Current Politics in the United Kingdom

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Bloody Sunday: No perjury charges against former soldiers

Fifteen former soldiers investigated for perjury over Bloody Sunday will not face any charges, the Bloody Sunday families have said.

A Public Prosecution Service (PPS) announcement is expected later.

The Bloody Sunday families were informed of the decision on Friday morning.

Prosecutors have been deciding if charges will be brought against 15 former soldiers and an alleged IRA member

Thirteen people were shot dead when soldiers opened fire on marchers during a civil rights march in Londonderry on 30 January 1972.

Breaking news:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-68854561

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Continued...

20mph: Mark Drakeford clear as mud on enforcement - top Tory
9 January

Source:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-67926707

Continued...

We want 20mph speed limit, say worried villagers
18 April 2024

The 20mph speed limit has many critics across Wales, but some people in two villages have said they would welcome it near their homes.

A number of residents in Eglwys Fach and Furnace in Ceredigion said they did not feel safe walking in the villages, which have a 40mph speed limit on a section of a main road without a pavement.

They said there had been fatal accidents and many near-misses near their homes on the A487, and that they have been calling for a safer walking route for decades.

The Welsh government - which has indicated changes to Wales' default 20mph limit - said it took road safety very seriously and a feasibility study for a footpath in the villages has been commissioned.

The villagers' calls came before Wales’ new Transport Secretary Ken Skates said there would be changes to the existing default 20mph speed limit in built-up areas of Wales.

Mr Skates said the 20mph zones should be targeted at schools, hospitals and nurseries.

He said there was support for the limit in areas where children and the elderly were “at risk”, with the “voice of citizens at the heart of all we do”.

Speaking before Mr Skates's comments, people in the two Ceredigion villages described their experiences of the A487 between Machynlleth and Aberystwyth.

Alison Swanson, a community councillor who has lived in Furnace for most of her life, said she remembered three fatal accidents in the area.

She said pedestrians often felt at risk when walking to the church or the village hall, known as the “Iron Room”, where many activities are held each week, including fitness classes.

“When you’re walking from the hall quite often people have had their exercise mats clipped,” she said.

“And if you’ve got two lorries coming at 40mph, that’s quite a speed through here. You basically have to go into the hedge.”

Maia, 12, catches a bus to school in Aberystwyth and said: “Every morning I walk down to the bus stop and there’s cars and lorries going really fast past me.

“I have to walk on the road as there’s no pavement there, and that’s really terrifying because the lorries drive really close because they have no room.”

In November 2023 residents held a protest march on the road through the villages carrying placards calling for a lower speed limit.

They were addressed by Ceredigion Member of the Senedd Elin Jones, who said the community had campaigned for better road safety for many years.

Celia Davies, from Furnace, wears a high-vis jacket when she takes her dog Rosie out, and is scared when they have to walk along the edge of the busy road.

“It isn’t safe. Sometimes you feel [the draught from the vehicles] sort of twinge away at your anorak sleeve," she said.

“It really is quite scary. It’s not quite as scary as walking with my grandson, I mean, that’s a nightmare."

'No pavements or speed limit'

Last year the 20mph speed limit came into force for all restricted roads, defined as those with lampposts placed not more than 200 yards (180m) apart, and are typically in residential and built-up areas of high pedestrian activity.

It applies to 37% of the road network in Wales, although councils can apply for exemptions on stretches.

The Welsh government said when it was introduced, it would mean fewer collisions, injuries and deaths and that people of all ages would “feel safer to walk” in their communities.

Despite opposition to the 20mph in other communities, Ms Swanson said people in Eglwys Fach and Furnace would welcome it.

“We’re 40mph and no pavement, which at the moment is very rare," she said.

“Every other [nearby] village that’s got 20mph also has pavements. We’ve got neither. We don’t care if they reduce the speed limit to 20mph – just reduce the speed.”

Residents of the villages have submitted a petition to the Senedd calling for a lower speed limit.

Mr Skates said he would give more details on his plans when he makes a statement to the Senedd next week.

A Welsh government spokesperson said it regularly reviewed police collision data to inform the need for additional measures.

It also said it had commissioned a feasibility study for the provision of a footpath in the villages with a proposed scheme to follow, subject to funding and prioritisation.

Source:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3g5w552dlxo

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Council building splashed with red paint for a third time

A Grade II-listed council building has been daubed with red paint for the third time in just over a month.

