NewsBeat
New checks on media misconduct flagged following Harry’s victory
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New curbs on media misconduct are being considered by the Starmer government in the light of Prince Harry’s settlement with The Sun.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy praised the Duke of Sussex after he settled with the masthead’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, and said government action was vital to ensure people without his power and wealth were able to obtain justice in disputes with newspapers.
“It is important we have proper safeguards in place to make sure that people don’t have to resort to very expensive and lengthy court processes to get justice,” Ms Nandy told the BBC.
Prince Harry had alleged that journalists and private investigators working for NGN – which also published the now-defunct News of the World – had unlawfully targeted him.
His barrister David Sherborne said NGN offered a “full and unequivocal apology” to the Duke of Sussex for intrusions into his private life between 1996 and 2011, “including incidents of unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working for The Sun.”
Part of NGN’s apology said: “NGN offers a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for the serious intrusion by The Sun between 1996 and 2011 into his private life, including incidents of unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working for The Sun.
“NGN also offers a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for the phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators instructed by them at the News of the World.”
Ms Nandy said the government was determined to grip the issue – and would make sure The Sun fulfilled its promise to prevent such conduct in future.
She added the government would ensure “there are robust processes in place to make sure the illegal activities The Sun alluded to in their statement (made after the court case) cannot happen again. They say they have robust processes but it is really important that we as a government make sure that is the case.”
She said Prince Harry had “every right” to have taken action against The Sun, and said she believed the outcome of the court case was a relief for Harry and fellow litigant, Labour’s Lord Tom Watson.
“The impact of this sort of behaviour lasts a lifetime,” she said, adding “not everybody has the access to justice that would enable them to pursue a case through the courts.”
She said that point had been brought home to her in meetings with ordinary families who had complained about press misconduct but lacked the resources to obtain legal redress.
“Wealthy and powerful people in the public eye who have a platform have been able to shine a spotlight on what has been happening to ordinary people who wouldn’t otherwise have been able to get that into the public domain. That is clearly unsatisfactory,” Ms Nandy said.
She said that while the government was committed to protecting a “free and fair press” she also had to address “the very legitimate concerns of many of the families who have been through similar instances of intrusion.”
Politics
Trump’s budget pick is famous for defying Congress. GOP senators want to confirm him anyway.
Senate Republicans are eager to seat the man who could undercut their funding power.
As President Donald Trump boldly defies the will of Congress by issuing executive orders freezing billions of dollars in federal cash that lawmakers have approved in recent years, Senate Republicans are still speaking accolades of Russ Vought, the president’s pick for White House budget director and the man famous for withholding government money during Trump’s first administration.
Key committee chairs are predicting that the Senate will confirm Vought without issue to head the Office of Management and Budget again, even as some GOP senators raise concern about protecting Congress’ “power of the purse” — granted under Article I of the Constitution — from presidential overreach.
“I think all of us are going to vote for you,” Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham told Vought on Wednesday, as the nominee testified before the South Carolina Republican’s committee in his second public vetting this month.
“Bottom line is, I think you’re qualified for the job. I know why he picked you,” Graham said of Trump’s selection of Vought. “And again, we just had an election. And when you win, you get to pick people. And I’m glad he picked you.”
Loyally confirming Trump’s desired budget director amid the new president’s sweeping funding pause would immediately strengthen the White House’s ability to pick and choose what cash to spend, shirking the spending laws congressional Republicans have voted to enact and calling into question the soundness of any bills they clear in the future.
Notably, Vought would not promise Wednesday to avoid circumventing impoundment law, which is meant to block presidents from withholding money Congress has previously passed through the Congressional appropriations process.
Federal watchdogs concluded that Vought and other Trump administration officials violated impoundment law several times during Trump’s first term, including the freezing of aid to Ukraine that helped fuel Trump’s impeachment in 2019.
