Jeremy Hunt has broken the law by not forcing the NHS to ensure that patients receive hospital treatment within the stated maximum of 18 weeks, according to legal advice obtained by Labour.
The counsel’s opinion says the health secretary is acting illegally by not obliging NHS England to compel hospitals to treat the required 92% of patients within 18 weeks of being referred by their GP.
The advice, by James Goudie QC, is potentially embarrassing for Hunt as it draws attention to the NHS’s increasingly poor performance against key waiting time targets for A&E care, cancer treatment and ambulances’ responses to 999 calls, as well as the referral to treatment (RTT) requirement. It specifies that at least 92% of all those waiting for non-urgent hospital treatment, such as hip or knee replacement or cataract removals, should wait no more than 18 weeks.
Controversy erupted last month when Simon Stevens, NHS England’s chief executive, announced that he was relaxing the 18-week target so that under-pressure hospitals could focus on more important priorities, in a move critics said meant it was being scrapped. The Royal College of Surgeons accused the NHS of “waving the white flag” on the target and condemning patients already in pain to further suffering due to the extended delays they would now face to get surgery.
Labour peers commissioned the 12-page opinion from Goudie, a barrister specialising in public law and employment law at 11 King’s Bench Walk chambers in London. It says: “I am asked whether the SoS [secretary of state] acted unlawfully by failing to include the 92% RTT target in the mandate to NHS England for 2017-18. My answer is: ‘Yes’.”
It goes on to explain: “This is because the 2012 Regulations and the NHS constitution have the effect that this must be included. The annual mandate cannot lawfully be used to circumvent or undermine by omission the absolute statutory and sub-statutory requirements.”
The mandate is the detailed annual document in which the Department of Health spells out precisely what key priorities it wants NHS England to fulfil in the coming year.
Labour claimed Goudie’s advice showed the government’s NHS plans were “in total chaos”. The party planned to use a motion in the House of Lords on Thursday to try to force ministers to explain what it says is a fundamental breach of patients’ rights under the NHS constitution. Philip Hunt [no relation], Labour’s health spokesman in the Lords, will also challenge ministers to publish the legal advice they have taken surrounding the 18-week target.
“Tory plans for the NHS are in total chaos. Legal advice commissioned by Labour confirms that the government have acted unlawfully in failing to deliver the 18-week treatment target for patients,” said Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary.
“Almost 4 million people are now on waiting lists because of the neglect and underfunding of this Conservative government and now this year’s NHS mandate is at risk of legal challenge. The government are failing to deliver the standards of care to which NHS patients are legally entitled,” he added.
Labour is now considering what its next move should be in light of Goudie’s advice, including whether it should seek a judicial review to challenge the legality of Jeremy Hunt’s actions over the 18-week target. No decision has yet been made on possible legal avenues it may pursue.
But Hunt last night insisted that he had done nothing wrong and that he had ordered NHS England to start hitting the 92% target again, which hospitals have missed every month since March last year at a time when the total number of patients awaiting treatment has crept up to almost 4 million.
“We do not believe there is a case to answer,” a Conservative spokesman said.
“Indeed, we wholeheartedly reject any suggestion that the government is not committed to the 18-week target, and as the mandate itself clearly states, we are specifically requiring the NHS to return to delivering that standard,” he added. The NHS is now carrying out record numbers of operations and treating 5,000 more people a day than in 2010, the spokesman added.
Hospitals breached the 92% target for the first time in December 2015 since its introduction in 2010. After meeting it again in the next two months, performance slipped to 91.5% last March and has stayed below 92% since. It hit an all-time low of 89.7% last December. In February, a total of 367,094 patients waiting for treatment had already waited for more than 18 weeks, according to the most recent NHS data.
Tim Gardner, a senior policy fellow at the Health Foundation thinktank, said: “The failure of the NHS to treat patients within the 18-week target is a symptom of wider pressures on the system. NHS hospitals are running at or near capacity to cope with growing demand for emergency care, and this limits their ability to perform planned procedures. If funding pressures continue to increase, the NHS will increasingly be forced to make trade-offs to live within its means.
“The government must ensure there are adequate levels of investment to maintain good standards of care in every part of the health and care system.”
Fearful that Donald Trump’s presidency poses a once-in-a-generation threat to US reproductive rights, an international advocacy group this week is unveiling what is sure to be a controversial response: a web portal dedicated to helping US women terminate their own pregnancies with abortion-inducing drugs they have obtained outside of a medical setting.
The project, launched by Women Help Women, is a nod to the fact that many US women may already be taking matters into their own hands as abortion options in this country contract.
“Women in the US have been and are using the pills without good guidance,” said Susan Yanow, the US spokeswoman for the group, Women Help Women. “If a woman is anxious and has the pills in her hand, and doesn’t know what to do … we can help her understand what to do. We can help her understand what signs to look for, and what’s going on.”
Research suggests that there is a small but significant number of US women who attempt to induce their own abortions without any medical supervision.
Several studies have shown that many of these women, particularly those living along the US-Mexico border, are using misoprostol, a miscarriage-causing drug that can be legally purchased over the counter in many Central American pharmacies. In the US, it is illegal to administer the drug outside of certain medical clinics.
Rules for taking misoprostol are easy to find online. What Women Help Women has done differently is connect US women with counselors who can provide step-by-step instructions, and answer questions, in real time.
Their counselors are trained by medical professionals to walk women through the process of using misoprostol for a DIY abortion. Counselors will also strive to connect women with abortion funds if payment is the main obstacle for getting an abortion in a clinic.
But the main goal is to support the unknown numbers of women who are performing their abortions themselves.
Part of the inspiration, Yanow said, came from an article the Guardian US published in November. The story followed a young Texas woman who, unable to afford an abortion in the US, traveled to Mexico to purchase an abortion-inducing drug over the counter.
“There’s just so many questions,” the woman told the Guardian. “I would so much rather have a health professional help me in this and kind of guide me through it versus DIY.”
Those words stuck in Yanow’s mind. And as she grappled for a way to respond to November’s election, it occurred to her that Women Help Women could tailor its services to the needs of women in the US.
The project will be titled Self-managed Abortion, Safe and Supported, or SASS, and use the website abortionpillinfo.org.
Women Help Women is already a longstanding provider of abortion pills and instructions in other countries. Every month, its staff members answer 5,000 emails from women around the globe seeking to end their own pregnancies.
The group will not provide abortion-inducing drugs to women in the US. And it has made other changes to its methods because of the United States’ uniquely hostile, anti-abortion atmosphere.
In the US, at least 18 women have been charged with a crime based on allegations that they attempted to induce their own abortion. A handful of states have made it explicitly illegal for anyone but certain medical professionals to administer abortion-inducing drugs.
Enterprising prosecutors have found other, creative ways to levy charges, through the use of laws against child endangerment, practicing medicine without a license, or drug possession.
Women Help Women counselors will inform clients of some of the legal risks that come with self-administering misoprostol, as well as some of the limitations.
But the legal implications of the project are far from certain.
“This area of the law is nothing if not complicated,” said Jill Adams, the chief strategist of the the Self-Induced Abortion Legal Team, a project associated with Berkeley Law. Her group has shared legal information about self-induced abortion with Women Help Women, but stopped short of legally vetting the information that counselors will provide to US women.
In general, the act of looking for or giving out information about self-inducing an abortion is protected by law, Adams said. And she knows of no one who has been prosecuted merely for seeking information.
Still, it could compound the risk of prosecution. Purvi Patel, the first US woman to receive a significant prison sentence for inducing her own abortion, was convicted after prosecutors obtained emails that showed her purchasing an abortion-inducing drug from a Chinese pharmacy.
With those facts in mind, Women Help Women designed its portal to delete conversations between clients and counselors after seven days.Its servers are located abroad – out of easy reach for US prosecutors, the thinking goes – as are all 23 of its counselors.
The legal risks are thought to loom larger than the medical risks.
“In general, I would say there’s kind of a growing recognition that from a safety or a medical perspective, we have few few concerns about” women using abortion drugs on their own, said Daniel Grossman, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of California–San Francisco who researches self-induced abortion.
