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Asylum seekers
Express
RAF Scampton’s Red Arrow “gate guard” has been removed from the former Dambusters base where the Home Office wants to home 1,700 asylum seekers.
A beloved Red Arrows plane has been stripped away from the former base of the Dambusters, which is now designated as a site to home asylum seekers.
The Hawk T1 Red Arrow jet had been used as a “gate guard” at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire since its retirement in 2012, after 32 years of service, until the station’s closure last year.
The former home of the Dambusters is being transformed into a camp for 1,700 asylum seekers under Home Office proposals which are being fiercely opposed by thousands of local people, the Telegraph reports.
West Lindsey district council has also started legal action against the plans.
The historic aircraft is now going to be dismantled and sold at auction without its engine.
The plane has been listed on auction site GPSV, which sells ex-military hardware, until April 28 with a current bid of £51,000, in which it has been described as the “Scampton Gate Guardian”.
The Red Arrow had tallied 7,378 hours of air time, landing a grand total of 13,007 times.
It was disassembled and can now be found at the auction firm’s Leyburn facility.
This comes as local concerns were growing that the historic base was being dismantled before the migrant camp is approved.
Labour Party
Independent
Furious Labour MPs are on a collision course with Sir Keir Starmer’s team over the “brutal” and “dehumanising” anti-Tory attack adverts ahead of a showdown meeting on Monday.
In a row that shows no sign of dying down, MPs are expected to confront the leadership about the online poster that claimed Rishi Sunak did not think child sex abusers should go to prison.
The Independent understands that the disquiet extends beyond those on the left, with MPs loyal to Sir Keir using WhatsApp groups to discuss their “unease” and “exasperation” about the strategy.
Labour MP Barry Gardiner said engaging in a “brutal slugging match of abuse, oversimplification and cheap slogans” was both morally wrong and “bad strategy”.
Writing for The Independent, he said: “If we blur the distinction between policy and person, we descend into the gutter. Child abuse is a sickening crime, not an instrument to be weaponised against a political opponent.”
Mr Gardiner, former shadow trade secretary under Jeremy Corbyn, added: “Tactically it’s also a mistake. It potentially undermines Labour’s own credibility. If people don’t recognise the monster we paint, they will not believe our valid criticisms of [Mr Sunak’s] policies.”
Strikes
Guardian
England’s biggest nursing union is to ballot its members on whether to join a “make or break” mega-strike that would lead to mass action by nurses in every hospital trust in the country, the Observer can reveal.
The move by the Royal College of Nursing to “up the ante” by holding a single national vote – rather than conducting ballots in each individual trust as it did last October – would, if passed, mean twice as many trusts being hit by industrial action by nurses as have been so far.
And junior doctors warned on Saturday they might coordinate action with the RCN if the nurses’ union won a fresh mandate for further strikes.
“Coordinated action in the future is definitely something we would consider,” said Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chair of the BMA’s junior doctors committee. Options could include action on the same dates as nurses or alternating dates.
He said: “Like doctors, nurses have had cuts in pay in real terms. We are different professions, but we are basically fighting for the same thing. If it is able to be done in a way which maintains safety but increases the pressure on the government, it is something we would be willing to consider.”
Telegraph
A BMA leader is calling for coordinated strikes with other unions as it builds up a war chest for six months of junior doctor walkouts, The Telegraph can reveal.
The union, which has just ended a 96-hour strike, is calling on all members to donate a portion of their salary for the next six months in order to increase the numbers taking part in walkouts.
“Please consider donating one hour’s worth of your monthly salary, for a six-month period or as much as you can afford,” it said.
The proposals were revealed as the Royal College of Nurses (RCN) plans the most extreme strikes in its history.
The RCN’s 48-hour strike from April 30 to 2 May – which will see nurses abandon casualty departments, cancer care and intensive care units for the first time – will coincide with planned walkouts by teachers.
Express
Cancer patients are left at worrying risk due to nurse walkouts, warns NHS chief executive.
A 48-hour nurses strike will “significantly increase the risk to patients” – with cancer sufferers a particular worry, an NHS chief executive says. Nick Hulme, the boss of the East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust, also warned the public’s goodwill through industrial action is now being stretched.
The health service faces a summer of chaos after members of the Royal College of Nursing rejected a pay deal. The union announced members will walk out from 8pm on Sunday April 30 to 8pm on Tuesday May 2, affecting the May Day weekend.
They will refuse to deliver any services, including in A&E and cancer wards.
