Month: April 2023

Co-leader Adrian Ramsay said too many areas, particularly rural ones, had been left without proper infrastructure when large estates are built.

Property firms, he added, had been allowed to “chase the biggest profits and ignore local needs”.

The party also wants tighter planning rules on the location of new housing.

The local elections, to be held on Thursday 4 May, will see 230 local authorities in England choose some or all of their councillors.

As of May last year, when local elections were last held, the Green Party of England and Wales held roughly 540 councillors.

The party has run councils before, but it is hoping to win outright control of its first major council at the ballot box this time around.

It wants to make progress in Tory-held rural areas, as well as more traditionally Labour urban seats.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Ramsay said the party was hoping to build on its record from the last three sets of council elections, where it had taken seats in “roughly equal numbers” from both main parties.

At an event in Suffolk to officially launch its campaign later, it will showcase its offer on housing, where it wants to boost affordable homes and make new developments more climate-friendly.

The party also says new developments should be designed to reduce the use of cars, including by building near train stations or frequent bus services.

Under its plans for stricter energy efficiency rules, developers would be required to install solar panels and heat pumps in new build homes.

Mr Ramsay said too many villages and towns had seen large developments built without new facilities such as GP surgeries, bus services, cycle lanes and schools.

He said the Green Party was calling for affordable homes to be built on brownfield sites and to high environmental standards to keep people’s bills low.

“I hear from people all the time that they’re being priced out of being able to afford to live in the community that they called home. They’re seeing luxury homes being developed, often on greenfield sites, often threatening their local green spaces,” he told BBC Breakfast.

“Too often developers are riding roughshod over the needs of communities and the environment.”

The Greens say they would make infrastructure requirements in local development plans more strict, arguing national guidance gives too much leeway to housing firms.

Under current rules in England, councils can make housing developers contribute towards local infrastructure through a fixed charge levied on the floorspace of new properties.

Contributions towards new facilities, as well as new affordable housing, can also be made through deals negotiated with individual local authorities during the planning process.

The government is consulting on replacing these schemes with a new tax linked to the price of new properties when they are sold, to be rolled out in stages over several years.

Peter Murrell, 58, is being questioned after being taken into police custody on Wednesday morning.

Police Scotland said officers were carrying out searches at a number of addresses as part of the investigation.

Mr Murrell resigned as the party’s chief executive last month, a post he had held since 1999.

He has been married to Ms Sturgeon since 2010.

Ms Sturgeon stood down as first minister last month and was last week succeeded by Humza Yousaf.

There is currently police activity at the couple’s home in Glasgow and at SNP headquarters in Edinburgh.

There are 10 uniformed officers stationed outside the former first minister’s home, alongside one police vehicle and an incident tent in the front garden.

The curtains and blinds remained drawn and there was no sign of anyone in the property.

Meanwhile, two police officers were posted outside SNP HQ and there were other officers inside.

At least six marked police vehicles were parked outside the building.

An SNP spokesperson said: “Clearly it would not be appropriate to comment on any live police investigation but the SNP have been cooperating fully with this investigation and will continue to do so.

“At its meeting on Saturday, the governing body of the SNP, the NEC, agreed to a review of governance and transparency – that will be taken forward in the coming weeks.”

Ms Tsai will stop over in the US on Wednesday, as she returns from a tour of Taiwan’s allies in Central America.

A visit to Taiwan last year by the former US speaker was seen as a major provocation by China, which reacted with military drills around the island.

US-China relations are at a low point.

Tensions have soared in the wake of a row over alleged spy balloons and increasing US attempts to cut off China’s access to advanced tech.

Mr McCarthy will meet the Taiwanese leader in a “bipartisan” meeting at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library outside of Los Angeles.

The meeting in the US, as opposed to in Taiwan, has been seen as a compromise to avoid inflaming tensions with China.

But Beijing last week cautioned that any meeting between Ms Tsai and the third-highest-ranking US official could lead to the US seeing “serious repercussions”.

On Monday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said Beijing “strongly” opposes any form of official interaction and contact between the US and Taiwan governments.

The US maintains full diplomatic relations with Beijing but is Taiwan’s most important ally and arms supplier.

Since Ms Tsai was elected in 2016, Beijing has ramped up military, economic and diplomatic pressure on the island.

It has increased investment in Latin America, a key diplomatic battleground between the two sides where Taiwan has a few of its 13 diplomatic allies.

Ms Tsai’s visited Guatemala and Belize where she met both nations’ leaders and reaffirmed diplomatic ties.

Taiwan lost an ally in the region, Honduras, last month when it switched loyalties to China.

Taiwan defence officials said President Tsai’s trip abroad had seen more than a dozen Chinese aircraft cross the midway mark of the Taiwan Strait on Friday and Saturday. Taiwan says there is a regular pattern of harassment from Chinese planes.

Beijing views Taiwan, a self-governing island of 23 million, as a breakaway province to be taken by force if necessary.

The state has been and will always be an “integral and inalienable part of India,” foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Tuesday.

His comments came after reports said that China had renamed 11 places along a disputed Himalayan border region in the state.

Beijing has not yet commented.

