Month: May 2022

The move, which will see the last train on many routes departing before 20:00, follows a third Sunday of disruption.

Drivers’ union Aslef has argued a 2.2% pay rise is not acceptable at a time of soaring inflation.

Employment minister Richard Lochhead said he understood the pressures but urged “sensible” pay claims.

Hundreds of trains have been cancelled since 8 May when many drivers opted not to work overtime.

Aslef and the RMT union are both balloting members for strike action after rejecting the pay offer.

Ministers insist that scaling back the number of services under the new temporary timetable will reduce the need for cancellations.

But hospitality and entertainment businesses have warned the transport situation will affect their income, while some commuters are concerned they could be struggling to get home using the rail network.

The original May 2022 timetable had approximately 2,150 weekday services, but from Monday this will be reduced temporarily by a third to 1,456.

Opposition politicians have criticised the move which comes after a Scottish government owned company took over the running of ScotRail last month.

The previous operator Abellio had its franchise ended early amid criticism of the quality of the service.

Speaking on Sunday, when more than 300 services were cancelled, ScotRail’s service delivery director, conceded the temporary timetable would see a reduction in service but said it would also provide customers with “a level of certainty and reliability”.

David Simpson added: “In order to provide a robust timetable with the limited number of available train drivers, we’ve had to make some very difficult decisions and this has meant we’ve been unable to provide a full day’s service across every route.

“We will review the service levels and make any improvements we can as quickly as possible. We’re sorry to our customers for the disruption they’ve faced, and we share their frustration.”

Mr Simpson said the operator wanted to resolve the dispute and remained open to further talks with the trade unions.

It is believed ScotRail needs 130 new drivers to end its reliance on rest-day working.

The operator has been dependent on drivers working extra hours, following delays in training new staff during the Covid pandemic.

Under the new timetable the last train on many routes will now depart up to four hours earlier than usual.

The frequency of many services will also be reduced with, for example, only one direct service a day running from Mallaig, Lochaber to Glasgow at 06:03.

This compares to three under the old timetable and means the only other option is the 18:15 service. It goes via Fort William, where passengers must change to the Caledonian Sleeper.

The Scottish government has said a train driver in Scotland typically earns more than £50,000 a year, and has urged the rail unions to negotiate with ScotRail.

Asked on the BBC’s The Sunday Show if the unions were making reasonable demands, Employment Minister Richard Lochhead said: “My message to all workers in Scotland, in all these sectors, is that we have to sensible.

“Everything has to be affordable because the country is in a very precarious position at the moment and if we take wrong decisions we could end up with a recession.”

But Aslef rejected his comments, saying it was “not sensible” to offer a 2.2% pay increase with inflation running at the current levels.

Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay called on ScotRail to get back to the negotiating table so the “ridiculous timetable cuts” could be withdrawn.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said last week she hoped the timetable would get back to normal “as quickly as possible”.

However, this will depend on either a resolution to the pay row or new drivers completing their training, which is expected to take a few months.

Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth has said she expects 38 new drivers to be qualified by the end of the summer, 55 by the end of the year, and 100 by June 2023.

She has previously described the practice of rest day working as “outdated” and that the Scottish government was looking to phase it out.

Nearly 2.5 million people have been sickened by “fever” in North Korea and it is under a nationwide lockdown, according to the country’s state media.

It is thought to be particularly vulnerable because it has little testing or vaccine supply.

Mr Biden announced the offer at a press conference in South Korea.

“We’ve offered vaccines, not only to North Korea but to China as well, and we’re prepared to do that immediately,” Mr Biden said in a joint appearance with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.

“We’ve got no response,” he added.

The isolated regime of North Korea has previously turned down offers of vaccines from Covax, the global vaccine-sharing scheme, and from South Korea, as well as reportedly declining other offers.

Instead it claimed to have successfully kept Covid out of the country by sealing its borders, although experts believe the virus has been present there for some time.

State media has recommended remedies such as herbal tea, gargling salt-water and taking painkillers such as ibuprofen, while the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has accused officials of bungling the distribution of national medicine reserves.

China is also struggling to control a wave of infections from the highly transmissible Omicron variant, with tens of millions of people under some form of lockdown.

At the news conference in the South Korean capital, Seoul, President Biden said he was willing to meet Mr Kim under the right circumstances.

“It would depend on whether he was sincere and whether he was serious,” Mr Biden said.

His predecessor, Donald Trump, held a historic summit with Mr Kim in Singapore in 2018 and became the first US president to set foot in North Korea the following year.

But two years ago, Mr Kim questioned whether there was any need to continue “holding hands” with the US.