Somerset County Hall was splashed with red paint overnight on Wednesday following recent protests from a group called Palestine Action.

It is thought the protest is related to Somerset Council's decision to sell an office to defence contractor Elbit Systems UK, which activists claim has links to the Israeli military - something the company denies.

A spokesperson for the council said it was "very disappointed" and "strongly condemns" the method of protest.

"We are very disappointed at this further criminal damage of public property which will inevitably result in additional cost to the public purse," they said.

“We believe this incident relates to a legacy commercial investment.

"We have done what we can to engage protestors over their concerns and this investment property is in our commercial disposals programme, though as with every lease there are contractual obligations regarding the lease.

“Today’s events again demonstrate the protestors’ preference to cause damage rather than engage in meaningful conversation.

"While we respect the right of individuals and groups to protest, we strongly condemn this style of protest damaging a Grade II-listed public building."

Arrests were made earlier this month after red paint was sprayed onto the council's headquarters, with the four people released on bail after.

The entrance to the building was also blocked.

As part of its annual budget, Somerset Council previously agreed to sell an office at Aztec West to Elbit Systems UK.

Elbit has maintained it does not supply equipment to the Israeli military.

Source:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1wxgp8znz8o

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Infected blood scandal: Children were used as 'guinea pigs' in clinical trials

The true scale of the number of medical trials using infected blood products on children in the 1970s and 80s has been revealed by documents seen by BBC News.

They reveal a secret world of unsafe clinical testing involving children in the UK, as doctors placed research goals ahead of patients' needs.

They continued for more than 15 years, involved hundreds of people, and infected most with hepatitis C and HIV.

One surviving patient told the BBC he was treated like a "guinea pig".

The trials involved children with blood clotting disorders, when families had often not consented to them taking part. The majority of the children who enrolled are now dead.

Documents also show that doctors in haemophilia centres across the country used blood products, even though they were widely known as likely to be contaminated.

A shortage of blood products in the UK in the 1970s and 80s meant they were imported from the US. High-risk donors such as prisoners and drug addicts provided the plasma for the treatments that were infected with potentially fatal viruses including hepatitis C - which attacks the liver resulting in cirrhosis and cancer - and HIV.

One blood product, known as Factor VIII, was seen to be highly effective for stopping bleeding but also widely known to be contaminated with viruses.

A public inquiry is under way into the scandal. The final report is due in May.

'Guinea pig'

Luke O'Shea-Phillips, 42, has mild haemophilia - a blood clotting disorder that means he bruises and bleeds more easily than most.

He caught the potentially lethal viral infection hepatitis C while being treated at the Middlesex Hospital, in central London, which was administered because of a small cut to his mouth, aged three, in 1985.

Documents seen by the BBC suggest he was deliberately given the blood product - which his doctor knew might have been infected - so he could be enrolled in a clinical trial.

The doctor wanted to find out how likely patients were to catch diseases from a new version of heat-treated Factor VIII. Though he had never been treated for his condition before, Luke was given heat-treated Factor VIII to stop his mouth bleeding.

A letter from Luke's doctor, Samuel Machin, to another expert in haemophilia, was submitted in evidence to the public inquiry into the infected blood scandal.

Writing to Peter Kernoff, at London's Royal Free Hospital, Dr Machin detailed the treatment of Luke and another boy, asking: "I hope they will be suitable for your heat-treated trial."

Months earlier, Dr Kernoff had called on fellow doctors in the field to identify patients suitable for clinical trials. Specifically, he said, they had to be "previously untreated patients", known as "PUPs" in the medical community.

They were also nicknamed "virgin haemophiliacs" - a term written on Luke's medical record by Dr Machin.

"I was a guinea pig in clinical trials that could have killed me," Luke told the BBC. "There is no other way to explain it - my treatment was changed so I could be enrolled in clinical trials. This change in medication gave me a fatal disease - hepatitis C - yet my mother was never even told."

"To the scientific world, it was an incredible benefit being a virgin haemophiliac," he added. "To be a clean petri dish to understand science through, I was without question a part of that."

In the following years, as the medical trial reached its conclusions, Luke had many blood tests. Doctors said they were monitoring him and, at the time, his mother, Shelagh O'Shea, was grateful.