It comes despite nurses and midwives represented by Unison voting to accept the same pay offer.
There are fears future strikes by RCN members could be co-ordinated with junior doctors, who walked out for four days last week.
Mr Hulme told BBC Radio 4: “If there is a delay to cancer care, there are many people who have been waiting far too long and this will only exacerbate that risk.
“There has been a huge amount of goodwill, and that has been stretched during the action by nurses and junior doctors.”
Smart motorways
Mail
Grieving families of smart motorway victims have hailed the government’s decision to scrap further building plans after Rishi Sunak acknowledged serious concerns about safety.
A total of 14 planned smart motorways – including 11 that are already paused and three earmarked for construction – will be scrapped from Government road building plans in recognition of the lack of public trust.
For years widows and family members of victims have campaigned against the plans, accusing the government of ‘having blood on their hands’ and for not listening and taking necessary action despite repeated ‘terrible catastrophes’.
Campaigners have now welcomed the move, but demanded the Government now return the hard shoulder on all existing conversions.
Under current plans, existing stretches of smart motorways will instead be subjected to a safety refit to accommodate 150 more emergency stopping places.
Around 10 per cent of England’s motorway network is currently made up of smart motorways. They involve various methods to manage the flow of traffic, such as converting the hard shoulder into a live running lane and variable speed limits.
There have been long-standing safety fears over smart motorways following multiple fatal incidents in which vehicles stopped in live lanes without a hard shoulder were hit from behind.
Telegraph
Smart motorways will no longer be built in the UK after Rishi Sunak admitted that the public has lost confidence in them.
Fourteen planned smart motorways have been axed after years of campaigning by the families of crash victims and accusations that ministers have “blood on their hands” for a “deadly” 18-year experiment with Britain’s highways.
Roads that have already been completed will be allowed to remain but subjected to a safety refit to increase the number of emergency stopping places.
Plans to convert stretches of the M1, M6 and M25 to smart roads have been shelved, saving taxpayers an estimated £1 billion and reducing the risk of further crashes.
Smart motorways, first introduced in the UK in 2006, replaced the hard shoulder on some roads with an extra lane of traffic in an attempt to reduce congestion.
Drivers who break down are instructed to remain in the road in their stationary vehicle while the lane is closed and speed reduced around them.
ITV News
New smart motorways have been banned from being built in the UK as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak acknowledged fears over safety and cost.
Fourteen planned smart motorways – including 11 which were paused and three earmarked for construction – will be removed from government road building plans.
This is due to financial pressures and the lack of public trust in the road system.
The Department for Transport said the construction of these schemes would have cost more than £1 billion.
Smart motorway campaigner Claire Mercer, whose husband died in a crash on the M1, welcomed the Government’s decision to scrap new smart motorways but said she would continue pushing for the hard shoulder to return on every road.
She said: “It’s great, it’s very good news.“I’m particularly happy that it’s been confirmed that the routes that are in planning, in progress, have also been cancelled. I didn’t think they’d do that.
“So it’s good news, but obviously it’s the existing ones that are killing us. And I’m not settling for more emergency refuge areas. “So it’s half the battle, but we’ve still got half the battle to go.”
Around 10% of England’s motorway network is made up of smart motorways.
The key difference is they use various methods to manage the flow of traffic, such as converting the hard shoulder into a live running lane and variable speed limits.
But fears over smart motorways safety have continued to grow, following deadly incidents when vehicles stopped in live lanes without a hard shoulder were hit from behind.
Sun
PLANS to build new smart motorways are being scrapped amid fears they are unsafe, Rishi Sunak has announced.
The move was hailed by campaigners who have urged No10 to ditch the roads over claims they are death traps.
The PM said it will restore driver “confidence” after a spate of deadly accidents.
Meera Naran, whose 8 year-old son Dev was killed on a smart motorway, hailed the move which she has fought for in “memory” of her boy.
Mr Sunak said: “All drivers deserve to have confidence in the roads they use to get around the country.
“That’s why last year I pledged to stop the building of all new smart motorways, and today I’m making good on that promise.
“Many people across the country rely on driving to get to work, to take their children to school and go about their daily lives and I want them to be able to do so with full confidence that the roads they drive on are safe.”
Smart motorways are massively controversial because traffic can use the hard shoulder as an ordinary lane.
Campaigners say the roads are death traps because if a driver does crash there is often nowhere for them to go.
But while no new smart motorways will be built, existing ones will carry on, although £900 million is being spent on improving their safety.
