The US armada president Donald Trump spent months assembling in the Caribbean will return to the Middle East. The news comes after reports that Venezuela had shipped oil to Israel for the first time in nearly two decades.

The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford arrived in the Caribbean in November 2025. The Ford and her fleet were one facet of a massive military build-up. The US also rebuilt regional bases and carried out drone strikes on alleged ‘narco-terrorist’ boats.

It was all about drugs, the US administration had claimed. That argument has fallen apart since the US kidnapped the country’s president Nicolas Maduro on 3 January. Nearly every reference to the drug cartel Maduro supposedly ran was from dropped from the US indictment.

The New York Times said on 13 February:

The Ford strike group’s new orders will have it joining the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group in the Persian Gulf as part of President Trump’s resurgent pressure campaign against Iran’s leaders.

They added:

Mr. Trump had indicated earlier this week that he wanted to send a second carrier to the region, but neither he nor the Navy had identified the vessel.

It appears the US has achieved its immediate military aims in Venezuela.

Oil to Israel

Maduro’s successor Delcy Rodriguez – who seems more at ease with US empire – has been in charge since Maduro was snatched. Though Venezuelan officials said the reports of oil shipments to Israel were “fake”.

But Bloomberg reported on 10 Feb:

The oil is being transported to Bazan Group, the Mediterranean country’s top crude processor, people with knowledge of the deal said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

But details are still hazy and those involved are staying tight lipped:

Bazan, also known as Oil Refineries Ltd, declined to comment. Israel’s energy ministry declined to comment on where the country gets its crude from.

The US carrier group’s Caribbean mission seems to be done – for now. With a more amenable leader in place in Venezuela, the warships are being sent back to the the Gulf region to deal with Iran. The Ford will join the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier fleet in the area.

As the Canary argued on 29 January, a strike on Iran is far more complicated than the attack on Venezuela. The fact remains, however, that while the US is an empire in decline it still has a long reach. And it still has a president willing to threatened, cajole, and kill to meet his ever-changing imperial whims.

Featured image via the Canary

The scene needed no explanation.

A white shroud, rectangular and silent, lay in the middle of a small square crowded with weary faces. Around it, men lined up to pray, their eyes fixed on something that could not be fully seen, but only imagined. Inside, what were believed to be the remains of a mother and her four children. Four siblings who came into life after years of deprivation, then left it all at once.

The image encapsulates two years of heavy waiting in Gaza. Two years in which the story remained suspended between loss and hope, between unanswered questions and a small hope that the absent ones would return to be buried as befits human beings. Only today was the final scene completed: a funeral prayer that was two years late.

Gaza: four siblings buried together

In the front row stands the father, Fadi Al-Baba. Those who know him do not need to ask him how he feels. His eyes say it all. In front of him is the white shroud, inside which lie his wife and four children who came to him after a long wait. Four siblings, who were a promise of a life that would make up for years of patience, turned into a memory buried by Israel’s genocide under its rubble, before the earth returned them in a small white bag.

The loss was not a fleeting moment. It was an extended period of time. From the day of their martyrdom until the day of their burial, the father lived on the edge of absence; no proper farewell, no grave to visit. Today, as he raises his hands in funeral prayer, it seems as if that first moment is returning with all its weight. As if two years have shrunk into a single tear.

The white shroud in the photo is not just a piece of cloth. It is the final resting place for five souls. It’s a witness to a family story whose first chapter was never completed. It is a summary of questions bigger than a photo: How can such a long wait end in silence? How can a father say goodbye to his children together, after dreaming of them together?

The stories never end

The stories of Gaza never end, because they are never told in full. Every photograph opens the door to a postponed story, and every delayed funeral reveals a period of pain that remains unwitnessed. In this photograph, we see only a white shroud and a grieving father, but behind them lies a history of longing, deprivation and waiting.

The scene ends with a final burial, but it does not end the story.

