Train strikes to hit this weekend with passengers urged to check before travel

We are going to leave this blog here for today; here’s a recap of what has been happening:

• Large areas of the countryside face being turned into solar farms and used for tree-planting and boosting habitats for birds, insects and fish. More than 10 per cent of farmland in England is set to be repurposed to help achieve net zero and safeguard wildlife by 2050, The Daily Telegraph reports.
• Money allocated to tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG) will be spent on it going forward, a minister has said, after a report found the Home Office had underspent its budget on the issue by around 15 per cent in recent years.
• Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said the current Government has a “whole system approach” that also looks at preventive measures and tackling the criminal justice system and court delays.
• An extra £100m in funding for neighbourhood policing will help to target antisocial behaviour (ASB) and “record-breaking” levels of shoplifting, Johnson added.
• A police chief warned his force might have to cut 400 officers and staff, after the Government’s announcement on funding was branded a “tiny percentage” of what they needed.
• Kemi Badenoch said she was “not at all” worried about Reform UK’s rally in her constituency this evening. Asked about the rise of Reform in the polls on a visit to a farm in Cheshire, the Tory leader told broadcasters: “The reason why we were kicked out six months ago is because people were unhappy with our government. We are now under new leadership and I’m working to change that, but it’s not going to happen overnight.”
• Rail passengers on busy routes are being advised to check before they travel on Sunday because of a resumed strike by train managers.
• Members of the RMT union at Avanti West Coast will walk out as part of a long-running dispute over rest day working.
• Strikes planned for the last two weekends were called off, but the dispute remains deadlocked, threatening industrial action on Sundays for the next few months.
• Britain is marking five years since Brexit today with little fanfare as the Government pursues closer relations with the bloc.
• The UK officially left the EU at 11pm – midnight in Brussels – on 31 January, 2020 after three-and-a-half years of political wrangling that followed the 2016 Brexit referendum.
• Since coming to power, Labour has sought a “reset” in relations with the EU, but has consistently ruled out a return to either the customs union or the single market. But with polls showing a majority of the public thinks Brexit was the wrong decision, some opposition parties have called on the Government to pursue even closer relations with the bloc.

When Rachel Reeves pressed her case this week in the need to pursue a stronger growth agenda, she warned that the country finds itself at a “moment of global change”.

The arrival of a more protectionist Donald Trump in the White House, and an apparent fraying of the rules-based international order more broadly, has forced the UK to once again rethink its place in the world.

When it comes to international trade, the Chancellor said, that means the Government will be guided by “one clear principle above all … To act in the national interest for our economy, for our business and the British people”.

Trade experts, MPs and Government insiders believe there could be some clear advantages to forging closer economic links with the US, but it all comes down to the scale and shape of any deal.

There is now a broadening consensus that smaller “mini” arrangements, which could include deals on the trading of digital commodities such as ebooks and music streaming, might be more realistic.

The decision to leave the European Union came at a time when the rest of the world was turning in on itself and away from a more globalised economy.

Read more here.

The British public backs closer relations with the EU five years after the UK left – and wants the Government to sign up to a new migration scheme for young people.

A poll for The i Paper by BMG Research, marking half a decade since Brexit took place, shows that more people would support rejoining the EU than want to stay out.

And most voters back the Prime Minister’s decision to launch a “reset” of relations with Brussels – with a quarter saying that it is moving too slowly.

The UK formally left the EU on 31 January 2020, three-and-a-half years after the vote in favour of Brexit by a margin of 52 to 48 per cent. There were three delays to the exit date amid wrangling over what terms to leave on and whether there should be a second referendum on the issue.

Read more here.

Downing Street has said that the Prime Minister has confidence in his chief law officer after a series of negative press briefings.

A Number 10 spokesman said that Sir Keir Starmer has “absolute confidence” in Attorney General Lord Hermer KC.

In recent weeks questions have been raised about whether Lord Hermer’s previous work – including representing former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams – could result in possible conflicts of interest in his Government work.

Today The Times reported that the minister was facing backlash from Cabinet colleagues following changes to Government guidance on legal risk.

A Number 10 spokesman said they would not comment on anonymous briefings, but the Attorney General is “getting on with the important work of Government”.

The spokesman also said it is “a matter of public record that Lord Hermer has ceased all private practice following his appointment as Attorney General” and has declared his previous roles.

“There are different requirements for the declarations of both Lords and MPs, as set out in the respective code of conducts,” the spokesman added.

Asked whether Starmer has confidence in his top legal adviser, the spokesman said: “He has absolute confidence in him.”

He added: “Let’s be clear about the effects of not engaging properly with the law as a Government.

“Failing to do so leads to judicial reviews which delay projects, routinely cost taxpayers tens of millions of pounds and end up blocking exactly the type of major new infrastructure that everyone accepts the country desperately needs.

“Taking the law properly into account is important, but we’re also acting to make sure the law isn’t simply used to block progress at any cost.”

