6:36 am, August 5, 2024
Cobra meeting planned after thugs target hotels housing asylum seekers
Downing Street is expected to hold a Cobra emergency response meeting on Monday after ‘thugs’ tried to storm hotels housing asylum seekers on the sixth day of escalating disorder.
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer vowed rioters would ‘regret’ engaging in ‘far-right thuggery’ and promised those involved in unrest would ‘face the full force of the law’ as he addressed the nation on Sunday.
Monday’s meeting is due to involve relevant ministers and police representatives who will discuss the response in the coming days to ensure there is no repeat of the violent scenes.
PM tells rioters ‘you will regret it’ as mosques offered emergency support
Keir Starmer vowed rioters would ‘regret’ engaging in ‘far-right thuggery’ after a sixth day of escalating violence in England as the government announced emergency security for mosques amid the threat of further disorder.
In a televised address to the nation, the prime minister condemned an attack on a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham and promised those involved in unrest would ‘face the full force of the law’.
Speaking from Downing Street, Sir Keir suggested that rioters taking to the streets, and those ‘whipping up this action online and then running away themselves’, would face consequences.
Ministers told to ‘disregard’ strike laws from next week
Unions have welcomed a government decision to ‘disregard’ Tory-era laws aimed at restricting the scale of disruption from industrial action from next week, in a move likely to come under attack from opposition critics.
The Fire Brigades’ Union hailed the ‘beginning of the end’ while Unison celebrated the reversal of ‘unworkable and divisive anti-strike’ legislation after it emerged the restrictions will start to be rolled back.
Government departments will be told from next week to effectively ignore the legal requirement for workers to provide a minimum level of service during walkouts, as first reported by the Observer. The law will be eventually be officially repealed, as the new government promised in the King’s Speech, but Cabinet ministers will be told to disregard the restrictions, deemed a ‘pointless gimmick’ by Labour, early.
Listen to the latest Car Dealer Podcast
Octopus EV’s Natalia Peralta Silverstone joins Jon Reay and James Baggott this week, and they chat about Mike Brewer’s scam warning, Mark Raban to head up Group 1 Automotive and Inchcape, and why Baggott is (probably) wrong about EVs.
North Korea deploys 250 nuclear-capable missile launchers
North Korea marked the delivery of 250 nuclear-capable missile launchers to frontline military units at a ceremony where leader Kim Jong Un called for a ceaseless expansion of his military’s nuclear programme to counter perceived US threats, state media said.
Concerns about Mr Kim’s nuclear programme have grown as he has demonstrated an intent to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons along the country’s border with South Korea and authorised his military to respond with pre-emptive nuclear strikes if it perceives the leadership as under threat.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said the launchers were freshly produced by the country’s munitions factories and designed to fire ‘tactical’ ballistic missiles, a term that describes systems capable of delivering lower-yield nuclear weapons.
First quarterly fall in average price paid for motor cover in two years
The average price paid for motor cover fell by £13 when comparing the period April to June with January to March, marking the first quarterly decrease in two years, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI).
Typical motor insurance premiums fell by 2% in April to June this year compared with the first quarter of 2024, taking the average price paid to £622. The drop follows a 1% increase to premiums in the first quarter of this year, when the average premium was £635.
Despite the quarterly drop in premiums, on an annual basis, average premiums were 21% or around £111 higher in the second quarter of this year. In the second quarter of 2023, the average premium was £511.
Weather
A mixed picture for the UK today, reports BBC Weather, with the north seeing cloud and rain as will the south west, while the south east will remain dry with sun and patchy cloud. Highs of 26 degrees in the south and 22 in the north.
Tonight, the north and west will see heavy band of rain move in, while thunderstorms will arrive in the south. Dry elsewhere.