In their findings, published in 1987, Dr Kernoff and Dr Machin concluded heat treatment had "little or no effect" in reducing the risk of hepatitis C.

Both Dr Kernoff and Dr Machin are now dead.

Before he died, Dr Machin gave evidence to the public inquiry, when he confirmed that Luke had been recruited to Dr Kernoff's study.

He denied this had been done without Luke's mother's knowledge. "This would have been discussed with his mother, although I acknowledge that standards of consent in the 1980's was quite different to what it is now," Dr Machin said.

However, Mrs O'Shea told the inquiry she was "absolutely not" told about the trial. "With an innocent child of three and a half I would not have considered such an action. I would never ever have allowed my child to be part of a trial - never," she added.

Documents reveal doctors knew Luke had contracted hepatitis C as early as 1993, but he was not told until 1997. One medical record states a positive test result and says: "Have not discussed with patient or family."

Luke is now clear of the infection after successful treatment.

'Laboratory rats'

However, evidence of the clinical trials have raised wider concerns.

"A patient should always be given the best possible treatment and they should always have given informed consent - if those two factors haven't been achieved then a trial would be seen as very problematic," says Professor Emma Cave, Professor of Healthcare Law at Durham University.

Professor Edward Tuddenham, who was a haemophilia doctor at the Royal Free Hospital in the 1980s, confirmed these fears. When asked if he thought ethical standards had been met during clinical trials in the 1980s, he simply answered: "No."

The BBC's investigation has revealed that Dr Machin and Dr Kernoff were among a community of doctors with similar research ambitions.

A specialist school near Alton, in Hampshire, was attended by a large cohort of haemophiliac boys. The school for disabled children had an NHS haemophilia unit on site, so boys who had bleeds could be treated quickly and then return to lessons.

Their doctor, Dr Anthony Aronstam - who has also since died - used his "unique" cohort of boys for extensive clinical trials. One series of experiments considered whether using three to four times more Factor VIII than normally required by a child would help to reduce the number of bleeds he had.

This was preventative treatment, know as prophylaxis, and involved repeated injections with infected Factor VIII products and follow-up blood tests. The high concentrations of infected blood products were administered to the boys without their - or their parents' - consent.

Of the122 pupils attending Treloar's College between 1974-1987, 75 have so far died of HIV and hepatitis C infections.

"Despite knowing the product was riddled with hepatitis, they started a trial that required us to have way more of it than we needed," says Gary Webster, who was unknowingly enrolled.

Ade Goodyear, a pupil at Treloar's from 1980 to 1989, added: "We were treated like lab rats. There was a plethora of studies that we were all enrolled on for the decade we were at the school."

Controversially, another trial involved placebo treatments. This meant that some boys, who thought they had been given Factor VIII to prevent bleeds, had in fact been given a saline solution.

"When you think you've been given a treatment, this changes your behaviour," Gary said. "You run more, you play more rough in football. For a haemophiliac, you feel a bit invincible for a short window after a jab. But with a placebo you are just risking your life by changing your behaviour."

He told the BBC he was punished at school if he missed injections. "It would have meant their trials would have been flawed and so we, us kids, were made to toe the line."

Documents just released show the government in 1973 knew about the trials at Treloars and covered some costs.

Dr Kernoff's pursuit of clinical advancement through research was rigorous, as was his hunt for suitable subjects for trials - PUPs and virgin haemophiliacs - which led to those involved getting young and younger. A four-month-old baby was involved in a trial.

Among his studies was one that compared the infectiousness of another blood plasma product - Cryoprecipitate (Cryo) - to Factor VIII concentrates.

Cryo was used for treating mild blood clotting conditions. It contained the Factor VIII protein, but at lower concentrations and from fewer donors and was therefore thought to be less risky.

Dr Kernoff's search for suitable subjects led him to Mark Stewart, his brother, and his father, who all had very mild cases of von Willebrand's disease - another type of blood clotting disorder. Their usual treatment was cryo.

As part of his test, Dr Kernoff gave them all Factor VIII concentrates instead.

"Until we were given concentrates it would be once a month you'd have a little nose bleed, and you'd go up and have cryo and that was that." All three contracted hepatitis C.

Mark's brother and father have both died of liver cancer after the infection attacked the organ. Neither were told they had contracted the disease until it was too late for treatment.

