Ed Miliband has accused David Cameron of condemning the UK to a "decade of decline" by sticking to austerity plans.
Ed Miliband has accused David Cameron of condemning the UK to a
"decade of decline" by sticking to austerity plans.
In a speech this afternoon, the Labour leader insisted public
anger with the coalition is growing in the wake of a no-change Budget - but he
conceded that his party still has work to do to convince voters there is a real
alternative.
Mr Miliband presented a list of policies that he claims would
kick-start growth and make the economy fairer, including bank reform,
infrastructure investment and a 10p tax rate.
He contrasted the platform he fleshed out with George Osborne's
financial package this week.
"We are five years on from the financial crisis of
2008," he told a 'people's policy forum' in Birmingham, which is billed as
representing political opinion from across the West Midlands.
"We are in the slowest recovery for 100 years. And it is you
who are suffering. Wages are frozen. Prices are rising. Living standards
falling.
"Yet the Chancellor offered no change in the Budget. He
offered more of the same. Can you imagine another five years of this?
"Low growth. Living standards squeezed further. You paying
the price. A lost decade Britain cannot afford. A decade of national decline."
Mr Miliband accused the Government of "shrugging their
shoulders", saying ministers have "run out of ideas", and he
urged voters to give him a chance to change the way the country is run.
"Over the last two and a half years since I became Labour
leader, I have sought to understand why people left Labour," Mr Miliband
said.
"From banking regulation to immigration to Iraq, I have been
clear about what we got wrong. But as I listen to people around Britain I also
know they are increasingly disappointed with this Government.
"People all over Britain have lost confidence in David
Cameron's ability to turn Britain around. But let me clear with you. I know
that however discredited, divided and damaging this Government is, I will not
assume that their unpopularity will mean people turn to Labour.
"Indeed, many people will believe that the failure of this
Government means they should give up on politics altogether."
Mr Miliband said he cannot offer "overnight answers
'Huge Problem' Of Male Suicide Rate In UK
By Enda Brady, Sky Correspondent | Sky
News – 1 hour 27 minutes ago
- 'Huge Problem' Of Male
Suicide Rate In UK
Suicide is now the biggest killer of young men across the UK, a charity
has warned.
The latest figures show that the suicide rate rose significantly in 2011
with a total of 6,045 people taking their own life - 4,552 of them were men.
The highest rate was in the male age bracket 30-44 and the recession is
thought to be playing a part in many of the deaths.
"The reasons for suicide are complex and often very
individual," Jane Powell from the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM)
told Sky News.
"The economic climate and social factors such as insecurities
around work and housing, social isolation and substance misuse are felt
particularly strongly in this group."
On average there are now three young male suicides in Britain every
single day, according to CALM.
British snowboarder Nelson Pratt, from Hampshire, took his own life last
summer.
His best friend Marcus Chapman has joined the charity's new campaign
aimed at raising awareness of the issue.
"Nelson was popular, healthy, successful and physically very
fit," he told Sky News. "He was an amazing guy, he had it all, he had
his life mapped out.
"He went to his GP last summer when he was feeling down and was
given a questionnaire and told to come back in a fortnight if he wasn't feeling
any better. The next day he took his life.
"It was devastating for everyone. How could someone so outwardly
healthy have this happen to them? Men aren't very good at telling someone how
they're feeling. By raising awareness we can get people talking."
CALM is working with three graffiti artists in east London this weekend
for 36 hours to get their message across.
Ms Powell added: "It's hugely important that we raise awareness of
male suicide. This is a huge problem now in the UK and the time has come to
start talking about it."
:: Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call CALM on 0800 58 58 58 or the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90.
UK: The Voluntary sector has become a machine of exploitation
of unemployed people.
In Britain thousands of people in
the voluntary sector are spending too much time on writing funding
applications proposals without hoping to get funded. The Voluntary sector has
become a machine of exploitation of unemployed people. For black and
minority-ethnic led organisations, the chance of getting funded is near
to nil because of discrimination and racism. At the same time, the employees
who work in the funding organisations are very well paid, An annual salary
of a grant assessor can be higher than the total funding available
for funding applications from the Voluntary Sector.
Here is n example of a
funding programme where 1 in 17 applications was successful.
Comic Relief Local Communities
Programme
Purpose
The programme aims to empower local people, enabling them to create lasting change in their communities. Projects should be run by local people directly affected by the issues they are dealing with and priority will be given to small, locally based groups and organisations in areas of disadvantage that have a clear understanding of the needs of their community.
