This comes after the second reading of the government’s controversial Courts and Tribunal Bill, which amongst other measures proposes cutting the number of jury trials.

Bolton South and Walkden MP Yasmin Qureshi, who previously worked as a CPS barrister and designated rape and child abuse specialist, abstained on the vote earlier this week.

She said: “I abstained because I believe this Bill contains genuinely important measures that I want to see enacted. 

“The investment in legal aid matters. The additional sitting days matter. The funding for our courts matters.

Bolton Crown Court has a backlog of 100s of cases waiting to be heard (Image: Anthony Moss)

“Voting it down at second reading would have put all of that at risk, and I was not prepared to do that. 

“But a vote in favour would have been a vote to accept measures I believe are wrong in principle and unproven in practice.

“Restricting the right to jury trial and removing the automatic right of appeal are not minor procedural adjustments.

“They are changes that will fall hardest on defendants who are already the most vulnerable in the system: those from deprived backgrounds, those without legal representation, those who already find the justice system difficult to navigate.”

She added: “My constituency is the 38th most deprived in the country.

“When I consider how these reforms would affect people in Bolton South and Walkden who end up in the criminal justice system, I cannot be comfortable with them.

“The automatic right of appeal exists because magistrates courts get things wrong.

“We know that a significant proportion of those appeals succeed. Removing that right will leave some defendants, the ones who could least afford to challenge an unjust outcome, with nowhere to turn.”

The government has said the Bill is needed to tackle a huge backlog of cases waiting to be heard.

According to the Ministry of Justice as of June last year there was a backlog of 78,329 cases waiting to be heard.

In Bolton alone there was a backlog 938 cases.

But the Courts and Tribunals Bill’s most controversial aspect includes restricting the right of defendants to a jury in triable either way cases.

The Bill also proposes removing the automatic right of appeal from magistrates courts to the Crown Court.

It proposes increases magistrates’ maximum sentencing powers from 12 to 24 months and provides investment in legal aid and additional court sitting days.

Ms Qureshi said: “On jury trials, I have to be honest: I do not accept the government’s case that restricting them will meaningfully reduce the Crown Court backlog.

“When I prosecuted in the 1990s, more cases were heard in the Crown Court because magistrates had sentencing powers of only six months, and yet the backlogs we see today did not exist.

“The delays are the result of years of court closures, cuts to sitting days, reductions in staff and the enormous pressure placed on legal aid. Those are the things that need fixing. 

“I want this government to succeed in clearing the backlog. I want victims of rape and sexual abuse to get their day in court faster.

“I spent years of my career working with those victims and I know what delayed justice costs them.

“That is precisely why I am asking the government to think again.

“Introduce properly funded specialist rape courts. Fix the prisoner transport contracts. Reform case management so that cases progress to an early plea.

“Put those measures in place first and see what they achieve before restricting the right to jury trial. 

“I will engage fully in the committee and report stages of this Bill. There is much here worth fighting for.

“But I am calling on the government to use those stages to listen, to revise, and to ensure that the measures that reach the statute book are both effective and fair.” 

The Bill passed its second reading on March 10 and will go to a committee stage before being brought back to the House of Commons for a third reading.

Justice Secretary David Lammy MP has said previously that the Bill is needed to bring down growing case backlogs which are causing a crisis in the courts.

He said: “Victims are currently worn down, people simply give up, cases collapse and offenders remain free. Free to roam the streets, free to commit more crimes, free to create more victims.

“To restore swift and fair justice, we are pulling every lever available, investment is essential, modernisation is essential, and reform.”

Walkers is recalling its six-pack of Hot Honey crisps because they could contain a Mild Cheese & Onion seasoning which contains milk and is not correctly labelled.

The company said: “Although this product includes precautionary allergen labelling for milk, milk is not included in the ingredients list and therefore the product poses a risk to people with an allergy to milk.”

The affected batch is the six-pack of 25g bags with a best before date of May 16, 2026 and the batch code GBB 584 031.

Hot Honey Walkers! 🔥🍯 At B&M @walkers_crisps #walkerscrisps #hothoney #crisps #wellthisisnew pic.twitter.com/T16lnbpDJU

— Well This Is New (@All_Things_New_) February 8, 2026

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has warned the product may contain milk, which makes it a “possible health risk for anyone with an allergy to milk or intolerance to milk or milk constituents.”

It added: “If you have bought the above product and have an allergy to milk do not eat it.

“Instead, please call the Consumer Care Line on 0800 274 777 or visit contact.pepsico.com/walkers to receive a full refund.”

