Minister calls for Abbott suspension to be ‘resolved as swiftly as possible’
Good morning and welcome to our coverage of UK politics. We’re now in recess but we’ll still be bringing you all the news from across the country including continued reaction to the suspension of Diane Abbott.
This morning, a minister has denied the veteran MP’s assertion that “it is obvious this Labour leadership wants me out”.
Exchequer secretary to the Treasury James Murray told Times Radio:
That’s absolutely not the case.
What’s happened is Diane has made some comments which come on the back of previous comments which she made and for which she apologised some time ago.
He added that there was an internal investigation and “we now need to let this process play out” so it can be resolved “as swiftly as possible”.
Abbott now faces an investigation over her defence of remarks more than two years ago that people of colour experienced racism “all their lives”, which was different from the “prejudice” experienced by Jewish people, Irish people and Travellers.
In a statement to Newsnight on Thursday evening, Abbott said: “It is obvious this Labour leadership wants me out. My comments in the interview … were factually correct, as any fair-minded person would accept.”
In the interview with the BBC earlier on Thursday, Abbott, the first black woman elected to parliament, had said: “Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about colour and other types of racism because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street, you don’t know.
“I just think that it’s silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism. I don’t know why people would say that.”
In other news:
Key events
Returning to the Epping incident (see earlier post), when asked how the violence began, assistant chief constable Stuart Hooper, Essex Police, told reporters:
It was during the peaceful protest, there were parts of those that had come here intentionally to be involved in that kind of selfish vandalism and violence and actually it’s those individuals that we don’t want coming into our community.
He said the policing operation was from late afternoon yesterday into the early part of the evening, adding “and then the selfish criminality and violence that we saw took place from about 6.30pm last night”.
By about 11 o’clock, “everyone had dispersed and had left this area”, he said.
Ofwat to be abolished as ministers explore creating new water regulator
by Helena Horton, Anna Isaac and Rowena Mason
England and Wales’ embattled water regulator will be abolished under recommendations from a government-commissioned review due out on Monday, the Guardian understands.
Ministers will next week announce a consultation into creating a new regulator, to coincide with the results of a review into the water industry directed by former Bank of England deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe.
This consultation is likely to conclude in the abolition of Ofwat, the embattled watchdog that polices how much water companies can charge for their services in England and Wales, sources said.
Ofwat has faced intense criticism over its failure to prevent sewage spills, hefty payments of dividends and ballooning debts across England and Wales’s water companies. The review will recommend creation of new regulatory system.
Cunliffe’s review was set up by the government amid growing public anger about record sewage spills and rising bills, as well as the fraying finances of some of the biggest companies.
Read the full report here:
Here is more from Essex Police assistant chief constable, Stuart Hooper, from Epping (see earlier post).
“I do not want to see a repeat of last night” or “anything we saw last year”, he said.
Asked if he feared a repeat of the violent disorder that swept across the country last summer, Hooper said:
The first bit is that I’m focused on our communities here and we want to make sure that kind of everyone is safe, we will not accept that kind of selfish vandalism that we saw last night.
I want to be working with our communities, you know – if you are coming to Essex, to Epping, to take part in that sort of criminality then that is absolutely not acceptable.
He added: “I do not want to see a repeat of last night, or in fact anything that we saw last year.”
Earlier in the press briefing, Mr Hooper said:
There were different groups out protesting last night. It is our place to make sure that without fear or favour we’re supporting the right to protest and that’s what we were trying to achieve last night.
We have more on the incident during which protesters clashed with police outside a hotel in Epping believed to be housing migrants (see earlier post).
Essex Police assistant chief constable Stuart Hooper said it is “absolutely, totally unacceptable” that eight police officers were assaulted.
Speaking from Epping, he told reporters:
Eight of my officers – and not only my officers, we were supported by colleagues from other forces as well – were assaulted last night and that is absolutely, totally unacceptable.
They come here to do a role to support our communities, they’re a part of that community and that’s what we won’t tolerate.”
He added: “They had injuries to their hands and cuts and grazes as a result of the incidents last night.”
Hooper also said there were “no reports of anyone actually breaking into the hotel last night”.