Sir Keir Starmer spoke with freed British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari today, a spokesperson for her family has said.

The Prime Minister spoke with Ms Damari and her mother, Mandy, over the phone according to a statement released on Friday.

Ms Damari, 28, was released earlier in January following the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas after more than 15 months in captivity.

Ms Damari was taken from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on the morning of Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and shot in the hand, “blindfolded and forced into her own car with two other friends”, her family said previously.

According to Friday’s statement, Ms and Mrs Damari spoke with the Prime Minister about Emily’s condition following her time being held hostage, and about the conditions while she was in captivity.

They also urged Starmer to exert pressure to ensure that the Red Cross have access to hostages still being held in Gaza.

The mother and daughter thanked the Prime Minister for the Government’s help in bringing Ms Damari home, and Starmer invited the 28-year-old to visit Downing Street when she has recovered, the statement said.

Ms Damari was released on 19 January, and was one of the first three hostages to be freed when the ceasefire deal was struck.

Two other hostages: Romi Gonen, 24; and Doron Steinbrecher, 31; were also freed.

At the time, Starmer said that her release was “wonderful and long-overdue news”.

Earlier this year, he said in a statement: “The release of three hostages today is wonderful and long-overdue news after months of agony for them and their families.

“Among them is British citizen Emily Damari, who will now be reunited with her family, including her mother Amanda who has never stopped her tireless fight to bring her daughter home.

“I wish them all the very best as they begin the road to recovery after the intolerable trauma they have experienced. We stand ready to offer assistance and support.”

He also called for the release of the remaining hostages.

Overall, 33 hostages are set to be released during this first stage of the ceasefire deal. Yesterday, Hamas released eight hostages in exchange for 110 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Residents living near Heathrow Airport have described the “downward spiral” their historic villages have suffered over the decades, as they vow to keep fighting the construction of a third runway.

Robert Barnstone, 31, lives in picturesque Harmondsworth, a village in Hillingdon, west London, next to Heathrow. “It’s one of the few villages within Greater London and it’s quite a close-knit community. It’s difficult to find that in this day and age,” he said.

The PhD student told The i Paper there has been a “mood of gloom” in the village since Rachel Reeves announced her support for a third runway.

The Chancellor said it was “badly needed” to help boost economic growth and would bring 100,000 more jobs.

However, an expansion “would decimate people’s communities”, Mr Barnstone said. “People schools, people’s places of worship and general sense of community will be destroyed.”

Another Harmondsworth local, Justine Bayley, 72, has lived in the village for over 30 years and is chair of Stop Heathrow Expansion (SHE). She feels the “community is in a downward spiral”, with house prices “permanently depressed because of the “permanent cloud over the community”.

She explained how multiple governments have discussed a third runway over the years, including in the 1980s, 2009 and 2018.

“There are certainly buyers who would like to come and live in Harmondsworth but they can’t get a mortgage,” she explained. “No one will lend them the money.”

Read more here.

AstraZeneca has cancelled a planned £450m investment in a vaccine manufacturing plant in Merseyside, saying Labour failed to match the previous government’s offer of support.

The decision reverses an announcement made by then-chancellor Jeremy Hunt at last year’s March budget that would have seen the pharmaceutical company expand its existing facility in Speke.

At the time, the Conservative government said the investment would both boost the UK’s life sciences sector and improve public health protection and pandemic preparedness.

Confirming the reversal on Friday, a spokesperson for AstraZeneca said: “Following discussions with the current Government, we are no longer pursuing our planned investment in Speke.

“Several factors have influenced this decision including the timing and reduction of the final offer compared to the previous government’s proposal.”

The existing facility will continue to operate and no jobs are at risk.

The decision comes as a blow to the Government following a week in which the Chancellor sought to stress its commitment to growing the economy and making Britain more attractive to international investors.

It also follows warnings by former health secretary Matt Hancock that the UK needed to improve its own vaccine manufacturing capability as a “critical” part of preparing for a future pandemic.

Hancock told the Covid inquiry, earlier in January, that Britain’s vaccine manufacturing capacity was “weak”, adding: “having that manufacture and fill and finish onshore, physically within the UK, is critical in the way that it simply isn’t in normal times”.

The Treasury has been contacted for comment.

The mother of a jailed British-Egyptian who has vowed not to eat until he is freed says Sir Keir Starmer has written to her saying her son’s release is possible but will “take time”.

Laila Soueif, who has been on hunger strike for 124 days in protest over her son’s imprisonment, wrote in response that time is running out as her health worsens.

Pro-democracy activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, 43, has been detained in Egypt since September 29, 2019, and in December 2021 was sentenced to five years in prison after being accused of spreading false news.

His mother had previously criticised the Prime Minister for not responding to a letter she had sent him, but said he has now written back saying that “at all levels of government, we are working intensively on his case”.

Starmer expressed his commitment to securing Mr Abd El-Fattah’s release and ended the letter, dated 29 January, by saying he believes that “progress is possible, but it will take time”, she said.

