in order that they agreed to a “backstop” – described as an insurance policy through Mrs Would Possibly – geared toward reaching this if the sides can not agree a trade deal that avoids a physically visual border.
Symbol copyright EPA But former International Secretary Boris Johnson used his column in Monday’s Day By Day Telegraph to renew his criticism of the draft agreement, describing it as a “585-page fig-leaf that does not anything to cover the embarrassment of our overall defeat”.
And former Tory chief Lord Howard informed BBC Radio 4’s These Days programme that a vote of confidence can be a distraction.
What’s the reaction from the european?
Man Verhofstadt, The Ecu Parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator, said any ideas EUROPEAN nationals have been given preferential treatment had been incorrect seeing that they had been simply “workout rights which equipped freedom and possibilities”.
Image Copyright @guyverhofstadt @guyverhofstadt Document
Symbol Copyright @guyverhofstadt @guyverhofstadt DocumentMichel Barnier, the eu’s leader Brexit negotiator, called on all events to “remain calm” and deal with the longer term agreement.
Speaking at a press conference in Brussels after meeting the 27 different EU member states, he said the withdrawal deal was once “truthful and balanced” however made clear a transition length extension couldn’t be indefinite, “it has to be a set duration of time”.
During Monday’s assembly, the Spanish govt raised issues approximately articles within the withdrawal settlement (184 and three), announcing that taken together they upload as much as Gibraltar remaining completely as UK territory.
The BBC’s Brussels reporter Adam Fleming says such a lot member states, in conjunction with The European Commission and The European Council, do not consider Madrid’s studying of the textual content and are trying to find to offer reassurance.
-
Brexit: Why markets would possibly not bail out the PM’s deal
Symbol copyright Getty Images
Financial markets have had a slightly unhealthy Brexit. they’ve taken solace in the fallacious issues and freaked out at ephemera. But there may be so much of talk on the moment that their conniptions might help be sure that Parliament passes Theresa Would Possibly’s withdrawal settlement.
This is understood as the ‘Tarp’ state of affairs – a reference to the u.s. executive’s so-called Bothered Asset Aid Programme.
In September 2008, the week that Lehman Brothers collapsed, Hank Paulson, the united states Treasury Secretary, asked a $700bn fund from Congress to fight the banking main issue – a fund to take care of “the illiquid property that are weighing down our economic system and perilous our economy”.
In Short: he wanted $700bn to assist clean out the financial system and prevent the u.s. economy going into a out of control credit contraction that might cause an financial disaster.
While he presented the initial draft, it was more or much less a request for blank cheque.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the u.s. House of Representatives grew to become him down – 228 votes to 205. Two-thirds of Republican contributors of congress voted by contrast thought from a Republican treasury secretary.
The Dow Jones stock index fell 7%, its biggest-ever one-day fall.
Confronted with that market disruption, 33 Republicans and 24 Democrats switched facets and the measure handed in a while afterwards.
The Tarp situation in Westminster
The Tarp scenario for Brexit that is circulating in Westminster is that MPs may vote down the regulation first time round. No Doubt, on the moment, it is hard to peer a path for it. However, the scenario is going, if there is a vicious monetary marketplace response, MPs will be cowed into balloting the withdrawal agreement through.
There are, then again, a number of problems right here:
First, the us is extra politically delicate to stock indices than we’re. And, even then, the case for voting the law through was once bolstered through a negative set of labour drive statistics that emerged between the first and second votes – the worst upward push in unemployment in 5 years. 2D, it is uncertain what marketplace response could shock MPs enough to modify their minds. so much of MPs get muddled approximately what to make of the converting price of government debt. And That I am doubtful whether our MPs may bear in mind what a large transfer – even a fifteen consistent with cent drop in the price of sterling, say – would mean or how they might react. it is simply now not in our political discourse. 3Rd, from the beginning to the tip of the method, the Tarp law ballooned from three pages to 450. there were tax breaks folded into the bill to buy off individual legislators. Our Parliament’s laws on amending regulation make it harder to add ‘pork’ to bills – but that still makes it much tougher to buy off individual MPs. Fourth, there was also a presidential election taking place and the 2 applicants – Barack Obama and John McCain – each supported the deal. The powers of patronage all went a method. The parties’ current and long term leaders all supported the plan. However it is unclear that anybody top any birthday party within the following couple of years will toughen this plan except Theresa Might. 5Th, if markets be expecting a loss on a primary vote, and anticipate it passing on a 2nd vote, these marketplace reactions might not happen whilst they are useful for parliamentary arithmetic. reckoning on Tarp makes it not likely to occur.