“Especially if we’re talking about women using misoprostol on their own. It’s a very safe and effective medication,” he continued. “If women have information about how to use it, then women can safely use it on their own.”
When women go to an abortion clinic, they are typically given two drugs: mifepristone, a drug that blocks hormones necessary to sustain a pregnancy administered in person, and misoprostol, which is taken many hours later and causes the uterus to contract and expel its contents. The Food and Drug administration permits women to leave the clinic and take misoprostol at home.
Researchers believe that women who self-administer abortion drugs are most likely taking misoprostol by itself, because it is easy to obtain from foreign pharmacies. Misoprostol used without mifepristone is less likely to cause an abortion but still has a high success rate.
There are certain medical risks in self-administering an abortion drug without the involvement of medical professionals. An ultrasound is often necessary to confirm a pregnancy and assess how many weeks a woman has been pregnant. Misoprostol is less effective and requires a different drug regimen later in the first trimester.
Medical professionals will also inform women about how to recognize complications, like excessive bleeding, that could occur after they leave the clinic and require medical attention. And using the drug improperly – say, at a high dose in the second trimester – can lead to serious medical complications.
Grossman argued that a project like Women Help Women’s could minimize those risks. “I think that it’s worse to just remain silent while we know women are doing this,” he said.
But abortion rights opponents cite these safety concerns as reasons to oppose any project that makes abortion drugs available outside a clinical setting.
In response to a study, first reported by the Guardian, that tests the efficacy of sending women abortion drugs by mail, a spokeswoman for Americans United for Life said, “We have grave concerns about handing out dangerous, life-ending drugs without medical supervision because women face great risks for chemical abortions.”
Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, asked, “Who are they supposed to call if they have a problem?”
Yanow says that’s exactly the point of Women Help Women’s new portal.
“People are not being advised to use the pills,” she said. “They’re being advised if they’ve already decided to use the pills. What drives this project is the knowledge that women have been managing this on their own.”
Are you sluggish and low on energy? Do you feel like you work and work toward your weight loss goal and never seem to make any dramatic improvement?
You could be suffering from a slow metabolism (1). Even though you may have a slow metabolism, it does not have to destroy your weight loss efforts. You can dramatically improve your metabolism, and boost your energy levels without taking supplements (2).
Your metabolism simply refers to the conversion of food to usable energy by the body. It is the biological process, by which energy is extracted from food, and the net result is how fast or slowly the body burns those calories.
A few steps you can take to improve your metabolism naturally are:
Drink Water – Water is great to drink and you should be drinking a minimum of 8 to 10, glasses daily, of course, more is better. It will help increase your metabolism and flush out sodium, toxins, and fat. Drinking water before meals will fill your stomach so you feel full and prevent overeating. Avoid excess colas, coffee, teas, and sugary juices. Caffeine will dehydrate you, and the sugar will do more damage than good in the long-run.
Eat Every Three Hours – Eat a small balanced meal every three hours, including snacks. Meals and snacks should be balanced, meaning they should contain a complete protein, carbohydrates, as well as natural fat. Failure to eat consistently can lead to a slower metabolism and fat storage. Also, skipping meals slows down your metabolism. To ignite fat loss you need to be consuming the right foods in a balanced manner throughout the day.
Don’t Skip Breakfast – Breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it gets your metabolism running in high gear. You wouldn’t drive your car to work on an empty tank, and you shouldn’t start your day without adequate nourishment. Your first meal sets your metabolism for the day and keeps it going, as long as you eat every three hours. If you get up early and eat a late breakfast, you miss out on several hours of burning calories.
Don’t Fear Fat – Fat has developed a bad reputation. Many people think fat makes you fat. This is false. The type of fat and how much fat you eat impacts your body fat composition. Fat is needed by the body. Those who follow a very low-fat diet have a harder time ridding their body of fat. Choose natural healthy fats such as olive oil, avocados, various nuts, flax, and natural peanut butter to receive your necessary fats.
Omit Trans Fat – Trans fat is the bad fat, the cause of weight gain, low energy, depression, cancer, and heart disease. You will never get the body you desire by eating “healthy” fast food, frozen dinners, and other processed choices. If it’s man-made, it’s not the best choice, and will halt fat loss endeavors. Eat the foods Mother Nature has provided to meet your fat loss goals.
Be Active Daily – Stay active at least six days a week. Take the stairs when possible or park further out to get that little bit of extra movement to keep the heart and lungs working optimally. The more movement you get daily, the better you will feel overall.
Do Cardiovascular Exercise – Cardio exercise is necessary for heart and lung health. It also burns calories. Doing cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach can tap into fat stores, and keep your body burning calories at a high rate for about an hour after cardio is finished. If you fail to eat adequately daily, first morning cardio on an empty stomach can work against you. Doing morning cardio on very low calorie diet can burn muscle. Another good time to incorporate cardio is in the evening after your last meal. This allows you to burn calories so you are not sleeping on them. You do not have to implement a morning and evening session, choose one or the other or cycle between the two to prevent staleness and boredom.
HIIT It – Blend some High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) into your cardiovascular program from time to time to give your body and metabolism a good shock. The body is programmed for adaptation. Therefore, doing the same cardio format day in and day out can become stale really fast. Take one or two days a week and implement some HIIT to give the body an added shock.
HIIT is basically alternating low intensity and moderate to high intensity cardio training. For example, a 20 minute HIIT session would look similar to this:
Minute 1 and 2 – Low Intensity (Walking) Minute 3 and 4 – High Intensity (Light jogging or running) Minute 5 and 6 – Low Intensity Minute 7 and 8 – High Intensity and so on…
Weight Train – Resistance training builds muscle, which is metabolically active tissue. The more muscle you acquire, the faster your metabolism will be. Adding more lean muscle tissue to your body will put curves in the right places and allow you to eat more calories a day.
Listen to Your Body – Killing yourself with workouts is just as dangerous as not working out at all. Listen to your body and get proper rest. Don’t train if you are ill, still sore from the previous workout, or just simply too tired. Training in such a state can cause more problems than it solves.
If any of the above fails to prove results in 4 to 6 weeks, there could be an underlying problem, such as a food allergy, sluggish thyroid, hormonal imbalance, toxins, parasites, etc. (3) If so, I recommend searching for a natural healer in your area to determine the cause. and work from there. For the most part, proper diet, detoxifying, and herbs can correct any ailments.
Dr. Serge is a clinical nutritionist. He owns a doctorate degree in nutrition from McGill University in Canada. In addition, he completed a 7-year postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts where he studied the impact of fat as it relates to heart disease.
He has authored a book on this topic that is awaiting publication with Edition Berger publishers in Canada. He holds an advance certification in Nutrition Response Testing (SM) from Ulan Nutritional Systems in Florida and he is a certified herbalist through the Australian College of Phytotherapy.
His personalized nutritional programs allow to help individuals with a wide variety of health concerns such as hormonal imbalance, digestive issues, heart-related conditions, detoxes/cleanses, weight loss, fatigue, migraines, allergies, among others.
Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli are very rich in nutrients, including several carotenoids; vitamins E, C, and K; folate; and minerals. They also are an excellent fiber source. A high consumption of cruciferous vegetables has been linked with a decreased risk of cancer.
Broccoli contains elements known as glucosinolates, which are sulfur-containing chemicals. During chewing and digestion, the glucosinolates are broken down to form active composites such as indoles and isothiocyanates. An indole and isothiocyanate (sulforaphane) have been extensively studied for their anticancer effects.
Indoles and isothiocyanates hinder the growth of cancer in several organs in rodents, such as the bladder, colon, breast, liver, stomach, and lung.
Studies in animals and experiments with laboratory cells have recognized several possible methods in which these composites may help prevent and fight cancer. They :
Help inactivate carcinogens.
Kills cancer stem cells.
Defend cells from DNA damage.
Have antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal effects.
Are powerful anti-inflammatory agents.
Inhibit metastasis (tumor cell migration).
Repress tumor blood vessel formation.
