UK

Momentum co-chair and deputy council chief quit Labour over party direction

Daniel Green

 5th May, 2024

Co-chair of Momentum Hilary Schan has resigned from the Labour Party and her role at the left-wing campaign group, claiming the party’s leadership “cannot deliver the change that is so desperately needed” despite its local election success.

Schan, a councillor in Worthing, issued a joint resignation statement with deputy Worthing council leader Carl Walker and Worthing councillor Margaret Howard.

They said quitting the party was “not a decision any of us has taken lightly” but expressed concern at Labour’s policy to retain the two child benefit cap and a supposed lack of a commitment to saving public services.

Speaking to LabourList, Schan said that Labour’s policy platform under Keir Starmer is “utterly inadequate when you look at the multitude of crises the country is facing” and described the party’s response to the Israel-Gaza conflict as “horrendous”.

She said: “I think that, for most of us on the left, that just felt like the final straw.”

‘I haven’t changed, the party has’

Schan, who joined the Labour Party in 2016 under Jeremy Corbyn, said that the last four years had been “incredibly difficult”.

“It’s felt like it’s been a kind of gradual journey since Starmer came in as leader, but I was a very committed Labour activist, working to elect the first Labour council in Worthing,” she said.

“But I think particularly over the past six months, the kind of combination of the response to Gaza, along with the kind of domestic policy rollbacks and the stifling of the party… has led to this point.

“I like to think of it that I haven’t changed, the party has.”

She said she shares the same sentiment as journalist Owen Jones, who also recently quit the Labour Party, and said: “We’ve really got to stress the need for an alternative and the benefits of having those left voices hopefully in Parliament, whether those are independent MPs or Green MPs or socialist Labour MPs.

“Hopefully, if we can elect some of those MPs, they will have a voice within Parliament and we will be able to pressure that incoming Labour government.”

Schan has joined the committee of the We Deserve Better campaign and said she is “excited” to be working to build an “alternative to the race to the bottom between Labour and the Tories.

Owen Jones said that Keir Starmer is “driving away committed elected representatives and campaigners” like Schan.

He said: “These local election results betray a lack of enthusiasm for Labour in its urban heartlands, and show that many are crying out for an alternative.

“Hilary’s experience will be an asset to the campaign and help to build the movement for an alternative based on the politics of hope.”

Speaking to LabourList in March, Luke Akehurst, a Starmer-backing member of Labour’s national executive committee, said: “There is something rather pathetic about backing a random collection of Green and independent candidates who are seeking to undermine Labour just at the point where we’re headed towards an historic general election victory.”

His report for members on the latest NEC meeting suggested party general secretary told the governing body Labour would take a tough line on any Labour MP accepting from “We Deserve Better”, as this was also funding Green and independent candidates.

‘What is it about me that Starmer finds so scary?’

Schan said it was “particularly emotional” to stand down as co-chair of Momentum and described the group’s work as “absolutely vital” in maintaining a left presence in the Labour Party.

While she said she finds it hard to imagine returning to the party, she said if Labour were to “go back to being a party that I felt represented the needs of working people and shifting their policy to reflect that again… that is certainly something I would consider coming back to.”

When asked what she would say to Keir Starmer as she quits the party, Schan said: “I think there’s this kind of boogeyman sort of view of the left, when in reality the large majority of people like us have absolutely slogged our guts out for the Labour Party over the last eight years, even under a change of leader.

“What is it about me that he finds so scary? That’s what I’ve always wanted to know.”

‘It doesn’t look like a Labour Party to me’

Deputy leader of Worthing Borough Council Carl Walker highlighted a recent poll that suggested 61% of voters think they will be either the same or worse off under a Labour government as cause for concern.

Speaking to LabourList, he said: “I don’t think any Labour Party could be as bad as this Conservative government, but I do think if you look at the polls there is not a great thirst for Labour policy.

“This is not 1997, where people felt they had a charismatic Labour leader with a bold vision. Instead, it’s very much an anti-Conservative vote, and with good reason after the shitshow of the last five years.

“In all honesty, it just doesn’t look like a Labour Party to me. It doesn’t look like a progressive party in terms of the social and economic policies.

“All the people that we’ve worked so hard to support over the last few years to support the most vulnerable in terms of housing, food insecurity – I don’t see that their circumstances will change an awful lot.”

Walker said he had taken the decision to quit the Labour Party with a “heavy heart”, especially as he was proud of the progressive direction of the local party in Worthing.

“I love our local Labour Party. I think we’re doing really good work. We are an unusual group of people in that we have a broad church, where we have people from the left, the centre, people who aren’t remotely factional, and we’ve all pulled together to focus on the common goals that we’ve got.

“That’s why I wanted to wait until after the local elections because I wanted to continue to support them until the very end. But for me personally, I can’t continue to support the Labour Party.

“They’re a really good bunch and I think they’ll do great stuff locally, so it is with a heavy heart, and they have my full support.”

‘Wholesale contempt’ for members

Walker attempted to stand to become Labour’s candidate for East Worthing and Shoreham last autumn, but was not included on the shortlist. He said he expected to be blocked from standing due to the “culture under the Labour Party”.