At least two people have been arrested after protesters clashed with police outside a hotel in Epping believed to be housing migrants, Essex Police said.
Assistant chief constable Stuart Hooper, Essex Police, told reporters one man had been arrested on Thursday on suspicion of affray following reports of an assault during a protest on Sunday.
He has since been charged.
A second person was arrested on Thursday night for failing to comply with orders given around dispersal and remains in custody, he said.
Downing Street said the government will wait for a final report on the water industry due next week when asked if there were plans to scrap Ofwat as the regulator.
A No 10 spokesman said: “We are waiting for Sir Jon Cunliffe’s final report next week – you can expect us to set out our response after that on what more we will do to turn the sector around.”
Downing Street said the defence secretary’s statement to the Commons that “no serving member of our armed forces is put at risk” by the Afghan data leak was “accurate” after the Liberal Democrats accused him of misleading parliament.
Asked if John Healey misled the House, a No 10 spokesman said: “The defence secretary’s statement to the House… I believe it was an accurate statement.”
He said the government is “committed to transparency”.
He added: “In terms of security of our personnel, we take take that extremely seriously, particularly those in sensitive positions.
“We always have appropriate measures in place to protect their security.”
US president Donald Trump will visit Scotland next week, the White House has confirmed.
Speculation mounted about a potential visit of the president this month when Police Scotland confirmed it was in the early stages of planning for such an event.
Speaking at a briefing in Washington DC on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Trump will visit both of his golf courses in Scotland: Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire; between 25 and 29 July.
It has already been confirmed Trump will meet with prime minister Keir Starmer while in Aberdeen, while plans are being put in place for the president to meet first minister John Swinney, according to the Scottish government.
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie accused the Scottish first minister of hitting the “independence panic button”, claiming Scots will be “shaking their heads”.
She added: “Twenty-five years ago, the then SNP leader, John Swinney, claimed that independence was ‘closer than ever’. Now he is attempting to lead his troops up the hill once more – but even they don’t buy it.
“John Swinney offers absolutely no vision and no hope for the people of Scotland.
“It is time to turn our backs on John Swinney’s old, failed politics of the past and to choose a better Scotland with better leadership.”
John Healey has been accused by the Liberal Democrats of misleading parliament over the Afghan data leak.
Ed Davey said that the defence secretary must “urgently come before parliament to answer the question of whether he knowingly misled MPs and the public”.
According to Hansard, Healey told the Commons on Tuesday: “To the best of my knowledge and belief, no serving member of our armed forces is put at risk by the data loss.”
Lib Dem leader Davey said: “Today we found out that appears to be false.
“We need to know if any serving members of the armed forces were impacted – and the Defence Secretary must urgently come before parliament to answer the question of whether he knowingly misled MPs and the public.”
Lib Dem MP Ian Roome, who previously served in the RAF, said: “It is really important to restore public trust that he now clarifies his remarks. It is the least that our brave armed forces personnel along with the thousands of Afghans impacted deserve.”
The number of serious pollution incidents caused by water firms across England rose by 60% in 2024 compared with the previous year, the Environment Agency said.
The watchdog revealed consistently poor performance from all nine water and sewerage firms in the country despite expectations for incidents to decrease, PA reported.
The Environment Agency assesses all pollution incidents from water firms into categories, with category 1 (major) and category 2 (significant) being the most serious, which can have a highly negative impact on wildlife, ecosystems and swimmers.
Last year, 75 category 1 and 2 incidents were recorded, up from 47 serious incidents the previous year.
Three water firms – Thames Water, Southern Water and Yorkshire Water – were responsible for 81% of the serious incidents, according to its findings.
Thames Water was responsible for 33, Southern Water for 15 and Yorkshire Water for 13.
Meanwhile, just two companies – Northumbrian Water and Wessex Water – had no serious incidents last year, meeting the Environment Agencies expectations to see a trend to zero pollution incidents by 2025.
Overall, the watchdog said all pollution incidents increased by 29% with water companies recording 2,801, up from 2,174 in 2023.
Environment secretary Steve Reed called the figures “disgraceful” and a “stark reminder” of how underinvestment and weak regulation have led to sewage polluting England’s waterways.