Walkers confirmed that “no other Batch Codes on this Best Before Code are affected”.

Food recalls explained

What is an FSA allergy alert?

For those who are not aware of FSA allergy alerts, the government department responsible for protecting public health in relation to food explains what they are.

It says: “Sometimes there will be a problem with a food product that means it should not be sold.

Recommended reading:

“Then it might be ‘withdrawn’ (taken off the shelves) or ‘recalled’ (when customers are asked to return the product).

“Sometimes foods have to be withdrawn or recalled if there is a risk to consumers because the allergy labelling is missing or incorrect or if there is any other food allergy risk.

“When there is a food allergy risk, the FSA will issue an Allergy Alert.”

Have you bought Walkers Hot Honey crisps recently? Let us know in the comments below.

Dressed in a red wig with heavy white make up, like the antagonist from the film, he could be seen playing table tennis with Timothee Chalamet in Marty Supreme, running across the stage of the Globe in Hamnet, in the car with del Toro in One Battle After Another and trying to get into the juke joint in Sinners.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A fifth member of the Iranian women’s soccer team who accepted a refugee visa to stay in Australia has left the country, the Australian government said on Monday.

The player’s departure shortly before midnight on Sunday leaves two of an initial seven squad members in Australia, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s office said.

The Iranian authorities have welcomed the women’s change of heart as a victory against Australia and U.S. President Donald Trump. The Iranian diaspora in Australia blame pressure from Tehran.

Burke reported on Sunday that two players and a team support staff member had left Sydney for Malaysia on Saturday.

Iran’s team arrived in Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup last month, before the war in the Middle East began on Feb. 28.

Initially, six players and a support staff member from a squad list of 26 players accepted humanitarian visas to stay in Australia before the rest of the Iranian contingent flew from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur on March 10.

Another later changed her mind and left Australia.

The rest of the team has remained in Kuala Lumpur since they left Australia.

Assistant Immigration Minister Matt Thistlethwaite described the women’s plight in Australia as a “very complex situation.”

“We’ve been working very, very closely with them, but obviously this is a very complex situation. These are deeply personal decisions, and the government respects the decisions of those that have chosen to return. And we continue to offer support to the two that are remaining,” Thistlethwaite told Sky News television.

“They’re being given all the support of the Australian government and indeed the diaspora community to remain here and settle in Australia,” he added.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a political scientist at Sydney’s Macquarie University who spent more than two years in Iranian prisons on spying charges from 2018 to 2020, said “winning the propaganda war” had overshadowed the women’s welfare.

“The high stakes made the Iranian regime sit up and pay attention and try to force their hand in response, in my view,” Moore-Gilbert told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“But it wasn’t necessarily to be known that this story would blow up and become the international story that it did. But I do think in this case, had these woman quietly sought asylum without that publicity around them, it’s possible that the Islamic Republic officials might have, as they have in the cases of other Iranian sports people in the past who’ve defected … simply allowed that to happen,” she added.

Iran’s Tasnim News Agency said after the three left Australia on Saturday and that they were “returning to the warm embrace of their family and homeland.”

Concerns about the team’s safety in Iran heightened when the players didn’t sing the Iranian national anthem before their first match.

The Australian government was urged to help the women by Iranian groups in Australia and by Trump.

The Iranian news agency described the women’s return to the team as the “disgraceful failure of the American-Australian project and another failure for Trump.”

Some members of the Iranian diaspora in Australia have accused the support staffer who initially accepted asylum then left Australia on Saturday of spreading Iranian government propaganda to her teammates via text messages.

Thistlethwaite said there was no evidence to support the theory that the staffer had persuaded others to leave. All those who had remained in Australia after the team had left were “genuine asylum seekers,” he said.

Thistlethwaite said the women had been taken to an undisclosed “safe destination” once they had decided to stay in Australia.

“They’ve been able to communicate with family and with others. I understand that some of them did make contact with the Iranian embassy here in Australia. We can’t cut off communications for them,” Thistlethwaite said.

The embassy in the national capital Canberra remains staffed, despite the Australian government expelling the ambassador last year.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese cut off diplomatic relations with Iran in August after announcing that intelligence officials had concluded that the Revoluntionary Guard had directed arson attacks on a Sydney kosher food company and Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue in 2024.

Australian-Iranian Society of Victoria vice-president Kambiz Razmara said the women who accepted asylum had been under pressure from the Tehran regime.

“They’ve had to make decisions at the spur of the moment with very little information and they’ve had to react to the circumstance,” Razmara said. “I’m surprised that they’ve decided to go, but I’m actually not surprised because I appreciate the pressures that they’re experiencing.”

