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About Morning Star
The Morning Star supports peace and socialism. It defends peaceful protests and civil disobedience and industrial action by workers to improve working conditions and wages. The Morning Star is concerned with environmental issues and supports environment campaigning groups; it advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament. The paper advocates a vote for the Labour Party in most seats, except for the handful in which the Communist Party of Britain has a candidate.
On international issues, it advocates a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and calls for Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories. It was the only daily paper in Britain to oppose the 1999 Kosovo War, denouncing military intervention by NATO, The newspaper also opposed the Iraq War. On Northern Ireland, the paper takes a pro-Irish nationalism line. News reports from Northern Ireland are described as "By Our Foreign Desk".
Government failed to prevent ‘systemic breaches’ of human rights in private prisons, High Court rules
Mark Tobin - 22 February 2019
THE government failed to prevent “systemic breaches” of the human rights of inmates who were unlawfully strip searched at a privately run prison, the High Court ruled today.
Four inmates at HMP Peterborough claimed the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) was required to ensure adequate and effective safeguards against breaches of their right to privacy were in place at the jail.
Sodexo, which runs the prison, admitted it was responsible for a “systemic failure” to follow MoJ rules on strip searches because it failed to properly train its staff...See moreArms company celebrates profit rise as Yemen starves
MS - 22 February 2019
ARMS manufacturer BAE Systems’ profits soared by £186 million last year, the company revealed yesterday.
Its latest accounts record a total operating profit of more than £1.6 billion.
The bumper financial results prompted campaigners to accuse the firm of cashing in on the bombing of Yemen...See moreScrapping care cost cap has cost old and disabled £2bn
MS - 21 February 2019
ELDERLY and disabled adults are nearly £2 billion worse off in paying for social care since plans for a cap were shelved three years ago, according to Labour analysis of government data.
Around 534,000 additional people would have received state support from 2016 to 2026 were the cap implemented by the Department of Health and Social Care as was planned, the party said.
Financial transfers to older and working-age adults would have exceeded £1.26bn, or nearly £1.3bn when factoring in inflation, by March this year...See moreRail depot workers in Glasgow call on MSPs to save their jobs and ‘160 years of railway history’
Conrad Landin - 19 February 2019
WORKERS at Glasgow’s famous Springburn rail depot lobbied MSPs today to save their jobs and “160 years of railway history.”
Ahead of a debate led by Labour MSP James Kelly, members of the RMT and Unite unions gathered at Holyrood to call on the Scottish government to intervene.
The Springburn depot carries out servicing, maintenance, repairs, overhauls and upgrades of ScotRail trains...See moreOver 3,000 jobs under threat in Swindon
MS - 19 February 2019
MORE than 3,000 jobs are under threat after Honda announced yesterday it is to close its Swindon plant in “a shattering blow” to Britain’s economy.
The car manufacturer declined to comment on the announcement by local Tory MP Justin Tomlinson, who said the move is “based on global trends and not Brexit as all European market production will consolidate in Japan in 2021.”
He said: “Honda will be consulting with all staff and there is not expected to be any job losses, or changes in production until 2021.”...See moreThe Tories' hostile environment policy is increasing child poverty, new report claims
Ceren Sagir - 19 February 2019
'''Project 17 finds youngsters are being treated like ‘second-class citizens’ as the government denies their parents benefits'''
THOUSANDS of children are growing up in poverty and being treated like “second-class citizens” because of the government’s hostile environment policy, a report has claimed today.
Many children of parents whose immigration status means they are not entitled to mainstream benefits are living in “appalling conditions,” according to the charity Project 17.
Their plight leaves them feeling socially isolated, distressed, ashamed and unsafe, according to the group, which works with migrant children in destitution...See moreFunding pledge for parks ‘will not solve crisis’
MS - 18 February 2019
A GOVERNMENT announcement of £13 million for parks is not enough to reverse “chronic underfunding,” critics warned yesterday.
Councils will be handed money to repair playgrounds, create new parks and redevelop derelict land.
Communities Secretary James Brokenshire said the cash will provide “precious spaces for all of us to get together, to exercise and to play...See moreExtinction Rebellion hold 'disruption march' outside London Fashion Week
MS - 17 February 2019
CLIMATE demonstrators blocked roads outside London Fashion Week today to protest against the “unsustainable” industry.
More than 100 campaigners joined the Extinction Rebellion group’s disruption march as they urged fashion brands to tackle a global “ecological emergency.”
Demonstrations began when a small crowd rallied outside Victoria Beckham’s morning event at the Tate Britain and blocked fashion week cars travelling to the show...See morePlans to reform rail tickets ‘won’t halt rip-off prices
Peter Lazenby - 18 February 2019
PLANS to reform the way rail passengers buy their tickets will do nothing to curb privateer operators’ price rip-offs, rail union RMT said yesterday.