Some losses are not buried, but remain alive in the memory of a father who, whenever he sees four children together, will remember that he had four… who returned to him in a single shroud.

Featured image via the Canary

Donald Trump has launched an attack on the very foundation of US climate regulation. And it could represent his biggest assault yet, leading to both higher greenhouse gas emissions and an increase in health risks for ordinary people. In the UK, meanwhile, Reform continues to mimic Trump’s anti-climate agenda.

Trump’s massive climate rollback could lead to “58,000 additional premature deaths”

Both Trump’s regime and its critics have noted the scale of this move, calling it either the “largest deregulation” ever in US history or:

the most significant rollback on climate change yet

As the BBC reports, Trump has revoked a key:

scientific ruling that underpins all federal actions on curbing planet-warming gases.

The “endangerment finding” of 2009 ruled that numerous greenhouse gases are “a threat to public health”. And this conclusion turned into:

the legal bedrock of federal efforts to rein in emissions, especially in vehicles.

According to the Environmental Defense Fund’s Peter Zalzal, Trump’s move could cost ordinary people more in:

additional fuel costs to power these less efficient and higher polluting vehicles

It could also:

result in up to 58,000 additional premature deaths, 37 million more asthma attacks

The winners, of course, would be billionaire polluters. And they’re celebrating twice as hard, because Trump is also increasing funding for coal facilities and pushing the US military into deals with power plants using coal. Coal stocks are predictably doing well as a result.

“Trump’s EPA repeals science” sums it up. pic.twitter.com/elI4YYIQVc

— Jeff (@jepaco) February 13, 2026

Advertisement

Today, the US @EPA rescinded its 2009 endangerment finding: a drastic move even in the context of the Trump administration’s larger deregulatory and anti-climate agenda.

This move poses a particular threat to reproductive rights. Read more: https://t.co/CckiPuttHC

— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) February 12, 2026

Reform is a Trump tribute act

Reform UK, meanwhile, is busy mimicking Trump. And it would do that, because it’s firmly in the pockets of the billionaire polluters mentioned above. Currently, Reform’s anti-climate agenda is focusing on scamming people into thinking reducing greenhouse gas emissions is bad.

The party hasn’t just been pushing climate-change denialism and dangerous industries like fracking. It’s also been repeating over and over again its attacks on the global effort to limit carbon emissions (‘Net Zero‘):

Ed Miliband and Vladimir Putin are the same, in terms of your electricity bill

Superb by @KathrynPorter26

Net Stupid Zero is driving bills UP

Not down

We have been conned and misled

Advertisement

https://t.co/IENYf5oDrS

— Richard Tice MP 🇬🇧 (@TiceRichard) February 13, 2026

Even Blair agrees with Reform on Net Stupid Zero & calls on Labour to keep drilling for oil in North Seahttps://t.co/suaYXxcSjt

— Richard Tice MP 🇬🇧 (@TiceRichard) February 13, 2026

Who knew?

👇👇 https://t.co/LeX7uDMiwv

Advertisement

— Lee Anderson MP (@LeeAndersonMP_) February 12, 2026

A Net Zero Reminder. https://t.co/3pl5xoNFKo

— Lee Anderson MP (@LeeAndersonMP_) February 13, 2026

The problem for Reform, though, is that 60% of Brits support Net Zero, and only 25% oppose it. So it’s a much harder sell than in the US. But with super-rich backers filling Reform’s pockets, it will keep pushing. And if it gets into government, we can be sure that it will behave exactly as Trump’s behaving.

Featured image via the Canary

The UK High Court has decided that the interpretation of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) interim guidance on a bathroom ban for trans people is incorrect.

However, as has always been the case with this deeply transphobic piece of legislation, it is extremely difficult to parse because it is, at its core, nonsensical.

The Good Law Project challenged the EHRC’s interim guidance in the High Court. The EHRC interpreted the Supreme Court’s ruling on Gender Recognition Certificates (GRCs) as the basis for a blanket ban on trans people using single-sex facilities.

