Corbyn under pressure as shadow minister quits

political reporter,London(wp/es):
Jeremy Corbyn came under fresh attack today as a shadow cabinet minister quit over the “direction and internal conflict” of the Labour Party.
Catherine McKinnell said she was resigning as shadow attorney general with “a heavy heart” after losing faith in the “increasingly negative path” of the party.
The Newcastle North MP said she had been optimistic at first about the “new kind of politics” promised by Mr Corbyn and went on: “However, as events have unfolded over recent weeks, my concerns about the direction and internal conflict within the Labour Party have only grown and I fear this is taking us down an increasingly negative path.”
She is the fourth shadow minister to resign in the past week and to criticise direction under Mr Corbyn.
Two London MPs were tipped to replace her: Hammersmith’s Andy Slaughter and  former Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Keir Starmer, MP for Holborn and St Pancras.

Mr Corbyn today gave his strongest signal yet that he could use a referendum of Labour members to push through a historic change of policy on the Trident nuclear deterrent.
In an interview that alarmed Labour modernisers, he said grassroots members would get a “big say” in whether to change the current policy that backs the renewal of Britain’s nuclear weapons system.
 “Whether that comes as a vote of individual members or a vote of conference, that will be decided,” he said.

Two members of the shadow cabinet - Lord Falconer and Owen Smith - yesterday hinted they would quit if he reversed the current policy, while a third, Lucy Powell, predicted the big trade unions would block such a move as it would cost jobs.
He refused to rule out launching drone strikes to kill suspected terrorists in Syria or Iraq.
Labour’s leader said he would look at the “evidence” before deciding on any request for a strike from security officials if he was Prime Minister.

BNP is no longer an official political party in UK

political reporter,London(wp/es):
The British National Party is no longer a registered political party in the UK after it failed to submit paperwork required by the Electoral Commission.
The Commission removed the controversial political party from its official list today, meaning that it will not be able to field candidates in any UK elections.
A spokeman said the BNP had been removed from the list as it had failed to confirm its registration details, which all political parties must submit annually for a £25 fee.
The statement of accounts from the BNP was due on July 7, 2015, with the party's annual confirmation of registered details due on or before January 7.
However, the BNP's name and logo will be protected for two years under electoral law, and the party will be able to submit an application to re-register.

A statement from the Electoral Commission said: "Now that the party has been removed from the register, BNP candidates cannot, at present, use the party’s name, descriptions or emblems on the ballot paper at elections.
"The party can, however, submit an application to re-register at any time and their name, descriptions and emblems are protected under PPERA for two years to prevent other parties using them.
"Any application will be considered by the Commission in line with its usual processes for assessing new applications to register political parties."
BNP spokesman Stephen Squire said it was a "clerical error on our part" and that the party would submit the right paperwork within the next few days.

"It's a little bit embarrassing," he said, but insisted it would be "business as usual" for the party, which intended to contest the London mayoral election and some council seats.
"We've been overwhelmed by the number of phone calls we've had from people concerned we might be disappearing."

drug dealer jailed for more than 10 years

crime reporter,London(wp/es):
A drug dealer has been jailed for more than ten years after heroin, cocaine and cash were discovered in a flat in east London.
In October Shipu Miah, 23, of Ford Road, Bow, pleaded guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court to possession with intent to supply heroin and cocaine.
He also admitted a charge of possession of criminal property after more than £170,000 in cash was also seized.
He was arrested in June in last year when police raided a flat in Prince Meridian Walk, Poplar, which Miah used as a safe house to mix and store class A drugs.
Officers recovered 2kg of heroin, 1kg of cocaine, 54kg of cutting agent and £171,195 cash.

On Friday, he was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison.
DC Matthew Foy of the Met's Organised Crime Command said: "I am delighted with the sentence handed down in this case, it sends out a clear message to those that think supplying Class A drugs is a way to earn a living.
“The impact on the people of London is severe and this has been reflected in this sentence."

London Underground sex attacks take place during rush hour

crime reporter,London(wp/es):
Most sex attacks on the Underground happen to commuters in busy carriages during the rush hour, new figures have revealed.
Campaigners say the data demolishes myths about both victims and perpetrators of sexual violence.
Statistics from British Transport Police show between January 2014 and last December, 322 sexual assaults were reported on the Underground during the evening peak of 5pm to 7pm.
There were a further 291 reports to British Transport Police (BTP) from 8am to 10am over the same period.
By contrast, only 110 assaults were reported between 11pm and 1am.

Sarah Green from the End Violence Against Women Coalition told the Independent: “These figures tell a compelling story about how sexual harassment is mostly experienced during daytime commuter journeys – not during late-night social hours.”
And she said the figures “explode a myth that women who have been drinking or who are dressed a certain way provoke sexual harassment, because the victims at peak morning and early evening travel times are largely working women making commuter journeys.”
She added: “The figures may also similarly explode myths about perpetrators of sexual harassment, because at 8am they are sober men who purposefully look for chances to offend, not late-night opportunists.”
The figures also showed a spike in reports over the summer months
 and a recent rise in reports, with 94 allegations made last October alone.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said in August that he was open to the idea of women-only carriages on the Underground after 10pm.
British Transport Police said the increase could be in response to a number of campaigns, including Project Guardian which encourages women to report sexual harassment on the transport network.
A spokesman said: “Significant work has taken place to encourage reporting of sexual offences on trains and Tubes under the successful 'report it to stop it' campaign, which has increased people's confidence to report offences to police.”
He added crime on the Underground network was at a low of 6.8 offences per million journeys.
Victims of sexual assault on the Tube can send a text to the Report It toStop It number on 61016.

