With Britain sweating through its third consecutive heatwave, the Green Party has moved to introduce a maximum workplace temperature bill:

"From bus and train drivers sweltering in their cabins to bakers working in over 40 degrees, and builders whose workplaces offer no respite from the heat – the government has a duty to protect all of us."

Today Hannah Spencer is tabling a maximum workplace temperature bill. pic.twitter.com/0ofCXCDx4M

— The Green Party (@TheGreenParty) July 13, 2026

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“Absurd”

Speaking to the Guardian, Hannah Spencer said:

This is something workers and trade unions have been raising the alarm about for many years. It shouldn’t have taken this long to act, but the unsafe temperatures we’re seeing now should be a huge wake-up call.

We’ve seen absolute chaos as a result of these recent temperatures, and such a massive human cost, yet we haven’t heard a peep from government about how they plan to protect us all.

Spencer branded the situation “absurd”. She also said:

From bus and train drivers sweltering in cabins that are hotter than the soaring temperatures outside and bakers working in temperatures of over 40°C, to builders whose workplaces offer no respite from the heat, the government has a duty to protect all of us.

I had one constituent contact me about the appalling conditions he faced laying Tarmac on roads in Gorton and Denton in temperatures he called unbearable.

Spencer used Spain as an example of what can be done. As she noted, workers there are given the ability to adjust their hours to avoid the hottest hours of the day. This allows work to continue without putting workers at risk. And the risk is real too. We experienced 2,700 excess deaths during the first two heatwaves this year; we’re now in the middle of the third. This problem won’t go away in our lifetimes either.

This affects all of us

We reported on this issue before — namely when Zack Polanski made the following intervention:

Climate justice is social justice. https://t.co/b2I31KSLWf

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) May 26, 2026

As we noted at the time, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) were among those calling for maximum workplace temperatures. A report from the CCC said:

Maximum working temperature regulations would address the increasing risks that high temperatures pose to workers’ safety and incentivise the deployment of the necessary cooling. Businesses are largely responsible for investing in their own adaptations but must ensure that workplaces and working practices are safe for employees, including for those working outside.

The TUC, meanwhile, flagged the negative health impacts that can result from extreme heat:

• Dizziness.
• Delirium.
• Fatigue.
• Rashes.
• Collapse.
• Cramps.
• Exhaustion.
• Stroke.
• Death.

The Greens’ bill is expected to enjoy cross-party support. As the Guardian reported:

Her bill is expected to receive cross-party support and will be backed by the leftwing Labour MPs Rebecca Long-Bailey, Alex Sobel and Nadia Whittome as well as Graham Leadbitter from the Scottish National party, Liz Saville Roberts from Plaid Cymru and the independent MP Jeremy Corbyn.

Still, not everyone is happy about the idea of making things moderately better for workers:

#GMB discusses a maximum temperature limit in workplaces.

Alex Mansuroglu says yes & talks about tradespeople having to work in 38 degrees. Daisy McAndrew says they'd lose money. Ranvir Singh responds, maybe there should be statutory pay. Watch the look on Ed Balls face! pic.twitter.com/D4CV2a7p0L

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) June 24, 2026

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Progress

While this bill is certainly a progressive measure, it’s happening because progress on climate action did not come fast enough. And the reason we failed is because hostile oil barons hid the truth from us for as long as they could — later promoting denialism and misinformation.

As journalist Benjamin Franta reported in 2021, we should have been acting decades earlier than we were:

At an old gunpowder factory in Delaware – now a museum and archive – I found a transcript of a petroleum conference from 1959 called the “Energy and Man” symposium, held at Columbia University in New York. As I flipped through, I saw a speech from a famous scientist, Edward Teller (who helped invent the hydrogen bomb), warning the industry executives and others assembled of global warming.

“Whenever you burn conventional fuel,” Teller explained, “you create carbon dioxide. … Its presence in the atmosphere causes a greenhouse effect.” If the world kept using fossil fuels, the ice caps would begin to melt, raising sea levels. Eventually, “all the coastal cities would be covered,” he warned.

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1959 was before the moon landing, before the Beatles’ first single, before Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, before the first modern aluminum can was ever made. It was decades before I was born.

