BBC News - 2015

[Grant]

[Grant]

West Belfast Fire Responsibility Claimed by UVF

Following the fire that destroyed a row of shops in West Belfast last night, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) have released a statement claiming responsibility for the act. The statement also cited reasons that they are tired of the de-Britification of Northern Ireland, and are ready to stand up and protect their communities and culture.

The full statement can be viewed below:

For too long the Loyalist people of Northern Ireland have had to sit by and watch their identity be stripped away from them. For too long we have allowed concessions to Republicanism in the name of a peaceful shared future that has seen no return for the Loyalist people. The Ulster Volunteer Force will no longer sit by and allow this to happen.

We are prepared for a campaign where we will do what we have always set out to do - to stand up and protect our communities, and our British identity and culture. No longer will we stand by and allow the de-Britification of our land.

Last night the fire in West Belfast was a reminder and a warning sign, that we will be heard, and we will not go peacefully into the night as our identity is forcibly removed from us.

Ulster is - and always will be - British. And we will work to ensure the loyal British people of Northern Ireland are heard, and no longer punished for being who they are.

No Surrender

Sinn Fein Leader and former West Belfast MP, Gerry Adams, has condemned the recent violence saying that “Attacks on the nationalist community by Loyalist paramilitary thugs are not welcome, and this type of behaviour has no place in today’s Ireland.”

Alasdair McDonnell, the SDLP Leader and MP for South Belfast, also condemned the violence, and said that “It is worrying that Loyalists are prepared to undo everything Northern Ireland has worked for in the past seventeen years.”

Both the UUP and Alliance Party have released statements condemning the violence and also sharing the sentiment that it is undoing the hard work people in Northern Ireland have made towards a shared and peaceful future.

The DUP Leader, Peter Robinson, interestingly condemned the violence, but said that it is “a clear sign that Unionists feel disenfranchised by how things have progressed in Northern Ireland since the Peace Process.”. The First Minister said that “more must be done to address the growing concerns of people within the Protestant Unionist Loyalist community”

Billy Hutchinson, the PUP Leader, said that the party “Wholeheartedly supports the statement made by the UVF”, saying that he agreed that “the British identity of people in Northern Ireland was being stripped away bit by bit”. Mr. Hutchinson continued by saying that “The violence was a long time coming” and that “It was time the Protestant Unionist Loyalist voice was listened to in Northern Ireland”

The PSNI have said following meetings with the Executive, and the Home Secretary, it has heightened security to prevent further violence, and is ready to take a “zero tolerance approach” to paramilitary violence and crime. George Hamilton, the Chief Constable, said “The PSNI has agreed with the Executive and the Home Office that enough is with paramilitaries in Northern Ireland. Security will be heightened to protect the public from ongoing violence, and we will be taking a zero tolerance approach to those found to be involved. It is time we wiped the scourge of paramilitary thugs and gangs from our country.”

Politicians and the PSNI seem to agree that more must be done to tackle the issue. People from within the communities in Northern Ireland said people are fearful of what is happening, and what may come ahead. The main feeling seems to be that people do not want to return to the old Northern Ireland of twenty years ago.

It remains to be seen how politicians will approach the issues raised by the UVF and some in the Unionist community. Police remain on high alert, believing more violence to be likely, but the Chief Constable has assured the public “Their safety is of the highest priority”.

[Grant]

PSNI Intercept New IRA Bomb Plot

The PSNI have today announced that their Paramiliatary Crime Taskforce has intercepted a new IRA bomb plot in West Belfast today.

A group of four men have been arrested in relation to the plot, and are currently being questioned in Musgrave Police Station.

The PSNI believe that the bomb was intended to be planted in East Belfast in retaliation of recent Loyalist paramilitary violence carried out by the UVF.

The PSNI managed to gather intel on the plot before it was carried out, and raided a house in West Belfast where the group of four men where meeting to plan the bomb attack. The New IRA soon after claimed responsibility for the plot, saying in a statement:

“The Irish Republican Army will not stand by and let people in our communities be killed, and our communities come under attack without repercussion. We support peace and Irish Unity, but we will not allow Loyalist aggression to terrorise our people. As always we will provide safety for our people, where policing in the North of Ireland continues to fail.”