___

This story has been edited to correct that Macquarie University is in Sydney, not Melbourne.

The chantry chapel has a mysterious history

From a Iron Age hill fort near March where a Roman battle was fought to a Cambridge park where the first football rules were invented. We are truly lucky to be in a county with such interesting history.

There is one property in Cambridgeshire which is considered an “unusual” medieval chapel with a mysterious history. Duxford Chapel, a Grade II listed building, is believed to originally have been a hospital. English Heritage describe Duxford Chapel as an “unusual medieval building with an enigmatic history.”

You may assume that the chapel would be located in Duxford, given its name but it is actually located between the villages of Whittlesford and Duxford, adjacent to Whittlesford Parkway railway station.

Evidence has found that a hospital founded by William De Colville next to Whittlesford Bridge was recorded in the 13th century and the chantry chapel is suggested to have been a part of it.

The chantry chapel was supposedly established as part of a hospital dedicated to John the Baptist, known as The Chapel of the Hospital of St. John.

Unlike a modern hospital, Colville’s medieval foundation was charged with offering accommodation to poor travellers as well as medical care to chronically ill or aged people, according to Britain Express.

In the 14th century, the hospital became a ‘free chapel’ and later in 1548 the chapel was suppressed during the dissolution of chantries by Edward VI. According to Historic England, it supposedly went out of use for seven years and then later it was brought back to use as a barn.

Today, the chapel is managed and owned by English Heritage and members of the public can visit the chapel .

Oh, and naturally, he couldn’t resist a pop at Timothée Chalamet, either

Sinners’ musical performance brought the film’s most memorable scene to life live on stage

There was a rare Oscars tie while presenting the award for Best Live-Action Short Film (‘it’s ironic that the short film Oscar is going to take twice as long,’ he then joked)

There was some awkwardness as producers tried to cut Two People Exchanging Saliva’s acceptance speech, but they prevailed

Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans roped Channing Tatum into one memorable comedy sketch

Sinners director and writer Ryan Coogler celebrated his Best Original Screenplay win by celebrating the work of Sinners’ sprawling cast

Billy Crystal began the ‘in memoriam’ tributes by leading a star-studded homage to Rob Reiner

Jimmy Kimmel wasn’t on stage for long, but managed to take a series of shots at Donald Trump and his administration

You could hear a pin drop after All The Empty Rooms’ win for Best Documentary Short, as the team behind it made an important point about gun violence

Mr Nobody Against Putin’s team then had a timely message for the whole world about ‘complicity’ and its effects on society

There’ve been plenty of performances of Golden over the course of awards season this year, but the rendition at the Oscars was perhaps the most ambitious yet

After winning Best Original Song, an emotional Ejae reflected on how far she’d come

Unfortunately, after Golden won Best Original Song for KPop Demon Hunters, one of its songwriters was cut off by producers, leading to widespread groaning from the studio audience

Michael B Jordan beat stiff competition from Timothée Chalamet and Leonardo DiCaprio to win his first Oscar, and the reaction from everyone around him was just wonderful to behold

Paul Thomas Anderson then saw out One Battle After Another’s Best Picture win with a message for his fellow nominees

But not before…

And finally, Conan O’Brien’s final sketch of the night referenced the final moments of One Battle After Another

State Pensioners will see a 4.8% increase from April 2026, with the amount depending on when you retired and your National Insurance record

State Pensioners across the UK will see a financial uplift in 2026 as new payment rates come into effect from April.

The State Pension rises at the beginning of every new tax year in April, and the rate of increase is determined by the highest of three factors – known as the ‘triple lock’. These are the consumer price index (CPI) measure of inflation (measured for September in the previous year), average wage growth between May and July of the previous year, or 2.5 percent.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed the new rates from April, with the State Pension set to rise by 4.8 percent in line with average wage growth – the highest out of the triple lock factors, above inflation and the 2.5 percent minimum floor for increases.

This 4.8 percent increase means that pensioners who receive the full new State Pension will be £575 better off per year from April 6 when the new rates take effect.

However, as the UK’s State Pension system is divided into two schemes – basic and new – the amount that pension payments will increase from April 6, 2026, depends on when you retired and your National Insurance record, reports the Express.

1. Basic State Pension

Men born before April 6, 1951, and women born before April 6, 1953, receive the basic State Pension and will see their pensions increase by 4.8 percent from April.

This means the full basic State Pension will rise from £176.45 to £184.90 per week, giving pensioners a weekly payment increase of £8.45.