But Vought said the executive orders Trump issued within hours of taking office Monday are simply “programmatic delays” or “pauses,” explaining they are meant “to ensure that the funding that is in place is consistent and moves in a direction along the lines of what the president ran on.”
While Vought vowed to “faithfully uphold the law” if confirmed, he noted that Trump disagrees with the Impoundment Control Act enacted more than 50 years ago to insulate the congressional appropriations process from executive branch meddling.
“The president ran on the notion that the Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional. I agree with that,” Vought said, further insisting that “what the president has unveiled already are not impoundments.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the Budget Committee’s top Democrat, told Vought on Wednesday he was “deeply disturbed” with his answers.
“Congress makes the law, not the president,” said Merkley. “The fact that you continue to advocate for this impoundment strategy, that is completely in violation of our Constitution.”
Under the far-reaching orders Trump issued after he was inaugurated on Monday, federal agencies are now being forced to pause funding from Democrats’ signature climate and spending law called the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as from the bipartisan infrastructure package Republicans helped enact in 2021.
Foreign assistance is also on hold for 90 days, including to Ukraine and Israel as the two U.S. allies are in the midst of wars.
Not every Republican is giving Vought a total free pass. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee — which also has jurisdiction over the OMB director nomination and held its own confirmation hearing with Vought last week — said he didn’t think a president should have the power to use government funding differently than how lawmakers have dictated in the bills they pass.
“The power of the purse is Congress,” Paul said during that hearing. “I think if we appropriate something for a cause, that’s where it’s supposed to go. And that will still be my position.”
Nonetheless, less than a week later, Paul led Republicans on his committee to approve Vought’s nomination, stating, “There is no doubt he will be swiftly confirmed.”
An SAS veteran has hit out at Labour’s decision to hit grieving families of military workers with inheritance tax from April 2027.
The money given to families of deceased Armed Forces members, called death in service payments, may be subject to a hefty cut after Labour MPs voted in favour of a raid.
Shocking video footage has been released by police of a car being driven at speeds up to 90mph before causing a three-vehicle crash killing a lorry driver.
It’s been three days since President Donald Trump took office. And he has come out swinging.
On the 2024 campaign trail, he promised to bring rapid and sweeping change to American government and society if he were re-elected.
Some of his policies and reforms will take time – and congressional legislation – to enact. Other moves might be blocked by the courts.
In the first days of his presidency, however, Trump has already made waves with dozens of unilateral orders and actions that represent a substantial expansion of White House power.
For many of his supporters – so far – it looks like he has delivered on his promises.
“He signed all the executive orders that he told us he was going to do,” said 68-year-old Rick Frazier, a loyal Trump supporter from Ohio who has attended more than 80 of his rallies. “I’m satisfied with all that.”
That has been cause for concern among some. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, publicly asked Trump during a prayer service on Tuesday at the National Cathedral, to “have mercy upon people in our country who are scared now”.
Nowhere has this display of presidential authority been more prominent than on the topic of immigration, which polls suggest was a significant concern for many voters.
Just hours after taking office, Trump declared an emergency at the US-Mexico border, allowing him to deploy more US military personnel to the area.
He effectively closed the country to all new asylum-seekers and suspended already approved resettlement flights for refugees.
Mr Frazier’s daughter died of a heroin overdose last year. He told the BBC that the southern border was his top issue in the 2024 election.
“In my opinion had the border been closed, my daughter would not have had access to the compound that killed her,” he said.
Trump has also ordered authorities to stop granting automatic citizenship to the children of undocumented migrants born on American soil – setting up a lengthy legal battle over what had previously been viewed by courts as a constitutional guarantee.
One step that Trump repeatedly promised – but has yet to show signs of implementing – is mass deportations of migrants who crossed illegally into the US, something he said would start on day one of his presidency.
While some Trump officials have said the deportation process has begun, there have been no signs yet of the kind of law-enforcement raids or other expansive actions that would be necessary to detain and remove the millions of undocumented migrants who currently reside in the US.