The Rail Delivery Group, which represents profiteering rail operators, announced yesterday that it intends to change the current chaotic ticketing system.
Currently passengers are often unable to buy a single ticket to travel from A to B, but instead have to purchase a selection of tickets to get the cheapest deal...See moreFormer miners warn the government: Hands off our pension funds
Peter Lazenby - 15 February 2019
EX-MINERS have gathered more than 100,000 signatures in a petition calling on the government to stop raiding their pension funds to the tune of billions of pounds.
Former miners from South Wales, protesting over the rip-off, will take the petition to Downing Street on March 6.
The Tories struck a deal with pension fund administrators following the privatisation of the coal mining industry in 1994, which meant the government would underwrite any losses the pensions’ investments suffered in the future...See moreYouth strike for climate change across Britain
Ceren Sagir - 15 February 2019
THOUSANDS of schoolchildren across Britain walked out of their classes today to demand immediate action against climate change.
Organisers from Youth Strike 4 Climate called for a change in the attitude towards the “ecological emergency” and demanded a reform in the national curriculum to accurately inform pupils of the climate disaster.
Protests took place in over 60 cities, according to organisers, including Brighton, Cambridge and London...See moreUnite call for TGI Friday's to be investigated over how restaurant treats its workers
Marcus Barnett - 12 February 2019
TAX inspectors are being asked to investigate alleged workplace abuses at branches of TGI Fridays across the country.
The Unite union is calling on HM Revenue and Customs to urgently investigate a series of complaints over how the US restaurant chain’s senior management treats its workers.
The alleged abuses include a failure to pay staff for undertaking compulsory training in their time off...See moreTory report slammed for slashing foreign aid proposal
Lamiat Sabin - 12 February 2019
CAMPAIGNERS and charities condemned a Tory report published yesterday for proposing to “effectively abolish” Britain’s international development programme post-Brexit.
The report by Conservative MP Bob Seely and James Rogers, of the right-wing Henry Jackson Society think tank, suggests cutting the overall aid budget from 0.7 per cent to 0.5 per cent.
The document, which includes a foreword by the former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, is set to contribute to a Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) review of Britain’s global role after leaving the EU....See moreLess than a quarter of Cambridge colleges pay living wage
Marcus Barnett - 8 February 2019
LESS than a quarter of Cambridge University colleges pay their staff the real living wage, a damning study revealed today.
Tories sacrificing British shipbuilding to ‘the free market,’ unions charge
Conrad Landin - 7 February 2019
TORIES are letting British shipbuilding “die out in the name of the free market,” unions charged today as 150 job losses were announced at Babcock’s Rosyth shipyard.
Liberty slams MoD and it’s ‘second-rate’ military justice system
Phil Miller - 1 February 2019
BRITAIN’S Ministry of Defence (MoD) runs a “second-rate” military justice system that systematically fails rape victims, a scathing new report released today by human rights group Liberty claims.
Oxfordshire residents urged to fight mental health underfunding
Marcus Barnett - 1 February 2019
OXFORDSHIRE’S 700,000 residents were urged today to fight against “serial underfunding” of their mental health services.
Unite called on the county to lobby their six MPs about consistent underspending by Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).
The CCG spent far below the national average of 13.9 per cent of its commissioning budget on mental health services in the past year, the union said...See moreCorbyn leads tributes to Jeremy Hardy
Marcus Barnett - 1 February 2019
JEREMY CORBYN led tributes today to socialist comedian Jeremy Hardy, who has died at the age of 57.
The Labour leader spoke of his “dear, lifelong friend,” saying: “He always gave his all for everyone else and the campaigns for social justice.
“You made us all smile. You made us all think.”...See moreLabour frontbencher Ashworth backs striking lecturers
Peter Lazenby - 29 January 2019
LABOUR frontbencher Jon Ashworth threw his weight behind striking lecturers today as pickets began a 48-hour walk-out at 13 colleges over pay.
The shadow health secretary sent a message of support to members of the University and College Union (UCU) in his Leicester South constituency.
Mr Ashworth said: “I fully support and express my solidarity with UCU staff at our colleges, fighting for fair pay. Investing in our staff is vital to improving further education and means a better quality of education for students....See moreNumber of black kids in custody reaches record high
Phil Miller - 29 January 2019
“SHAMEFUL” new evidence reveals today that over half of children behind bars are from black or other minority backgrounds – the highest level since records began in 2001.
Decision to deport father of five and former soldier to Jamaica branded ‘an absolute disgrace
Ceren Sagir - 28 January 2019
A DECISION to deport a former solider with PTSD and bipolar was branded “irresponsible” by campaigners today amid an investigation into the Windrush scandal.
