6:40 am, November 13, 2023
Sunak seeks clampdown on protests as pressure grows to sack Braverman
Rishi Sunak is reportedly planning to strengthen the police’s hand on protests after violence on Armistice Day which some have blamed on Suella Braverman.
The home secretary’s political future hangs in the balance after she was accused of stoking tensions, with pressure mounting on the prime minister to sack her. Speculation is rife at Westminster that he could carry out a ministerial reshuffle as soon as this week which could see her moved.
Sunak is looking to tighten the laws to make it easier to ban marches and prosecute those glorifying terrorism, according to several newspapers. He looks set to press Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley to avoid a repeat of Saturday’s ugly scenes in London when he meets the police chief in the coming days.
Fighting rages near Gaza hospital as people trapped inside say they cannot flee
Health officials and people trapped inside Gaza’s largest hospital have rejected Israel’s claims that it was helping babies and others evacuate on Sunday.
They said fighting continued just outside the facility where incubators lay idle with no electricity and critical supplies were running out.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected urgent international calls for a ceasefire unless it includes the release of all the nearly 240 hostages captured by Hamas in the October 7 rampage that triggered the war.
Lib Dems call for ceasefire in Israel-Gaza war
The Liberal Democrats have come out in favour of a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war, adding to pressure on Sir Keir Starmer over his stance on the crisis.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said on Sunday that only an ‘immediate bilateral ceasefire’ will resolve the conflict in the Middle East.
It comes ahead of an attempt by the SNP to use an amendment to the King’s Speech to force a Commons vote on Wednesday demanding a Gaza ceasefire.
More than 180,000 people across France march against soaring antisemitism
More than 180,000 people across France, including 100,000 in Paris, marched peacefully on Sunday to protest against rising antisemitism in the wake of Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.
Prime minister Elisabeth Borne, representatives of several parties on the left, conservatives and centrists of president Emmanuel Macron’s party as well as far-right leader Marine Le Pen attended Sunday’s march in the French capital amid tight security.
Macron did not attend, but expressed his support for the protest and called on people to rise up against ‘the unbearable resurgence of unbridled antisemitism’. However, the leader of the far-left France Unbowed party, Jean-Luc Melenchon, stayed away from the march, saying last week on X, formerly Twitter, that the march would be a meeting of ‘friends of unconditional support for the massacre’ in Gaza.
Yousaf and Robison should refer themselves for WhatsApp probe, Tories say
First minister Humza Yousaf and his deputy should refer themselves to the independent adviser for the ministerial code over suggestions they misled parliament, the Scottish Tories have said.
Yousaf and Shona Robison have been under fire in the past week after the Scottish government published a timeline of its dealings with the UK Covid-19 Inquiry and when it was asked to divulge WhatsApp messages. The timeline showed requests for messages had been made by the inquiry in February as opposed to September, as previously stated.
Last week, the Scottish government handed over 14,000 messages to the inquiry, including unredacted correspondence from the first minister.
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‘Worrying signs’ that more medics plan to leave the workforce, regulator warns
There are ‘worrying signs’ that a growing number of doctors are planning to leave the profession due to burnout and dissatisfaction, the General Medical Council (GMC) has warned.
It also said recruiting medics from overseas is important as the benefits of measures unveiled by the government to create more medical schools places ‘will only start to be seen a decade from now’.
The regulator’s annual report on the medical workforce revealed the number of licensed doctors increased in 2022, with 23,838 joining and 11,319 leaving. However, the report said there are ‘still high vacancy rates and workforce pressure’ as the number of doctors leaving the profession returned to pre-pandemic levels of 4% last year.
Storm Debi likely to bring dangerous winds as amber warning issued
An amber weather warning has been issued for parts of north-west England as Storm Debi hits the UK, bringing heavy rain and severe gale-force winds.
The alert is active from 10am until 4pm on Monday and covers coastal areas north of Liverpool up to Whitehaven.
The Met Office has warned Brits living in those areas should be wary of solid and disruptive winds with the possibility of flying debris.
£6,000 wiped off the average price of a home in November
The average price of a home coming on the market fell by more than £6,000, month on month, in November, according to a property website.
Across Britain, average asking prices by new sellers fell by 1.7% (£6,088) this month to reach £362,143, Rightmove said. While asking prices do usually record a fall at this time of year, the 1.7% fall is the biggest percentage drop recorded for the month of November in five years, the report said.
Rightmove said the fall indicates that new sellers are increasingly adopting more realistic price expectations from the outset of their marketing, to tempt potential buyers.
Weather
Storm Debi arrives today in Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, bringing heavy rain and high winds, reports BBC Weather. There will be sunny spells and scattered showers in the south. A mild day in the south-east with a high of 16 degrees.
Scattered showers will remain in Scotland and northern England. Heavy showers will arrive in the south-west of England tonight. A breezy night for all.
