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Party remains two seats short of governing in its own right as three crossbenchers promise supply

In today’s newsletter: The former health minister inherits a party, country and movement in flux from predecessor Nicola Sturgeon

Q+A host says presenter Jeremy Fernandez was reduced to a ‘cameo’ role on an otherwise ‘entire white panel’

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing’s failure to treat severe mould led to the death of two-year-old Awaab IshakA social landlord claimed refugee tenants were lucky to have a roof over their heads and that mould was “acceptable” in their homes, an investigation has found.A manager at Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH), the housing provider whose failure to treat severe mould led to the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak, made the remark to a colleague, according to a damning report into the landlord’s wider conduct. Continue reading...

Tenants and social organisations say proposed change don’t go far enough to addressing housing stress

Defence minister says government ‘willing to explore’ participating in ‘pillar two’ of defence deal founded by Australia, UK and USNew Zealand’s government has confirmed it is discussing joining the non-nuclear part of the Aukus alliance founded by Australia, the UK and US.“We have been offered the opportunity to talk about whether we could or wish to participate in that pillar two [non-nuclear] aspect of it,” said Andrew Little, the New Zealand defence minister. “I’ve indicated we will be willing to explore it.” Continue reading...

Schulz would be ‘extremely vulnerable’ in prison and at risk from Taliban sympathisers if he remained there, court hears

Police allege Ward indecently assaulted a 17-year-old boy in 2013 and raped a 27-year-old man in 2015

Sarah Mantell’s script awarded Susan Smith Blackburn prize, beating plays by Zadie Smith, Kimber Lee and Ruby ThomasThe American playwright Sarah Mantell has won this year’s Susan Smith Blackburn prize for their play In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot.Written for a cast of seven female, non-binary and transgender actors, all aged over 50, the play is described by Mantell as exploring “queer ageing, capitalism, campfires and falling in love as the world ends”. It follows a group of itinerant warehouse workers on their night shifts as they search for people they have lost. Continue reading...

British Retail Consortium blames rising price of butter, eggs and cocoa, with sugar at a six-year highA surge in the cost of sugar on global commodity markets is being blamed for a rise in the price of chocolate eggs and hot cross buns ahead of celebrations over the Easter weekend.Figures from global food markets show that the main ingredients of traditional festive treats – butter, eggs, cocoa and sugar – have risen in price month after month since last summer, with sugar at a six-year high. Continue reading...

Votes come as Labour says people will continue to risk lives to cross Channel under new billAs Alex Wickham from Politico points out, the questions Rishi Sunak is getting this morning suggest this audience is not happy with the government’s record on crime.Q: The Conservatives have “dropped the ball a little bit, to be honest”. The questioner says laughing gas is the least of their problems. People are using much harder drugs. He has skimmed through the action plan document. Some of it is good. But punishments need to be firmer. People probably won’t turn up for community sentences. And the government needs to tackle drugs at source. Continue reading...

Incoming Chris Minns government will have an interim cabinet sworn in as vote counting continues in key seats

National Education Union to recommend members reject offer of 4.3% rise and £1,000 one-off paymentA major teaching union has criticised ministers’ “insulting” new pay offer, raising the prospect of further walkouts in schools this spring.The National Education Union said the offer of a 4.3% rise for most teachers plus a £1,000 one-off payment for the 2023-24 year was not enough and it will recommend that its members reject the deal. Continue reading...

New leader needs to convince Scotland that he can take the SNP in a fresh directionThe first act of Humza Yousaf’s leadership of the SNP was to fire off a letter to Rishi Sunak demanding a section 30 order which, if granted, would trigger the mechanism to allow a second Scottish independence referendum to go ahead.His predecessor, Nicola Sturgeon, had already tried this in 2017 and again in 2019, but her approach failed when the UK government refused to agree to it. Downing Street has already made it clear that Sunak’s response to Yousaf will be no different. Continue reading...

PCS union announces all-out strike at end of month of industrial action by members in different sectorsMore than 133,000 civil and public servants will go on strike on 28 April at the end of a month of industrial action, a leading union has said.The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) said its members would be on strike throughout April, including another all-out strike by 133,000 civil and public servants on 28 April. Continue reading...

