LONDON: Britain’s political leaders made a final frantic push for votes Wednesday on the last day of an election campaign expected to return a Labour government after 14 years of Conservative rule.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak insisted he was still “fighting hard” despite one of his closest allies conceding that the Tories were heading for an “extraordinary landslide” defeat on Thursday.
The Conservatives suffered a further blow at the 11th hour when The Sun tabloid, famous for backing election winners, endorsed Keir Starmer’s Labour.
Polls overwhelmingly predict that Labour will win its first general election since 2005 — making Starmer the party’s first prime minister since Gordon Brown left office in 2010.
That outcome would see Britain swing leftwards back to the center ground after almost a decade and a half of right-wing Conservative governments, dominated first by austerity, then Brexit and a cost-of-living crisis.
Starmer, 61, criss-crossed the UK in a bid to shore up Labour support and warn against complacency in the campaign’s final hours.
“If you want change, you have to vote for it,” he told reporters at an event in Carmarthenshire, south Wales, where supporters handed out cakes with red ribbons, the color associated with the party.
“I’m not taking anything for granted,” he added, before flying to Scotland on the same plane that took the England football team to the European Championships in Germany.
Sunak, 44, sought to hammer home his oft-repeated warnings that a Labour government would mean tax rises and weaker national security — jibes that Labour has branded a desperate attempt to cling to power.
The Tories also stepped up their warnings to voters to stop the prospect of Labour winning a “supermajority,” which Labour fears is intended to hit turnout.
Sunak ally Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, said Wednesday the electorate would “regret” handing Labour “untrammelled” power without an effective Tory opposition.
“If you look at the polls, it is pretty clear that Labour at this stage are heading for an extraordinary landslide on a scale that has probably never, ever been seen in this country before,” he told right-wing broadcaster GB News.
But ex-PM Boris Johnson — ousted by his own colleagues, including Sunak, in 2022 — staged his first major intervention of the campaign Tuesday, urging supporters not to see the result as a “foregone conclusion.”
Labour has enjoyed a consistent 20-point lead in the polls over the past two years with many voters dissatisfied at the Conservatives’ handling of a range of issues including public services, immigration and the economy.
Several surveys predict that Labour will win more than the record 418 seats it won when Tony Blair ended 18 years of Conservative rule in 1997.
Labour requires at least 326 seats to secure a majority in the 650-seat parliament.
Voters head to the polls from 7:00 am (0600 GMT), with results expected to start dropping from about 2230 GMT late Thursday into Friday morning.
The vote is Britain’s first July election since 1945, when Labour under Clement Attlee defeated the Conservatives of World War II leader Winston Churchill, ushering in a period of transformational social change.
Attlee’s government created the modern welfare state, including the state-run National Health Service (NHS), Britain’s most cherished institution after the royal family.
Starmer’s “change” agenda is not so radical this time around and promises cautious management of the economy, as part of a long-term growth plan that includes nursing battered public services back to health.
A Labour government would face a formidable to-do list, ranging from spurring anaemic growth to ending NHS strikes and improving post-Brexit ties with Europe.
Some voters simply eye a respite from politics after a chaotic period of five prime ministers, a succession of scandals and Tory infighting between centrists and right-wingers that shows no sign of abating.
The Sun called the Conservatives a “divided rabble, more interested in fighting themselves than running the country,” adding: “It is time for a change.”
Starmer — the working-class son of a tool maker and a nurse — has none of the political charisma or popularity of former leader Blair, who presided over that last Labour victory in 2005.
But the former human rights lawyer and chief public prosecutor stands to gain from a country fed up with the Tories, and a feeling of national decline.
Arch-Euroskeptic Nigel Farage hopes the discontent will see him elected an MP at the eighth time of trying, while the Liberal Democrats are expected to gain dozens of seats.
Labour predicted to oust Tories in UK election
https://arab.news/n2fne
Labour predicted to oust Tories in UK election
- Polls overwhelmingly predict that Labour will win its first general election since 2005
- Prime Minister Rishi Sunak insisted he was still “fighting hard”
At least 26 migrants dead in two shipwrecks off Italy
- Italian coast guard: ‘Currently 60 people have been rescued and disembarked in Lampedusa, and (there are) at least 26 victims’
- Giorgia Meloni: ‘When a tragedy like today’s occurs, with the deaths of dozens of people in the waters of the Mediterranean, a strong sense of dismay and compassion arises in all of us’
ROME: At least 26 migrants died Wednesday when two boats sank off the coast of Italy’s Lampedusa island, with around 10 others still missing, the coast guard and UN officials said.
Around 60 people were rescued after the sinkings in the central Mediterranean, a stretch between North Africa and Italy described by the UN as the world’s most dangerous sea crossing for migrants.
The two boats had left Tripoli, Libya, earlier in the day, according to the Italian coast guard.
It said one of the boats started taking on water, causing people to climb onto the other boat, which itself then capsized.
