UK politics: Trump talks ‘complete nonsense’ about crime in London, says Met police commissioner – as it happened
Wes Streeting was not the only person doing an LBC phone-in this morning.Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, was on too, and he used his interview to accuse President Trump of talking “complete nonsense” about London.Trump has regularly complained about the level of crime in London, apparently inspired by alarmist reports he has seen on TV or social media, and he criticised the city again in a recent interview with Politico.He said he hated to see what is happening there, and he blamed the mayor, Sadiq Khan.In an interview last month with GB News, he claimed that there were areas in the capital that were no-go areas for the police, and he claimed sharia law applied there too.
He even said the same thing in a speech to the UN in September.Rowley told LBC this morning that these sorts of comments from Trump were “complete nonsense”.'Complete nonsense.' Met Police Chief Sir Mark Rowley rubbishes Donald Trump's claims about violence in London under Sadiq Khan.pic.
twitter,com/m5Vpg1qqxrRowley said:There’s no no-go areas, that’s completely false,How anybody in America can suggest the UK is violent is completely ridiculous,The homicide rate in London is lower than every single US state,It’s lower than all their big cities.
The murder rate in New York last time I looked is three or four times higher than London per capita.The homicide rate in London is lower than it is in Toronto, it’s lower than Paris, it’s lower than Brussels, it’s lower than Berlin.This is a safe city.I’m not going to pretend it’s perfect.This trend of trying to rubbish London, some of which is driven by politics, we who are proud Londoners need to fight back about it.
Rowley did not specifically talk about Khan, saying he did not want to intervene in a dispute between two politicians.Britain’s economy shrank unexpectedly in October as consumers held back on spending before Rachel Reeves’s budget, and car manufacturing struggled to recover from the cyber-attack on Jaguar Land Rover.Wes Streeting has told resident doctors that strikes and a sharp rise in the number of flu cases over the Christmas period could be “the Jenga piece” that forces the NHS to collapse.Sir Mark Rowley, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, has accused President Trump of talking “complete nonsense” about crime levels in London.(See 11.
20am.)Members of the House of Lords have proposed “totally unnecessary” and “very cruel” amendments to the assisted dying bill in an attempt to scupper it, the MP leading the campaign has said.Conservative policies that pitted drivers against cyclists risked making the roads less safe by inflaming tensions, a minister has said, promising that the era of transport culture wars is over.For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.The assisted dying bill could have “enhanced protections” added regarding assessments of mental capacity, the House of Lords heard during its final debate on the legislation this year.
PA Media reports:Labour peer Lord Falconer of Thornton, who is leading the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill through the House of Lords, told peers that those who are “particularly vulnerable” should have an “enhanced level of assessment”,This came after it was suggested that anyone who has been deprived of their liberty under the Mental Capacity Act (2005) in the last year should be ineligible for an assisted death,The former president of the British Medical Association, Lady Finlay of Llandaff, argued that an impairment of capacity serious enough to result in a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS) application should act as a “yellow flag” and an “indicator that risk may be elevated”,Former Labour MP Luciana Berger added: “I hope we can all agree that people whose incapacity for basic decisions is so severe that they are deprived of their liberty or have an application made for the deprivation of their liberty are the most vulnerable members of society,“And the protection of people who lack capacity is a solemn duty.
The state looks after their interests because they cannot.”Meanwhile, several peers urged colleagues to increase the pace at which amendments are debated to ensure the bill does not run out of time to be passed into law, given the more than 1,000 that have been tabled at committee stage in the upper chamber.Former Lord Justice of Appeal Lady Butler-Sloss warned that there is “the perception that we are being unreasonable”, and urged colleagues to “exercise restraint, by dealing with the amendments relatively briefly”.She said: “I don’t like the bill, but I am here like other noble lords to try and make it work.It needs scrutiny, it needs improvement, but we must get it to third reading.
“If we don’t, there is a very real danger that the reputation of this House, which not only I but all your lordships care about deeply, will be, or possibly will be, irreparably eroded.”Supporters of the bill believe that peers opposed to assisted dying are deliberately dragging out the debates on the amendments to the bill so that it runs out of time and does not become law.In his comments at the start of the meeting in Downing Street, Bart De Wever, the Belgian PM, said that this was his first visit to the UK since Brexit.He said he thought it was significant that “now, after Brexit” they were holding a meeting on “a lot of bilateral topics” including energy and security.Referring to Ukraine, he said:[There are] very important decisions to be made next week at the level of the European Union, but I do understand that we and the UK will get the certainty that we can support Ukraine to stay a free, democratic and sovereign country.
Talking about the relationship between the UK and Belgium, de Wever also claimed that his country was one of the few in the world that hasn’t been invaded by the English at some point,Our relationship with the UK is much older than the European Union,It goes back to the Middle Ages,You have always been our ally, always been our friend,There’s never been an English soldier in an unfriendly manner on our soil.
Other version say that Luxembourg and Sweden are the only EU countries on this list.Keir Starmer has praised Belgium as an “incredible partner” on Ukraine.Speaking at the start of his meeting in Downing Street with his Belgian counterpart, Bart De Wever in Downing Street, Starmer said:Let me begin by welcoming you to Downing Street.It’s very good to have you back here in Downing Street and it is an opportunity for us to discuss the very many challenges that we face, but particularly the issue of Ukraine, where you’ve been an incredible partner, like-minded in action, one of the first in the coalition of the willing to make really significant contributions in terms of what we were able to do, security guarantees, etc.So, I look forward to that discussion.
The council byelection won by Reform UK in Scotland was one of nine taking place across the UK yesterday.As usual, the excellent Political Maps UK have the results.Reform UK gained four seats – two from Labour, one from the Conservatives and one from an independent.Whitburn & Blackburn (West Lothian) Council By-Election Result [1st Prefs]:➡️ RFM: 32.0% (+15.
