'Lack Of Women MPs Is A Real Problem'

Former equalities minister Maria Miller has told Sky News that there is a "real problem" with the lack of women MPs in Parliament.

The Conservative MP for Basingstoke told the Murnaghan programme that Parliament needed to "look at its practices" in order to encourage more women into politics.

And she said she "wouldn't rule out" all-women shortlists if the Tories could not recruit more women.

Her comments came as David Cameron is expected to appoint more women to ministerial posts at a reshuffle this week.

Ms Miller, who was forced to resign earlier this year following an expenses scandal, said: "There is a real problem there.

"We only have 22% of members of Parliament who are female, and at a time when we are seeing young girls come out of university with the best degrees, and choosing to go into areas like law and accountancy in more numbers than their male counterparts, yet in Parliament we are still struggling to attract women either as a first career or even as a second career."

David Cameron's front bench in February was entirely men

She said that women were not taking up the challenge of trying to improve their communities by going into politics.

She was hopeful that a report that is due to be released on Monday, which aims to address the issue, will help, even though Parliament has been "lagging behind".

She admitted that, as someone who had gone to a Comprehensive in Wales and had not gone to Oxford or Cambridge, becoming an MP was something she had not seen herself doing.

It had only been because of family and friends that she had gone into politics, she added.

She also admitted that she had not realised what it would be like in Parliament, but that MPs needed to "look at the working practices we have and culture that we have" so that Westminster did not lag behind.

In February, Ed Miliband pointed out during Prime Minister's Questions that none of the Conservative front bench seats were occupied by women.

Ms Miller tipped Harriett Baldwin, Margot James and Esther McVey for greater future success.

But Labour's Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper warned that voters would view a reshuffle that increased the number of women in Cabinet as a "last minute worry" about votes.

Yvette Cooper accused David Cameron of having 'a blind spot'

The Labour front bencher accused the Prime Minister of having a "real blind spot" over women and said it would be "too little, too late".

She told the Murnaghan programme: "I think if he was serious about having women in his Cabinet, he's had four years to do so.

"There's only three women in the Cabinet of between 20 and 30 people at the moment and I think this is going to look really like a last minute worry about votes because he knows that he's got a real blind spot when it comes to women."

Liberal Democrat Justice Minister Simon Hughes admitted that his party had the fewest number of female MPs out of any of the major parties and admitted that more needed to be done.

Talking about the possibility that Lib Dem leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg might swap Ed Davey for Jo Swinson in the Energy Secretary role, he said: "He's absolutely mindful of making sure that we have more women in government - the fact that we have people like Jo Swinson back from maternity leave firing on all cylinders in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is very welcome in the party."

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Ex-Schools Chief: 'Let Me Die With Dignity'

Former Chief Inspector of Schools Sir Chris Woodhead has entered the right-to-die controversy, saying it is time people were given help to end their lives.

Sir Chris, who has motor neurone disease, told Sky News the possibility he might have to starve himself to end his life did not fill him with a "great deal of enthusiasm".

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have also given their backing to a bill allowing assisted dying, which will be debated in the House of Lords on Friday.

"One of the opponents of the bill has said that there is no need to change the law, because people who have got a terminal illness can not drink, not eat, and through those means, kill themselves," Sir Chris told the Murnaghan programme.

"Well that is a possibility, and it's a possibility I may have to make use of at some point.

"But like anybody else, that prospect, that way of death, doesn't fill me with a great deal of enthusiasm.

Lord Carey previously opposed assisted suicide

"I think it would be far better if I could have my death assisted in a peaceful and dignified way so that my suffering wasn't prolonged, and the suffering of those nearest and dearest to me wasn't prolonged as they had to witness the slowness of my extinction."

In an extraordinary U-turn, Lord Carey said it would not be "anti-Christian" to legalise assisted suicide and that by opposing reform the Church risked "promoting anguish and pain".

Sir Chris conceded that assisted dying is a "difficult and controversial issue" and should only be taken with a family's knowledge and agreement.

But he said Lord Falconer's bill "is about right" given the range of public feeling on the issue.