“Currently 60 people have been rescued and disembarked in Lampedusa, and (there are) at least 26 victims. The toll is still provisional and being updated,” the coast guard said in a statement.
Italy’s Red Cross, which manages Lampedusa’s migrant reception center, said the survivors included 56 men and four women, updating a previous toll of 22 dead.
Flavio Di Giacomo, spokesman for the UN’s migration agency (IOM), said around 95 people had been on the two boats.
Given how many had been saved, “approximately 35 victims are feared dead or missing,” he wrote on social media.
Among the first to be transported to the Lampedusa mortuary were the bodies of a newborn, three children, two men and two women, according to Italy’s ANSA news agency.
Lampedusa, just 90 miles (145 kilometers) off the coast of Tunisia, is often the first port of call for people trying to reach Europe in leaky or overcrowded boats.
In recent years, Italian authorities have sought to intercept the boats at sea before they arrive.
It was a helicopter from Italy’s financial police that spotted a capsized boat and several bodies in the water on Wednesday, about 14 nautical miles off Lampedusa, the coast guard said.
Five vessels were searching for survivors, including one from the EU’s Frontex border agency, alongside a helicopter and two aircraft, it said.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offered her “deepest condolences” to the victims and vowed to step up efforts to tackle migrant traffickers.
Her hard-right government took office in October 2022 vowing to cut the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe.
As part of this, it has cut deals with North African countries from which migrants embark, providing funding and training in exchange for help in stemming departures.
“When a tragedy like today’s occurs, with the deaths of dozens of people in the waters of the Mediterranean, a strong sense of dismay and compassion arises in all of us,” Meloni said in a statement.
“And we find ourselves contemplating the inhumane cynicism with which human traffickers organize these sinister journeys.”
She said stepping up rescue efforts was not enough to tackle the scourge of trafficking, saying this could be done only by “preventing irregular departures and managing migration flows.”
The UNHCR refugee agency said Wednesday that there had been 675 migrant deaths on the central Mediterranean route so far this year.
As of Wednesday, 38,263 migrants have arrived on Italy’s shores this year, according to the interior ministry.
A similar number was recorded at the same time last year, but the figure is significantly less than in 2023, when almost 100,000 people had arrived by mid-August.
Brother of Manchester suicide bomber charged over attack on jail guards
- Hashem Abedi is accused of three counts of attempted murder, one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and one count of unauthorized possession of a knife
LONDON: A man who helped his brother plot a suicide bomb attack at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in Britain in 2017 was charged on Wednesday with attempting to murder prison guards in the jail where he was being held.
Hashem Abedi, the elder brother of Salman Abedi who killed 22 people at the Manchester Arena in northern England, was charged with five offenses following an incident in April this year at HMP Frankland jail when four prison officers were injured, British police said.
He is accused of three counts of attempted murder, one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and one count of unauthorized possession of a knife. He is due to appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates Court on September 18.
Hashem Abedi was jailed for at least 55 years in 2020 after being convicted of helping his brother plan the attack which injured more than 200 and whose victims included seven children.
The brothers, born to Libyan parents who emigrated to Britain during the rule of late leader Muammar Qaddafi, had plotted the attack at their home in south Manchester, prosecutors said.
Zelensky warns Trump that Putin is 'bluffing'
- Trump and Putin will meet in Alaska on Friday for talks on ending Ukraine war
- Zelensky’s comments came after a virtual call with Trump and European leaders
KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that he warned US President Donald Trump ahead of his talks with Vladimir Putin this week that the Russian leader is “bluffing” about his desire to end the war.
Trump and Putin will meet in Alaska on Friday, where Kyiv and its allies are worried the two leaders may try to dictate the terms of peace in the 3-1/2-year war.
“I told the US president and all our European colleagues that Putin is bluffing,” he said at a joint briefing in Berlin with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“He is trying to apply pressure before the meeting in Alaska along all parts of the Ukrainian front. Russia is trying to show that it can occupy all of Ukraine.”
Zelensky’s comments, made after a virtual call with Trump and European leaders, come as Russian forces step up pressure on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine, aiming to force Kyiv to give up land.
Zelensky, who said he hoped the main topic of the talks in Alaska would be an immediate ceasefire, added that any discussions regarding territory should be covered during a three-leader meeting.
“Regarding our principles and territorial integrity, in the end this is all decided at the level of leaders,” he said. “Without Ukraine, it is impossible to decide this. And, by the way, everyone also supports this.”
Zelensky said Trump told him he would debrief him about his talks with Putin.
Former British officer sues Ministry of Defense over handling of Afghan data breach
- Individual worked on Afghan cases for under two years before his role ended unexpectedly after he threatened to become a whistleblower
- He is suing the MoD and his third-party recruiter, and the case is set to be heard next year
LONDON: A former British military officer is suing the Ministry of Defense for constructive dismissal after speaking out about the handling of a data leak that exposed the personal details of thousands of Afghans seeking relocation to the UK.
