Political Headlines – Parliament terror attack, Grayling, Corbyn and Brown

Today’s Political Headlines include Ministers considering the closure of the road outside Parliament, Grayling criticised by the RMT, Labour dismissing Corbyn cemetery claims and Brown to attack child poverty. 

Ministers consider closing road following attack on Parliament
The BBC reports that police are searching three addresses in the Midlands and a man has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism after a car hit pedestrians and cyclists outside Parliament before colliding with a barrier yesterday. The Daily Telegraph says ministers are now in talks about closing the road outside Parliament in order to prevent future attacks and have committed £5m to fund a feasibility study.

Rail union accuses Grayling of imposing ‘pay cap’
The BBC reports that the RMT has accused Transport Secretary Chris Grayling of trying to impose a ‘pay cap’ on its members by basing future rail fare and wage increases on the lower Consumer Prices Index measure on inflation, rather than the higher Retail Prices Index.

Labour dismisses cemetery visit claims as ‘false and misleading’
The Guardian says that the Labour Party has dismissed what is calls ‘false and misleading’ claims about Jeremy Corbyn’s visit to a Palestinian cemetery in Tunis, insisting that he was actually attending a memorial for victims of an Israeli air strike on the PLO headquarters in 1985, not commemorating Salah Khalaf, the mastermind of the 1972 Munich terror attack. The Times adds that Corbyn is facing an inquiry into claims that he failed to declare who paid for the visit and The Daily Telegraph reports that he has been condemned for making a Muslim Brotherhood salute during a visit to Finsbury Park mosque.

Brown to attack child poverty
The Guardian reports that Gordon Brown is to make a ‘scathing attack’ on the failure to address quickly rising child poverty levels today. He will use an event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival to claim that it is a national disgrace that the number of children below the poverty line is due to increase to over five million by the early 2020s.

May promises ‘new generation of council homes’ amid scepticism from sector
The Financial Times says that Theresa May used the launch of yesterday’s green paper on social housing to promise ‘a new generation of council homes to help fix our broken housing market’. However, the paper reports that councils and housing associations are sceptical that the proposed measures go far enough and criticised the absence of new funding.

Report calls on UK to strengthen Arctic military presence
The Daily Mirror has details of a new report by the Commons Defence Committee which warns that the UK needs to expands its Arctic military presence in order to combat Russian expansion. As the Arctic ice sheet retreats, oil and minerals are being exposed and the report claims that the UK is behind in the race to exploit these.

Hunt starts second tour of European capitals
The Financial Times reports that Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has embarked upon a second tour of European capitals, visiting Finland, Latvia, Denmark and the Netherlands in an attempt to gain support for the UK’s Brexit proposals. The paper says that this underlines ‘the new activism of the Foreign Office on Brexit since the resignation of Boris Johnson’.

Chief executives’ pay grew by nine times that of the average worker
The Times carries figures from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and the High Pay Centre which show that the pay of FTSE100 chief executives increased by 23% in the last year, while that of the average worker grew by just 2.5%. Rachel Reeves, who chairs the Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, said that this was a sign that ‘something is going very wrong’.

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