The legislation would allow terminally ill patients the right to an assisted death if two doctors agreed they had less than six months to live.

Sir Chris said in the past some doctors would help ease a patient's death if they were in a lot of pain.

Shipman is believed to have murdered more than 200 patients

But he said that changed after the jailing of GP Harold Shipman, who is believed to have murdered more than 200 patients, making him Britain's most prolific serial killer.

"Before the Shipman murders, I think many doctors were more prepared to ease pain than they are now," he said.

"Now there is a perfectly understandable anxiety within the medical profession as to whether or not they will be - in quotation marks - 'found out' if they were to assist somebody's death.

"And indeed I've got mixed feelings about Parliament discussing this issue at all because the more media attention is devoted to the question of assisted death, I think the more anxious some doctors will become particularly of course if Falconer's bill is turned down."

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Ambulance Response Times 'Putting Lives At Risk'

Ambulances are taking longer to reach patients suffering from life-threatening conditions compared to three years ago, according to Labour.

Figures from NHS England suggest that in some areas of the UK, heart attack and stroke victims have to wait almost three minutes more to be seen by a paramedic.

Category A calls where a patient's life is in danger should arrive within eight minutes. But ambulances are taking more than a minute longer to arrive on average and experts warn this is putting lives at risk.

Dr Dale Webb, director of research and information at the Stroke Association, said: "When a stroke strikes, the blood supply to part of your brain is cut off which causes brain cells in the affected area to die.

Paramedic Danny Wroe says increases in traffic are causing longer delays

"So time lost is brain lost. These figures are a concern because stroke patients need to get specialist treatment as soon as possible."

In the East of England, ambulances are taking some 2.8 minutes longer to respond to the most serious calls. In the East Midlands, ambulances are taking 2.3 minutes longer compared to three years ago.

However, East Midlands Ambulance Service spokesperson cast doubt on the data saying the service had hit all of its key performance standards during the first quarter of 2014.

He said: ''The method used nationally to measure response times changed between years so the figures quoted do not compare like with like."

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham, said: "These figures raise real concerns that lives are being put at risk by the chaos in the NHS.

One trust is recruiting more staff like Danny to help with response times

"Hospital A&E departments have missed the Government's waiting time target for the last 51 weeks running. This crisis in A&E has trapped ambulances in queues outside hospitals - leaving the next caller facing longer, agonising waits. More and more calls are being attended by police cars and even fire engines on David Cameron's watch."

A Department of Health spokesman said: "We know some ambulance trusts are under pressure, carrying out over 850 more journeys every day since 2010, but the NHS continues to respond to the majority of the most life threatening cases in less than eight minutes."

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Lift-Off For UK Spaceport Plan As Sites Revealed

Britain could be home to one of the first UK spaceports outside of America by 2018, with a shortlist of possible sites to be announced this week.

The base could act as a hub for commercial space flights, such as those planned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, which will blast would-be astronauts into sub-orbit from the United States for $250,000 (£146,000).

The launch pad would rival the futuristic Spaceport America and would open up a route between Britain and space - even before completion of the London-Birmingham high speed rail link or expansion of Heathrow airport.

Of the eight possible locations to be revealed at the Farnborough Air Show on Tuesday, six are in Scotland.

Campbeltown, Kinloss, Leuchars, Lossiemouth, Prestwick and Stornoway are all on the list, confirmation of which will come just two months before Scotland votes in the independence referendum.

The remaining sites are in Newquay, Cornwall, and in Llanbedr, Gwynedd.

Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury and a prominent campaigner against independence, said: "Scotland has a proud association with space exploration.

"We celebrated Neil Armstrong's Scottish ancestry when he became the first man on the moon.

"The UK space industry is one of our great success stories and I'm sure there'll be a role for Scotland to play in the future."

Rockets could be launched from Britain within four years

This week's announcement comes after the UK Space Agency launched its first Cubesat mission, putting a shoebox-sized satellite into orbit earlier this month.