“In just one year, this new government has banned unfair bonuses for polluting water bosses, brought in jail sentences for pollution, and secured £104 billion to upgrade crumbling sewage pipes – one of the biggest infrastructure investments in history,” he said.
“Next week the Independent Water Commission will recommend changes to strengthen the rules so we can clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good.”
Public bodies adding to HS2 costs with legal challenges
HS2 has incurred “significant cost” because public bodies have launched nine legal challenges against it, transport secretary Heidi Alexander said.
The Cabinet minister noted that in “almost all cases”, the courts have found in favour of the high-speed rail scheme between London and Birmingham.
HS2 Ltd was given the power to construct the railway when the High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Act received royal assent in February 2017.
The most recent of the nine legal challenges the project has faced from other public bodies since then was launched by North Warwickshire Borough Council in relation to the extension of the under-construction Bromford Tunnel.
In May, the High Court rejected the council’s bid for a judicial review.
Since royal assent was obtained, there have also been 25 appeals relating to the HS2 planning regime.
John Swinney has pledged to “turn the heat up” on the UK government to allow a second independence referendum as part of his latest strategy to achieve separation.
Writing in the National newspaper on Friday, the Scottish first minister pledged to increase support for Scotland leaving the UK and stressed the importance of supporters of independence backing the SNP at next year’s Holyrood election.
Since the first vote in 2014, successive UK governments have repeatedly turned down calls for a second referendum, with the UK Supreme Court ruling in 2022 that only Westminster can allow another poll, PA reported.
The first minister pledged to mobilise support around the calling of another vote, though prime minister Keir Starmer is extremely unlikely to back down.
The first point of the three-part plan outlined by Swinney – who has been feeling some pressure since the SNP lost in June the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election to up his push for independence – focuses on increasing support for leaving the UK.
“First, it will be a campaign designed to build the highest levels of support possible for independence as the best future for Scotland,” he wrote.
“I will be saying to those who voted Yes in 2014, and who have become independence supporters in the years since, that what they believed in then is just as valid today.
“They saw that Britain was fundamentally broken, that Westminster couldn’t deliver on their dreams and aspirations, and what they saw has come to pass. And now it is time to do something about it.
“But I will also be urging people who were not persuaded of the merits of independence in 2014 to see the state of Britain today and take a different view.”
Grant Shapps defends use of superinjunction to suppress Afghan data leak
Jamie Grierson
The former defence secretary Grant Shapps has defended the use of an unprecedented superinjunction to suppress a data breach that led to the UK government relocating 15,000 Afghans.
The Afghanistan Response Route (ARR) was created in haste after it emerged that personal information about 18,700 Afghans who had applied to come to the UK had been leaked in error by a British defence official in early 2022.
It has also emerged that details of members of the SAS and MI6 were among more than 100 Britons named in the database.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Shapps, who was defence secretary from 31 August 2023 to 5 July 2024, said his focus after the leak was on “sorting out the mess and saving lives”.
The former minister, who was in post while the superinjunction was imposed on the incident, suggested he believed it should remain in place because he thought there was a risk of those named being murdered if it did not. The superinjunction lapsed on Tuesday, when a high court judge concluded the threat to the 18,700 Afghans was no longer very significant.
Data divulged as part of the Afghan leak could be used by “states who want to do us harm”, the chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) has said.
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland, Lord Beamish lamented that no one “saw fit” to tell the committee about the leak and the subsequent superinjunction which blocked it being reported.
He added: “That’s the most concerning point, that other states who want to do us harm, or entities, could use that, not just to target these individuals, but they could also use it as a way of seeing other operations that our security services are involved in.”
The committee has demanded security assessments on the issue from the government.
There are “serious constitutional issues” raised by the Afghan data leak, the chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) has said.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland on Friday, Lord Beamish said the ISC was not informed of the breach, despite the names of more than 100 Britons being divulged – including spies and SAS operators.
“You’ve got to understand how our committee got its powers in the first place,” he said.
