Miliband: 'Pay Living Wage For £1,000 Tax Break'

Businesses that sign up to paying the living wage will be given a 12 month tax break worth up to £1,000 per worker under plans unveiled by Ed Miliband.

The Labour leader has pledged to introduce the contracts to raise wages for millions of low-paid workers if he takes the keys to No 10 at the general election.

At a speech next week Mr Miliband will warn that Britain risks "an era of growth without prosperity" as wages stagnate while household costs continue to rise.

"Ordinary families are doing much worse than the averages would suggest because people at the top continue to enjoy faster wage rises than everyone else," he will say.

"For ordinary families to keep up, we don't need average wages to just creep higher than prices. That will still leave millions of people worse off.

"We need the kind of strong increases in wages that will genuinely make people all across Britain better off. Wages for millions of families have been stagnant or in decline for far too long now.

"Low wages aren't just bad for working people and their families. They are driving up the social security bill too, as the country has to subsidise more and more low paid jobs with tax credits and benefits.

"So to those who say we can't afford to do anything about wages in our country today: I say we can't afford not to. The Tories are indifferent to millions of families being locked into a permanent cycle of low wages and poverty."

Mr Miliband will declare that any extra savings in lower tax credits and benefit payments, along with increased tax revenues in future years, would be used to cut social security bills and help pay down the deficit.

The living wage is £8.55 per hour in London and £7.45 in the rest of the UK although that will be uprated tomorrow.

Last year there were 4.8 million people who earned less than the living wage, up 1.4 million in just the last four years.

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Grayling: Jobs For Ex-Cons Over Immigrants

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling wants to see building jobs go to ex-convicts rather than Eastern Europeans.

In an interview with Sky News' Dermot Murnaghan, Mr Grayling said he would prefer work to go to offenders leaving jail rather than immigrants.

Speaking at Wandsworth Prison, he stressed the importance of providing inmates with skills to work in the building industry.

He said: "One of the great opportunities for people when they leave prison is to get them into the construction field.

"If you can deliver skills development here, get the basic qualifications, it equips them for when they leave."

But even when trained, they faced competiton for work when released.

Mr Grayling said: "All too often you will find an East European is doing that job for you, if you are having your driveway laid.

"I'd actually rather we got that job for somebody who has been here (in prison), who has done something wrong, who has faced the consequences, who has been punished,  but actually it's in none of our interests if they go straight back out again and reoffend.

"If we can get them a worthwhile trade, and then they go on to have a law-abiding life, then everybody wins."

It comes after David Cameron said it is time to say "no" to immigrants taking jobs in British factories and start educating children so they have the skills to be employed instead.

The Prime Minister pointed out that in some factories across the country half the work was done by migrants from Eastern Europe.

But he said that they could not be blamed for seeking jobs in British factories when schools and colleges were not producing students with the required skills to do the work, and the jobs were there for the taking.

Speaking on Murnaghan, Mr Grayling also defended his controversial plans to privatise most of the probation service, and ruled out slowing the pace of change, which he argued was needed to tackle re-offending.

Mr Grayling also stood by changes to the probation service, despite union warnings the reforms were "dangerous", and could lead to deaths.

A package of contracts worth £450m has been offered to private and voluntary sector organisations, covering the supervision of 225,000 low and medium-risk offenders each year on a payment-by-results basis.

Contracts are to be split across 20 English regions and one Welsh region, while the National Probation Service (NPS), a new public sector organisation, will be formed to deal with the rehabilitation of 31,000 high-risk offenders each year.

Mr Grayling said: "I want to deliver change quickly, but I don't want to deliver change rashly.

"This is not a money-saving exercise. It's about using the money we have got more wisely, to deal with what I think is our biggest criminal justice scandal.

"The fact that people who are most likely to offend, the people who go to jail for less than 12 months, who are most likely to walk back on to our streets again and do something really horrendous in our society, are getting no supervision at the moment at all."

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Cervical Cancer: Virus Test Boosts Detection

By Vicki Hawthorne, Sky News Correspondent

Screening for a virus provides up to 70% better protection against cervical cancer than conventional smear tests, a study has found.

Traditional tests involve examining cells under a microscope to detect changes that may indicate cancer.

The new approach includes an initial test for human papilloma virus (HPV), which can trigger the disease.

Researchers analysed data from four trials in England, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden, using 175,000 women aged 20-64. 

Cervical cancer is the third most common gynaecological cancer in the UK

The four trials lasted an average of six-and-a-half years each.

Invasive cancer rates were similar for both groups during the first two-and-a-half years after the trials began.