Instead, the Good Law Project explained:

The High Court has now said that this interpretation of the law is wrong. Service providers may lawfully allow trans women to use women’s facilities without being forced to open them to cis men. And such facilities may simply be labelled for ‘men’ and ‘women’.

Put simply:

The court has also made clear that it will likely be discriminatory to force trans people to use facilities based on their sex recorded at birth. In short, the law does not require a bathroom ban.

Trans bathroom ban faces more opposition

The new ruling states:

[1] In workplaces, it is compulsory to provide sufficient single-sex toilets, as well as sufficient single-sex changing and washing facilities where these facilities are needed.

[2] It is not compulsory for services that are open to the public to be provided on single-sex basis or to have single-sex facilities such as toilets. These can be single-sex if it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim and they meet other conditions in the Act. However, it could be indirect sex discrimination against women if the only provision is mixed-sex.

Effectively, in workplaces, it is compulsory to provide single-sex spaces, but it is not compulsory in services that are open to the public.

‼️🏳️‍⚧️After a challenge by @GoodLawProject, the High Court made clear that the EHRC guidance is based on an incorrect interpretation of the law & does not require blanket trans bathroom bans. Service providers can lawfully include trans people in facilities that match their gender. pic.twitter.com/vqZkvPJAl3

— Thomas Willett (@ThomasWillett9) February 13, 2026

This means that if you are trans, but not out at work, you must still stop using the toilets of your lived gender at work.

However, the ruling then goes on to say:

[3] In workplaces and services that are open to the public:
[a]
• trans women (biological men) should not be permitted to use the women’s facilities and trans men (biological women) should not be permitted to use the men’s facilities, as this will mean they are no longer single-sex facilities and must be open to all users of the opposite sex
[b]
• In some circumstances the law also allows trans women (biological men) not to be permitted to use the men’s facilities, and trans men (biological woman) not to be permitted to use the women’s facilities

Then, after effectively telling trans people they may never use the bathroom ever again, it adds:

[c]
• however, where facilities are available to both men and women, trans people should not be put in a position where there are no facilities for them to use
[d]
• where possible, mixed-sex toilet, washing or changing facilities in addition to sufficient single-sex facilities should be provided
[e]

where toilet, washing or changing facilities are in lockable rooms (not cubicles) which are intended for the use of one person at a time, they can be used by either women or men

Shockingly, the ruling also states that trans people should be prepared to be the subject of gossip.

A propensity for gossip is a feature of every workplace. So far as concerns gossip at work, no employee can expect not to be the subject of gossip about something on some occasion. Gossip is usually temporary; it is in its nature to be short-lived, as one subject is quickly overtaken by another. Up to a point, being the subject of comment by others is burden that anyone can expect to bear from time to time, and ought not to be a foundation for legal redress.

So whilst the High Court did decide that services may lawfully allow trans women to use women’s facilities – the fight is far from over.

This also means the EHRC’s exclusionary draft Code of Practice does not accurately reflect the law. Therefore, the Minister, Bridget Phillipson, will have to send it back to be rewritten.

A transphobic and violent society

Judges swear an oath, which states:

Do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of this realm, without fear or favour, affection or ill will.

What is clear is that the judge in this case has no idea of the lived realities of being trans. They also do not seem interested in the rights of trans people who want to keep their biological sex private. The ruling also gives zero weight to the harm done to trans people by excluding them. Judges may swear an oath – but they’re clearly not holding up their end.

The Good Law Project put it perfectly in its critique of how the law if purposely failing trans people:

It doesn’t matter if you have lived as a woman or a man the entirety of your adult life and even your close friends don’t know. It doesn’t matter how you present, what stage you are at in your transition, or what medical treatments you have undertaken. It doesn’t matter that we live in a society that is increasingly transphobic and, increasingly, violently so. It doesn’t matter that, particularly in such a society, trans people might feel that their privacy is a matter of profound importance and no one’s business but their own. It doesn’t matter that there is no evidence that allowing you to use the toilets you have always used will cause harm. It doesn’t matter if forcibly outing you as trans will put you at risk of harm.

