Awaab Ishak: Toddler's mould death unacceptable, says Michael Gove - BBC

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The death of a toddler after he faced months of living with mould in his home is an "unacceptable tragedy", Housing Secretary Michael Gove has said.

Awaab Ishak, two, died of a respiratory condition caused by exposure to the mould in his flat, a coroner ruled.

Awaab's father repeatedly raised the issue with Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) but no action was ever taken.

Mr Gove said it "beggars belief" that RBH's chief executive Gareth Swarbrick was still in his £185,000-a-year job.

Coroner Joanne Kearsley criticised RBH for not being "proactive" and asked: "How in the UK in 2020 does a two-year-old child die as a result of exposure to mould?"

Greater Manchester Police

Awaab died in December 2020 following a cardiac arrest after living in the damp one-bedroom flat in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

His father Faisal Abdullah had complained about the mould but said the family had been "left feeling absolutely worthless at the hands of RBH".

Mr Gove said local authorities and housing associations could not blame a lack of government funding for the child's death.

'Do your job, man'

"We all know that local authorities are facing challenging times when it comes to finance but, frankly, that is no excuse," said Mr Gove.

"When you have got a situation where you have a young child in a house that is unfit for human habitation, it is a basic responsibility of the local authority - but particularly the housing association - to make sure that people are in decent homes.

"All this what-aboutery, all this 'Oh, if only we had more government money' - do your job, man."

Mr Gove said he had summoned the head of the housing association, who earned £170,000 in the year of Awaab's death, to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

RBH's financial reports show Mr Swarbrick's pay increased to £185,000 the year after Awaab's death.

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The minister said the government was bringing forward legislation to ensure housing associations responsible for providing social housing are "held to account".

Mr Swarbrick said Awaab's death should be a "wake-up call for everyone in housing, social care and health".

He said: "We didn't recognise the level of risk to a little boy's health from the mould in the family's home."

The housing boss added: "We must make sure this can never happen again."

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2022-11-16 09:20:34Z
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Cost of living: Local supermarket boom as inflation jumps - BBC

By Sarah Dickins & Gareth Pennant

BBC Wales economics correspondent

A Welsh supermarket chain has revealed the cost of living crisis has led to a boom in business.

It comes as latest inflation figures show that prices rose by 11.1% in the year to October - a 41-year high.

CK Foodstores said the rising cost of petrol meant customers were shopping locally more in a bid to save cash.

"I thought people are struggling, prices are going up, for everything, but for us it's better," said Melanie Jenkins, who manages one of the stores.

Inflation, which measures how the cost of living changes over time, is being largely driven driven by higher energy bills.

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• LIVE: Latest inflation figures to reveal how fast prices rising

The latest inflation figure, released on Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the highest since October 1981.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the government would set out its plans on Thursday to help bring inflation under control.

He blamed "the aftershock of Covid and Putin's invasion of Ukraine" for driving up inflation in the UK and around the world.

Mr Hunt said that he would have to take "tough but necessary decisions" on tax and spending to bring down debt and support sustainable growth while protecting the most vulnerable.

The company said it was selling more, despite prices in September being 10.1% higher than a year earlier.

For months prices have been rising at the fastest rate in 40 years, with the steepest rises for food and energy.

CK Foodstores, which has 33 stores in Wales, buys from wholesalers and as locally as possible to keep down transport costs. It says customers are doing the same.

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Carmarthenshire's Pontyberem store manager Melanie Jenkins said: "Our takings are up because a lot of local people would rather shop locally than drive to Llanelli or Carmarthen to buy from the big stores because it's costing them more petrol."

She believed more people were also applying for local jobs to save on petrol.

"All our staff here live locally," she said.

"I only live two minutes down the road and it's not costing me petrol as it would if I worked in Llanelli."

CK Foodstores employ 657 staff and as energy and transport costs have risen it has changed the way it operates.

It has developed a centralised bakery in Llanelli but in the last year it has seen the price of flour rise 35%, milk by a similar amount and eggs 20%.

