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The prime minister has defended plans to widen police use of stop and search powers, describing it as a “kind and loving” way to get dangerous weapons off the streets.

Speaking as the government set out its new Beating Crime Plan for England and Wales, Boris Johnson said stop and search was not a “strong-arm” tactic and plays an “important part in fighting crime”.

The blueprint includes a permanent relaxing of conditions on the use of Section 60 stop and search powers, which allow officers to search someone without reasonable grounds in an area where serious violence is expected.

West Midlands PCSO Rob Capella holds two examples of 'zombie knives' at a secure police location in Birmingham in 2016
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The conditions on use of stop and search powers will be ‘permanently relaxed’ under the new plan

“They are not the only tool that we have got to use. They are part of a range of things we have got to do to fight street crime,” the PM said when asked about stop and search during a broadcast pool clip.

“I think that giving the police the backing that they need in law to stop someone, to search them, to relieve them of a dangerous weapon – I don’t think that’s strong-arm tactics, I think that’s a kind and loving thing to do.

“The people who often support stop and search most passionately are the parents of the kids who are likely themselves to be the victims of knife crime.”

Speaking to Kay Burley on Sky News earlier, policing minister Kit Malthouse defended the plans to relax rules on the use of police stop and search.

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He said that although it is not a “long-term solution” it can have a “big impact on suppressing knife crime” in the short term.

But human rights organisation Liberty has said easing the restrictions will “compound discrimination”.

Mr Johnson, who made the comments during a visit to Surrey Police headquarters alongside Home Secretary Priti Patel, also said he wanted hi-vis “chain gangs” to act as a deterrent against anti-social behaviour.

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Police pay freeze is ‘tough’

The PM said he wanted those who engage in such behaviour to be “properly paying their debt to society”, adding: “Somebody’s anti-social behaviour may be treated as a minor crime but it could be deeply distressing to those who are victims.

“If you are guilty of anti-social behaviour and you are sentenced to unpaid work, as many people are, I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t be out there in one of those fluorescent-jacketed chain gangs visibly paying your debt to society.

“So you are going to be seeing more of that as well.”

Other measures contained in the government’s plan include the creation of league tables for 101 and 999 call answering times so the public can see how quickly their local force is responding to calls for help.

The initiative will also ensure every neighbourhood in England and Wales is allocated a named and contactable police officer dedicated to serving their area.

But the PM is facing anger from police officers over elements of the plan, as well as a pay freeze.

Home Secretary Priti Patel
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The Police Federation of England and Wales passed a motion of no confidence in the home secretary last week

John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, will deliver a letter to Downing Street on Tuesday.

“Police officers are sick of gimmicks. Sick of underfunding. Sick of mixed messaging putting police at risk. Sick of government contempt for police,” it says.

“It’s time for a total reset of police-government relations.”

The body, which represents more than 130,000 officers from the rank of constable to chief inspector, passed a motion of no confidence in the home secretary last week in a row over pay.

Surrey Police Federation criticised the pair’s visit, with chairwoman Mel Warnes saying: “Our colleagues should not be used as public relations pawns by politicians.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel during a visit to Surrey Police headquarters in Guildford, Surrey
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel during a visit to Surrey Police headquarters in Guildford, Surrey

“I very much doubt any of our colleagues will be smiling at the thought of meeting two people who have decided against giving them any sort of pay rise despite everything police officers across the country have done these past 18 months.

“Police officers have given everything. The government has given us nothing.”

Other measures proposed include:

• The 24 hour-a-day monitoring of burglars and thieves using electronic surveillance

• Permanently relaxing conditions on the use of stop and search powers to take more knives off the streets

• Getting offenders to clean up streets, alleys, estates and open spaces

• A new £17m package for Violence Reduction Units to divert individuals away from violence

• Rolling out two further rounds of the Safer Streets Fund including increased lighting and CCTV

• Enhancing the role of Police and Crime Commissioners by giving them the tools they need to drive down crime

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Labour accused the government of being “all talk and no action” on crime and offering “rehashed policies” that “won’t make our streets safer”.

“On their watch, police numbers are down and community policing has been decimated,” shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said.

“Coupled with an insulting pay freeze, it is no wonder frontline police have declared no confidence in the home secretary.

“There are already targets in place for emergency response times and having named officers in wards is not enough to make up for the devastating scale of Conservative cuts to community policing that drove police numbers down by 21,000.

“Little wonder that, on their watch, anti-social behaviour is rocketing, there are record low convictions for rape, and violent crime is devastating communities across the country.”

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Make ‘significant adjustments’ to Online Safety Act, X urges govt

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X criticises Online Safety Act - and warns it's putting free speech in the UK at risk

The Online Safety Act is putting free speech at risk and needs significant adjustments, Elon Musk’s social network X has warned.

New rules that came into force last week require platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and X – as well as sites hosting pornography – to bring in measures to prove that someone using them is over the age of 18.

The Online Safety Act requires sites to protect children and to remove illegal content, but critics have said that the rules have been implemented too broadly, resulting in the censorship of legal content.

X has warned the act’s laudable intentions were “at risk of being overshadowed by the breadth of its regulatory reach”.

It said: “When lawmakers approved these measures, they made a conscientious decision to increase censorship in the name of ‘online safety’.

“It is fair to ask if UK citizens were equally aware of the trade-off being made.”