This climate catastrophe we’re living through is happening because of wealthy interests. And if people have a problem with workers needing some degree of flexibility, they should take it up with the oil industry.

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By Willem Moore

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According to the Times, Labour is planning to restrict migrants from being able to access benefits. In response, the Green Party’s Zack Polanski has labelled their immigration plans “performative cruelty”:

Labour plans to withhold benefits to people who have been granted Indefinite Leave to Remain.

Performative cruelty and total cowardice.

That’s why the Greens will replace Labour. https://t.co/UxqPjdOjG6

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— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) July 13, 2026

Polanski slams Labour’s “cowardice”

Steven Swinford of the Times noted that so-called ‘Boriswave migrants’ wouldn’t have to wait ten years to be granted indefinite leave under the unveiled plan. At the same time, they’d face a longer wait to be eligible for benefits — which Polanski sharply criticised.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out how this could all go wrong.

If you have a class of people who can’t claim benefits, you have a class of people who will do anything to earn money should they find themselves unemployed. Employers will take advantage of this, and shadow economies will form. Once these shadow economies become established, we’ll find ourselves one step closer to a government which can strip away welfare for all citizens.

Things don’t get worse all at once; they get worse one step at a time, and this latest proposal is a significant step towards a state which works solely for the rich. Polanski has repeatedly warned against these creeping changes.

Zoe Gardner spoke further on this, stating:

This all sounds tough, but in reality it’s not just performative [cruelty], it’s incredibly stupid.

People fall into difficulties sometimes, they just do. You don’t have to be British to be impacted, we saw that with Covid for eg.

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If you blanket deny the state safety net to one group, all you do is create child poverty, vulnerability to loan sharks, destitution & misery in our communities. This actually is bad, not to mention more costly in emergency services, for everyone.

The cost of managing destitute people often eclipses the cost of eliminating destitution in the first place. An example of this is that it costs more to house a homeless person than it does to let them sleep on the streets. This is because the various services which supposedly ‘help’ these people (or criminalise them) cost money, and as it turns out this adds up to more than simply giving people shelter.

Gardner added:

These are people who do & will live here for the long term, probably their kids will always live here.

Forcing them into poverty, debt & homelessness just because “foreigners bad” is not good for society, actually.

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We’ve reached the point where this needs spelling out…

Labour has a chance to reverse this stupidity, but instead they’re doubling down.

They should hang their heads in shame for pathetically dancing the Xenophobic polka to Farage’s tune.

Unclear

Since the Times’ reporting above, HuffPost have claimed that Burnham will actually back Shabana Mahmood’s bill as it is. Polanski responded to that too, saying:

Labour had one last card to play.

That after Keir Starmer they could find themselves a progressive leader.

We're speed running crash and burn faster than anyone could have imagined.

We're building the alternative of hope with a plan to replace Labour.https://t.co/0qbagSvIYp https://t.co/XRLDDSrN2S

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— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) July 13, 2026

As we’ve reported previously, ‘wishy washy’ doesn’t begin to cover Burnham’s approach to migration. As such, we have no idea how he’ll vote this evening, and we imagine that neither does he.

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By Willem Moore

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As deadly heat covers Europe, governments must act quickly to protect lives and force fossil fuel companies to foot the bill. That’s the view of campaign group 350.org.

There were more than 10,000 excess deaths across Europe during record-breaking heatwaves in June. Deadly wildfires are still raging in France and Spain. And even in the normally less extreme UK, the death toll has topped 2,700 and multiple fires have taken hold.

Climate campaigners urge European governments to take urgent measures to protect the public, especially vulnerable populations, from heat impacts. This includes measures such as upgrading hospitals, care facilities, schools and universities and providing emergency support for farmers.

France’s High Council on Climate has warned that the country’s infrastructure, cities and public services were built for “a climate that no longer exists”. It says that current adaptation policy is insufficient to protect people.

In response, 350.org campaigners called on European governments to invest massively in heat adaptation, while accelerating the shift to affordable renewable energy to reduce emissions and lower bills. 350.org analysis shows that the heatwaves drive up households’ energy spending.