It has tried to use less diesel by buying locally.

Operations director Alun Littlejohns said: "We are lucky we can work with our supply chains here in west Wales, we can work with local suppliers who want to develop their brands".

He said customers were not spending less but they were more aware of food mileage and waste.

In the St Elli shopping centre, in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, there is less confidence.

Juliet Campbell, of Bradleys Coffee Shop, said customers were eating teacake instead of sandwiches and drinking smaller coffees.

"We're not going to make much of a profit or any profit over the next couple of months," she said.

She said she was worried as she did not want to have to cut staff.

"We are walking a fine line as we are," she said.

Customer Laura Birkett is worried her fixed rate mortgage will rise.

"I don't have any money to put aside because its all going on bills and things," said Ms Birkett, who works in an estate agent.

"I'm trying not to spend so much in my lunch breaks, trying to bring my own food but you can't do much about it because it's everywhere."

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2022-11-16 07:31:30Z
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Rishi Sunak softens UK stance towards China - Financial Times

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has softened the UK’s attitude towards China, moving away from his predecessor Liz Truss’s decision to label the country a “threat”.

As chancellor, Sunak sought to deepen economic ties between the two countries by proposing the resumption of the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue, an annual trade and investment summit that last took place in 2019. The proposed event was later cancelled.

Since he became prime minister, Sunak has sought a more pragmatic approach to foreign policy than Truss, with a focus on strengthening trading and economic ties rather than a primarily values-based approach.

Speaking at the G20 summit of world leaders in Indonesia, Sunak said China “unequivocally” posed a “systemic challenge” to the UK’s values and interests, adding that it was “undoubtedly the biggest state-based threat to our economic security”.

But unlike Truss, Sunak said he still wanted to have a working relationship with China, describing it as “an indisputable fact of the global economy”.

He added, “We’re not going to be able to resolve shared global challenges like climate change or public health, or indeed actually dealing with Russia and Ukraine, without having a dialogue with them.”

Sunak said the UK would still look to defend itself against China’s economic threats. “That’s why it’s important that we take the powers that we need to defend ourselves . . . the National Security Investment Act is a good example of that,” he added.

The prime minister said his position was “highly aligned with our allies”, noting recent national security strategies from the US and Australia that adopted similar rhetoric.

But he left open the possibility of meeting China’s president Xi Jinping in Bali, saying: “President Xi is here and like all the other leaders; hopefully, I will have a chance to talk to him too.”

Truss, who beat Sunak in this summer’s Conservative party leadership race, had adopted a more hostile stance on China, seeking to designate it as a “threat” — an upgrade from Boris Johnson’s classification of a “systemic competitor”.

Truss ordered a rewrite of the UK’s integrated review of security and defence policy, led by Downing Street’s chief foreign policy adviser Professor John Bew. The review is continuing under Sunak but is likely to take a stance on China that falls between those of Johnson and Truss.

Sunak did not deny that the UK could arm Taiwan if it faced further aggression from China in future, saying: “We’re considering all these things as part of the refresh of the integrated review.”

On Taiwan, he added: “There should be no unilateral change to the status and there should be a peaceful resolution to that situation. We stand ready to support Taiwan as we do in standing up to Chinese aggression.”

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2022-11-15 10:30:00Z
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What do we know will be in the Autumn Statement? - BBC

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By Nick Eardley & Helen Catt & Leila Nathoo

BBC political correspondents

The Chancellor is putting the finishing touches to the government's second financial package in under two months.

Jeremy Hunt is expected to dismantle much of what his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng announced in his mini-budget on 23 September.

On Thursday, Mr Hunt will unveil his Autumn Statement - a Budget in all but name - to "get our way back to growing healthily", as he puts it.

• Economists question 'black hole' in UK finances
• Six ways the Autumn Statement could affect you
• Where will the 'eye-watering' cuts be?
• Can Hunt's Budget defuse a financial timebomb?