Former British army Commonwealth soldier Twane Morgan, who served in Afghanistan, has been booked on a Titan Airways flight along with around 50 others to be deported to Jamaica on February 15.
The father of five was detained last Wednesday when he went to his weekly sign-in and transferred to Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre without his vital medication...See moreGlasgow protest planned after Home Office tries to deport Sudanese refugees
Phil Miller - 25 January 2019
OVER 150 people will rally in Glasgow’s George Square tomrrow afternoon to highlight the dire human rights situation in Sudan.
On the eve of the protest, rally organiser Aala Hamza told the Star that two Sudanese asylum-seekers in Glasgow had been picked up by the Home Office this week.
The pair, who were taken to Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre in South Lanarkshire, face deportation despite the ongoing violence in Sudan...See moreCops call for an end to Tory cuts as figures show a rise in violent crime
MS - 24 January 2019
POLICE forces are calling for the reversal of government cuts to allow “more boots on the ground” after the latest figures revealed today that reports of violent crime rose by 19 per cent in one year.
Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) chair John Apter said forces are “swimming against the tide and it is the public who are being let down.”
He added that the government’s Violent Crime Strategy had omitted to mention that there are 22,000 fewer police officers since 2010 — with 80 per cent lost from the front line...See moreRetail industry lost 70,000 jobs in the last three months of 2018
Peter Lazenby - 24 January 2019
BRITAIN’S retail crisis accelerated in the last three months of 2018 with 70,000 jobs axed in the sector, research revealed today.
Tories face fresh High Court legal challenge over ‘irrational’ universal credit reform
Ceren Sagir - 23 January 2019
THE GOVERNMENT faced a fresh legal challenge over its “irrational” universal credit (UC) welfare reform today.
Labour warns of ‘culture of short termism’ in British industry after Dyson move to Singapore
Marcus Barnett - 23 January 2019
LABOUR urged the government to tackle the “culture of short termism” in British industry today after Dyson announced its intention to move its headquarters to Singapore.
The technology company’s head offices will be moving from Malmesbury in Wiltshire to Singapore this year, it announced today.
Dyson boss Jim Rowan told the BBC that the decision was to establish Dyson as a “global company.”...See moreLabour calls for landlords still using Grenfell-style cladding to be named
Ceren Sagir - 22 January 2019
LANDLORDS continuing to use dangerous cladding on high-rise buildings should be named and shamed by ministers, Labour’s shadow housing minister John Healey told the government today.
In an urgent Commons question, he asked Housing Secretary Kit Malthouse to update MPs on what action has been planned and taken by the government in relation to high-rise residential blocks with flammable cladding....See more
Workers to walk out for pay justice at government ministries
Marcus Barnett - 21 January 2019
AGENCY workers at two government ministries begin a two-day walkout tomorrow in their fight for a living wage and better conditions.
The simultaneous action by Civil Service union PCS and United Voices of the World (UVW) involves cleaners, caterers, receptionists and security guards at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ)... See more
Councils cutting crime prevention budgets by more than half
Lamiat Sabin - 21 January 2019
CASH-STRAPPED councils have slashed their crime-prevention budgets by more than half since the Tories went into government, according to new Labour analysis published today.
Spending on these services fell from £363 million to £154m between 2009/10 and 2017/18 – a cut of almost 60 per cent.... See more
Plans to register 3.5 million EU citizens in Britain may result in another Windrush scandal
Marcus Barnett - 21 January 2019
GOVERNMENT officials have been warned that plans to register 3.5 million EU citizens living in Britain post-Brexit may result in another Windrush scandal.
Critics have urged the government, which launches its first public test scheme today, to behave professionally with its registration to offer EU nationals “settled status.”... See more
Job cuts condemned after release of violence statistics
Marcus Barnett - 20 january 2019
RAIL union RMT condemned job cuts yesterday after figures showed a “rising tide” of violent crime on the London Underground.
Data released by the British Transport Police (BTP) shows that instances of violence on the Underground has shot up by 43 per cent in the past three years.... See more
Couriers walk in latest clash on minimum fees
Phil Miller - 20 January 2019
DELIVEROO couriers in Bristol went on strike last night in their latest battle against the gig economy giant.
They were joined by riders from rival firms Uber Eats and Stuart, a new corporation.
Up to 100 strikers from campaign group the Bristol Couriers Network demanded a minimum fee of £5 per delivery, paid wait times at £10 per hour and an extra £1 per mile on orders.... See more
Pay justice deal agreed with Glasgow Council a decade on
Marcus Barnett - 20 January 2019
GLASGOW City Council and local trade unions have reached an agreement to end the city’s long-standing £500 million equal pay dispute... See more
Unpaid leave plans ditched
MS - 20 January 2019
SUFFOLK County Council has abandoned plans to force staff to take unpaid leave to plug funding shortfalls.