But after that, fewer cancers were detected in women who had undergone HPV screening

Dr Guglielmo Ronco, from the Centre for Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, in Turin, Italy, said: "Until now, there have been no direct estimates of the relative efficacy of HPV-based versus cell-based screening for prevention of invasive cancer in women who undergo regular screening.

"Our analysis shows that HPV-based screening appears to prevent more invasive cervical cancers than does cell-screening.

Sharon Montgomery has battled cervical cancer three times in recent years

"On this basis, we recommend implementation of HPV-based cervical screening with triage from age 30 years at intervals of at least five years."

This means women discovered to be HPV-positive could be specially selected for a follow-up conventional smear test and referred for cervical examination.

Sharon Montgomery, 35, has battled cervical cancer three times in the last three years.

When she was diagnosed in 2010 she did not recognise the symptoms and admits she was completely unaware of the disease.

"I found out through a sore back," she said.

"I went to casualty. The consultant asked me several questions, and alarm bells had been ringing, and she sent me for a smear, which I hadn't had in five years."

While Sharon welcomes the latest research from Italy, she is also cautious. 

She is concerned that women will get the wrong impression from it.

"When I was diagnosed I set up my own support page on Facebook and a lot of women have come on and said that they have had the HPV test and it has come back negative," she said.

"Then they have been advised not to get a smear because of this. Six months, a year down the line, it has turned out that they have cervical cancer."

For Sharon the focus should be on raising awareness of cervical cancer and making sure women take a test when it is offered to them. 

She is spending her time in recovery setting up her own charity, Cervical Cancer Northern Ireland, to help and support women like her.

Professor Julietta Patnick, director of NHS Cancer Screening Programmes, said: "These new results are incredibly exciting.

"The relationship between human papilloma virus and cervical cancer has long been established, with the virus being found in over 99% of cervical cancer cases.

"The new study suggests that by using HPV for primary screening, we could protect 60-70% more women from cervical cancer than the current method.

"It also finds that by testing for HPV first we could test all women every five years. At  the moment we test women aged 25-49 every three years."

HPV primary screening was already being piloted at six English centres in Bristol, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Norwich and Sheffield, she said.

This year, the laboratories will screen around 150,000 women for HPV.

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Spy Cameras Target Illegal School-Run Parking

CCTV-style cameras are being used by councils to catch school-run parents who park illegally when dropping off or picking up their children.

A number of local authorities are trialling the technology with the aim of improving road safety outside schools.

The cameras are able to read the licence plates of vehicles stopping in prohibited areas.

It then "zooms out" to capture relevant parking signs, and sends a "video evidence pack" to the local authority for review, before automatically generating a penalty notice.

The manufacturer, Videalert, says the system provides councils with a more cost-effective alternative to mobile enforcement vehicles, equipped with cameras, to issue fines to offenders.

Five councils in London and at least two outside the capital are involved in the trial, according to The Sunday Times.

It reveals that the London Borough of Enfield is one of those involved.

But the use of the technology is set to come under fire from critics, already concerned that cameras are being used by authorities to raise cash from motorists.

According to the insurance industry, more than 1,000 children a month are injured on local roads near schools.

David Richmond, CEO of Videalert said: "This next-generation system is based on the same technology used for complex moving traffic offences, such as banned turns and box junctions.

"It will help to reduce the number of accidents that are happening outside our schools every day.

"We believe that the introduction of this technology is in line with Communities Secretary Eric Pickle's position on concentrating enforcement efforts on areas, such as outside schools, where children's safety has become a major issue due to people parking negligently."

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Immigration: Visitor Bond Plans Ditched

Government plans to force visitors from "high risk" countries to pay a £3,000 security bond to enter the UK have been scrapped, it has been confirmed.

It is a further blow to Home Secretary Theresa May, who only recently was forced to U-turn over controversial "go home" migrant vans, admitting it had been a "blunt instrument".

The security bond scheme was due to be piloted from this month as a way of deterring temporary visitors from staying on in the UK after their visas expire.

It had been suggested that visitors from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Ghana and Nigeria would be required to pay the deposit for a six-month visa, but the scheme has now been ditched.

A government spokesman said: "The Government has been considering whether we pilot a bond scheme that would deter people from overstaying the visa. We have decided not to proceed."

Earlier this year, the scheme was condemned as "highly discriminatory" by Indian business leaders, and Nick Clegg indicated he would block the plans if they were applied in an "indiscriminate way".

The Home Secretary only recently scrapped the controversial 'go home' vans

The Deputy Prime Minister has previously called for a bail-like system of security bonds to tackle visa abuse.

The announcement of the measure by the Government followed UKIP coming second to the Lib Dems in the Eastleigh by-election, where its campaign focused on tightening immigration controls.

