It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, September 06, 2024
UK
Time to rebuild union power – social justice unionism today #TUC2024
“This is a renewal of ideas, an exploration of industrial relations, unions and their role in the next five to ten years.”
By Henry Fowler, Head of Education, Campaigns and Organising at the General Federation of Trade Unions
We have all heard it at that staff day, “We are being strategic,” “here is our ‘Strategic plan”, as strategy is often the preserve of the managerial class, the ‘buzzword’ of Human Resources.
However, it doesn’t have to be like this.
Strategy is not just a word. Strategy is about how we all within the trade union and wider labour movement build the power and capacity to improve workers’ lives. The employers have strategy, the managers have strategy, and it is vital that as a united labour movement we build our own.
That is why we have spent time speaking with, developing and reaching out to different thinkers across our movement, to develop the GFTU Educational Trust new ‘Strategy Series’. This six part webinar series is FREE for the whole movement, a chance for you to get up close with strategic leaders, and discuss the key ideas around how we renew our movement together. This is not renewal in the sense of a younger workplace rep replacing the retiring one, but a renewal of ideas, an exploration of industrial relations, unions and their role in the next five to ten years.
This series will include discussions from leading thinkers on: reviving the trade union movement, how we build union strategy, the role of women and feminist approaches to our unions, strategies for developing activists and the capacity to win campaigns big and small.
We are delighted that our first event will be in person with the visiting President of the United Teachers Los Angeles, Cecily Myrat-Cruz on 16 September co-sponsored with the National Education Union, and Strike Map, register your place here.
Our sessions will be led by a variety of speakers including; Joe Burns, Marshall Ganz, Grace Blakeley, Alice Martin, Hahrie Han, Bill Fletcher Jnr.
Below is the schedule for the rest of the series which are all online via Zoom at 7pm UK time, unless otherwise stated, we hope you can join us:
“The Jackson Hole symposium celebrated success, but what it really revealed is that central bank monetary policy played little role in getting inflation down from its peaks in 2022.”
By Michael Roberts
Every August the world’s top central bankers meet in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, a ski resort in central US for a ‘symposium’ organized by the Kansas City Federal Reserve. The bankers take this opportunity to discuss monetary policy and its efficacy in ‘managing the economy’, in particular, ‘controlling’ inflation and providing the right amount of ‘liquidity’ to the financial system.
This year’s symposium took place when the US Federal Reserve has been put on the spot about whether it should cut its ‘policy’ interest rate, given some signs of a cooling economy and yet a ‘stickiness’ in the fall in the inflation rate towards the Fed target of 2% a year. The so-called policy rate sets the floor for all interest rates on borrowing for households and businesses in the US (and for most of the world). And currently it is at its highest in 23 years.
In early August, the financial markets panicked and started selling corporate stocks because the Fed decided not to cut the policy rate at its July meeting and then the jobs figures for July showed a sharp fall in net job increases with unemployment rising. However, then the latest inflation data came in showing a further (mild) fall in the inflation rate and markets calmed down, especially as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell started to give clear signals that the central bank will cut its interest rate at its September meeting.
Powell repeated that view during his Friday speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. “Progress toward our 2 percent objective has resumed. My confidence has grown that inflation is on a sustainable path back to 2 percent….. The labor market has cooled considerably from its formerly overheated state. It seems unlikely that the labor market will be a source of elevated inflationary pressures anytime soon….. We do not seek or welcome further cooling in labor market conditions. The time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks.”
Powell then went on to claim that inflation had come down without a recession in the US economy because of the Fed’s monetary policy. “Our restrictive monetary policy helped restore balance between aggregate supply and demand, easing inflationary pressures and ensuring that inflation expectations remained well anchored.” He argued that the inflation of prices had rocketed because of a combination of rising consumer spending and supply shortages. This is true, but the issue is which was the most dominant factor. Most, if not all, research on the inflation period has shown that it was supply factors that dominated, not excessive demand from consumers, government spending or ‘excessive’ wage increases – the arguments presented at the time by central bankers to justify the huge hikes in interest rates.
But in his speech Powell hinted at the real causes when he said: “high rates of inflation were a global phenomenon, reflecting common experiences: rapid increases in the demand for goods, strained supply chains, tight labor markets, and sharp hikes in commodity prices.” And that explained the fall in the inflation rate later: “Pandemic-related distortions to supply and demand, as well as severe shocks to energy and commodity markets, were important drivers of high inflation, and their reversal has been a key part of the story of its decline. The unwinding of these factors took much longer than expected but ultimately played a large role in the subsequent disinflation.”