Metro
Rishi Sunak has scrapped plans for new smart motorways in England amid concerns over safety and cost.
Fourteen planned smart motorways – which use technology to manage traffic flow and ease congestion – will be removed from government road-building plans.
This includes 11 that had already been paused in January last year and three earmarked for construction, Downing Street said today.
Around 10% of Britain’s motorway network is made up of smart motorways.
Highways England, a government agency that operators motorways, rolled out the stretches to manage traffic in a fast and cheap way in 2014.
They also involve using hard shoulders as a running lane – which campaigners say has led to road deaths – and variable speed limits.
There have been at least 79 deaths linked to smart motorways, according to the campaign group Smart Motorways Kill. Official figures say 38 people were killed on smart motorways between 2014 and 2019.
The Department for Transport admitted today the £1,000,000,000 plan to build more smart motorways isn’t financially sound and doesn’t have public backing.
The construction of two stretches of smart motorway at junctions six to eight of the M56 and 21a to 26 of the M6 will continue, however.
While pre-existing smart motorways will remain but will now be subjected to a safety refit, including more emergency stopping places.
BBC News
The building of all new smart motorways is being cancelled over cost and safety concerns, the government has announced.
Some 14 planned schemes, including 11 already on pause and three set for construction, will be scrapped due to finances and low public confidence.
Smart motorways are a stretch of road where technology is used to regulate traffic flow and ease congestion.
They also use the hard shoulder as an extra lane of traffic, which critics claim has led to road deaths.
Existing smart motorways – making up 10% of England’s motorway network – will remain and undergo a previously announced safety refit to create 150 more emergency stopping places and improved technology.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – who pledged to ban smart motorways during his leadership campaign – said “all drivers deserve to have confidence in the roads they use to get around the country”.
The Department for Transport said the new schemes would have cost more than £1bn, and cancelling them would allow time to track public trust in smart motorways over a longer period.
Seven of the 14 projects that have been cancelled were going to involve converting stretches of motorway into “all-lane running” roads where the hard shoulder is permanently removed.
They will now remain as “dynamic” smart motorways where the hard shoulder can be opened as an extra lane during busy times.
BBC
Mail
The BBC has sent redundancy letters to some of its most famous news presenters, including Huw Edwards, Reeta Chakrabarti, Clive Myrie and Sophie Raworth.
The cash-strapped Corporation, which is trying to save costs by restructuring its news division, has written to all its senior TV and radio presenters asking them to consider voluntary redundancy.
The Mail on Sunday understands that the letter from Philippa Busby, the interim managing editor of news and current affairs, has been sent to senior figures on BBC1, as well as some of Radio 4’s biggest names, including Nick Robinson and Justin Webb, who host the station’s flagship Today programme.
The decision to target some of the most senior journalists has sent shockwaves through BBC News. Furious insiders say it has caused morale among staff, which was already low, to plummet even further.
The redundancy letters have been linked to cost-cutting measures announced by Director-General Tim Davie last year.
Telegraph
The BBC has issued redundancy letters to some of its top stars, it was reported on Saturday night.
It forms part of a cost-saving move by the corporation, which is looking to cut expenditure by restructuring its news division.
The BBC has written to all its senior TV and radio presenters asking them to consider voluntary redundancy.
The report in the Mail on Sunday suggests that the letter from Philippa Busby, the interim managing editor of news and current affairs, had contacted leading names.
Sun
THE BBC has issued redundancy letters to some of its most famous presenters – including veteran newsreader Huw Edwards.
Cash-strapped executives have asked some of the broadcaster’s best known if they’re interested in voluntary redundancy as part of a cost-cutting scheme.
The letters – circulated through a mass email to top-earning talent on TV and radio – was sent to top BBC News host Huw Edwards, who is paid more than £450,000 a year.
TV stalwart Edwards, 61, won praise for his composure after announcing the death of Queen Elizabeth to the world last year, and recently signed a new three-year deal with the broadcaster.
An email sent by BBC News editor Philippa Busby reportedly quizzed senior on-screen staff if they “would like to consider potentially leaving the BBC under voluntary redundancy”.
Express
Redundancy letters have reportedly been sent out to some of the BBC’s highest paid newsreaders. Recipients include Huw Edwards, Reeta Chakrabarti, Clive Myrie and Sophie Raworth.
The beleaguered corporation is undergoing a major restructuring process within its news division as bosses attempt to save money and all senior TV and radio hosts have been asked if they would like to take voluntary redundancy.