British scientists helped build the comet-catching Rosetta spacecraft and are also involved in making the European Mars rover, ExoMars, which is due to arrive on the red planet in 2019.

The British space industry is worth an estimated £9bn a year, employing more than 28,900 people who work for hundreds of companies.

The Government wants to capture a tenth of the world's space market by 2030, making the sector worth up to £40bn and providing as many as 100,000 jobs.

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Mountain Sale Battle Heading For The Courts

By Gerard Tubb, North of England Correspondent

A row over who should own a Lake District mountain could end up in the courts after walkers had it recognised as a community asset.

More than 6,000 people joined a campaign group to buy the 2,848 foot (878 metre) high Blencathra range when it was put up for sale in May by the Earl of Lonsdale, Hugh Lowther.

Mike Alston: 'It's all about the community spirit'

The group, Friends of Blencathra, say they were advised to offer less than the £1.75m guide price, which led to them being outbid by an unnamed private buyer.

Last week, the group persuaded Eden District Council to list the mountain under the Localism Act which gives communities six months to raise the money needed to buy registered assets and an opportunity to apply for funds.

Now it is claimed lawyers could get involved after agents for the owner announced they are going ahead with plans to sell the mountain to the successful bidder.

If that happens, Eden District Council leader Gordon Nicolson told Sky News that he expects the community group will ask the council for help.

"If the Friends of Blencathra were unhappy about the sale the first place they would come is knocking on our door, and because this has never happened before our first thing to do would be to take further (legal) advice," he said.

The Friends of Blencathra say they can afford to pay £1.75m and want to protect the mountain for future generations.

The mountain was put up for sale for £1.75m by the Earl of Lonsdale

"It's all about the community spirit and everybody wanting to keep the Lake District how it's been for hundreds of years," said Mike Alston, a member of the group.

Lord Lonsdale, who is selling Blencathra to help pay a tax bill following the death of his father, the seventh Earl of Lonsdale, was not available for interview.

But his agents, H&H Land and Property, said a provision of the Localism Act exempts the Blencathra estate under inheritance tax rules and insisted the sale would go ahead as planned.

In a statement, director John Robson said: "The Friends of Blencathra have achieved much in a short space of time, but their bid was significantly below the guide price.

"The estate will now move towards exchange with the successful party."

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Birdman Ron Freeman Breaks His Own Record

A daredevil has beaten his own record for the furthest distance unassisted flight during a "birdman" competition in West Sussex.

Ron Freeman soared 159.8 metres in his adapted hang glider the Geordie Flyer at the Worthing International Birdman competition, which sees people throw themselves off the seaside town's pier in various flying machines.

Mr Freeman beat his 141.5 metre record set last year

He passed the 141.5-metre record he set at the event last year, organisers said.

On its Twitter page, the competition announced: "Ron Freeman got a official score of 159.8m well done another new record for Worthing Birdman."

The reigning champ is hoping to clinch the £10,000 prize

Mr Freeman, the reigning champion, could now land the £10,000 top prize at the event - but to win he needs another good run. 

Competitors in his Condor Class for serious attempts have their final scores based on flights on both days of the weekend event.

Last year, Mr Freeman, from Newbiggin-by-the-Sea in Northumberland, missed out on the winnings after strong winds forced him to take a sideways rather than a forwards route off the pier.

The two-day event sees daredevils launch themselves off Worthing pier

Mr Freeman was not the only flier on Saturday to pass the 100-metre mark that competitors have to pass to be eligible for the prize.

Tony Hughes sits in second after soaring 117.1 metres in X Plane VIII, down on the 132.5-metre best he posted last year.

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Putin Tells Britain To Resolve Falklands Row

Vladimir Putin has waded into the Falkland Islands row, telling Britain it must sit down with Argentina for fresh talks to resolve the dispute.

The Russian president, who has faced international criticism over the annexation of Crimea and continuing tensions on the Ukraine border, said his country supported "the necessity" to find a solution to the 200-year-old feud.

Speaking at a dinner with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on a one-day visit to the country, Mr Putin added: "I'd like to draw attention to the words of the president regarding double discourse in international affairs."