Nevertheless, Powell continued to push the narrative that it was the central banks’ “restrictive monetary policy” that did the trick by “moderating aggregate demand”. Powell also reiterated the myth that central bank monetary policy helps to “anchor inflation expectations” which, it is claimed is key to controlling inflation. But again this is nonsense, as recent studies have clearly shown that ‘expectations’ have little or no effect on inflation. As Federal Reserve economist Rudd recently concluded: “Economists and economic policymakers believe that households’ and firms’ expectations of future inflation are a key determinant of actual inflation. A review of the relevant theoretical and empirical literature suggests that this belief rests on extremely shaky foundations, and a case can be made that adhering to it uncritically could easily lead to serious policy errors.”
Powell also dished up the other mainstream concepts to explain inflation and so justify their ‘restrictive monetary policy’. First was the so-called ‘natural rate of unemployment’ (NAIRU). The theory is that there is some rate of unemployment that is low enough to sustain economic growth without inflation but not too high to indicate a slump. But NAIRU is another ephemeral and movable feast that cannot be measured.
NAIRU is related to the so-called Phillips curve, a Keynesian concoction that argues inflation is caused by excessive wage rises when the labour market is too ‘tight’ (ie the unemployment rate is below NAIRU). There is a ‘trade-off’ between wages and inflation. This theory was empirically refuted back in the 1970s when economies experienced ‘stagflation’ ie rising unemployment, low growth and rising inflation.
Again, the idea that there is a natural rate of interest which keeps inflation down without damaging economic expansion and central banks should measure this and keep to it does not hold with the reality of capitalist production. Even hardline ECB central banker Isabel Schnabel has admitted that: “The problem is it cannot be estimated with any confidence, which means that it is extremely hard to operationalize …. The problem is we don’t know where it is precisely.”(!)
Apparently, these natural rates for harmonious non-inflationary growth keep moving about! “Navigating by the stars can sound straightforward. Guiding policy by the stars in practice, however, has been quite challenging of late because our best assessments of the location of the stars have been changing significantly. Schnabel went on: “Experience has revealed two realities about the relation between inflation and unemployment, and these bear directly on the two questions I started with. First, the stars are sometimes far from where we perceive them to be. In particular, we now know that the level of the unemployment rate relative to our real-time estimate of NAIRU (u*) will sometimes be a misleading indicator of the state of the economy or of future inflation. Second, the reverse also seems to be true: Inflation may no longer be the first or best indicator of a tight labor market and rising pressures on resource utilization.” So useless then as indicators.
The 2024 Jackson Hole symposium continued with the presentation of papers on the efficacy of monetary policy by several highly esteemed mainstream economists. One such paper reexamined the Phillips and Beveridge curves as explanations of the inflation surge in the U.S. post the pandemic slump of 2020. The Beveridge curve describes where, as job vacancies rise, inflation rises and vice versa. The presenters told the central bankers that “that the pre-surge consensus regarding both curves requires substantial revision.” In other words, the recent post-COVID inflation spike could not be explained by existing mainstream theories. The presenters tried to come up with a revised series of curves based now on job vacancies not unemployment.
Nevertheless Powell claimed success for monetary policy: “all told, the healing from pandemic distortions, our efforts to moderate aggregate demand, and the anchoring of expectations have worked together to put inflation on what increasingly appears to be a sustainable path to our 2 percent objective.” And this was without a recession that was once feared and panicked financial markets only three weeks ago. The ‘soft landing’ for the economy is still in the cards and the ‘Goldilocks’ scenario of robust economic growth and low unemployment along with low inflation is nearly with us.
And this is something that worries the central bankers from Europe attending the symposium. Bank of England governor Bailey put it this way:“We still face the question of whether this persistent element is on course to decline to a level consistent with inflation being at target on a sustained basis and what it will take to make that happen. Is the decline of persistence now almost baked in as the shocks to headline inflation unwind, or will it also require a negative output gap to open up, or are we experiencing a more permanent change to price, wage and margin setting which would require monetary policy to remain tighter for longer?” And the ECB chief economist Philip Lane was equally sceptical that monetary policy could go the ‘last mile’ in the ‘war against inflation’.