The Mail on Sunday reports that the Beeb’s interim managing editor of news and current affairs, Philippa Busby, has written to senior figures on BBC1 and some of Radio 4‘s top names such as Nick Robinson and Justin Webb – presenters of its flagship Today programme.
The move – linked to efficiency savings measures announced by Director-General Tim Davie last year – has reportedly caused already low morale at BBC News to nosedive even more.
A merger between the BBC News channel and its international equivalent BBC World News has already taken place as part of these plans.
A total of 10 senior jobs were cut as broadcasters were invited to compete for a handful of chief presenting vacancies and well-known stars such as Joanna Gosling opted to quit.
Coronation
BBC News
More than 6,000 armed forces members will take part in King Charles’s coronation, making it the largest military ceremonial operation in 70 years
Personnel from across the UK and the Commonwealth will join processions in London.
Thousands of veterans have also been invited to watch the coronation from a special viewing platform on 6 May.
They will join NHS workers on a stand in front of Buckingham Palace.
The guests, invited by the Royal British Legion, will be given a special view of the coronation, including the processions and flypast.
The first procession will be smaller in scale, and will feature just under 200 members of the armed forces who will travel down the Mall to Trafalgar Square, before turning onto Whitehall where they will march to Westminster Abbey.
Flanking them on either side will be over 1,000 personnel from the Army, navy and RAF who will line the route.
The biggest event of the day will be the coronation procession, featuring nearly 4,000 personnel, which will see the King make the historic journey from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace.
Outside of London, gun salutes will be sounded from firing stations in 13 locations including Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast at the moment the King is crowned.
Yes, but have they sent a voluntary redundancy notice to the utter pillock who presents Match of the Day. That would be more like it. However, I don’t personally care what happens to the BBC. Not bothered if it exists at all, not having a TV or a Licence.
Bureaucracy. A tiny number are necessary. perhaps one in a hundred., They’ve grown fat on giving the work to the public leaving themselves free to laze about ( Shirking from Home ).
Push the work back on the customer. Push the work back on the applicant ( Have you seen Civil Service forms lately).
Push the work on anybody else ( Phone menus ), Push the work back to China ( And put our workers out ). Push the distribution sector. Push the work onto retailers. retailers go bust push work onto other wholesalers, they go bust..
What’s left . A barren country with no manufacture except food and drink., and the City., Emigrants in small boats trying to leave.
Once upon a time the brits were known for the Art of Compromise. In the case of Brexit they’ve practised the art of treachery ( Betrayal of someone who trusts you. )… Betrayal 🙁 Treachery (The act of betraying trust ). So, they’re both the same with no alternative. Same as the usual punishment.
It just shows the state of our rulers that that they are all so described, and its no surprise to anybody. We never even mentioned compromise during Brexit, preferring cowardice and treachery
TG- didn’t you see / read the referendum ballot paper? On page six you had to tick, cliff edge deal, surrender deal, fat deal, vassel deal, long deal, recurring deal, giveaway deal, open borders deal, . . .
In the 60’s and 70’s most factories or larger employers, payed employees with some sort of deal which included some form of inflation proofing. (Annual rises which were calculated in accordance with inflation. With very occasional changes every few years to take account of the various types of inflation. Any union branch can explain.
TG- I had just such a contract. According to the retail price index and a couple of other ineces. Yes it did go down one month! The general feeling was great. You did not need to go to the boss from time to time to get a pay rise – you were on a salary that went with what you could buy. Job done. But, it was usually a company that made things.
The BBC scalp is one of the easiest establishment scalps to take. Those still paying their licence fee are keeping this toxic, propaganda ship afloat. No establishment party will ever remove the licence fee. We have to do it for them.
450 thou for reading the news. For reading the extreme left bbc propaganda aka as news! Dont forget the three years paid termination clause. I’m in the wrong job!
Guessing they are looking for a one eyed, one horned, transvestite, flying purple people eater to replace the underpaid chap (on an even bigger salary).
All the money allocated to build so-called smart motorways can now be use SMARTLY and renew our complete road system. We are watching you Rishie! We are also aware the roads were being neglected to deter driving- that will never happen as a lot of us do not live in city ghettos. Fifteen minute walk would still leave me nowhere near a shop!
If BMA members can afford to spend their money on troublemakers, they don’t need any more. If the BBC sacked all of their overpaid presenters it would still be over manned. They need a top-down cull. Why are illegals housed at all? The only process is a quick turn around.