PM: We Will 'Hunt Down' David Haines' Killers

David Cameron has vowed that Britain will "hunt down" those responsible for the murder of British aid worker David Haines and bring them to justice.

Speaking from Downing Street after chairing a meeting of Cobra, Mr Cameron described Islamic State extremists as "monsters" who are part of a "fanatical organisation".

"We will hunt down those responsible and bring them to justice, no matter how long it takes," Mr Cameron said.

"David Haines was an aid worker. He went into harm's way, not to harm people but to help his fellow human beings in the hour of their direst need, from the Balkans to the Middle East.

A man wearing black addresses David Cameron in the video

"David Haines was a British hero. The fact that an aid worker was taken, held and brutally murdered at the hand of Islamic State sums up what this organisation stands for.

"They boast of their brutality. They claim to do this in the name of Islam. That is nonsense - Islam is a religion of peace."

Earlier in the day Mr Cameron held emergency talks with senior representatives of the military, the security services, the Foreign Office and the Home Office.

He returned to Downing Street shortly after midnight when IS released a video which showed Mr Haines' death.

David Haines has been described as a 'British hero' (Pic: Lance Baldwin)

Government sources say the death will not change Britain's policy and Parliament will not be recalled.

But Mr Cameron said Britain's security depends upon taking action against the extremists.

"It must strengthen our resolve. We must recognise that it will take time to eradicate a threat like this. It will require, as I have described, action at home and abroad," he said.

"This is not something we can do on our own. We have to work with the rest of the world.

"Ultimately, our security as a nation, the way we go about our everyday lives in this free and tolerant society that is Britain, has always depended on our readiness to act against those who stand for hatred and who stand for destruction."

Mr Haines was taken hostage in Syria last year

The footage of Mr Haines' death shows a knife-wielding militant who speaks with a British accent.

The clip also includes a threat to kill a second hostage, later named as Alan Henning, another British aid worker.

In the video, the victim looks into the camera and makes a statement, holding Mr Cameron responsible for his own "execution".

In the statement, which appears to have been made under duress, he said: "You entered voluntarily into a coalition with the United States against the Islamic State just as your predecessor Tony Blair did, following a trend against our British prime ministers who can't find the courage to say 'no' to the Americans.

"Unfortunately it is we the British public that in the end will pay the price for our Parliament's selfish decisions."

Mr Cameron returned to Downing Street for crisis talks

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "All the signs are that the video is genuine. We have no reason to believe it is not."

The aid agency that Mr Haines was working for when he was taken hostage in 2013 said it was "appalled and horrified" by the killing.

"ACTED strongly condemns with the utmost of force these crimes. In this tragic moment, our thoughts are with his family, friends and loved ones," the agency said.

The killing comes just weeks after American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff were beheaded by Islamic State (IS). Those deaths were also filmed, and the videos were released on the internet.

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Social Media More Trusted Than The Mainstream

By Tom Cheshire, Technology Correspondent

One stat that caught my eye from Sky News' Stand Up Be Counted poll was that eight out of 10 people don't trust the media to reflect their concerns and needs.

Almost half (46%) thought social media more accurately represented them, compared to 18% for mainstream media.

That's not really a surprise: we create the content for social media ourselves, so of course it reflects our own concerns and needs.

And although Sky News wants to appeal to as many people as possible, some topics are too niche.

Online, though, niches can become huge. 20,000 people might like XYZ in the UK but if 20,000 people like it every country around the world, that's around 4 million people - a sizeable market for a focused news provider to hit.

It's how eSports has gained 71 million viewers around the world, despite being ignored by mainstream media.

It's not a coincidence that its biggest site, Twitch, is a deeply social platform - halfway between a media company and a social network.

So is this the end for traditional media? Are any of you interested? I'd argue not.

First, a lot of the links being shared around social media are to traditional newspapers and broadcasters. And it's this combination that is powerful and very exciting.

But what social media does is add another layer of trust, beyond a news organisation's reputation.

When a friend shares a link on WhatsAapp, they put (a small part of) their reputation on the line, effectively saying: "This is something I think worth sharing."

If you trust that person, you'll follow the link.

That also means the content is more likely to reflect your concerns.

The era of editors and executive producers alone determining the news agenda is over, which is a good thing.

But for social media users alone to determine the news agenda is also dangerous.

Online, we gravitate to people with the same opinion. If everyone does the same, we end up in a filter bubble, where we only see stories likely to appeal to us.