The Treasury say nothing confirmed until the statement is announced. But we do know some of what is likely to be announced.

Spending cuts v tax rises

After the uncertainty of the last few weeks, Mr Hunt said he wants to reduce the size of the so-called fiscal black hole - the gap between what the government raises and spends. This will involve political choices about how much debt is acceptable, what taxes can go up and what spending can be squeezed.

The exact level of spending cuts and tax increase changes based on different decisions being signed off. But the accepted wisdom in the Treasury is that there will be more spending cuts than tax rises. This is likely to mean spending cuts of about £35bn and tax rises of around £20bn.

The Treasury is trying to emphasise this is quite different from the George Osborne era, when the vast majority of savings came through spending cuts.

But a number of Conservative MPs are unhappy at the tax increases we are likely to see - so there could be some political pushback ahead.

Stealth taxes

This could be a big theme of the Autumn Statement. Stealth taxes involve freezing the thresholds at which people start paying different rates of tax.

For the last few weeks, the Treasury has been discussing a wide range of tax thresholds which could be frozen. But because of inflation and pay increases, this involves people paying more tax because more of their money qualifies for a given tax band.

The final plans are still be signed off, but the signs are that this could be used pretty widely. Income tax bands are likely to be frozen until 2028 - it's also likely that threshold at which people start paying the 45p tax rate could be reduced to £125,000. That's quite a turnaround from the days of Liz Truss and Mr Kwarteng wanted to scrap the additional rate altogether.

Energy bills

Ms Truss had planned a massive support package when she was in Downing Street; limiting the average unit price for two years. This "energy price guarantee" meant that typical households would pay no more than £2,500 on gas and electricity annually.

That is not going to happen under Rishi Sunak, because the government is worried about the cost. Instead there will be a more targeted approach from April.

It's expected the chancellor will still announce a cap of some sort on Thursday, but it will mean bills going up for a lot of people. There is likely to be support for certain groups like those on low incomes and pensioners.

Windfall tax

Rishi Sunak introduced the Windfall Tax on the profits of oil and gas companies when he was chancellor. But ever since, there have been calls for it to be extended, both in timescale and scope.

This is another revenue raiser which looks likely, the question is how. Treasury officials have been exploring increasing the rate of the tax to 35%, extending the time frame the windfall tax applies for and bringing electricity generators into the scope.

Labour wants loopholes closed. At the moment, if oil and gas companies can offset their tax liability if they invest profits in the UK. There was controversy when it emerged Shell had not been liable for any Windfall Tax, despite reported profits of £25.4bn ($30bn) this year - more than double the amount it made over same period in 2021.

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Social care

Remember the health and social care levy? It was Boris Johnson's plan to try and cap the amount of money people in England paid for social care.

But it was a tax rise that Conservative members didn't like - and Ms Truss scrapped it. Rishi Sunak isn't going to open that can of worms again, so the money it would have raised has gone, leaving big questions over how a cap would be funded.

It is expected that on Thursday, the chancellor will postpone the introduction of the social care cap for at least two year - roughly the period covered by the spending review. That would kick the decision until after a general election and opens the door to the cap being scrapped altogether.

Triple lock and benefits

This is one of the biggest spending decisions the Treasury has been weighing up. Should pensions and benefits go up by the rate of inflation, despite the rate being extremely high at the moment?

Nobody in government will confirm this, but the mood music is both are likely to happen.

The government committed to the pensions triple lock in its manifesto, something which the prime minister has talked a lot about. The triple lock is popular with Conservative voters. And if the prime minister decided not to follow it, he would risk a rebellion among Tory MPs.

The same is true on benefits. Ms Truss faced a lot of pressure to commit to uprating benefits in line with inflation. Among those pressing her were some senior MPs who are now in Mr Sunak's cabinet, including Michael Gove and Mel Stride.

And it was Mr Sunak as chancellor who promised earlier this year the benefits increase would be in line with inflation. He would face a lot of political flack if he changed his mind, despite the changing economic picture.