Bryan Lanza, who previously served as a senior adviser to Trump, told the BBC’s Americast podcast that the total number of deportations is less important than the message it sends.
“It’s never about a number,” he said. “It’s more about the PR.”
If you deport a million undocumented migrants, he said, than the rest will start wondering if they’re next – and take steps to return to their home countries.
“Illegals aren’t welcomed here,” he said. “Every other country is allowed to say that. Why shouldn’t we?”
Immigration was a major issue that helped propel Trump to the White House, but in terms of voter concerns it was still dwarfed by worries about the economy and inflation.
So far the president has focused on energy policy – tying it directly to the high prices that millions of Americans have struggled with.
“When energy comes down, the prices of food and the prices of everything else come down,” Trump said on Tuesday evening. “Energy is the big baby.”
To that end, Trump declared a “national energy emergency” and rescinded Biden-era protections for fossil fuel extraction in Alaska and in American coastal waters. He also started the process of withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement, which commits nations to slashing emissions to try to avoid the most extreme effects of climate change.
Even optimistic estimates suggest these moves will take time to show any results, but Aziz Wehbey, a Syrian-American Republican voter in Allentown, Pennsylvania, said he was pleased by what he had seen so far.
“That’s a good sign for the economy, and for those of us who run businesses,” he said. “The economy is starting to move and not be frozen. Everyone will notice that.”
One topic that Trump has mentioned, but hasn’t acted on yet, is tariffs. He had pledged to slap them on some of America’s biggest trade partners on day one to protect American industries and generate new revenue to fund his favoured government programmes.
Economists, including some in the Trump administration, have cautioned that tariffs could drive up consumer costs and hurt American businesses that rely on imports in their supply chain. It could be a reason why Trump, with his eye on the stock market and economic growth, is treading more carefully when it comes to trade.
Many of President Trump’s other early executive actions focused on reshaping the vast federal workforce.
He has reinstated rules that allow him to fire senior-level civil servants, suspended new regulations and hiring, and ordered all federal employees involved in DEI – diversity, equity and inclusion – programmes to be put on paid leave.
He also renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and instructed the US government to only recognise two sexes, male and female, in all official documents and forms. The changes, while controversial, have also been extremely popular with Trump’s base – a sign that the president will continue to lean in to contentious cultural issues.
Trump’s second term is just getting started. He promises more significant presidential actions in the days ahead – moves that will almost certainly test the limits of presidential power.
But the big splash, the noise, the drama, says former adviser Lanza, isn’t a problem for the president. It’s his strength.
“Where we are in modern politics today, which people haven’t figured out, is that from our standpoint, to communicate to voters are supportive of our issues, controversy enhances the message,” he said.
How do you get your message heard amid the overwhelming din of modern politics?
“It’s the controversy.”
Understand that, and the strategy behind Trump’s frenetic first days in office begins to come into focus.
With additional reporting from Bernd Debusmann Jr and Madeline Halpert
South Korea will remove concrete barriers used at airports across the country after a plane crash in December that claimed the lives of 179 people.
Politics
Kemi Badenoch ‘wastes PMQs AGAIN’ after failing to quiz Starmer over Axel Rudakubana murders
Kemi Badenoch has seemingly missed an opportunity to grill Sir Keir Starmer on the failings surrounding Axel Rudakubana’s horrific killings last summer.
The Prime Minister, who vowed not to leave a stone unturned in an inquiry into the Southport murders, might have expected Badenoch to take aim over a number of issues raised by other Conservative colleagues, including Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick.
But speaking in the House of Commons, Badenoch said: “I also know that the thoughts of many will be with the victims of the Southport killings.
“There are important questions to answer and I will return to those after the case is concluded.”