He said: “The reason they gave me was because I was criticising the Labour leadership when I gave a speech at the CWU picket line saying they should allow frontbenchers to support picketers.

“It was a shame but not a surprise, and it did not really play into my decision making for me.”

Walker claims there is “wholesale contempt” for members, particularly around the selection of candidates, and said that they have been “taken for granted” by the current leadership.

He said there is a “huge disconnect” between the membership’s stance on progressive policies and their view of the Israel-Gaza conflict and the leadership’s current position. He also claimed that “many activists and members” had quit the party in Worthing in recent years over the selection in East Worthing and Shoreham and the direction of the party.

While he said he would support Beccy Cooper’s campaign to become the Labour MP for Worthing West, he said he could not support Tom Rutland’s bid to be the MP for East Worthing and Shoreham.

He said he was not convinced Rutland’s politics were sufficiently “in line” with most residents’ politics. “I will support Beccy Cooper because I know that hers are,” he said.

“For me, it’s about looking at individual candidates, do those people represent the needs of their residents and are they willing to push for the things that people need. If they’re in the Labour Party, great. If they are in the Green Party, great. If they are independent, great. 

“It’s about what they stand for, because the Labour Party as a whole national entity I don’t think anymore represents the needs of the vast majority of people.”

Walker contested the East Worthing and Shoreham constituency for the National Health Action Party in 2015 and 2017. He said the possibility of standing again for Parliament was “not something I am thinking about at the moment”.

“I think the one thing that binds so many of us in the Labour movement is, however we may agree or disagree on certain things, we agree on the fact that we want Tory politicians out, so that’s not something for me to be thinking about right now,” he said.

Decision to quit was made ‘some time ago’

LabourList understands that Walker was facing the prospect of being suspended from the Labour Party following accusations that he was supporting rival candidates to Labour on social media.

A cache of screenshots shared with LabourList showed Walker retweeting posts from the independent mayoral candidate Jamie Driscoll, as well as posts from the We Deserve Better campaign.

However, he refuted the suggestion that he was quitting the party before he would be expelled and said that he had already made the decision to quit the party “quite some time ago”.

He said: “I think what happened was, the party obviously saw what I’ve been retweeting and reposting and I think their attempt to put me through this disciplinary for retweeting Jamie Driscoll and then leaking it to the press is an attempt to make it look that way.

“To be honest, I honestly don’t give a shit. It doesn’t matter whether people say that or not. It is an absolute irrelevance – to me, it’s always been about finding the best way to do things for the residents that need us most.”

‘Sad state of affairs’

A spokesman for Momentum said: “As Hilary leaves Momentum, we’d like to place on record our thanks for her leadership and dedicated service to our movement. 

“It is a sad state of affairs for Keir Starmer’s Labour Party when committed activists like Hilary, who work so hard to deliver progressive change for their communities, no longer feel it is the place for them.

“Momentum remains focused on organising for a democratic Labour Party which views its members and core voters as an asset, not an inconvenience.

“We will keep campaigning for real Labour policies which deliver the country the transformative change it is crying out for, instead of constant u-turns and corporate-friendly policies.”

LabourList understands Schan has automatically resigned her membership and roles within Momentum and that the organisation’s executive will consider and agree a process for replacing her as co-chair.

‘People who are leaving are right people to leave’

A report last year found that Labour Party membership had fallen by almost 170,000 since 2018 amid a reported exodus of Jeremy Corbyn supporters.

Former adviser to Tony Blair John McTernan told LabourList at the time that “the people who are leaving are the right people to leave”.

He said: “The Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn became large, but it filled up with people who are not from the Labour family and not from the Labour Party tradition and are better off back in the fringe far-left organisations that they were members of.”

McTernan added that membership is “not a numbers game” and there is “quality as well as quantity”.

“The proof of the strength of the current membership is the week-in-week-out performance in council by-elections and what we’ve seen in council elections.”

The Labour Party has been approached for comment.

SCOTLAND

Swinney to become SNP leader after rival drops out

BBC

SNP leadership front-runner John Swinney is expected to succeed Humza Yousaf unopposed after a potential challenger withdrew his bid at the 11th hour.

Earlier it emerged that veteran SNP activist Graeme McCormick, who has been openly critical of the Scottish government, had secured a nomination.

However he then announced that although he had met the threshold of support needed to secure a nomination, he had decided not to proceed and would back Mr Swinney instead.

This came after a “lengthy and fruitful conversation” with Mr Swinney in which Mr McCormick said they had "agreed the challenges" which the SNP, the government and the people faced.

Swinney warns of SNP rebuild delay if leader bid challenged

Who is John Swinney, the sole candidate for first minister?

How will Scotland's next first minister be chosen?

This means Mr Swinney is expected to be elected leader of the SNP after nominations close at midday on Monday.

Mr Yousaf resigned after just over a year in the role following the fallout from the decision to terminate a power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens.

Mr Swinney announced he was putting his name forward as he gave a speech at an event in Edinburgh last week.