Adaptation measures, however, must be borne by fossil fuel companies through stronger and permanent taxes on oil and gas profits, says 350.org. It shouldn’t be down to people already burdened with high energy bills and other extreme heat impacts.

Fanny Petitbon, 350.org France country manager, said:

This heatwave isn’t just about lack of preparedness, it’s gross negligence. Scientists have sounded the alarm long ago, but governments chose to keep burning fossil fuels.

We’ve been saying for decades that climate inaction is deadly. And now it has a body count of more than 10,000 in Europe in June alone. It’s never too late to protect people. Investing in adaptation now can save thousands more from harm in the months and years to come.

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We don’t need endless debates in parliament nor austerity measures that slash the funds meant for climate action, we need decision-makers to wake up and act now. The scale of action needed and who must foot the bill is clear.

Europe’s heatwaves are sponsored by fossil fuel companies. The industry must pay both for the destruction and urgent measures like better thermal insulation of social housing, schools and hospitals, greening of public spaces, and heat warning systems for outdoor workers.

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By The Canary

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Referrals to LGBTQ+ youth charity The Proud Trust increased by 171% following the Supreme Court ruling in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers.

This prompted the charity to launch a major new national campaign highlighting the challenges LGBTQ+ young people continue to face and call for greater understanding, safer spaces and better support.

The Proud Trust, one of the UK’s leading LGBTQ+ youth charities, has launched #DeserveBetter, a nationwide campaign calling for greater understanding, safer spaces and better support for LGBTQ+ young people throughout the year.

The campaign comes as national research continues to paint a stark picture of the challenges many queer young people face. Nearly half of LGBTQ+ pupils experience bullying because of who they are, almost six in ten have seriously considered suicide, while almost a quarter may never complete secondary school, twice the national average.

The charity says there’s a growing demand for specialist LGBTQ+ support. Over the past year alone, The Proud Trust delivered nearly 400 youth group sessions and held more than 820 support conversations with LGBTQ+ young people, parents, carers and professionals.

Almost 10,000 people visited The Proud Place, its LGBTQ+ community centre in Manchester, while more than 1,400 teachers, youth workers and other professionals received specialist inclusion training.

Through its Rainbow Flag Award programme, which helps schools create safer and more inclusive environments for LGBTQ+ pupils, the charity also reached almost 50,000 young people.

Campaign will highlight issues affecting LGBTQ+ young people

Through #DeserveBetter, The Proud Trust will shine a spotlight on many of the issues affecting LGBTQ+ young people today, including bullying, discrimination, healthcare, education, barriers to employment, family acceptance, identity, belonging and access to safe spaces.

To kick off the campaign, The Proud Trust is sharing powerful first-person stories from people speaking publicly for the first time about growing up LGBTQ+, while also shining a spotlight on the key issues affecting young people today through expert insight and lived experience.

Award-winning spoken word artist myndstate has written an original poem inspired by his own experiences of growing up gay, while the campaign will also feature a special film bringing together a host of LGBTQ+ celebrities and high-profile allies, with the full contributor line-up to be revealed in the coming weeks.

Liam Swanston, director of development and partnerships at The Proud Trust, said:

A 171% increase in referrals isn’t just a statistic, behind every referral is a young person looking for somewhere they feel safe, someone who understands what they’re going through, or simply reassurance that they’re not alone.

Every day we work alongside LGBTQ+ young people who are navigating bullying, discrimination, isolation and uncertainty while also trying to understand who they are and where they belong. We also work with adults who want to understand and support the young people in their lives better.

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No young person should grow up believing they have to hide who they are, face those experiences alone, or feel there’s no place where they truly belong.

#DeserveBetter is about ensuring those young people’s voices are heard. This campaign shines a spotlight on the realities many LGBTQ+ young people continue to face today, while celebrating the extraordinary difference that acceptance, visibility, community and support can make.

We hope it encourages greater understanding, challenges misconceptions and reminds every LGBTQ+ young person that they deserve to feel safe, valued, understood and able to thrive, every single day of the year.