The US and South Korean presidents also agreed to deploy American weapons if necessary to deter North Korea and to increase military drills – which had been scaled down in recent years in an effort to reduce tensions.

Anthony Albanese, who won Saturday’s election with the opposition centre-left Labor Party, said Australia could become a renewable energy superpower.

He is to be sworn in as PM on Monday, but it is not clear whether his party will have a majority in parliament.

Climate change was a key concern for voters, after three years of record-breaking bushfire and flood events.

Outgoing PM Scott Morrison, the leader of an ousted Liberal-National coalition, thanked the “miracle of the Australian people” after conceding.

Vote counting is still going on, and it is unclear whether Labor can get 76 seats to secure a majority in the 151-member lower house of parliament.

Final results may not be known for several days, as electoral officials have just started counting nearly three million postal votes.

If the election results in a hung parliament, Greens and independents – who have been campaigning for radical climate change action – could wield greater influence in framing the new government’s policies on the issue.

Speaking to the BBC’s Shaimaa Khalil shortly after his election victory, Mr Albanese, 59, said: “We have an opportunity now to end the climate wars in Australia.

“Australian business know that good action on climate change is good for jobs and good for our economy, and I want to join the global effort.”

Mr Albanese, who will be heading Australia’s first Labor government in almost a decade, also promised to adopt more ambitious emissions targets.

However, he has so far refused calls to phase out coal use, or to block the opening of new coal mines.

Mr Albanese will fly to Tokyo on Monday for a summit with the leaders of Japan, India and the US, known as the Quad. As he will be representing Australia as its prime minister, he will be sworn into office before his departure.

“Obviously the Quad leaders meeting is an absolute priority for us,” he told journalists on Sunday.

“It’s an opportunity for us to send a message that there is a change of government and that there will be a change of policies on things like climate change.

“I will return to Australia on Wednesday and then we’ll get down to business.”

He said he wanted to “change the country and change the way that politics operates in this country”.

One of Australia’s longest-serving politicians, Mr Albanese served briefly as deputy prime minister to Kevin Rudd in 2013 and has long been a favourite of his party’s left wing. Since becoming opposition leader in 2019, he has positioned himself more towards the centre.

After taking over from Malcolm Turnbull in 2018, Mr Morrison led Australia through a period dominated by natural disasters and the pandemic.

He had been expected to narrowly lose the election, but the result showed a collapse in his vote.

The Coalition shed crucial seats to so-called “teal” independents, mostly women, in traditional inner-city Liberal strongholds. They had campaigned on platforms of climate action and integrity in politics.

Mr Morrison congratulated Mr Albanese and said he would step down as Liberal leader after the defeat.

He said it had been “a time of great upheaval”.

“What Australians have endured over these past few years has shown a tremendous depth of character and resilience and strength,” the outgoing prime minister said.

Mr Morrison, 54, is the first prime minister to serve a full term in office since John Howard in 2007.

Former Defence Minister Peter Dutton is seen as favourite to take over as Liberal leader, after former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg seemed set to lose his seat.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he looked forward to working with Mr Albanese “in the weeks, months and years ahead as, together, we tackle shared challenges and demonstrate the importance of our shared values”.

New Zealand’s PM Jacinda Ardern said she had “a warm conversation” with Mr Albanese, describing Australia as “our most important partner”.

Indian PM Narendra Modi also congratulated Mr Albanese on his party’s election victory.

Voting is compulsory in Australia, and about 17 million people were expected to cast a ballot this time round.

The vote was for all MPs in the House of Representatives, and just over half the seats in the Senate.

Australian politics is traditionally dominated by Labor and the Liberal-National coalition. Either party needs to win at least 76 of the 151 seats in the House of Representatives – where the prime minister sits – to form a majority government.

If they cannot do that, they must try to win support from independent MPs, or those from minor parties.

The Metropolitan Police said an 18-year-old man was arrested in Essex on Wednesday on suspicion of encouraging terrorism.

He remains in police custody after a warrant was granted to allow detectives to question him for a further six days.

A 17-year-old girl was arrested on Friday at an address in east London.

On Wednesday, a 13-year-old boy was arrested in west London on suspicion of sharing Islamist terrorist material.

The force said all three arrests were made as part of a wider investigation into alleged Islamist extremism.

Cdr Richard Smith, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “We have seen three teenagers arrested this week by Met officers for terrorism offences, albeit as part of separate investigations.

“We need to let this investigation run its course, but it is a further indication of a concerning upward trend in police action against younger people for terrorism-related matters.”