The scheme was part of the Government's drive to cut net migration into the UK to the "tens of thousands" by the time of the next general election in 2015.

Shadow Immigration Minister David Hanson said: "After ad vans and texts to the wrong people, it seems David Cameron's Government can't get anything right when it comes to dealing with illegal immigration.

"Theresa May is all over the place and presiding over an immigration policy in chaos."

He added: "Chasing headlines followed by confusion and U turn is no way to manage an effective and robust immigration policy that works for all concerned."

The bonds were dropped because they had no support from the Liberal Democrats or within a number of government departments, it has been claimed.

Among the departments understood to be opposed to the plans are the Foreign Office, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and the Department for Communities and Local Government.

"The Home Office version of the policy was not acceptable to the Liberal Democrats and was not support by other government departments," Lib Dem sources said.

"They have seen the writing on the wall and binned it off. We have been clear from the start that the version was just not acceptable to us."

Speaking when the plans were first announced, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) described it as "highly discriminatory and very unfortunate", warning that it could delay agreement on an EU-India trade deal.

"The suggested changes are not only discriminatory they are also against the special relationship' publicised by the UK government," it said.

"We share UK's concern on illegal immigration, but surely there are other more effective and non-discriminatory ways to put a check on it."

The CII's complaint was echoed by the chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, Labour MP Keith Vaz, who described the scheme as "unfair and discriminatory".

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Bangladesh Death Sentence For UK Muslim Leader

A Muslim leader living in London has been sentenced to death after being found guilty of war crimes in his native Bangladesh.

Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, who was involved in setting up the Muslim Council of Britain, was sentenced in his absence at a special war crimes tribunal in his home country.

Toby Cadman, Mr Mueen-Uddin's Legal Counsel, described the verdict as "farcical".

He said in a statement: "The trial process has been shown to be nothing short of a political show trial.

"What is clear from a number of damning disclosures by the international community and the media is the overwhelming evidence that reveals serious judicial and prosecutorial misconduct and the collusion of the Government with members of the judiciary and prosecution.

"I am not at all surprised by the verdict that has been passed ... by an institution that has lost all credibility.

"We reject each and every charge levelled against Mr Mueen-Uddin."

Before the sentence was handed down, Mr Mueen-Uddin said on his website that although he opposed Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan at the time, he was not involved in any crimes.

Alongside New York-based Ashrafuzzaman Khan he was found guilty of abducting and murdering 18 people in December 1971, during the country's fight for independence against Pakistan.

The dead included nine university teachers, six journalists and three physicians.

Senior judge Obaidul Hassan told the packed court in Dhaka: "Justice will not be done if they are not awarded capital punishment."

Prosecutors accused the pair, who fled Bangladesh after it gained independence from Pakistan, of being "high command" members of the notorious Al Badr militia that supported Pakistani forces during the war.

Tribunal-appointed lawyers for them denied the charges against them. No defence witnesses were called during the trial held earlier this year.

The tribunal has now convicted 10 people, mostly leaders of the country's largest Islamic party the Jamaat-e-Islami, for war crimes, with seven of them sentenced to death by hanging. At least another eight are on trial.

The trials have sparked protests throughout the Muslim-majority country, leaving at least 150 people dead since January when the court started handing down their verdicts.

Jamaat claims the trials are politically motivated and accuses the secular government of trying to execute its entire leadership.

The government says the trials are needed to heal the wounds of the conflict.

Mr Mueen-Uddin, who came to the UK in 1973, has held positions in a host of top Islamic organisations, among them the Muslim Council of Britain - the country's largest umbrella group representing Muslims.

The Home Office was unable to confirm if an extradition request had been made for Mr Mueen-Uddin who holds dual UK and Bangladesh citizenship.

A spokesman said: "As a matter of long standing policy and practice the UK will neither confirm nor deny whether an extradition request has been made or received until such time as a person is arrested in relation to that request."

It is, however, convention that the UK does not extradite to countries that have the death penalty.

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'Plebgate' Officers Facing New Investigation

Three police officers accused of deceiving MPs over the so-called Plebgate scandal are to face a new investigation by the police watchdog.

Inspector Ken MacKaill, Detective Sergeant Stuart Hinton and Sergeant Chris Jones will also be called back before an influential committee of MPs, over claims they gave misleading accounts of a meeting with Andrew Mitchell.

The trio were initially told they would face no action for misconduct for press interviews they gave following the meeting in the MP's Sutton Coldfield constituency.

It came after police officers on the gate at Downing Street falsely accused the former chief whip of calling them "******* plebs" during a row over his bicycle.

The confrontation was caught on CCTV and shown on Channel 4

However, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has now said it will hold an investigation into the behaviour of the trio, saying the evidence they gave to the home affairs select committee revealed "a number of procedural irregularities" in earlier police reports.