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And now let’s take a look why Broccoli Sprouts are so powerful in fighting and preventing cancer:
Several studies have established broccoli as an anti-cancer vegetable. Broccoli can prevent and help with many health issues. In fact, many studies confirm not only the anti-cancer properties but also to help with cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, stomach ulcers, asthma, and inflammatory diseases.
The researchers attempted to determine how much Broccoli one would have to eat to produce a significant level of protection against cancer. They state that one would have to eat about two pounds of Broccoli a week to reduce, for example, the risk of colon cancer by about 50%. However, fresh Broccoli sprouts offer an alternative. We can eat 10 to 100 times lower quantities and still get the main benefits.
Broccoli sprouts contain a substance called sulforaphane which is one of the most powerful antioxidants and detoxification elements. ”Paul Talalay, M.D., of Johns Hopkins University isolated the cancer-fighting phytochemical sulforaphane. He discovered that sprouting delivers more sulforaphane than broccoli alone with 20 to 50 times the anti-cancer potential using the right strain of broccoli sprouting seeds.” Just 5 grams of sprouts contain concentrations of the compound glucoraphanin equivalent to that found in 150 grams of mature Broccoli.
Broccoli sprouts are the most hopeful at preventing and killing cancer. The best thing about sulforaphane is that it kills cancer cells, but seems to have minimal impact on healthy cells. It also intensifies the efficiency of anti-cancer drugs.
Detoxify Environmental Pollutants
Johns Hopkins researchers have come up with yet another reason to eat broccoli sprouts. A clinical trial comprising almost 300 men and women living in one of China’s most polluted regions found that daily consumption of a half-cup of broccoli sprouts helped rid their bodies of cancer-causing contaminants. Broccoli sprouts are a source of glucoraphanin, which produces sulforaphane when chewed or swallowed. That compound stimulates the body’s ability to detoxify from various pollutants…
“This study points to a frugal, simple and safe means that can be taken by individuals to possibly reduce some of the long-term health risks associated with air pollution,” noted Thomas Kensler, a professor at Johns Hopkins.”
Autism Help
Furthermore, recently, researchers are extensively studying Broccoli Sprouts which Shows Promise in Treating Autism (Hopkins, 2014).
The researchers say: “Many of those who took a daily dose of the compound sulforaphane experienced substantial improvements in their social interaction and verbal communication, along with decreases in repetitive, ritualistic behaviors, compared to those who received a placebo.”
“We believe that this may be preliminary evidence for the first treatment for autism that improves symptoms by apparently correcting some of the underlying cellular problems,” says Paul Talalay, M.D., professor of pharmacology and molecular sciences, who has researched these vegetable compounds for the past 25 years.
Sulforaphane also possesses anti-diabetic and antimicrobial properties. In addition, There are hundreds of scientific papers on Sulforaphane alone and some of the other benefits are:
More Main Uses and Benefits of Sulforaphane:
Supports Detoxification – Sulforaphane boosts the antioxidant capacity of cells.
Improves Diabetes – Broccoli sprouts improve many parameters in diabetes. In fact, Sulforaphane may prevent nephropathy, diabetes-induced fibrosis, and vascular complications. Also, Broccoli sprouts increased blood antioxidant capacity and HDL cholesterol and reduced oxidative stress, triglycerides, insulin, insulin resistance, and CRP.
Lowers Cholesterol – In 12 subjects, ingesting 100g of fresh broccoli sprouts for 1 week lowered total and LDL cholesterol, and raised HDL cholesterol too.
Prevents and Fights Heart and Cardiovascular Diseases – Both sulforaphane and broccoli sprouts decrease blood pressure in hypertensive rats. In fact, a diet rich in Brassica vegetables lowers the risk of cardiovascular diseases, according to studies.
Antiviral and Combats Bacteria and Fungi – Sulforaphane manifests significant antiviral activity against influenza, HIV, Epstein-Barr virus and also hepatitis C. Furthermore, In one study, 23 out of 28 tested bacterial and fungal species were suppressed by sulforaphane.
Protects the Skin – Sulforaphane provides protection against UVA and UVB inflammation, sunburn, and also skin damage.
Protects the Brain and Restores Cognitive Function – It reduces brain inflammation in several animal models of pathogen-induced neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative disease. In addition, It improves cognitive performance and prevents memory impairment.
Reduces Health Damage from Pollution – Sulforaphane helps the body detoxify airborne pollutants, pesticides, and heavy metals too.
Other Benefits:
May Help with Parkinson’s Disease and also Alzheimer’s
Effective against H. pylori – Broccoli sprouts inhibit the growth of H. pylori.
Enhances Liver Function – Broccoli sprouts improved liver function (In men with fatty liver).
Helpful in Airway Inflammation and Asthma – Sulforaphane has beneficial effects in animals with asthma and also airway inflammation.
Combats Inflammation caused by Autoimmune disorders – Sulforaphane also reduces autoimmune inflammation, which is helpful in conditions like MS.
Arthritis – In mice, Sulforaphane reduced the severity of arthritis.
Protect the Kidneys – It defends against kidney damage in rodents.
Protects the Eyes – Sulforaphane protects human retinal cells from UVA light-induced damage. Also, it protects human lens cells against oxidative stress and may delay the onset of cataracts.
Boosts the Immune System – Sulforaphane enhances bacterial clearance and also enhances the activity of natural killer cells (NK cells) in mice.
Sulforaphane is a strong anti-Inflammatory agent.
Tips and How to Sprout:
Learning how to grow quality Broccoli Sprouts for the lowest cost is one of the best things you can do for your health. Avoid Broccoli sprout contamination by sprouting your own. In addition, Avoid GMO seeds and get organic from a reputable brand.
” First of all, Get your organic sprouting seeds. 1) Place the seeds into the jar with three times the amount of purified water. 2) Let it sit for around six hours, then tip the jar carefully to avoid damaging seeds and sprouts to pour out the water. Rinse with fresh water and drain again. 3) Keep the jar propped at a downward angle to allow for more drainage. Keep away from heat and direct sunlight. 4) This is continued until the jar begins getting filled with fresh sprouts. Then strong indirect sunlight is encouraged. 5) After five days usually, broccoli sprouts are ready and should be refrigerated.” by @healthimpactnews
If you do not want to sprout your seeds, you can get standardized supplements with Sulforaphane to get the mentioned benefits or buying fresh broccoli sprouts from reputace manufacturers.
Safety, Side Effects, and Dosing:
Hypothyroidism concerns: According to the research, it would take a large volume of cruciferous vegetables to cause hypothyroidism, and it seems that there is only a risk if someone also has an iodine deficiency. Liver toxicity: There is a single case report after drinking large volumes of broccoli juice for four weeks (800 ml/day). So keep in mind that any herb and supplement, in excess, may cause more harm than good. Broccoli sprouts may cause low blood pressure. Caution: As with alfalfa sprouts, broccoli sprouts may carry bacteria that may cause sickness when ingested. Broccoli sprouts should be purchased from reliable manufacturers.
Dosing: In clinical trials, 50-100g of broccoli sprouts daily have been used. For preventing cancer, eating a half cup of broccoli sprouts three times weekly has been recommended. And If using extracts, use as directed.
Conclusion:
Are we getting enough cruciferous vegetables in our diet? For most of us, the answer is no. With broccoli sprouts, you can see how easy it can be to get the highest benefits and not needing to eat that much. As mentioned, fresh broccoli sprouts are much more potent than mature broccoli, allowing you to eat far less. I hope I have convinced you to start sprouting your own broccoli seeds and adding it to your diet; it is one of the best things you can do for your health. Finally, Don’t forget to check my other articles on my FB page (contacts below).
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Live coverage of all the day’s campaign action with the last PMQs before the election and a row over Labour’s NHS funding promises
Labour will lift pay cap for ‘overworked’ NHS staff
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PMQs – Snap verdict
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Afternoon summary
You’d have to have a screw loose not to think things are pretty tough. I noticed when Jeremy addressed the PLP [parliamentary Labour party] he didn’t announce the key seats we’d need to take off the Tories to form a Labour government. I thought that was ominous.