"Angry is an understatement," Mark said. "Your dad is in the front carriage, your brother is in the second carriage and you are in the third carriage - so you know what is coming. It won't veer off that track. This is how hep C works. It will get you."

​A statement from Treloar's said: "We await the publication of the infected blood inquiry, which we hope will provide our former pupils with the answers they have been waiting for."

The inquiry into the wider infected blood scandal will conclude on 20 May.

Source:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-68831061

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Tory response to MP Mark Menzies allegations appalling, says activist

Full article:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68851004

Continued...

Mark Menzies: Police reviewing allegations against suspended Tory MP

Lancashire Police have said they are reviewing information about allegations against suspended Tory MP Mark Menzies.

Labour wrote to police on Friday morning calling for an investigation.

The MP has been accused of misusing Tory funds and abusing his position after allegedly asking an activist for money to pay off "bad people".

He has had the Tory whip withdrawn, while the party carries out an investigation into the allegations, which he has said he "disputes".

The BBC has made several attempts to contact Mr Menzies, who is the MP for Fylde, in Lancashire, but he has not so far responded.

Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds wrote to Lancashire Police earlier urging an investigation.

The force said it had "received a letter detailing concerns around this matter, and we are in the process of reviewing the available information in more detail".

His former campaign manager Katie Fieldhouse has told the BBC Mr Menzies telephoned at 0315 one night in December asking for £5,000 to pay "bad people" who had locked him in a flat.

Ms Fieldhouse said she refused to pay Mr Menzies, but claimed another activist used their personal savings to give him the money.

According to the Times, the activist eventually ended up paying £6,500 and was later reimbursed from a local fund set up to support his campaigning.

The Times also reported Mr Menzies used £14,000 from the fund to pay his personal medical bills, in several payments stretching back four years.

A source close to Mr Menzies disputed the claim that he had suggested using campaign funds to pay his medical bills, the paper reported. The money has not yet been repaid, according to the Times.

In a statement to the Times, Mr Menzies said: "I strongly dispute the allegations put to me. I have fully complied with all the rules for declarations".

Source:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68858604

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Peter Murrell charged with embezzlement in SNP probe

Breaking news:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-68850088

Continued...

Peter Murrell police charge 'incredibly difficult' - Nicola Sturgeon

Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon has described allegations that her husband embezzled funds from the SNP as "incredibly difficult".

Peter Murrell, a former chief executive of the party, was arrested and charged by police on Thursday.

Current first minister Humza Yousaf described the case as "very serious" and confirmed that Mr Murrell had resigned his membership of the SNP.

Mr Murrell had spent 22 years as the party's chief executive.

Ms Sturgeon spoke briefly to the media as she left the home she shares with her husband in Glasgow.

She said: "It is incredibly difficult, but that is not the main issue here.

"I can't say any more, I'm not going to say any more."

Ms Sturgeon later posted an image of trees on Instagram, writing "#nature" and #walking" alongside the picture.

Mr Murrell was previously arrested as a suspect on 5 April 2023 before being released without charge.

He was arrested again then charged on Thursday after further questioning by officers investigating SNP funding and finances as part of Operation Branchform.

What is embezzlement?

Embezzlement is broadly defined in the criminal law as the dishonest appropriation of entrusted property.

It is sometimes hard to tell the difference between embezzlement and theft - but lawyers say the key difference is that with embezzlement, the accused was trusted to deal with and account for the money or property in question.

It usually involves an allegation of exceeding your authority.

No details of what what Mr Murrell is actually accused of embezzling have been made public.

'Serious development'

First Minister Humza Yousaf said it was a "serious, serious development".

He said: "Many people in the SNP and right across Scottish politics will be shocked by the news. This is an ongoing investigation and the police and the crown have a job to do, just as I have a job to do as first minister."

Mr Yousaf said the first he knew of Mr Murrell's re-arrest was when the news broke on Thursday .

He added that Ms Sturgeon and Colin Beattie, the party's former treasurer, who were both also previously arrested, remain members of the SNP.

Police Scotland stated that neither Ms Sturgeon or Mr Beattie have been re-arrested charged, but remain under investigation.

The force launched an investigation into SNP finances in July 2021 after receiving complaints about how donations were used.

Questions had been raised over more than £660,000 in donations given to the party for use in a fresh independence referendum campaign.

When Mr Murrell was arrested last year, police searched SNP headquarters in Edinburgh and the house he shares with Ms Sturgeon in Glasgow.