China and India share a disputed 3,440km (2,100 mile) long de facto border – called the Line of Actual Control, or LAC – which is poorly demarcated. The presence of rivers, lakes and snowcaps means the line can shift.

China continues to stake claim on the whole of Arunachal Pradesh, calling it “South Tibet”.

The soldiers on either side – representing two of the world’s largest armies – come face to face at many points, the last time being in December when Indian and Chinese troops clashed along the border in the town of Tawang.

This is also not the first time that Beijing has renamed places in the state, triggering angry reactions from India.

The latest tensions began after the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs on 1 April announced that it had “standardised some geographical names in southern Tibet”.

This included mountain peaks, residential areas, rivers and a town close to the state’s capital Itanagar.

India said Beijing could not alter the status of places in the north-eastern state.

“This is not first time China has made such an attempt. We reject this outright,” Mr Bagchi said in a statement.

“Arunachal Pradesh is an integral, inalienable part of India. And attempts to assign invented names will not alter this reality,” he added.

Beijing first sought to rename six districts in Arunachal Pradesh in 2017 in a move that was seen as “retaliation” for a visit by the Dalai Lama. The Tibetan spiritual leader had visited the region earlier that year in April.

It released a second list in December last year, this time renaming 15 places in the region. India reacted strongly and said it rejected the changes.

He has been under investigation over hush money paid just before the 2016 election to a porn star who says they had sex. He denies wrongdoing.

Extra security measures are in place with the authorities expecting protests outside the Manhattan court on Tuesday.

Mr Trump, 76, is the first ex-US president to face a criminal case.

“WITCH HUNT,” the Republican wrote on his Truth Social platform shortly before travelling from his home in Florida to New York on Monday – a journey which drew blanket coverage across the US news channels.

On Tuesday morning, dozens of police and court officers, as well as Secret Service agents, are expected to escort Mr Trump through the streets of New York to the Lower Manhattan court complex.

The charges he faces will be disclosed in full at the hearing, which is scheduled for about 14:15 local time (19:15 BST). His lawyers have already said he will plead not guilty.

The former president is expected first to surrender at the office of Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg.

Once Mr Trump is fingerprinted and processed by officials, he is considered under arrest and in custody. He will then be arraigned in court – meaning the charges will be read out and he will plead.

Mr Trump has been under investigation over a $130,000 (£105,000) wire transfer by his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.

Mr Trump has denied a sexual encounter with Ms Daniels.

Hush money agreements are not illegal, but the Manhattan prosecutor has been investigating whether business records were falsified in relation to the payment.

Mr Trump faces at least one felony charge in the case, according to US media. Other reports suggest there are about 30 counts in his indictment.

Media outlets lobbied Judge Juan Merchan to allow cameras inside the court, a motion that was opposed by Mr Trump’s legal team because they said it would “create a circus-like atmosphere at the arraignment”.

But on Monday night, Judge Merchan ruled that some press photographers will be allowed to take pictures for several minutes before the arraignment formally starts.

The former president is expected to be released on bail and to return to his Florida home Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday evening, where he plans to deliver remarks at 20:15 local time.

His trip on Monday lunchtime from Palm Beach to Manhattan was closely watched by millions.

Live trackers followed his plane – painted in red, white and blue with “Trump” in big letters on the side – throughout the nearly four-hour flight from West Palm Beach to LaGuardia Airport in Queens.

Anticipating his arrival, the intersection around Trump Tower – the former president’s Manhattan residence – was thronged with New Yorkers and tourists alike.

Dozens of media crews had set up camp on every available corner while at least five news helicopters hovered high over Fifth Avenue.

Mr Trump waved at media and the crowd before walking in to the skyscraper under tight security, just after 16:15 local time (20:15 GMT).

He is understood to have spent Monday evening at Trump Tower consulting with legal advisers, a team that grew with the addition of Todd Blanche, a white-collar criminal defence lawyer and ex-federal prosecutor who previously represented onetime Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Mr Trump’s 2024 White House campaign has raised over $8m since news of the charges against him broke last week, according to his team.

At a news conference on Monday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned any potential “rabble-rousers” to “control yourselves”.

Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene plans to hold a pro-Trump rally near the court on Tuesday.

Unlike the days preceding the Capitol riot in 2021 by Trump supporters, New York officials say they have not seen any influx of protesters to the city in recent days.

President Joe Biden, at an event in the state of Minnesota on Monday, told reporters he had no concerns about unrest in New York, saying: “I have faith in the New York Police Department.”

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and the US Secretary of State will join Nato ministers for a joining ceremony.

Finland’s accession is a setback for Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who repeatedly complained of Nato’s expansion before his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The length of Russia’s border with Nato member states has now doubled.

Finland shares a 1,340-km (832-mile) eastern frontier with Russia and formally applied to join Nato with Sweden last May because of Russia’s war.

They had previously both adopted a policy of non-alignment. But after the Ukraine invasion, they chose the protection of Nato’s Article Five, which says an attack on one member is an attack on all.

In effect, it means if Finland were invaded, all Nato members – including the US – would come to its aid.

Russia’s invasion prompted a surge in Finnish public opinion towards joining Nato to 80% in favour.