Authors say supported mindfulness-based cognitive therapy also cheaper than treatment NHS usually offersPractising mindfulness is much better than taking part in talking therapies at helping people recover from depression, a British study has found.People who used a mindfulness self-help book for eight weeks and had six sessions with a counsellor experienced a 17.5% greater improvement in recovery from depressive symptoms than those who underwent cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) while being supported by a mental health practitioner. Continue reading...

Area supports an abundance of species, from rare and endangered birds to seagrass meadowsPoole harbour is one of the most strictly protected environmental areas in the UK and Europe, but as the frantic clean-up taking place on Monday showed, it is not immune to pollution from oil spills.As a site of special scientific interest, a European special area of conservation and a marine protection zone, the harbour and its waters support an abundance of species, from rare and endangered birds to the seagrass meadows in its waters that are carbon sinks. Continue reading...

Duke of Sussex in London for hearing in his claim against Associated Newspapers over alleged unlawful information gatheringThe Duke of Sussex has arrived at the high court in London for a hearing in his claim against the publisher of the Daily Mail over allegations of illegal behaviour by the outlets’ journalists.Prince Harry’s arrival came ahead of the first court hearing in a lawsuit also brought by Doreen Lawrence, the singer Elton John and other high-profile figures against Associated Newspapers over alleged phone-tapping and other breaches of privacy.The hiring of private investigators to secretly place listening devices inside people’s cars and homes.The commissioning of individuals to surreptitiously listen in to, and record, people’s live, private telephone calls while they were taking place.The payment of police officials, with allegedly corrupt links to private investigators, for sensitive inside information.The impersonation of individuals to obtain medical information from private hospitals, clinics, and treatment centres by deception.The accessing of bank accounts, credit histories and financial transactions through illicit means and manipulation. Continue reading...

Humza Yousaf, Kate Forbes and Ash Regan in running to replace Nicola SturgeonThe Scottish National party is preparing to announce later on Monday which candidate has won the bitterly contested battle to be Scotland’s next first minister.With voting now closed, Humza Yousaf, the frontrunner, said he wanted to greatly increase taxes on the rich, and introduce a windfall tax on energy firms and on landowners to fund more generous anti-poverty measures. Continue reading...

Berlin secures concessions over future use of e-fuels after going back on agreement struck last yearEU ministers are expected to approve a draft law on emissions standards for cars on Tuesday, after reaching a deal with Germany over the weekend that ended a damaging row over a key part of Europe’s green deal.Pascal Canfin, a French centrist MEP who chairs the European parliament’s environment committee, said an EU law that all cars sold from 2035 must produce zero emissions “will be voted unchanged, including by Germany” on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Last known thylacine died in 1936 but new research suggesting the animals may have survived longer in the wild ‘relies on a lot of maybes’, expert says

Labor victory shows the region lost trust in Coalition, experts say, and is not afraid to ‘flex its political muscle’

Rescheduling and long waits damage victims’ mental health, leading some to take their own lives, report saysLong delays and a massive increase in the rescheduling of rape trials are having a devastating impact on victims’ mental health and leading some victims to take their own lives, according to a major new report.Data from a freedom of information request by Rape Crisis England and Wales has revealed that the number of rape trials that were “vacated” and “ineffective” – and as a result delayed – more than doubled from 2019-2020 to 2021-2022.Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html Continue reading...

Animal rights group urges film and television productions to use CGI in place of living creaturesThe animal rights group Peta has condemned the use of live animals on set after a horse died during the production of Amazon’s television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.The horse had a cardiac arrest on 21 March, while the fantasy spin-off was rehearsing for its second season in the UK. Continue reading...

Human rights commissioner says given role in ‘brutal colonisation’, it is ‘fundamentally important’ police participate in inquiry

Consumer lender says details taken include 7.9m driver’s licence numbers and 53,000 passport numbers

Number of weapons tests have accelerated as the US and South Korea engage in joint military exercisesNorth Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles, South Korea’s military has said, the latest in its flurry of weapons tests in recent weeks.The launch comes as the South carries out joint amphibious landing exercise with the US, and a few days after they wrapped up their largest combined military drills in five years. Continue reading...

