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We’ve been here before. Yvette Cooper is the third home secretary to promise to reform procedure for armed police officers after the shooting of Chris Kaba.

But then we have had three home secretaries in the past year: Tories Suella Braverman and James Cleverly and now Labour’s Ms Cooper.

It was when dozens of officers in London handed in their weapons after Metropolitan Police marksman Martyn Blake was charged, in September last year, that Ms Braverman launched a review.

Firearms officers “mustn’t fear ending up in the dock for carrying out their duties,” she declared. Her review would ensure they have the confidence to do their jobs, she said.

Yvette Cooper swerves budget questions – Politics latest

Then in March this year, Mr Cleverly announced that investigations into police officers suspected of committing offences in the line of duty would be “sped up”, to provide swifter clarity to both officers and victims.

“The government will amend the threshold for referring police officers for criminal prosecution, so that only cases that have a reasonable prospect of conviction should be referred,” the Home Office added.

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So what happened to speeding up the reforms? Were they stalled by the July general election? Apparently not. Ms Cooper said it was right to wait until the end of Mr Blake’s trial before announcing changes. Fair point.

What are the changes, then? In a rare cross-party consensus between the two front benches, the home secretary has accepted all Mr Cleverly’s proposals, for which he was gracious in expressing his gratitude.

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Retired firearms officer Tony Long, who shot dead Azelle Rodney in 2005, speaks to Sky News as a police officer is cleared of the murder of Chris Kaba.

But she’s gone much further. The one audible cheer from the surprisingly few MPs in the chamber – only around 25 or so on both sides – came when she proposed a “presumption of anonymity” for police on trial up to a conviction.

In his measured response, Mr Cleverly spoke of the fear of reprisals against Mr Blake and his family. A real concern. There are reports of criminals putting a £10,000 bounty on his head in revenge for the shooting of Mr Kaba.

The cross-party consensus didn’t extend to the back benches, however. From the Labour benches, there were concerns about confidence in police among black communities from left-wingers Diane Abbott, Bell Ribiero-Addy and Kim Johnson.

And from the Reform UK duo of Lee Anderson and Richard Tice there were demands for more government backing for the police. Mr Tice said confidence in the police disciplinary process and the Crown Prosecution Service was collapsing.

The home secretary said the anonymity proposal will be part of the government’s Crime and Policing Bill, a bill Sir Keir Starmer has claimed “will take back our streets”. But it’s an unwieldy piece of legislation.

It already includes measures on neighbourhood policing, improving the vetting of police officers and tackling anti-social behaviour, retail crime, knife crime and violence against women and girls.

It hasn’t yet been introduced in parliament, however. So despite all the talk by successive home secretaries about speeding up reforming trials of armed police officers, the wait goes on.

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RWAs build mirrors where they need building blocks

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RWAs build mirrors where they need building blocks

RWAs build mirrors where they need building blocks

Most RWAs remain isolated and underutilized instead of composable, DeFi-ready building blocks. It’s time to change that.

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Collapsed crypto firm Ziglu faces $2.7M deficit amid special administration

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Collapsed crypto firm Ziglu faces .7M deficit amid special administration

Collapsed crypto firm Ziglu faces .7M deficit amid special administration

Thousands of savers face potential losses after a $2.7 million shortfall was discovered at Ziglu, a British crypto fintech that entered special administration.

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Heidi Alexander says ‘fairness’ will be government’s ‘guiding principle’ when it comes to taxes at next budget

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Heidi Alexander says 'fairness' will be government's 'guiding principle' when it comes to taxes at next budget

Another hint that tax rises are coming in this autumn’s budget has been given by a senior minister.

Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was asked if Sir Keir Starmer and the rest of the cabinet had discussed hiking taxes in the wake of the government’s failed welfare reforms, which were shot down by their own MPs.

Trevor Phillips asked specifically if tax rises were discussed among the cabinet last week – including on an away day on Friday.

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Tax increases were not discussed “directly”, Ms Alexander said, but ministers were “cognisant” of the challenges facing them.

Asked what this means, Ms Alexander added: “I think your viewers would be surprised if we didn’t recognise that at the budget, the chancellor will need to look at the OBR forecast that is given to her and will make decisions in line with the fiscal rules that she has set out.

“We made a commitment in our manifesto not to be putting up taxes on people on modest incomes, working people. We have stuck to that.”

Ms Alexander said she wouldn’t comment directly on taxes and the budget at this point, adding: “So, the chancellor will set her budget. I’m not going to sit in a TV studio today and speculate on what the contents of that budget might be.

“When it comes to taxation, fairness is going to be our guiding principle.”

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Afterwards, shadow home secretary Chris Philp told Phillips: “That sounds to me like a barely disguised reference to tax rises coming in the autumn.”

He then went on to repeat the Conservative attack lines that Labour are “crashing the economy”.

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Chris Philp also criticsed the government’s migration deal with France

Mr Philp then attacked the prime minister as “weak” for being unable to get his welfare reforms through the Commons.

Discussions about potential tax rises have come to the fore after the government had to gut its welfare reforms.

Sir Keir had wanted to change Personal Independence Payments (PIP), but a large Labour rebellion forced him to axe the changes.

With the savings from these proposed changes – around £5bn – already worked into the government’s sums, they will now need to find the money somewhere else.

The general belief is that this will take the form of tax rises, rather than spending cuts, with more money needed for military spending commitments, as well as other areas of priority for the government, such as the NHS.

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