Calls for arena ticket levy and tax relief to stop music venue closure 'crisis'

A cut in VAT and a new levy on arena and stadium tickets are urgently needed to stop grassroots music venues from closing, MPs have said.

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WATCH: Britons make feelings clear on Keir Starmer's immigration plan

Britons have made their stance on Keir Starmer’s immigration plan clear in a series of interviews with GB News.

Ray Addison took to the streets to gauge the public sentiment towards the proposals set out by the Labour leader, which include the Rwanda scheme being scrapped.

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The SNP in Scotland and Labour in Wales have failed their devolved governments, says John Redwood

The rapid implosion of the Scottish government reveals what happens when reality breaks through. The SNP/Green government had set unrealistic targets to get people out of petrol cars and into heat pumps.

When they decided to own up to the fantasies they had proposed the Greens were unhappy and then were evicted.

The truth is the devolved government of Scotland with the SNP in government and the devolved government of Wales with Labour in office have failed to run good public services, have put taxes up and have gone in for expensive posturing.

Far from giving their parts of the UK a faster growth rate or more prosperity, they have held their areas back with more regulations, more interventions and bad management.

Welsh health waiting lists and waits are longer than in England. School standards in Scotland are below England. Wales is literally grinding to a halt as 20mph limits are introduced to make it slower to get to work or make a delivery.

The devolved governments are good at playing politics, blaming the UK government for anything that is poor and claiming credit for anything good, whatever the cause and wherever the initiative and money came from.

The poor performance and big overhead of the devolved governments is reflected in all too many of the UK and devolved quangos, so called independent bodies.

They do not even have the redeeming virtue of devolved governments that they are accountable to electors who can change their management if they annoy.

We have a nationalised Post office which imprisoned some of its decent staff on trumped up charges and lost taxpayers a shedload of money.

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We have a Bank of England that gave us 11 per cent inflation whilst promising us it would stay around 2 per cent. It has now sent us a bill so far for £49billion for its excessive losses on buying and selling bonds.

It is taking over our budgets as it sends the bills for its losses to taxpayers and may lose tens of billions more.

We have Ofwat that has not managed to regulate water companies to combine affordable bills with more pipe capacity to avoid so many sewage spills.

There is the Environment Agency who has allowed large building programmes on flood plain leading to more flooding and who failed to man the pumps and clear the ditches in some crucial areas.

We have HS2 Ltd, a government owned company, unable to build a new railway line to within three times the original budget or to timetable so the government has had to abandon part of the promised scheme.

I am all in favour of consulting and using good experts. I want a doctor who knows about medicine and an economist who knows how to control inflation and promote growth.

What the country does not need is bodies packed with experts who get it wrong or hold views many of the public dislike.

The Bank of England all my life has allowed or promoted boom/bust cycles by wayward monetary policy.

The nationalised industries have specialised in making big losses and sending taxpayers the bill. We have too much government, competing to take our freedoms away.

The mess of traffic policies in Wales with the devolved government pursuing its anti vehicle and driver policy sums up what goes wrong when government runs amok.

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Yousaf 'not ashamed to say' resignation drama has been 'difficult' for his mental health

Humza Yousaf said he's "not ashamed at all" to admit his mental health suffered in the wake of his resignation as Scottish first minister.

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Tom Tugendhat vows to 'expel' hate preachers from the UK in fresh crackdown

Security Minister Tom Tugendhat has announced a ban on hate preachers and extremists from entering the UK.

Appearing on GB News, the minister confirmed that those who "start spreading hate" will be "expelled from the country".

FULL STORY HERE.

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​Tom Tugendhat announces crackdown on hate preachers and extremists from entering UK: 'A visa is a privilege!'

Security Minister Tom Tugendhat has announced a ban on hate preachers and extremists from entering the UK.

Appearing on GB News, the minister confirmed that those who "start spreading hate" will be "expelled from the country".

In discussion with Martin Daubney, Tugendhat says he has been "working hard" with the Foreign Office to make sure that the authorities "know exactly who is trying to come here and why".

He added that the ban "is something the government should be doing", and hailed the plans for the ban.