For more information about The Proud Trust and the #DeserveBetter campaign, visit www.TheProudTrust.org

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By The Canary

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As of the 13 July, new regulations have come into effect for all police forces which will impact vetting procedures and suspensions. The government is rolling out the “complex and wide-ranging” rule change as part of its pledge to end violence against women and girls (VAWG). It follows a campaign from the charity Refuge, ‘Remove the Rot’, which kicked off in 2023 and subsequently found a “shocking scale of police-perpetrated VAWG” which meant women and girls could not trust the police to protect them. Refusing to allow there to be no place to turn for justice, the domestic abuse charity pushed for change, saying:

as an institution designed to protect the public from harm, the police cannot be allowed to let perpetrators slip through the net.

Refuge welcomed the changes which came into effect from today, adding that:

We hope today represents the beginning of a future where women and girls finally feel protected by the police, as they deserve.

Refuge: ‘Remove the Rot’ campaign

UK police forces have long been under mounting pressure to own up to the misogyny and racism that have been allowed to take root among many male officers.

These calls intensified after the appalling — and preventable — kidnapping, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer, Wayne Couzens. He abused his position of power with deadly consequences, conducting a false arrest of Everard and using police handcuffs to take her into his ‘custody’.

However, men that abuse women and girls do so because it makes them feel ‘superior’ and ‘dominant’ over their victims. This makes the police force quite an appealing line of work for these pathetic and dangerous types of men, making it the perfect breeding ground for these malicious, abusive attitudes.

Couzens shared “grossly offensive messages” with fellow officers before murdering Everard. This surely shows just how deeply these toxic attitudes can run within policing. Given another police officer was spared prison time for spying on a 14-year-old girl back in October, it doesn’t seem like the force has suitably recognised the severity of the threat facing women and girls across the country.

And that is what makes this so frightening: the police are supposed to protect the public, but when women and girls fear the very people meant to keep them safe, who are they supposed to turn to?

Given they amount to half the UK population, this has been a huge failing by the police and reform has been long overdue. This also comes at a time when the safety of women and girls is hugely under threat, with violence against women and girls rising and reported rapes increasing by over 500% in the last two decades alone.

“Refuge decided: enough is enough”

CEO of Refuge, Gemma Sherrington, welcomes the rule changes:

Women’s confidence in policing has been in crisis for far too long. Finally, the tables are starting to turn. As new vetting and suspension regulations come into force, today (July 13th) marks the success of Refuge’s Remove the Rot campaign.

For years, we have pushed for automatic suspension of officers accused of violence against women and girls (VAWG) alongside stronger vetting procedures. At long last, the police conduct and vetting regimes have been amended to bring new regulations in.

Launched in 2023, Remove the Rot uncovered the shocking scale of police-perpetrated VAWG, including domestic abuse, sexual assault and sexual harassment. Having seen firsthand the catastrophic impact this was having on women and girls’ trust in the police, Refuge decided: enough is enough. VAWG is already at epidemic levels, and as an institution designed to protect the public from harm, the police cannot be allowed to let perpetrators slip through the net.

The new regulations, which were first announced in the government’s 2025 VAWG strategy, will require all police officers to hold and maintain vetting clearance, with new requirements to tighten suspension for those under investigation for specified VAWG offences. While these regulations depend on consistent implementation across police forces and cannot reverse the harm caused by police-perpetrated VAWG, they do send a clear message that such behaviour will not be tolerated.

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This campaign win was made possible by the tireless efforts of our supporters, with over 48,000 of you signing our Remove the Rot petition which was delivered directly to Downing Street in 2024.

The head of Refuge finished with a reminder that this is just the start of long-overdue reforms of the kind of people the police force is willing to hire and empower:

We hope today represents the beginning of a future where women and girls finally feel protected by the police, as they deserve.

We deserve to feel safe with the police

Many women and girls won’t even consider contacting the police for abuse they have suffered. They may stay silent because they fear nobody will believe them, or because they want to avoid a criminal justice system that often puts victims on trial instead of holding perpetrators to account — further deepening their trauma.

However, these changes introduced to the police force, lobbied for by Refuge, are only effective from today. Those within the ranks will likely not face any penalties unless they choose to reoffend.

Yes, abusers often reoffend, so they will likely expose themselves eventually, but this again puts the burden on victims of police-perpetrated abuse to have the courage to speak up to the colleagues/mates of the very man who hurt them.

