Speaking in response to a ministerial statement, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott said:

“My colleague Lords Alf Dubs is right, this is shutting the door on the most vulnerable. The Government must end these efforts to prevent refugees arriving here. This is not who we are.”

“The Minister is wriggling out of the government’s obligation to accept child refugees.

“But the internationally agreed principles and the Dubs Amendment were never conceived as a “one-off”. They should continue to commit to meeting their international treaty obligations and our own laws.”

Two people were slightly injured in a boiler explosion at a chemical plant in Tongling City of east China’s Anhui Province on Wednesday night, local authorities said.

The two suffered minor cut from glass fragments and were sent to hospital for treatment.

The accident happened at around 10:50 p.m. in a suburb area, according to Tongling’s fire department. The fire had been bought under control.

Video footage on microblog Sina Weibo showed huge fire, and heavy smoke billowed into the sky.

Preliminary investigation showed the explosion was caused by fuel oil burning, and no dangerous chemical products were involved, said Zou He, director of the public security bureau of Tongling.

8 February 2017

The Green Party has responded to the Government’s announcement it will take only 350 lone child refugees instead of a proposed 3000 [1].

Jonathan Bartley, Green Party co-leader, said:

“This announcement, which the Tories have tried to sneak out just before recess, is an absolute disgrace. This is nowhere near the 3000 originally proposed by Lord Dubs and it equates to less than one per local authority in the UK. Any claim by the Prime Minister to be a compassionate Conservative is utterly undermined by the dereliction of duty to some of the most vulnerable people in the world. The Government should have been doing far more to support local authorities. I have visited Calais and seen firsthand the horrifying daily risks the children there faced and how desperate for safety they were. This is a national scandal, which disgraces us all. The Government should hang its head in shame.”

Notes:

1. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/08/dubs-scheme-lone-child-refugees-uk-closed-down

Tweet

Back to main news page

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Shadow Secretary
of Health, has today written to the Prime Minister to ask for clarity regarding
funding arrangements for social care at Surrey County Council.

The full text of the letter is below.

The Prime Minister

10 Downing Street

London SW1A 2AA

Prime Minister,

I am writing to you in light of today’s revelations about
text messages sent by the leader of Surrey County Council which suggest that
the Government has agreed to funding arrangements for social care that allow
the cancellation of a proposed referendum on a council tax increase in this
Council.

Given your failure to provide clarity on the issue when
asked in the Chamber today, and bearing in mind the great importance of this issue
given the crisis faced by social care in our country, I am hereby requesting
for the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to make an
urgent statement to the House tomorrow.

This news has caused considerable embarrassment to the Government,
in particular the Secretary of State for Health and the Chancellor of the
Exchequer. To rule out any suggestions of wrongdoing, the Government now needs
to confirm that no special deal has been offered or granted to Surrey County
Council.

 I believe that the British public deserve full transparency
on the issue. In the public interest, I therefore ask you to publish
immediately and without delay;

1. The memorandum of understanding referenced in the text
messages sent by the leader of Surrey County Council;

2. All text message correspondence between Surrey County
Council and Government officials in the Cabinet Office, the Department for
Communities and Local Government, the Department of Health, and the Treasury
regarding social care funding and/or the proposed referendum;

3. All written or electronic correspondence between Surrey
County Council and Government officials in the Cabinet Office, the Department
for Communities and Local Government, the Department of Health, and the
Treasury regarding social care funding and/or the proposed referendum;

4. Details and minutes of all meetings held between Surrey
County Council and Government officials in the Cabinet Office, the Department
for Communities and Local Government, the Department of Health, and the
Treasury regarding social care funding and/or the proposed referendum.

Additionally, as the Prime Minister knows the Ministerial
Code requires holders of public office to “act and take decisions in an open and
transparent manner” and that “information should not be withheld from the
public unless there are clear and lawful reasons for doing so”. I am therefore
asking you to confirm that any misconduct by Ministers related to this matter
will be investigated and treated as a breach of the Ministerial Code.

Given the questions these news raise about proper conduct
and transparency of Government policy-making, I am sending a copy of this
letter to the Director General of the Propriety and Ethics Team. I will also be
publishing this letter.

Yours sincerely,

Jonathan Ashworth MP

cc. Sue Gray, Director General, Propriety and Ethics Team
and Head of Private Offices Group