The Good Law Project will, of course, be appealing the High Court’s judgment. You can donate to its fundraiser here.

Featured image via Mike Newbry/Unsplash

Ex-Inter, Man City and Italy player Mario Balotelli says he was racially abused by fans in UAE. Balotelli currently plays for Saudi team Al-Ittifaq.

The player said:

This kind of behaviour cannot be normalised, excused, or ignored. I’m speaking out to bring awareness – not just for myself, but for every player who has been subjected to this. Enough is enough.

He added:

I’ve always condemned all acts of racism, but I didn’t expect it here. I hope serious measures are taken to prevent this from happening again.

The Independent said neither Al-Ittifaq nor their UAE opponents on the day have commented. Balotelli played for Inter and AC Milan, Man City, Liverpool and other clubs before joining the Saudi team.

Racism in football reflects society

Football writer Valerio Moggia said racism was common in the Saudi league. In a July 2025 blog, he wrote about racism experienced by Brazilian winger Malcolm:

Malcom was seen having a confrontation with some fans at the stadium, at the end of the match. Videos of this argument circulated online, causing critics for the Brazilian’s behaviour towards fans: the player’s Instagram account was stormed by angry people, and some of them have resorted to racist epithets, calling him “monkey”.

Moggia said:

Gulf countries are not usually linked to racial discrimination’s episodes, seen as a mostly Western issue. But a closer look to Saudi society reveal that ethnic and religious biases are very common, even between Saudi citizens.

His excellent study of racism in Saudi soccer can be read here.

🚨🗣️| MARIO BALOTELLI:

“Today, during a match, I was racially abuse multiple times.

Advertisement

I was repeatedly told: “Uh uh uh, you go eat banana.”

There is absolutely no place for racism in football, or in the society. This kind of behaviour cannot be normalised, excused, or ignored.… pic.twitter.com/RxpYW3oIpo

— Goals Side (@goalsside) February 11, 2026

Career-long abuse

Balotelli endured racism throughout his career. Born in Palermo to Ghanian parents, the mercurial forward played on the biggest stages and won the Premier League with Manchester City.

Goal.com collated just some of the incidents he endured in a 2018 piece:

His mere presence in the Azzurrini [Italy} squad had already provoked fury among contributors to forums on right-wing sites such as Stormfront and White Front.

They added:

In April 2009, Balotelli was racially abused by Juventus fans throughout Inter’s 1-1 draw with the Bianconeri in Turin. “There are no black Italians,” they sang.

Abuse from Spain and Croatia fans continued at Euro 2012. In his recent time in France, at Nice, it was still happening.

At 35, Balotelli is nearing the end of his career. At virtually every stage he’s faced racism which he has vocally stood up against. Football markets itself as the global game. Going into World Cup 2026 — Donald Trump’s world cup — racism is still wrecking the game and the culture.

Featured image via the Canary

We reported earlier today on the High Court’s decision taken this morning, in which the Judge declared the government’s proscription on Palestine Action was ‘disproportionate’.

The judge even went as far to point out that the ban infringes on the human rights of people in the UK.

The government’s choice to proscribe Palestine Action has been met by widespread public condemnation both at home and abroad. It has been viewed as an attempt to shut down solidarity that British people have shown with Palestinians through their legal right to protest.

Israel’s ongoing, horrific genocide against Palestine has been met with absolute impunity by Western leaders, resulting in mass protest and civil disobedience across the UK since October 2023. This proscription of direct-action group Palestine Action in the UK has widely been declared as an authoritarian and draconian overreach into the hard-fought civil liberties of British citizens.

Today’s ruling marks a positive step in the right direction. Nevertheless, as our own Skwawkbox pointed out:

However, the ‘proscription’ remains in place for at least another week while the government has a chance to prepare submissions on the court’s finding. It remains a criminal offence, for the time being, to express support for Palestine Action. Police should, of course, weigh whether it’s worth arresting people when no prosecutions are likely, but their record suggests they won’t.