This consequence remains to be conceivable and manageable – especially if one knows the Tarp scenario less actually.
in the event you redefine it to a broader notion approximately how MPs might get freaked out through a few information at a few point and vote to accept no matter what deal is obtainable to them, then it becomes much more most likely.
But perhaps it will be some news from Nissan or Airbus as opposed to the markets. Possibly it would possibly not be financial news at all. and maybe it’ll come while the deal had seemed lifeless in a couple of weeks time, now not between the primary and 2d votes.
You can watch Newsnight on BBC 2 weekdays 22:30 or on iPlayer. join the programme on YouTube or practice them on Twitter.
-
BBC caller asks Theresa Might for fair referendum resolution
Video BBC caller asks Would Possibly for ECU fair resolution -
Diane Abbott unveils Labour’s new immigration policy
A Labour government would bring in a simplified visa system for foreign workers with “bona fide skills”, Diane Abbott has said.
The shadow home secretary said the party would also scrap the government’s “bogus” net migration target.
She set out plans for a “flexible work visa” to end the “idiocy” of medical staff not being able to take up jobs.
Migrants from outside the EU should be treated with the same “fairness” as EU migrants after Brexit, she added.
Do we really know how many people come to the UK? Migration from EU to UK continues to fall Windrush compensation ‘could be capped’ Diane Abbott: Labour would close two immigration detention centres
The Conservatives said Labour’s new policy would “tear up the rules for people coming from outside the EU which would allow more low-skilled immigration”.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Labour wants to “simplify” the immigration system Ms Abbott vowed to scrap the government’s target of reducing net migration – the difference between those arriving in the UK and leaving – to below 100,000 a year.
“The target had never been met and never will be met,” she told the BBC, and called for “a new conversation about migration that is not fixated on numbers”.
She vowed to scrap the minimum income requirement for non-EU migrants and to give people “more rights of family reunion”.
What the party’s policy towards migrants from the EU would be after Brexit would depend on what the current government agreed in Brussels, she told the BBC, but she wanted to see “fairness” between the two categories.
“We want an immigration system which is fair, and which is managed, in the interests of the economy and the community as a whole,” she added.
The shadow home secretary is also pledging that Labour will abolish the Immigration Act 2014 and end the “hostile environment” policy deployed by the government, which she said had led to the Windrush scandal.
But she insisted Labour would act against illegal immigration and “make the system of deportation of overseas criminals much easier and smoother”.
“If a judge issues a recommendation for deportation for serious criminals post-sentence, that should be carried out as a matter of routine. From the prison to the airport,” she said in her speech.
Immigration minister Caroline Nokes said Labour had “no interest in getting control of our borders as we leave the EU”.
“Only the Conservatives will end free movement and build a fair and controlled immigration system,” she added.
-
Skripal suspects interview: Key excerpts
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov said they were tourists visiting Salisbury
The two men named as suspects in the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy in the UK – Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov – have been speaking to RT, Russia’s state-run international broadcaster. They claim they were merely tourists visiting the English town of Salisbury at the time the poisoning happened. Here are key excerpts of their interview.
“Well, we came there [to the UK] on 2 March, then went to a railway station to see the timetable. We arrived in Salisbury on 3 March and tried to walk through the town, but we lasted for only half an hour because it was covered in snow,” Mr Petrov said.
“Of course, we went there to see Stonehenge, Old Sarum, but we couldn’t do it because there was muddy slush everywhere. The town was covered by this slush. We got wet, took the nearest train and came back [to London].”
“We spent no more than an hour in Salisbury, mainly because of the lags between trains,” Mr Boshirov said. “Maybe we did [approach] Skripal’s house, but we don’t know where is it located.”
When the interviewer asked them whether they had Novichok or any poison with them, they emphatically said no.
What happened to the Skripals? The new Russian disinformation game Russian spy poisoning: What we know so far What is the GRU?
