DWP spent £50,000 trying to stop release of review into disabled man’s death
More than £50,000 of taxpayers’ money was spent on lawyers to try to prevent the release of a safeguarding review ordered after a disabled man starved to death in his own home,The costs were part of a bill of nearly £1m spent under the last government to prevent the release of various documents under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act,It included spending by the Home Office of £30,000 to block a request by the Guardian for the total cost to the public of protecting the royal family,The figures were revealed after requests by the Democracy for Sale newsletter, which sought details of spending under the last government in attempts to prevent the release of information,Some of the spending that was uncovered related to an attempt by a campaigner at the Child Poverty Action Group charity to obtain the results of a review by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) into its safeguarding procedures.
The existence of the review was revealed in reports about the death of Errol Graham, who starved to death in June 2018 after the DWP wrongly stopped his out-of-work disability benefits, leaving him without any income.The information commissioner ordered the department in 2022 to release the results of the review, which the DWP had been trying to keep secret for two years.Graham, 57, weighed just four and a half stone when his body was found by bailiffs who were trying to evict him, eight months after his benefits were stopped.Despite spending £35,600 on solicitors and £15,400 on a barrister, the DWP’s appeal was dismissed and the information was disclosed to Owen Stevens, a universal credit adviser at the Child Poverty Action Group.A DWP spokesperson said the department complied with FoI guidance, but added: “Occasionally we exercise our right to challenge decisions from the Information Commissioner’s Office, which can incur legal costs.
“These are justified to ensure we are protecting and handling information lawfully in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act,”Ministerial departments in the last government spent £937,000 fighting transparency in 56 legal cases that were listed in 2023,Many of the attempts at secrecy failed, with judges ruling that the public interest was best served by the release of official documents,Sign up to First EditionOur morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersafter newsletter promotionIn other cases, attempts at increasing transparency were thwarted,Judges on a freedom of information tribunal ruled last year that the cost of protecting members of the royal family could not be revealed to the public.
Their decision, made after hearing detailed evidence behind closed doors and a legal challenge by the Home Office, means the bill for protecting the royal family – thought to run into tens of millions a year – will remain an official secret.The DWP and the Ministry of Defence meanwhile spent six figure sums of taxpayers’ money to fight transparency, spending £120,000 and £105,000, respectively.However, the real government spend is likely to be substantially higher than the £937,000 because many departments refused to answer the request or claimed not to hold any information.Information was obtained on 58 of the 118 cases on the government’s case register for 2023.
UK-EU youth mobility scheme key to better EU relations, says top diplomat
Keir Starmer’s effort to reset Britain’s relations with its European allies is contingent upon a UK-EU youth mobility scheme, a top diplomat has indicated.Miguel Berger, Germany’s ambassador to the UK, said stability across Europe could be undermined if the allies could not secure a number of “clear measures” that demonstrate the “concrete advantages” of their relationship – one being the youth mobility scheme.While Berger appeared to accept the pressure Starmer was under from Eurosceptics and Brexit-supporting newspapers in the UK, he said the scheme was ultimately “quite simple”.“The most important thing is [that] people who come here will go home after that. So the idea is really to have the experience, but then go home,” he told the Guardian
Curb extremism now or face new terrorist threats, Labour warned
Labour must reverse years of political failure on extremism to stop it fuelling more disorder, violence and terrorism in Britain, leading figures have said.Neil Basu, the former head of counter-terrorism policing, and Dame Sara Khan, previously the government’s counter-extremism tsar, warned that proposals unveiled last month would not be enough to address a toxic pool of hatred, conspiracy theories and “dangerous rhetoric” from high-profile figures including Elon Musk.Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, last month announced increased funding for counter-terrorism police, plans to strengthen the Prevent counter-terrorism scheme and a new independent commissioner to oversee its effectiveness.However, that role overlaps with the Commission for Countering Extremism (CCE), which was set up after the 2017 terrorist attacks, and the Observer understands a decision is yet to be made on the CCE’s future.Khan, who led the commission from 2018 to 2021, welcomed Labour’s creation of an independent Prevent commissioner but said a separate body was still needed to counter extremism and related threats, including disinformation and conspiracy theories
‘Picture Nigel Farage as PM’: jubilant Reform UK dares to dream at East of England conference
“I want you to take a moment to picture the day when, in just a few years’ time, prime minister Nigel Farage triumphantly arrives at No 10 Downing Street, puts his briefcase down on the desk and takes a seat,” Reform UK chair Zia Yusuf tells a rapt audience of party members. “Change is coming. We will turn this country around and restore the United Kingdom to its rightful position as one of the greatest countries in the world.”The speech is met with rapturous applause and a standing ovation at Reform’s East of England conference, held in Kemi Badenoch’s rural North West Essex constituency on Saturday.About 1,000 people have packed into the unseasonally named “summer marquee” at Chelmsford City Racecourse for the event, which is one of four party gatherings being held across England in the space of a fortnight
New year, new Keir? Labour have big plans for 2025 - including taking inspiration from Thatcher
As the popularity of his government has nosedived in recent weeks, Keir Starmer has turned up the heat on his cabinet ministers. Since early last month, individual secretaries of state have been summoned by the prime minister to attend 90-minute, one-to-one interrogations to check on their work, department by department.Starmer’s officials insist that no one in Downing Street or Whitehall is panicking. Not yet, anyway. But just six months on from his landslide general election victory, the meetings are evidence of a sense of urgency and unease, and proof that the hard realities of government have dawned
Labour’s poll lead is fading and the base is weak – it’s time for Starmer to roll the dice
Six months after Labour’s biggest landslide in a generation, the new government is already in the mire. The poll lead on which Starmer’s majority was built has already all but vanished, leaving Labour in a three-way dogfight with the Conservatives and Nigel Farage’s resurgent Reform UK, while, further down, both the Greens and Liberal Democrats have also made gains.Voters have historically given new governments the benefit of the doubt, with most holding their ground or gaining support in their first six months. Blair’s first two new Labour governments enjoyed polling honeymoons. Starmer has had no such luck
Nigel Farage ‘very pleased’ Elon Musk backs Reform UK, calling him a ‘hero’
Nigel Farage has hailed Elon Musk as a “hero” and said he was “very pleased he’s backing our party”, but he called reports that the tech mogul was preparing to donate $100m (£80m) to Reform UK “somewhat overexaggerated”.Speaking at Reform’s East Midlands conference on Friday night, the party leader said Musk’s efficiency plan for Donald Trump’s government was the “blueprint we need” as he called for a “complete change of culture in Britain”.“I am very pleased he’s backing our party, even if reports of his potential financial donations are somewhat overexaggerated,” he said. “Whether we like everything he says or not, he’s a hero.”The tech billionaire has been weighing in on British politics in recent months, and told his social media followers on Thursday that “Britain needs Reform now” as rumours circulated he is preparing to give the party up to $100m
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