The U-turn comes after Unison members at the council rejected the idea by 95 per cent in a consultation.
Unison regional organiser Sam Leigh said: “We’d like to thank the council for seeing sense and dropping this unfair pay cut... See more
Tyre workers to lose jobs after role transfer
MS - 19 January 2019
A TYRE company confirmed plans yesterday to cut more than 300 jobs when it transfers its work to eastern Europe, provoking an angry reaction from its trade union.
Cooper Tire & Rubber said production of light vehicle tyres at its factory in Melksham, Wiltshire, would be phased out over 10 months.
The Unite union pointed out that those losing their jobs had helped to train staff at the site in Serbia to which the work is being transferred.... See more
Businessman reopens restaurant as workers are left out of pocket
Conrad Landin - 17 January 2019
WORKERS were “manhandled” and their union organiser was arrested outside a licensing hearing in Dundee today, as a businessman alleged to owe money to his former staff was allowed to reopen his restaurant under a new name.
High-end eatery Brassica closed its doors last September after staff walked out claiming that wages had not been paid. Blaming “cash-flow problems” for the closure, the company subsequently went into administration.... See more
Schools to lose funding thanks to UC criteria
Ceren Sagir - 16 January 2019
SCHOOL budgets will drop by tens of thousands of pounds due to eligibility changes for free school meals under universal credit (UC), a headteacher has warned.
Tania Beard of St Martin’s CofE Primary in Cranbrook, Devon told the Commons education committee on Tuesday that with more children missing out on free lunches, schools could also see a fall in pupil premium funding received for each disadvantaged student – as much as £1,320 per child.... See more
Waverley workers hit back at ‘scandalous’ conditions
Conrad Landin - 15 January 2019
CLEANING and maintenance workers at Scotland’s biggest railway station will strike later this month over “scandalous” working conditions.
Their union RMT said contractor ISS had reneged on promises to improve staff accommodation facilities and instal air conditioning.... See more
Seven out of 10 Serco-provided homes in Glasgow failed basic standards test last year
Conrad Landin - 15 January 2019
SEVEN in 10 refugee homes provided by outsourcing giant Serco in Glasgow failed basic standards tests last year, according to inspection reports.
Just 118 of 426 homes inspected by the Home Office between December 1 2017 and November 20 2018 were deemed compliant with government standards, the Glasgow Evening Times reported.
Asylum Seeker Housing Project manager Sheila Arthur told the Evening Times: “We have live cases ongoing of service users with toddlers who are without hot water. Others have waited months for washing machines for beds to be supplied.... See more
North Yorkshire at ‘critical’ risk as fire coverage declines
Peter Lazenby - 06 January 2019
EMERGENCY fire cover in rural North Yorkshire has reached a “critical” stage, putting lives at risk after years of cuts to front-line firefighters.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) made the warning yesterday following delayed responses to call-outs over Christmas and New Year. Steve Howley, FBU secretary in the county, said a lack of full-time firefighters had seen fire engines “mothballed,” with no crews to operate them.... See more
Rudd delays universal credit roll-out in the face of mounting criticism
Phil Miller - 06 January 2019
Parliamentary vote kicked down the line after BBC airs Ken Loaches' award-winning film I, Daniel Blake... See more
Greater Manchester to ban fracking
Cerin Sagir - 04 January 2019
City mayor Andy Burnham said cities like Greater Manchester need to join others on the world stage driving towards carbon neutrality... See more
Migrant rights campaigners call out Tories' attempts to ‘whip up racism’
Ceren Sagir - 04 January 2019
Anti-racists announce plans to protest against the Home Office's treatment of refugees next Monday... See more
Hunt under fire after report reveals kidnapped women forced to pay his department to be rescued
Lamiat Sabin - 02 January 2018
Labour's shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry demands the Foreign Office scraps the charges and end this ‘morally repugnant’ situation
UNDER-PRESSURE Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said today that he will investigate reports that his department charged British women forced into marriages abroad hundreds of pounds for their own rescue.
His declaration followed a Times report revealing that such women have had to either pay for plane tickets, basic food and shelter themselves or, if they are over 18, take out emergency loans with the department.... See more
‘Don’t militarise refugee boat response,’ activists warn
MS - 30 December 2018
THE government must not use Britain’s armed forces to deal with the small number of migrant boats crossing the Channel from Calais, activists have warned.
They were responding to Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson’s statement that “our navy, air force and army stand ready to assist.”... See more
Tory school reforms favour the rich
Ceren Sagir - 30 December 2018
TORY reforms are putting state schools at a disadvantage in relation to private ones, data released by the government has revealed.