Then she asked whether they had the Nina Ricci perfume bottle that had been shown as evidence.
“Is it silly for decent lads to have women’s perfume? The customs are checking everything, they would have questions as to why men have women’s perfume in their luggage. We didn’t have it,” Mr Boshirov said.
Both men sounded distressed as they spoke about how their lives had changed since they were named in the UK as Russian intelligence agents who attempted to poison the Skripals.
“When your life [is] turned upside down, you don’t know what to do and where to go. We’re afraid of going out, we fear for ourselves, our lives and the lives of our loved ones,” Mr Boshirov said.
Asked whether they had recently been to any European state, the two said they had.
“Sure… In Switzerland, we were a couple of times… We spent New Year in Switzerland.”
The journey was part of their holiday, they said, though they had also been in Europe to do business related to sports nutrition.
“We examine the market, look if there is something new – some biologically active additives, amino acids, vitamins, microelements. We pick up the most necessary, come here and decide how to deliver the new products from this market here.”
-
Calls for abortion clinic buffer zones rejected
Media playback is unsupported on your deviceMedia captionAre women seeking abortions being harassed?
Calls for buffer zones to be introduced outside abortion clinics to stop patients being harassed have been rejected by the home secretary.
Sajid Javid said such protest-free areas around UK clinics “would not be a proportionate response”.
He said a Home Office review found cases of harassment and damaging behaviour but they were “not the norm”.
Labour called it a “disgusting failure to uphold women’s rights” and called for Mr Javid to urgently reconsider.
The home secretary’s predecessor, Amber Rudd, has said it was “unacceptable” that anyone should feel intimidated at a clinic.
In a written statement, Mr Javid said the review had gathered evidence that showed protesters’ behaviour had left patients distressed and caused some to rebook their appointments and not to follow medical advice.
He said that in some of these cases, protesters handed out model foetuses, displayed graphic images, followed people, blocked their paths and even assaulted them.
However, he added that the review showed these activities were “not the norm” and most anti-abortion activities were “more passive”, such as praying, displaying banners and handing out leaflets.
‘I felt like a criminal for having an abortion’ ‘That’s where the babies are suffering’
In 2017, 363 hospitals and clinics in England and Wales carried out abortions – 36 of which experienced anti-abortion demonstrations, according to the review.
Mr Javid said: “Having considered the evidence of the review, I have therefore reached the conclusion that introducing national buffer zones would not be a proportionate response, considering the experiences of the majority of hospitals and clinics, and considering that the majority of activities are more passive in nature.”
He went on to say that there was already legislation – such as the Public Order Act 1986 – in place that restricted protest activities which cause harm to others.
In April, the west London council of Ealing took matters into their own hands, imposing a 100m protest-free “buffer zone” outside a Marie Stopes clinic.
But the constituency MP, Labour’s Rupa Huq, said it was a “national problem that requires a national solution”.
Media playback is unsupported on your deviceMedia captionNewsnight: Should there be ‘buffer zones’ around abortion clinics in Britain?
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said Mr Javid had “given the green light for women to be harassed and abused for exercising their right to choose.
“This is a disgusting failure to uphold women’s rights over their own bodies. Sajid Javid must urgently reconsider,” the Labour MP said.
And her party colleague, Yvette Cooper, chairwoman of the home affairs select committee, said: “The whole point of having this review was because existing powers are not working or are proving cumbersome and difficult for councils or the police to use.”
-
Skripal suspects: ‘We were just tourists’
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov said they were visiting Salisbury
Two men named as suspects in the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy in the UK claim they were merely tourists.
The men, named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, told the RT channel that they went sightseeing in Salisbury but returned to London within an hour.
They are accused by the UK of trying to kill Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
The UK has described them as agents of Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU.
“The town was covered by this slush. We got wet, took the nearest train and came back” to London, they told RT.
What happened to the Skripals? The new Russian disinformation game Russian spy poisoning: What we know so far What is the GRU?
The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service have said there is enough evidence to charge the men, who are understood to have travelled to London from Moscow on 2 March on Russian passports.
Two days later, police say, they sprayed the military-grade nerve agent Novichok on the front door of Mr Skripal’s home in the Wiltshire city of Salisbury, before travelling home to Russia later that day.