Badenoch missed an opportunity to grill Starmer on the failings surrounding Axel Rudakubana’s horrific killings last summer
PARLIAMENTLIVE.TV
Badenoch continued by instead opting to quiz Starmer on Labour’s education reforms.
Ahead of the Leader of the Opposition’s first intervention, the Prime Minister also addressed the Southport killings.
He said: “We will change the law so that the most serious offenders attend their sentencing hearings.”
In response to the exchange, Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice argued it was “unreal” that Badenoch had not probed Starmer on a topic other than education.
MORE ON KEMI BADENOCH:
Starmer was pressed on Labour’s education reforms rather than the atrocities in Southport
PARLIAMENTLIVE.TV
He said: “Kemi wastes PMQs again. Should have led on Trump and shocking debt figures to challenge Starmer.”
While leader Nigel Farage prodded: “Not a single question on Southport from Kemi Badenoch at PMQs today.
“What is the point of the Tories?”
A friend of Badenoch later told GB News’ Political Editor Christopher Hope that she raised the economy last week and acknowledged the Southport killer at the top of her contribution to PMQs.
Richard Tice warned that Kemi Badenoch had ‘wasted PMQs again’
PA
While another said there was “genuine anger” from Kemi and the wider party at what Labour is “doing to schools”.
“They’ve put some important stuff on safeguarding in the bill, but the bulk of it is reversing schools freedoms – rolling back academies, giving unions more control over who can be a teacher and reducing curriculum choice.”
Another Badenoch ally came to her defence after PMQs – Tory leadership runner-up Robert Jenrick, who said Sir Keir Starmer “had no answer” to the Leader of the Opposition’s questions – “because there are none”.
From the sampled vocals of Mel & Kim to the instantly memorable lyrics of Rick Astley’s biggest hits, Stock, Aitken and Waterman’s songs ruled the UK charts in the late 1980s.
NewsBeat
Axel Rudakubana’s neighbours sell homes and tell of horror at living next to Southport murderer: latest
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Axel Rudakubana’s neighbours have been selling their homes and telling of their horror at living next to the Southport murderer.
Residents of the quiet cul-de-sac of new build homes where Rudakubana lived with his family in Banks, Lancashire, have been left reeling, with at least one property put on the market in the wake of the attack, local Paul Jones, 66, told The Independent.
Owen Aimson, 21, said: “It’s crazy to know I have lived with him four doors down from me for a few years.”
Rudakubana, 18, on Monday admitted murdering three girls aged between six and nine in his frenzied knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Merseyside last year.
Since then, The Community Church, which his father attended, revealed the killer’s family have been moved to a secret location for their protection.
Sir Keir Starmer warned that those responsible for failures that enabled the “senseless, barbaric” murders would not be allowed “to deflect from their failures” after he announced a public inquiry this week.
The prime minister also reiterated his pledge to take action against the “unacceptable” online sale of “murder weapons” in efforts to tackle knife crime after it emerged that Rudakubana used a knife bought from Amazon in his attack.
Knife sales crackdown divides commentators
Government critics say Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge to crack down on online knife sales is missing the point, many pointing to the failure of authorities to stop Southport killer Axel Rudakubana.
Reform leader Nigel Farage claimed: “The truth is there are murder weapons in every kitchen drawer. What we should be talking about is the total failure to stop this terrorist & the cover-up of information.”
But his former Ukip colleague Henry Bolton called for a ban on knives openly sold as “fashion accessories”.
Jane Dalton22 January 2025 16:40
Charities call for knife sales crackdown
Knife crime charities have demanded stricter regulation of online marketplaces, because “careless” retailers are making it too easy for young people to buy knives.
Patrick Green, chief executive of knife crime charity the Ben Kinsella Trust, said the tragedy in Southport showed “how careless the online marketplaces are”.
He added that the ease of online sales is “a damning indictment”, saying: “Retailers are just completely focused on making money and not protecting the public. The law has proved inadequate.
“We need to close the loophole that exists around online marketplaces.