Private school pupils have a head start in competition for university places and jobs because they sit international GCSEs (IGCSEs), which include coursework and fewer exam hours, making them easier than the more intense GCSE exams that state school students sit, according to the figures, which were released in response to a parliamentary question by Labour MP Lucy Powell.... See more
We Own It to stage day of action for renationalisation of the railways
MS - 30 December 2018
RAIL protests will take place across Britain on Wednesday demanding the return of train services to public ownership.
A Rail Revolution: National Day of Action will target more than 20 stations including Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff and London.
Groups including the We Own It movement and the Association of British Commuters will protest on the day rail firms impose a 3.1 per cent fares increase.... See more
Millions living in areas with illegally high levels of air pollution, Labour study finds
MS - 29 December 2018
MILLIONS of people in England are living in areas that breach legal air quality limits, Labour analysis published today finds.
Labour found that more than 33 million people in England lived in areas which breached legal air quality limits in 2016.
London had the highest percentage of people living in areas which breached limits, with 32 out of 33 London boroughs exceeding legal air quality limits.... See more
School stress tops parents fears for 2019
Ceren Sagir - 29 December 2018
40 per cent say their main worry is about their children suffering exam and school stress
SCHOOL stress is what parents are most worried about for their children in the new year, a survey reveals today.
A poll of more than 1,000 parents of four to 18-year-olds by children’s charity Barnardo’s found that 86 per cent had concerns about what 2019 would have in store for their children.
More than 40 per cent said their main worry was about their children suffering exam and school stress.... See more
Knife seizures have ‘more than doubled’
MS - 28 December 2018
THE number of knives seized by Border Force has more than doubled in a year, official figures show today.
Officers took possession of 7,668 bladed items in the year to September – compared with 3,800 in the previous 12 months.... See more
Rupert Murdoch ‘very poorly informed’ on UK
MS - 28 December 2018
JOHN MAJOR’S Tory government worried about how to handle Rupert Murdoch’s growing media empire, newly released government papers reveal.
Downing Street began to compile a confidential briefing on the “financial performance, market share, [and] plans for expansion” of News Corporation, ahead of the PM meeting the media tycoon in August 1993.
The meeting came after a torrent of bad publicity in the Murdoch press, with one Sun leader saying Mr Major was “a nice guy but not up to [the] job.”... See more
Number of care home residents taken to hospital soars as Labour blames ‘irresponsible’ cuts
MS - 27 December 2018
THE number of care home residents admitted to hospitals in an emergency has soared by almost 90 per cent since 2010, official figures show.
Labour blamed “irresponsible” cuts to council budgets for pressures on social care that have seen elderly people being rushed to hospital in increasing numbers.
There were 32,906 emergency admissions of care home residents in 2017/18 in England, up from 28,471 the previous year, according to the stats.... See more
Firefighters asked to do more than ever despite having their numbers cut, warn FBU
Alan Jones - 27 December 2018
FIREFIGHTERS are responding to a soaring number of incidents in England despite their numbers being slashed by a fifth, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) warned today.
Fire incidents rose by 3 per cent to just under 170,000 in the last year, the highest number for four years, according to the FBU.
Since 2010-11, more than 9,000 fire and rescue service jobs in England have been lost – 20 per cent – the number of full-time firefighters has fallen by just under 6,500 and the number of fire control room staff has reduced by 433, the FBU says.... See more
Non-white workers miss out on billions in wages
MS - 27 December 2018
BLACK and South Asian workers in Britain are missing out on billions of pounds a year in pay, new research revealed today.
The “ethnic pay gap” could be as much as £3.2 billion per year, analysis by the Resolution Foundation think tank suggests.... See more
Hospitals increase parking charges for staff and patients
Ceren Sagir - 27 December 2018
MORE than four in 10 NHS hospitals are making more money than ever from increased parking charges for visitors, staff and patients, an investigation has found.
Of the 124 NHS trusts that responded, 43 per cent said they had increased prices in the last year, the Press Association revealed.
A stay of four to 24 hours cost £8 in 2017/18 at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust in West Yorkshire, up from £3.50 the year before. A stay of two to four hours now costs £5, up from £3.... See more
Rail leeches get set for £50m bonanza in strike compensation
Peter Lazenby - 27 December 2018
TAXPAYERS will have forked out £50 million to rail privateers by New Year’s Eve to compensate them for profits lost through strike action by train guards.
Rail union RMT revealed yesterday that the taxpayer will give South Western Rail £26 million in compensation for profits lost due to strike action by the end of 2018.