One of the great things about a newspaper, TV channel or magazine is surprise: coming across a story that grabs you, but isn't one of your usual interests.

Now, we're starting to get the best of both.

Editors and executive producers pay a huge amount of attention to social channels. They look to those platforms to shape their coverage, and a new platform like Stand Up Be Counted can improve that dialogue.

The more we talk, the more we trust.

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Cameron Hardens With Pledge To 'Destroy' IS

By Faisal Islam, Political Editor, in Downing Street

The message from Downing Street today was one of resolve.

The Government will not be bounced into a change of strategy by the heinous public murder of a British aid worker.

The rhetoric, however, did harden somewhat.

The Prime Minister returned from Chequers to Downing St last night after the murder. He was referred to by name in the video distributed by IS.

He responded with a personal message. David Haines was a "British hero" who devoted his life to humanitarian aid, he said.

Mr Haines' killers, including the masked man with the British accent, "are not Muslims, they are monsters". He vowed that Britain would and could not "walk on by".

He hardened previous language about "squeezing ISIL out of existence" to a promise to "destroy ISIL with an iron determination".

Mr Haines was kidnapped in Syria in 2013

This looked like a PM about to announce military action. Indeed the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced the deployment of 600 combat personnel and military aircraft to the UAE.

The direction of travel is pretty clear. But the actual strategy remains the same.

There will be no emergency recall of Parliament, as suggested by some backbench MPs, including ex-Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt.

There will be no British combat "boots on the ground". Airstrikes are neither ruled in nor ruled out.

The limited lethal military aid, (some small quantity of heavy weaponry) given to the Kurdish peshmerga will continue.

Any ramping up of this will only be after the creation of a stable inclusive Iraqi government (which has started) and the establishment of a regional coalition.

The killer refers to Mr Cameron by name in the beheading video

As the PM told Sky News at the NATO summit, he is keen to show he has "learnt the lessons of the past".

That is a reference to the Iraq war in 2003. That involves a detailed, sustainable, diplomatic plan.

It is also fortuitous, because the PM can continue to avoid getting ahead of public and parliamentary opinion.

He is understandably burnt from the experience of the Syria vote a year ago. My assessment is that his Coalition, parliament, and the public, are getting on side.

The other break on immediate action, of course, is US President Barack Obama. The White House put out a statement saying the US stood "shoulder to shoulder" with the UK.

The aim to "degrade and destroy" ISIL is clear. The assessment that a "Western intervention" alone is not a sustainable solution to this issue remains.

One key understated reason: that using superior western military might, is also a form of leverage for good behaviour from the new government in Iraq.

So the direction of travel remains clear. But we are still not yet at the point of the actual military engagement of a multinational coalition.

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Man Charged With New Forest Mother's Murder

A man has been charged with the murder of a mother-of-five who was attacked as she tended her horses in the New Forest.

Justin Robertson, of no fixed address, is accused of killing 47-year-old Pennie Davis on Tuesday September 2.

Robertson, 36, will remain in custody and appear before Southampton Magistrates' Court on Monday, Hampshire police said.

Meanwhile, a 28-year-old woman from Hythe, Hampshire, arrested on Thursday on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder has been released on bail until November 3.

Another woman, Leanne Doyle, 24, of Hythe, was charged on Monday with assisting an offender and perverting the course of justice.

She has been bailed and is due to appear at Winchester Crown Court on October 1.

A 22-year-old man, previously arrested on suspicion of murder, has been released on bail, while a 37-year-old man held on suspicion of assisting an offender has also been bailed.

Mrs Davis' family said in a statement: "We are devastated by the death of our beloved mother, wife, daughter, sister and friend.

"Pennie was a remarkable person. She was a devoted mother of five children who worked hard to ensure that they had everything they needed.

"She cared for and supported them in everything they did.

"In May she married her love, Pete, at a joyful occasion surrounded by her loved ones.

"We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and grief that her death has caused."

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Scotland Referendum Result 'Too Close To Call'

The latest opinion polls show the Scottish referendum campaign is "on a knife-edge" - with the "Yes" and "No" campaigns ahead in different surveys.

Three polls - all of which exclude undecided voters - give the "No" campaign the advantage on the final weekend of campaigning, but pro-Independence campaigners will be boosted by another which shows them ahead by a large margin.

A poll commissioned by the Better Together campaign and carried out by Survation has the "No" vote on 54% and the "Yes" camp on 46%.

Another, for The Observer newspaper, gives the "No" campaign a six point lead - 53%-47%.