Ms Fernandez has previously accused Britain of double standards for criticising a pro-Russian secession vote in Crimea, while using last year's Falklands referendum, in which islanders voted in favour of remaining British, to justify its rule of the archipelago.

Mr Putin shared a drink with Ms Fernandez and also played an accordion tune

At the dinner with Mr Putin, she thanked the Russian leader for supporting her country's "national cause".

"Colonisation is a dark cloud over the 20th and 19th centuries and something that should be totally wiped out," she said.

"We thank the position of Russia regarding the Falkland Islands and I am going to call a toast in the name of, as you put it, a world without double discourse ... where the international rights are the same for everyone and applied the same way everywhere."

Britain has controlled the Falklands since 1833 - except for 74 days of occupation in 1982 - but Argentina claims it inherited rights to the islands in 1816.

The sovereignty of the Falkland Islands has long been disputed

More than 900 people were killed and 2,000 injured during the war triggered by an Argentine invasion 32 years ago.

Last month, a UN committee approved a resolution calling on the UK and Argentina to negotiate over the Falkland Islands.

Argentina's foreign minister Hector Timerman told the UN special committee on decolonisation the UK's refusal to "fulfil its obligations to negotiate" over the islands' sovereignty went against the founding principle of the UN.

However, Falklands residents gave speeches at the meeting, saying they were "happy with the current status and don't want to change it".

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Cameron's Juncker Snub 'Offended Luxembourg'

David Cameron has been accused of offending the whole of Luxembourg by saying he did not want Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission.

Viviane Reding, an MEP for Luxembourg and European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, attacked the British Prime Minister on Sky News for not being a team player.

Mr Cameron publicly opposed Mr Juncker's appointment to the post but failed to win the support of his fellow leaders of state, suffering a 26-2 defeat when he forced a vote on the matter.

Ms Reding scolded the Prime Minister for "playing the man and not the ball" and said Mr Cameron could not expect to bring about changes by "sitting on the bench".

She told Sky News' Murnaghan programme she would not advise Mr Cameron to nominate a Eurosceptic as Britain's European Commissioner, but said that there was a "good argument" for sending a strong woman.

Once Mr Juncker takes up his post in November, he will be required to form a 'cabinet' of commissioners made up of representatives from all of the EU countries.

Britain's current commissioner is Baroness Ashton, who has held the External Relations portfolio.

There has been much debate over who will get the nomination as the next British commissioner with Andrew Lansley and Lord Howard in the frame.

David Cameron must choose a new British European Commissioner

It comes at a time when Mr Cameron has already stated he is determined to win back powers from the EU, particularly over the free movement of people and the rights of people to receive benefits.

Ms Reding said that while Britain was entitled to set its own rules on benefits, the free movement of people would always be "non negotiable".

Asked about Mr Cameron's opposition to Mr Juncker, Ms Reding said: "I think the whole Luxembourgian country and all its population was offended because that was clearly playing the man and not playing the ball and we did not appreciate all the negative sounds which came out of Great Britain.

"I can tell you that politically speaking if you want to be a strong team player then you do not decide to sit on the bench.

"(Sending a Eurosceptic) will be an absolutely bad move from the British point of view because simply if you want to construct something together with 27 other nations you cannot send somebody who wants to destruct the whole building which has been built during the last decades.

"(Sending a woman) certainly would help because I think that there are not enough women candidates and no government, no European government, can be built in this type of world without enough female talent on board.

"So it will be a good argument to send a strong female politician to be part of the team of Jean-Claude Juncker."

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Labour Steps Up Pressure On Royal Mail Fees

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Labour is intensifying the pressure on Vince Cable to clarify whether millions of pounds of public money will be paid to bankers who worked on the controversial privatisation of Royal Mail.

Chuka Umunna, the shadow business secretary, has told Sky News that paying more than £4m in discretionary fees to City advisers would "add insult to injury" after a parliamentary report accused the Government last week of costing taxpayers £1bn by undervaluing the postal operator.