It is a remarkable achievement for the leadership to have taken a catastrophic situation in Scotland and made it quite a lot worse. We seem to be doing worse in Wales … We’ve gone backwards amongst every demographic, every region of the country. Jeremy is behind Theresa May on managing the NHS! It’s quite a special achievement to put all of that together in a short period of time. Hats off to Jeremy and Seumas [Milne], Diane [Abbott] and John [McDonnell]. That’s pretty special.
In February the government announced that it would close the so-called Dubs scheme for taking unaccompanied child refugees from Europe after a total of 350 were admitted. This caused outrage because, when the government accepted Lord Dubs’ amendment to the Immigration Act committing it to take some unaccompanied child refugees, it was expected that around 3,000 could be admitted.
Today, in a written ministerial statement, the Home Office minister Robert Goodwill has admitted that a further 130 places are available for unaccompanied child refugees. The Home Office should have know about these extra places when it made its announcement two months ago but it didn’t because it lost the submission from a council saying it could provide the places.
The government remains fully committed to the implementation of our commitment under section 67 [the Dubs amendment] to transfer unaccompanied children to the UK from Europe and no eligible child has been refused transfer to the UK as a result of this error. The home secretary has written to her counterparts in France, Greece and Italy and we are working closely with member states, as well as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and NGO partners so we can identify and transfer children to the UK as soon as possible.
It is welcome that an extra 130 children will be brought to safety in Britain under the Dubs scheme. But it beggars belief that these children weren’t helped earlier because of a basic admin error. This shows a shameful failure by the Home Office to talk properly to local councils who were willing and able to help or to check they had counted the figures up right. This shows the Home Office simply hasn’t taken this seriously enough.
Time and again the select committee and local councils across the country told the Home office that there were more places available, but they wouldn’t budge and they failed to follow up. Surely on something as important as this, when children are at risk of trafficking and prostitution, they would have checked the numbers were right.
Here is another picture from Jeremy Corbyn’s NHS visit this afternoon.
The Scottish Labour party has named a former chief of the pro-UK Better Together campaign, Blair McDougall, and a leading Corbyn supporter, Rhea Wolfson, in their first tranche of general election candidates.
After its rout by the Scottish National party at the 2015 election, Scottish Labour was left with one MP, leaving it the major task of finding up to 58 new candidates when its popularity is at a record low of 14%. This is the first election where Scottish leader Kezia Dugdale and her officials have autonomy from the UK party in choosing candidates.
Leanne Wood, the leader of Plaid Cymru, has also criticised Jeremy Corbyn for not being willing to take part in a leaders’ debate without Theresa May. She is echoing what her friend and political ally, the SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, said on Twitter earlier. (See 2.08pm.) In 2015 Wood and Sturgeon joined Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, Natalie Bennett, the Green party leader, and Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, in a so-called “challengers’ debate” that did not feature David Cameron.
Wood said:
It is disappointing to hear that the leader of the Labour party is not prepared to take part in any televised leaders’ debates without the prime minister.
These debates are a good opportunity for people to engage with the election and for the leaders to put forward their vision to voters.
You have probably got the point about “strong and stable leadership” by now, but just in case you haven’t, the Guardian video team have produced a video pointing out just how frequently the Tories hammered home this message at PMQs.
Jeremy Corbyn has renewed his call for Theresa May to take part in TV election debates. And he has signalled that he won’t take part if she is not included. Speaking to Sky News, he said:
I asked Theresa May this morning about the TV debates, lots of people asked her about it, and she said they’re over because there are no more prime minister’s question times because parliament is now dissolved, or will be dissolved next week. And so, actually, the debate has to include the prime minister, the leader of the Conservative party, and we are up for that debate.
You will see me all over the country taking questions from people on the streets.
This is from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.
CPS source confirms they’ve received a file from Kent Police over election expenses in South Thanet
Jeremy Corbyn has been meeting health workers today.
A Panelbase poll is out today giving the Conservatives a 22-point lead over Labour. Here are the figures.
On BBC Radio 5 Live Michael Gove, the former Conservative justice secretary and a leader of the Vote Leave campaign, said he was “absolutely convinced” that Brexit would result in more money going to the NHS. When it was put to him that Vote Leave had said at one point that an extra £100m a week would go to the NHS if the UK left the EU, and he was asked if he still expected that, he replied:
I am absolutely convinced that we will be spending significantly more on the NHS [after Brexit.] I hope it’s £100m.
Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, has tweeted saying that he has “sacked” David Ward as a candidate. (See 2.26pm.)
I believe in a politics that is open, tolerant and united. David Ward is unfit to represent the party and I have sacked him.
Arlene Foster, Democratic Unionist leader and first minister in the last power sharing government in Northern Ireland, took time out today from electioneering to pay a highly symbolic visit to Irish language pupils at a Catholic school near the border.
Foster had been criticised earlier this year for her opposition to an Irish Language Act – a key demand by Sinn Fein – which would put Gaelic on an equal par to English throughout Northern Ireland.
Now Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, is accusing Jeremy Corbyn of “running scared” after it emerged that Corbyn will not take part in TV election debates if Theresa May is not included. Farron said:
Corbyn is running scared. He is running away from facing his opponents, he is running away from defending his policies, he is running away from leadership.
The Liberal Democrats have barred former Bradford East MP David Ward from standing again for the party, after Tim Farron said his comments about Jews had been “deeply offensive, wrong and antisemitic”, my colleague Jessica Elgot reports.
Related: Tim Farron sacks Lib Dem candidate for ‘deeply offensive and antisemitic’ comments
In the huddle for lobby journalists after the final PMQs of the parliament, Jeremy Corbyn’s spokesman struck an upbeat note about Labour’s prospects. He said the Conservatives’ poll lead will narrow once the campaign gets underway and the public get to hear Labour’s message, “in our own voice”.
We are confident that we can win this election, and we’re fighting for every seat, and we’re confident that once Labour’s message is clearly heard, and there is a chance for the public to hear policies that many of them won’t have heard before, but which are extremely popular, and we know to be so, that will have cut-through, and Labour support will increase.
The politics and the polling is actually quite complex and quite varied across different countries, and I don’t think it’s just a technical issue to do with the polling companies that we’re in; I think it’s to do with the volatile and fluid political situation, with much more fragmentation.
This was all dealt with when the allegation first came out, and it’s not the case that John McDonnell signed any such statement. When the story was first run about a year ago it was made clear that it was confusion about another statement; he never signed the statement involving MI5, it was another story entirely. This is recycled fake news.
Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, has been campaigning in Stirling today.
On the World at One Andrew Gwynne, Labour’s general election coordinator, said the party’s manifesto would be published on Monday 15 May. Asked how Labour would fund its promises, he replied:
I’m not in a position to spell out the Labour party’s full manifesto here. But we will have to wait until May 15 for the manifesto.
Conservatives have denied that Boris Johnson is being sidelined from the party’s general election campaign by Theresa May, the Press Association reports.
Reports have suggested the foreign secretary has been told to keep a low profile because he is vulnerable to challenge over his pre-referendum claims that Brexit would deliver £350m a week to spend on the NHS.
A senior Conservative source dismissed the claims as speculation, and said Johnson would soon enter the fray.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has criticised Jeremy Corbyn for apparently refusing to take part in an election debates if Theresa May is not involved. She posted this on Twitter.
Faced with an open goal, Corbyn decides against even attempting to score . Unbelievable, if true. https://t.co/JkRBLxgLID
Source close to Jeremy Corbyn reveals he won’t take part in TV debates if Theresa May doesn’t. #GE17
This is what political journalists and commentators are saying about PMQs.
Mostly people are quite positive about Jeremy Corbyn, although several people think Angus Robertson was more effective.