At the same time, in the major economies, real GDP growth (and especially real output per capita growth) is very weak. Only the US has any significant expansion and even there, when you strip out exports and stockpiles, sales growth is no more than 1%. The rest of the G7 economies remain either in stagnation (France, Italy, UK) or in recession (Japan, Germany, Canada). It is no better in other advanced capitalist economies (Australia, Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand). And the manufacturing sectors of nearly all the major economies are deeply in contraction territory.
Moreover, soon there will be a new US President that either wants to hike import tariffs to record levels, so strangling world trade and pushing up imports prices; or alternatively she wants to impose new taxes on corporate profits – neither is good news for US capital.
The Jackson Hole symposium celebrated success but what it really revealed is that central bank monetary policy played little role in getting inflation down from its peaks in 2022; that it has played little role in achieving output or investment growth; and it has little power to stop unemployment rising or any slump in production ahead. All high interest rates have done is to drive many small businesses into bankruptcy or more debt; and drive mortgage rates and rents to peaks in housing. And cutting interest rates now will merely fuel the stock market, not the economy.
Yesterday’s report into the Grenfell fire was the most serious piece of official business the UK has produced in many years.
Listening to Martin Moore-Bick outline the concerns and demands that emerge from it was salutary in several ways.
Firstly, after a period when government business has lacked seriousness and professionalism, it was jarring to hear somebody performing competently under pressure, adhering to his brief, and unswayed by political motives.
Secondly, his tone was matched to the gravity of the events at hand. He concluded by reading the names of those unfortunates who had died in the disaster and had clearly taken time to ensure that his pronunciation of them was correct.
That’s a small detail that can mean the world to people, as we in Wales know too well.
Finally, the work he had overseen was wide-ranging in its outlook, recognising the overarching failings in national life that conspired to allow the shameful series of events and omissions under investigation.
There are echoes of Aberfan in the Grenfell story. In particular, how the voices of ordinary people can be ignored on even the most vital of topics, audible only in the hush of an enquiry room when it is too late.
As we pick through the facts of events like these, finding negligence, greed, and dishonesty, we invariably find that the people ultimately effected had warned us all along that they were in danger. Reaching for explanations, we might put some failings down to human frailty or overwork.
The outright refusal to listen when it might have helped is the toughest pill to swallow, speaking, as it does, to a contempt with which no human being should ever be held.
The shameful characterisation of the Hillsborough victims by the Sun newspaper also reverberated through this tragedy. In its immediate aftermath, ‘Tommy Robinson’ and his supporting cast of amoral opportunists sought to foreground the immigration status of people who had perished in the fire.
We should never have heard from him again. What sort of country allows somebody like that to style himself as a patriot; to wear its flag and speak its name.
The same sort of country, I suppose, that tolerates the Sun climbing the pulpit this morning to demand the prosecution of those held responsible in the Grenfell report.
The same paper that shamed journalism over Hillsborough has been the leading propagandist for every malign force that coalesced against the poor people in Grenfell on 14th June 2017. From the miners’ strike to Brexit, it has pumped out disinformation to the British public, encouraging people to turn against their own.
Every expression of community: trade unions, public service, social housing, has been denigrated and maligned as if cohesion was an undesirable societal trait.
If you are a manufacturer selling dangerous goods, or a developer who wants them to cover up an inconvenient cluster of disadvantaged humanity in sight of your luxury apartments, or a council who does business with such a developer, then social cohesion is, indeed, undesirable.
You need those threatened by your plans to be othered, silenced, and powerless.
Just as Aberfan was about much more than tip management, and Hillsborough told us a story beyond football and crowd policing, Grenfell is a tragic fable.
The obscene centring of profit at the expense of humanity in our society, and the proliferation of public dishonesty that facilitates it are marks of shame upon us all if we allow it to continue.
One of the accounts of the night describes a man on the phone to his young nephew who was trapped in the tower with no hope of escape. He was telling the youngster that Spiderman would come to save him, trying to offer some hope and comfort when all was lost.
We can count the days until The Sun resumes bullying anyone who stands in the way of its owner’s interests. When Moore-Bick’s words have faded, perhaps the Daily Mail will try to convince us that the judiciary are our enemy again.
Their noise, and that of politicians who cash cheques from the same source, needs to be drowned in a new conversation on these islands. We need to listen to each other.
