China has cleared and settled 1,845 cases involving 4,459 suspects, who were placed in custody for more than three years without being charged, said sources with the Supreme People’s Procuratorate on Saturday. The number represents all the cases unvei… read more
Gill Furniss MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Steel, Postal Services and Consumer Protection, responding to news that the Chancellor will unveil details of the Government’s upcoming Consumer Green Paper in the Budget, including action on subscription traps and simplifying small print said:
“The data from Citizens Advice makes clear that misleading consumer practices are extremely widespread, with over 40 per cent of British people paying for a subscription they don’t use.
“Consumers need much better protection from stealthy subscriptions which often start automatically after a free trial. Clear notifications that billing or price changes are about to begin should be the minimum that consumers can expect. At present, companies have no incentive to improve, so allowing enforcement bodies to impose fines is a positive step.
“While these changes are welcome, the Tories with their light-touch approach have an abysmal track record on protecting consumers. Only last summer they sat back and watched Ofgem and the Competitions and Markets Authority effectively blame consumers for allowing energy companies to rip them off to the tune of £1.4billion a year. And to the surprise of no one, energy bills have just been hiked yet again. Labour would implement a price cap to properly protect consumers.
“These are sensible proposals, but if the Tories continue to ignore the big issues then British consumers will continue to be short-changed. It’s about time this government started taking its responsibility to UK consumers seriously.”
read moreI am glad the Lords have confirmed what I have long argued that the UK has no legal obligations under the EU Treaties to pay any one off exit payment or any continuing contributions after departure.
They missed out the even more important point – UK Ministers have no legal power to make any one off or continuing payments after leaving. The payments would not be authorised. The legal base of the Treaty supports our regular contributions but not the payments the EU have in mind.
The EU may well think it a good idea to ease the problems they have on our departure by charging us a huge sum for daring to leave. The answer is a simple and polite No to that request.
The EU needs to concentrate on making sure it still has tariff free access to our market, which they also need. The good news is we are happy to offer them that. The bad news is they do not seem to be able to agree anything amongst themselves about how to respo0nd to Brexit. The EU Commission also seems to think it should try and threaten and bully us, when the sensible approach is to be helpful and courteous, as we are towards them.
The UK is offering them tariff free trade and the full rights of EU citizens to stay and work in our country. That’s a great and generous offer. Why can’t they simply do the same civilised thing? Why don’t they take seriously their legal obligations under their own Treaty to have good relations with a neighbouring state with a flourishing trade?
read moreA special court for environmental cases has been established in northwest China’s Qinghai Province to provide legal service for environmental protection work in the Sanjiangyuan area. The Sanjiangyuan environmental court, affiliated with the Yushu Cit… read more
A spokesman for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government said on Saturday that foreign governments should not interfere in the internal affairs of the Hong Kong SAR. In response to the U.S. Department of State’s human rights report… read more