Corbyn uses last #PMQs to attack May on triple lock, NHS, housing, education spending cuts. Weak ground 4 May but no real blows dealt #PMQs
May is a master at not answering the question. That is why Corbyn should use #PMQs to ask her the same one 6 times. Makes her uncomfortable
Corbyn channelling impressive levels of passion at #PMQs
Corbyn is doing rather well, as he did last week. Spitting out the questions. May quite pugnacious in reply
There’s much more to being a good PM than PMQs, of course, but May remains quite weak at this. No wonder she’s dodging tv debates
COMMENT AR shows JC how to do #PMQs but remember TM wants to drop pensions triple lock. If this is the worst this gets for her…
Theresa May savages Jeremy Corbyn at final PMQs before election #GE2017 https://t.co/9X2W54WHBL pic.twitter.com/hsy094eOaX
.@AngusRobertson there proving he’s the best opposition leader in the Commons. Skewers May on pension lock #pmqs
SNP’s Angus Robertson doing what Corbyn cd hv done: forcing May to wriggle on triple lock for pensions. May refuses to guarantee it. #pmqs
Corbyn channelling Miliband 2013: “He may be strong at standing up to weak, but always weak when it comes to standing up against the strong”
Corbyn with decent election lines the tories are for ‘the rich not the rest, the strong against the weak, and weak against the strong’
Corbyn quoted both Blair (“many not the few”) and Miliband (“weak against the strong”) at #PMQs. https://t.co/Q15ztRfeIH
Some very glum faces from Labour moderates sitting behind Corbyn during PMQs.
This is #PMQs at its worst – neither answering questions, talking about completely different subjects and shouting slogans #PMQs
Labour sources are also criticising Theresa May for referring to Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs as a terrorist sympathiser.
Senior Labour source says May calling Corbyn “a terrorist sympathiser” in #pmqs was a “discredit to the office of Prime Minister”
I Like Corbyn, But… https://t.co/xZPMEvtpjH
It gets so much better #ILikeCorbynBut pic.twitter.com/YzQwd7xrC8
Labour are ruling out Jeremy Corbyn taking part in any TV debates that do not feature Theresa May, Huffington Post’s Paul Waugh reports.
Labour source just ruled out Corbyn taking part in any TV debates that don’t feature Theresa May.
Theresa May refused to commit to keeping the triple lock at PMQs. But, according to today’s Times, the Tories are thinking of keeping the policy, which ensures pensions rise every year in line with earnings, inflation or 2.5%, whichever is highest, on the grounds that it would be cost free. Here’s an extract from Francis Elliott and Oliver Wright’s story (paywall).
Theresa May is considering keeping the “triple lock” guarantee on state pension increases because it is likely to be a cost-free promise for the next parliament, according to senior ministers.
Labour has promised to increase the state pension by a minimum of 2.5 per cent a year, despite warnings that it could cost taxpayers an additional 1 per cent of GDP by 2036. The lock is triggered only if inflation falls below that figure and the Office for Budget Responsibility is predicting that wages and prices will increase at a faster pace in the next few years.
The Lib Dem peer Olly Grender, who worked in Number 10 as deputy communications director during the coalition, says Theresa May was wrong at PMQs to argue that the Conservatives deserved credit for increasing council house building during the coalition.
Under Coalition NOT Con Govt increase in council house building thanks to LibDems who insisted (Tories at time didn’t give a ****) #PMQs
This is from Politico Europe’s Tom McTague.
French ambassador Sylvie Bermann in the chamber for PMQs. Chuckling away. Would love to read her diptel!
The SNP’s Alex Salmond says Liam Fox went to the Philippines and said we had “shared values” with it. What shared values do we have with Rodrigo Duterte?
May says we need trade deals after Brexit to ensure a strong economy.
Sir Simon Burns, a Conservative, says he has been Chelmsford MP for 30 years. They are perspicacious, he says. They want a government with a strong economy, strong defences and strong leadership. May will deliver that for the next five years, he says.
May thanks Burns for his contribution as an MP and as a minister.
Douglas Carswell, the independent MP, asks what assurance May can give to the 3.8m people who voted Ukip at the last election.
May says she wants to see the UK getting control of its borders and control of its laws.
Dame Angela Watkinson, a Conservative, asks May why people should continue to vote Conservative.
May says every vote for her and the Conservative candidate will be a vote to strengthen her hands in the Brexit talks.
Labour’s George Howarth says Andy Burnham had a debate yesterday on contaminated blood. He called for a Hillsborough-style panel to get to the truth. Will May join the SNP and Labour in backing the idea.
May says the government has put more money into compensation. The department of health will respond to the consultation.
Mike Wood, a Conservative, says it is good to be back. Doctors saved his life in January. Will May look at what can be done to reduce deaths from sepsis.
May says it is fantastic to see Wood back. She says he is right to focus attention on this problem. The department of health is working on a new sepsis action plan.
Labour’s Grahame Morris asks why May is afraid of TV debates. One should be held in Easington, he says, where May could see the impact of her policies.
May says she has been debating Corbyn every week.
Sir Gerald Howarth, a Conservative who is standing down, says he came into the Commons in 1983, when the country had a strong woman leader, and he leaves as another one is restoring British sovereignty. He appeals to Howarth to protect the armed forces guarding “this sceptred isle”.
May says people will have a choice at the election. The Tories will continue to protect the armed forces.
Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, says May once berated her party as the “nasty party”. But it has never been nastier. And Labour is not holding to account. Doesn’t the country need the Lib Dems?
May says Farron talks about a decent opposition. She says Farron cannot say that when the Lib Dems have just elected a candidate with a questionable record on antisemitism.
Sir Eric Pickles, the Conservative, asks May about anti-semitism, and if she shares his disgust at the selection of David Ward, a former MP accuses of anti-semitism, as a Lib Dem candidate. (See 10.35am.)
May pays tribute to the work Pickles had done tackling anti-semitism. She says people will be disappointed to see the Lib Dems adopt a candidate with a questionable record on anti-semitism.
Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP MP, asks May if she agrees that those who refuse to take their seats (Sinn Fein) and who are refusing to form a government in Northern Ireland are not serving their constituents.
May agrees. She says she wants to work for the restoration of a government in Northern Ireland.
Peter Lilley, the Conservative, says he is standing down because of Theresa May. He says he has confidence that she will deliver Brexit properly. And we must accept that no deal is better than a bad deal. To deny this would be to admit that no price would be too high. That would be the worst possible deal, he says.
May thanks Lilley for everything he has done, not just as an MP, but as a minister in government. She says it is right to get on with delivering Brexit. The only way to ensure that is to get a Conservative government elected.
PMQs – Snap verdict: At PMQs you can deploy the sniper’s rifle or the shotgun, and today we saw Angus Robertson try one, and Jeremy Corbyn use the other. They were both effective in their way, although Theresa May’s shield of slogans and talking points managed to protect her quite adequately. It did not feel as if anyone secured a great triumph.
But in the circumstances, and with polling organisations pouring humiliation over Corbyn by the hour, that probably amounted to something of a win for the Labour leader. He asked about a range of topics, resorting to the “here’s a question from a viewer” formula that he used frequently in his first PMQs outings and neatly skewering May over her reluctance to take questions from members of the public. It was not flashy or eye-catching, but it was honest and solid and his points were strong. In response, May resorted to carpet-bombing Corbyn with the “strong and stable” leadership stuff. Her message discipline is outstanding, and conventional wisdom has it that you cannot repeat these slogans too often (although May seems to be testing that theory to destruction.)
Angus Robertson, the SNP leader at Westminster, asks for a clear and unambiguous commitment to keeping the triple lock for pensioners.
May says she has been very clear that pensioners have benefited to the tune of £1,250 a year. Under her pension incomes will continue to increase.
Ben Howlett, a Conservative, asks if May agrees that his voters should give him a renewed mandate to improve traffic around Bath.
May agrees. A vote for any other party is a vote for wrecking the economy.
Corbyn says millions of women will have heard that answer. Labour will guarantee the triple lock. And it won’t move the goalposts. Sybil, who witnessed the founding of the NHS, said she is 88. She has had wonderful service from the NHS. But now she is scared of going into hospital. With more delayed discharges, isn’t she right to be frightened.
May says the NHS is treated more people than ever before. But that is only possible with a strong economy. She says she will defend her record. She says Diane Abbott has been directing her followers to a website “I like Corbyn but ..”. It addresses questions about Corbyn not being able to pay for his policies and being a terrorist sympathiser. Even Corbyn’s supporters know he is not fit to run the country.