Tugendhat stated: "A visa is a privilege. It's not a right. You have no right to come here if you're a foreigner.

"You're only allowed here if what you are doing here is to the advantage of the British people more widely."

The minister said people are encouraged to come to the UK to "visit family, to visit friends, and to work".

He told GB News: "We love that. That's great. But it's not spread hate, not to divide us."

Martin then asked Tugendhat how the Government would "forcibly remove" those who have "slipped through the net", including those who have "arrived on a dinghy and we have no idea who they are".

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Tugendhat responded: "Anybody who's here on a visa, we can take it away. This is something we've already been doing since those protests started in October. Look at what we've already done on some of those student visas.

"If you come here to study, fantastic, you're very welcome, come and learn, come and study. What do you need to do? Take those skills home, develop a growing career for yourself. That's wonderful. Our universities are here to help."

Tugendhat stated: "If you come here claiming you want to study, but you then start spreading hatred, you then decide that you want to divide communities, Jewish communities from Muslim communities in our country, I'm afraid that's not what your visa's for.

"Let's be clear. If that's what you want to do, go find somewhere else to do it. We've already taken visas away from some students who've been here to study, and have decided that that's not what they actually thought, what they actually wanted to do. Instead, they wanted to join these protests and spread anti-Jewish hatred. Well, we're not having that, and we've taken their visas away."

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Elphicke's defection doesn't sit well with most people in the Labour Party, says former MP

A former Labour MP has said he would have told Natalie Elphicke the party was full had he received her application to join.

Stephen Pound described some of Elphicke’s comments as ‘downright offensive’ and said the decision to admit her ‘sits very badly with me.’

Speaking on GB News Stephen Pound said: “The Lord loves a sinner who repented. But in all honesty, if I'd been the chief whip at the time and we’d got this application from Natalie Elphicke I would have said, we're full and there's a waiting list.

“I think this doesn't go down very well at all. Nobody could say I was on the left of the Labour Party, quite the contrary, but this sits very badly with me.

|When you think that some of her comments were just downright offensive and I think in all honesty, if she was disgusted with the Tory party, as she clearly and demonstrably is, then why not just sit as an independent?

“Anneliese Dodds was playing a good hand and, in her place, I would have done the same thing: concentrating on the policy differences. But in all honesty, how can someone with those views undergo such a Damascene conversion?

“Talk about U turns on the road to Damascus - more than a Syrian taxi driver. It’s an absolutely extraordinary situation and really, it does not sit well with me. I don't think it sits well with most people in the Labour party.

“But having said that, what else could we have done? We could hardly have said ‘no, we don't want you’ when we're trying to appeal to a broad swathe of the British people. Sometimes I think that swathe is perhaps a little bit too broad.

“I think the Dan Poulter case is much more interesting. He’s a practicing GP in the health service, who actually for a long time has been critical of Tory policy on the health service. So I think that's much more reasonable, you can understand the sort of the organic process that's been.

“But Natalie Elphicke, to flip overnight in this way, if the rest of the country is going to go the same way there's only going to be three Tory MPs left.

“There's a Labour candidate, Mike Tapp, who's already been adopted as our candidate in Dover and Deal and he was there yesterday, and actually just stressing the fact that there's no way that he’s going to stand down for her. And to be fair, Natalie Elphicke’s not asking that.

She’s not going to go to the House of Lords: That would simply be impossible. That would be the straw that broke the camel's back.

“A quango? I don't know. I mean, she's actually not an untalented person and there is clearly a role for her in the future. She's not going to go and sit in the garden shed for the rest of her life, she's going to be doing something, but I don't think that that's going to be through the grace and favour of the Labour Party.”

WATCH ABOVE.

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Labour insists no place for Nigel Farage in party after defection of right-wing MP

Nigel Farage would not be accepted into Labour because his values are "completely inimical" to the party, a shadow frontbencher said.

from Political News - International and UK Politics | Sky News https://ift.tt/uElzi5N

MoD Cyberattack: UK should develop capability to ‘launch retaliatory strike’

A member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee Royston Smith has warned that the UK must ‘enhance its capability to defend itself’ after a suspected Chinese cyberattack on the Ministry of Defence.