How the healthcare system failed survivors in the aftermath of the Grenfell fire
Survivors of the Grenfell fire were failed by health and care services who did not listen to their needs, according to a new report by The Kings Fund.
After years of not being listened to, the survivors and the bereaved and the Grenfell community, then had to contend with the health and care services, who did not listen to their needs all over again.
In a report by the think tank The Kings Fund, those most impacted by the fire talk about structural racism and discrimination. That health and care authorities imposed what they believed was needed.
But the community told them otherwise, and The King’s Fund, which will release its report on Monday, says there are many lessons to learn from this, not least services need to be willing to make changes informed by what they learn from the people who are living in that neighbourhood or borough.
The report gives examples of tick box exercises for mental health including offering Muslim men cognitive behaviour therapy with white female therapists; or a screen and treat programme that was a door-knock of 11,000 homes – missing those most impacted.
The mental health teams are praised for reacting quickly and listening. On the physical health side, there remain concerns.
Enhanced screening for the survivors did not always happen because some GP services weren’t aware they were meant to be doing it.
Natasha Elcock, who escaped from the tower block with her partner and daughter, told Channel 4 News about asking for blood samples to be taken so they could be checked in the future and being told this couldn’t be done.
Yet, she says, the fire fighters had bloods taken for research to see what impact the fire had on their health.
The King’s Fund says its report is about sharing what went wrong and what worked, so health and care authorities can be prepared.
UK
'Our desperate families are just numbers on a spreadsheet to tower block owners'
Families living in buildings with unsafe cladding have voiced their anger over inaction seven years after the Grenfell Tower fire
Families living in unsafe tower blocks say they feel like “numbers on a spreadsheet”, seven years after ministers vowed to remove flammable cladding from Britain’s high-rises.
Thousands of blocks of flats still haven’t had dangerous cladding removed despite 72 lives being lost in the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Housing Secretary Angela Rayner, who is Keir Starmer ’s deputy, said it is “not acceptable” that work hasn’t been done. She warned building owners there is "no excuse" not to act
It comes after a bombshell public inquiry report found greed and “systematic dishonesty” led to the 2017 Grenfell blaze. Since the tragedy, surveys have found 4,630 buildings in England that are over 11 metres had unsafe cladding - but just 1,350 have been reclad.
Robert Zampetti has been locked in a long legal battle to get cladding removed
Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror
Work to make them safe had not even started in over 2,300 cases, according to latest Government figures. “When I was first told about it, I went to bed every night thinking about it,” said Rachael Loftus, 47, an NHS worker who lives in an unsafe block in Leeds.
“No human can sustain that.” She added: “This is a culture of genuinely not valuing the people who live in these homes. We’re numbers on a spreadsheet but we should be able to feel safe.”
Robert Zampetti, who lives just three miles from Grenfell Tower, has been locked in a long legal battle to have the cladding on his building removed. The 62-year-old told The Mirror that the landmark report by Sir Martin Moore-Bick "brings back a lot of emotions" because he saw the fire from his home.
Nabil Choucair, who lost six family members, said he was appalled at the inaction
Following the tragedy, a series of surveys was carried out on the block he lives in to see if it was dangerous. "When it sank in that we've got an issue, that caused a great deal of anxiety," he said.
"But after all this time we've still got the cladding. It showed they were putting the lives of human beings behind the free market and profit.
"There does come a point where you expect the Government to play a role in protecting its citizens." Nabil Choucair, who lost six family members in the Grenfell Tower fire, said he was appalled that cladding still hasn't been removed from thousands of homes.
He said: "Everybody has failed us and let us down. We've been chasing the [Government] for the cladding to be removed and they haven't removed it."
Seven years after the Grenfell tragedy, thousands of homes still have dangerous cladding
He continued: "The [Conservative government] put their investments before safety and our lives. We're worthless. They put on a show that we're going to do this and do that. But why haven't you removed the cladding seven years on? It's all about bank sheets how much money and how much they can make and they can save.
"People's lives, especially the BAME origin, are worthless." Last week families were evacuated after a fire broke out in a block of flats in Dagenham which was undergoing work to remove cladding.
Campaign group End Our Cladding Scandal called on ministers to "put right this mess" after "too many broken promises since the scale of this crisis has come to light". It said: "Hundreds of thousands of people are still living in homes with the same risk that there was in Grenfell seven years ago. This must change quickly.