Chancellor George Osborne has been dealt another blow on the economy as the UK’s trade deficit with its biggest partner — the European Union

business correspondent,London(es/wp):

Chancellor George Osborne has been dealt another blow on the economy as the UK’s trade deficit with its biggest partner — the European Union — hit an all-time high.

Trade figures showed that record car imports drove the nation’s goods gap with its EU partners up by £500 million to £8.2 billion, the highest since Office for National Statistics records began in 1998.

The latest gloom on the UK economy comes just a day after Osborne warned of a “dangerous cocktail” of global risks threatening the recovery this year and China-inspired new year turmoil in world markets.

Number-crunchers have meanwhile slashed estimates of the UK’s growth performance in 2015, while dire borrowing figures have left the Chancellor facing the embarrassment of missing his deficit target in this year’s Budget.

UK goods have become more expensive on the continent as the pound surged against the euro following the European Central Bank’s €1.1 trillion (£817.9 billion) move to pump cash into its economy last year, hampering the efforts of British exporters.

In a blow to hopes of rebalancing the economy, EU imports rose 2% to hit a record £19.3 billion in November.

But exports to the region — which accounts for almost 40% of UK trade — sank by £1.7 billion or 1.5% to £11.1 billion, which was put down to weaker markets in France, the Netherlands and Ireland.

The UK’s overall goods trade deficit with the rest of the world improved slightly to £10.6 billion from £11.2 billion — although experts put this down to falling prices halving the cost of oil imports from £1.1 billion to £0.6 billion.

Economists said the slight improvement was unlikely to be enough for net trade to add to overall UK growth in the final three months of 2015, after it knocked one percentage point off the economy’s expansion between July and September. 

Scott Bowman, UK economist at Capital Economics, said: “The recent fallback in the oil price should help to improve the trade balance, all else equal, given that the UK is a net importer of oil. Against this, there are a number of challenges exporters face, not least the strong pound and weakness of demand overseas.

“Accordingly, the economic recovery looks set to remain reliant on the domestic services sector.”

Stripping out volatile oil, the underlying picture is also weak as export volumes fell 1.7% over the month, exceeding the 1% decline in imports.

Import prices have meanwhile dipped 7.9% year-on-year — reflecting lower commodity prices and previous sterling strength — which could give the Bank of England another reason to delay rate rises, according to IHS Global Insight’s Howard Archer

Wage more than £10 to help with housing costs

staff reporter,London(wp/es):
A rise in the London Living Wage to more than £10 to reflect the sky-high cost of housing was backed by Labour mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan today.
The frontrunner to replace Boris Johnson used a keynote speech to urge the Living Wage Commission to change the way it calculates the recommended minimum earnings to better mirror the pressure on families in the capital.
Mr Khan called on businesses to see it as a “badge of honour” to pay staff the Living Wage, currently £9.40 per hour in London and £8.25 elsewhere.
The complex calculation to set the rate is thought to underplay the capital’s housing costs. Mr Khan, who urged it to identify “a more consistent, fair formula”, is writing to the body.
“Of principal importance for Londoners will be the inclusion of a real reflection of the cost of housing and the extent of its impact on in-work poverty,” he said. He was speaking at the Resolution Foundation think tank which yesterday revealed a million Londoners live in homes where half the earnings are spent on housing — more than anywhere else in the country.

Marks & Spencer's change at the top may not stop it from sinking

business correspondent,London(wp/es):
Marc Bolland spent much of the Christmas break trudging around York in his wellies, surveying the flood’s impact on Marks & Spencer’s stores.
Now he’s making an even soggier departure from the company he’s run for the past six years.
While Steve Rowe’s appointment is the right move, the timing of the announcement smells worse than a water-damaged basement.
In July, senior M&S sources were telling people like me that Bolland would be staying on for another two years.
Yet today, we’re told he informed the board in the summer that he wanted to leave in early 2016. Peculiar, no?

Communication issues aside, how Bolland must wish that he had quit immediately in the summer.
Back then, shares were flirting with 600p. It even looked as if his turnaround of general merchandise was bearing fruit.
But despite improvements to the winter ranges, sales in recent weeks have been dismal — clearly far worse than he’d feared.
M&S, which has the biggest share of the market in woollens and coats, has inevitably been hit disproportionately badly, despite Bolland’s improvements to M&S’s buying and online sales.
Few — and certainly not me — foresaw just how bad its numbers would be, even after Next’s shocker on Tuesday.
However, going forward, Bolland’s transformation of the food offering and his modernisation of the general merchandise division during his six years in charge give Rowe a decent head start.
With his energy and popularity in the company, Rowe has as good a chance as any of making M&S work again.
The trouble is, in a High Street dominated by weird weather and ever-faster fashion from discount rivals, it’s still far from clear if anyone can hold back the flood threatening M&S