The Conservative MP claimed that the UK needed to start “developing the capability” to launch “retaliatory cyberattacks” to prevent hostile actors from harming the UK.

He claims that the latest hack on the MoD bears all the hallmarks of a “significant and professional attack”.

Hackers obtained access to payroll information, including details such as names, bank details, and addresses of serving military personnel in the cyberattack on the MoD.

It is thought that over 2,000 individuals have been impacted by this data breach, including military veterans.

Whilst the MoD has not confirmed which country carried out the cyberattack, it has been reported that the Government suspects China to be behind the attack.

This comes only weeks after hackers closely aligned with China carried out an attack on the Electoral Commission, putting at risk data belonging to over 40 million registered voters in the UK,

Speaking to GB News, Smith said: “The UK suffers from thousands of cyberattacks every year some from non-state actors and some from state actors.

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“Our intelligence services will have no doubt discovered where that (MoD) attack came from.”

MPs have expressed concern in the House of Commons about the latest cyberattack and warned that the Government must do more to deal with the growing threats from countries like China.

Former Conservative party leader, Sir Iain Duncan-Smith said: “Given that the FBI Director has said China has a cyber espionage capacity so vast it dwarfs everyone else and given that in 2023 the UK deputy Prime Minister said the UK Government was considering placing the People's Republic of China (PRC) into the Foreign Influence Registration Tier.

“Why on earth don't we take the decision to place this 'malign actor' (PRC) into that enhanced tier and deal with them accordingly.”

While former Army Captain and Conservative MP, Bob Seely said: “It is a little frustrating to be told that one’s bank details and national insurance number are winging their way to Beijing.”

Elsewhere, other MPs were aiming their criticism at the Foreign Office for their handling of the situation with, Conservative MP and former Armed Forces Minister Mark Francois saying: “This will be very worrying for service personnel and their families and for veterans, who will feel disrespected by the fact that the Government seem to have briefed that it was China overnight, and then not had the nerve to confirm that in the House today because someone rang up from the Foreign Office and said, don’t do that.

“When, oh when, will we start standing up to the Chinese in the way that they are clearly not frightened of doing to us.”

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Welsh parliament votes to increase members by more than 50%

The Welsh parliament has voted to approve an increase of more than 50% in its number of members.

from Political News - International and UK Politics | Sky News https://ift.tt/7RLzivw

'We must not give into those who hate Britain and all we have achieved', says Jacob Rees Mogg

Last week's election results were a thumping defeat for the Tories, and a warning of what is likely to follow at a general election.

Although Labour under Keir Starmer is not as popular as New Labour under Blair, the electorate is wary of a Conservative Party that has no vision.

All we seem to offer is an arguably competent management of the status quo, which the Labour Party seeks to mimic. Yet the status quo is not good enough. Public services are not of a satisfactory standard at the moment.

HMRC cannot be bothered to answer the telephone and sets response targets that it does not meet. Minor motoring infringements lead to driving bans, unnecessary checks on safe food from the EU will push up prices and stop some goods coming in.

The government seems set on managing for the concerns of the manager, not for the voters.

This needs to change. The little inconveniences of life must be removed and officialdom must work for the citizen, not the other way round.

Legal migration needs to be reduced further as it harms the standard of living of the poorest, the most. It can be brought down by ministerial action and does not need primary legislation.

Illegal migration must be dealt with more promptly and flights Rwanda needs to become a reality. The war on the motorist must stop. 20 MPH limits removed as even the Welsh Government has realised they are useless and annoying and the power of councils to find for trivial infringements must go. These little routes just make people's lives a little bit more difficult.

Green policies that make us cold and poor need to be suspended, surcharges on electricity ought to fall on the state, not the consumer or businesses, making us less competitive. And the ambition for net zero should be delayed until there is affordable technology, or other countries begin to catch up. The ban on petrol and diesel cars must go, not just be delayed by a few years.

We need to build more homes that are beautiful and not ones that have tiny upstairs windows for fictional health and safety purposes. Those entering the workforce today must have the hope of owning their own home within the next few years, rather than waiting for an inheritance.