Mr Swinney, 60, previously led the SNP between 2000 and 2004 and said he would not be "interim leader" or a “caretaker,” adding he intended to see out a full term.

On Sunday he suggested that rebuilding the SNP could be delayed if another candidate were to enter the leadership race - though said he would engage with internal party democracy.

His preference, he said, was to "get on with things" as the party had not been as cohesive as it should have been in recent years.

Leadership candidates are required to get 100 nominations from at least 20 local SNP branches before standing in the race.

Mr McCormick is a retired lawyer and stood against Mike Russell to become party president in 2023, losing by 599 votes to 79.

He previously argued for abolishing tax and replacing it with an annual rent on land, and that the route to Scottish independence lay through international treaties, with Scotland dissolving the union immediately if the SNP returned the most MPs in Scotland at a general election.

In a speech at the party conference in October last year, he described the SNP government as being like “flatulence in a trance”.

Late on Sunday, Mr McCormick released a statement saying he and Mr Swinney had "explored new thinking on a range of issues" that would "inspire activists" within the SNP and in the wider independence movement.

Confirming he was backing Mr Swinney, he said: "This is a fresh start for our members and our politicians, and I’m sure that John’s determination to deliver Independence will be rewarded at the forthcoming general election."

SNP  Graeme McCormick speaking at the SNP Conference in October

Former SNP leadership candidate Kate Forbes confirmed earlier she was not standing and backed Mr Swinney, having been promised a "significant" cabinet role if he becomes first minister.

If no other candidate meets the nomination deadline, Mr Swinney would be free to seek parliamentary approval to become first minister.

Mr Yousaf has decided to stay on in the role until a replacement is selected.

Once his resignation has been accepted by the King, parliament has 28 days to select a replacement.

There will then be a vote in the chamber to decide the new first minister, which is passed by a simple majority.

The SNP has 63 seats in the parliament, which means it does not have a majority, but the vote is likely to pass regardless.

The parliament's presiding officer then recommends to the King that the winner be appointed as the new first minister.

A swearing-in ceremony at the Court of Session in Edinburgh could take place as early as Wednesday.

At that point, Mr Swinney would officially become first minister.
Greens deal collapse

Mr Yousaf announced his intention to step down from the role last Monday.

He had ended the Bute House Agreement with the Scottish Greens, leaving him short of support for the minority SNP government at Holyrood.

He would have faced two votes of no confidence in his leadership last week had he not stood down.

Yousaf says he 'paid price' for upsetting Greens

Humza Yousaf quits as Scotland's first minister

Who is Humza Yousaf? The rise and fall of a first minister

The Scottish Conservatives dropped their motion after his departure was confirmed, while Scottish Labour's - which was a vote of confidence in the entire government - was defeated with backing from the Greens.

His resignation came 13 months after defeating Ms Forbes and Ash Regan, who has since defected to the Alba Party, in the race to replace Nicola Sturgeon.

He became the first ethnic minority leader of a devolved government in the UK and the first Muslim to lead a major UK party.

In his resignation speech, he said he had “clearly underestimated” the hurt he had caused the Greens by ending the agreement and said his replacement would be tasked with "repairing our relationship across the political divide".

SNP to retain just 15 seats with Labour set to overtake in Scotland, poll says

John Swinney indicates his SNP Government will reach out to unionists to pass laws and budgets

John Swinney has admitted the SNP must “change how it talks to people” from across the political divide as he suggested he will reach out to unionist opponents to pass legislations and budgets

By David Bol

THE SCOTSMAN
Published 5th May 2024

John Swinney has warned opposition unionist parties they have a “responsibility and an obligation” to help an SNP minority government pass budgets as he eyes up becoming Scotland’s next first minister.

In an apparent dig at his predecessor Humza Yousaf, Mr Swinney has admitted the SNP must “change how it talks to people” on the other side of the political divide to make progress as a minority government.

Mr Swinney is set to become the next SNP leader, despite an apparent last-minute bid for attention by an outspoken party activist who claims to have enough support to challenge Mr Swinney.


J

ohn Swinney is expected to become the next first minister and SNP leader. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images


The former deputy first minister suggested he would move the SNP back to the centre-ground of politics after the Bute House Agreement with the Greens was ripped up.


Read MoreGreens could refuse to prop up Swinney government if he shifts SNP to centre gro...

But a Greens source had told Scotland on Sunday that “if the SNP moves too far to the right, they would need to look elsewhere to get their policies and budgets passed”, adding “we are not here to simply endorse an SNP minority government”.

Now Mr Swinney has signalled he will reach out to unionist parties such as Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives in order to pass legislation and budgets as he draws up his plans to push ahead with a minority SNP government at Holyrood.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar (Photo: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

Mr Swinney said he would build a consensus with other parties by “engaging in respectful and courteous dialogue within the Parliament”, insisting “I believe in mainstream politics”.

He told the BBC’s Sunday Show: “I believe the SNP should pursue a moderate left-of-centre policy programme – that is where I come from politically. I want to make sure that is successful. We will bring these proposals forward to Parliament and work with others to advance those proposals.”