“This will make Finland safer and Nato stronger,” Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters on Tuesday.

“President Putin had a declared goal of the invasion of Nato to get less Nato along its borders and no more membership in Europe, he’s getting exactly the opposite.”

Sweden’s application has for now become stuck, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accusing Stockholm of embracing Kurdish militants and allowing them to demonstrate on the streets. Hungary is also yet to approve Sweden joining.

Mr Stoltenberg said Nato would ensure Sweden would become the next member to join.

Helsinki’s journey to accession has lasted under a year, and Tuesday’s ceremony coincides with the 74th anniversary of Nato’s founding in 1949.

It will formally join when Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto hands over accession papers to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“Finland’s a terrific ally, very capable, shares our values and we expect a seamless transition into its proper seat at the table,” US ambassador to Nato Julianne Smith told the BBC. She said she hoped Sweden would also join at the next Nato summit in Lithuania in July.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Alexander Grushko, has warned that if Finland’s new Nato allies deploy forces or resources there, Moscow “will take additional steps to reliably ensure Russia’s military security”.

On Sunday, Russia’s ambassador to Belarus, Boris Gryzlov, said Moscow would move tactical nuclear weapons close to Belarus’s western borders to “increase the possibilities to ensure security”.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that Russia’s short-range Iskander-M ballistic missile system had been handed over to Belarus and was capable of carrying nuclear as well as conventional weapons.

However, Mr Stoltenberg said Nato had not yet seen any changes to Russia’s nuclear posture that would require any change by the alliance. He added there would be no Nato troops stationed in Finland without the consent of the government in Helsinki.

Nato will now have seven members on the Baltic Sea, further isolating Russia’s coastal access to St Petersburg and its small exclave of Kaliningrad.

It comes after former SNP minister Fergus Ewing branded the party’s coalition partners “fringe extremists”.

Green MSP Ross Greer hit back and said Mr Ewing’s comments were “straight from the Conservative hymn sheet”.

Meanwhile, a separate report said 15 backbench MSPs wanted to “reset” SNP relations with the business sector.

But Mr Yousaf said he would welcome any challenges to his policies as part of his “collaborative style” of leadership.

The first minister, who succeeded Nicola Sturgeon last week, was speaking as he announced new funding to help low-income families at a football project in Ayr.

Writing in the Scottish Daily Mail on Saturday Mr Ewing claimed the influence the Greens had in government had caused “widespread distrust – and growing and deep-seated anger” in both rural and island communities.

The former rural affairs minister also said the party – which was granted two junior ministerial posts – were the “green tail wagging the yellow dog”.

The MSP for Inverness and Nairn concluded: “It’s time for the new FM to recognise the damage the association with the Green Party has caused – and scrap the Bute House Agreement.”

But on Monday Mr Yousaf reminded Mr Ewing the deal was backed by 95% of the party’s membership.

He told BBC Scotland: “It has helped us to have a collaborative approach to government.

“It has helped us, of course, to have a pro-independence majority in the Scottish Parliament and it has brought stability to the government.

“So I would just remind anybody in the SNP that this is a deal that the members overwhelmingly backed.”

Mr Greer said: “If Fergus thinks record funding for wildlife and nature, free bus travel for under-22s, the most progressive tax system in the UK and so many other transformative policies delivered by Greens are so unpopular then why did the Scottish Greens and the SNP do so well at last year’s council elections?”

Mr Yousaf was also asked about a separate report in The Herald on Sunday which said 15 “rebel” MSPs – including supporters of his leadership rival Kate Forbes – plan to publish their own set of policy papers on jobs and the economy which they will present to ministers.

The first minister said he would welcome the input of backbenchers.

Mr Yousaf added: “I read beyond the headlines and it seems some MSPs want to engage constructively with the government in terms of their policy ideas and initiatives.

“They will get a very welcoming ear from me.”

UK ministers say the draft law would conflict with equality protections applying across Great Britain.

It is the first time a Scottish law has been blocked for affecting UK-wide law.

Asked if he was determined to challenge it, Mr Yousaf said he would study the legal advice shortly.

But he added: “I do not believe that we can cave in to a Westminster veto on a piece of legislation, regardless of whether the public or others agree or disagree with that legislation, that was passed by a majority of parliamentarians.

“And that’s the principle that is at stake here.”

Meanwhile, Mr Yousaf has announced that thousands more households will benefit from free school-age childcare as part of a £15m investment to help tackle child poverty

Existing services for eligible families in areas of Dundee, Clackmannanshire, Glasgow and Inverclyde will be expanded, with new services set up in other communities across Scotland.

The first minister said local football clubs would also be able to apply for funding totalling £2m to support the provision of after-school and holiday-activities clubs, in a joint initiative with the Scottish Football Association.

Nine other projects will also receive a share of the funding for 2023/24.

Speaking during a visit to Ayr United Football Academy’s holiday club, Mr Yousaf said funded school-age childcare benefits provided “safe, nurturing environments for children and opportunities for them to socialise and take part in a wide range of activities.”

The first minister added that his administration was also working to expand Early Learning and Childcare to one-year-old and more two-year-olds.