Angela Rayner said there is no excuse for not acting
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
"Grenfell was a disaster. Its legacy should not also be a tragedy." Ms Rayner said there is “no excuse” for owners not to carry out the lifesaving work - saying delays are “completely unacceptable”.
She warned that many more buildings with dangerous cladding have not been identified. Just 50% of those known to have dangerous cladding are carrying out remediation work, Ms Rayner said, and only 29% have fully removed and replaced it.
She said an announcement will come in the Autumn, when the Government will spell out how it plans to speed the process up. Ms Rayner pointed to a £5billion fund set up following the tragedy to help pay for remediation work.
She said: “I don’t accept that the money’s not there. And these companies, and the people that own these buildings, have financial resources as well.
"I don’t accept that there is not the money to do this remediation.” The Labour frontbencher said legal action has been taken against around 400 property owners, but warned that “complex structures” could slow work down.
The Housing Secretary said: “Sometimes there’s very complex structures to these buildings, like they’re owned offshore. And I’m looking at that now of how we can continue to really hold these building owners to account to make sure that they do the work.
"There’s no excuse to not do this work now.” Ms Rayner said: “It is completely unacceptable that the remediation is taking as long as it has. And that’s what I want to see, concluded much more swiftly.”
It comes as bereaved families called for manslaughter charges to be brought against those responsible for the Grenfell fire. Sir Martin's scathing report found all 72 deaths were "avoidable" and manufacturers deliberately concealed the extent of the danger of the cladding.
He also found that the Tory and coalition governments ignored safety fears. And the tenant management organisation (TMO) - appointed by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, treated safety concerns as “inconvenience.”
Shahrukh Aghlani, whose mum and aunt died clasping each other, said: “I expect the CPS to tell us what sort of prosecution they have in mind. To me it's a manslaughter charge and nothing less.”
The Metropolitan Police said officers would spend 12 to 18 months assessing the report's findings. Charges could include corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, fraud, perverting the course of justice and misconduct in public office.
Hisam Choucair, who lost six family members, said: “This inquiry was forced on us, we were not consulted. This inquiry hasn't taught me anything, in fact it delayed the justice that my family deserves."
Angela Rayner has vowed to put pressure on developers to speed up the removal of dangerous cladding from more than two thousand buildings.
The government has also confirmed that it has no contracts with the companies criticised in yesterday’s damning report into the Grenfell fire.
But at least one of them is still making millions from contracts with local councils.
Puffins increase on Farne Islands despite bird flu
Fiona Trott North of England correspondent, BBC News•@bbcfionatrott Puffins are on the red list of Birds of Conservation Concern
A puffin population has been declared "stable" following fears that bird flu might have had a more devastating effect.
The first full count for five years on the Farne Islands off Northumberland has revealed the endangered species has in fact increased by 15% since 2019.
There are now thought to be 50,000 breeding pairs on the site, which is cared for by the National Trust.
Ranger Sophia Jackson said the birds' self-isolating behaviours meant they had "weathered this particular storm".
Sophia Jackson said she was extremely happy with the increase in numbers
Ms Jackson said: "Puffins nest in separate burrows and clean them out.
"In that way, the disease is less likely to spread as fast as it does through the other seabirds, which is why we saw a decline in them."
The National Trust said another interesting finding was that fewer pairs have been recorded on the outer islands.
It is thought puffins may have relocated, after stormy weather forced grey seals to move higher up into their territory, causing some burrows to collapse.
The Farnes, along with neighbouring Coquet Island, are home to the largest puffin colonies in England
All the results will form part of the national Seabird Monitoring Programme and follow six weeks of hard work by the rangers, who were on their hands and knees checking burrows for signs of fresh digging or hatched eggshells.
Earlier this week, five more species of seabird were added to the UK red list of birds at most need of conservation. Puffins were one of five types of bird already on the list.
During the avian flu outbreak in 2022 and 2023, about 10,000 birds on the Farne Islands perished.
More than 900 puffin carcasses were collected but a combination of the Covid pandemic and then bird flu meant conservationists could not get close enough to carry out their full census.
Tom Hendry says "initial figures on other species are concerning"
Ranger Tom Hendry said while puffin numbers are holding up, some cliff nesting birds appear to be struggling.
Initial figures suggest the shag population is down by 75% on the inner islands, but there is some hope.
"To us, it looks like they may have had a productive breeding season," he said.