From this statement it is clear the New IRA has decided to take matters into its own hands in what it calls protecting its community.

Justice Minister, David Ford, has said that “this plot has serious implications for the Peace Process in Northern Ireland. There are serious concerns that we could see a return to paramilitary violence, and even civil unrest - which none of us want to see here.” The Justice Minister continued by saying “Myself, along with the Executive and PSNI, will work hard to ensure this violence does not continue, and is stopped before it escalates to levels we worked hard to leave behind.”

Commenting on the New IRA’s statement, Mr. Ford said “I am worried that there are some in the Republican and Nationalist community who do not have faith in policing in this country, and that trust is something we hope to build on in the future.”

Politicians from all sides have condemned the attack, with strong condemnation coming from Unionists. Billy Hutchinson, the Leader of the PUP, has said that “These attacks are a retaliation ordered by the Provisional IRA, under their new disguise of ‘dissident Republicans’ or the ‘New IRA’. It is clear that Republicans are now afraid that the previously agreeable Loyalist people are no longer willing to stand by and watch their identity ripped away from them.”

TUV Leader, Jim Allistair, agreed saying “It was time that people realised the IRA hasn’t disarmed, and hasn’t gone away. And it is time the real thugs, and the real terrorists in Sinn Fein/IRA are held responsible for their actions - including their strongarming of the people of Northern Ireland into a United Ireland.”

The Chief Constable of the PSNI, George Hamilton, said in a statement outside PSNI Headquarters today that “The PSNI will continue to work towards putting a stop to this rise in paramilitary violence. New security measures have already started to show results that we are pleased with, and we will continue to work with the Executive and the Home Office to build on this, to ensure the safety of the Northern Irish public.”

[Brown]

SNP Breaks Decades-Old Tradition, Announcing its MPs will vote on English Matters

The SNP will break a long-standing tradition of abstaining on votes not affecting constituents north of the border and instead seek to spread their power-base across the rest of the UK in what the press has dubbed an "unprecedented charm offensive", it has been revealed.

In a letter to fellow MPs seen by the Daily Telegraph, the party's Westminster leader, Angus Robertson, said a strengthened presence in Parliament meant they should no longer restrict interventions to matters impacting solely on Scots.

He suggested that Scottish parliamentarians could help further their own agenda by voting on issues "relevant to stakeholders and communities across Britain and Ireland".

"We have been very successful at talking with civic society in Scotland, at having good links with the business community, creatives, all of that," he told reporters at the dinner. "We are now in a position to do that in the rest of the UK."

“If its colleagues in the economy team speaking with the Chamber of Commerce in Leeds about what needs to happen with transport links and HS2, or talking with the trade council in Cardiff, I’m asking my colleagues in the various policy teams to have a plan in place about how we are going to engage with the rest of the UK in a way that we have never been able to in the past.”

Drew Hendry, the SNP MP for Inverness, told The Huffington Post UK there were useful points of co-operation between Scottish and English MP.

He pointed out the A1 road, which runs in part between Newcastle and Edinburgh, and is used by motorists both north and south of the border.

But Hendry added that he "hadn't gone down to Westminster to make Austin Milne's life easy".

"The majority of things he wants to do I'm for, and so are the people of Scotland; so are a large number of English people, but there are many issues on which we disagree and are not what is needed for Scotland.

"I want to work to make sure Milne knows his majority is wafer thin and he can't get away with all the things he wants to get away with."

(OOC: Credit for this article comes from a RL HuffPo article in 2015, which has been edited for our political reality)

[Blakesley]

Defence select committee: Military "subject to chronic underfunding and misalignment"

LONDON-- The Defence Select Committee of the House of Commons released a major report today claiming that "the British Armed Forces are subject to chronic underfunding and misalignment." This report follows spending decisions made at budget in March 2015 which set the United Kingdom on a course to spend ~1.9% of GDP on the military.