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What are the new online rules?

X claims the timetable for platforms to meet mandatory measures had been unnecessarily tight – and despite complying, sites still faced threats of enforcement and fines, “encouraging over-censorship”.

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“A balanced approach is the only way to protect individual liberties, encourage innovation and safeguard children. It’s safe to say that significant changes must take place to achieve these objectives in the UK,” it said.

A UK government spokesperson said it is “demonstrably false” that the Online Safety Act compromises free speech.

“As well as legal duties to keep children safe, the very same law places clear and unequivocal duties on platforms to protect freedom of expression,” they added.

Users have complained about age checks that require personal data to be uploaded to access sites that show pornography, and 468,000 people have already signed a petition asking for the new law to be repealed.

In response to the petition, the government said it had “no plans” to reverse the Online Safety Act.

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Why do people want to repeal the Online Safety Act?

Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage likened the new rules to “state suppression of genuine free speech” and said his party would ditch the regulations.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said on Tuesday that those who wanted to overturn the act were “on the side of predators” – to which Mr Farage demanded an apology, calling Mr Kyle’s comments “absolutely disgusting”.

Regulator Ofcom said on Thursday it had launched an investigation into how four companies – that collectively run 34 pornography sites – are complying with new age-check requirements.

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These companies – 8579 LLC, AVS Group Ltd, Kick Online Entertainment S.A. and Trendio Ltd – run dozens of sites, and collectively have more than nine million unique monthly UK visitors, the internet watchdog said.

The regulator said it prioritised the companies based on the risk of harm posed by the services they operated and their user numbers.

It adds to the 11 investigations already in progress into 4chan, as well as an unnamed online suicide forum, seven file-sharing services, and two adult websites.

Ofcom said it expects to make further enforcement announcements in the coming months.

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Inside Jeremy Corbyn’s new party and the battle for leadership

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Inside Jeremy Corbyn's new party and the battle for leadership

Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn may be the figureheads of a new left-wing party, but already there is a battle over leadership.

The confusion behind the initial launch speaks to a wider debate happening behind closed doors as to who should steer the party – now and in the future.

Already, in the true spirit of Mr Corbyn’s politics, there is talk of an open leadership contest and grassroots participation.

Some supporters of the new party – which is being temporarily called “Your Party” while a formal name is decided by members – believe that allowing a leadership contest to take place honours Mr Corbyn’s commitment to open democracy.

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Jeremy Corbyn open to ideas on new party name

They point out that under Mr Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party, members famously backed plans to make it easier for local constituency parties to deselect sitting MPs – a concept he strongly believed in.

His allies now say the former Labour leader, who is 76, is open to there being a leadership contest for the new party, possibly at its inaugural conference in the autumn, where names lesser known than himself can throw their hat into the ring.

“Jeremy would rather die than not have an open leadership contest,” one source familiar with the internal politics told Sky News.

More on Jeremy Corbyn

However, there have been suggestions that Ms Sultana appears to be less keen on the idea of a leadership contest, and that she is more committed to the co-leadership model than her political partner.

Those who have been opposed to the co-leadership model believe it could give Ms Sultana an unfair advantage and exclude other potential candidates from standing in the future.

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Corbyn’s new political party isn’t ‘real deal’

One source told Sky News they believed Mr Corbyn should lead the party for two years, to get it established, before others are allowed to stand as leader.

They said Ms Sultana, who became an independent MP after she was suspended from Labour for opposing the two-child benefit cap, was “highly ambitious but completely untested as leader” and “had a lot of growing into the role to do”.

“It’s not about her – it’s about taking a democratic approach, which is what we’re supposed to be doing,” they said.

“There are so many people who have done amazing things locally and they need to have a chance to emerge as leaders.

“We are not only fishing from a pool of two people.

“It needs to be an open contest. Nobody needs to be crowned.”

Read more:
Where insiders think Corbyn’s new party could win
PM would be foolish not to recognise threat party poses

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Corbyn’s new party shakes the left

While Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana undoubtedly have the biggest profiles out of would-be leaders, advocates for a grassroots approach to the leadership point to the success some independent candidates have enjoyed at a local level – for example, 24-year-old British Palestinian Leah Mohammed, who came within 528 votes of unseating Health Secretary Wes Streeting in Ilford North.

Fiona Lali of the Revolutionary Communist Party, who stood in last year’s general election for the Stratford and Bow constituency, has also been mentioned in some circles as someone with potential leadership credentials.

However, sources close to Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana downplayed suggestions of any divide over the leadership model, pointing out that their joint statement acknowledged that members would “decide the party’s direction” at the inaugural conference in the autumn, including the model of leadership and the policies that are needed to transform society.

A spokesperson for Mr Corbyn told Sky News: “Jeremy will be working with Zarah, his independent colleagues, and people from trade unions and social movements up and down the country to make an autumn conference a reality.

“This will be the moment where people come together to launch a new democratic party that belongs to the members.”

Sky News has approached Ms Sultana for comment.

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DeFi Education Fund urges Senate to strengthen crypto dev protections in draft bill

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DeFi Education Fund urges Senate to strengthen crypto dev protections in draft bill

DeFi Education Fund urges Senate to strengthen crypto dev protections in draft bill

DeFi Education Fund called on the Senate Banking Committee to frame a key crypto market bill in a more tech-neutral way and strengthen crypto developer protections in a recent letter.

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