UKIP’s Foreign Affairs spokesman condemns yesterday’s devastating attack on innocent passengers of the St Petersburg Metro

UKIP’s Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs spokesman James Carver MEP condemned yesterday’s devastating attack on innocent passengers of the St Petersburg Metro, which left 14 dead and dozens more injured.

Mr Carver said: “My heartfelt sympathy goes to all those affected by this atrocity and to the Russian people. It was nothing less than an act of sheer barbarism.”

“This is the fifth time Russia’s transport infrastructure has been attacked since 2007 – all of which have claimed serious loss of life.

Disgraceful that Theresa May calls for closer UK ties with brutal Saudi Arabia

Responding to calls from Theresa May today for closer ties with Saudi Arabia, UKIP’s Women’s and Equalities spokeswoman, Margot Parker MEP said:

“Whilst visiting Saudi Arabia, we call on the Prime Minister to raise the issue of horrific human rights abuse which takes place in that state every day.

“Theresa May must convey to the Saudi authorities that women are not second class citizens.

“To ignore brutal abuses on women and the flagrant discrimination against religious minorities in Saudi Arabia is to condone what is going on in this brutal regime.

It’s time the Government started giving mental health services the money they need – Barbara Keeley

Barbara Keeley MP,
Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Minister for Mental Health, commenting on the NHS report on Out of Area
Placements In Mental Health Services for February, said:

“These statistics show yet another rise in the number of mental health patients
being treated hundreds of miles away from their homes due to lack of beds in
their local area. These are some of the most vulnerable people in our
communities and the fact that some are having to go over 180 miles from where
they live just to get a bed creates extra pressures on them and their families.

“Last week’s NHS Five Year Forward View report says that some areas of the NHS
have: ‘…been living off bail-outs arbitrarily taken from other parts of
the country or from services such as mental health’. Using mental health
budgets to plug financial black holes elsewhere is leading to issues like these
out of area placements.

“The Tory government has talked a lot about parity of esteem between physical
and mental health but the reality is simply not matching the rhetoric. It’s
time the Government ended the warm words and started giving mental health
services the money they need.”

A new ten-year strategy to improve Scotland’s mental health

Today I want to talk about something which I know will be of huge personal importance to many readers – mental health.

Press release: HMRC launches new Fraud Hotline

HM Revenue and Customs has launched a new hotline for the public to report fraud and evasion in the fight against tax fraud.

This service will replace the two separate tax evasion and customs hotlines with one, streamlining HMRC’s intelligence gathering on tax fraud.

Customers can report all kinds of tax fraud and evasion on the new hotline, including PAYE and National Insurance fraud, undisclosed offshore investments, non-payment of the National Minimum Wage, tax credit fraud, failure to pay UK duty, tax evasion and VAT fraud.

Jennie Granger, HMRC’s Director General for Customer Compliance, said:

Information provided by the public is a crucial element of HMRC’s work to close the tax gap, so it’s vital that the reporting process is as simple and accessible as possible. The HMRC Fraud Hotline will form an important part of our intelligence gathering operations to bring in more money for the Exchequer and the country.

We encourage the public to continue to work with us and report any suspected fraud or evasion to us for investigation.

The HMRC Fraud Hotline – on 0800 788 887 – is open between 8am – 8pm seven days a week, 365 days a year.
You can also report online using our digital form available on GOV.UK.
In the last financial year we received over 113,000 reports from members of the public providing information to the department.
An audio clip for broadcast can be found here