Corbyn says the last Labour government delivered a decent homes standard for every council in the country. House building has fallen to its lowest level since the 1920s. Children are being held back by cuts. Laura, a teacher, said she was seeing less cash every year to pay for children, and more reliance on parent funding. Is May still denying funding per pupil is being cut.
May says record levels of funding are going into schools. People will have a choice, she says. The government has delivered more good school places. Corbyn believes in a one-size-fits-all, take-it-or-leave-it approach to education.
Corbyn says Andy is concerned about how his children are being held back. All three of his children, in their mid 20s, cannot afford to move out of the family home. Don’t we need a housing strategy to deal with it?
May asks what happened under Labour. Under Labour, house building starts fell by 45%. And the number of social homes fell. Under the Conservatives more than twice as much council housing has been built as under Labour.
Jeremy Corbyn says this is the last PMQs of this parliament. It would be appropriate to pay tribute to MPs who are leaving, he says. And he thanks the speaker for presiding over these exchanges.
He says when he became leader 18 months ago he said he wanted people’s voices to be heard in parliament. So, instead of just speaking to handpicked audiences, will May today answer questions from the public. Christopher wrote to him this week saying hus husband had only a 1% increase in wages. But their buying power had gone down 15%. So where is his share in the stronger economy.
Richard Drax, a Conservative, asks about a leftwing campaign for socialist victory that proposed disbanding M15. Would May allow anyone like that to draft her manifesto?
No, says May. She says the plan to disband MI%, disarm the police and scrap the deterrent was endorsed by Jeremy Corbyn’s policy chief, Andrew Fisher. Corbyn is “simply not up to the job”, she says.
Theresa May starts by answering a closed question from the Conservative MP Michael Fabricant about the economy in the West Midlands. It is doing well, she says. And so are public services, because you can only have those with “strong and stable leadership”.
Fabricant says the country needs “strong and stable leadership”.
This is from the Daily Mail’s Jason Groves.
More Labour MPs in for #PMQs than there have been for a while – some taking a last look around?
Very loud cheers for Theresa May as she enters Commons chamber for #PMQs
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
#PMQS LIVEBLOG: These lucky MPs will be grilling the PM from 12. Follow all the action here – https://t.co/B8kBRMA48K pic.twitter.com/mTlwnKdOKL
This is from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.
This Parliament has only sat for 299 days – and had 61 PMQs – for some MPs, today’s the leaving do! Election will decide which ones
PMQs will start in 10 minutes. It is the last of this parliament.
And it is also only the second, and last, election TV debate between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn (counting last week’s PMQs as the first.)
Ipsos MORI has more good news for the Conservatives on the polling front. As Joe Murphy reports in the Evening Standard, Theresa May has the best ratings on “best PM” since the firm started polling on this in the 1970s. Here’s an extract from Murphy’s story.
Theresa May’s leadership score has soared higher than either Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair enjoyed in their best years, an exclusive poll reveals today
The Ipsos MORI survey shows the Conservatives on 49 per cent, with an extraordinary 23 per cent lead over Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour who are on 26 …
Mahatma Gandhi was one of the great figures of the 20th century. He led India to independence and championed a form of non-violent civil disobedience that inspired campaigners around the world. It is hard to think of a modern equivalent, but the Ukip leader Paul Nuttall has suggested a possible candidate: himself.
Nuttall did quite put himself in the same league as the great Gandhi, but in an interview with the Wolverhampton Express and Star suggested they had something in common and the paper’s website has headlined the story: “I’m like Gandhi, says Ukip leader Paul Nuttall in Wolverhampton.” This is what Nuttall told the paper:
Raising issues of equality, women’s rights, and FGM are the issues other parties don’t want to tackle.
Ukip will lead on these and as I said in our press conference I feel as if we are a decade ahead of our time – a bit like we were a decade ahead of our time on getting out of the EU, and on mass immigration.
YouGov has released some new polling this morning. Since February, Theresa May’s net favourability rating has gone up (from +6 to +10) and Jeremy Corbyn’s has gone done (from -40 to -42).
Peter Lilley, the Conservative former social security secretary regarded as one of the Eurosceptics cabinet “bastards” once denounced by John Major, is standing down, the Guido Fawkes blog reports. In a statement announcing his decision Lilley said:
Now we have in Theresa May an outstanding Prime Minister in whom I have great confidence.
I profoundly hope she will be returned with a strong mandate to complete the process of leaving the EU and to seize the opportunities which regaining control of our laws, border, money and trade will give our country.
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron is continuing his tour of remain seats with Brexiteer MPs, after vowing to unseat Labour’s Kate Hoey in Vauxhall. His stop today is St Albans, where more than 62% of voters backed staying in the EU but Conservative MP Anne Main campaigned for leave.
Farron used the campaign stop to highlight the risk to the economy of leaving the EU and tell businesses they should stop funding the Conservatives while they pursue a hard Brexit.
My message to business is this – dump the Tories. Every penny you give them will hurt you; you are funding your own funeral. The success of British business matters. Strong British businesses mean more jobs and a stronger society.
With this disastrous hard Brexit the government is hurting businesses, both big and small, costing jobs and hitting families. All this means fewer jobs, higher prices and spiralling costs of things like fuel. This is a Brexit squeeze affecting millions of people.
.@timfarron visits the National Pharmacy Association in St Albans with @libdemdaisy talking about the #NHS & care pic.twitter.com/ZImwhVQEX1
The Conservatives have also produced a briefing accusing Labour of spending the money it proposes to raise from corporation tax over and over again. The Lib Dems cited 10 examples, although two items on their list were essentially the same. (See 9.09am.) In a note for journalists a few days ago, the Tories cited 11 examples. Most of the Tory ones were the same as the Lib Dem ones, but the Tories had three examples not on the Lib Dem list. Here they are, as set out in the Tory briefing.
Scrapping university tuition fees. Jeremy Corbyn said:‘At the moment what we’re doing is asking students to fund universities rather than the public to fund universities. I would rather move in to the other way around, with public funding of it … It would be largely on levels of corporate taxation’ (Victoria Derbyshire Labour Leadership Hustings, 17 August 2016).
Reversing changes to Universal Credit. John McDonnell:‘Universal Credit. We’re hoping on Wednesday the government will reverse that … If you had a fair taxation system, you weren’t giving the tax giveaways to corporations and to the rich, if you seriously tackle tax evasion and tax avoidance, if you grew the economy we’d be able to afford – we’d be able to afford our public services’ (The Andrew Marr Show, BBC One, 21 November 2016).
Tuition fees will be scrapped and maintenance grants brought back, the Green party are announcing as key features of their election manifesto.
Co-leaders Jonathan Bartley and deputy leader Amelia Womack will also say in a speech today that students and universities will be protected after Brexit if the Green party were in power.
The Green party is the only party standing up for students and putting young people at the heart of its campaign.
Education is a right not a commodity to be bought and sold, and we need a level playing field so everyone has the chance to go to university or college.
If the referendum result had gone the other way David Cameron – remember him? – would be in Downing Street this morning preparing for PMQs. Instead he happens to be in Bangkok, where he has just finished speaking at a tourism conference. My colleague Oliver Holmes was there and he has sent me the highlights.
Here are some of the key points he made.
Let me be optimistic … It’s very good that we are having this election, because I think if Theresa May is successful, she’ll actually have a larger majority and, potentially, more time to deal with Brexit and its consequences.
Arguably, you could say, looking at the state of British politics, the Conservative party having accepted the referendum result and got on with the process and responsibly delivering it, is probably the most healthy mainstream political party anywhere in western Europe.
It was a legitimate cause of populist concern, that Britain was a member of this organisation, the organisation had changed a huge amount over the last forty years, it had gained more powers, it had passed more treaties, it had become more important in more areas. And yet in spite of the fact that the British people were occasional offered a referendum by their leaders, most famously by Tony Blair, they never got a referendum.
If you want to address the causes of populism, it was necessary, in my view, to have a referendum.
But I think it was the right thing. The lack of a referendum was poisoning British politics and so I put that right.