7)🎗️ SNP: 28.0% (-0.9)🌹 LAB: 17.1% (-13.9)🙋 Ind: 13.
2% (+1,3)🌳 CON: 3,5% (-3,2)🔶 LDM: 2,8% (+0.
0)🌍 GRN: 2.7% (+0.2)🙋 Ind: 0.7% (New)Reform GAIN from Labour - Stage 8.…Red Hall & Lingfield (Darlington) Council By-Election Result:➡️ RFM: 37.
7% (New)🌳 CON: 17.3% (-22.5)🔶 LDM: 17.3% (New)🌹 LAB: 16.8% (-37.
1)🌍 GRN: 9.8% (+3.6)🙋 Ind: 1.0% (New)Reform GAIN from Labour.Changes w/ 2023.
Aveland (South Kesteven) Council By-Election Result:➡️ RFM: 41,0% (+26,5)🌳 CON: 39,5% (+19,0)🌍 GRN: 16.
2% (New)🌹 LAB: 3.2% (New)No LDM (-26.9) as previous.Reform GAIN from Conservative.Changes w/ 2023.
Belmont (South Kesteven) Council By-Election Result:➡️ RFM: 33.4% (New)🌳 CON: 33.1% (+1.5)🙋 Ind: 20.0% (New)🌍 GRN: 8.
5% (New)🌹 LAB: 4,9% (-14,5)No Ind (-49,0) as previous,Reform GAIN from Independent.
Changes w/ 2023.Commenting on the Darlington result, where Labour came fourth in a seat it was defending, Stephen Bush from the Financial Times says:There’s more writing than wall at this point.The Conservatives held two seats – but lost one to Reform UK, and one to the Lib Dems.Eaglescliffe West (Stockton-on-Tees) Council By-Election Result:🌳 CON: 60.9% (+4.
4)➡️ RFM: 24.0% (+17.6)🌍 GRN: 7.6% (-0.2)🌹 LAB: 7.
5% (-21.7)Conservative HOLD.Changes w/ 2023.Armitage & Handsacre (Lichfield) Council By-Election Result:🌳 CON: 46.7% (-6
Tell us: are you a young person from the UK who has recently moved abroad?
Young people are leaving the UK in high numbers and we’d like to find out more about the reasons why.Is it about finding a better salary abroad or concerns about rising costs and tax in the UK? How did you choose where to move? How have you found the experience?You can tell us your experience of moving abroad using this form.Please include as much detail as possible. Please include as much detail as possible. Please include as much detail as possible
As NHS braces for record flu cases, is the strain active in continental Europe too?
The NHS is bracing for one of its worst winters on record as a surge in flu cases puts pressure on GP surgeries, hospitals and ambulance services. The flu season is well under way in continental Europe, too, where the same flu strain active in the UK is emerging as the force behind a new wave of infections.In the northern hemisphere it normally runs from mid-November to mid-February, though it can start as early as October and run into May. Health officials call the start of the season when 10% of suspected cases test positive for flu. At the start of November, the figure in England was already at 11% compared with 3% at the same time last year
Tell us: how are you being affected by the rise in UK flu cases?
Flu cases rose 55% in one week in England this month, as the NHS braces for a “worst-case scenario” in the next fortnight as hospitals, GP surgeries and ambulances services come under intense strain.It comes as the British Medical Association has lined up strike action for resident doctors in England next week over concerns on pay.We want to hear from you.How are you affected by the rise in flu? Are you a patient who has become unwell, or have you changed your behaviour to try and avoid infection? Are you a healthcare worker dealing with the impact? What are your thoughts on the potential strike action?You can tell us about how the rise of flu cases is affecting you here.Please include as much detail as possible
‘He was struggling with his breath. I sat beside him and sang’: the choir who sing to people on their deathbeds
It’s a brisk November afternoon in the village of South Brent in Devon and, in a daffodil yellow cottage, two women are singing me lullabies. But these aren’t the sort of lullabies that parents sing to their children. They are songs written and sung for terminally ill people, to ease them towards what will hopefully be a peaceful and painless death.We are at the home of Nickie Aven, singer and leader of a Threshold Choir. Aven and her friend are giving me a glimpse of what happens when they sing for people receiving end-of-life care
‘Cruel’ amendments being used to thwart assisted dying bill, says lead MP
Members of the House of Lords have proposed “totally unnecessary” and “very cruel” amendments to the assisted dying bill in an attempt to scupper it, the MP leading the campaign has said.Kim Leadbeater said on Friday she believed that peers opposed to the bill were trying to block it by proposing hundreds of changes, including one that would require terminally ill people to be filmed as they undergo an assisted death.The Lords will vote on some of those on Friday during a fourth day of debate on the bill, with six more sessions scheduled for the new year. Supporters now fear there will not be enough time to debate more than 1,000 amendments before the parliamentary session ends, putting the bill at risk of collapsing.Leadbeater told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What we’re seeing with this bill, sadly, is well over 1,000 amendments have been tabled, many of which are totally unnecessary and some of which are actually just very cruel when we think about the cohort of people that the bill is designed to help
Strikes could collapse flu-hit NHS amid worst crisis since Covid, says Streeting
Wes Streeting has told resident doctors that strikes and a sharp rise in the number of flu cases over the Christmas period could be “the Jenga piece” that forces the NHS to collapse.The health secretary said the NHS faced a “challenge unlike any it has seen since the pandemic” and urged resident doctors to accept the government’s offer and end their action.He said: “The whole NHS team is working around the clock to keep the show on the road. But it’s an incredibly precarious situation. Christmas strikes could be the Jenga piece that collapses the tower
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