Human rights advocate says decision is a ‘major blow for Australian democracy’ and shows whistleblower protections are ‘utterly broken’

A 25-year-old man who was hit by a car and can no longer walk was put on a waiting list after surgeon assessed his injury as least urgent

Several dozen demonstrators were required to wear numbered lanyards, as police monitored their march against a proposed land reclamationHong Kong police have permitted a small protest march under tight restrictions, in one of the first demonstrations to be approved since the enactment of a sweeping national security law in 2020.Several dozen demonstrators were required to wear numbered lanyards and were barred from wearing masks, as police monitored their march against a proposed land reclamation and rubbish processing project. Continue reading...

TUC and charity call for better support and legal right to reasonable adjustments at work for sufferers

Dismissal of Yoav Gallant, a senior figure in the ruling Likud party, brings tens of thousands on to streets of Tel Aviv

Report says black children over-represented in strip-searches by police between 2018 and 2022An official report accuses police of the widespread abuse of their power to strip-search children, with black children 11 times more likely than their white peers to be selected by officers for the ordeal.Data collected by the children’s commissioner found there were at least 2,847 recorded strip-searches of children pre-arrest across England and Wales between 2018 and 2022 under stop and search powers.About one-third of all strip-searches took place in London, which means children in London were more than twice as likely to be strip-searched compared with what the share of children in the capital would indicate.Black children were 6.4 times more likely to be strip-searched compared with what their share of the population would indicate. For Asian children, it was 1.1 times/10% more likely.White children were 44% less likely to be strip-searched compared with what their share of the population would indicate. Based on their respective shares of the population, black children were 11 times more likely to be strip-searched compared with white children. It is worth noting that all results are based on police reports (ie police-attributed ethnicity), that’s why there were so few mixed-race children in the sample.51% of strip-searches led to no further action, which implies a fairly high rate of failure, which is disturbing given the drastic nature of the police action.Less than a third of the cases (31%) led to arrest. Continue reading...

Police will also have greater drug testing powers as part of crackdown on antisocial behaviourThe sale of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, to the public will be banned and the police will be given enhanced drug-testing powers as part of Rishi Sunak’s attempt to crack down on antisocial behaviour “with urgency”.The levelling up secretary, Michael Gove, said the proposals would stop parks being turned into drug-taking arenas, and would help ministers stamp out antisocial behaviour. Continue reading...

Unions, regulators and NHS England all say staff shortages are affecting health of medics and patients“There’s a gap today that no locum filled, so I am carrying both bleeps and doing the work of two people.” That recent tweet, by a children’s doctor, is one of many examples posted on social media by medics illustrating how NHS staff shortages affect them, patients, the smooth running of important services – and, sometimes, the safety of those who are receiving care.It is a concern shared by every organisation that represents frontline staff, by regulators such as the Care Quality Commission (CQC), and by NHS England, the body that oversees the service. Just as one example, in January the CQC reported that an inspection it had undertaken of Colchester hospital in Essex found patients were missing out on meals because there were too few staff on duty to feed them. Some patients were wearing dirty dressings, and others did not have their call bells answered promptly, for the same reason. Continue reading...

Exclusive: workplace plan sent to ministers says deficit will rise rapidly from current 154,000 if current trends continueThe NHS in England needs a massive injection of homegrown doctors, nurses, GPs and dentists to avert a recruitment crisis that could leave it short of 571,000 staff, according to an internal document seen by the Guardian.A long-awaited workforce plan produced by NHS England says the health service is already operating with 154,000 fewer full-time staff than it needs, and that number could balloon to 571,000 staff by 2036 on current trends. Continue reading...

Yacht impounded over alleged breach of far-right government’s new rules for rescue vesselsItalian authorities have detained a migrant rescue boat financed by the British street artist Banksy after it responded to a distress call in the central Mediterranean.The vessel, painted in bright pink and named Louise Michel after a French feminist anarchist, was impounded in the port of Lampedusa on Sunday in relation to an alleged breach of new Italian rules for rescue boats operated by non-governmental organisations. Continue reading...

