Reform UK would let ministers ignore international law, Kruger says
Reform UK would allow ministers to ignore international law and give them the ability to fire civil servants in a Donald Trump-style overhaul of government powers, the party’s new efficiency tsar has said,Danny Kruger, who defected to Reform from the Conservatives last month, set out the party’s plans to change the way the government and civil service operate, handing more power to the cabinet,The party’s department of government efficiency (Doge) chief said he would want to rewrite the ministerial code and the civil service code to free the government from current constraints,“There is a glaring objection that I have to the ministerial code … which is that it requires them to acknowledge international law in their decision-making,That is an immediate change we would make,” Kruger said.
A line in the code says: “The ministerial code should be read against the background of the overarching duty on ministers to comply with the law, including international law and treaty obligations.”Kruger also said civil servants would be brought more closely under the command of ministers, at least half of whom could be brought in from outside parliament as political appointments to the House of Lords.Reform’s other plans include a 30% cut in the size of the civil service to pre-Brexit levels, as well as closing down six central government offices – most of which are already being shut by the Cabinet Office.Kruger also raised the prospect of stricter anti-trade union laws, saying most civil servants would respect the government they worked for but there would be some “malevolent actors” trying to frustrate any Reform administration.The MP acknowledged that Reform was an “ill-disciplined” pirate ship led by a “buccaneering” Nigel Farage that needed to transform into a well-oiled Royal Navy battleship in order to govern successfully.
His press conference was given on the day that Reform expelled a further three councillors in Kent, taking the total to five, after the leak of a chaotic council meeting obtained by the Guardian.The party has also been criticised in recent days over comments made by its MP Sarah Pochin, who apologised for “poor phrasing” after saying she was maddened by what she saw as the over-representation of black and Asian people in television advertising.Kruger himself came in for scrutiny over comments that the UK could in future be led by a coalition involving an “appalling Hamas-supporting, LGBT-supporting nationalist party”.At the press conference, Kruger said he had been talking about the “incredible incoherence of the coalition” against Reform and the idea that a politician could support both Hamas and LGBT rights at the same time.Kruger said many ideas about reform of the state were yet to be worked out and he would not put a specific number on the size of the civil service.
However, he said it would be a priority to rewrite the ministerial and civil service codes.“Public servants will answer to ministers, who answer to parliament,” he said.The party said this would mean giving the cabinet greater “hire and fire” powers.Asked if they would try to emulate Trump, Kruger said: “In a nutshell, yes.I think he came into government with exactly the same sort of analysis that we have, which was in his case the federal government was not under the control of the administration … we are very serious about deep structural change to the system and the analogy of the US is legitimate.
”Despite that, Kruger gave assurances that Reform “don’t come with a chainsaw or a wrecking ball”.He said: “We respect the institutions of the country, the armed forces, the police, the church, the judiciary, and we respect the professionalism and expertise of the people who work in them, so long as those people respect in their turn the right of parliament and of ministers to make the rules they work by.”Anna Turley, the Labour party chair, said: “It’s deeply embarrassing for Nigel Farage that his new policy chief’s first policy has already fallen apart.You can’t save money by closing government buildings that are already closing.Danny Kruger didn’t do the work and he’s been found out.
“It’s the same at local level.Reform made big claims about the money they could save in councils, found they were wrong and are now proposing raising council tax and cutting services.”The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.If you have something to share on this subject, you can contact us confidentially using the following methods.Secure Messaging in the Guardian appThe Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories.