“This isn’t an isolated incident. There have been a number of incidents like this.”
Bruce Houlder, founder of Fighting Knife Crime London, told the PA News Agency that knife crime was “more worrying than ever”.
He said: “I think there should be much tougher legislation. It’s foreseeable that these knives are going to be used to cause injury.”
Mr Houlder added there is “insufficient being done” to stop online retailers selling knives, calling them “complicit in the crimes that eventually get committed”.
Jane Dalton22 January 2025 15:40
No 10 could replicate porn access curbs for knife sales
Downing Street has indicated “nothing is off the table” to protect children when asked what actions would be taken to enforce Sir Keir Starmer’s promise of tougher rules on online knife sales.
The prime minister’s official spokesman was asked whether the government was happy to see how the Online Safety Act beds in before considering any further legislation.
He replied: “We have worked at pace to implement the Online Safety Act. Our message remains as the home secretary and technology secretary said yesterday. The social media companies should take action now. There is no need to wait for laws to kick in and the prospect of significant penalties.
“More broadly, we have been clear that nothing is off the table with keeping our children and communities safe.”
Asked whether measures aimed at verifying the age of children trying to access pornography could be replicated for knife sales, the spokesman said: “We are obviously looking at these plans and we will update urgently on how we will deliver on these plans in due course.”
Jane Dalton22 January 2025 15:10
Axel Rudakubana’s neighbours want to move after learning of horrors carried out by Southport murderer
Horrified neighbours in quiet cul-de-sac of new build homes where Axel Rudakubana lived with his family in Banks, Lancashire, have been left reeling after learning the horrors that he perpetrated.
Local councillor John Howard said some people want to move away after angry troublemakers threatened to target properties in the aftermath of the attack.
At least one home has been put on the market in the wake of the tragedy, resident Paul Jones, 66, told The Independent.
It is not known what will happen to the Rudakubana’s three-bedroom semi-detached home, which has lain empty since the family were taken into hiding.
Owen Aimson, 21, said most residents had never even laid eyes on the reclusive teenager, who made the biological toxin ricin in his bedroom, until CCTV emerged of him walking down the road on the day of the attack.
But he recalls seeing a police car outside the home on multiple occasions. Following Rudakubana’s conviction on Monday, police confirmed five calls to were made to the force from the address between 2019 and 2022 relating to concerns about the teen’s behaviour.
“Once in a blue moon I would get home at 10 or 11pm at night and there would be a police car outside his house,” he said. “No commotion or anything, just a police car so they were in the house. No one knew why.
“It’s crazy to know I have lived with him four doors down from me for a few years.”
Tara Cobham22 January 2025 13:29
Starmer reiterates pledge to take action against ‘unacceptable’ online sale of ‘murder weapons’
Sir Keir Starmer has reiterated his pledge to take action against the “unacceptable” sale of “murder weapons” in ongoing efforts to tackle knife crime.
The prime minister told the Commons during PMQs that the government is committed to regulating the online sale of knives.
He said: “It is unacceptable that these murder weapons can be bought with two clicks. The technology is there to stop it and we’re going to take action.”
Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana used a knife bought from Amazon to kill three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, Merseyside, in July.
Tara Cobham22 January 2025 12:39
Closing all of Parliament’s bars could lead to greater security risks for MPs, the leader of the House of Commons has suggested.
Lucy Powell said she was open to “having a debate” on the future of drinking venues on the Parliamentary estate after one bar was temporarily closed for a security review linked to an alleged drink-spiking incident.
But she argued that MPs and staff would visit venues outside Parliament’s secure zone if bars, restaurants, hair salons and other facilities were shut down.
She told BBC Radio 5Live’s Matt Chorley said “there is no point spending the millions of pounds” on security if staff were encouraged to leave the estate.
Parliament’s most famous pub, the Strangers’ Bar, is currently shut while police investigate a report a woman had her drink spiked on 7 January.