“The Justice and Security Act 2013 introduced closed hearings into court for intelligence cases – the quid pro quo for that was to give the ISC the power to reassure, to be able to see the information legally, to reassure the public and Parliament that there was public scrutiny of the security services.
“Someone in government chose just to ignore that and go down the legal route, so I think there are serious constitutional issues here.”
Grant Shapps said he supported the publication of a defence assessment which formed the basis of the superinjunction over the Afghan data leak and he was “surprised” the gagging order had remained in place “so long”.
Asked whether he backed calls from the Intelligence and Security Committee for the report to be released, the former defence secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Yes I would.
“And secondly, this injunction, the superinjunction, was in place for longer than I was defence secretary, right?
“So it’s been in place a lot longer under the current government than it was under us, and I’m surprised it’s lasted quite so long.
“My expectation was, as the risks start to lessen over time and people are removed from the theatre, from Afghanistan, and measures are taken to protect the Brits on the list… I’d thought that it was probably going to come to an end last summer, the autumn perhaps at maximum.”
He insisted he would “do the same thing all over again” to protect Afghans and Brits involved and said he thinks “the public understands that there are times where you simply have to act in the most maximalist way in order to stop people from being murdered and executed, and that is, quite simply, what properly happened in this case.”
He added: “Now, as I said, I don’t think it should have carried on as long as it had… those questions are for others.”
“I came in, I dealt with it and as a result I think that we saved lives,” Shapps said.
Grant Shapps said his focus as defence secretary following the Afghan data leak was on “sorting out the mess and saving lives”.
The former minister, who was in post while a superinjunction was imposed on the incident, suggested he believed it should remain in place because he thought there was a risk of those named being murdered if it did not.
The injunction was sought by Shapps’ predecessor, Ben Wallace, and a superinjunction was instead put in place when Shapps took over the brief.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said “it was appalling to learn about this and my focus was on two things… one, sorting out the mess and saving lives, and two, making sure that systems were in place which frankly should have always been in place to make sure this sort of sensitive information could never be sent on”.
“The judge himself decided it should be a superinjunction… the injunction had been applied for by my predecessor, quite rightly, in my view, it came into place just as I came into office,” he said. “And it is the case that I thought that once the superinjunction was in place, it should remain as a superinjunction.
“And here’s why, the problem with this list and all of the uncertainty surrounding it, and one of the reasons why I haven’t come out in the initial couple days of this to speak about it was that obviously, with the new information that’s now been released about the fact that there were British Special Forces and secret services on that list, it seemed to me that if there was any doubt at all, that erring on the side of extreme caution, a superinjunction meant that that was entirely justified.
“And I’ll tell you what, anybody sat behind the desk that I was sat in as defence secretary and faced with the choice of whether that list would get out and people would be pursued, murdered and executed as a result of it, or doing something to try and save those lives, I’d much rather now be in this interview explaining why a superinjunction was required, than being in this interview explaining why I failed to act and people were murdered.”
Minister calls for Abbott suspension to be ‘resolved as swiftly as possible’
Good morning and welcome to our coverage of UK politics. We’re now in recess but we’ll still be bringing you all the news from across the country including continued reaction to the suspension of Diane Abbott.
This morning, a minister has denied the veteran MP’s assertion that “it is obvious this Labour leadership wants me out”.
Exchequer secretary to the Treasury James Murray told Times Radio:
That’s absolutely not the case.
What’s happened is Diane has made some comments which come on the back of previous comments which she made and for which she apologised some time ago.
He added that there was an internal investigation and “we now need to let this process play out” so it can be resolved “as swiftly as possible”.
Abbott now faces an investigation over her defence of remarks more than two years ago that people of colour experienced racism “all their lives”, which was different from the “prejudice” experienced by Jewish people, Irish people and Travellers.
In a statement to Newsnight on Thursday evening, Abbott said: “It is obvious this Labour leadership wants me out. My comments in the interview … were factually correct, as any fair-minded person would accept.”
In the interview with the BBC earlier on Thursday, Abbott, the first black woman elected to parliament, had said: “Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about colour and other types of racism because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street, you don’t know.
“I just think that it’s silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism. I don’t know why people would say that.”
In other news:
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