NewsBeat
Southport stabbings: ‘Why wasn’t he stopped?’ Axel Rudakubana had ‘kill list’ and was obsessed with extreme violence | UK News
Axel Rudakubana’s fascination with extreme violence stretched back years – students at his school said he had a “kill list” of people he wanted to target.
He was excluded from secondary school in year nine after taking a knife into Range High, in Formby, in October 2019.
Three months later he returned to the Merseyside school and ran along the corridors trying to attack people with a hockey stick.
Police at the scene of the stabbings in July 2024
Rudakubana, who pleaded guilty to the Southport attacks on Monday, had drawn up a list of people he wanted to target.
Between December 2019 and April 2021, he was referred three times to the government’s Prevent programme, designed to intervene and stop people from becoming radicalised.
Students at Range High remember a troubled individual.
Dylan Pemberton’s daughter was three school years above Rudakubana but was still very aware of him.
Mr Pemberton told Sky News: “I asked her, ‘Did you know the kid?’
“And she was like ‘Yeah, he was well known’.”
“He had tried to attack someone with a hockey stick outside my maths class.
“It was known to her and her peer group that he had a kill list.”
Dylan Pemberton told Sky News that students at Range High knew Rudakubana had a “kill list”
Merseyside Police said officers found that the teenager had an “unhealthy obsession with extreme violence”.
Rudakubana also developed a fascination with despotic leaders and warfare, and had also discussed the 1994 Rwandan genocide in the country his parents had lived in before moving to the UK in 2002.
His mother and father had settled in Cardiff, where their two sons were born, before moving to the northwest of England.
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‘Nothing off the table in Southport inquiry’
A week before the Southport stabbings in July 2024 his father Alphonse had stopped his son from taking a taxi back to Range High School, five years after he had been excluded.
Then 17, he was wearing the same outfit and surgical mask that he wore before he took another taxi into Southport to attack children at the Taylor Swift-themed dance event.
Mr Pemberton told Sky News it was chilling to think Rudakubana could have attacked the school the week before.
“If someone is known to be a psychopathic lunatic who has got delusions about wanting to go and massacre people you would hope they (the authorities) would just deal with it.
“It sounds like it was a tragedy waiting to happen… it’s just been kicked into the long grass for someone else to deal with down the line.”
“Why wasn’t he stopped? He was clearly on the radar of school, and social services and at least his father. So how’s he fallen through the cracks and that’s what people want to know.
“We’re all upset and saddened by it, but it really is inconsequential compared to the victims who’ve suffered the real trauma in all of this, you know, for the rest of their lives.
King Charles visited Southport in the aftermath of the attacks. Pic: PA
Read more:
Did PM withhold details about attacks?
Survivor reflects on Southport attacks
Stabbings were ‘savage and senseless’
Announcing a public inquiry into what went wrong, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Between them, those agencies failed to identify the terrible risk and danger to others that he posed.
“We also need more independent answers on both Prevent and all the other agencies that came into contact with this extremely violent teenager as well as answers on how he came to be so dangerous.”
Sefton Council told Sky News that the schools he attended would not yet be commenting.
BBC/PAWarning: This article contains spoilers for series three of The Traitors.
A contestant has said appearing on TV show The Traitors was “mentally exhausting”.
Reverend Lisa Coupland, 62, from Truro in Cornwall has been in Series 3 of the BBC One programme, where contestants known as “faithfuls” work to identify a group of imposters, or “traitors”, within their ranks.
Those traitors attempt to secretly “kill off” the others while remaining undetected and directing suspicion elsewhere.
Mrs Coupland, who did not reveal her profession until episode five, said she saw herself as being “undercover” rather than lying when she took off her dog collar and kept quiet about her faith.
BBC/STUDIO LAMBERTShe said it was “quite a strange experience” to keep her faith “under wraps”.
“I like to think about it more as going undercover rather than actually lying – I mean, [crime-solving TV priest] Father Brown can do it, so why can’t I?”, she said.
The Anglican priest was eliminated in episode nine – or murdered in the language of the show.
Mrs Coupland, a fan of murder mysteries and whodunits, said: “It was a game and I think we have to put that into context, really.”
Talking to BBC Radio Cornwall, she said playing the game was “relentless”, adding: “Your brain is being pulled in so many different directions.
“You’re looking at people for the slightest nuance and changes in their behaviour.
