Tag: sunak

It followed a Downing Street meeting of senior ministers, police chiefs and the CST for a discussion on protecting British communities and policing protests, chaired by UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman…reports Asian Lite News

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday announced a new support package, including GBP 3 million extra funding, targeted at enhanced protection for the country’s Jewish communities against antisemitic attacks in the wake of the conflict in Israel.

The additional funding will be provided to the Community Security Trust (CST), an organisation established to protect British Jews from antisemitism and related threats which works closely with the police.

The funding will enable the charity to place additional guards at schools and also more security staff outside synagogues during prayers on Friday nights and Saturday mornings.

“This is now the third deadliest terror attack in the world since 1970. The United Kingdom must and will continue to stand in solidarity with Israel,” said Sunak.

“At moments like this, when the Jewish people are under attack in their homeland, Jewish people everywhere can feel less safe. That is why we must do everything in our power to protect Jewish people everywhere in our country. If anything is standing in the way of keeping the Jewish community safe, we will fix it. You have our complete backing,” he said.

The announcement came as CST recorded 139 antisemitic incidents in the last four days, which represents an increase of 400 per cent compared to the same period in 2022. The additional funds brings the total funding for Jewish Community Protection Security grant to GBP 18 million for 2023-24.

It followed a Downing Street meeting of senior ministers, police chiefs and the CST for a discussion on protecting British communities and policing protests, chaired by UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman. “Hamas terrorists have carried out barbaric attacks on the people of Israel. They massacred civilians, raped women and kidnapped the most vulnerable. This terrorism is an attack on all of our values,” said Braverman.

“Whenever Israel is attacked, people use legitimate Israeli defensive measures as an excuse to stir up hatred against British Jews. The UK stands unequivocally with Israel. I have been clear with police chiefs in England and Wales that there can be zero tolerance for antisemitism, and that they should act immediately to crackdown on any criminality – both in our streets and online,” she said.

The roundtable covered expected protests and marches taking place across the UK this weekend.

“The support that we and the Jewish community are receiving from across government and policing is greatly reassuring and welcome at this difficult and worrying time. We will work with the Home Office to ensure that this extra funding is used in the most effective way to enhance the existing security that is in place and provide the Jewish community with the protection that they need and deserve,” added Mark Gardner, Chief Executive of Community Security Trust.

The roundtable discussed the threat of increased antisemitic attacks and the policing response to provocative protests. According to Downing Street, Sunak asked police chiefs to ensure a consistent and clear approach is taken to tackling hate crime, policing protests and protecting Jewish communities as he reflected on the distressing scenes we have seen both online and on Britain’s streets in the past week.

He stressed that the police have the government’s total backing in ensuring that any glorification of terrorism is met with the full force of the law.

ALSO READ-MEA clears stand on Palestine

Sunak will aim to rally Conservative members with a call to action, in all but the last roll of the dice to reset his premiership…reports Asian Lite News

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will set out his mission to fundamentally change the country at his Conservative party’s conference on Wednesday, promising to overturn a political system that prefers the “easy decision, not the right one”.

Trailing the opposition Labour Party in the opinion polls before a national election expected next year, Sunak will aim to rally Conservative members with a call to action, in all but the last roll of the dice to reset his premiership.

But, as the conference in the northern English city of Manchester draws to an end, his attempt to revitalise his tenure by promising action rather than empty promises has been largely overshadowed by a row over the future of a high-speed train line.

After a year in power, Sunak will take the stage at what could be his last party conference to say he will do things differently, prioritising long-term decisions above short-term opportunism.

“Politics doesn’t work the way it should. We’ve had 30 years  of a political system which incentivises the easy decision, not the right one. Thirty years of vested interests standing in the way of change,” he will say, according to excerpts of his speech.

“Our political system is too focused on short-term advantage, not long-term success … Our mission is to fundamentally change our country.”

His message risks being undermined by a row over the HS2 high-speed railway and his refusal, so far, to announce a decision on whether its second phase with a line to Manchester, the host city of his party’s conference, should go ahead.

Sunak and his finance minister, Jeremy Hunt, have attacked the eye-watering costs of a project that has been dogged by delays and large increases to its budget, which estimates say could hit 100 billion pounds, but both have kept their counsel on whether it will be mothballed.

If it is scrapped or delayed, business leaders say Sunak should be accused of being driven by short-term political gain rather than considering the value a new high-speed train line could offer generations to come.

Hoping to change the narrative, Sunak will also take aim at Labour leader Keir Starmer, a taste of what is gearing up to be an ugly election campaign.

“The Labour party have set out their stall: to do and say as little as possible and hope no one notices. They want to take people’s votes for granted and keep doing politics the same old way,” he will say.

“It is about power for the sake of power. It is in short, everything that is wrong with our politics.”

In a convention centre built from a former railway station, Mr Sunak will reflect on his first year in No 10 and acknowledge a “feeling that Westminster is a broken system”.