Over a full year, this would equate to a total of £9,614.80 in pension payments (up from £9.175. 40), providing those receiving the full rate an additional £439.40 annually.

Naturally, you need to have a certain number of qualifying years of National Insurance to receive this full amount. For men, this is typically 30 qualifying years if you were born between 1945 and 1951, or 44 qualifying years if you were born before 1945.

For women, you’ll require 30 qualifying years if you were born between 1950 and 1953, or 39 qualifying years if you were born before 1950.

If you have fewer than the full number of qualifying National Insurance years, then your basic State Pension will be less than £184.90 per week from April 2026.

2. New State Pension

Men born on or after 6 April 1951, and women born on or after 6 April 1953, are eligible to claim the new State Pension once you reach State Pension age, which is currently 66.

People claiming this pension will also see their payments increase by 4.8 percent from April, with the full rate rising from £230.25 per week to £241.30 in 2026.

Over a full year, this amounts to a total of £12,547.60 in pension payments (up from (£11,973), giving pensioners on the full rate an extra £574.60 annually.

HM Treasury stated: “Thanks to our commitment to the pension Triple Lock for this parliament, pensioners on the full new State Pension across the UK are set to receive an extra £575 a year, which they’ll start seeing from April 2026.”

3. Pension Credit

The standard minimum guarantee for Pension Credit is also increasing by 4.8 percent from April. This benefit provides additional funds to those over State Pension age and on a low income to assist with living expenses.

From April, the single weekly rate will rise from £227.10 per week to £238, giving claimants an extra £10.90 each week, or £566.80 more per year.

The joint weekly rate is increasing from £346.60 per week to £363.25 from April, providing claimants with an additional £16.65 each week, or £865.80 extra annually.

HELEN Mead’s survey of that ambrosia known as mushy peas hit the spot (The Press, March 13).

I entirely agree with her verdict. My favourite, too, of this gourmet delicacy is Tesco’s own. I love them with fish cakes or fish fingers and a fleet of chips moored alongside. I hope they have them in heaven and I hope I’m going there. The dish deserves such a ‘peaon’ of praise.

I wonder what really posh mushy peas taste, and look, like?

I’ve never sampled Fortnum and Mason’s and not likely to. Couldn’t afford the tin, let alone the contents.

The common or garden ‘mushies’, especially if purchased from the big shop at Askham Bar, are just right for ordinary folk like you and me, the ‘salt & vinegar of the Earth’.

In any case they’re probably called by a more exotic sounding name at F&M such as ‘purée de petits pois’, which I had to look up.

Try that out in your local ‘chippie’ and see what happens.

Ordering fish and chips with mushy peas (and a few scraps) in French elevates this rightly popular dish to a whole new level, ie ‘posh’. I think the Romans introduced them, as they were responsible for so much else, eg, potatoes, autobahns, tobacco, Lego, spaghetti, baths and pizzas (famous for its leaning tower).

I consider fish fingers or fishcakes, chips and mushy peas as a health food. Maybe not so good for the body but excellent for the morale which must have positive physical side-effects. (Not yet available on the NHS).

Derek Reed,

Middlethorpe Drive,

York

—

Thousands of homes are being built with zero thought to infrastructure

RE the Press headline ‘Construction starts on 314 new homes.

Whenever I see such headlines one thing always springs to mind: 314 new homes; let’s say on average three people per home. So approximately 1,000 people.

Please tell me what GP surgery is going to take all these people? Which dentist? In some cases which school? What shops? How will the local roads cope?

Thousands of homes are being built with zero thought to infrastructure.

Are more GPs and dentists being built to accommodate this influx of people?

I think/know not.

Craig Wilson,

Tuke Avenue,

Tang Hall,

York

—

Fly tipping and misuse of litter bins will become more of a problem

WITH the restrictions on people taking waste to the recycling centre in Hazel Court, James Street, ( from Monday March 2) and with the facilities only open to pre-booked appointments so it begins.

It’s not unusual to see people placing household rubbish into litter bins, I often see it, but now I’m noticing bin bags being placed into the paper recycling, large green bins in St John’s Street car park.

I’ve never had any serious delays using Hazel Court, although I had the luxury of not going evenings and weekends when you expect it to be busy.

I foresee fly tipping and misuse of litter bins becoming more of a problem.

To help rather than hinder recycling why not re-open the centre on Wednesdays and make Monday to Friday open for anyone without booking, only implementing pre-booking on weekends and bank holidays.

Why not try to work with the population of York rather than handicap them at every opportunity?

D M Deamer,

Penleys Grove Street,

Monkgate,

York

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