World

Rachel Reeves is expected to approve above-inflation pay rises for millions of public sector workers next week, amid concerns over the cost of further industrial action if the Government refuses. The Chancellor is set to respond to the recommendations of independent pay review bodies on Monday, when she will also argue in Parliament that the Tories left Labour with a dire spending inheritance, including a £20 billion black hole. She could reportedly also announce delays to a string of major capital projects to plug the shortfall. Teachers and some 1.3 million NHS staff could be in line for a 5.5% pay boost, which could cost about £3.5 billion more than had been budgeted for. Economists believe this could rise to about £10 billion if other pay review bodies give similar advice on workforces such as police and prisons officers and doctors and dentists. Sir Keir Starmer has previously acknowledged there would be a cost if failing to follow the recommendations of the pay review bodies led to a fresh wave of industrial disputes in the public services. Labour did not deny reports that Ms Reeves could on Monday make the same argument as she signs off on the pay increases despite the shortfall in Government funding plans. The findings of a Treasury spending audit she will detail will reveal “the true scale of the damage the Conservatives have done to the public finances”, a Labour source said. An early assessment has reportedly found a nearly £20 billion annual gap between revenues and funding commitments. Public sector pay rises well above the 3% expected by the Treasury will put extra pressure on spending under Ms Reeves’ self-imposed fiscal rules, which include having debt falling as a share of gross domestic product in five years’ time. Extending the 5.5% pay boost – which is above inflation at 2% – to the entire public sector could cost some £10 billion a year, according to the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). As this cost has not been fully budgeted for in current plans, the cash would have to be raised through existing fiscal headroom, tweaking fiscal rules or tax increases. Any tax hikes to meet those costs would not be expected before the autumn budget, the date of which Ms Reeves is also set to announce on Monday. Labour has ruled out lifting income tax, VAT, national insurance and corporation tax, potentially leaving changes to pensions relief and capital gains and inheritance levies on the table. Ms Reeves could also delay a string of key hospital and road schemes she will argue are “unfunded with unfeasible timelines”, according to the Financial Times. Road projects whose cost estimates have been driven up by inflation and the Tories’ pledge to build or expand 40 hospitals could be postponed, the newspaper reported. The Labour Government will not “duck difficult decisions” in its budget, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said on Friday. He told Times Radio: “What I think we have found shocking is the state of the public finances in the year that we’ve inherited and that means tough choices … as the Chancellor, (Ms Reeves) will continue to show iron discipline and she will have the full support of the entire Cabinet. “Because these aren’t just tough choices for the Chancellor, these are tough choices for all of us and we’re determined to meet that challenge, to be honest with people, to not duck the difficult decisions and to make sure that we make the right choices now that set Britain up for the longer-term success that we need.” Rishi Sunak’s Tory government was plagued by strike action protesting years of declining wages for public sector workers. Most of the unions eventually struck pay deals with ministers, but Mr Streeting is currently negotiating with junior doctors in a bid to resolve their long-running pay dispute. The Labour source said: “On Monday, the British public are finally going to see the true scale of the damage the Conservatives have done to the public finances. “They spent taxpayers’ money like no tomorrow because they knew someone else would have to pick up the bill. “It now falls to Labour to fix the foundations of our economy and that work has already begun.” Ms Reeves could point to the soaring spending forecasted to accommodate asylum seekers in hotels, which – at around £10 billion a year – is more than three times previously thought, The Telegraph reported. IFS director Paul Johnson said Labour “knew to a large degree how bad things are in terms of the public finances” before going into government. “We and many others have made it very clear that it was going to be very hard to avoid cuts over the next few years given the proposals made by the previous government… “I’ve no doubt they have discovered some specific issues, and particularly about how tough things are this year or immediately, which wouldn’t have been quite so evident from the public pronouncements. So my guess is that that’s what they’re going to focus on on Monday.” Published: 27/07/2024 by Radio NewsHub

