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Powell says Labour ‘must change how we are doing things’Lucy Powell was sacked from Keir Starmer’s cabinet in September and has indicated she will refuse a return to a government role so she can speak more openly about the direction of the party in office.She has insisted she wants to “help Keir and our government to succeed” but the party “must change how we are doing things to turn things around”.In a final message to supporters earlier this week she said Labour had to be “more in touch with our movement, and the communities and workplaces we represent, more principled and strategic, less tactical, and strongly guided by our values”.ShareKey eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureHealth secretary Wes Streeting has warned people not to buy weight loss jabs from unregulated sources after an illegal laboratory was dismantled, reports the PA news agency.Officers from the Criminal Enforcement Unit (CEU) of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) raided the factory in Northampton and seized unlicensed medication worth £250,000.An MHRA spokesperson said:
This is the first illicit production facility for weight loss medicine discovered in the UK and is believed to be the largest single seizure of trafficked weight loss medicines ever recorded by a law enforcement agency worldwide.
During the search, MHRA officers, supported by Northamptonshire police, seized tens of thousands of empty weight loss pens ready to be filled, raw chemical ingredients and more than 2,000 unlicensed retatrutide and tirzepatide pens awaiting dispatch to customers.
The street value of the finished weight loss products alone is estimated to be more than a quarter of a million pounds.
The officers also found “sophisticated packaging and manufacturing equipment” as well as £20,000 in cash.Streeting said:
This is a victory in the fight against the shameless criminals who are putting lives at risk by peddling dangerous and illegal weight loss jabs to make a quick buck.
These unregulated products, made with no regard for safety or quality, posed a major risk to unwitting customers.
My message is clear: don’t buy weight loss medications from unregulated sources. Talk to your GP, seek NHS advice, and don’t line the pockets of criminals who don’t care about your health.
Safe, appropriate, licensed obesity drugs can greatly benefit those in need if taken under medical supervision, and I urge people to only purchase and use them with the approval and oversight of medics and pharmacists.
Andy Morling, head of the MHRA’s criminal enforcement unit, said:
This seizure shows the lengths these criminals will go to for profit. People should be extremely cautious when buying medicines online.
Prescription medicines should only be obtained from a registered pharmacy against a prescription issued by a healthcare professional.
Taking prescription medicines sourced in any other way carries serious risks to your health – there are no guarantees about what they contain, and some may even be contaminated with toxic substances.
Taking out the first illicit weight loss medicine manufacturing facility found in the UK is a landmark result for the MHRA and a major blow to the illegal trade. These products are untested, unauthorised and potentially deadly.
By taking this organised criminal network out of operation and stopping tens of thousands of potentially fatal products from entering circulation, we’ve prevented a serious risk to public health.
This is an illicit global market that endangers patients, puts big money in the pockets of organised criminals, and undermines legitimate healthcare.
This operation demonstrates, once again, that my officers will stop at nothing to identify, disrupt and dismantle the organised criminal networks who put profit before safety.
ShareHeather StewartThe influential Labour thinktank the Fabian Society is urging Rachel Reeves to raise £12bn in next month’s budget by extending the freeze on income tax thresholds for another two years.Joe Dromey, the Fabians’ general secretary, argues in a new report that the move is the “best available option” for the chancellor as she seeks to offset the impact of weaker economic forecasts in her 26 November statement.Reeves is expected to have to find £10bn to £30bn in annual tax increases or spending cuts to remain on track to meet her fiscal rules, after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) downgraded its projections for growth.Dromey describes extending the threshold freeze as “an effective and progressive way to raise over half the funding that she needs, with most coming from wealthier households, and with relatively little political risk”.Rachel Reeves is expected to have to find £10bn to £30bn in annual tax increases or spending cuts to meet her fiscal rules. Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing/Getty ImagesStarting in 2022 as the UK recovered from the costs of the Covid pandemic, Rishi Sunak froze the thresholds at which workers move into a higher income tax band instead of increasing them each year in line with inflation.Jeremy Hunt as chancellor extended that pause but it is set to end in 2027/28. Over that time, the OBR estimates that the freeze will have brought in an additional £45bn a year.Extending it could be controversial as the number of people paying the 40% higher rate of income tax, which currently kicks in at £50,271, is already set to expand significantly.Dromey acknowledges the downsides of the policy, including the fact opposition parties are likely to highlight Reeves’s argument in last year’s budget that maintaining the freeze would “hurt working people [and] take more money out of their payslips”.But he argues it would be the progressive policy choice. “The chancellor recently said she wanted to ensure that those with the ‘broadest shoulders pay their fair share of tax’. Our modelling suggests that half (49%) of the revenue raised would come from the highest-earning fifth of households. Conversely, the poorest fifth of households would bear just 4% of the cost,” he writes.ShareFormer deputy Labour leader, Angela Rayner, has congratulated Lucy Powell on her victory. In a post on X, Rayner wrote:
Delighted for my friend, and brilliant colleague Lucy Powell.