“Mentally, it’s exhausting because all the time you’re trying to work things out.”
Mrs Coupland, who was a guest at a fellow contestant’s wedding last year, said she did have moments where she sat back and “just enjoyed the experience… otherwise you just don’t have a moment’s peace”.
She said she was “shattered” after long filming days, so “sleeping wasn’t a problem for me”.
She said she used the evenings, at a private lodge, to catch up with church admin and “come down, relax, and hold everything up to God”.
“I’m probably more adaptable than I thought I was, but probably not as fit as I thought I was.”
Episodes of The Traitors are now on BBC iPlayer, and the series airs on BBC One at 21:00 GMT on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
NewsBeat
‘I only have two bills and get a pension after 12 years’: Soldier reveals financial benefits of army | Money News
Each Monday, our Money team speaks to someone from a different profession to discover what it’s really like.
Today we’re chatting to Lance Bombardier Olivia O’Malley, 35, who specialises in communications with the Royal Artillery.
People think it’s all about combat… but the army has over 120 different jobs. I’m not actually on the frontline, but I can aid the frontline. I work with the Watchkeeper, which is a type of drone – it’s pretty cool – and do surveillance and communications.
You start on just over £25k… when you finish basic training. Specialist roles will pay extra, and as you move up the ranks you will get paid more. For example, as Lance Corporal you are looking at around £30k.
Read all the latest Money news here
But… the army also offers subsidised living. You can get breakfast for £1.95, lunch for £2.60 and so on. You’ll probably find yourself living in a block of flats, a bit like a Premier Inn, with a room and an en-suite and you will be paying maybe £100 a month. The rooms aren’t bad and you have other people living on your corridor, so you aren’t isolated, which makes a difference because you can be living miles from home.
All you have to pay for is a mobile phone and internet… and the rest of the money is yours. So there is plenty of opportunity to save for your future.
The time off is pretty good… I get two weeks at Easter, three weeks of summer leave, two weeks at Christmas and then all of the bank holidays as well, so you can get into a really nice routine.
I would recommend the army to women… You can get a lot out of it, and people don’t always realise what is available. It is not quite as male-dominated an organisation, there are lots of female soldiers.
Some army jobs require no GCSEs… while some require the standard two (English and maths), and some you may need five. If you’re thinking of going down the officer route you will need 72 UCAS and 35 ALIS points, including a C/4 or above in some subjects.
You go from being a civilian to a soldier during basic training… It’s a 13-week course and you’re firing weapons, you are working on your fitness and learning how to act.
Read more of this series:
What it’s really like to be a… publican
What it’s really like to be a… novelist
The most important skill… is being a team player. In my department, we have seven people, and if you are high ranking you need leadership skills, which the army teaches you, but you also need to be a team player because it is still just a small team.
Some of the hardest days… are being sent on a promotion course. They include going out into the field because you are a soldier first. Both of mine have been in November, and it’s cold and miserable but you have to have the mental resilience to push through it. If you fall into the negative, things don’t work.
You get pension benefits after 12 years… so that was my first goal. Now I can see myself staying for my whole career – the army is a big place and it offers a lot of roles. I want to work as an army welfare officer… so if I do ever retire from the army I can retrain in that sort of field.
You get loads of qualifications for free… when civilians would have to pay. I’ve passed my summer mountaineering, I’ve done my army boxing coach level one course, adventure training. You really appreciate all the opportunities you get. I also took part in Project Convergence 2022, which took place in Death Valley in the USA, testing new technologies. Being deployed out in the desert, watching Elon Musk launch a satellite, hiring a car and going to Vegas for $20 – all of these wouldn’t be possible in a normal civilian job.
NewsBeat
Reeves risks Cabinet row as she says growth must trump green concerns over Heathrow third runway
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Rachel Reeves has thrown down the gauntlet to cabinet colleagues, warning them that pro-growth measures must trump other priorities.
The chancellor is gearing up for a possible row over her support for a third runway at Heathrow as part of a major expansion of London’s airports to boost growth.
And, asked about potential opposition to the move from net zero secretary Ed Miliband, Ms Reeves said: “The answer can’t always be no.”
In her strongest attack yet on nimbys (Not in My Back Yard) holding the economy to ransom, she said: “This was the problem in the last government. There was always someone that said ‘oh yes of course we want to grow the economy but we don’t like investment, we don’t like that wind farm, we don’t like those pylons, we don’t like that airport, we don’t want that housing near us’.