In delivering it's indictment, the select committee pointed to "long term underfunding" and "lack of coherent strategy" from a period beginning in the mid-1990s and lasting until the present day. In a statement released by the chair of the Defence select committee, Rory Stewart, it was made clear that, "No single party is to blame for the current condition of the armed forces - it was a policy of benign neglect embraced by all parties that led to the position we find ourselves in today." Mr Stewart also pointed to a reality that "rhetoric on defence spending and policy on defence spending never aligned."

While some are quick to blame austerity for the military's woes, the committee pointed out that there was a clear lack of spend strategy and underfunding that occurred on the part of the Labour government that held office from 1997-2010. Some blame was also placed at the feet of the Conservative government led by Sir John Major, which "did not adequately set out a strategy for Britain's post-Cold War foreign policy."

The report concludes that there needs to be a frank discussion about British military capability and strategy in the years ahead, including a discussion on specific programs and deployments. "The United Kingdom's defence expenditure must be aligned with the goals that we seek to achieve," reports the committee. "There is a fundamental lack of strategy now - with fiscal concerns, not defence strategy, driving funding decisions at the Ministry of Defence. Either defence strategy must be modified to reflect fiscal realities or fiscal realities must be modified to reflect defence strategy. The two cannot remain in fundamental misalignment."

The questions that politicians will face, Mr Stewart notes, includes answering:

• What defence capabilities are essential to Britain's national security?
• What are Britain's core strategic interests?
• What are the threats to those interests that the British armed forces must defend against?
• What systems, tools, and military structure does Britain need to complete these tasks?

Ultimately, committee members appreciated the government's commitment to a strategic defence review, but noted that it must clearly articulate the goals of British security policy and the tools and methods that Britain will use to get there. "This is a much bigger discussion than just spending X% of GDP on defence," said Mr Stewart, "this is about evaluating our role in the world and ensuring out funding decisions are aligned with that role."

[Dan]

March 2016



CARMICHAEL STANDS DOWN AS CONSERVATIVE LEADER

Patricia Carmichael, the Conservative Party Leader
has resigned citing health reasons.

The former Prime Minister today said in a statement she had been diagnosed with advanced breast cancer and would be stepping down from frontline politics to focus on treatment and recovery.

Clip of Carmichael reading statement

Ladies and Gentlemen I would like to deliver a personal and short statement.

Earlier this week, I was given some unexpected news, following a routine medical appointment which then resulted in various tests in hospital.

I have advanced Breast cancer

I had hoped to keep this private, but I want to tell you all about the battle that I am facing, at the same time.

I have been told by my doctors that the disease is aggressive and there is no chance of a complete cure. The focus will go towards managing symptoms and trying to keep it under control for as long as possible.

For that reason, I am to undergo an aggressive course of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. As many other people who have sadly received a diagnosis of cancer, it can have a major impact on the body and I anticiapte a long recovery period.

This means I have had to review life choices, and I have therefore decided that it would be impossible to continue as Conservative Leader and I have tonight offered my resignation.

The Conservative Party will now elect a new leader, their fifth in 12 months.

The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg commented on the resignation and the upcoming Conservative Leadership Race:

The news of Patricia Carmichael's departure has come as a shock to many of the British Public. Although the circumstances of her exit are cited to be health reasons, there did appear to be signs that all was not well within the Conservative ranks. With a less than impressive performance at PMQs and the Conservatives now facing their fifth leader in three years, there is a wide view that the Conservatives are now at a crossroads and must ultimately decide if the current direction was the right one with different leadership, or if a different path is required in their ultimate goal to return to Government.

We have seen one well known Conservative already rule themselves out of the upcoming leadership race in the form of Tom Tugendhat, widely seen at one point as a future leader following the resignation of David Cameron prior to James Manning's victory back in 2015, although he has ruled himself out of the running in the race. Tory Sources (NPC) tell me that Mr Tugendhat felt that putting Patricia’s health reasons to one side, the party needed a revival of fortunes, but he wasn't the right man to take it forward. Another party source (NPC) told me that there is a wide range of talent in the Conservative Party, from the Shadow Cabinet to the backbenches, and anyone could stand for the leadership. One thing is for certain though that both my sources agreed on, the next leader will have a lot on their plate to hold the Government to account and paint a path back to Number 10.