Meanwhile, a poll carried out for The Sunday Times newspaper has "No" on 50.6% and "Yes" on 49.4%.

A poll for the Sunday Telegraph however showed support for independence at 54%, a nine-point swing from their last online poll, with support for the "No" campaign at 46%.

But the poll's sample size - 705 people - means its margin of error is higher than most surveys.

The Sunday Telegraph poll that shows the 'Yes' side ahead

Polling expert John Curtice said the poll came with "a substantial health warning".

Sky's Scotland Correspondent James Matthews said: "It tells us what we already know: this is going to be extremely tight, coming down to the wire, all the cliches fit.

"It really is on a knife edge and the intense campaigning over the remaining days will clearly be targeted at the undecideds, numbering something like half a million, they clearly hold the key to this referendum."

Reacting to the latest snapshots of public opinion, Blair Jenkins, chief executive of Yes Scotland, said: "Taken in the round, the polls show that the referendum is on a knife-edge.

"There is everything to play for, and this will spur on everybody who wants and is working hard for a 'Yes' to redouble their efforts.

The final weekend of campaigning has seen both sides out in force

"As we say in response to all the polls, we are working flat out to ensure that we achieve a 'Yes' vote, because it's the biggest opportunity the people of Scotland will ever have to build a fairer society and more prosperous economy."

The latest polls came after First Minister Alex Salmond hit out at banks and businesses that have warned about the effects of independence.

Deutsche Bank said a "Yes" vote could be a mistake akin to those that sparked the Great Depression, while three more retailers said customers would face higher prices.

Six telecoms companies also released an open letter warning such an outcome could mean increased costs in the industry.

But Mr Salmond said in an interview with Sky News: "The people of Scotland are not going to have big government orchestrating big oil and big supermarkets to tell us we can't run our own country."

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Scotland Warned Armies Don't 'Grow Overnight'

A former head of the British Army has said an independent Scotland will struggle to build a "meaningful defence capability".

Lord Dannatt, who was Chief of the General Staff between 2006 and 2009, told Sky's Dermot Murnaghan: "We are much better together.

"I really worry that Scotland will struggle to have any meaningful defence capability. Armies, Navies and Air Forces ... you can't grow them overnight.

"We've got superb armed forces in this country, but they work because they are made of English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines.

"And there are things like jobs, industry, shipbuilding - all these kind of things have got to be thought about.

"Scotland will be putting itself in a poor place in external defence and security terms if it chooses to fragment from the rest of us."

Voters go to the polls on September 18

Earlier Lord Dannatt said he feared a Yes vote in the Scottish referendum could also be "letting down" Scottish soldiers who died during fighting in Northern Ireland.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, he urged Scots to vote No, pointing out more than 100 Scottish members of the armed forces had fought and died defending the UK during the Troubles.

He wrote: "Do the families of Scottish soldiers who lost their lives between 1969 and 2007 to preserve the territorial integrity of the United Kingdom now just say, 'Well, it no longer matters'?

"I cannot speak for them, but I wonder just how much thought, appreciation and recognition is given to the memory of those who have fought and brought this United Kingdom of ours to where it is today, and where it could be in the future.

"I worry particularly about the extent that we will be letting them down if Scotland disappears from our country, just on the whim of a few thousand voters willing to gamble on an uncertain future rather than staying within the United Kingdom, whose track record is second to none in Europe."

Lord Dannatt said he fears "letting down" Scots who died fighting

Lord Dannat's remarks were dismissed by both the Yes and No campaigns.

Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander told Murnaghan: "I am unyielding in my admiration and respect for the men and women of the British armed forces and the contribution that Scots have played and continue to play in those forces.

"But many British soldiers have given their lives over the years to defeat fascism and then to defend democracy and let's be absolutely clear: what we are witnessing here in Scotland on Thursday is an exercise in democracy."

Scottish Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the comments "bordered on being offensive and insulting".

"There are mixed opinions across the armed forces as there are across Scottish society," she said.

With four days to go before the referendum, the latest opinion polls show the Yes and No campaigns are still neck and neck.

A Panelebase poll in the Sunday Times has the No vote at 51% and the Yes vote at 49%, while the Observer has 53% saying No and 47% Yes, excluding those who are undecided.

In contrast, an ICM poll for the Sunday Telegraph suggests 54% plan to vote Yes, with 46% saying they will vote No.

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Devo-Manc? Northern Cities Eye Greater Powers

By Faisal Islam, Political Editor

In the North, the UK is stirring. The locals are fed up with Westminster control. The cry is for more powers, more freedom, more independence.