“The answer can’t always be no. And that’s been the problem in Britain for a long time: that when there was a choice between something that would grow the economy and sort of anything else, ‘anything else’ always won.”
Ms Reeves is expected to back plans for a third runway at Heathrow, Britain’s busiest airport, as early as next week, opening a major split in Labour’s ranks.
London mayor Sadiq Khan has said he would not hesitate to launch a legal challenge against the development, while Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said the development would concentrate growth in London.
Meanwhile cabinet colleague Mr Miliband has long been opposed to a third runway at Heathrow, while Sir Keir Starmer himself voted against the airport’s expansion in 2020.
But Ms Reeves is braced for the cabinet bust up, with a series of dire warnings about the state of Britain’s economy only furthering her determination to get the economy moving.
In the latest blow for Ms Reeves, official figures showed a bigger-than-expected surge in government borrowing last month to nearly £18 billion – the highest level for four years.
It was £10.1 billion higher than the same month last year, and far higher than economists had forecast.
That followed volatility in the UK government bond market which sent public sector borrowing costs soaring and led to fears that Ms Reeves is on track to miss her fiscal rules.
She is expected to announce a series of deep cuts in an upcoming spending review.
EasyJet chief executive Kenton Jarvis backed the expected announcement from the chancellor, telling reporters: “We welcome the decisive action by the Government to grow the economy.
“We’ve always said that aviation, the industry, is an enabler of economic growth.
“When it comes to Heathrow, I’ve always thought Heathrow would fit our network of primary airports with great catchment areas.
“It would be a unique opportunity to operate from Heathrow at scale – because obviously right now it’s slot-constrained – and give us an opportunity to provide lower fares for UK consumers that currently at Heathrow just have the option of flag carriers.
“It fits with our network, we’re present at all the other major European airports like Schiphol, Charles de Gaulle, Orly, Geneva etc.”
Opponents of airport expansion claim boosting flights would be damaging for the environment.
Alethea Warrington, head of aviation at climate charity Possible, said: “Approving airport expansions would be a catastrophic misstep for a Government which claims to be a climate leader.
“This huge increase in emissions won’t help our economy, and would just encourage the small group of frequent flyers who take most of the flights, further worsening the UK’s huge tourism deficit.”
She added that the Government should focus on supporting “affordable and low-carbon trains and buses”.
Jenny Bates, transport campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “A decision to green-light another runway at Heathrow would be hugely irresponsible in the midst of a climate emergency and given 2024 was the first year to surpass the all-important 1.5 degrees threshold.
“It would also fly in the face of the Prime Minister’s promise to show international leadership on climate change.”
Heathrow’s third runway project secured parliamentary approval in June 2018 but has been delayed by legal challenges over the environmental impact, and the coronavirus pandemic.
There is currently no Development Consent Order application for the scheme, and it is up to Heathrow if it submits one.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has a deadline of February 27 to make a decision on whether to allow Gatwick to bring its existing emergency northern runway into routine use.
She has a deadline of April 3 to decide on Luton Airport’s bid to raise its cap on passenger numbers.
There is also speculation that Ms Reeves will support the Lower Thames Crossing – a proposed new road crossing between Kent and Essex – and a Universal Studios theme park in Bedford.
The government has ordered offshore energy firms to avoid “noisy” detonations when disposing of unexploded bombs on the seabed, in a bid to protect vulnerable marine life.
There are still more than 300,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance from the First and Second World Wars dotted around UK waters, which must be cleared for wind projects to go ahead.
Marine minister Emma Hardy said “high-order” detonations of the dormant weapons should be a last resort and the industry must adopt quieter alternatives instead.
Large explosive blasts can kill off whales, dolphins and other sea creatures, and the noise can disrupt their behaviour, experts say.
The government is working with the Crown Estate and staff from the explosives and offshore wind industries to test and develop new, quieter technologies for bomb clearance.
Hardy said the rules will allow more offshore wind farms to be built while protecting vulnerable animals.
“These new measures support the construction of offshore wind that the UK needs, while making sensible changes to stop needless harm to underwater life,” she added.
Stop Sea Blasts campaigner Joanna Lumley said she was “thrilled to the core” at the decision to protect the UK’s “unbelievably precious seas”.