The couple married in 2010.

Ms Sturgeon was arrested on 11 June when she voluntarily arranged with Police Scotland to be questioned as part of the investigation. She was released without charge.

Source:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-68856924

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Originally Posted by Devius

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Angela Rayner: I'll stand down if I've broken the law

Breaking news:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68801671

Continued

Angela Rayner told kitchen renovations offset tax on council house sale
The deputy Labour leader is preparing her defence as the probe into her tax affairs continues

Angela Rayner is expected to claim that she did not have to pay capital gains tax when she sold her former house due to a kitchen renovation, as the row over her housing affairs rumbles on.

The deputy Labour leader is likely to argue that enhancements she made to her former council house have offset the tax she would have paid had it not been her primary property, according to The Times.

It comes as the police are investigating “tax matters and other issues” in connection with Ms Rayner’s housing affairs, including whether she broke electoral law, whether she paid the correct amount of capital gains tax when she sold her property and what the council tax arrangements were at her former house.

The shadow levelling-up secretary is expected to provide a raft of legal and financial documents – which could include utility bills, payslips and bank account details – as evidence to show that her own home was her primary residence.

The probe into Ms Rayner’s tax affairs was launched after Conservative MP and deputy party chair James Daly complained after the Greater Manchester Police previously said it would not be investigating the allegations. Mr Daly said he had been made aware of neighbours contradicting Ms Rayner’s statement that her property, separate from her husband’s, was her main residence.

Ms Rayner has always maintained that her house was her primary residence, but it is now alleged that she will claim that she would not have been required to pay capital gains when she sold her former council house because of work she did to the property, leaving no tax liability.

A Labour source said: “Angela has consistently said that the house she owned was her main home and that no capital gains tax was payable on the sale. Various tax experts have already set out potential grounds for capital gains tax to not be applicable to the sale but it would not be appropriate to comment on baseless speculation while an investigation is ongoing.”

It comes as experts have warned that the tax affairs of Mark Rayner, the estranged husband of the Ashton-under-Lyne MP, may also come under scrutiny if it is shown that he also did not pay capital gains tax when he sold his property.

Experts have said that if Vicarage Road was her main residence and she did not pay capital gains tax on it, it would have automatically become her husband’s primary residence for tax purposes too.

Instead, the house her husband owned around a mile away on Lowndes Lane would have been subject to capital gains tax when it was sold. Married couples cannot legally have two primary residences for tax purposes.

Nimesh Shah, a tax expert at Blick Rothenberg, told The Telegraph newspaper: “Married couples are only permitted to claim private residence relief [on capital gains tax] on one property.

“If Mark Rayner has claimed PRR on Lowndes Lane in full, the Rayners have certainly had two bites of the cherry and it seems highly implausible, under the PRR rules and what we know, that that would have been possible.”

The shadow levelling-up secretary has promised to resign if she is found to have committed a crime but has stated that she is confident that she has done nothing wrong.

The Labour Party said it remains confident Ms Rayner has complied with the rules, and she “welcomes the chance to set out the facts with the police”.

Senior former Conservative figures have also defended the MP. Nick Boles, who was an MP for nine years, said the attacks were “one of the most grotesque spectacles of hypocrisy I have ever witnessed”, while former Conservative MP Matthew Parris condemned what he called “the hounding” of the Labour MP, dubbing it “outrageous: brutal, snobbish and completely out of proportion to any mistake she may (or may not) have made”.

Former regional chief crown prosecutor Nazir Afzal also said that “based on what’s in the public domain”, the CPS would take no action against Ms Rayner.

Sir Keir has previously welcomed the police investigation into Ms Rayner’s council house sale and said it will allow a “line to be drawn” on the issue.

A number of legal experts have pointed out that even if Ms Rayner were found to have provided false information, it is unlikely any further action would be taken.

Scott Wortley, a law lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, says that any potential prosecution should have been launched within a year of the suspected crime.

Providing false information is an offence under Section 13D of the Representation of the People Act 1983, but the legislation imposes a time limit of a year for bringing any charge. As the allegations surrounding Ms Rayner relate to before 2015, this suggests it is unlikely that she could be prosecuted.

Magistrates may extend that deadline in certain circumstances, but only by another year, according to the act.

Source:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/angela-rayner-council-house-tax-kitchen-b2530756.html