She’ll be a powerful voice for our movement, our Labour party values, and the change the country needs.
The contest was triggered by Rayner’s resignation after she failed to pay the correct stamp duty on a property purchase.ShareLeftwinger Catherine Connolly takes clear lead in Ireland’s presidential raceRory CarrollThe leftwing independent Catherine Connolly is on track to win Ireland’s presidential election, according to early vote tallies.Reports from tallymen – unofficial but usually reliable observers at count centres – gave Connolly a wide lead on Saturday soon after ballot boxes were opened at 9am.Opinion polls had predicted a landslide for Connolly, 68, who captured the imagination of many younger people and was backed by an alliance of leftwing opposition parties in Friday’s election.The presidency is a largely ceremonial office, but victory for Connolly, a member of parliament from Galway, would be a humbling rebuke to the centre-right government.Catherine Connolly casts her vote in the election for the next Irish president in Galway city on Friday. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PAHer opponent, Heather Humphreys, 62, a former cabinet minister who ran for the Fine Gael party, was tainted by association with the unpopular ruling coalition.Anger over a housing crisis and the cost of living, campaign blunders by Fine Gael and its ruling partner Fianna Fáil, rare unity among leftwing parties and deft use of social media combined to make Connolly a symbol of change.Early tallies from Clare, Dublin, Donegal, Galway, Kildare, Meath and Wexford gave Connolly a clear lead, in some cases beating Humphreys by a ratio of two-to-one. The result “looks incredibly positive” for Connolly, said Labour leader Ivana Bacik.There were also indications of a low turnout and unusually high number of spoilt votes, reflecting widespread frustration at the choice on offer and lack of additional candidates on the ballot.SharePowell added:
The country hasn’t worked for people for the last 14 years and we’re going about fixing that every single day.
And I wanted to be here in London today, because we’ve got these huge elections next May here in London, in Scotland, in Wales and right across the country, and I’m going to get to work today, from day one to make sure that we get these brilliant candidates [and] these brilliant councillors elected here in London so that they can continue to deliver that change here on the ground in London and right across the country.
Because, it’s [by] having Labour councillors, Labour MSPs, Labour Senate members, Labour representatives right round the country working with the Labour government that we can bring that transformational change that we promised people at the election [and] that I’m determined that we deliver. So, thank you all very much for coming today.
Newly elected deputy leader of the Labour party Lucy Powell speaking to party activists and supporters in London on Saturday. Photograph: Lucy North/PASharePowell tells Labour party supporters that ‘it’s our job to stand together in face of division and hate’Lucy Powell has told activists and Labour party supporters that she is “absolutely thrilled” to have been elected as the party’s new deputy leader.At an event in Southwark in London, Powell said:
It really rests on our shoulders now as the Labour party [and] as the Labour government to prove that progressive, mainstream politics can really change people’s lives for the better, because we are facing these forces of division, of hate, of disillusionment, of discontentment.
And it’s our job to really see that off and stand together and to stand tall in the face of that division and that hate, and that is what I will do working alongside Keir [Starmer], Anna [Turley], the rest of the party and the Labour government, because I want to show people what this Labour government is really about. We are about changing people’s lives for the better.
ShareUpdated at 11.41 BSTNewly elected deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell is to meet activists and party supporters in London alongside Labour party chair, Anna Turley.You can follow along with the live stream now in the video below:New deputy leader of Britain’s Labour party Powell gives speech to supporters – watch liveShareJessica ElgotThe Guardian’s deputy political editor, Jessica Elgot, has shared her reaction to Lucy Powell being elected as Labour’s new deputy leader:
Powell’s election is a sign of the disillusionment of Labour members – but there is a much much bigger and more worrying sign. Turn out was just 16%.
This is likely to be the case because a large number trade union levy payers – who also get a vote – are unlikely to have turned out to vote.ShareLabour’s new deputy leader Lucy Powell said the party had to give a stronger sense of its purpose, values and beliefs.Powell won the deputy leadership contest with 54% of the vote, beating Bridget Phillipson, who took a 46% share.You can listen to Powell’s speech from earlier in the video below:Lucy Powell is elected as Labour deputy leader – videoShareHere are some images coming in via the newswires from this morning:Prime minister Keir Starmer with Labour’s new deputy leader Lucy Powell at an event in central London on Saturday. Photograph: Lucy North/PAPrime minister Keir Starmer congratulates Lucy Powell after she is announced as the new deputy leader of the Labour party. Photograph: Lucy North/PAPrime minister Keir Starmer embraces Bridget Phillipson after she was defeated by Lucy Powell who was announced as the new deputy leader of the Labour party. Photograph: Lucy North/PAShareUpdated at 11.06 BST
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