Mr Cable has the ability to award the fees, according to Royal Mail's privatisation prospectus issued last autumn, although doing so would further stoke the controversy over the sell-off.

People close to the Business Secretary insisted that no decision had been formally taken about the fees, although one conceded that criticisms by the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee "offered an ideal chance to lay the issue to rest".

Royal Mail was floated on the stock market nine months ago, valuing it at £3.3bn, but an instant surge in its share price prompted accusations that it had been undervalued.

Last week, Mr Cable commissioned an "informal review" of the sell-off to assess whether publicly-owned assets should be sold using alternative means in future.

"Despite launching an inquiry into the failings of the Royal Mail fire sale, and seeking to shift blame for their mistakes onto advisers, ministers have still not confirmed whether or not the banks advising the sale will be receiving discretionary fees," Mr Umunna said.

"Given taxpayers have already been short-changed by hundreds of millions of pounds and the government's "priority" investors have been laughing all the way to the bank, it would add insult to injury for even more money to be given away from the public purse in the form of discretionary fees when ministers have botched the privatisation so badly."

Chuka Umunna said paying the fees would 'add insult to injury'

Last week's BIS Committee report said Mr Cable had been wrong to label the instant post-privatisation surge in Royal Mail's share price as "froth".

"The Secretary of State's initial use of the term referred to the 'immediate aftermath' of the flotation," the report said.

"This was subsequently extended to months and then possibly years.

"As a result we do not find the argument of 'froth' as a credible response to the significant increase in the share price."

The MPs added that the Government had been served poorly by its City advisers, who they argued had made insufficient effort to maximise Royal Mail's value during the privatisation process.

And they said taxpayers would miss out on future increases in the value of potentially lucrative property assets.

Lazard, the Government's independent adviser, was paid a flat fee of £1.5m, although its asset management arm also made a significant profit by selling shares that it was allocated as a so-called priority investor in Royal Mail.

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RAF's F-35 Jet Misses Planned Air Show Debut

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

The Royal Air Force's expensive new fighter jet has failed to make its long-awaited UK debut after a fire grounded the entire fleet of aircraft.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is known as the Lightning II in the UK and is supposedly the future of military aviation.

It had been due to fly at the Farnborough Air Show in Hampshire on Monday, after failing to make the Royal International Air Tattoo in Fairford, Gloucestershire, on Friday.

But in a hugely embarrassing glitch for the Government, the costly planes will have to remain on a runway in Florida until engineers can be sure the fire was caused by an isolated fault.

A senior British defence source told Sky News that Lockheed Martin, the primary manufacturers, and the Pentagon will "get a shoeing" over the grounding.

The F-35 is being built at Lockheed Martin's factory in Fort Worth, Texas

The UK is investing billions of pounds and staking the reputation of the military on the eventual success of the F-35 programme.

Four of the Lightning II jets were due to fly over Farnborough and organisers of the show said they were "hopeful" the aircraft would make its transatlantic journey by the end of the week.

They added: "We fully support the stance to never compromise safety of either pilots or show participants and we thank them all for their continued hard work."

To coincide with the aircraft's planned appearance at Farnborough, the UK Government is expected to announce how many aircraft it will buy in its first tranche of orders.

Later this decade, the F-35 will fly off the new Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier, which was officially named last week.

Lightning II made its first vertical landing at sea in October

The aircraft can take off on a short runway and land vertically - much like its predecessor, the Harrier.

The F-35 Lightning II programme has been beset by problems, with aircraft grounded on a number of occasions and spending that has run wildly over budget.

Different versions are being built by Lockheed Martin for the US Marines, the US Air Force and the US Army.

The UK is known as a "tier one" partner, meaning it is the most important contributor after the Pentagon.

Despite much criticism and speculation over the aircraft's future, Washington and London will not back out.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said the UK "remains fully committed" to the programme.

To cover the humiliation of the F-35's absence, the Government may make announcements about increased defence capabilities instead.

Sky News understands the lifespan of the Sentinel surveillance plane will be extended.

The fleet had been earmarked for retirement but has seen strong demand in recent years in Mali, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Libya.

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