Asked if a minority government under his leadership could be propped up by anyone other than the Scottish Greens, Mr Swinney said: “I think we probably can do.”

He pointed to recent legislation on keeping the ‘Promise’ to care-experienced young people where SNP minister Natalie Don was able to “reach agreements with Labour and Liberal Democrat members about amendments to that Bill”.

John Swinney wants to reach out to opposition leaders (Picture: Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images)

But pressed over whether his unionist opponents would help pass a budget, given the hostile stand-off with the SNP over the constitution and other key issues, Mr Swinney said: “I don’t think we should rule that out.”

He added: “In the past I have had Liberal Democrat, Labour, Conservative, Green support for budgets.” The Perthshire North MSP said that if opposition parties would block his budgets on principle against an SNP government, “that’s their problem”.

“That won’t pay teachers, it won’t pay nurses,” he said. “It won’t make sure we can get operations done in our hospitals. If you don’t pass a budget, you can’t fund your public services. There becomes a responsibility on all of us.

“If we go back to 2009 when one of my budgets didn’t go through Parliament on the first time of asking, within a couple of weeks, the budget was passed – virtually in its entirety from what I had originally proposed. The opposition parties were challenged about how hospitals were going to be funded or schools were going to be funded or councils were going to be funded and they didn’t have any answers.”

Mr Swinney said: “A budget process puts a responsibility and an obligation on everybody, not just the Government. I accept the Government’s got to act differently to try to get people on board. The Government’s got to change how it talks to people.”

However, unionist party leaders have not indicated they would work more openly with an SNP Government headed by Mr Swinney.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar told the BBC “there is still a deeply chaotic and divided political party that I think has broken its trust with the Scottish people”.

“All of this is about managing his [Swinney’s] political party rather than running the country,” Mr Sarwar said. "I didn’t hear anything from John Swinney around any new direction around fixing our NHS, around getting our education system back on track.”

Labour national campaign co-ordinator Pat McFadden said his party was “not planning alliances” with the SNP “or anyone”.

Mr McFadden said a change in SNP leader “doesn’t make much difference”, in the wake of Mr Yousaf announcing his resignation as First Minister a week ago.

Asked if he “could imagine” Labour and the SNP working together if his party does not win a majority at a general election, Mr McFadden told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips “no”.

He said: “Our aim is to win a majority, to govern, to meet the mood for change, and we’re not planning any alliances or pacts with anyone.”

Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy insisted “John Swinney is the ultimate continuity leader”.

He said: “He was joined at the hip to the disgraced Nicola Sturgeon and central to the cynical cover-ups and policy failures that characterised her government – especially as education secretary when Scotland fell sharply in the international rankings.”

Nominations for the SNP leadership close at noon on Monday. But one fly in the ointment of a coronation for Mr Swinney could be a suggestion that party activist Graeme McCormick used the independence march in Glasgow on Saturday to drum up support for his candidacy.

It is understood Mr McCormick believes he is very likely to receive the 100 nominations from at least 20 SNP branches before the Monday deadline, but no proof has yet been provided.

Should Mr McCormick receive the required nominations, a three-week leadership contest will be triggered, with ballots opening on Monday, May 13 and closing on May 27.

Mr McCormick has previously been critical of the SNP-led Scottish Government, using last year’s party conference to criticise its independence strategy.

Amid the speculation that a leadership contest would delay him becoming first minister, Mr Swinney said he would like to get on with that job “as quickly as possible”.

The former deputy first minister said he would respect the “democratic process” if there was a contest. But he added: “I think the SNP has got a chance to start rebuilding from the difficult period that we have had, under my leadership, and bluntly, I’d just like to get on with that as quickly as I possible can do, because every day that we spend in an internal contest, which I think we all probably know the outcome of, we delay the possibility for the SNP to start its rebuilding.”

UK

Heineken to create more than 1,000 new jobs in £39m pub investment plan


Heineken is pumping £39 million into its pub arm (Star Pubs/PA)

By Henry Saker-Clark, 

PA Deputy Business Editor

Yesterday 

Heineken is to invest £39 million in more than 600 of its UK pubs, in a move it says will create more than 1,000 new jobs.

The Dutch brewing giant said the cash injection into its Star Pubs operation will also allow it to reopen 62 long-term closed pubs this year.

Star said that more than a quarter of its 2,400-strong pub estate – 612 pubs – are in line for improvements through the investment programme.

It comes on top of similar plans in recent years and will represent more than £200 million in investments since 2019.


The Ship, Worsbrough, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, is among the pubs receiving investment (Star Pubs/PA)

The company said its refurbishments will “concentrate on transforming tired pubs in suburban areas into premium locals”, as people commute less regularly into city centres for work.

It said this will include “subtle zoning” work to appeal to different customers so they can cater for various customer activities, such as watching sport and dining.

Lawson Mountstevens, Star Pubs’ managing director, said: “People are looking for maximum value from visits to their local.