Therefore, officials should have applied these changes retrospectively to remove those already hiding within the force and tackle the rot at its very core.

After all, Refuge found over 1.1k cases of police perpetrated VAWG just between October 2021 and March 2022.

Refuge rightly says that women and girls deserve to be protected by the police — not to be abused by them.

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By Maddison Wheeldon

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Six weeks ago, Nicola Sturgeon said this:

Today, on her behalf, her perpetually furious lawyer said this:

So she was lying. Imagine literally nobody’s surprise. “I have nothing to hide, but I’m going to hide it anyway” is flawlessly in character.

(Though we must take a moment to note that the idea of anyone bothering to release her “police interview” – seven hours of “No comment” – is hilarious.)

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In the intervening time, both Police Scotland and the Crown Office have made it very plain that Sturgeon was NOT “exonerated”, something only a judge and jury have the power to do, but Anwar lies about it anyway because neither of them has the slightest clue how to do anything but lie any more.

Everywhere Sturgeon goes, the lies glisten in her wake like a snail trail. The former First Minister, a coward to the last, is nothing but a stain on Scotland’s history.

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UK counter-terror cops have arrested twelve people over an alleged far-right threat against an Islamic event in Suffolk, England. The arrests took place mostly in southern and eastern England with one individual detained in Greater Manchester.

On 13 July, the Counter Terrorism Police (CTP) had said:

The investigation, which is extreme right-wing terrorism-related, is connected to a suspected threat directed towards an Islamic event held at Shrubland Hall, Suffolk over the weekend (9-12 July).

Due to the concerns over the possible threat, and as a precaution, advice was provided via Suffolk Police to the organisers of the UK Ijtima event to close the event slightly earlier than planned on Sunday, 12 July. There is not believed [to] be any wider threat to the public connected to this matter.

NEW: 12 people have been arrested after a suspected far-right threat forced an Islamic event at Shrubland Hall in Suffolk to close early over the weekend pic.twitter.com/W2HnbUUPio

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) July 13, 2026

CTP’s Commander Helen Flanagan said:

After becoming aware of a potential serious threat towards the Islamic event in Suffolk, we have moved extremely quickly to make a number of arrests in various locations across the country.

Flanagan also thanked the organisers for cooperating with police and noted the news “may be concerning”:

to the public and particularly those in the Muslim community, given that we believe the intended target was an Islamic event.

But as we have shown, we will not hesitate to act if there is any potential threat, no matter who or what the potential target may be. I’m also pleased to say that although the event ended slightly earlier than planned, it nevertheless passed off safely.

She added:

Sadly, this activity is a stark reminder that the threat level in the UK is at ‘severe’, so we urge the public to remain vigilant and report anything if it doesn’t look or feel right.

Suffolk arrest 11 men and one woman

Eleven of the twelve people arrested were men. They were aged between 27 and 60, and all but one suspect was arrested in the south and east of England. Police have said:

Eight men [A-H] have all been arrested and detained under section 41 of the Terrorism Act, 2000 and remain in police custody at this time.

Three other men [J-L] were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, and a woman [I] was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.

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Of those, one person [J] has since been released on bail, while the other three [I, K and L] remain in police custody at this time.

Suffolk police assistant constable Alice Scott from Suffolk Constabulary said:

We understand that the arrests and the context behind them may well cause some concern amongst our local communities. To provide some level of reassurance we will have a visible police presence in the area of Shrubland Hall over the coming days and we welcome local people to speak to us on the matter if they wish to.

Scott said “a major incident” was declared early Sunday morning. The authorities initiated “a multi-agency response”:

to ensure a safe and properly co-ordinated departure from the event of the 15,000 attendees. The major incident status was withdrawn earlier today (Mon).

Adding:

This was a complex and fast moving scenario with the priority of all the agencies working together to ensure the safety of all the attendees. The Suffolk Resilience Forum wants to thank the organiser and attendees for remaining calm in very difficult circumstances, and we can reassure the public that everyone left the location safely.

US-British commentator Mehdi Hasan noted this was just the latest threat to British Muslims:

“Twelve people have been arrested over an alleged right-wing terror threat to an Islamic event at a country estate in Suffolk, police said.”

