6:53 am, January 15, 2023
Nurses threaten to double down as NHS strikes reportedly cause Cabinet rift
The health secretary has reportedly told unions he wants to persuade the Treasury to offer higher pay rises to NHS workers, while nurses have threatened to double down on strike efforts next month.
Unison’s Sara Gorton has revealed that Steve Barclay’s tone has been ‘very different’ in negotiations this week, and he privately told unions he wanted to secure a better pay offer from Number 10, according to The Observer. The newspaper suggested this had opened up a Cabinet split, with prime minister Rishi Sunak and chancellor Jeremy Hunt refusing to move from their stance that the government cannot make health workers an improved offer.
Meanwhile, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has warned that double the number of nurses will be asked to strike in early February in a bid to increase pressure on the government.
Girl in critical condition and five more injured in gun attack outside church
A seven-year-old girl is in a life-threatening condition following a suspected drive-by shooting outside a church in Euston, while another girl and four women have been injured in the same incident.
The Metropolitan Police said officers were called to a shooting outside a memorial service which was being held in St Aloysius Roman Catholic Church on Phoenix Road, at about 1.30pm on Saturday.
Two children were injured: a seven-year-old girl who remains in a critical condition; and a 12-year-old girl who has been discharged after receiving treatment for minor leg injuries. A 21-year-old woman is also in a central London hospital. Police said her injuries were non life-threatening. Three women: aged 41, 48, and 54; remain in hospital with non life-threatening injuries, though the 48-year-old’s injuries could be life-changing, police have said.
PM orders British international diplomatic blitz to secure weapons for Ukraine
The PM will deploy his ministers on an international diplomatic blitz to galvanise support for Ukraine after agreeing to provide British tanks to Kyiv.
Rishi Sunak signed-off on sending British Army Challenger 2 main battle tanks to the front line in eastern Europe during a phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday. Downing Street has since confirmed that 14 tanks will be handed over as part of the agreement and around 30 AS90s — large, self-propelled guns operated by five gunners — are expected to follow.
Sunak has also asked the foreign secretary and defence secretary to meet with allies across the globe in a bid to encourage them to follow suit in providing Ukraine with support in the battle against Russia.
UK sanctions Iran’s chief prosecutor after execution of British-Iranian national
The UK has sanctioned Iran’s prosecutor general after the ‘barbaric regime’ executed a dual British-Iranian national on spy charges.
Foreign secretary James Cleverly said the move ‘underlines our disgust’ at the decision to put Alireza Akbari to death.
Prosecutor general Mohammad Jafar Montazeri is at the ‘heart of Iran’s use of the death penalty’, the Cabinet minister added.
It comes after Iranian state media on Saturday announced that Akbari, a former Tehran defence official who was seen by the Islamic Republic as a reforming moderate, had been hanged.
Home secretary tells Holocaust survivor she ‘won’t apologise’ for ‘invasion’ rhetoric
Suella Braverman has said she will not apologise for her language after a Holocaust survivor told the home secretary her description of migrants as an ‘invasion’ was akin to rhetoric the Nazis used to justify murdering her family.
Braverman was confronted by Joan Salter, 83, during a meeting in her Fareham constituency in Hampshire on Friday evening.
Salter, who has been recognised with an MBE for her work on Holocaust education, likened Braverman’s rhetoric on migrants attempting to cross the English Channel to that used by the Nazis during the Second World War.
SNP could fight next Holyrood election as de facto independence referendum
The SNP has set out the option of fighting the next Holyrood election as a de facto independence referendum.
The party is to hold a Special Democracy Conference in March to decide the way forward to secure independence, after the UK Supreme Court ruled in November that the Scottish Parliament does not have the power to hold another vote on the issue.
Following the Supreme Court ruling, Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon said the SNP will fight the next general election as a de facto referendum. However the SNP’s National Executive Committee (NEC) on Saturday also set out the alternative option of contesting the next Scottish Parliament election in 2026 on that basis.
Flood warnings increase as UK braces for colder spell
More than 100 flood warnings are in place across the UK as the cold and wet conditions are forecast to continue well into next week.
The Environment Agency had issued 119 flood warnings and 192 flood alerts in England as of early Sunday morning, up from 98 warnings and 169 alerts on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Met Office had put multiple yellow warnings in place as the mercury is expected to fall even further. A warning for ice covering much of Scotland and the north-west and north-east of England suggests there could be ‘icy surfaces and high-ground snow leading to some difficult travelling conditions in places on Saturday night and Sunday morning’.
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Drivers warned that potholes will ‘start peppering the roads’
Drivers are being warned to expect a surge in potholes due to the large amount of rain that fell either side of December’s freezing temperatures.
The RAC warned that the weather has created “the perfect recipe for potholes to start peppering the roads”.
The organisation responded to an average of 20 call-outs a day for faults such as damaged shock absorbers, broken suspension springs and distorted wheels between October and December last year. That was up from 16 a day during the previous three months.
Jeep Avenger named as European Car of the Year
Jeep’s first electric car – the Avenger – has been crowned as the 2023 European Car of the Year.
Announced on Friday (Jan 13) at an event held at the Brussels Motor Show, it’s the first time a Jeep has even made a finalist in the awards, which are voted for by 57 motoring journalists from across 22 European countries. The Volkswagen ID. Buzz and Nissan Ariya were runners up.
The Avenger – a Jeep designed, engineered and manufactured in Europe – is a new model for the firm, and shares an electric powertrain with various other Stellantis products, albeit with a more rugged focus than sibling products from DS, Peugeot and Vauxhall.
Weather outlook
A potentially drier day for parts of England, Wales and southern Scotland, reports BBC Weather. It’ll be bright in northern parts while staying cloudy in central England and Wales. Showers will continue in the far north, falling as snow. A cold day for all.
Snow showers will linger tonight in the far north, while for the south variable cloud could lead to rain, sleet or snow.
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