The compensation bill for Northern Rail, where guards have staged 42 days of strike action, is £24 million.... See more
Rural residents overwhelmingly reject hunting with dogs
Ceren Sagir - 27 December 2018
COUNTRYSIDE residents have overwhelmingly rejected the idea that hunting with dogs reflects their values and spend more time watching wildlife than killing it, a survey a found.
The League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) revealed that 91 per cent of rural residents think that observing nature reflects countryside values, while only 16 per cent believe hunting with dogs reflects countryside values.... See more
Research finds young workers being exploited and being paid less than the national minimum wage
Alan Jones - 27 December 2018
ONE in five young workers are illegally paid less than the national minimum wage, new research suggests.
The study by the Young Women’s Trust, published today, said the figure was higher among young black people, at 25 per cent.
A survey of more than 4,000 people aged 18 to 30 indicated that those in London were most likely to report being underpaid, while those in the East Midlands were least likely.
The charity said many young people were facing financial “crisis” and falling into debt because of low pay.... See more
Levels of homelessness increased every year between 2012 and 2017
MS - 23 December 2018
HOMELESSNESS has reached a record high with more than 170,000 families and individuals experiencing destitution, a study revealed today.
The scale of homelessness was 13 per cent higher last year compared to 2012, with an increase every year in between, the research published by Crisis found.
A doubling of those sleeping rough or in tents, cars and public transport has caused the increase.... See more
Arrests as climate activists target energy ministry
Ceren Sagir - 12 November 2018
CLIMATE activists took the fight against fracking to the government today, gluing and locking themselves to the ministry responsible.
Extinction Rebellion campaigners glued themselves to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy office in London to highlight the “havoc” caused by hydraulic fracturing, an industry emphatically supported by the Tories.... See more
Labour demands date for takeover of failing ScotRail
Peter Lazenby - 12 November 2018
LABOUR in Scotland is demanding that the SNP-controlled Scottish Parliament set a date to end the operating franchise of chaotic ScotRail.
In the move to be announced today, Labour says the catalogue of problems including late trains, overpriced fares and overcrowded trains should be brought to a halt, and that ScotRail should be taken into public ownership... See more
Northern Rail out for 35th day on guard role
Peter Lazenby - 12 November 2018
WORKERS at Northern Rail staged their 35th day of strike action in defence of keeping safety-critical guards on trains on Saturday.
Pickets from rail union RMT were in action across northern England.
Northern Rail is part of Arriva Rail Northern, which is owned by German state rail operator Deutsche Bahn... See more
600,000 single parents lose out with universal credit
Ceren Sagir - 12 November 2018
UNIVERSAL credit (UC) will see 600,000 single parents worse off than under the previous benefit system, the Resolution Foundation reveals today.
Lone parents, 90 per cent of whom are women, lose out the most when moving onto the controversial system, despite £1.7 billion extra investment from the Budget.... See more
Peter Lazenby - 1 November 2018
CENTURIES of shipbuilding in Devon could come to a close as a historic shipyard shuts down, having been denied contracts by the Tory government.
Babcock International announced today that it will close its Appledore shipyard in March, despite union and community protests and a 10,000-signature petition.... See more
This is Labour's moment and we're ready
Lamiat Sabin - 26 September 2018
LABOUR has captured the zeitgeist in Britain with popular policies that has helped shift left-wing politics into the mainstream, Jeremy Corbyn said today.
The Labour leader told delegates in his keynote speech at conference that the words were not his but former Tory Treasury minister Lord O’Neill’s.
“I’ve never sought to capture the mood of a Tory minister before, but let me say to His Lordship: you’re welcome, come and join us in the new political mainstream,” Mr Corbyn said.... See more
The Tories have failed to tackle a growing mental health crisis
MENTAL health may no longer be a taboo subject — celebrities discuss their struggles with mental illness and members of the royal family launch websites aimed at improving mental wellbeing.
Opening up about a form of illness that will affect one in four people is a step forward, but Labour’s revelation that patients are being sent hundreds of miles across the country for treatment shows that the government is failing them.
Dozens of Mental Health NHS Trusts report sending vulnerable people more than 100 miles to find them a hospital bed — the extreme end seeing a sufferer in Dorset transported all the way to Durham... See more
Mental health patients sent from Dorset to Durham to find a bed for the night
Lamiat Sabin - 17 September 2018
LABOUR has discovered that adults under the care of at least half of England’s NHS mental-health trusts are being sent hundreds of miles from their homes for in-patient treatment.
The data on out-of-area placements was received through Freedom of Information requests sent to all 60 NHS mental health trusts in the country.