Council Tax

One of the taxes which is likely to go up soon is council tax in England.

The government currently limits the amount councils can increase the tax to 3% without a referendum to approve bigger hikes.

But the Treasury has been discussing ways that limit could be increased. It wouldn't mean councils can put tax up by as much as they want without asking voters, but it would mean they can increase it by more. We don't know exactly how much the increase will be, but there has been speculation the limit could go up to 5%.

This is a way of increasing funding for public services and social care without the government directly raising taxes. But it would increase pressure on household budgets. The Tory manifesto in 2019 said local people would continue to have the final say on council tax, being able to veto "excessive rises".

Capital Gains Tax

When it comes to tax rises, we're told the chancellor is of the view that the greatest burden should fall on those with the broadest shoulders.

We'll have to see how that pans out but Capital Gains Tax is one levy that looks very likely to be targeted. The tax is paid on the profit gained when an asset is sold - a second home or shares, for instance.

It is not clear yet if it would be an overall rise in the rate - something one source believed to be unlikely - or another change to thresholds or exemptions.

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2022-11-15 09:11:24Z
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Edinburgh's War Memorial set on fire by vandals - BBC

City of Edinburgh Council

By Angie Brown

BBC Scotland, Edinburgh and East reporter

Edinburgh's War Memorial has been set on fire - less than 24 hours after Remembrance Sunday services were held.

Several wreathes were completely burnt in the fire and Edinburgh's Stone of Remembrance blackened with soot.

Edinburgh's Lord Provost said it was "disgusting and disrespectful".

The Army major who runs the team that makes the poppies and wreathes said he was "horrified" by the act of vandalism outside the City Chambers building in the Royal Mile.

Major Charlie Pelling, factory manager of the Lady Haig Poppy Factory in Redford Barracks in Edinburgh, told BBC Scotland: "This is deeply insulting to the memory of the men and women the memorial is meant to remember. I'm absolutely horrified."

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it was "utterly beyond comprehension".

She said it was "sickening and disgraceful" that someone would vandalise a war memorial.

She said: "I hope those responsible are identified and brought to justice."

City of Edinburgh Coucnil

It is understood CCTV in the area is now being checked and witnesses are being urged to come forward.

Lord Provost Robert Aldridge said: "Yesterday it was my honour to lay a wreath on behalf of the City of Edinburgh to remember those who served and sacrificed so much.

"The vandalism discovered this morning not only to the recently laid wreaths but also Edinburgh's Stone of Remembrance is disgusting and disrespectful.

"We remain at a loss for the reasons someone could do something like this which has caused a lot of upset for everyone who respects the memories of all who serve their country. We have reported this to the police and would urge anyone who knows anything about what happened to contact them."

Ex-servicemen and women make the wreathes.

Money raised from selling poppies helps support vulnerable ex-servicemen and women - and their families.

Police Scotland confirmed they were investigating the incident.

Ch Insp Murray Tait said: "Our inquiries are ongoing after poppy wreaths were set on fire at the war memorial in High Street, Edinburgh about 05:00 on Monday.

"Officers are carrying out inquiries and gathering CCTV footage to find out more information on whoever is responsible.

"I utterly condemn this appalling act of vandalism, especially at this time of year when remembrance services have just been held across the country."

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2022-11-14 14:49:05Z
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UK strikes revised deal with France on Channel migrants - BBC

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By Paul Seddon

Politics reporter

The UK will pay France £8m more a year under a revised deal to try to stop people crossing the English Channel in small boats.

The money will pay for increased surveillance of French beaches, while UK police officers will also be able to observe patrols within France.

French officers patrolling the coast to try to stop people setting off will rise from 200 to 300 over five months.

PM Rishi Sunak said he was "confident" the crossings could be brought down.

However, he warned there was no "single thing" that could "fix" the situation, promising "even greater cooperation" with France in the months ahead.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called the deal a "small step in the right direction," but said more need to be done to tackle people smuggling.