"So with any luck, next year's count will show that like the puffins, they too have stabilised."
There were fears for the species which only lay one egg a year
Ben McCarthy, head of nature and restoration ecology at the National Trust said long-term monitoring was vital.
"The Farne Islands will be an important bellwether for how they're doing in the face of our changing climate," he said.
Meanwhile, the local rangers said they would make the habitat as welcoming as they can for the puffins next year.
Ms Jackson added: "It's hard work but you're their guardians and you do become attached to them, every single one."
7-Eleven parent rejects takeover bid from owner of Circle K A sign with the logo of 7-Eleven outside a store in Randers, Denmark, on August 9, 2022. The parent company of 7-Eleven turned down a buyout bid by the owners of Circle K on Friday. File Photo by Bo Amstrup/EPA-EFE
Sept. 6 (UPI) -- The Japan-based parent company of 7-Eleven said in a statement on Friday that it was rejecting a takeover bid from the Canadian parent of Circle K convenience stores, arguing that their $38.55 billion offer "grossly undervalues" their company.
Seven & i Holdings said the takeover offer from Alimentation Couche-Tard was not in the best interest of the company.
The proposal came after Seven & i announced in April a restructuring plan that would allow it to expand its 7-Eleven stores worldwide while moving away from its failing supermarket business.
In a letter to the Canadian firm, 7 & i board chair Stephen Dacus said his company unanimously rejected the offer but remained open to another proposal. He did not specifically name figures but said it had to be fair to the shareholders of both companies.
"We are open to engage in sincere discussions should you put forth a proposal that fully recognizes our standalone intrinsic value and addresses our concerns regarding the certainty of closing in the current regulatory environment," Dacus said in the correspondence.
"We do not believe, for several critical reasons, that the proposal you have put forward provides a basis for us to engage in substantive discussions regarding a potential transaction."
The U.S. firm Artisan Partners, which owns a 1% stake in Seven & i, had been pushing the company to consider buyout offers and solicit offers for its subsidiaries because it believes its overseas allocations have been overlooked.
Germany considers sending migrants to Rwanda after UK ditches same idea
Sky News Updated Thu 5 September 2024
Germany is considering sending migrants to Rwanda - weeks after the UK ditched a similar plan.
Migrants deported from Germany could be sent to the same accommodation originally intended for the UK's now-abandoned scheme, migration minister Joachim Stamp suggested.
German politicians are under pressure to tackle illegal migration after three people were killed by a Syrian national at a festival in Solingen - an attack for which Islamic State has claimed responsibility.
Regarding the German proposal, a Downing Street spokesperson said they would not comment on discussions between other nations.
"Policies pursued by other countries are a matter for them. Our position with regard to Rwanda is well known," they added.
Mr Stamp said asylum procedures in Rwanda would be conducted under the supervision of the United Nations.
He has also suggested removing the so-called "connecting element" in the new Common European Asylum System, which currently requires external asylum procedures to be conducted in countries where the asylum seeker has a social connection.
In December, the European Union agreed new rules to handle the irregular arrivals of asylum seekers and migrants.
But it could be the end of 2025 before it takes effect in full. Germany's migration commissioner proposes Rwanda migrant deportation plan
Reuters Wed 4 September 2024
Migrants queue at the arrival centre for asylum seekers at Reinickendorf district in Berlin
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's migration commissioner proposed deporting to Rwanda migrants who arrive illegally to the European Union through its borders with Belarus, as Berlin contemplates measures to restrict refugees arriving in the bloc.
The proposal comes amid rising pressure on Germany's ruling coalition government to restrict irregular migration following a fatal stabbing linked to Islamic State at a city festival last month that fuelled far-right opposition and criticism of Berlin's migration policies.
Joachim Stamp, Germany's Special Representative for Migration Agreements, said the EU could utilize existing asylum facilities in Rwanda, which were initially intended for Britain's 2022 plan to send unauthorized migrants to the East African nation. The British plan was scrapped by Keir Starmer's new government in July.
Under Stamp's proposal, the asylum procedures in Rwanda would be conducted under the supervision of the United Nations.
"We currently have no third country that has come forward, with the exception of Rwanda," Stamp said in a podcast by Table Media published on Thursday.
Stamp, a member of the junior coalition FDP party and whose position sits in Germany's Interior Ministry, said this model would specifically target refugees crossing the EU's eastern borders.
