There have been penalties for those who looked the other way when Epstein was convicted of child sex offences and decided to maintain relationships with the financier — but not for the British ambassador to Washington, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES
A tax on trade unions
After the government failed to include an employment Bill in the Queen’s Speech, they snuck out proposals that are nothing short of a major attack aimed at shackling trade unions, warns TONY BURKE
Delegates to TUC Congress in 2018 vote on a motion
Labour’s new Treasury unit will ‘challenge unnecessary regulation’ by forcing nominally independent bodies like Ofwat to bend to business demands — exactly what Iain Anderson’s corporate clients wanted, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
DR DYLAN MURPHY looks at a Big Brother Watch report which exposes the government as an enabler of DWP secret spying on benefit claimants
The EU faces a critical choice: will it remain in the shadow of an increasingly unreliable US ally, or will it forge its own path in a multilateral world where co-operation with China is essential, asks MARC VANDEPITTE as leaders meet for the EU-China Summit
A lot of discussion about how the left should currently organise – including debate on whether the Green Party is a useful vehicle for advance – runs the risk of refusing to engage with or learn from the reasons the left was defeated previously, argues KEVIN OVENDEN
For Egypt trade trumps the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians, but how long can the country’s ‘misleaders’ – and others in the region – continue their indifference against the popular will of their own people, asks ROGER McKENZIE
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady has slammed ministers for “trying to tie unions up in red tape” after the government’s proposals included three key major changes that will negatively affect the labour movement.
The Certification Officer — the trade union regulator — will have the ability to impose fines on unions; there will be levy on trade unions to fund the CO’s costs; there will be further new powers, including investigating third party complaints about unions by members of the public and third party organisations.
This will not even be debated in Parliament as this requires a commencement order to come into law. Importantly, the TUC was not consulted about these proposals.
The government is dusting off measures that were contained in notorious Trade Union Act 2016 but need secondary legislation to pass into law.
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