Paris welcomed the Olympic Games with an opening ceremony like no other as athletes sailed down the River Seine to the sound of Lady Gaga and more, but relentless rain put a dampener on the party. Zinedine Zidane starred in a video to tee up the arrival of the Olympic flame before flares set off from the Austerlitz Bridge formed a tricolore. A total of 85 boats then began carrying the team delegations on a six-kilometre journey through the centre of Paris, with more than 300,000 spectators lining the banks of the river. But as the night went on unabating rain grew steadily heavier, it was not so much a ceremony on the water as one in it, with athletes left sodden as they waved their flags. As they did so, performers kept the script to deliver an array of performances that sought to convey the story of Paris and of France. Lady Gaga was the first to steal the show, bursting forth from behind a pair of out-sized pink pom-poms to deliver a burlesque take on the French classic ‘Mon truc en plume’. The performances came in all shapes and sizes, with Gojira adding a dramatic twist of heavy metal. British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer was among those watching from the main stadium in the Jardins du Trocadero, donned in a Team GB rain jacket while others were decked out in ponchos. Other famous faces within the stadium – aside from IOC president Thomas Bach and French president Emmanuel Macron included Ariana Grande, Serena Williams and John Legend. With the rain getting increasingly heavy, one of the big screens in the stadium relaying pictures of the parade to the watching dignitaries temporarily failed a little over an hour in. That came just before the Great Britain team hit the screens, with Andy Murray among those accompanying flagbearers Tom Daley and Helen Glover. Once at the Trocadero, athletes – having long since abandoned any hope of keeping dry – began to gather by the long stage down the centre of the temporary stadium, which staff were busily trying to keep free of standing water with mops. The biggest boat of all was reserved for hosts France, who rounded off the flotilla on a packed vessel that looked more like a ferry as dance music cranked up the atmosphere. The rain finally began to ease off – but not stop – as a performance of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ was accompanied by a call for peace. Published: 26/07/2024 by Radio NewsHub

The three children who died in an east London house fire are “loved beyond words and missed beyond measure”, their parents said, as they were named for the first time. The blaze broke out in the family home in Napier Road, East Ham, just after 8.32am on July 13. They children have been named as 13-year-old boy Nakash Malik, 11-year-old girl Aayat Malik and seven-year-old boy Muhammad Hanan Malik. Their parents, Khurram Malik and Naumana Gul Khan, said: “Your lives were a blessing, your memory a treasure. “You are loved beyond words and missed beyond measure. “May you rest in peace in God’s heaven.” Metropolitan Police officers continue to investigate the cause of the fire alongside London Fire Brigade colleagues. The force said at this stage there is no evidence to indicate suspicious circumstances. Six fire engines and around 40 firefighters were called to the blaze, which damaged the ground floor and half of the first floor of the terraced house. Published: 26/07/2024 by Radio NewsHub

BBC racing commentator John Hunt has told friends that every message of support “feels like a hug” following the deaths of his wife and two daughters in a crossbow attack, a colleague has said. Matt Chapman, an ITV commentator, said Mr Hunt was “very thankful that people are thinking about” him and his third daughter, Amy, following the attack in their Hertfordshire home earlier this month. His wife Carol Hunt, 61, and two of their daughters, Hannah, 28, and Louise, 25, were found fatally injured at the house in Ashlyn Close, Bushey, on July 9. Speaking to the BBC, Mr Chapman said Mr Hunt had told him that “every message that’s been sent, every one of those messages feels like a hug”. “As far as what’s happened, it’s still beyond belief that this could happen to anyone, a family in the world,” Mr Chapman said. “The message from all of us is when you need us [John], we are here.” A GoFundMe page set up to support Mr Hunt and Amy has passed its target of £100,000, which Mr Chapman said “shows from the horror of this event, we have seen the other side of human nature – it just reminds us there’s goodness out there in the world”. Kyle Clifford, 26, was arrested on suspicion of three counts of murder after he was found with injuries in the Hilly Fields area of Enfield, north London, on July 11. Hertfordshire Police said he remains in hospital under arrest and continues to receive treatment, but that officers have not yet been able to interview him due to his condition. In a previous statement, Mr Hunt and Amy said: “The devastation that we are experiencing cannot be put into words. “We would like to thank people for their kind messages and for the support we have received in recent days. These have provided great comfort to us for which we are very grateful. “As you can imagine, this is an extremely difficult time for us, and we need time and space to come to terms with what has happened and start the grieving process.” Published: 26/07/2024 by Radio NewsHub