In the last few hours, Shadow Chancellor Sir John Baker and backbench MP Alec Harvey have added their names to the ballot

[Dan]

Three in the running for the Conservative Leadership

Three candidates have put their name forward for the Conservative leadership following the resignation of Patricia Carmichael.

Shadow Chancellor Sir John Baker and Conservative MPs Alec Harvey and Jeanette Faure are all hoping they will become the next leader. With campaigning ongoing, we look at the candidates in detail.

Sir John Baker




The Shadow Chancellor is seen at the time of writing as the current frontrunner in the contest, based on the fact as Shadow Chancellor he has the highest public profile amongst the other candidates on the ballot. Sir John made quite a name for himself during the last general election, championing the message of compassionate conservatism and performed well in a televised debate the week before Election Day. Sir John has made it known in recent days he is committed to HS2 and is known to support a 24/7 NHS. He is seen as the continuity candidate to Patricia Carmichael by some initially, however the real question remains if the party will break with the past and take a different direction under a Baker leadership. Sir John is seen by the party as centre right although in his platform he has committed to policies which are more right wing.

Alec Harvey



Alec Harvey is a newcomer to the party, recently elected in the last election as the MP for Hexham. Mr Harvey is seen as a loyalist to the previous leadership and followed the party line, recently defending the Conservatives and attacking the government during the Queens Speech around the prescription charge and hospital car parking charges. With Mr Harvey on the right of the party, he has made it known in recent days he would phase out the BBC License Fee as well as scrap HS2, which has certainly attracted attention on social media. Although Mr Harvey is less known amongst the public than other Conservative MPs, the question remains if Mr Harvey with policies like phasing out the BBC license fee can unite the Conservatives and lead them back into Government.

Jeanette Faure



The MP for The Cotswolds and elected in 2005 is seen amongst the party as on the hard right and is a strong campaigner for leaving the European Union, making a referendum on EU membership part of her 10 point plan which she published on social media recently. Ms Faure has also said in recent days that she will not allow Chinese investment in vital infrastructure projects as well as pledging financial incentives to legal immigrants to voluntarily leave the country. Ms Faure is also seen by some to be the most distanced of the candidates from the manifesto the Conservatives ran on at the last election. Ms Faure Is seen by some as more of a maverick but certainly talented, the question remains if she can unite the party and lead the Conservatives back into Government with her right wing views.

The BBC's Political Editor, Laura Kuenssberg had this to say on the candidates:

This is an interesting time for the Conservative Party, we have a three horse race, the first race where we have more than two candidates since 2005. Although the Shadow Chancellor is seen as the centre-right candidate and both Alec Harvey and Jeanette Faure on the right wing, it is quite clear that whoever wins, we could see a fundamental shift in policy and party direction from the days of Patricia Carmichael. All three candidates are keen to break from the dark past which has been inflicted on the Conservative Party which ultimately contributed to that defeat at the election and win back public trust, but they all appear to have different approaches on how to do that. The Shadow Chancellor largely wants to stay the course with a 24/7 NHS and his commitment to HS2, Mr Harvey wants to scrap HS2 yet also scrap the BBC License Fee, insisting on social media he wants to save taxpayers money. Ms Faure has taken a hardline approach against China in terms of investment and wants to offer incentives to immigrants to voluntarily leave the United Kingdom similar to what other countries have done in Europe. It will be interesting to see if any of these candidates can truly unite the party as they all have different policy positions but one thing is for certain; although Sir John is seen as the frontrunner, analysts say this race is wide open and anyone can win. All eyes are on the Conservative party over the coming weeks to see who will come out on top.

[Brown]

Chilcot Report: Tony Blair's Iraq War Case Not Justified

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-36712735