The Times reported that an unnamed individual was contracted to assist with Operation Rubific, a secret mission addressing the fallout from a massive data breach.
The former officer worked on Afghan cases for under two years before his role ended unexpectedly after he threatened to become a whistleblower. He was then reassigned to another area in a position for which he was overqualified.
“He complained they are letting in people they shouldn’t and not letting in those he should,” a source close to the former officer suing the MoD told The Times.
He also raised concerns that the government was not prioritizing those most at risk among the tens of thousands of Afghans identified for resettlement in Britain. He assisted four Afghan individuals in relocating to Britain after their details were revealed on the leaked list.
The MoD is facing scrutiny over a superinjunction that blocked public and parliamentary oversight after a spreadsheet leaked containing the names, telephone numbers and email addresses of Afghans seeking relocation to Britain.
The former officer allegedly threatened to alert other departments about the superinjunction and was subsequently “managed out,” according to the source.
The individual is suing the MoD and his third-party recruiter, for whom he worked as a contractor after leaving the military. The case is set to be heard next year.
Officials argued that the data breach should remain secret for nearly two years, claiming it put 100,000 Afghans at risk of Taliban retribution, including death and torture. However, the superinjunction was lifted in July after a government review deemed it “highly unlikely” that Afghans on the leaked spreadsheet were at risk.
Ministers reduced the number of Afghans brought to Britain from 42,500 to 24,000, including family members, based on their presence in the country or prior invitations. Concerns have also been raised about the motive behind the secrecy order, questioning if it aims to protect the MoD’s reputation and prepare for potential mass applications from affected Afghans, The Times reported.
Adnan Malik, the head of data protection at Barings Law, is now representing 1,400 individuals from the leaked list; a number that continues to grow daily.
He told The Times that the MoD’s “attempt to silence one of their own whistleblowers is another shameful development” after tens of thousands of Afghans had their data breached without their knowledge.
A source from the MoD said that the individual’s contract had concluded.
Indian politicians demand action against Israeli envoy after attack on Priyanka Gandhi
- Israeli ambassador posted disparaging remarks against Gandhi after her comments on Gaza
- Congress party demands official apology for his ‘public attempt to intimidate’ the MP
NEW DELHI: Indian politicians are demanding action against the Israeli ambassador in Delhi following his verbal attack on Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi.
Gandhi, a lawmaker from the opposition Congress party, who is the daughter of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and sister of Rahul Gandhi — leader of the opposition — wrote on social media on Tuesday that “the Israeli state is committing genocide” in Gaza.
“It has murdered over 60,000 people, 18,430 of whom were children. It has starved hundreds to death including many children and is threatening to starve millions,” she said, calling out the Indian government over its inaction.
“Enabling these crimes by silence and inaction is a crime in itself. It is shameful that the Indian Government stands silent as Israel unleashes this devastation on the people of Palestine.”
The post was almost immediately responded to by Reuven Azar, Israel’s ambassador to India, who told Gandhi: “What is shameful is your deceit.”
The post triggered outrage among Congress members, with the party’s spokesperson Supriya Shrinate demanding that the Indian government act over the envoy’s “casting aspersions” on Gandhi.
“He should be officially made to apologize. She is a member of parliament, she is an elected representative, and how dare the Israeli ambassador talk to her in that tone. The government should take this up in no uncertain terms,” Shrinate told Arab News.
“We seek an unconditional apology for the use of tone and words that the Israeli ambassador has used, and the reality is that the world is watching what Israel is doing in Gaza.”
Priyanka Chaturvedi, an MP and spokesperson of the Shiv Sena (UBT) party, said inaction from the Ministry of External Affairs would only embolden foreign diplomats “to speak to Indian parliamentarians in this tone and tenor in their own country.
“This is unacceptable,” she wrote on X. “Hope Ministry of External Affairs reprimands this Hon. Ambassador.”
For Gaurav Gogoi, a Congress lawmaker from Assam, “the disparaging comments made by a foreign Ambassador against a Member of Parliament of India is a serious breach of privilege,” he said in an X post, urging Parliament to take action if the government does not respond.
The government in New Delhi has largely remained quiet since Israel launched its deadly assault on Gaza in October 2023.
But India’s civil society and the opposition are increasingly speaking up against Israeli war crimes.
Pawan Khera, chairman of the Congress party’s publicity department, called on External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to address the Israeli ambassador’s “public attempt to intimidate” Gandhi.
“That the ambassador of a state accused of genocide worldwide would target a sitting Member of the Indian Parliament is both unprecedented and intolerable. It is a direct affront to the dignity of Indian democracy,” he wrote on X.
Khera also addressed the envoy directly: “No amount of deflection or whitewashing can obscure the facts. The international community is witnessing, in real time, the killing of civilians in Gaza — including those queuing for aid. The world sees the heartbreaking images emerging from Gaza every day. It will neither forget nor forgive.”
