Suella Braverman says anyone vandalising Cenotaph ‘must be jailed faster than feet can touch ground’

Published

1 year ago

November 5, 2023

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The home secretary has said anyone vandalising the Cenotaph on Armistice Day “must be put into a jail cell faster than their feet can touch the ground”.

Speaking exclusively to Sky News, Suella Braverman said she doesn’t want to “undermine” the police process by banning pro-Palestinian protests planned for Armistice Day next weekend, but that behaviour on the marches had been “utterly despicable”.

Police arrested 11 people on Saturday during a fourth week of pro-Palestinian protests in central London.

Pushed on her controversial language after using the term “hate marches”, she said “everybody is entitled to freely express their views” but said there is “no excuse… when that expression crosses the line into hate speech”.

She also confirmed she had never in her life attended a demonstration herself.

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Rishi Sunak has voiced concerns about the prospect of pro-Palestine protests on Armistice Day, with the prime minister saying such a move would be “provocative and disrespectful”.

It comes amid reports tens of thousands of demonstrators are planning to take to the streets to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on 11 November. Demonstration organisers have pledged to avoid the Whitehall area where the Cenotaph war memorial is located.

The home secretary was speaking from the Greek island of Samos, where she has been learning about the government’s approach to illegal migration.

On Friday she visited a 120km long fence at the country’s land border crossing with Turkey, and on Saturday she was taken on patrol with the Hellenic Coast Guard off the coast of Samos.

Nearly a million people crossed into Greece by small boat in 2015, compared with 12,700 last year – fewer than the number of small boat crossings in the English Channel.

The home secretary said she was “not claiming success at all by any means yet” on her pledge to stop the boats, but refused to set a target for where she would like the numbers to be by the general election.

She said it would be “pretty obvious” if the pledge had been achieved.

Ms Braverman said the UK could learn from “a policy of deterrence, tough measures, bold measures with a focus on making it clear that illegal arrivals will not be tolerated” in Greece.

However, Greece’s approach has been criticised, with EU authorities calling on an independent inquiry into so-called “pushback” tactics.

The home secretary said: “No one’s talking about doing push-backs in the English Channel”.

Commenting on the trip, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said Ms Braverman had “headed overseas to distract from her shameful failures back at home”.

“The Tories have created chaos in our immigration system, with a record high asylum backlog, a 70% drop in removals and thousands of people stuck in hotels, costing the taxpayer an eyewatering £8m a day,” she said.

“Instead of trying to fix the mess the Tories have created, the home secretary boasts about her failing Rwanda scheme, which has already cost over £140m, without anyone being sent.

“Once again, Suella Braverman offers no answers, but instead seeks to stoke division and blame anyone other than her own government for the failure to deliver.”

Politics

Crypto scam launderer pleads guilty to role in $73M scheme

Published

4 hours ago

November 13, 2024

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Crypto scam launderer pleads guilty to role in M scheme

Daren Li is looking at a maximum of 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to his role in laundering crypto in a $73 million scam.

Politics

NHS league tables and cancelled pay rises for managers among government health reforms

Published

7 hours ago

November 13, 2024

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NHS league tables and cancelled pay rises for managers among government health reforms

NHS league tables revealing failing NHS trusts and cancelled pay rises or dismissal for managers who don’t turn things around are to form part of the government’s plans to improve the health service.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting is confirming new measures he hopes will boost failing hospital trusts and encourage successful ones.

The changes form part of the Labour government’s strategy to reduce waiting lists “from 18 months to 18 weeks”.

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Health and the state of the NHS were consistently among the most important issues for voters at this year’s general election – with Labour blaming the Conservatives for “breaking” it.

As health is a devolved area, any reforms proposed in Westminster would only apply to England.

Chief among Mr Streeting’s proposals is a “league table” for NHS trusts.

An announcement from the Department for Health and Social Care said: “NHS England will carry out a no-holds-barred sweeping review of NHS performance across the entire country, with providers to be placed into a league table.

“This will be made public and regularly updated to ensure leaders, policy-makers and patients know which improvements need to be prioritised.”

It also promises to replace “persistently failing managers” – with “turn around teams” being sent in to improve trusts running sizeable deficits or offering poor service to patients.

The government says “senior managers” who fail to make progress will not be eligible for pay rises.

There will be “financial implications” for more senior figures such as chief executives if their trust does not improve.

On the flip-side, those trusts that are deemed to be “high-performing” will get “greater freedom over funding and flexibility”.

Senior leaders at these trusts will also be “rewarded”.

The government says the current system is not incentivising trusts to run a budget surplus, as they cannot benefit from it.

Mr Streeting said: “The budget showed this government prioritises the NHS, providing the investment needed to rebuild the health service.

“Today we are announcing the reforms to make sure every penny of extra investment is well spent and cuts waiting times for patients.

“There’ll be no more turning a blind eye to failure. We will drive the health service to improve, so patients get more out of it for what taxpayers put in.

“Our health service must attract top talent, be far more transparent to the public who pay for it, and run as efficiently as global businesses.

“With the combination of investment and reform, we will turn the NHS around and cut waiting times from 18 months to 18 weeks.”

Concerns from health representatives

Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England, said: “While NHS leaders welcome accountability, it is critical that responsibility comes with the necessary support and development.

“The extensive package of reforms, developed together with government, will empower all leaders working in the NHS and it will give them the tools they need to provide the best possible services for our patients.”

Further plans on how monitoring will be published by the start of the next financial year in April 2025, the government said.

Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation – a body that represents all NHS trusts – said healthcare leaders welcome the “government’s ambition”.

However, he said he was concerned league tables and reducing pay may “strip out” the nuance of what’s going on.

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Mr Taylor said: “NHS staff are doing their very best for patients under very challenging circumstances and we do not want them feeling like they are being named and shamed.

“League tables in themselves do not lead to improvement, trusts struggling with consistent performance issues – some of which reflect contextual issues such as underlying population heath and staff shortages – need to be identified and supported in order to recover.”