We must stop the war on our own supporters, our own Conservative supporters, by ending the attacks on those who let out property, whether as holiday lets or as short holds. We must stop attacking second home owners, most of whom are probably conservative.

We must deal with the terrible marginal rates that led to a constituent - a constituent wrote to me last week saying he is turning down a job earning £120,000 a year because he's just as well off on £80,000 and has less stress. These vicious marginal rates are damaging to economic activity and harsh on the individuals who are affected by them.

We must support our nation by being proud of its noble history and not giving in to those who hate Britain and all we have achieved. We must not kowtow to the woke agenda or adjust our language to satisfy fanatics.

In short, we must be conservative and show ourselves to be on the side of voters. Trust the people is a better slogan than Coalition of Chaos.

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Sir Iain Duncan Smith demands China sanctions after MoD hack: 'We need to take it on!'

Senior Tory MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith has said the UK should be imposing economic sanctions on China, following claims that the country has hacked the Ministry of Defence.

Sir Iain said he believed there was conflict within Whitehall about how to handle China but warned the country’s purpose was to ‘destroy democracy’ and the country needs to ‘take it on.’

Speaking on GB News, Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: “My view on this is very clearly that I think there is a bit of confliction inside the government. I think the Foreign Office is very opposed to taking on China, because of business and all the other reasons they give.

“I think in places like defence, they are wanting to name names and to start squaring up to China on this. So, the reality is that our problem starts with the integrated review. When Rishi Sunak was trying to be Prime Minister, he said they were a ‘systemic threat.’

“When we got the integrator review refreshed it turned out that they were in fact an ‘epoch defining challenge’.

“The brilliant thing about it was we were going to meet that challenge with a ‘robust pragmatism’. Now that sounds like a scriptwriter of Yes, Prime Minister had got in.

“I argued endlessly that you have to claim that they are a threat. They are a threat. They know they're a threat. Everybody else knows that. The Americans know they're a threat. They were responsible for Covid, so you don't get a much bigger threat than that.

“Clearly overnight, somebody from the MOD briefed that they knew that it was more likely than not that it was China - they were the malign actor. And then in the morning, the government got worried that that would be done on the basis they don't have the full facts.

“So the truth is, it's almost certainly China, after all I think the FBI described China as having the biggest cyber warfare unit in the world, dwarfing everybody else's including their own.

“There are malign. They have a purpose in life, which is to destroy democracy, human rights, and freedom. They are against democracy completely and they've made it clear from the beginning their purpose in life is to destroy those elements and return the world to autocracy.

“That is their plan, and we need to take it on.

“I just made the point also, that it was nearly two years ago that the American services told us - secretly - that China had hacked the Electoral Commission and was hacking a large number of MPs.

“It took us a year and a half to finally come back to the despatch box and accept that there was China that did it. And I think the reason why they don't want to do this, is because what follows next must be sanctions. And sanctions mean when you are in a standoff with China. And that has to be the case. America is already in that position; we should be in the same.”

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'Disgraceful!' Welsh Labour shrugs off concerns criminal gangs could exploit £1,600 a month cash scheme

A Welsh Senedd member who raised concerns over criminal gangs exploiting a payment scheme for asylum seekers was slapped down as "disgraceful" today in a shocking deflection by First Minister Vaughan Gething.

James Evans, the Conservative Senedd Member for Brecon and Radnorshire, had pressed the First Minister on the measures the Welsh Government had in place to "safeguard" asylum-seeking children "from all forms of criminal gangs" - but his concerns were slammed as "demonising" vulnerable people.

Evans said: "The UK Government's Rwanda plan targets deterring illegal migration, putting in place a deterrent to stop people entering the UK illegally, and protect the most vulnerable people fleeing persecution from disgusting criminal gangs.

"The Welsh Government has supported unaccompanied asylum-seeking children by allocating £2.57million for 67 children from the UBI pilot..."

But he was interrupted mid-question by a chorus of shouts from around the chamber - to which he responded by urging Senedd Members to show respect.