Court rules Palestine Action ban ‘disproportionate’ – but still banned for now…https://t.co/Frv3cct00j

— SKWAWKBOX (@skwawkbox) February 13, 2026

Palestine Action – anti-genocide protesters stand firm

We wrote recently about the fate of 2,787 people arrested on terrorism charges for holding up paper signs saying ‘I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.’ Notably, acts of protest which are in line with our legal duty as citizens in response to the widely recognised genocide of Palestinians. As we wrote:

Evidence of UK complicity in crimes against genocide continues to mount. In October 2025 the UN issued its draft report Gaza Genocide: A Collective Crime detailing the complicity of states including the UK in the destruction of Gaza. Amongst other things, the UK continued to supply arms including components for F-35 stealth bombers, undertook daily surveillance flights over Gaza for Israel, maintained normal trade relations, and allowed Israel to undertake international crimes with impunity.

In December Declassified UK released its film Britain’s Gaza Spy Flight Scandal, investigating the hundreds of RAF intelligence flights conducted on behalf of Israel.

Advertisement

MP Zarah Sultana has welcomed the court’s decision, rightfully calling out how the government has abused its power to silence valid dissent from its own people:

The High Court has confirmed what we all knew: proscribing Palestine Action was unlawful.

The state must stop using “counter-terror” powers to criminalise solidarity and intimidate working-class people out of protest.

The Labour government must lift the proscription now and…

— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) February 13, 2026

Advertisement

Sultana’s statement in full:

The High Court has confirmed what we all knew: proscribing Palestine Action was unlawful.

The state must stop using “counter-terror” powers to criminalise solidarity and intimidate working-class people out of protest.

The Labour government must lift the proscription now and drop every case NOW.

We will not stop until Palestine is free, from the river to the sea

Advertisement

No more blurring right and wrong

We have all had to sit by whilst we learn more seemingly every day that make clear our own leaders cannot distinguish right from wrong. Whether it’s supporting mass murder in Gaza or working alongside crooks who have willingly mixed with convicted paedophiles, a corrupt and sinister pattern speaks for itself.

In fact, our own Skwawkbox reported on how Starmer’s apology for working with a paedo came armed with a propaganda-like attack at pro-Palestine protesters. All of this reinforces one point: the challenges we face are linked, bound together by a system of elite power and control.

Skwawkbox wrote:

Starmer said he was sorry for believing Mandelson’s lies — ‘Peter’ was never added as Starmer tried desperately to distance himself. Distance himself from the man he took on as his senior adviser when Mandelson’s closeness to child-rapist Jeffrey Epstein was already well known. From the man he then appointed as ambassador to the US, despite knowing the same.

Then added:

And then, out of nowhere, Starmer began attacking the hundreds of thousands of people who march against Israel’s genocide. He repeated the Israel lobby’s lie that marching against genocide makes UK Jews scared. Nonsense. UK Jews are front and centre of every march and rally — so much so, that the BBC and others have to hide them. Leaving them in would expose that lie and the lie that all Jews support Israel, you see.

Ordinary people see clearly what leaders do not

Those with power clearly have a real problem deciphering their moral compass. On the other hand, protesters have shown unwavering moral clarity, refusing to cower in the face of police intimidation and draconian penalties as they speak out over the tens of thousands of babies and children killed by Israel.

However, the fate of those nearly 3,000 protesters is still confusing. This follows the government being granted the right to appeal today’s High Court decision. As a result, there is an arguably deliberate grey area now as to whether support for the ‘unlawfully’ proscribed group would still result in police arrest.

Q: Does this mean I won’t get arrested if I say ‘I support Palestine Action.”

A: Technically arrests can continue because the government granted an appeal in a week.

