“Non-crime hate incidents are to be scrapped under plans that police chiefs will present to the Home Secretary next month. Police leaders have decided that NCHIs are no longer “fit for purpose” after warnings that recording them undermines freedom of speech and diverts officers away from fighting crime. Under the plans, NCHIs will be replaced with a new “common sense” system, where only a fraction of such incidents will be recorded under the most serious category of anti-social behaviour.” – Daily Telegraph
“Taxpayers will be kept in the dark about how much public money is being spent so that union officials can have paid time off work, under the government’s workers’ rights reforms. Despite new figures showing that last year almost £107 million was spent on so-called facility time, Labour has scrapped powers to cap it and removed the requirement for public bodies such as the NHS and schools to declare it in the future. At the same time, the right to be paid to carry out union duties has been extended to equality representatives in workplaces to allow them to focus on equality duties.” – The Times
“The government is planning to end the use of hen cages as part of a raft of proposals to improve animal welfare standards in England. The measures also include moving away from the use of pig farrowing crates, which contain sows during birth and nursing to stop them rolling over onto their young. The National Farmers’ Union said laws should also require imports to be produced to the same standards to prevent unfair competition for British farmers.” – BBC
>Today: ToryDiary: Farming is Labour’s latest case of double standards
“Labour is also committed to “banning trail hunting”, on the grounds that this is used to conceal hunting a live quarry. You might as well ban Rizla papers because some are used to roll joints or cars because some drivers speed. Trail hunting itself is the result of bad law. When fox- (and deer- and hare- and mink-) hunting was banned, the ban’s supporters said, “If what you like is chasing something with hounds, why not chase a scented rag?” Hunting people took them at their word. Now they are threatened with punishment for doing so. Labour wants more law to remedy its own failed law, which has not improved the condition of any formerly hunted species and has imposed fatuous duties upon the police duties…My point, which applies much more widely than animal welfare, is that the parties which aspire to govern need to get serious about what laws are for in a free country. Rule Number one: unless they really must make a new law, they mustn’t.” – Charles Moore, Daily Telegraph
“Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has said nearly 10 million people could see their democratic right to vote “ripped away” if proposed delays to some local elections in England go ahead. Sir Ed has written to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission to ask if it will investigate what he called “the government’s cavalier approach to our elections”. Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf told the BBC his party would try to hold a parliamentary vote to protest against the “extremely dangerous” delays.” – BBC
>Today: Helen Harrison on local government: Reform UK are pursuing a socialist agenda in North Northamptonshire
“Sir Keir Starmer personally approved cutting back briefings for journalists despite saying that the press must hold politicians to account. Downing Street is facing a backlash after announcing that the two daily press briefings of the Westminster Lobby would be reduced to one. Tim Allan, Sir Keir’s executive director of communications, claimed wider reforms would include more press conferences and greater access for less mainstream “content creators”. On Monday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman appeared to confirm that Sir Keir personally supported the changes, which were announced last week.” – Daily Telegraph
“A Labour MP has publicly condemned Wes Streeting’s call to rejoin the EU’s customs union, blasting it as “opportunistic” leadership manoeuvring. Mr Streeting made headlines this morning as he used a weekend interview to break ranks with the Prime Minister and call for a partial reversing of Brexit…Labour MP Graham Stringer, who labelled it an “early shot” in a potential leadership election.” – Daily Express
“Labour is set to miss its target of approving 150 major infrastructure projects by the end of this parliament due to ‘dithering and delay’ by ministers, according to new analysis. More than half of planning decisions on 27 major projects expected in 2025 were delayed beyond the three-month decision period for ministers, according to the Centre for Policy Studies. Labour’s inaction has added almost four years of cumulative delay this year alone, with ministers responsible for 1,333 days of holdup across 14 delayed projects, the think tank said. Based on the current rate Labour is set to miss its target by almost a third, approving just 107 projects instead of 150, the CPS added.” – Daily Mail
“Sir Keir Starmer is weighing up an Australia-style social media ban for under 16s in Britain. The PM is “closely monitoring” how the policy is playing out Down Under amid pressure from parents to follow suit at home. Discussions are under way between Tech Secretary Liz Kendall and Sir Keir over how a ban would work in the UK.” – The Sun
“Earlier this year, energy secretary Ed Miliband told Elon Musk to “get the hell out of our politics and our country”, accusing the billionaire’s social media platform of enabling disinformation and eroding democratic norms. But like many other MPs within his party, the former Labour leader is still clinging on to X, formerly Twitter, and continuing to post on a platform they regularly warn the public about. “Twitter used to be a place where people with massively different viewpoints could have a civilised debate . . . But now it has become a constant stream of negativity and abuse,” said Patrick Hurley, Labour MP for Southport, who still posts regularly. “But everyone is still on there, so until people move off it in lock-step nothing will change.” – Financial Times
“It is the most exciting time to be alive because we are close to breakthroughs of which earlier generations could only dream, in new medicines, materials and energy sources. But it is dangerous because we are daily more at risk of cyberattack, political extremism, social discontent, climate disasters or simply being left behind in a world that moves on without us. Countries, companies and individuals should therefore be ready for their situation to get much better or much worse. That obviously starts with being more resilient to shocks but if we just hunker down in fear we will miss all the benefits of the exciting new developments. The only way to succeed in this new chapter of history is to become more resilient by constantly reinventing ourselves.” – William Hague, The Times