A police constable is under criminal investigation after a video emerged showing an officer kick and stamp on the head of a man as he lay on the floor at Manchester Airport. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said on Friday the Greater Manchester Police officer had been advised he was under criminal investigation for assault. The officer was also served with a disciplinary notice to inform him he was being investigated for potential gross misconduct for a number of alleged breaches of police professional standards, including his use of force, a spokesman said. It comes after two nights of protests in Rochdale and Manchester city centre following the video, shared on social media and filmed at terminal two of the airport on Tuesday, which showed an officer kick and stamp on the head of a man who was lying face down on the floor, with a woman kneeling beside him. The video also appeared to show the officer strike a second man. IOPC regional director Catherine Bates said: “We can confirm we are conducting a criminal investigation into the use of force during events which took place on July 23 at Manchester Airport. We are arranging to interview a police constable under criminal caution as soon as possible. “I have today met one of the men who was involved and his family members to outline our investigation and we will continue to update them and Greater Manchester Police as our inquiries progress. We will be speaking to the man involved in the second incident as soon as we can. “The family has asked me to reiterate their call for peace and wish to stress that they do not condone any acts of violence as a result of this incident. “We are meeting with a number of community leaders in Rochdale this afternoon to listen to their concerns and explain our role.” Following the IOPC investigation, decisions will be made on whether to refer the matter to the Crown Prosecution Service for a charging decision and whether the officer should face disciplinary proceedings, the spokesman said. A number of politicians have called for calm following demonstrations held after the video emerged. On Wednesday night, crowds gathered outside Rochdale police station in protest and videos from Thursday night showed a handful of demonstrators throwing eggs at the building. Roads and tram lines were blocked in Manchester city centre during a Stand Up To Racism demonstration which started outside Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham’s office on Thursday. Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Mr Burnham said he had met about 40 community partners in Rochdale. He said: “What people here don’t want – and I heard this very clearly in the room this morning – is politicians without possession of the facts exploiting the situation for their own political agenda with zero regard for the effect on the ground in communities in Greater Manchester. “I want to finish by repeating the call for calm, particularly over the coming weekend. “Things are now moving forward, the right steps are being taken and people’s voices are being heard. “It is in everyone’s interests that from here we proceed with things in a measured and a peaceful way.” Rochdale Labour MP Paul Waugh, who has met the family involved, told the PA news agency: “Extremists of all kinds are going to try and exploit this and hijack it for their own ends and that is the last thing this town needs. “So, it’s my job to make sure that that family, who have been quite dignified in their response to this, get their wishes, which is to see calm prevail, but also for justice to prevail.” Police said when responding to reports of an altercation at the airport, three of their officers were assaulted – including a female police constable who suffered a broken nose – and four men were arrested. On Friday evening, GMP Chief Constable Stephen Watson said: “It is a source of profound regret that this week’s incident at Manchester Airport has caused shock and upset in some of our communities. “Throughout this week, senior officers have been meeting with community representatives to ensure their voices are heard and this will continue – we are at one with the best instincts of those engaged in appealing for calm. “Whilst we are constrained in publicly releasing further information or footage about the incident due to the conduct and criminal investigations, we are committed to providing the fullest practical assistance to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.” Published: 26/07/2024 by Radio NewsHub

A Britain’s Got Talent contestant who sued the show’s producers for more than £40 million has had his claim thrown out at the High Court. Robert Aslanyan filed legal action against Fremantle Media Limited in October last year, claiming it acted negligently by failing to notify him that an audition during the Covid pandemic had been cancelled. He also claimed it breached a contract with him by failing to decide his application. Fremantle opposed the claim and applied to the court for it to be dismissed, with Judge Mark Gidden ruling in a hearing on Friday that Mr Aslanyan’s case was “hopeless” and “completely without merit”. The judge said: “The defendant maintains that this claim is unwinnable, it is right to be struck out, in fact, it is something of a mercy to end the claim now, and I agree.” He added that the claim was “flawed” and “has already gone on long enough”, instead ordering that Mr Aslanyan pay £48,188.50 in legal costs within 28 days. Judge Gidden said that Mr Aslanyan planned to perform a song named Our Mother Queen for series 15 of the programme, which he dedicated to the then-monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The judge continued that performing the song was Mr Aslanyan’s “great aspiration” and that he anticipated “it would yield a very life-changing commercial success”, the value of which he placed at “just over £43 million”. Mr Aslanyan had represented himself in the claim and did not attend Friday’s online hearing. Mark Winden, for Fremantle Media, told the court that Mr Aslanyan applied six times for “at least the last four” series of Britain’s Got Talent, the 17th of which concluded earlier this year, but never got through to an audition before the celebrity judging panel. After applying for series 15 in 2020, Mr Aslanyan was later mistakenly invited to attend an in-person audition in December 2021, but no physical auditions were taking place due to the Covid pandemic. Mr Winden said that Mr Aslanyan travelled to Cardiff with several family members for the audition, despite being sent an email by the producers confirming that the original invite was sent “in error”. The lawyer added that a “basic sense check” would have told Mr Aslanyan that the invitation was false and that he “should have understood” that it was a mistake. Mr Winden continued that Mr Aslanyan’s claim argued that the company was “contractually obliged” to inform him of its decision related to his application, and to make its decision “strictly based on artistic performance”. But the court was told that producers had not breached the show’s rules nor been negligent towards Mr Aslanyan, with Mr Winden claiming the producers had “unfettered discretion” over applications for the competition. The barrister said that the claim “set out no basis” for how Mr Aslanyan had lost the money he was asking for, adding that it was “unwinnable” and “should not have been brought in the first place”. He said: “He has had many auditions for his acts. The issue was that none of them were before the celebrity judges.” He continued: “This claim does not disclose any legally recognisable claim against the defendant and so it is a claim suitable for strike out.” Published: 26/07/2024 by Radio NewsHub