“They want great surroundings and food and drink as well as activities that give them an extra reason to go out, such as sports screenings and entertainment.

“Creating fantastic locals that can accommodate a range of occasions meets this need and helps pubs fulfil their role as vital third spaces where communities can come together.”

Star said some revamps will also include overhauling cellars with new dispensing equipment and measures to improve energy efficiency, such as heating controls.

He added: “Pubs have proved their enduring appeal, after all the disruption of recent years, Star is on track to have the lowest number of closed pubs since 2019.


“It’s a tribute to the drive and entrepreneurship of licensees and the importance of continued investment.

“Well-invested pubs run by great licensees are here to stay, but like all locals, they need government support to reduce the enormous tax burden they shoulder.”

UK
Farmer confidence at all-time low as 82% hit by wet weather, unions warn


Spring greens are harvested at TH Clements and Son Ltd near Boston, Lincolnshire (Joe Giddens/PA)

By Rebecca Speare-Cole, 

PA sustainability reporter

Yesterday

Farmer confidence in England and Wales has collapsed to an all-time low with more than four-fifths saying they have been negatively affected by months of wet weather, sector leaders have warned.

All areas of farming – arable, livestock, poultry, horticulture and dairy – expect to decrease production over the next year, a poll by the National Farmers Union (NFU) found.

Almost 800 farmer and grower members were surveyed between November 21 and January 5 about the challenges they are facing and their expectations for the year ahead.

Britain cannot afford to lose its ability to feed itselfTom Bradshaw, NFU

The results published on Monday showed both short and mid-term confidence – farmers’ outlook on the next year and next three years – to be at their lowest levels since the annual research began in 2010.

Arable and livestock farmers were found to be particularly pessimistic towards both.

Relentless wet conditions in autumn played a big part, according to the NFU, with 82% of survey respondents saying their farm businesses suffered negative impacts.

But since January, heavy rain and storms continued to batter the UK through to April, meaning results would likely be worse if the survey were taken today.

Tom Bradshaw, NFU president, said the extreme weather was part of “the perfect storm of events coming together”.

“I don’t think anyone can underestimate the impact that this last 18 months of exceptional weather has had,” he said.



Brussels sprouts being harvested in a flooded field at TH Clements and Son Ltd near Boston, Lincolnshire (Joe Giddens/PA)

The conditions have compounded other problems for English and Welsh farmers, such as increased costs, inflationary pressures, labour shortages and cheaper imports, he said.

Results of the survey suggest that the highest proportion of farmers see the phase-out of the old EU Basic Payment Scheme towards new subsidy schemes as an issue that will negatively impact their businesses in 2024.


Closely following in second was the issue of high input costs like fuel and fertiliser, which ranked highest in last year’s survey.

Meanwhile, concerns over farmgate prices – what farmers are paid for their produce before transport costs – jumped by 10 percentage points this year.

The NFU warned that ultimately many farm businesses are at risk this year, citing Office for National Statistics figures that more than 8,000 farms have been lost between 2019 and 2023.

Its survey found that 65% of farmers said their profits are declining or their business may not survive, compared to 50% last year.

“Confidence has collapsed after months of devastating flooding, unsustainably high production costs and low market returns, and against a backdrop of reduced farm support as we transition to a new Domestic Agriculture Policy and associated farm support,” Mr Bradshaw said.

“Any business owner knows that without confidence and a steady cash flow, that business will struggle to re-invest and remain viable.”

Experts have recently warned that lower yields from key crops could lead to higher food prices if the losses cannot be offset by imports from a stronger global commodities market.

But Mr Bradshaw argued that relying on imports is “naive at best and foolish at worst” as climate change grows as a risk to food systems globally.

“Britain cannot afford to lose its ability to feed itself,” he said.

In its general election manifesto, the union outlined solutions for political parties to adopt to tackle the breakdown in farmer confidence and safeguard homegrown food production.


These include rewarding farmers fairly for their role in mitigating flood risk, transitioning smoothly to new environmental schemes that are open to all farmers and ensuring profitable long-term, food-producing businesses.

The union is also calling on politicians to establish minimum standards to promote fair and functioning supply chains and establish core production standards that apply to agri-food imports.

Mr Bradshaw said: “Farmers are carrying the risk within the supply chain and with the huge volatility we’ve seen in the input markets and in output prices in recent years.

“That risk is just getting too high for many businesses to take and we now need some solid foundations put in place that are going to underpin our food production for the future.”

Asked about voting sentiment among his members, he said the rural vote is “still very much up for grabs”, adding that the demographic is looking for policies that are going to underpin profitable food production.


Farming minister Mark Spencer said: “I pay tribute to all our farmers and their hard work to put food on our tables, day in day out.

“Backing British farmers remains at the heart of this Government’s approach, from maintaining the £2.4 billion annual budget, ensuring fairness in our supply chains and launching the largest ever grant offer for farmers in 2024.

“Our farmers have faced one of the wettest periods on record in England, and I have seen first-hand the impact this has had.

“The Farming Recovery Fund is offering support to farmers to help recover from uninsurable damage and we are looking at how we can expand the scheme and improve support for those affected.