“This is a magnificent example of government and industry coming together to embrace technology and challenge the old way of doing things,” she said.
“This announcement should ensure that high-order detonation, and the damage it wreaks, is consigned to the history books.”
Offshore wind is key to the government’s plans to decarbonise the UK’s energy grid by 2030 under its Plan for Growth.
Politics
UK borrowing rises unexpectedly as Rachel Reeves claims ‘country’s finances are in order’ following Budget
UK borrowing costs rose unexpectedly to £17.8billion in December, but Chancellor Rachel Reeves remains confident in the country’s financial health following the October budget.
This figure was around 25 per cent higher than what economists had predicted and was £10.1billion more than the same time last year, making it the highest borrowing in December for four years.
The unexpected rise puts pressure on Reeves to make tough decisions on budget cuts before the upcoming spending review in the summer.
The UK’s budget deficit was larger than expected in December, largely due to high debt interest costs and a one-off military housing purchase, according to new data released on Wednesday.
Public sector net borrowing reached £17.8billion ($21.93billion) in December, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported. Economists had predicted borrowing would be around £14.1billion.
The UK’s budget deficit was larger than expected in December
GETTY
The ONS said that a significant part of the borrowing came from an £8.3billion debt interest bill, which was the third-highest December total ever. Additionally, a £1.7billion payment for repurchasing military homes added to the overall borrowing.
Reeves acknowledged the headroom to meet those targets in the final year of the economic forecast is “tight” but added “those fiscal rules are important to us because they are the bedrock, the foundation of that stability that I’ve spoken about”.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, she insisted the country’s finances “were now in order” following her October budget.
She said: “Now we have wiped the slate clean, my instinct is to have lower taxes, less regulation, make it easier for businesses to do business.”
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
She defended her approach to the public finances with her two fiscal rules of paying for day-to-day spending through tax receipts and bringing debt down as a share of gross domestic product.
“We will continue to make decisions to ensure that we meet those fiscal rules,” she said.
UK government borrowing in the current financial year has reached £129.9bn, £8.9 billion higher than the same period last year and a record outside the pandemic’s peak.
This borrowing is also £4bn above the £125.9 in forecast by the OBR. The increase follows volatility in the UK bond market, driving up borrowing costs and raising concerns about the Government’s ability to meet fiscal rules.
Higher bond yields, weaker growth, and rising inflation are expected to reduce the financial headroom, threatening fiscal stability.
The yield on UK 30-year bonds reached its highest level since 1998 before dropping back down when inflation data showed it had fallen to 2.5 per cent in December. The pound also dropped to a 14-month low of $1.22 in early January but has since risen slightly. This drop marked a sharp fall from the $1.34 level in September.
In response to the borrowing rise, Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: “Economic stability is vital for our number one mission of delivering growth.
“That’s why our fiscal rules are non-negotiable and why we will have an iron grip on public finances. Through our Spending Review, we will examine every line of government spending for the first time in 17 years, rooting out waste to ensure taxpayers’ money is spent wisely.”
The next financial statement will be on March 26 and a budget in the autumn.
Getty
The OBR will conclude whether the Government is set to miss its fiscal rules when it publishes its updated forecasts at the spring statement on March 26.
Jones said the Government will “interrogate every line of government spending for the first time in 17 years” to “root out waste to ensure every penny of taxpayers’ money is spent productively and helps deliver our plan for change”.
Elliott Jordan-Doak, a senior UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the Government will have to take action to ensure it meets its fiscal rules.
He said: “We expect the Government to outline spending reductions – backloaded towards the end of the forecast year – at the next fiscal event in March. Further tax increases at the next Budget in October is also a good bet.”
NewsBeat
Netflix to raise prices for some subscribers as it reports 18.9 million new customers in three months | Ents & Arts News
Netflix is raising prices for some subscribers as it reported 18.9 million new customers in the last three months of 2024.
Prices will rise for users in the United States, Canada, Portugal and Argentina. Netflix has not confirmed if the UK will see any similar price increases.
In the United States a standard monthly plan with adverts will rise to $7.99 (£6.49), a standard plan without ads will increase to $17.99 (£14.60) and a premium plan has gone up to $22.99 (£18.66).
The price in the UK currently stands at £4.99 for a standard monthly plan with adverts, £10.99 for standard without ads, and £17.99 for a premium account.