• Chris Mason: Rishi Sunak grilled on small boat crossings
• How many migrants cross the Channel in small boats?
• What's behind the Home Office migrant backlog?

The government is coming under increasing pressure to reduce journeys across the Channel, which have risen to record levels this year.

More than 40,000 people have crossed in small boats so far this year, including 1,800 this weekend alone, according to official figures.

Under the new agreement, signed by Home Secretary Suella Braverman in Paris, the UK will pay France £63m this year, up from £55m last year.

It will cover:

• investment in drones, night vision equipment, and CCTV in French ports to try and prevent crossings
• funding for detection dogs at ports to identify people trying to enter the UK in lorries
• investment in reception and removal centres in France

UK observers will be embedded in French control rooms, and French observers embedded in UK control rooms, to help inform each other's deployments.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the UK wanted to "significantly" reduce the number of crossings - but declined to set a target for reductions.

Today's announcement may shift some officers closer to frontline decision-making - but it's not clear how the deal helps the UK to solve three pressing issues.

Firstly, those new British teams (on top of those deployed since 2018) will only be observers.

They have no operational powers, so even if more boats and smugglers are intercepted, they can't tell the French what to do with individual migrants who we know may try more than once to cross.

Secondly, some critics say the UK needs to look for a bigger continental-wide deal. But it chose not to be part of the EU's irregular migrant management policies, as part of Brexit.

The final big challenge is on the UK side of the English Channel. The Home Office's day-to-day battle to find somewhere to accommodate those who survive the sea is directly linked to the department's huge backlogs and the delays in dealing with those who arrived before them.

Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the deal, but said there was "much more that needs to be done". "We need the National Crime Agency working upstream to tackle the people smuggling in the first place," he told reporters.

He also criticised the "desperate state" of asylum application processing in the UK, adding most people would be "shocked" by official figures showing that only 4% of asylum claims by migrants who crossed the Channel last year have been processed.

Franck Dhersin, mayor of Teteghem near the coastal town of Dunkirk, said the increase in crossings this year had come despite "a lot of police" watching the coast.

"We are talking about 175km of beaches and dunes, where it is very easy to hide," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Natalie Elphicke, the Conservative MP for Dover, called the new deal "more of the same," adding it "falls far short of what is needed".

"The only thing that will tackle this issue is making sure that the boats are stopped in France before they get in the water," she added.

The Refugee Council and Amnesty International UK called for a greater focus on increasing the number of safe and legal routes for people who want to claim asylum in the UK.

.

The higher numbers of migrants making the crossing this year has been partly blamed on a big rise in the number of Albanian nationals making the journey.

So far this year 12,000 Albanians have arrived in the UK using small boats, compared to just 50 in 2020.

The deal comes after weeks of criticism aimed at the government for severe overcrowding at the migrant processing site in Manston, Kent, and for its spending on housing for those waiting for their asylum applications to be completed.

According to the Home Office, the UK is spending £5.6m on accommodating asylum seekers in hotels. It is spending a further £1.2m a day to temporarily house Afghan refugees who fled the Taliban.

The latest government figures for the year to the end of June 2022 showed that 103,000 asylum applications were awaiting a decision.

Ms Braverman has previously admitted the system was "broken" and Mr Sunak has said not enough asylum claims were being processed.

Manston overcrowding

More than 40,000 people applying for asylum have waited between one and three years for a decision on their claim, according to a Refugee Council Freedom of Information request, reported in The Guardian.

It also reported that a further 725 migrants have been waiting for more than five years to have their claim processed.

It emerged last month there was severe overcrowding at Manston, with 4,000 people staying there rather than the 1,600 for which the site was intended.

Numbers have since been reduced to less than 1,600, according to immigration minister Robert Jenrick.

On Saturday it emerged people at Manston centre are to be vaccinated against highly contagious and sometimes fatal diphtheria after an outbreak.

.

