Rishi Sunak given fixed penalty notice after being caught not wearing seatbelt

Published

2 years ago

January 20, 2023

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Rishi Sunak has been given a fixed penalty notice after being caught not wearing a seatbelt.

Lancashire Police issued the notice after the prime minister appeared without a belt in a clip on Instagram as he promoted his levelling-up funding in Lancashire.

The PM has accepted the fine.

A Number 10 spokesperson said: “The prime minister fully accepts this was a mistake and has apologised. He will of course comply with the fixed penalty.”

PM admits mistake and will pay fine – politics latest

The force said: “You will be aware that a video has been circulating on social media showing an individual failing to wear a seatbelt while a passenger in a moving car in Lancashire.

“After looking into this matter, we have today issued a 42-year-old man from London with a conditional offer of fixed penalty.”

Mr Sunak is the second serving prime minister – after Boris Johnson – to be found to have broken the law while in office.

The prime minister previously apologised for the “brief error of judgment” as he carried out a series of visits in Lancashire on Thursday to announce the latest wave of levelling up funding.

In the clip, police motorbikes escort the car as Mr Sunak addresses the camera.

Mr Sunak has previously been fined by the Met Police for breaking lockdown rules.

He received a financial penalty alongside Mr Johnson from the Metropolitan Police for attending a gathering to mark the then-PM’s 56th birthday – in spite of the coronavirus restrictions in place.

Labour said the prime minister has been turned into a “laughing stock”.

A party spokesperson said: “Hapless Rishi Sunak’s levelling-up photo op has blown up in his face and turned him into a laughing stock.

“He started the week hoping people would be grateful for a partial refund on the money that has been stripped from them over 13 years of the Tories. But instead he got a warring party and yet another fine from the police.

“Just when you thought this Tory government couldn’t get any more ridiculous, they manage it.”

The party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner added: “Rishi Sunak is a total liability.”

While the Liberal Democrats said the PM had “shown the same disregard for the rules as Boris Johnson”.

Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “From partygate to seatbelt gate, these Conservative politicians are just taking the British people for fools.

“Whilst they continue to behave as though it’s one rule for them and another for everyone else, this fine is a reminder that the Conservatives eventually get their comeuppance.”

Sunak’s slip-ups could be exploited by opponents to brand him out of touch

Joe Pike

Political correspondent

@joepike

Downing Street will be hoping that once the PM has paid up, voters and journalists will move on and forget this rather embarrassing unforced error.

To Rishi Sunak’s credit, he put his hands up and admitted the error almost immediately.

But it is a reminder that in the top job, with a permacrisis of strikes, NHS delays and high inflation, mistakes can slip through the Number 10 net.

Failing to wear a seatbelt is illegal, but filming it and publishing the evidence on social media suggests a lack of checks within the PM’s team.

This is the second police fine Mr Sunak has received in 9 months, after the Met Police punished him for attending a lockdown-busting birthday gathering for Boris Johnson.

In recent months Mr Sunak has struggled with contactless payments, had an awkward conversation with a homeless man about financial services, and demonstrated a fondness for using private jets to travel around the UK even for relatively short journeys.

Added together, such slip-ups may be exploited by the PM’s enemies to claim he is out of touch.

There is certainly a danger these small missteps distract from Rishi Sunak’s attempts to stabilise the economy and sort out seemingly intractable issues like migrant crossings and delayed discharges.

Like many occupants of Number 11, Rishi Sunak was a ‘submarine chancellor’. Invisible below the waves for months on end, he occasionally rose from the deep to launch a killer economic intervention: his “whatever it takes” COVID budget, the furlough scheme, Eat Out To Help Out.

But as Gordon Brown (the last politician to move from 11 to 10) found, similar manoeuvres are not possible as prime minister.

You are constantly in the spotlight. And it is an unsparing existence.

Earlier, Downing Street said Mr Sunak “fully accepts this was a mistake and apologises”.

A Number 10 spokesman said “of course” the prime minister does not believe anyone is above the law, adding that he “believes it is important for people to wear their seatbelt”.

“It was an error of judgment, he removed it for a short period of time to film a clip, which you’ve seen, but he accepts that was a mistake,” the spokesman added.

Fines of up to £500 can be issued for failing to wear a seatbelt when one is available.

There are a few exemptions, including when a car is being used for police, fire and rescue services, and for certified medical issues.

Mr Sunak came to office promising “integrity” after the scandals that eventually forced Mr Johnson from office.

Despite only being in office since October, Mr Sunak’s premiership has already been hit with a set of controversies, from criticism for reinstating Suella Braverman as home secretary six days after she was forced to step down over a security breach to an ongoing bullying inquiry into Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister.

One Conservative MP had suggested police were wasting their time by investigating the incident.

Blackpool MP Scott Benton said “politically motivated complaints” about the offence is “not good use of frontline resources”.

UK

Queen Camilla withdraws from engagements after becoming unwell with chest infection

Published

6 hours ago

November 5, 2024

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Queen Camilla withdraws from engagements after becoming unwell with chest infection

The Queen is unwell with a chest infection and has withdrawn from her engagements this week, Buckingham Palace has announced.

A palace spokesperson said Camilla’s doctors “have advised a short period of rest” and added that “with great regret, Her Majesty has therefore had to withdraw from her engagements for this week”.