The place? Manchester, rather or perhaps as well as Scotland ... and this week's historic decisions will reverberate here too.

Even if there's a no vote, the "Reunited Kingdom" will never be the same. Powers will flow from Westminster to Scotland and other nations and regions want the same too.

It's not just Wales and Northern Ireland, but city regions like Manchester. So Forget Devo-Max. What about Devo-Manc?

In what was derelict east Manchester: an example of what can be done already - new housing, schools, and sports facilities, building on some government spending, but now investment from the wealthiest Middle Eastern oil funds.

They get to add their name, their brand, to council-owned stadiums and tram stops. But the Devo-Manc report by Respublica, published on Monday, says the prize is much bigger.

Sir Richard Leese

The offer to Westminster and the rest of the country from the city's leaders is stark: Let us, eventually, pay our own way instead of spending nearly £5bn in taxes raised elsewhere.

Just free us to make our own spending decisions and boost our economy.

The report details a myriad of funding agencies and streams, thousands of permutations for public money to be spent in this conurbation of 2.7 million people.

The theory is that at a local level, the money could be much better deployed in innovative, integrated public services. Better spending, not more spending. For example, helping long-term disabled jobless, with a combination of work support programmes and the local health service.

Sir Richard Leese, the Labour council leader, told me: "Cities like Manchester and Glasgow and Edinburgh are suffering from excessive centralisation.

"In our case from Westminster, in their's from Holyrood. It's not a good use of money and it is not achieving the growth we are capable, and it is not rebalancing the economy.

"The Scottish referendum is about your choice of jailer. Our cities, and even more remote areas need to be set free from the shackles.

"The size of our economy is bigger than some nations. It's completely unacceptable that we should have less powers than Wales."

I put it to him that there is no way that the rest of the UK could contemplate handing over the purse strings for £22bn of public spending in Manchester, when the area only raises £17bn in taxes. A deficit partly filled by fiscal transfers from the south of England.

"We don't want people in London and the South East to continue paying taxes that come to Greater Manchester," Sir Richard said.

"We want to eliminate that position. We cant do it overnight, it will take time. But I'm convinced that the only way we are going to do that is by us having far greater control of public sector spend in Greater Manchester.

"To the people of London and the South East: If you want to stop paying taxes to help us, give us the freedom to do something about it."

A look at the fascinating Treasury tables that compare public spending in different regions and nations of the UK is rather revealing.

Scotland and Wales already have freedoms over their spending priorities.

In the northwest of England £140 per head is spent on housing, less than half of that in Scotland (at £307), and much less than Wales (£224).

Likewise the same pattern with transport: the North West at £265 per head, Wales at £365 per head and Scotland at £539 per head, some of which is of course to be expected given Scotland's geography. 

But what about spend on enterprise and economic development: it is an even starker difference. £59 spent per North Westerner, a third of the level in Scotland at £185, and half of that in Wales at £120.

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Mergers Watchdog Paves Way For 'Cable Fines'

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The City's merger watchdog will on Monday pave the way for a crackdown on companies which break pledges on jobs and investment made during major corporate takeover deals.

Sky News has learnt that the Takeover Panel is to publish a consultation paper setting out for the first time the prospect of imposing substantial penalties on foreign bidders amid a debate about Britain's approach to protecting strategically important companies.

Monday's paper will not include specific details of the scope of potential fines, insiders said, with final rules unlikely to emerge until next year.

However, its publication is likely to be welcomed by Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, who has been pushing for tougher sanctions against companies which renege on commitments made when acquiring UK-based businesses.

The issue sprang to prominence under the last Labour government, when Kraft Foods of the US broke a pledge to retain a Cadbury manufacturing facility in the UK.

Pfizer's attempts to buy AstraZeneca brought the issue into the spotlight

It re-emerged earlier this year when Pfizer, the US drug-maker, made a string of proposals to buy AstraZeneca, its UK-based rival.

AstraZeneca has been free to invite Pfizer to enter fresh talks since the end of August, although it will not be until late November that the overseas company can make another unsolicited approach under City rules.

Under the existing regime, the Takeover Panel, which is an independent body, can force bidders for UK companies in any sector to make or clarify public statements about their intentions.

However, it is not deemed by ministers to have sufficiently robust powers to hold companies to commitments on issues such as jobs and research and development.

Speaking before a House of Lords select committee earlier this year, Mr Cable said he was not interested in introducing rules purely designed to protect the Union flag, pointing out that Britain's biggest manufacturer is Tata, the Indian conglomerate which owns Jaguar Land Rover.

Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna wants more details to be provided

"A crude nationality test has no merit," he said.

A flurry of deals this year has seen US companies take over foreign rivals in order to move their headquarters overseas for tax reasons.

In a Commons exchange with his Labour counterpart Chuka Umunna last week, Mr Cable said that many of the concerns about so-called tax inversions were "wholly unfounded", but added that "takeovers, although they are generally beneficial to the UK economy, should not be driven by artificial short-term tax considerations".

Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, Mr Umunna said: "Vince Cable is right and we support moves to ensure bidders for British companies keep to the promises they make in advance of takeovers proceeding, but I am not yet clear how exactly the Business Secretary proposes to do this beyond what is already provided for in the Code.

"The Business Department needs to provide further details so that these matters can be properly debated, not least in Parliament."

The Takeover Panel declined to comment.

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Queen Breaks Her Silence On Scotland's Future

The Queen has broken her silence on the Scottish referendum in a conversation with a well-wisher, Sky News understands.

She reportedly told a member of the public as she left church in Scotland: "I hope people will think very carefully about the future."

Last week the Queen insisted she did not wish to influence the independence vote, saying the issue was "a matter for the people of Scotland".

Supporters of the No campaign had called on her to intervene, following reports she was growing increasingly concerned over the prospect of a split.

But Buckingham Palace insisted she had not expressed any preference ahead of Thursday's vote.

Voters will go to the polls on September 18

"The sovereign's constitutional impartiality is an established principle of our democracy and one which the Queen has demonstrated throughout her reign," a spokesperson said.

"As such the monarch is above politics and those in political office have a duty to ensure that this remains the case.

"Any suggestion that the Queen would wish to influence the outcome of the current referendum campaign is categorically wrong.

"Her Majesty is firmly of the view that this is a matter for the people of Scotland. "

Earlier, a former head of the British Army said an independent Scotland would struggle to build a "meaningful defence capability".

Lord Dannat speaking to Sky News

Lord Dannatt, who was chief of the general staff between 2006 and 2009, told Sky's Dermot Murnaghan: "We are much better together.

"I really worry that Scotland will struggle to have any meaningful defence capability. Armies, Navies and Air Forces... you can't grow them overnight."

With just days to go before the referendum, the latest opinion polls show the Yes and No campaigns are still neck and neck.

A Panelebase poll in the Sunday Times has the No vote at 51% and the Yes vote at 49%, while the Observer has 53% saying No and 47% Yes, excluding those who are undecided.

In contrast, an ICM poll for the Sunday Telegraph suggests 54% plan to vote Yes, with 46% saying they will vote No.

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Brother: David 'Helped Whoever Needed Help'

David Haines' brother has paid tribute to the aid worker, describing him as "just another bloke" who "helped whoever needed help".

Mike Haines released a statement through the Foreign Office in which he describes his brother's life and work and also says how much he will be "terribly" missed.

The statement says: "My name is Mike Haines, I am brother to David Haines, who was recently murdered in cold blood.

"David was like so very many of us, just another bloke.

"Born in 1970 to parents who loved us both, our childhood was centred around our family.

"Holidays in caravans and tents, days away as a family which we remember fondly. David and I were brought up to know right from wrong, although we might not with the innocence of youth have always chosen right.

"David was a good brother, there when I needed him and absent when I didn't. I hope that he felt the same way about me.

"He was, in the right mood, the life and soul of the party and on other times the most stubborn irritating pain in the ass. He would probably say the same about me.

Mr Haines served with the UN in the Balkans

"After leaving school he worked with the Royal Mail before joining the RAF as an aircraft engineer.

"He married his childhood sweetheart Louise and in the due process of time had a wee lass Bethany. He was - and no doubt wherever he is - exceptionally proud of Bethany.

"David served with the UN in the Balkans, helping people in real need. There are many accolades from people in that region that David helped. He helped whoever needed help, regardless of race, creed or religion.

"During this time David began to decide that humanitarian work was the field he wanted to work in.

"David left the RAF and was employed by Scotrail. As with every job, David entered into it with enthusiasm. David met and married his second wife Dragana and they have a four-year-old daughter Athea.

"David was most alive and enthusiastic in his humanitarian roles. His joy and anticipation for the work he went to do in Syria is for myself and family the most important element of this whole sad affair.

"He was and is loved by all his family and will be missed terribly."

The statement ended with the Foreign Office saying that the family have asked for privacy.

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