Ted Baker could disappear from British high streets as the struggling fashion chain plans to shut all its stores within weeks. The business behind the fashion brand’s UK shops, No Ordinary Designer Label Limited (NODL), fell into administration in March. It has since shut 15 shops in the UK, resulting in about 245 staff being made redundant. Staff working at the remaining stores have been told that they will lose their jobs when the shops are shut within three weeks, as first reported in the Sun newspaper. It is understood that the plans have not yet been finalised despite the message to employees. Ted Baker had 46 UK stores and employed around 975 people prior to the insolvency. Authentic Brands, the US-based firm behind Juicy Couture and Reebok, is still the owner of Ted Baker’s intellectual property. It was hoping to find a new partner to run the Ted Baker retail and online business in the UK and Europe. The collapse of the UK stores could mark the end of its position on high streets, after being founded in 1988 by Ray Kelvin and recognised for its patterned and floral clothing. However, the brand is currently still sold through department stores and retailers such as John Lewis and House of Fraser. Published: 26/07/2024 by Radio NewsHub

Temperatures are set to soar this weekend and into early next week as the Met Office warned of a heatwave. Saturday is expected to be sunny with showers heaviest in parts of Scotland, northern England, Wales and the Midlands and the possibility of some isolated thunder. Bright spells are forecast for Sunday, in what the weather service described as a “fine and dry day for many”, with temperatures expected to reach highs of 27C in the South and 25C in the North East. Conditions are looking increasingly warm into Monday and early next week, with the Met Office confirming that some places may reach “heatwave criteria”. Heatwave criteria is when a location records a period of at least three consecutive days with daily maximum temperatures meeting or exceeding the heatwave temperature threshold which varies by county. However, it is uncertain how long the warmer weather will last, with a possible breakdown coming next week. Deputy chief meteorologist at the Met Office David Hayter said: “As we go through the weekend, the jet stream will weaken to the west of the UK, generating an area of high pressure that will slowly move in across the UK. “High pressure means the air is sinking from higher in the atmosphere and that brings drier, settled and sunnier weather. “Temperatures will rise too, becoming widely above average. We could see maxima of 27C in the South and 25C in the North East by Sunday. “There’s a bit more in the way of patchy cloud in Northern Ireland, south and west Scotland and the Northern Isles, so temperatures will be lower there.” Earlier in the week, Met Office forecaster Greg Dewhurst warned that despite the warm weather, water temperatures could be much lower. Mr Dewhurst told the PA news agency: “At this time of year people head to the beach when the weather’s warm or off to local lakes and rivers. “Be mindful that at this time of year the water’s still pretty cold, around 16, 17, 18C, it’s not like in the Mediterranean where it’s much warmer.” Tom Morgan, meteorologist at the Met Office, said the hot weather is due to the fact that “days are longer at this time of year, we’re only one month past the summer solstice and when it’s a sunny day, temperatures build because the land retains more heat than it loses by night”. Mr Morgan said: “Even with no change in wind direction, we’re not drawing up weather from the south but it’s more to do with the fact that the sun is heating the ground during the day, creating a net increase in heat because the nights are shorter than days. The net balance of solar radiation increases. “Although there’s no plume of hot air from the south initially in this warm spell, by around Wednesday next week we could start to tap into some more humid air from France, so it could start to feel more humid. “Temperatures will be above average, but if you do live in the South East we could see it turn hot and heatwave criteria could be met in some parts of the UK.” Published: 26/07/2024 by Radio NewsHub