They added the Queen “very much hopes to be recovered in time to attend this weekend’s Remembrance events as normal”.

“She apologises to all those who may be inconvenienced or disappointed as a result,” they said.

It is understood the Queen is currently resting at home and is under doctor’s supervision.

Birgitte, the Duchess of Gloucester, has stepped in on Camilla’s behalf to attend the annual opening of the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey on Thursday.

The Queen has also withdrawn from a Buckingham Palace reception for Olympic and Paralympic athletes hosted by the King on the same evening.

Camilla recently returned from an overseas tour of Australia and Samoa. No further details regarding her illness or treatment have been released.

UK

Labour confirms U-turn on proposed ban on smoking and vaping in pub gardens

Published

6 hours ago

November 5, 2024

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Labour confirms U-turn on proposed ban on smoking and vaping in pub gardens

A proposed ban on vaping and smoking in pub gardens will not go ahead, the health secretary has confirmed.

Wes Streeting said the Labour government would not press ahead with the idea after it was floated over the summer and caused an outcry within the hospitality industry.

Back in August, Sir Keir Starmer said his government was considering a ban on outdoor smoking in a bid to bring down the 80,000 preventable deaths caused by smoking in the UK each year.

The ban would have covered smoking in outdoor restaurants and outside sports venues, hospitals, nightclubs, and in some small parks.

But speaking to Sky News this morning, Mr Streeting confirmed the U-turn and said: “We’re not going ahead or not proposing to go ahead with a [smoking] ban on outdoor hospitality.”

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He said the policy idea was a “leak of government discussion” over the summer and promoted a “really good debate about whether or not it would be proportionate” when taking into account the public health benefits, but also the potential downsides.

“I think people know the UK hospitality sector has taken a battering in recent years,” he added.

“And we don’t want to add to their pressure – so we’re not proposing to go ahead with an outdoor hospitality ban at this time.”

However, Mr Streeting did say that the smoking ban would be extended to some outdoor spaces, including schools, hospitals and children’s playgrounds.

It comes as the government today introduces a “groundbreaking” bill that aims to create the “first-ever smoke-free generation”.

The Tobacco and Vapes bill, which was first introduced by Rishi Sunak but was dropped due to the general election, will prevent anyone who was born on or after 1 January 2009 from buying tobacco.

The ban will effectively raise the legal age for buying cigarettes in England by one year every year, until it applies to the whole population.

The policy to create a “smoke-free generation” was seen as a defining one of Mr Sunak‘s premiership and caused controversy within Tory ranks, particularly the more libertarian wing of the party.

The bill will also create limits on the sale and marketing of vapes to children, while separate environmental legislation will be introduced to ban the sale and supply of single-use vapes by next summer.

The health secretary said “clamping down on the scourge of youth vaping” with licensing, tougher enforcement and a ban on the marketing of vapes to children and young people was “happily, an area of broad cross-party consensus”.

“I first proposed the generational ban for children, when I was the shadow health secretary,” he said.

“To my delight and surprise, Rishi Sunak took it up as prime minister and Conservative leader.

“I hope that cross-party support will sustain a new leader of the Conservative Party, but we’ll find out in the coming weeks.”

UK

Powys crash: Safety system ‘blocked’ before fatal train collision

Published

6 hours ago

November 5, 2024

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Powys crash: Safety system 'blocked' before fatal train collision

A safety system was “blocked” during a fatal train crash in Powys, an initial investigation has found.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has published its initial findings into last month’s collision, in which one person died.

David Tudor Evans, 66, was described as a “lovely guy, full of life and enjoyment”.

A further 15 people were taken to hospital for treatment after the crash near Talerddig, police said.

The collision – at around 7.26pm on 21 October – involved the 6.31pm Transport for Wales service from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth and the 7.09pm Transport for Wales service from Machynlleth to Shrewsbury.

The RAIB said the units were fitted with wheel slide protection systems – described as being similar to anti-lock braking systems in cars – and an automatic sanding system.

Sand is discharged automatically via hoses when a wheel slide is detected during braking – creating more friction at the wheel-rail interface.

The on-train data recorder shows the wheel slide started during braking and was also present after the driver made an emergency brake demand.

An inspection of the sanding system fitted to Aberystwyth-bound train 1J25 showed the leading vehicle’s sanding hoses were blocked.

The RAIB says they were apparently unable to discharge sand.

The ongoing investigation is also looking at the speed at which the trains were travelling when they collided.

Initial enquiries suggest the westbound train was travelling at a speed of between 15mph and 24mph, while the eastbound train was travelling at a speed of 6mph.

The RAIB says its investigation will look at the sequence of events which led to the crash.

As part of the probe, the agency will look at factors including the actions of those involved, the level of wheel-rail adhesion, and the behaviour of both trains during and after the crash.

In a joint statement, Transport for Wales and Network Rail said they have “fully cooperated” with the British Transport Police, the Office of Rail and Road and the Rail Accident Investigation Branch.

“As investigations are currently still ongoing, we’ll continue to work together with investigators to understand what happened and await the full conclusion and recommendations of the investigation,” a spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said safety was the “main priority” for both companies and they had “carried out enhanced checks to the trains and the railway line”.

“At this early stage of the investigation, it’s fundamental that we await the findings of the full report and show sensitivity towards our customers, colleagues, the local community and the families of those affected by the incident,” they added.