These terrorists and their apologists are trying hijack a great religion and twist and pervert it for their own ends. We must not play into their hands. And that was to me, the biggest problem with President Tump’s travel ban. It would be seen, could be seen, as labelling whole countries as extreme and dangerous because they were predominately Islamic. It’s not a clash between civilisations that we face. That is what the extremists want us to think. This is if you like a war within Islam.”
There would have been a big lesson learn. I thought it was misconceived from the very outset.
Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, told the Today programme earlier that Labour would have to raise “significant extra sums” to fund its plan to give NHS staff a pay rise. He said:
Each 1% on pay, just 1%, costs half a billion pounds each time. It’s not possible to say from what the Labour party have said quite how much more they intend to spend on the NHS.
If you are going to do that over the next two or three years you will also clearly need to raise significant extra sums in tax revenue.
Norman Lamb, the Lib Dem former health minister, told the Today programme that he agreed with Labour about the need for NHS staff to be paid more. He said the current 1% cap on NHS pay increases was unsustainable.
In effect we are asking very many staff across the NHS to just, year on year, take a pay cut in real terms in order to sustain our NHS. And I don’t think that’s acceptable. I think ultimately it’s dangerous. We are seeing widespread vacancies … Actually people will vote with their feet and leave if you don’t maintain wages at least in real terms.
The problem with the Labour position is their proposal just isn’t credible … The money from corporation tax increase has been spent about 10 times over.
Labour have already committed to using funding from an increase to corporation tax ten times since the last general election:
1. Bringing back the education maintenance allowance and university maintenance grants.
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, will announce his guarantees for NHS staff in a speech to the Unison conference in Liverpool. According to extracts released in advance he will say:
NHS staff have been taken for granted for too long by the Conservatives. Cuts to pay and training mean hard working staff are being forced from NHS professions and young people are being put off before they have even started. Now Brexit threatens the ability of health employers to recruit from overseas.
What is bad for NHS staff is bad for patients too. Short staffing means reduced services and a threat to patient safety. Labour’s new guarantees for NHS staff will help keep services running at the standard which England’s patients expect …
In his Today interview earlier Jeremy Hunt admitted that Brexit would have an impact on the NHS.
There’s no point saying that Brexit and the Brexit negotiations won’t affect the NHS. This is absolutely critical for our public services.
Q: Are you saying you will give the NHS whatever it needs?
Ashworth says the NHS has not had what it needs.
Good morning. I’m taking over from Claire.
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, is on Today now.
We will outline what level corporation tax will be in our manifesto when we publish it in the coming days … The whole programme that the Labour Party will be putting to the country in this election campaign will be costed.
I’m now handing over the live reins to Andrew Sparrow, who’ll take you through the rest of the day’s political news.
A quick reminder: you can sign up for the Snap, our daily election briefing email, here.
In a video for the Guardian, Paul Mason pushes back against the argument from the Daily Mail and others that those who oppose the government and its Brexit plans are “saboteurs”. Meaningful opposition to the Tories is necessary for the country and for democracy, he argues:
Meg Hillier, the Labour MP who chairs the cross-party public accounts committee, has been talking about its free schools report.
We will consider the recommendations carefully and respond in due course.
As well as Labour’s own NHS pledges, we might expect Jeremy Corbyn to press Theresa May on this damning MPs’ report on free schools when the two leaders meet for the final PMQs of this parliament at noon.
In the – so far – planned absence of televised head-to-head debates during the campaign, today could be the last time we see May and Corbyn take each other on ahead of 8 June.
The DfE is spending well over the odds in its bid to create 500 more free schools while other schools are in poor condition. Many free schools are in inadequate premises, including many without on-site playgrounds or sports facilities …
The department is in a weak negotiating position and commonly pays well in excess of the official valuation. On average, it has paid 19% over the official valuation, with 20 sites costing over 60% more.
Leaders in Europe will demand that Theresa May respects the right of EU nationals who have lived in the UK for five years to acquire permanent residence, Daniel Boffey and Lisa O’Carroll report:
In a sign of growing anger over the perceived bureaucratic hurdles being put in their way, the call will be made at a summit on Saturday, where the leaders of the 27 other EU member states are set to sign their negotiating guidelines.
The guidelines were amended by officials on Monday to strengthen demands over Britain’s €60bn divorce bill, open the door to further cooperation on EU-UK foreign policy and law enforcement, and add a call for transparency during the talks.
Such guarantees must be effective, enforceable, non-discriminatory and comprehensive, including the right to acquire permanent residence after a continuous period of five years of legal residence. Citizens should be able to exercise their rights through smooth and simple administrative procedures.
Related: Brexit: EU leaders to demand May respect citizens’ residency rights
Pressed on the issue of social care – which Theresa May has pledged to “stop ducking” – Jeremy Hunt is similarly reticent about what the not-ducking will look like:
We need a long-term sustainable solution.
You’ll have to wait and see what manifesto says … I’m not going to speculate on what the contents of our manifesto are.
And here’s Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, who’s popped up to defend his record against the Labour claim that staff are “ignored, insulted, undervalued, overworked and underpaid by this Tory government”.
I think they are working harder than they’ve ever worked before … You see a government that’s responding to that.
We will be able to train record number of nurses.
Applications do then recover.
You’ll have to wait and see what the manifesto says.
Labour will be attempting to shift the debate today on to the NHS, with shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth making a number of pledges:
Related: Labour will give pay rise to ‘overworked and underpaid’ NHS staff
Jonathan Bartley, co-leader (with Caroline Lucas) of the Green party, has been updating Radio 4’s Today programme on the progress of the progressive alliance, their proposed anti-Tory electoral pact.
The response from Jeremy Corbyn and Tim Farron, says Bartley, has been
very disappointing … they haven’t responded.
On a local level, people are talking to each other …
We want people to vote Green [but] we will support whatever the local party wants to do. But it has to be a reciprocal arrangement.
Good morning and welcome back to another day on the campaign marathon.
I’m Claire Phipps, bringing you this morning’s essential – should your morning be incomplete without news of constituency selection battles – briefing, and steering the live blog until Andrew Sparrow joins us later.
Remember, the opinion polls were wrong in the 2015 general election; they were wrong in the referendum; and Jeremy Corbyn himself has said that he was a 200-1 outsider for the Labour leadership in 2015 – and look where that got him.
In effect, this is EU Referendum 2. This is the chance for those who didn’t vote/couldn’t vote, to come out. It’s a chance for Remainers to convert more people, help their friends to see the catastrophe that Brexit is …
‘My own constituency voted Remain,’ Theresa May announced in the Commons as an example of her adhering to the ‘will of the people’. But if everyone in Maidenhead who voted Remain backed the Lib Dems in June, the PM could lose her seat.
The Labour party will need more than a wish list and a collection of grievances. I’ll offer three topics for starters. How do we ensure a fair intergenerational settlement? How can our education and tax system respond to the changes of the world of work and employment? Where do we anchor democratic accountability in a world of global flows of goods, money and people?
Planning for parliamentary deadlock and pacts with other parties might be tempting. But these are the methods of counter-insurgents. If Labour instead wants to be a party of government, it has to go into the 2017 election fighting for every vote.
The gap between first- and second-place party in 2015, 2010 or earlier, as well as any byelection result, is not the only factor. Strategists are having to look at how many people in a given seat voted leave or remain in last year’s EU referendum. This information is especially crucial for the Liberal Democrats …
A 30- to 40-point improvement (that is, a 15% to 20% swing that went entirely from the first-placed party to the Lib Dems) would do the job in seats where a majority voted remain – but that is an incredibly ambitious target.
I do not want the people of Scotland to think that English eurosceptics put their dislike of Brussels ahead of our bond with Edinburgh and Glasgow.
It took two months but Trudy Harrison’s first speech as MP was good. “Who knows if you’ll be back,” SNP MP replies in praise. “Or any of us”
What follows on the exceptionally complex subject of light and how it pertains to the body is a topical overview only. The information being provided I myself have researched for over 30 years and am still only scratching the surface. However, those referenced in the article and listed as resources are exactly unparalleled in their particular knowledge on such a vast subject. They are the intellectual phenomenons of our time, and all that has passed. It is through their unique work and experiences that we get to benefit from and are blessed with the opportunity to expound upon. So we are forever grateful for the Champions that have come before us. Perhaps it was best written by Sir Isaac Newton, “if I have seen farther than other men, it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants.”