The programme aims to empower local people, enabling them to create lasting change in their communities. Projects should be run by local people directly affected by the issues they are dealing with and priority will be given to small, locally based groups and organisations in areas of disadvantage that have a clear understanding of the needs of their community.
Unemployed Migrants: '600,000
Living In UK'
The UK should tackle racism
and discrimination in employment instead of diverting migrants
'unemployment to political propaganda. It is a shame on David
Cameron whose policies have been aimed to enhance social exclusion in Britain.
Unemployed Migrants: '600,000
Living In UK'
More than
600,000 unemployed migrants from across the European Union are living in the
UK, according to a survey seen by the Sunday Telegraph.
The 291-page
report - commissioned by the Brussels commissioner for employment and social
inclusion, Laszlo Andor - found there were 611,779 "non-active" EU
migrants in the UK last year compared with 431,687 in 2006 - a 42% increase.
The total
number of jobless migrants is greater than the population of Glasgow.
While
between 2005 and 2006 the growth of non-active EU migrants in the UK stagnated,
since 2006 it has been steadily rising, the report said.
The
newspaper said that the number of people arriving without employment had
increased by 73% in the three years to 2011.
The total
number of jobless migrants is greater than the population of Glasgow.
While
between 2005 and 2006 the growth of non-active EU migrants in the UK stagnated,
since 2006 it has been steadily rising, the report said.
The
newspaper said that the number of people arriving without employment had
increased by 73% in the three years to 2011.
It reported
that the figures meant the annual cost to the National Health Service amounted
to £1.5bn.
The details
emerged as a poll indicated there was strong public support for an early
referendum on withdrawing from the European Union.
The opinion
poll for the Mail on Sunday found more than half of voters want a referendum on
the UK's membership before the next election.
While nearly
two-thirds support a vote in the Commons on the issue as early as next month,
almost half said they would vote to quit the EU if a poll went ahead in 2014.
Prime
Minister David Cameron has pledged to hold a referendum by 2017, but has
dismissed the idea of holding it before the next general Election in 2015.
Boris
Johnson has said he would like to see a longer waiting time between migrants
arriving in the
Speaking to
Sky's Dermot Murnaghan London's Mayor said: "We're aware of the
issues that will arise on January 1, 2014 but the UK is still a country and a
society that over a long period has benefited from talented people come to work
here."
Benefit
tourism claims: European Commission urges UK to provide evidence
The UK Government' attitude is all about
racism and discrimination of people from Commonwealth
Countries who are settled in the UK following colonialism era.
David Cameron has no such evidence. His immigration policy is based
on fear mongering and lobby from anti-immigration groups.
Commenting on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24522653
Numbers
relying on food banks triple in a year
The
number of people relying on food banks to survive has tripled over the last
year, according to new figures.
The
Trussell Trust, which runs 400 food banks across the UK, said it handed out
supplies to more than 350,000 people between April and September this year.
A
third of those being helped were children, and a third needed food following a
delay in the payment of benefits.
Lord Neuberger: Legal aid cuts
threaten to deny justice
Proposed cuts to legal aid could deny justice to those who need
it most, the UK's top judge has warned.
Supreme
Court president Lord Neuberger said reduced access to legal aid could lead to
inefficient claims costlier for the court system.
If
people had to drop claims, it would be "a rank denial of justice and a
blot on the rule of law", he said.
The
Ministry of Justice said the annual £2bn bill for legal aid was "costing
too much".
An
MoJ spokesperson said that the £350m cuts "will create a sustainable legal
aid system that will still be one of the most generous in the world".
By Divya Talwar BBC Asian Network
Prof Aneez Esmail, who led the
investigation: "We need to find fairer means of assessing"
Related Stories
- Non-UK doctors 'face
discrimination'
- Foreign doctors 'must
speak English'
- Training push for foreign
doctors
UK ethnic minority doctors are four
times more likely than white candidates to fail their clinical GP exam, the
General Medical Council has found.
The review into 5,000 candidates
was ordered after ethnic minority students complained the exam was unfair.
Prof Aneez Esmail, an expert on
racism in the NHS who led the investigation, said "unconscious bias"
could explain the findings.
But the Royal College of GPs, which
sets the exams, denies they are unfair.
RCGP chairwoman Dr Clare Gerada
said the college took equality and diversity issues "extremely
seriously".
She added that the college:
"strongly refutes any allegations that the exam is discriminatory in any
way".
The Clinical Skills Assessment
(CSA) - introduced in 2010 - is a practical test in which trainee GPs are
assessed by an examiner while they treat actors in a mock-surgery setting.
They have up to four attempts to
take the test which they must pass before they can practise as a GP.
'New technique'
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