Labour’s shadow mental health minister Barbara Keeley said: “It is appalling that some of the most vulnerable people in the country are being sent as far as 300 miles from their homes and families for want of a mental-health bed locally... See more
An unholy mess
Conrad Landin, Lamiat Sabin, Alan Jones - 12 September 2018
The Archbishop of Canterbury pours scorn on the universal credit rollout, and brands the gig economy a ‘reincarnation of an ancient evil’
ARCHBISHOP of Canterbury Justin Welby demanded a halt to the shambolic universal credit rollout, called for a higher minimum wage and branded the gig economy “evil” in a rapturously received speech to the TUC Congress today.
He was given a standing ovation in Manchester for his attack on the benefits system and criticism of firms such as Amazon for paying “almost nothing” in taxes.
Adding to pressure on Theresa May, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn used Prime Minister’s questions to accuse her of “pouring petrol on the crisis” and “inflicting misery on the people of this country.”... See more
Labour 'ready to hit the ground running,' says John McDonnell at IER fringe
Ben Chacko - 10 September 2018
LABOUR is ready to hit the ground running with a programme to irreversibly shift power and wealth to working people, John McDonnell said last night.
The "depth of insecurity" for millions of working people means people are crying out for radical change, the shadow chancellor told a packed Institute of Employment Rights (IER) fringe at TUC Congress in Manchester.
The party will bring water, transport, postal services and energy into public ownership because "we don't want people being ripped off the way they are at the moment."... See more
Labour’s entitled rightwingers should rethink their behaviour
Editorial - 10 September
CHUKA UMUNNA’S demand that Jeremy Corbyn tells Labour Party members to stop putting down no-confidence motions against their MPs invites a glance to check that the calendar doesn’t read April 1.
Is this the same Chuka Umunna who has missed no opportunity since Corbyn’s election to undermine the party leader, including motions of no confidence?
And is it coincidence that Joan Ryan, Gavin Shuker and Chris Leslie, who have been stung by local party votes, are associated with the anti-Corbyn Parliamentary Labour Party fifth column?
All have reacted predictably, exhibiting both petulance and a measure of contempt for local members.... See more
Blair, Corbyn and the forward march of Labour
“IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times,” Charles Dickens once observed of the French Revolution. The situation in today’s Labour Party appears similarly contradictory.
A sustained bombardment from MPs who have always hated Jeremy Corbyn, amplified to deafening volume by the corporate media, saw the party’s national executive committee (NEC) give in over a contentious definition of anti-semitism on Tuesday, adopting in full a set of examples whose own author has warned they have a “chilling” effect on freedom of speech.
Corbyn’s attempt to have a clause added which would protect the right to denounce the racist nature of the Israeli state was both defeated and leaked.... See more
Amazon workers slam 'truly shocking' conditions at Rugeley warehouse
Sam Tobin - 7 September 2018
WORKERS protested outside an Amazon warehouse today at “truly shocking” conditions, including unrelenting pressure to hit targets that caused one woman to suffer a miscarriage.
Ambulances were called out more than 100 times in the last three years at the online retail giant’s site in Rugeley, Staffordshire, which the GMB union says is “one of the most dangerous places to work in Britain.”
The union has uncovered appalling cases of abuse, such as a heavily pregnant woman being forced to stand for 10 hours a day picking orders.
When she asked to change duties, her manager told her: “It’s not what you want, it is what we decide.”... See more
Sports Direct and XPO 'fighting like rabid dogs' over House of Fraser stock
Peter Lazenby - 7 September 2018
TWO firms were accused today of “fighting like rabid dogs” over failed retail chain House of Fraser’s stock while hundreds of workers face redundancy.
Notoriously dodgy employer Sports Direct took over House of Fraser after it collapsed last month.
A stand-off has ensued between Sports Direct and XPO, which runs two warehouses in Milton Keynes and Wellingborough that supplied House of Fraser, over £30 million that XPO says it is owed by the chain.
Workers were informed yesterday that the Milton Keynes site would close, with the loss of 300 jobs, while the Wellingborough warehouse’s 300 workers’ fate still hangs in the balance.... See more
South Western Railway workers vote to keep striking for guards
Peter Lazenby - 5 September 2018
WORKERS at South Western Railways have voted to continue striking against bosses’ plans to remove safety-critical guards from trains, union RMT announced today.
South Western workers voted by an overwhelming 88 per cent to maintain strike action, in line with Tory anti-union laws forcing workers to renew their strike mandate periodically.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said it was a “disgrace” that SWR was playing for time rather than “getting round the table with the union to work out a solution to this dispute that puts safety and the guard guarantee centre stage.”
He pointed out that operators in Scotland, Wales and a number of English franchises had already managed to come to an agreement on safety.... See more
How can we beat the Establishment's war on Corbyn?
Editorial - 5 September 2018
IN TOMORROW’S Morning Star, the Institute of Employment Rights sets out the most detailed legislative programme for strengthening workers’ rights this country has seen in four decades.