Speaking on Sky News' Murnaghan show, former shadow home secretary David Davis spoke about the "devastating" impact of the officers' actions on Mr Mitchell and his family.

He called for him to be returned to the cabinet, in which he served between 2010 and 2012, in any future reshuffle.

"Mr Mitchell's career came to an end and he was subject to widespread vilification," he said.

"At one point, the entire British public thought he was guilty. They now see him, quite rightly, as a wronged man.

The row had a "devastating" impact on Mr Mitchell, according to Mr Davis

"It's long past time that Mr Mitchell should be exonerated and returned to office."

The policemen, all of whom are police federation representatives, have been recalled to the home affairs select committee to apologise for giving "misleading answers" on October 23.

Mr Davis said members of the public expected "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth to be at the core of policing".

"When are (these three officers) going to realise that telling a lie or a half truth just isn't good enough?" he said.

"This isn't just about three policemen - it's about whether or not this sort of behaviour is seen as acceptable by the entire system."

Chief Constable Alex Marshall, chief executive of the College of Policing, told the Murnaghan show that the officers' actions had "damaged the public image of the police".

"There will now be a full, independent investigation by the IPCC and it's my view that there should have been from the start," he said.

"The officers should have apologised and they should have apologised very clearly."

Referring to a draft code of ethics published last month by the College of Policing, which outlined how all 220,000 police officers and staff in England and Wales are expected to behave, he added: "Officers must uphold high standards when they join the police.

"The code of ethics spells out those standards and for people joining the police service, (it should be) lesson one on day one."

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Alton Towers Shuts Smiler After Wheels Fall Off

A theme park has closed its new £18m rollercoaster after several of its wheels fell off and hit guests on the ride.

The 14-loop Smiler attraction at Alton Towers was being pulled up an incline when a number of the small, plastic guide wheels came loose.

The wheels, which are used to keep the chain inside the chain guard, were caught by safety netting but some were flicked up on to the ride, hitting those sat in the front seats.

A spokesman for the Staffordshire theme park confirmed two guests were attended to by staff but did not need to leave the park.

"As you would expect ... all of the rides and attractions are expected to meet extremely high standards, technologically, mechanically and in terms of the end experience," the spokesman said.

"A full investigation is now on-going to determine when the ride can re-open."

It is the second time since its opening on May 31 that The Smiler has been closed because of falling parts.

It was shut for five days in July when a small piece of track came off, leaving dozens of people stuck on the ride.

The latest closure was met with disappointment on Twitter by people visiting the park on the last day of the half term holidays.

Craig Campbell wrote: "What an absolute joke! Smiler is shut again! Only came back because it was shut the last time. Alton Towers get it together."

Sophie Bucky added: "The Smiler is closed all day. So annoyed."

The spokesman for Alton Towers said the park was "very sorry for any disappointment" caused by the temporary closure but added: "The health and safety of all of our visitors is our absolute priority."

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Crash Car Left Hanging From M6 Bridge

A car was left hanging precariously from a motorway bridge over a major road after a crash, which left one person injured.

The vehicle was teetering off the M6 motorway near junction 23 where it crosses the A580 near Haydock in Merseyside.

Rescue teams had to lift the car to safety, cutting free one person and rescuing another. One of the occupants suffered a leg injury, according to the North West Ambulance Service.

No other vehicles were involved.

The accident on Sunday at 8.30am caused significant delays and tailbacks on the M6.

Two lanes of the motorway were expected to remain closed until about 4pm, the Highways Agency said.

There were long delays southbound between junctions 23 and 27.

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Gosport Murder Inquiry As Teens Killed By Car

A 20-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after two teenage girls died when they were hit by a car.

A 14-year-old girl died at the scene of the incident in Gosport, Hampshire, while a 16-year-old girl died later in hospital.

They have been named locally as Jasmine Allsop and Olivia Lewry.

Detective Superintendent Dick Pearson said: "This is an extremely tragic incident which has resulted in the death of two young girls.

Forensic staff have been examining the scene.

"I currently have a team of detectives and other officers, including expert road collision investigators, working on this case to fully investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths of these two teenage girls.

"I would appeal to anyone who knows anything which could help this investigation to contact my team as soon as possible."

Officers were called to the scene after the girls were involved in the collision with a green Honda Civic car at 4.15am on Sunday.

The older girl was taken to the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth with serious injuries but did not survive.

Mourners brought flowers to pay their respects to the girls.

A man was originally taken into custody on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving but the offence was later changed to suspected murder, police said.

He remains in custody.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact the Major Investigation Team at Fratton Police Station on 101, quoting Operation Barb.

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