“It isn’t anger, it is an exhaustion with politics. In particular, politicians saying things, and then nothing ever changing,” he is expected to say. And you know what? People are right. Politics doesn’t work the way it should. We’ve had 30 years of a political system which incentivises the easy decision, not the right one – 30 years of vested interests standing in the way of change.”

Sunak will accuse Labour – recording a consistently double-digit lead over the Conservatives – of failing to “set out their stall” under Keir Starmer and betting on voters’ “apathy”.

And he will say he is the reformer: “Politicians spent more time campaigning for change than actually delivering it. Our mission is to fundamentally change our country.”

Sunak has struggled to keep the conference on track amid Tory criticism over HS2.

And his predecessor Liz Truss drew big conference crowds as she demanded immediate tax cuts to “make Britain grow again”, a year after she left office following a chaotic 49 days.

Sunak instead compared himself to Baroness Thatcher, who tackled inflation before cutting taxes during her premiership between 1979 and 1990.

He has repeatedly ducked questions about scaling back HS2 despite northern leaders, businesses and former Tory premiers Boris Johnson, Theresa May and David Cameron all warning against the move.

But Sunak did on Tuesday say the costs of the project had gone “far beyond” what had been predicted, and the sums involved were “enormous”. The HS2 scheme was given a budget of £55.7 billion ($67bn) in 2015 but costs have ballooned, with an estimate of up to £98 billion – in 2019 prices – in 2020.

Since then, soaring inflation will have pushed costs even higher. It is unclear whether HS2 will reach central London in Euston, or terminate in the western suburbs of Old Oak Common.

Sunak would be expected to outline measures to soften the blow to the north, and has hinted at better train and bus connectivity in the region, and money to fix potholes. Transport Secretary Mark Harper acknowledged that “some people won’t like” the decision Sunak makes.

Street used a conference fringe event to issue a last-ditch plea for Sunak to change course. “I think they are about to make an incredible political gaffe,” he said.

“Every Labour MP in the North is lining up tomorrow to say … the Tories have come to Manchester to shaft the North.”

ALSO READ-Biden, Sunak seek trade pact before 2024 polls

The Green Homes Grant was a voucher scheme for insulating homes which was axed in 2021 after being criticised as wasteful and inefficient…reports Asian Lite News

A taskforce to speed up home insulation and boiler upgrades has been disbanded. The group – which included the chair of the National Infrastructure Commission Sir John Armitt and other leading experts – was only launched in March.

But it appears to be a casualty of Rishi Sunak’s decision to scrap energy efficiency regulations for landlords in an overhaul of green policies.

Members were informed in a letter that it was being wound up. Energy efficiency minister Lord Callanan told the group its work would be “streamlined” into ongoing government activity

A spokesperson for the Energy Security and Net Zero department said: “We would like to thank the Energy Efficiency Taskforce for its work in supporting our ambition to reduce total UK energy demand by 15% from 2021 levels by 2030.

“We have invested £6.6bn in energy efficiency upgrades this Parliament and will continue to support families in making their homes more efficient, helping them to cut bills while also achieving net zero in a pragmatic, proportionate and realistic way.”

But former Conservative MP Laura Sandys, who sat on the taskforce, said she was “disappointed” by the decision to disband it and “confused” about the government’s intentions on the cost of living.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, she said energy efficiency must be the “first priority to reduce citizens’ costs” and “improve energy security”.

A source close to the energy taskforce told the BBC: “The cheapest energy you can have is the stuff you don’t use.

“This taskforce was meant to help that – if government is shelving it because recommendations are too challenging for them, then it runs contrary to what the PM said about helping ordinary people and being honest about difficult choices.”

Labour’s shadow net zero secretary Ed Miliband said: “Every family is paying the price in higher energy bills due to 13 years of Tory failure on insulating homes.

“After Rishi Sunak’s track record as chancellor with the disastrous Green Homes Grant, this is another short-sighted decision that will cost families money.”

Labour says it would upgrade 19 million of the UK’s most poorly-insulated homes over a decade if it gets into power.

The Green Homes Grant was a voucher scheme for insulating homes which was axed in 2021 after being criticised as wasteful and inefficient.

The UK is often described as having some of the oldest and least energy efficient housing in Europe.

In 2020, BBC research found 12 million UK homes were rated D or below on their Energy Performance Certificates, which means they do not meet long-term energy efficiency targets.

This year a BBC investigation found six out of 10 recently inspected UK rental homes failed to meet a proposed new standard for energy efficiency.

The prime minister has now pledged to scrap policies that would force landlords to upgrade energy efficiency in their homes, after pressure from landlords about the costs of doing so, but said the government would “encourage” households to carry out the work.

The old policy was that from 2025, new tenancies would only be possible on properties with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of C or higher – from 2028, this would apply to existing tenancies as well. Both have been scrapped.

The government’s energy efficiency taskforce was first announced by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt at his last Autumn statement.

It was asked by ministers to come up with a plan to reduce energy demand by 15% from 2021 levels by 2030 across domestic and commercial buildings.

ALSO READ-Sunak Announces Shift On Climate Policies