Evans continued: "In light of this, can you elaborate on the special measures the Welsh Government has put in place to safeguard those children from all forms of criminal gangs - because what we could see from this scheme is a way for those criminal gangs to access money and exploit the most vulnerable people in our society.

"That's not something I want to see, it's not something my group wants to see, but the Welsh Government needs to take this issue seriously - because this is something that could really happen to vulnerable children."

In response, Gething said: "The member draws a link between illegal migrants and the Rwanda scheme, and the care leavers pilot on UBI - and I think the attempt to do that is genuinely disgraceful.

Labour Senedd Members echoed Gething's retort, as shouts of "shocking" rang out around the chamber.

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The First Minister continued: "I don't believe that the Rwanda scheme will be effective; even the Home Office acknowledges they could only remove around one per cent of people seeking asylum in the UK through the scheme - that's an entirely separate issue from the UBI pilot for care leavers.

"These are asylum-seeking children: some of the most vulnerable people in our entire country.

"And the UBI pilot is about how can you better support people to make choices; to make sure they are not left vulnerable; to make sure they are not demonised by voices in our politics who are not interested in the facts.

"I encourage James Evans to think again about the link he drew, and to reflect on that, and to think when he next meets care leavers and when he next talks about the basic income pilot, whether he is prepared to look at a better path of who he is and who he wants to be... and not draw such a disgraceful link again."

Wales's voluntary UBI scheme had been launched in 2022 by then-First Minister Mark Drakeford, and aimed to give care leavers who turned 18 between July 2022 and June 2023 a £1,600 monthly payment every month for two years.

At its inception, Evans had described it as a "socialist pipe dream" which "would pay millionaires the same income as criminals".

Last year, it had received flak from Rishi Sunak for being open to "illegal migrants" - which the Welsh Government initially denied before a written question from Welsh Conservatives pushed them to admit asylum seekers were eligible.

Their leader, Andrew RT Davies, said: "Illegal migrants should not be getting a monthly payment in Wales, and this policy from Labour is nonsensical.

"The universal basic income scheme is a colossal waste of tens of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money and the eligibility of illegal migrants will act as an unacceptable pull factor to the benefit of evil people smugglers.

"Vaughan Gething should swallow his pride, admit this policy was a failure, and focus on the Welsh people’s priorities."

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Defence secretary confirms name of contractor running MoD system hacked by China

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has confirmed the name of the contractor running the Ministry of Defence's payroll system that was hacked by China.

from Political News - International and UK Politics | Sky News https://ift.tt/ndCsA53

Nigel Farage reacts to the rise of the 'Muslim vote' in UK elections: 'This is our country in 2024'

GB News presenter Nigel Farage has feared for the rise in "sectarian politics" in Britain, following the results and viral videos coming out of the local elections.

Speaking on his show, Nigel warned: "This is what you see everywhere. There were about 40 council seats won by people standing on a Gaza agenda.

"Some stood for the Green Party, some stood for Galloway, some stood as independents. And this all took place in areas that are Muslim majority wards. If that's not a sectarian vote, I don't know what is."

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Patrick Christys warns of rise in 'political Islam' in Britain following local elections

GB News presenter Patrick Christys has hit out at the rise of "political Islam" and "sectarian politics" in Britain, following the local elections last week.

Speaking on his show, Patrick said: "What's the vetting process for these people to be candidates? Where's the scrutiny? Is it not very telling that Labour's response to people with these?

"I would argue radical views displayed in a ranting, quite threatening manner is to say that they want to win them back, not distance themselves. I think that political Islam is here in Britain and it looks like it's here to stay."

WATCH ABOVE.

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Government 'gaslighting' public about state of economy, Labour to claim

The government is "gaslighting" the public about the state of the economy, the shadow chancellor will say on Tuesday.

from Political News - International and UK Politics | Sky News https://ift.tt/u2QOwqC

How Wales's Senedd came from 'local authority-like' to 'fully-fledged parliament' in 25 years

It's 25 years since voters in Wales first elected members to the Welsh parliament.

from Political News - International and UK Politics | Sky News https://ift.tt/g50dWza