"My suggestion would be that we concentrate on this group. It's about 10,000 people a year," he said, dismissing broader proposals from the conservative opposition to apply such a model to all refugees.
He said Rwanda has publicly expressed its willingness to continue implementing this model.
In addition, Stamp suggested removing the so-called "connecting element" in the new Common European Asylum System (CEAS), which currently requires external asylum procedures to be conducted in countries where the asylum seeker has a social connection.
The European Union agreed in December on new rules to handle irregular arrivals of asylum seekers and migrants, a deal hailed as a breakthrough after almost a decade of bitter feuds on the issue. It could take until the end of 2025 for the pact to take full effect.
(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
Prisons crisis needs ‘radical solutions’ in England and Wales, say former top judges
Rajeev Syal Home affairs editor
THE GUARDIAN Thu 5 September 2024 The former judges also say there is no justification for the doubling of custodial sentence lengths in a paper published by the Howard League for Penal Reform.
Photograph: Andrew Aitchison/Corbis/Getty Images
Five of the most senior former judges in England and Wales have warned that “radical solutions” such as the earlier release of killers and rapists on licence should be considered to ease the prison overcrowding crisis.
The four surviving former lord chief justices – Lord Woolf, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, and Lord Burnett of Maldon – and Sir Brian Leveson, the only surviving president of the queen’s bench division, have recommended a review at the halfway stage of the determinate sentences of all prisoners serving longer than 10 years.
Other proposals include the release of all prisoners serving indeterminate sentences who are over tariff and removal of all those who are elderly, dying or who have dementia from prison.
The former judges say there is no justification for the doubling of custodial sentence lengths over the last half century. The number of people in prison has risen from about 40,000 in 1991 to more than 88,000 today.
Shabana Mahmood, the lord chancellor, has decided to undertake an urgent independent review of sentencing legislation and practice.
In a paper published by the Howard League for Penal Reform, the judges recommend that “for those currently serving lengthy sentences, accelerated routes out of custody should be explored and would potentially incentivise people in prison to cooperate with regimes”.
These could involve a “review of the sentences of all prisoners serving longer than 10 years at the halfway stage and then at regular intervals, resulting in earlier release on licence or sentence reduction”. A spokesperson for the Howard League added that the proposal was only in reference to determinate sentences.
Other suggestions include:
The release of all IPP [imprisonment for public protection] prisoners and two-strike prisoners who are over tariff, with support in the community.
A review of the needs and risk levels of older prisoners upon reaching a certain age, followed by a move to a more appropriate secure location if required.
Reinstating the provision that releases those prisoners who must serve two-thirds of their sentences to one-half.
Regular review of “minimum terms” for people serving indeterminate sentences.
An increase in the size and number of the open (category D) prison estate to help inmates return to work, education and family for those serving long sentences.
Life-sentenced prisoners should be allowed to apply to move to open prison years earlier than the current three years before release.
Phillips, who chaired the former judges’ discussion, said:
“The current crisis in prisons has meant that there is now political engagement at the highest levels of government with the question of who goes to prison and for how long. The primary cause of prison overcrowding in 2024 is decades of sentence inflation.
“If prisons are to become places of rehabilitation and restoration to citizenship, places where prisoners can receive the support and interventions needed to return safely to the community and desist from offending, there needs to be a fundamental shift in the drivers of sentencing policy.
“We call for an honest conversation about what custodial sentences can and cannot achieve; their human and financial costs; and urge a return to more modest proportionate sentences across the board.”
The paper claims legislative changes, driven by single-issue campaigns and emotive media coverage, have been the main drivers of sentence inflation.
“There have been very many criminal justice acts, increasing statutory maxima (for example, for causing death by dangerous driving) and introducing mandatory minimum sentences (for example, for firearms offences, repeat burglary or drug dealing).
“Many of the changes have been driven by single-issue campaigns which attract emotive media attention,” it said.
The SDS40 scheme, which will free 5,500 prisoners over two months, will be launched on 10 September for those serving sentences of five years or less. A second tranche of prisoners – those who have served sentences of five years or more – will be released on 22 October.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The new government inherited a justice system in crisis, with prisons on the point of collapse. The lord chancellor has already taken action to make sure we can continue to lock up dangerous offenders, protect the public and reduce reoffending.
“We will also publish a 10-year strategy on prison supply and launch a comprehensive review of sentencing by the end of the year, and will carefully consider this report.”