Powell said she was in favour of reopening Strangers following a review of its security arrangements.
“We definitely need to look at this and make sure we have the measures in place so that people are not in the situation where they think they have been spiked or showing the effects of being spiked,” Powell said.
She said she was open to having a public debate “on whether there should be any bars on the estate at all”.
But not all of the sprawling eight-acre (32,000 sq-m) Palace of Westminster is a workplace, she told Matt Chorley, and there were several venues serving alcohol for MPs and their guests.
She said she did not “get the sense that there’s a groundswell” of support for closing these down.
In the evening members of staff and others who “might want a drink” are “not at work at that point,” she argued.
She said they would MPs be less well protected attending venues “where they have not got the security protection”, she added.
“They have not got police around” and would also not be covered by the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) – which investigates allegations of sexual misconduct and bullying by parliamentary staff.
The ICGS has previously argued parliament’s bars and associated culture of drinking fuels inappropriate behaviour in Westminster.
Parliament had increased security “with good reason” because “there are a lot of people trying to attack MPs and attack Parliament” she said.
“That is why we provide services on the estate.
“There is no point spending the millions of pounds we spend keeping everyone secure and on this estate – if we then actually just encourage people to pop off to go and get their hair cut or have lunch with a journalist off the estate.”
Politics
Number of Britons who believe migration is too high reaches greatest level on record as Starmer told to ‘get a grip’ on crisis
The amount of Britons who think migration to the UK is too high has reached record levels, a damning new poll has found.
Analysis by pollsters at YouGov has revealed that 71 per cent of Britons now think too many people are arriving in the UK – the highest percentage since its records began in July 2019.
The data also shows that 63 per cent of Labour voters now think immigration is too high – also the largest percentage on record.
And voters for Sir Keir Starmer’s party appear not to be alone. The groups which have voiced fears at record levels include 25-64-year-olds, men, women, Conservative voters, Remain voters, and Britons from every region of the UK except Scotland and the North of England – which still poll at 68 and 69 per cent, respectively.
71 per cent of Britons now believe immigration is too high
YOUGOV
The only group which didn’t show majority support for the view that migration is too high was 18-24-year-olds, at 44 per cent.
The data has sparked calls for Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to act – led by Migration Watch UK chairman Alp Mehmet.
He told GB News: “Public concern about immigration is longstanding, and has now reverted to the levels we saw before the electorate were fooled into believing it was going to be controlled and reduced.
“We warned that was never going to happen with the ridiculously lax immigration system introduced after Brexit.
MORE ON BRITAIN’S MIGRATION CHAOS:
‘Sir Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper would do well to regard this poll as another red flag and get a grip,’ Alp Mehmet warned
PA
“We also warned that failure to control immigration and reduce immigration would further erode trust in politicians and our political system.
“It gives me no satisfaction to say we were right.
“Sir Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper would do well to regard this poll as another red flag and get a grip of both legal and illegal immigration.”
Migration under the former Conservative Government has been the subject of attacks from Starmer himself – he has accused the Tories of running “a one-nation experiment in open borders” and has claimed cutting migration “will only be done with a serious plan”.
Migration under the former Conservative Government has been the subject of attacks from Starmer himself
PA
Setting out his five ‘milestones’ in Labour’s “Plan for Change” at the end of November, Starmer warned: “This happened by design, not accident.
“Policies were reformed deliberately to liberalise immigration.
“Brexit was used for that purpose… to turn Britain into a one-nation experiment in open borders. Global Britain – remember that slogan… That is what they meant.”
While the Home Office’s line is the same – Seema Malhotra, Minister for Migration and Citizenship, said: “Net migration quadrupled in the past five years and we have been clear that we will get the numbers down and restore order to our broken immigration system as part of our Plan for Change.”
Trump’s budget pick is famous for defying Congress. GOP senators want to confirm him anyway.
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