In doing so it makes clear one reason that winning a Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn is so important to so many people.
This programme involves simplifying and strengthening protection for everyone who works for a living by standardising the definition of “worker” and ensuring all labour rights apply to all of us, and re-establishing collective bargaining across whole sectors of the economy to give working people the strength to end the great wage squeeze.... See more
Labour’s rank-and-file members recognise anti-semitism smears for what they are
Ken Loach - 3 September 2018
KEN LOACH nails it, as do Jewish Voice for Labour, Labour Against the Witch Hunt and Camden Momentum members meeting outside Labour’s national executive committee meeting (NEC) tomorrow morning, in identifying Palestine as the reason why Jeremy Corbyn is accused falsely of anti-semitism.
Labour is currently unique among European social democratic parties in having a leader who is a socialist, a supporter of Palestinian national rights and being in with a shout of winning a general election.
Loach, in his open letter to Guardian journalist Simon Hattenstone, brackets Corbyn’s pro-Palestinian stance with “his social and economic programme, his determination to base a foreign policy on International law and human rights and the general resurgence of the left that he represents.”... See more
Grieving father to boycott remembrance service in ‘disgust’
Sam Tobin - 2 September 2018
Bill Stewardson, whose son Alex Green, 21, was killed in Iraq, says the Cenotaph ‘is not there for arms dealers to seize as a PR opportunity’
THE father of a soldier killed in Iraq is boycotting this year’s remembrance service in “disgust” at the “cash-hungry immoral pigs” who will be in attendance while “living lives funded by war.”
Kingsman Alex Green was shot dead in Basra in January 2007 while returning from a patrol in the city centre. He was 21.
His dad Bill Stewardson told the Star he was declining his invitation to this year’s Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on November 10 on the basis that Prime Minister Theresa May, her husband Philip May and former Labour prime minister Tony Blair will also be there.... See more
Scared and mistreated
Sam Tobin - 31 August 2018
Damning report reveals shocking treatment of migrants at G4S-run Tinsley House immigration centre
TWO damning reports into a G4S-run immigration removal centre reveal “a casual disregard for people’s welfare” and the “continued failure” of measures to protect vulnerable detainees, campaigners said today.
HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) found that Tinsley House immigration centre in West Sussex was “reasonably decent and safe,” but strongly criticised the “routine failure of detention to achieve the objective of removal.”
A shocking 42 per cent of men at Tinsley House told inspectors they felt “unsafe,” while 22 per cent said they felt “threatened or intimidated by staff.”
A second report on its accommodation for families facing deportation said two families with children were arrested at their homes in the early hours by “more than eight people in uniforms wearing stab vests and heavy boots.”... See more
Our immigration and asylum system is a national scandal
Morning Star Editorial - 31 August 2018
When the Chief Inspector of Prisons can call a detention centre “one of the better establishments we have inspected,” despite 40 per cent of male detainees saying they feel unsafe, you learn something about the state of our immigration system.
There is praise for the Tinsley House immigration removal centre in Peter Clarke’s report, but he admits it “could not fully replicate the welcoming, open environment” he ascribes to its predecessor Cedars.
Cedars was closed because of its “high expense” and cost-cutting at the expense of staff and inmate welfare has been a theme across the prison sector as well as the immigration system ever since the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats took an axe to our public services in 2010.... See more
Fire chiefs accused of ‘act of revenge’ against crew who campaigned against cuts
Peter Lazenby - 29 August 2018
FIRE chiefs in Merseyside stand accused of “an act of revenge” by breaking up crews from two fire stations who successfully campaigned against life-threatening cuts.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said bosses told the crews at Liverpool city centre and Wallasey fire stations that they would be dispersed to other sites across Merseyside.
And their jobs will go to firefighters who aren’t in the union, FBU warns.
Merseyside Fire Authority denied the accusation, saying it was lobbying the government to reverse cuts.... See more
Corbyn and McDonnell 'fought apartheid while Tories wanted Mandela hanged'
Lamiat Sabin - 29 August 2018
Shadow chancellor speaks out after Theresa May refuses to say whether she backs Thatcher's description of Nelson Mandela as a terrorist
SHADOW chancellor John McDonnell pointed out today that he and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn campaigned fiercely against apartheid in the 1970s and ’80s while the Tories were calling for Nelson Mandela to be hanged.
He hit out after Channel 4 News presenter Michael Crick made Prime Minister Theresa May squirm in an interview on Robben Island, where Mr Mandela spent 18 years locked up by the racist South African government.
Mr Crick quizzed the PM whether she felt “guilty” about the Tories siding with Mr Mandela’s oppressors before he went on to become president of South Africa.... See more