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1 week ago | 
morningstaronline.co.uk | Elizabeth Short
PALESTINE Action targeted two military planes at an RAF base in Oxfordshire yesterday, where daily flights depart for another base in Cyprus used for military operations in Gaza. Two activists broke into RAF Brize Norton and approached the planes on electric scooters. They used repurposed fire extinguishers to spray red paint into the turbine engines of two Airbus Voyagers, before causing further damage using crowbars.
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1 week ago | 
morningstaronline.co.uk | Elizabeth Short
EVERY bill-payer receiving means-tested benefits will now qualify for the Warm Home discount, the government confirmed on Wednesday evening. The energy bill discount of up to £150 will be extended to 2.7 million households under the plans, bringing the total eligible to 6m.
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1 week ago | 
morningstaronline.co.uk | Elizabeth Short
HUNDREDS of anti-poverty campaigners took to Westminster on Wednesday to demand urgent action on rising hunger and hardship. Volunteers at local foodbanks, representatives from community food organisations and public figures including comedian Nish Kumar were among those in attendance. Mr Kumar said: “We know the most important solution to ending the need for food banks — ensuring people have enough money in their pockets to put food on the table.
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1 week ago | 
morningstaronline.co.uk | Elizabeth Short
THAMES WATER creditors are demanding the company be shielded from key environmental regulations as a part of their rescue bid, it was reported today. The Financial Times said that it had seen documents sent to the government and regulators. The documents reportedly demanded that changes be made to Thames Water’s licence, to protect the firm from Ofwat fines, and allow them to raise prices at any time before 2030.
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1 week ago | 
morningstaronline.co.uk | Elizabeth Short
ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners scored a major victory today after overturning the approval of a mammoth industrial chicken farm near Shrewsbury. The case, brought by charity River Action and campaigner Dr Alison Caffyn, quashes Shropshire Council’s decision to permit the building of a 200,000-bird poultry unit in the River Severn catchment. The proposed site was near another facility which already houses half-a-million chickens.
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1 week ago | 
morningstaronline.co.uk | Elizabeth Short
NHS 999 staff are burning out and quitting in droves, research by Unison warns today. More than a quarter (27 per cent) of NHS ambulance control room staff have quit their jobs over the past three years, according to data obtained by the union. Unison found that 510,254 days were lost to call handler illness in the three years from April 2021. The figure for 2023/24 alone was 166,940 — the equivalent of more than a month of sick leave for each call handler.
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1 week ago | 
morningstaronline.co.uk | Elizabeth Short
A SHORTAGE of planning officers could jeopardise efforts to tackle the housing crisis, Unison warned today. Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the government will spend £39 billion on social and affordable housing in her spending review last week. The government has pledged to recruit 300 extra planning staff across English councils, but Unison says that local authorities will need almost three times as many extra workers.
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1 week ago | 
morningstaronline.co.uk | Elizabeth Short
SURVIVORS of the Windrush scandal are being awarded significantly less compensation than they are entitled to, according to a report published today. The review of 17 claimants, carried out by the charity Justice in collaboration with the University of Sussex and law firm Dechert, found that access to legal advice had a substantial impact on the level of compensation awarded. One claimant, who had been initially refused compensation, was awarded £295,000 with legal assistance.
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1 week ago | 
morningstaronline.co.uk | Elizabeth Short
THE water sector is in need of root-and-branch reform, a cross-party committee of MPs warns today. A new report by the environment, food and rural affairs committee calls for reform to “ensure that more money gained from investors and through customer bills is directed towards investment in water infrastructure and service delivery,” rather than towards debt repayments or financial rewards for water bosses.
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2 weeks ago | 
morningstaronline.co.uk | Elizabeth Short
THE assisted dying Bill will “deepen and exacerbate inequalities,” a Labour MP warned during a Commons debate on legislation today. Battersea MP Marsha De Cordova highlighted that medical experts have warned that drugs used in assisted deaths should undergo “rigorous testing and approval,” and that the Bill neglects to inform patients about the risks involved, such as prolonged dying.