On the subject of light as fuel, or food source, one would first need to comprehend the general composition or makeup of living beings, or the live body and mind. What causes us to be or not to be. One would also need to know, completely, that we human beings and animals included are electrical in Nature first before all else. There are numerous chemical processes that occur in the body yet they could not, and will not manifest, ever, without electricity, or light.
Remember, this is going to be a non specific on every point, yet profoundly detailed outline in some areas on such an extremely deep and crucial topic. To me, there is no greater subject matter, at all.
The Exquisite Living Being And Our Properties
The human body is known to be made up of 70-100 trillion cells, 100,000,000,000,000. 70-100 trillion cells performing innumerable functions with 12-13 we can clearly identify. Each cell has a digestive system, a respiratory system, circulatory system, excretory system and 8, possibly 9 more, precisely like the body as a unit. We are a summation of these cells and their individual processes. These cells are us and we are them.
Every single cell in our bodies of the 70-100 trillion, are also intelligently designed to operate on-20 millivolts of electricity.
“The negative charge is the spark of life.” ~Dr. Robert Young M.D.
Crucial to each cell will be the mineral rich water that should surround it. Such as babies in the womb being encapsulated in salt water from a healthy mother. When a healthy infant is born they are known to be about 90% water as a whole, even the blood being over 93% water itself. Upon our passing, humans have proven to be somewhere around 30–35%. With this dehydration also comes a greatly reduced ability to function via each cells failing electrical potential. Knowing this, those seeking perfect or betterment of health, even to become stronger, ought to endeavor to enliven the fluids around each and every cell. Thereby the pure fluids become the majority of our cells, remembering that even our blood is about 93% water, or should be. Enlivening the cells requires electricity as does the water which feeds them.
“The only way to build healthy blood is to consume the right types of fats and the right types of greens.” ~Dr. Robert Young
What must be mentioned here is that the Sun and the magnificent energy emitted from it is the cause of all life on the planet. The Sun is the most powerful form of electricity known to man. The topic of electricity is built upon the Sun. And as I have come to know the first Christians were known as helio-gnostics, or, knowers of the Sun. Many of the largest religions today are seemingly based in knowledge of the Sun. Enormous monuments are and have been erected showing respect and admiration for this electric disk in the sky. Even the horrific sacrifice of life as an offering, all have embodied the Sun. Sir Walter Russell determined that the light of the Sun is pure intellect and many prominent researchers feel the Sun is in fact conscious and aware of itself.
“the Sun, the star in their movie, the most important thing in the life of every one of us”
~Gregory Sams, researcher and author “The Sun of god”
Back though to our cells. For more information on the Sun, the references provided at the end of the article are compulsory reading as they are some of the foremost authorities on this material and the essence of life itself I feel.
To measure the voltage within the cells one would need to determine the potential hydrogen, or PH of the fluids surrounding them. Every fluid in our bodies can be measured by the scale below.
PH 0 7 14
Voltage + 400 0 (mv) -400 (mv)
Any fluid below 7 would be seeking to steal electrons and have varying levels of acidity depending on the actual potential of its hydrogen. Hydrogen is simply another term for acid. Fluids higher than 7 are seeking, or at the least capable of being an electron donor, which is equal to alkaline. I will note here that calcium is the most alkaline substance on the planet, and does not move. The most acidic being refined sugar, which is sulfuric acid and travels at the speed of light. Sulfuric acid, or sugar, also explodes and destroys proteins. You are in part, proteins.
Information I research indicates that when the cells, you and I, begin to lose voltage, we malfunction, and if the voltage proceeds low enough our DNA begins to become damaged.
Astute researchers surmise that while our bodies cells operate on -20 milivolts, if we begin to lose electrical potential and get to -15 we become lethargic. At -10mv the person would become ill, and minus 5mv our glands and organs will stop working. If the cells go into a reversal of polarity +5, +10 or +15 mv, it would be akin to placing the batteries in a flashlight incorrectly and they will not function, at all. This is said to be where the damage to our DNA and what we pass on to our offspring occurs.
Pain, infections, lack of oxygen, and cellular expiration, or death, take place when the fluids of the body are in this acidic and unlit state.
“Restore your voltage for powers to rebuild and heal.” ~Dr. Jerry Tennant M.D.
The cells in our bodies have the ability to regenerate. For instance the gastrointestinal cells have the ability to regenerate every 2–3 days, the cells of the eyes, every 36 hours, etc. This Author is not referring to stem cell research at all. What we are asserting is to provide the body with the raw materials it needs such as vitamins, minerals, pure water, along with the light from the Sun to grow matter, and to keep the cells in an alkaline state.
So the question then becomes how do we alkalize our bodies and perhaps the even larger one, why is this not common knowledge and made so difficult to discover? This writer will answer the first part and leave it to the reader to perhaps draw their own conclusions as to the rest.
The following statement is one of the most profound ever espoused on this subject matter in our time period, maybe ever. It would be next to impossible to articulate it any better. It would do anyone well to truly comprehend and apply this message.
“The energy that the body uses is in the form of an electron; Electrons are electrical charges. Our bodies conduct electricity, we eat food for that electrical potential, that is the only reason. Nutrients, are the carriers of that electrical potential which our bodies feed on, we are electrical light beings. And the matrix by which that energy travels, is salt.”
~Dr. Robert Young
Many more research scientist and the like now are concluding this same wisdom about our electrical light bodies. 25 years ago speaking about this and writing papers on it in college resorted to being snickered at, not so much anymore.
It is from alkalizing foods that light (electricity) is generated, and was also created.
So those that know will apply verified wisdom, ingesting food and select it as a fuel only for the electrical potential, or light it contains. We seek sources of food containing nutrients, things that contain light and that are light. We seek vitamin and mineral rich sources of fuel that harness power. Meanwhile, the vast majority of our entire society entirely misled to focus on calories. Protein, fiber, carbohydrates, enzymes, macros and micros etc, all the lowest level of the tower. To become alkaline disregard the number of calories and concern yourself with the quality of them. Because this is all that matters, the quality of the fuel one is ingesting after eliminating that which is not.
Is the food and light you are taking in to your body strengthening your fluids, or smothering them in acid, becoming the acid. How about the lights people sit under at work or home? Because artificial, man made blue light and fluorescent fixtures are electron stealers. They take life and give you nothing in return. The detrimental effects that these forms of light, particularly the ones that contain the fluorine gas such as fluorescent bulbs would be indescribable in only a few words and is a subject all to itself.
“Humans are the only species bright enough to make artificial light and stupid enough to live under it” -Dr. Jack Kruse
Voluminous amounts of research is available for those interested and of course there is always solutions.
Becoming alkaline is to move towards the alkaline elements such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, and to eat the Sun, and only the food it produces. The Sunlight is in pure food. The human body is designed to be alkaline, yet all of our countless processes are acidifying. So we are in a recovery state at all times. This is fine as long as we are replete with the energy that these processes, even the good ones, are aiming to steal.
And the Primary Source for this energy is again the photon energy we are able to receive from the Sun.
The same Sun that we all seem to take for granted and forget about, just expecting it to be there. The Sun that I know nothing about yet read everything I can pertaining to it, because I know that it is the cause of all life.
“by its usage, by its familiarity, it actually becomes invisible to us”
~Michael Tsarion
In conclusion here are a few fascinating facts about the Sun along with some of the largest names in the Universe that sadly the vast majority of our civilization will never come to know.
“Imagine an explosion with more power than a million volcanoes, that instantly hurtles north american sized chunk of suns surface into the air at speeds of many hundreds of kilometers per second, this can be the power of a single solar flare, another phenomena considered to be controlled by the corona of the Sun. During periods of sun spot activity active regions of the sun can lose several flares a day, for weeks on end. Over a million mega tons of pure light energy is released every second from the Sun. Can you imagine this, one megaton is the energy released by a million tons of TNT, so this a million times that, each and every second.”