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2022-11-14 13:53:32Z
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Violent armed gang members jailed for more than 100 years after attacking security guards refilling cash machines - Sky News

Members of a gang of armed robbers have been jailed for more than 100 years after a wave of violent attacks on security guards refilling cash machines.

They used guns, knives, hammers and crowbars to terrorise staff before fleeing in a fleet of stolen vehicles and leaving few clues behind them.

When banknotes got stained by security dye, they laundered the cash through fixed-odds betting terminals in bookmakers' shops.

They took advantage of a system that allowed punters to load a machine with up to £3,000 cash, make one small bet and then collect their unspent stake in fresh notes from the shop's cash till.

They burnt piles of stained banknotes and a car that got sprayed when they smashed open one cash box and triggered the dye security system.

Armed police ambushed two robbers - Abdi Omar and Brooklyn McFarlane - as they were about to attack security guards at a local Sainsbury's in Wimbledon. Omar was caught quickly, while McFarlane ran and pulled a knife and was shot by police who believed he was carrying a gun. He was discharged from hospital the next day.

The gang were caught after an astonishing bit of detective work by the Metropolitan Police's Flying Squad who, from poor quality CCTV footage, managed to identify and track one of their stolen cars and the first of the robbers who eventually led them to the rest.

'The violence was extreme'

Detective Superintendent Simon Moring said: "They had a well-organised gang structure. They displayed a really good tradecraft, using stolen vehicles, cloned number plates, they knew a lot about police tactics, used good anti-surveillance techniques, so that they knew what they were doing. They were a forceful gang.

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"The violence was extreme, security guards thrown around, hit with iron bars, guns held to their heads. Thankfully no one got seriously hurt. They would have just carried on committing robberies and who knows where and how it would have ended."

Image: The gang used weapons to terrorise staff

Image: A member of the gang brandishes a gun

The gang attacked guards at cash points in London, Oxford, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, usually congregating and travelling from an estate in South London. Armed with loaded handguns and other weapons they wore ballistic body armour and balaclavas. Over 18 months they stole more than £400,000.

Image: Clockwise from top left: Ola Orulebaja, Ihab Ashaoui, Adam Salman, Brooklyn McFarlane, Abdi Omar, Mahdi Hashi, Basil Abdul-Latif, Noaman Amin, Ibrahim Lyazi, David Tesfaalem

Two robbers arrested after crashing into bus

The first two robbers identified were arrested after jumping a red light and crashing into a bus. They ran off but were chased and caught by a team of detectives who were trailing them.

While awaiting trial the two shared a cell in Wandsworth prison and police later discovered they had a smuggled mobile phone and used it to coordinate more robberies committed by those yet to be caught.

Image: The first two robbers identified were arrested after jumping a red light and crashing into a bus

The sentences

In the first of two trials Basil Abdul-Latif, 36, from South London, the gang's leader, was jailed for 22 years for conspiracies to rob, possess a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and handle stolen goods and arson.

A second main gang member David Tesfaalem, 30, from South London, was jailed for 20 years for similar offences.

Ibrahim Lyazi, 29, from west London, got 18 years and two others, Ihab Ashaoui, 30, and Adam Salman, 32, were each jailed for 14 years. Ola Orulebaja was jailed for 13 years.

Image: The gang used guns in the robberies

Image: One of the burnt-out cars

Detective Constable Stephen O'Connell from the Flying Squad said: "This was an immensely complex investigation involving a huge amount of evidence. The group caused havoc in and outside London with buildings being severely damaged and high-value goods being stolen.

"These men have since discovered that crime does not pay and thanks to the complex investigative work by the Flying Squad they will instead be spending time behind bars. Investigations continue to track down and bring to justice outstanding suspects who are believed to be involved in these offences."

Four other men, all from south London, were awaiting sentence today after being convicted for their roles in the robbery conspiracy. They were: Brooklyn McFarlane and Abdi Omar, both 27, Mahdi Hashi, 29, and Noaman Amin, 26.

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2022-11-14 11:26:15Z
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