“I do not know if we have time. It has been four months since Alaa finished his sentence and I began my hunger strike. Already my body has miraculously given us more time than anything we could have expected when this began.”

Ms Soueif was joined by Amnesty International chief Agnès Callamard earlier this week to “wait for news” about her son outside Downing Street.

David Lammy raised the case with officials in Cairo last week, and the Prime Minister has also brought it to the attention of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Downing Street has said.

More than 50 cross-party MPs and peers have sent a letter to Starmer expressing concern about Ms Soueif’s health and urging the Prime Minister to speak to El-Sisi directly by phone or in person.

“We respectfully ask you to intensify efforts across the whole of Government to make Alaa’s urgent release a reality. We are in a critical period for Laila’s health,” the letter urges.

Ms Soueif has been subsisting solely on black coffee, restorative salts and herbal tea during the hunger strike and has lost more than 20 kilograms in weight.

A police chief has warned his force may have to cut 400 officers and staff after the Government’s announcement of an extra £100m for neighbourhood policing was branded a “tiny percentage” of what they needed.

Lincolnshire Police Chief Constable Paul Gibson said a £14m funding gap for 2025/26 is still forecast after a first assessment of the final settlement set out on Friday.

The Government confirmed it will invest an extra £100m into neighbourhood policing, adding to £100m announced in December for England and Wales to put 13,000 more police officers on the streets by 2029.

The £200m, which is part of the Police Funding Settlement published on Friday, is about “visible, accessible policing”, Downing Street said.

Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said she was “not pretending” that police forces were not facing funding challenges, and decisions would need to be made locally on how many officers to have.

Gibson said: “There may be some potential extra money to support the neighbourhood policing pledge. We welcome any additional funding that is allocated to policing, but unfortunately this will be a tiny percentage of what we need.

“There is a simple and stark message: without urgent and significant funding, I will need to reduce our organisation by over 400 officers and staff.”

He added he had cancelled police recruitment and would need to start reducing police staff numbers “significantly and immediately”, while also working with Home Office officials to address the situation.

Johnson said the Government was “starting from a difficult position” after 14 years under the Conservatives, but around £1bn of additional funding is going to forces from April and she is meeting with struggling police forces.

“Those police forces, and I’m very well aware of Essex and Lincolnshire, those police forces that are struggling, we want to work with them. We want to make this work,” she told LBC.

Essex Police said this week it needed “urgent action” to address a budget shortfall and was looking at axing all police community support officers and reducing the number of staff.

On Friday, Essex Police said the extra £100m would go “some way” to bridging its £5.3m funding gap.

“We’ve lobbied hard for this funding to be increased through the consultation period. The decision we announced earlier this week has created concern and has resulted in change,” Roger Hirst, the Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner said.

Meanwhile, Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire, Chris Nelson, said he was pleased the Government had listened to concerns in the “11th hour”, which will help with neighbourhood policing while budget remains stretched.

MPs could face a further crackdown on second jobs after the committee in charge of standards in Parliament opened an inquiry in to employment outside Westminster.

The Commons Standards Committee announced its inquiry in to “outside interests” today, saying it would look at potential changes to the rules governing second jobs.

The inquiry is expected to include consideration of “proposals for a qualified prohibition on outside interests”, which could mean some MPs having to give up jobs outside Westminster.

Since coming to power, Labour has signalled its willingness to tighten the rules on second jobs following concern during the last parliament over the number of MPs splitting their time between Westminster and other employment.

In its first weeks in office, the Government banned MPs from advising employers on public policy or how Parliament works, closing what it described as a “loophole” in the previous rules.

But Commons Leader Lucy Powell has indicated that the Government could go further and currently chairs a Modernisation Committee that has made overhauling the rules on second jobs part of its remit.

Powell said she welcomed the Standards Committee’s decision to launch an inquiry, adding: “The Government tightened the rules on outside employment for MPs in our first days in office, but we have a manifesto commitment to go further.”

She said: “I’m clear that an MP’s priority must be, first and foremost, to serve their constituents. We must all meet very high expectations that we are focused on our roles as MPs.

“Trust in politics has been damaged over recent years and it is in all our interests to close the gap between the public and politicians.”

Any recommendations put forward by the committee will have to be approved by MPs before they become part of the Commons’ rules.

One area that has sparked concern in recent years is the number of MPs working as TV presenters during the last parliament, although the Government has so far resisted calls to restrict the participation of MPs in the media.

Several Conservative MPs also worked as regular presenters on GB News, often receiving significant payments on top of their parliamentary salaries while others, including now Foreign Secretary David Lammy, presented shows on LBC radio.

In the current Parliament, Reform UK MPs Nigel Farage and Lee Anderson host regular GB News shows, while several others have already listed payments for TV appearances and newspaper articles in their registers of interests.

Several MPs continue to work as either medical practitioners or lawyers in order to maintain their professional qualifications, while others act as company directors or advisers.