But police told protesters outside the court they’ve been instructed from on high not to conduct arrests. https://t.co/rAjSzgs9bJ

Advertisement

— Owen Jones (@owenjonesjourno) February 13, 2026

Human rights lawyer Shoaib Khan broke down the absurdities of the case against Palestine Action:

Court: Even discounting Pal Action’s non-peaceful activities, proscription resulted in very significant interference with rights of free speech & assembly. Since Home Sec’s policy was not properly applied, interference did not meet requirement that it must be prescribed by law.

— Shoaib M Khan (@ShoaibMKhan) February 13, 2026

Since the High Court handed down its judgment, supporters have flooded in with reactions to its legal stance:

Massive victory as court rules that Palestine Action proscription ruled disproportionate and resulted in a very significant interference in the right to freedom of speech and assembly. BUT proscription remains in force until hearing on 20th! pic.twitter.com/Kxjrc1P4DM

— Campaign Against Arms Trade (@CAATuk) February 13, 2026

Now Palestine Action’s ban has been ruled to be unlawful, this seems like a good time to get this petition moving.

Let’s get Israeli influence out of our Government for good. https://t.co/f1bW3X7482 https://t.co/Fby6z8ZHwe

— Wolfie. 💙🧡💚 (@Tpopularfront) February 13, 2026

Time to go for the guilty

This judgement today has also renewed and re-energised calls for Western leaders to face accountability. Amongst many others, there are calls for David Lammy and Keir Starmer to face the International Criminal Court. Western leaders must be made to answer for their deplorable, ongoing complicity in the mass murder and oppression of Palestinians in Palestine.

Peter Oborne wrote on this issue in depth in his book ‘Complicit’, which provide a chronological insight into the UK’s long-term complicity in Israel’s crimes. Even from its very own inception. Oborne signposts the legal duties that can be enforced against our leadership, as the Canary reported:

The author outlines legal avenues for accountability, identifying both mechanisms and barriers. Under the Rome Statute and the UK’s International Criminal Court Act 2001, individuals who aid, abet, or facilitate genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes can be held criminally liable.

However, UK prosecutions require consent from the Attorney General, a political appointee, which acts as a major obstacle:

“The Attorney General is appointed, and can be dismissed, by the prime minister. The Attorney General is therefore a creature of the government who would be unlikely to prosecute misconduct by their colleagues and party – even if that misconduct reaches the pitch of the facilitation of genocide.”

Owen Jones reminds UK PM Keir Starmer and others like him, with today’s judgement as evidence, that justice will come because the law ultimately is on our side:

Lowkey and Double Down News shared their investigative piece outlining how Israel actually managed to get a UK protest group to be designated as terrorists:

BREAKING: High Court rules Palestine Action Ban UNLAWFUL

“This is the story of how Israel got a protest group based in another country proscribed a Terrorist organisation” pic.twitter.com/fda8gZTEPP

— Double Down News (@DoubleDownNews) February 13, 2026

Collective power is the only real solution

This is a very welcome court judgement. Nevertheless, subsequent tactics by the government simply show we must start to change the way power is organised. This includes the way that our governments and political parties operate; no more dodgy, secretive donations and backhanders.

No more politicians chasing those with the deepest pockets wherever they come from, whilst shafting its own tax-paying citizens.

That requires a radical change to the system our world operates within and urgently demands bottom-up change to our democracy. No more single leaders who make political decisions based on their ‘superior moral conscience’. Instead, we need a deliberative, collective leadership. The very people who experience the real harms in our society and around the world should build it.

After all, more people raise their voices against Israel’s actions every day, signalling that moral clarity increasingly lies with ordinary people.

Featured image via the Canary

Christopher Furlong via Getty Images

“If Labour think they’re in this race, then they clearly haven’t knocked on a single door.”

– Zack Polanski

Social media users are calling on Yvette Cooper to resign after the High Court ruled the ban on Palestine Action was unlawful.