Netflix ended last year with more than 300 million subscribers – an increase of 41 million from 2023. This eclipsed its previous best year, 2020, which saw it add 36.6 million subscribers as pandemic lockdowns saw people turn to the streaming giant for entertainment.
After it announced the increase in users, Netflix’s shares surged by 14%.
The increase in numbers is widely credited to Netflix’s streaming of a fight between YouTube sensation Jake Paul and former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, as well as two National Football League games on Christmas Day.
Forrester Research analyst Mike Proulx says live programming is quickly becoming Netflix’s “secret ingredient” that is helping to widen its lead over its streaming rivals.
“With more choice in programming than ever before, streaming services need to differentiate,” Proulx said. “FOMO (fear of missing out) is a powerful tool in piquing interest and creating stickiness.”
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Paul beats Tyson by unanimous decision
In the final three months of 2024, Netflix earned $1.9bn, or $4.27 per share, nearly doubling from the same time in 2023.
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Netflix appears confident the price increases will not trigger a backlash resulting in mass cancellations.
“When you’re going to ask for a price increase, you better make sure you have the goods and the engagement to back it up,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said during a conference call with analysts.
Netflix has been contacted for comment.
NewsBeat
London woman awarded £8,500 after tooth extraction fractures jaw and puts her in intensive care
RZSSVictoria is the oldest of four polar bears kept at the Highland Wildlife Park in the Cairngorms National Park.
At the grand old age of 28 her keepers say she has reached the stage in her life when she needs geriatric care.
Rebecca Amos, one of the park’s vets, says a special diet and some exercise will be key to looking after Victoria in her dotage.
RZSSVictoria, born in 1996 at Rostock Zoo in Germany, arrived at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s (RZSS) Highland Wildlife Park in March 2015.
Three years later she was a media star after giving birth to Hamish – the first polar bear cub to be born in the UK in 25 years.
Visitor numbers to the park soared and its gift shop was stuffed with Hamish cuddly toys and postcards and cards featuring him and his mum.
Hamish was moved to Doncaster’s Yorkshire Wildlife Park in 2020 and shares a 10-acre enclosure with five other male bears – Nobby, Luka, Indiana, Yuma and Sisu.
Victoria gave birth to another male cub – Brodie – in December 2021.
They continue to share an enclosure, but recently keepers noticed she was struggling to keep up with Brodie, who is now three.
He is Victoria’s last cub and she is no longer part of RZSS breeding programme.
The park’s two other bears are males Arktos, 17, and 16-year-old Walker.
They are middle aged in bear terms.
Polar bears can live into their early 30s, but an average of 15 to 18 years in the wild.
Rebecca says there is an effort at RZSS to prioritise later life care of its animals.
She says the bears already benefited from being kept in grassy enclosures, which have ponds for swimming in.
“The bears are on a pretty good substrate (surface),” she says.
“They don’t spend any time on concrete or tiled surfaces.
“Ultimately, if you were to spend 30 years on that – particularly for the boys who weigh 700 to 800 kilos – it takes a toll on even the best designed joints.
“Joint care is something we are looking at for the bears.”
RZSS
RZSSDiet is another way the park is trying to keep Victoria, Arktos and Walker’s joints supple.
Rebecca says: “In the wild they eat seals.
“We cannot feed them seals, but we do try to emulate that the best we can so it’s a very high fat diet.
“They get huge volumes of cod liver oil, lard, salmon oil and get oily fish like sardines, mackerel and salmon.”
To help keep Victoria mobile, food is often scattered around her enclosure to encourage her to forage.
Rebecca says: “We are very fortunate we have such a huge amount of space and the enclosures are very large and they (the bears) tend to use all the space.”
RZSSRZSS has drawn on the experiences of other zoos and studies of polar bear skeletal remains to help understand wear and tear on the animals’ bodies.
Healthcare provided to domestic cats and dogs has also helped guide the care of Victoria.
And the Highland Wildlife Park has had an elderly polar bear before.
Mercedes died at the park in April 2011 at the age of 30.
Royal journalist Sarah Louise Robertson has warned that US President Donald Trump would “have no qualms” about taking action against Prince Harry and Meghan Markle if they upset him during his presidency.
She noted that whilst the Sussexes may not be an immediate concern, Trump’s character could lead to future confrontation.
The warning comes after Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president of the United States.