“I will continue to listen and work with farmers to look at what further support can be offered during this challenging period.”

Prehistoric soil microbes studied in bid to climate-proof today’s crops

it is hoped the research could help present-day crops adapt to climate change (PA)

By Paul Cargill, 

PA Scotland

Yesterday 

Plant biologists in Edinburgh are set to work with European scientists to determine whether microbes from hundreds of thousands of years ago can help present-day plant species adapt to climate change.

The Heriot-Watt University team has been awarded £500,000 by Horizon Europe, a European Union scientific research initiative, to work on the four-year project.

The scheme, called Tolerate, is examining ancient soil samples extracted from deep below the Arctic.

Dr Ross Alexander, a plant molecular biologist at Heriot-Watt, said: “The Tolerate team is using samples from the palaeolithic period, around 100-200,000 years ago, because the planet was warming then, much like now.

“The project aims to find out whether the plants, soil and bacteria of the past can help our current crops survive in a rapidly changing planet.



Experts have warned droughts will increasingly affect crops around the world (PA)

“Drought is a particular concern for crops around the world. According to the latest report of the European Drought Observatory, 47% of the EU is in warning conditions and 17% is in alert conditions. Cereal yields are decreasing by as much as 10% in some areas.”

Tolerate scientists at Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany have already dissected the DNA of some of the prehistoric bacteria from the samples.

The Heriot-Watt team will run tests to determine whether this ancient DNA can help present-day bacteria support plants when water is scarce.

Dr Alexander said: “Bacteria play a huge role in plant health. They release compounds that might help plants retain moisture around the roots, act like glue to help maintain the soil or help the plants take up the nutrition they need.

“We’ll be using above-ground controlled growth chambers to see if we can use the bacteria to drought-proof barley, one of Scotland’s biggest crops.”

There could be a huge wealth of biological resources that we could tap into to improve our current and future environment in Scotland and around the worldProfessor Stephen Euston, Heriot-Watt University

Professor Stephen Euston, an expert in food chemistry at Heriot-Watt, said: “We’re in touch with farmers and landowners across Scotland to source soil samples.

“Agricultural systems in the UK and worldwide are facing multiple stresses, including climate change, pressure for land for housing and population increases.

“If we could grow food crops like barley on marginal land that’s currently unsuitable for agriculture because of issues like drought, there would be huge economic and social benefits.

“Additionally, the molecules these bacteria produce to help improve soil and water availability to crops could have valuable uses elsewhere.

“We are working towards producing large enough quantities of these molecules to be tested in biomedical and industrial cleaning applications, for example.

“Having access to these ancient samples is an incredible bonus. There could be a huge wealth of biological resources that we could tap into to improve our current and future environment in Scotland and around the world.”

The team will be recruiting a PhD student and a postdoctoral student to help with the research.

As US spotlights those missing or dead in Native communities, prosecutors work to solve their cases

AP |
May 06, 2024 

As US spotlights those missing or dead in Native communities, prosecutors work to solve their cases


ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It was a frigid winter morning when authorities found a Native American man dead on a remote gravel road in western New Mexico. He was lying on his side, with only one sock on, his clothes gone and his shoes tossed in the snow.

As US spotlights those missing or dead in Native communities, prosecutors work to solve their cases

There were trails of blood on both sides of his body and it appeared he had been struck in the head.

Investigators retraced the man's steps, gathering security camera footage that showed him walking near a convenience store miles away in Gallup, an economic hub in an otherwise rural area bordered on one side by the Navajo Nation and Zuni Pueblo on the other.

Court records said the footage and cell phone records showed the victim — a Navajo man identified only as John Doe — was “on a collision course” with the man who would ultimately be accused of killing him.

A grand jury has indicted a man from Zuni Pueblo on a charge of second-degree murder in the Jan. 18 death, and prosecutors say more charges are likely as he is the prime suspect in a series of crimes targeting Native American men in Gallup, Zuni and Albuquerque. Investigators found several wallets, cell phones and clothing belonging to other men when searching his vehicle and two residences.

As people gathered around the nation on Sunday to spotlight the troubling number of disappearances and killings in Indian Country, authorities say the New Mexico case represents the kind of work the U.S. Department of Justice had aspired to when establishing its Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons outreach program last summer.

Special teams of assistant U.S. attorneys and coordinators have been tasked with focusing on MMIP cases. Their goal: Improve communication and coordination across federal, tribal, state and local jurisdictions in hopes of bridging the gaps that have made solving violent crimes in Indian Country a generational challenge.

Some of the new federal prosecutors were participating in MMIP Awareness Day events. From the Arizona state capitol to a cultural center in Albuquerque and the Qualla Boundary in North Carolina, marches, symposiums, art exhibitions and candlelight vigils were planned for May 5, which is the birthday of Hanna Harris, who was only 21 when she was killed on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana in 2013.

It was an emotional day in Albuquerque, where family members and advocates participated in a prayer walk. They chanted: “What do we want? Answers! What do we want? Justice!" There were tears and long embraces as they shared their stories and frustrations. They talked about feeling forgotten and the lack of resources in Native communities.