Just heard on the radio that the then Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s proscribing of Palestine action was illegal. She must resign immediately. All those wrongly arrested and charged must be exonerated. A total misuse of the police to mask complicity with Israel’s genocide.

— candyman (@PeacheyGabriel) February 13, 2026

Yvette Cooper – just go, already

Yvette Cooper studied at both Oxford and Harvard – she is not unintelligent. She knew full well that in attempting to ban Palestine Action, she was attacking our right to peaceful protests – one of the cornerstones of our democracy.

Yvette Cooper must have fully understood that her unlawful proscription of Palestine Action was an attack on the fundamental freedoms of a democratic society. She did it anyway.

After today’s High Court ruling, she should no longer remain as a minister.https://t.co/Uc7NX8ax0X

Advertisement

— Martin O’Neill (@martin_oneill) February 13, 2026

She can’t jail nuns anymore – someone get her a therapist.

It’s Friday. Palestine Action is now legal again. Shabana ‘migrant hunter’ Mahmood is crying into her Pret lunch. Yvette Cooper is beating her husband in apoplectic rage because she can’t jail nuns anymore. Spring has returned.

— Alex Yousif (@LibMarx93) February 13, 2026

We already know she has no morals – or personality.

Palestine Action: If Yvette Cooper had one iota of morality she would resign!!

— Martin O’Neill (@DrNostromo) February 13, 2026

Yvette Cooper should resign – or even better, Starmer should fire her. But Starmer won’t fire a guy like Mandelson until he’s really left with no choice. So I can’t see that happening.

I can’t see how Yvette Cooper manages to remain in govt. post end of this Palestine Action quashed conviction. I expect the Govt. to loose its appeal as well. She equated that PA where the same as AQ, ISIS, Combat18 – making a mockery of how serious terrorism is. She has to go!

— CronusTitan (@CronusTitan2) February 13, 2026

Did Cooper’s top-secret information about Palestine Action ever come to light? Or did that disappear along with Cooper’s last shred of integrity?

Has secret info’ about Palestine Action only Yvette Cooper knew about been revealed yet, or are they in fact just a figment of her imagination?

— James Mealey (@Jamesmealey10) February 13, 2026

There’s probably some blank piece of paper sitting in a folder marked ‘classified’ somewhere in London.

There is no question that Cooper should resign – along with any other shady minister that backed the Proscription of Palestine Action – yes, Luke Akehurst, I’m talking directly to you.

Yvette Cooper should resign, say Palestine Action activists
Palestine Action activists have called for former home secretary Yvette Cooper, who made the decision to proscribe the group last year, to resign.

In a speech outside the high court this morning, activist Lisa Minerva… pic.twitter.com/JEJOoLZ6Qg

Advertisement

— Gareth Jones Society 🇵🇸 (@GarethJonesSoc) February 13, 2026

Now, the government is going to fight the lifting of the ban. But how much more taxpayers’ money is Starmer going to let it waste? At what point Yvette Cooper going to admit the whole thing was one massive fuck up and wind her neck in?

Feature image via HG

The UK’s water and sewerage industry weaponised Labour’s Universal Credit deductions cap to lobby for higher bill hikes – all with the aid of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Documents the Canary obtained via Freedom of Information (FOI) request reveal how industry body Water UK and Yorkshire Water separately lobbied regulator Ofwat ahead of Labour implementing the 15% cap on Universal Credit deductions.

What’s more, figures they relied on to call for raising bills majorly conflict with data the Canary previously acquired from the DWP. Notably, Water UK cited a figure for the industry’s annual deductions that was over four times the amount shown by the official government data.

So the documents exposed that not only did the industry cynically exploit the new deductions cap – but it appears it also inflated figures to do so.

DWP cap aiding greedy water companies

The Labour Party government first announced its so-called Fair Repayment Rate plans in the 2024 Autumn Budget.

In April 2025, the DWP brought the new cap into effect. It reduced the deductions the DWP can take on monthly payments for various debts to 15%.