Two former police officers who shared “grossly offensive” messages in a WhatsApp group with Wayne Couzens have lost a bid to overturn their convictions at the High Court. Former Pcs Jonathon Cobban and Joel Borders were each given a three-month jail sentence for sending grossly offensive messages on a public communications network. Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard in November 2022 that the Metropolitan Police officers joked about raping a female colleague, talked about tasering children and people with disabilities, and displayed racist views in the group chat called “Bottle and Stoppers” which included Couzens. The messages were discovered after Couzens’ devices were searched after his arrest for the kidnap, rape and murder of 33-year-old marketing executive Sarah Everard in March 2020. At a hearing last month, lawyers for both men brought an appeal against their convictions and sentences at the High Court in London. In a ruling on Friday, the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr and Mr Justice Saini dismissed the appeals. In a summary of their decision, Baroness Carr said the pair “could have no reasonable expectation of privacy” over the messages which “relate to policing actions”. “The stand-out feature of the offending was the enormous indirect ‘societal’ harm caused by the loss to public confidence in the police,” she added. Baroness Carr continued: “In determining whether a message is ‘grossly offensive’ the tribunal of fact must ask whether its contents are liable to cause gross offence to those to whom it relates, or whether reasonable persons in our society would find it grossly offensive.” In their written judgment, Baroness Carr and Mr Justice Saini also said: “On the facts of this case, given that the messages were intended to be ‘darkly humorous’ jokes and the recipients of the messages were found by the judge to have shared the appellants’ sense of humour, no assistance could be gained from their reaction to determine whether the messages were ‘grossly offensive’ in the eyes of a reasonable member of the public, judged by the standards of today’s society.” Following the ruling, the most senior judge in England and Wales said the two men will be given 28 days “to reflect maturely on their present position” about whether to make a Supreme Court bid. If the two men – who were granted bail after their sentencing – decide not to make a bid for a challenge at the UK’s highest court, they will need to return to Westminster Magistrates’ Court within 10 days. At the hearing on June 26, Nicholas Yeo, for the two men, told judges that the offence they were convicted of “does not extend to private consensual messaging” and is instead aimed at messages “that would not be welcomed by the addressee”. He said: “If one looks at the word indecent, it would be absurd to conclude that it applies to wanted indecent messages.” Mr Yeo continued in written submissions: “It is lawful to send jokey, bombastic and iconoclastic messages to a closed group of people who will not be grossly offended thereby.” Jocelyn Ledward KC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said there were no errors of law in the previous judge’s decision-making and that the men’s argument over the law was “fundamentally misconceived”. She said in written submissions: “The provision is not exclusively concerned with protecting people from receipt of unsolicited messages of the proscribed character, but is rather aimed at ensuring propriety in communications over electronic public networks.” The court was told that in one exchange, Borders wrote: “I can’t wait to get on guns so I can shoot some c*** in the face!” In another, Cobban joked about sexually abusing domestic violence survivors whom he said “love it… that’s why they are repeat victims more often than not”. Rosemary Ainslie, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Special Crime Division, welcomed the High Court’s ruling. She said: “It remains unfathomable that those tasked with upholding the law and protecting the public could think it right to share such grossly offensive material. “In rejecting the appeal, the High Court has confirmed that the sending of these messages amounts to a criminal offence. “Jonathon Cobban and Joel Borders will now finally be punished for their actions. “To be clear, where there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to do so, the CPS will always prosecute communications offences.” Published: 26/07/2024 by Radio NewsHub

Snoop Dogg sent the Saint-Denis crowds wild as he added a drizzle of celebrity “shizzle” to the final day of the Olympic torch relay in France. Sporting a pair of suitably golden trainers, the rapper and actor carried the Olympic flame on a short leg around the Stade de France on a damp Friday morning. Local mayor Mathieu Hanotin announced earlier in the week that Snoop Dogg would be part of the relay and locals certainly came out to support. A huge cheer erupted as he appeared at the top of a bridge exiting the stadium area, pumping up to the crowds as he made his way down to the Seine to hand on the flame for its final journey along the river. Snoop, whose real name is Calvin Broadus Jr, will be working as a special correspondent for American network NBC during the Games having added his own particular touch to Olympic commentaries in Tokyo, when he famously described a dressage competitor as a “crip-walking horse”. His appearance followed on from a star-studded event on the Friday evening, called the Prelude to the Olympics, which took place at the 6th arrondissement museum, the Louis Vuitton Foundation. Hollywood actress Charlize Theron and the Rolling Stones frontman Sir Mick Jagger were among the stars at the event. Directors Spike Lee, Baz Luhrmann, Taika Waititi and Steven Spielberg and Russian model Natalia Vodianova were also in attendance. Published: 26/07/2024 by Radio NewsHub