Geraldine Toya of Jemez Pueblo marched with other family members to bring awareness to the death of her daughter Shawna Toya in 2021. She said she and her husband are artists who make pottery and never dreamed they would end up being investigators in an effort to determine what happened to their daughter.

“Our journey has been rough, but you know what, we're going to make this journey successful for all of our people that are here in this same thing that we're struggling through right now,” she said, vowing to support other families through their heartbreak as they seek justice.

Alex Uballez, the U.S. attorney for the District of New Mexico, told The Associated Press on Friday that the outreach program is starting to pay dividends.

“Providing those bridges between those agencies is critical to seeing the patterns that affect all of our communities,” Uballez said. “None of our borders that we have drawn prevents the spillover of impacts on communities — across tribal communities, across states, across the nation, across international borders.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Eliot Neal oversees MMIP cases for a region spanning New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Nevada.

Having law enforcement agencies and attorneys talking to each other can help head off other crimes that are often precursors to deadly violence. The other pieces of the puzzle are building relationships with Native American communities and making the justice system more accessible to the public, Neal said.

Part of Neal's work includes reviewing old cases: time-consuming work that can involve tracking down witnesses and resubmitting evidence for testing.

“We’re trying to flip that script a little bit and give those cases the time and attention they deserve,” he said, adding that communicating with family members about the process is a critical component for the MMIP attorneys and coordinators.

The DOJ over the past year also has awarded $268 million in grants to tribal justice systems for handling child abuse cases, combating domestic and sexual violence and bolstering victim services.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bree Black Horse was dressed in red as she was sworn in Thursday during a ceremony in Yakima, Washington. The color is synonymous with raising awareness about the disproportionate number of Indigenous people who have been victims of violence.

She prosecutes MMIP cases in a five-state region across California and the Pacific Northwest to Montana. Her caseload is in the double digits, and she's working with advocacy groups to identify more unresolved cases and open lines of communication with law enforcement.

An enrolled member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and a lawyer for more than a decade, Black Horse said having 10 assistant U.S. attorneys and coordinators focusing solely on MMIP cases is unprecedented.

“This is an issue that has touched not only my community but my friends and my family,” she said. “I see this as a way to help make sure that our future generations, our young people don’t experience these same kinds of disparities and this same kind of trauma.”

In New Mexico, Uballez acknowledged the federal government moves slowly and credited tribal communities with raising their voices, consistently showing up to protest and putting pressure on politicians to improve public safety in tribal communities.

Still, he and Neal said it will take a paradigm shift to undo the public perception that nothing is being done.

The man charged in the New Mexico case, Labar Tsethlikai, appeared in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty while standing shackled next to his public defender. A victim advocate from Uballez's office was there, too, sitting with victims' family members.

Tsethlikai's attorney argued that evidence had yet to be presented tying her client to the alleged crimes spelled out in court documents. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew McGinley argued that no conditions of release would keep the community safe, pointing to cell phone data and DNA evidence allegedly showing Tsethlikai had preyed on people who were homeless or in need of alcohol so he could satisfy his sexual desires.

Tsethlikai will remain in custody pending trial as authorities continue to investigate. Court documents list at least 10 other victims along with five newly identified potential victims. McGinley said prosecutors wanted to focus on a few of the cases “to get him off the street" and prevent more violence.

 

The Techo Funan Canal Won’t End Cambodia’s Dependency On Vietnam – Analysis

 May 6, 2024

By RFA

By David Hutt

First it was the Ream Naval Base. Now it’s the Techo Funan Canal. 

Could the planned $1.7-billion waterway that will cut through eastern Cambodia – which will be built, funded and owned by a Chinese state firm – be used by Beijing to attack or threaten Vietnam? 

Phnom Penh denies this and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet reportedly had to assuage the Vietnamese leadership of this concern during a visit last December. 

Sun Chanthol, a Cambodian deputy prime minister and the former minister of public works, recently said he also tried to mollify Hanoi’s concerns about the project, formally known as the Tonle Bassac Navigation Road and Logistics System Project.

The United States has been more vocal than Vietnam in raising concerns over the Ream Naval Base in southern Cambodia, which China is extensively refurbishing and where China appears to have stationed some vessels for the past few months. 

But Hanoi’s worries about the Techo Funan Canal have leaked out in drabs from within Vietnam. 

Last month, an academic journal article by two researchers at the Oriental Research Development Institute, part of the state-run Union of Science and Technology Associations, warned that the Cambodian canal might be a “dual-use” project. 

“The locks on the Funan Techo Canal can create the necessary water depths for military vessels to enter from the Gulf of Thailand, or from Ream Naval Base, and travel deep into Cambodia and approach the [Cambodia-Vietnam] border,” they argued in a study that was republished on the website of the People’s Public Security Political Academy. 

Geopolitical implications

One ought to be skeptical. China having access to the Ream Naval Base is one thing— it is a military base. It makes sense for Beijing to want to station and refuel its vessels on the Gulf of Thailand, effectively encircling Vietnam. 