Trump was inaugurated as the 47th president on Monday following a tense election victory over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle live in the US
PA
The new president has previously made his position on the Duke of Sussex clear, stating that Harry would be “on his own” if Trump returned to office.
Trump has accused Harry of having “betrayed the Queen”, which he condemned as “unforgivable” and “very disrespectful”.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Royal Journalist Sarah Louise Robertson told GB News: “Trump can do anything at the moment, Harry and Meghan are so low down on his list of priorities.
“At the moment, he won’t have given them a thought. But later down the line, if they say something else to upset him, I don’t think he would have any qualms.
“The sticking point would be that he seems to really adore Prince William. He adores King Charles and he loves our Royal Family, so he probably wouldn’t want to do anything that would cause upset to them.
“However, Trump has a long memory and he doesn’t like people who are disloyal. He didn’t like the way they conducted themselves.
Royal Journalist Sarah Louise said that Trump would have “no qualms” booting the pair out
GB News
“He didn’t like the way they acted towards the Queen and the documentary that they made.
“Also, he didn’t like the way that they snubbed him when he came across from his royal visit, and Meghan called him misogynistic in an interview.
“He doesn’t forget things like this, and he may very well do what Biden didn’t and actually make public Harry’s visa application, which will show if Harry’s lied or not about taking drugs.”
Speaking to Nigel Farage last year, Trump suggested that if Harry had lied on his American visa application about taking drugs, he could face deportation.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have resided in California since relocating to the US in 2020.
Donald Trump ‘ might do what Biden didn’t’
REUTERS
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank, has been pushing for Prince Harry’s visa documents to be made public to verify whether he made truthful declarations about his past drug use.
Harry admitted to using cocaine, cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms in his memoir Spare.
US judge Carl Nichols ruled in September 2024 that the duke’s visa application should remain private, stating “the public does not have a strong interest in disclosure”.
Nile Gardiner, director of the Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Beast he will “personally urge Donald Trump to deport Prince Harry” if evidence emerges of visa application dishonesty.
Former staffers and members of the GMB union have launched an official complaint to the equalities watchdog this week over allegations of institutional sexism and bullying, Sky News understands.
In the complaint, which Sky News has seen, the women allege that there is a “pattern of victimisation and harassment against women who speak out” about wrongdoing inside the Labour–backed union. They argue it could be a breach of GMB’s duties under the Equality Act.
GMB has struggled with these issues before. Four years ago, a damning report written by Karon Monaghan KC branded the union ‘institutionally sexist’ and, according to a number of women complaining to the EHRC this week, they insist the union hasn’t changed.
In Ms Monaghan’s initial report she described “bullying, misogyny, cronyism and sexual harassment” being rife inside the union and described the culture in GMB as “heavy drinking and late-night socialising, salacious gossip and a lack of professionalism”.
Last year, members in the Yorkshire and Humber region balloted to strike over complaints of bullying and harassment which have been staved off following the union’s concession to invite Ms Monaghan back inside the union to investigate.
But now, a group of around a dozen former and current GMB staff have written to the equalities watchdog to demand an external investigation.
One of those women, Cath Pinder, a former regional president in the GMB North East, said: “They cannot be allowed to police themselves. It’s really difficult to put your head above the parapet but when multiple people do it it shows an institutional problem.”
Regional GMB officer Cath says GMB should not be allowed to police themselves.
GMB represents about 630,000 workers in the UK and is one of the Labour party’s major funders which makes the union’s general secretary, Gary Smith, politically significant.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer gave the keynote speech at the GMB conference a year before the last general election and numerous cabinet ministers, including the prime minister, are members.
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GMB – which donates more than £1m to Labour every year – categorically denies claims of a culture of bullying or sexism within the union, and say Ms Pinder’s suspension was justified.
They say the union responded to the Karon Monaghan report and now have clear, comprehensive and transparent procedures to fully investigate and effectively deal with any allegation of bullying, sexism or harassment.
A GMB spokesperson said: “Such behaviour has no place in GMB and is not tolerated under any circumstances. We do not use non-disclosure agreements and staff leaving the organisation are asked to sign standard settlement agreements, similar to those used by virtually every organisation across the public and private sectors.”
For a union that prides itself on representing staff bullied or harassed in their own workplace, these women say they hope for that for GMB too – but they will have to take on their own union now to do it.
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