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Bankrupt Woking to get £500m bailout in Surrey council shake-up
Ministers have agreed to give bankrupt Woking council an “unprecedented” £500m taxpayer bailout under government plans to merge a dozen local authorities in Surrey.In a historic intervention, the communities secretary, Steve Reed, said the government would repay a significant chunk of the debt owed by the former Tory-run local authority.The bailout helps to smooth over the creation of two new councils in Surrey, in effect splitting the county in two. The plan will result in the merger of 11 district and borough authorities with the county council to create two new “mega council” unitary authorities.Labour is planning to push ahead with the most far-reaching reorganisation of local government in England for decades, as part of a “devolution revolution” to find efficiency savings and spearhead economic growth
Black women with fibroids face delays and poor care in the UK, says report
Black women in the UK who experience symptoms caused by fibroids are facing delays, poor care and dismissal by healthcare professionals according to a parliamentary report.Published by the all-party parliamentary group on black health, the report included a survey of more than 500 women regarding their experience of uterine fibroids, with more than 70% of respondents being Black British.The survey found that more than a quarter (27%) of respondents were not offered any treatment after being diagnosed with fibroids, and more than 50% also had experienced delays to their diagnosis of at least two years, while 26% of respondents had lived with fibroids for more than 10 years.Uterine fibroids are noncancerous growths that develop in or around the womb. Serious cases can be linked to very heavy or long menstrual periods, pain, pelvic pressure and infertility and an increased risk of miscarriage
HMRC cuts child benefit for 23,500 families based on incomplete travel data
Parents who went from Liverpool to Amsterdam with their autistic children are among thousands who have had their child benefit wrongly stopped as part of a crackdown on benefit fraud, it has emerged.The error by HM Revenue and Customs emerged 48 hours after the Guardian and the Detail reported on hundreds of families in Northern Ireland who had child benefit stopped after they returned home from holiday via Dublin airport, leaving HMRC with the impression they had taken a one-way ticket out of the country and were fraudulently collecting child benefit.It has now come to light that HMRC sent out letters questioning the residency of 23,489 of the 6.9m in receipt of child benefit across the UK.Also among those whose benefits were frozen are a woman who went to France for five days after her husband died there; a Lithuanian man, living and paying taxes in England for 24 years, who was “caught” after he went on a five-day holiday with his son to Italy via Stansted airport; a family from Hove who flew in and out of Gatwick on a trip to Australia; and a woman who flew to Bristol from Belfast for her grandmother’s funeral but returned via Dublin airport
Picture of health: going to art galleries can improve wellbeing, study reveals
Enjoying original works of art in a gallery can relieve stress, reduce the risk of heart disease and boost your immune system, according to the first study of its kind.Researchers measured the physiological responses of participants while viewing masterpieces by world-renowned artists including Manet, Van Gogh and Gauguin in a gallery.They found that art positively influences the immune, hormone and nervous systems all at once – something never previously recorded. The findings suggest that seeing original art not only moves people emotionally, but also calms the body and promotes health and wellbeing.The study, led by King’s College London, involved 50 people aged between 18 and 40 in the UK
Cyclist gets 3D-printed face after drunk driver left him with third-degree burns
A cyclist who received severe third-degree burns to his head after being struck by a drunk driver has been fitted with a printed 3D face.Dave Richards, 75, was given a 3D prosthetic by the NHS that fits the space on his face and mimics his hair colour, eye colour and skin. His face received full-thickness burns after a speeding drunk driver hit him while he was out cycling with friends.He said he was “lucky to survive” the crash which also damaged his back and pelvis and caused him to break several ribs on one side of his body.While recovering, he was referred to reconstructive prosthetics, which has opened the Bristol 3D medical centre, the first of its kind in the UK to have 3D scanning, design and printing in a single NHS location
Foster carers across England facing widespread racism, sector leader says
Social workers are experiencing unprecedented levels of racism, while foster carers whose ethnicity differs from the children they care for have been accosted in the street, a fostering leader has said as he called on the government to take action.Harvey Gallagher, the chief executive of the Nationwide Association of Fostering Providers (NAFP), said there was growing concern about the “impact of racism, extremism and far-right sentiment” on foster children, carers and social workers.“In recent months, fostering services have reported increasing challenges, including incidents of racial hate directed towards foster carers from diverse ethnicities and the children in their care,” he said in a public statement sent to the government this week.He said that, after hearing anecdotal reports of young people from BAME backgrounds feeling unsafe and foster carers being accosted in the street, NAFP organised a meeting of 35 fostering agencies across England to discuss the issue.“I was really shocked at what I heard
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