Proposed route Cambodia’s Funan Techo Canal project. Credit: EOBKR, Wikipedia Commons

But if China was thinking of attacking Vietnam, wouldn’t it be simpler for the Chinese navy to follow Cambodia’s coastline to Vietnam? Beijing presumably wouldn’t want its vessels to be stuck in a relatively narrow Cambodian canal. 

But if you can imagine Cambodia allowing the Chinese military access to its inland waterways to invade Vietnam, why not imagine Phnom Penh allowing the Chinese military to zip along its (Chinese-built) expressways and railways to invade Vietnam? 

If you are of that mindset, then Cambodia’s road or rail networks are just as much of a threat, or perhaps more so, as Cambodia’s naval bases or canals.

Nonetheless, the canal has geopolitical implications for Vietnam. 

Cambodia exports and imports many of its goods through Vietnamese ports, mainly Cai Mep. The Funan Techo Canal, by connecting the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port to a planned deepwater port in Kep province and an already-built deep seaport in Sihanoukville province, would mean that much of Cambodia’s trade no longer needs to go through Vietnam. 

Phnom Penh can justifiably say this is a matter of economic self-sufficiency. “Breathing through our own nose,” as Hun Manet put it. Phnom Penh reckons the canal will cut shipping costs by a third. 

Cambodia has a dependency on Vietnam’s ports. If Cambodia-Vietnam relations turned really sour, such as Phnom Penh giving the Chinese military access to its land, Hanoi could close off Cambodia’s access to its ports or threaten to do so, effectively blocking much of Cambodian trade – like it did briefly in 1994. 

Remove that dependency, and Vietnam has less leverage over Phnom Penh’s decision making. 

Mekong River projects

Even the environmental concerns around the canal are about geopolitical leverage. 

Vietnam is justified in fearing that Cambodia altering the course of the Mekong River—after Laos has been doing so for two decades—will affect its own already at-risk ecology. 

Fears are compounded by the lack of publicly available environmental impact assessments over the canal and the fact that the Mekong River Commission, a regional oversight body that is supposed to assess the environmental impact of these riparian projects, has become a feckless body for dialogue.  

Hanoi is no doubt concerned about its own position since it hasn’t been able to get Phnom Penh to openly publish those impact assessments. This further compounds Vietnam’s sense of weakness for having failed for more than a decade to limit how its neighbors go about altering their sections of the Mekong River, with highly deleterious impacts on Vietnam’s environment and agricultural heartlands. 

Clearly, Phnom Penh isn’t for turning on the canal project. Just this week, Hun Manet applauded apparent public support for the scheme as a “huge force of nationalism”. Phnom Penh is making this a sovereignty issue, thus making criticism a matter of state interference, a way of silencing dissent in Southeast Asia. 

It’s not all bad news for Vietnam, though. The Financial Times notedthat, according to Vietnamese analysts, even if the Techo Funan Canal goes ahead, “Hanoi retains leverage over Cambodia” because ships carrying more than 1,000 tonnes would still rely on Vietnamese ports. 

Cambodia could get around this by using smaller vessels. That would be less profitable but still doable. By my calculation, Cambodia’s exports to Vietnam have grown by more than 800% over the last six years, from $324 million in 2018 to $2.97 billion last year. 

In the first quarter of this year, Vietnam bought 22 percent of Cambodia’s goods. Exports certainly give leverage. No other single country is queuing up to start buying a fifth of Cambodia’s products. 

Trade dependency

In fact many of these Cambodian exports are re-exported by Vietnam to China, so Phnom Penh might think it can cut out the Vietnamese middleman. But it cannot. 

Arguably, Cambodia’s biggest dependency on Vietnam is that Cambodia’s economy increasingly must become integrated into Vietnam’s supply chains. 

Look around Southeast Asia in the coming decade: Laos has hydropower; Thailand has automobile manufacturing; Malaysia has semiconductor chips; the Philippines has its green economy schemes; and Indonesia has natural resources and electric vehicle batteries. The region is carving itself out into niches. 

But Cambodia seems somewhat stuck with low value-added garment production, some agricultural growth and tourism  – sectors  that depend on the health of the Chinese economy. Cambodia’s construction sector, which drove much of the growth of the past decade, is likely to struggle as a result of that sector’s  meltdown in China. 

Despite all the grand promises of Phnom Penh’s Pentagonal Strategy, a 25-year-plan to make Cambodia a high-income country, it’s hard to see the country massively improving its labor productivity, which is one of the worst in Southeast Asia. 

That means Cambodia cannot really rival its neighbors in higher-end, higher-value-added industries. And Cambodian labor isn’t that low cost anymore, and with a population much smaller than its competitors, it’s at a scale disadvantage. 

This all leaves Cambodia dependent on serving Vietnam’s supply chains.  

• David Hutt is a research fellow at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS) and the Southeast Asia Columnist at the Diplomat. He writes the Watching Europe In Southeast Asia newsletter. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of RFA.

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Manet. Photo Credit: pressocm.gov.kh

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