Ukraine accuses Kremlin of holding Minsk as ‘nuclear hostage’ after Russia strikes deal to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus

The winner out of Humza Yousaf, Kate Forbes or Ash Regan will face immediate and longer-term challengesOn Monday afternoon, the Scottish National party will unveil its new leader and Scotland’s first minister-elect, after the most bruising and tumultuous contest in the party’s history. The SNP’s first leadership election in nearly 20 years was triggered in February by Nicola Sturgeon’s shock decision to resign.The contest has been an at times vicious ideological battle between the continuity candidate, Humza Yousaf, the flag carrier for Sturgeon’s socially liberal agenda; Kate Forbes, a vocal, centre-right critic of many of Sturgeon’s policies; and Ash Regan, an ill-experienced outlier who tried to appeal to the SNP’s independence hardliners. Continue reading...

New Human Rights Watch head Tirana Hassan says UK’s plan to deport asylum seekers is ‘cheap politics’The UK’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda would “completely erode” Britain’s standing on the world stage, the new head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.Tirana Hassan, who takes over as HRW’s executive director on Monday, also said other conservative governments in Europe were considering following Britain’s lead and looking at African states as an offshore dumping ground for asylum seekers, potentially dealing further blows to established refugee protections. Continue reading...

Latest tragedy comes as authorities in north African country crack down on undocumented peopleAt least 29 people from sub-Saharan Africa have died while trying to reach Italy after two boats carrying them across the Mediterranean sank off the coast of Tunisia.The deaths, which occurred early on Sunday, are the latest tragedies involving people departing from the north African country, where the authorities have launched a crackdown on undocumented people from sub-Saharan Africa. Continue reading...

Lee Stevenson, 27, was a passenger on motorbike that crashed in Peterlee in early hours of Saturday morningA man has died and another is in a critical condition after a motorbike crashed following a police pursuit.Lee Stevenson, 27, was a pillion passenger on the motorbike that crashed in Peterlee, County Durham, at about 2.30am on Saturday. Continue reading...

Ukraine says Putin’s deal to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus destabilises neighbour

Progressive shift in upper house possible while vote for minor parties and independents reaches record levels in election more definitive than expected

Women escaping violence are staying in refuges for years due to a lack of alternative social housing, providers say

Thinktank calls on UK government to provide stronger regulation to protect workers from intrusive monitoring“Dystopian” worker surveillance techniques are more likely likely to disproportionately affect young people, women and ethnic minorities, a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research thinktank warns.Worker surveillance practices have increasingly become the new normal, with a rise in remote work leading to an escalation in workplace monitoring, according to the report. But it says regulation has not kept up with the reality. Continue reading...

Government’s post-Brexit funding U-turn comes too late for councils to allocate money to keep them runningBack-to-work schemes across England previously paid for by the EU are being forced to close and lay off staff, despite a last-minute rule change by the government aimed at allowing councils to fund them.Michael Gove’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) wrote to local authorities last week giving them the green light to spend their shared prosperity fund (SPF) allocations on job schemes, from April. Continue reading...

Minority shareholder Ken Lui leads campaign seeking to split bank’s Asian and western businessesHong Kong investors have forced HSBC into a shareholder vote on its structure and strategy, including a potential spin-off of its Asian arm.An investor group, led by the minority shareholder Ken Lui, said the bank’s Asian activities were “effectively subsidising the western businesses, to the detriment of HSBC’s global shareholders” in a way that undermines efforts to increase the bank’s value and growth. Continue reading...

Government’s last-minute decision to delay clocks going forward caused confusion and deepened religious divisionThe Lebanese government’s last-minute decision to delay the start of daylight savings time by a month until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan has resulted in mass confusion.With some institutions implementing the change while others refused, many Lebanese have found themselves in the position of juggling work and school schedules in different time zones – in the same small country. Continue reading...

Levelling up secretary says it is right to outlaw use of nitrous oxide because it fuels antisocial behaviourMichael Gove has defended the prime minister’s focus on banning the sale of laughing gas, saying the proposals will stop parks being turned into drug-taking arenas.The ban is part of the UK government’s antisocial behaviour plans to be unveiled on Monday and will also include victims of crimes and communities being given a say over the type of penalties that offenders should face. Continue reading...