Another threat against Muslims in the UK: https://t.co/c96kuxWYfo

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) July 13, 2026

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Another X user said “Islamophobia is a disease”:

Counter terrorism has arrested 12 British patriots suspected of planning an attack against Muslims at an Ijtima event in Suffolk.

Islamophobia is a disease that has infected broken Britain…. It must be cured. https://t.co/TNHIn8Dehi

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— Zara Hussain (@zarahussain999) July 13, 2026

Another social media user pointed out that anti-immigrant public figures who’d been very vocal about the alleged 9 July murder of right-wing politician Ann Widdecombe had so far been very quiet on the latest arrests:

As the entire Reform cult scream terrorism over a murder where there is yet to be any statement of terrorism there is a profound silence about the 12 arrests in relation to right wing terrorism this weekend

Terror police hold 12 for 'threats' to Suffolk mansion's Islamic event…

— dave lawrence (@dave43law) July 13, 2026

Police said:

The investigation is being led by officers from CTP London, with support from colleagues in the Eastern Region Special Operational Unit (ERSOU), CTP North West and CTP South East.

Between the Widdecombe case and this sudden spate of arrests there are now two new major counter-terror investigations underway in the UK. Time will tell what the police turn up, but the difference in legacy media coverage is notable.

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By Joe Glenton

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Evidence in the Undercover Policing Inquiry recently revealed that BAE Systems, the UK’s largest arms company, offered the Metropolitan police money to spy on anti arms trade campaigners.

This followed the 1996 Seeds of Hope Ploughshares action which caused £1.4m worth of damage to Hawk aircraft. Four women were acquitted of criminal damage charges on the basis they were preventing a greater crime by taking action to stop BAE Systems exporting the aircraft to Indonesia for use in war crimes against people in East Timor.

The information emerged during the questioning of former detective chief inspector Dell on 1 July 2026. Dell managed the Special Demonstration Squad / Special Duties Squad (SDS) between 2001-2005. And he worked on C-squad – the Special Branch department that dealt with protest – prior to this.

During questioning about the links between private companies and police spies, Dell stated:

I remember someone on C-squad telling me that BAE Systems had suffered another attack…BAE had offered the Branch money to finance so resources could be put into this.

Dell denied that Special Branch took the money, stating:

Even though the Branch could well have done with the money, they made the offer to the commissioner, obviously, and it had to be declined.

It appears likely that this refusal led BAE Systems to take matters into its own hands. The Seeds of Hope action took place in 1996, and by 1997, BAE Systems had embedded its own corporate spy, Martin Hogbin, at Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT). Hogbin remained at CAAT until 2003.

Cops worked for BAE Systems anyway

However, this also didn’t stop the SDS spying on CAAT throughout this period. HN3, cover name “Jason Bishop”, was also authorised to target CAAT. Former detective sergeant Ron Gilbertson, HN49, stated that Bishop was:

authorised to target CAAT because the group was known to hold protests and demonstrations, which had the potential to result in serious public disorder.

Bishop also targeted Disarm DSEI, the coalition group organising against the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair. And he was close friends with CAAT’s media coordinator, Emily Apple.

However, documents revealed in the Inquiry show that anti arms trade campaigners weren’t targeted because of the threat they posed to public order, but because their protests:

could influence the financial wellbeing of the state.

Apple said:

BAE Systems went to extraordinary lengths to spy on anti arms trade campaigners, and intrude into our lives. This is a private company essentially prepared to bribe the police for information about its critics.

There are serious questions that the Inquiry needs to investigate about the complicity between successive governments, the police, and arms companies to repress our right to protest in order to protect a trade that is complicit in multiple genocides and human rights abuses.

However, it’s important to remember that this is not historical. The power of the arms trade to influence both government and policing policy is in evidence today.

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This is shown clearly in the proscription of Palestine Action, with documents detailing meetings Elbit Systems had, not just with the Home Office but with the attorney general’s office, about how to crack down on protesters.

Successive governments have tried to label our protests as unlawful or undemocratic. However, it is the arms trade, the government, and the police that are profoundly undemocratic, repeatedly subverting the law to repress, surveil and harass our protests.

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By The Canary

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