However, as the Canary already highlighted, the half-assed measure amounted to little more than tinkering around at the edges of a vicious debt chasing mechanism. In effect, it merely extends claimants periods of indebtedness, instead of actually removing the debt. To make matters worse, built-in loopholes mean that for many, DWP deductions will still exceed the cap.

Nevertheless, in theory, it means that some claimants in debt will have more of their Universal Credit each month.

So of course, private sector corporations cashing in from the deductions regime weren’t happy about this. Unsurprisingly, the water and sewage companies – sixth in line for deductions – was one such industry.

Water industry will lose out? Cry me a river

Less than a month after Labour announced the new cap, Water UK CEO David Henderson wrote to head of Ofwat David Black. He laid out how it would cause the industry to lose out on £200m in deductions over the next five years.

Naturally, the industry body also couldn’t help but play the victim even more where migration to Universal Credit was concerned. In particular, it noted how people moving from legacy benefits like Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) would “become eligible” for the new cap. It argued that this could “increase bad debt further” for water firms. The implication was that the industry wouldn’t be able to rob as many claimants of their welfare.

Following this, Yorkshire Water lobbied the regulator on 26 November 2024. In a letter headed RE: Impact of October Budget, the water firm wrote:

With the cap lowered to 15%, water charge arrears, ranked low in priority, face reduced success rates.

In the last year, we received £11 million from DWP payments, which could decrease by 50%.

Although this doesn’t directly translate into bad debt, mitigating the impact will require increased debt recovery efforts and promotion of social tariffs, resulting in higher costs.

Predictably, both demanded greater ‘allowances’ to account for this. In simple terms, this would mean Ofwat increasing what it allows companies to charge – ergo, bill hikes for customers.

Bogus figures

Of course, the disparity between Water UK and Yorkshire Water’s figures with the data the Canary obtained from the DWP also raises significant questions.

Water UK claimed industry deductions for 2024 sat at £100m. Meanwhile, Yorkshire Water suggested its slice of this alone came in at £11m.

By comparison, the DWP’s data for a similar twelve-month period (March 2024 – February 2025) showed total deductions at £22m.

The first cause of the disparity could be because the department itself provided erroneous data.

However, the more plausible explanation is that Water UK and Yorkshire Water both inflated their figures to press for larger bill increases.

And notably, even Ofwat wasn’t buying their calculations. Specifically, in its ‘final determinations’ for its 2024 price review of the industry, the regulator challenged the credibility of Water UK’s claim that:

190,000 households were subject third-party deductions via Universal Credit in 2023-24, equivalent to around £100 million revenue.

Because, as it pointed out, on average this would work out at a £526 annual deduction per household. It commented how this:

seems very high relative to the average water bill.

This would be just shy of £44 a month. By contrast, the DWP’s data showed that water company deductions were £20 a month on average.

Moreover, as Ofwat also highlighted:

Water UK also seem to assume that water companies can recover all the water bill through third party provision, which would be surprising given water companies are 6th in line behind other service providers (housing, accommodation, hostel, rent and service charges, gas and electricity).

Blaming welfare claimants for bill hikes

Already, the DWP’s data is also throwing cold water on its far-fetched claims. The idea that the cap would cause the industry to lose out on £40m in Universal Credit deductions is preposterous. This is obviously not least because, according to official government data, 12 months of deductions are barely just over half of this in total. Furthermore, even the 40% drop in deductions is implausible.

Crucially, we now have the first few months worth of data that shows the effect the new cap is having on deductions. June saw a decrease of 22% from £1.8m to £1.4m. For July and August, the decrease was around 28% from £1.8m to £1.3m in each month respectively.

At the end of the day, the industry’s figures don’t add up. However, what’s clear is that it tried to use welfare claimants to hike customer bills. And it sure seems like it attempted to wilfully mislead Ofwat to do this.

Of course, for the shameless profiteers that are privatised water, exploiting the hardships of its poorest customers is all-too on-brand.

Featured image via author