Ken Weetch obituary

The appellation of “good constituency MP” often carries the somewhat pejorative suggestion of a mediocre politician who has failed to make a mark as a national figure at Westminster. However, in the case of Ken Weetch, who has died aged 92, it explains, rather, his remarkable survival for 13 years as the Labour MP for Ipswich against the prevailing electoral trends of the time.He also wrote his name into the statute book of history for his successful campaign to end the long-standing monopoly of solicitors over the conveyancing of property. He introduced two private members’ bills, in 1974 and 1976, in an attempt to highlight what he termed this “vicious restrictive practice” and continued to exert such pressure that the Thatcher government was persuaded eventually to outlaw the monopoly within the provisions of the Administration of Justice Act, 1985.During his tenure as the Ipswich MP he won cross-party respect, admiration and even affection for his dedication to the interests of all his constituents

Immigrants aren’t our enemies, Zia Yusuf | Letter

Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s new home affairs spokesperson, has said that he will secure Britain’s borders to make us feel safe (22 February). My response, as a classmate of immigrants, a friend of immigrants and the child of immigrants, is that it is not immigrants who make me feel unsafe, it is the idea that my friends who have lived here nearly their whole lives could face deportation. It is the idea that my friends will face harassment and abuse because they don’t look or sound “British”.I am scared, and my friends are scared, of politicians who have the power to break up our communities and don’t seem to view us as people. Immigrants aren’t villains – they are our doctors and nurses, our restaurant owners and shopkeepers, our teachers and friends and families

MPs’ basic salary to rise to £110,000 by end of parliament, watchdog says

The basic annual salary of MPs will soon rise to £110,000, the expenses watchdog has said, on the grounds of increased abuse and intimidation as well as growing constituency workloads.This April, MPs’ basic pay will rise by almost £5,000 to £98,599, a jump of 5% – and it is expected to reach £110,000 by the end of the parliament.The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) said the pay had been benchmarked against other similar roles in the public sector as well as parliamentarians around the world in similar democracies.It awarded an increase that was significantly above inflation – a 3.5% increase for the cost of living and a further 1

Farage emulating ‘his hero Trump’ in deriding byelection results, says new Green MP

Nigel Farage has been accused of Donald Trump-style election denial by the Green party’s new MP for Gorton and Denton, after he claimed her Reform rival “came first” among British-born voters in last week’s byelection.Hannah Spencer, a local plumber and councillor, was elected as the party’s first MP in northern England last week after winning 14,980 votes, more than 4,400 ahead of Reform’s candidate, who came second.After the election, Reform reported allegations of “family voting” – where people appear to collude on votes in breach of secret ballot rules – to Greater Manchester police and the Electoral Commission.Outlining a new Reform policy that he said would allow only British citizens to vote in parliamentary elections, Farage added: “I’m absolutely convinced that amongst British-born voters, Matthew Goodwin came first in their election last week. Of that, I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever

Starmer says UK ‘not joining strikes’ on Iran but will continue defensive action – as it happened

In a statement that stressed Britain was not involved in the initial wave of attacks on Iran, Starmer said that the country will not join the US and Israel in offensive strikes. Instead the UK will focus on “defensive actions”.Starmer added that the US will use British bases for similar purposes, with a goal of destroying Iran’s capability to fire more missiles.“We were not involved in the initial strikes on Iran, and we will not join offensive action now, but in the face of Iran’s barrage of missiles and drones, we will protect our people in the region, and support the collective self-defence of our allies, because that is our duty to the British people,” he said.“It is the best way to eliminate the urgent threat, to prevent the situation spiralling further, and support a return to diplomacy

Starmer says UK will not join ‘regime change from the skies’ on Iran

Keir Starmer has issued his strongest rebuke yet of Donald Trump’s action in Iran, saying the UK did not believe in “regime change from the skies”.The prime minister said the UK would not join offensive strikes by Israel and the US on Iran, but defended his decision late on Sunday to permit the US to conduct defensive strikes on Iranian missile sites from RAF bases, saying that was “the best way to protect British interests and British lives”.As MPs urged Starmer not to allow the UK to be dragged further into the conflict, Starmer suggested he had qualms about the US action and plans in place for the aftermath of the strikes.“We all remember the mistakes of Iraq, and we have learned those lessons. Any UK actions must always have a lawful basis, and a viable thought-through plan,” he said