The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Amber Rudd

  • ‘Company executives who mismanage employees’ pensions should be jailed’

    Company bosses, who mismanage their employees’ pensions could be jailed for up to seven years, Britain’s Work and Pensions’ Secretary, Amber Rudd, has said.

    She said displaying reckless behaviour towards pensions’ scheme will be seen as a criminal offence, adding that alongside a custodial sentence, authorities would have the ability to issue unlimited fines.

    She said: “To curb these freelancers playing fast and loose with your cash, I am going to make ‘wilful or reckless behaviour’ relating to a pension scheme a criminal offence, with jail terms of up to seven years for the worst offenders.

    “We will also give the courts powers to levy unlimited fines. So, if you run your company pension into the ground, saddling it with massive, unsustainable debts, we are coming for you.”

    Ms Rudd issued the stark warning following the BHS pensions scandal.

    A year after it was sold by Sir Philip Green for £1 in 2015, the retailer collapsed into administration, leaving a £571m pension deficit.

    Sir Philip later agreed to pay £363m towards it to end action against him by the Pensions Regulator.

    Treasury Chief Secretary, Liz Truss, backed Ms Rudd’s proposals, saying it was wrong Sir Philip could “play merry hell” with pensions.

    “It’s about saying that’s not acceptable, it’s not acceptable to play merry hell with the contributions workers have made over a period of time and essentially run off without making good the pensions you promised to those people in the future, and so we’ll take further sanctions,” she told Sky’s Ridge On Sunday.

    –Sunday Telegraph

  • British home secretary Rudd resigns

    Amber Rudd has resigned as Home Secretary, saying she “inadvertently misled” Members of Parliament (MPs) over targets for removing illegal immigrants.

    The Windrush scandal had heaped pressure on Ms Rudd, who faced criticism over whether she knew about Home Office removals targets, the BBC reports.

    Her successor is expected to be announced within hours by Prime Minister Theresa May, who was “very sorry” to see Ms Rudd go.

    Shadow Home Secretary, Diane Abbott, said Ms Rudd had “done the right thing.”

    Ms Abbott added that the “architect of this crisis” – the prime minister – must come before the Commons to explain “whether she knew that Amber Rudd was misleading Parliament and the public last week.”

    On Sunday, the Guardian published the full letter it had reported on a week earlier, in which Ms Rudd set out her “ambitious but deliverable” aim to deport 10 per cent more illegal immigrants over the “next few years” to Mrs. May.

    Ms Rudd, who had been due to make a Commons statement, telephoned the prime minister on Sunday evening to tell her of the decision amid intensifying opposition demands for her to quit.

    In her resignation letter, Ms Rudd said she takes “full responsibility” for the fact she was not aware of “information provided to (her) office which makes mention of targets.”

    In response, Mrs. May said she believed Ms Rudd had given her evidence to the Commons “in good faith” but that she understood her decision to resign and take “responsibility for inadvertently misleading the home affairs select committee”.

     

  • British police arrest six on neo-Nazi terrorism charges

    British police arrest six on neo-Nazi terrorism charges

    British police have arrested six people on suspicion of neo-Nazi “terrorism offences.”

    “The five men and one woman, aged between 21 and 37, were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism.

    “Namely on suspicion of being a member of a proscribed organisation (National Action),’’ West Midlands police said in a statement.

    The suspects are from various cities, including Cambridge, Leicester and Wolverhampton and from the town of Banbury near Oxford.

    “A number of properties are being searched in connection with the arrests,’’ the statement said.

    It added that the arrests were pre-planned and intelligence-led; there was no threat to the public’s safety.

    National Action was initially banned by the British government in 2016.

    “National Action is a vile racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic group which glorifies violence.

    “It stirs up hatred while promoting their poisonous ideology,’’ Home Secretary Amber Rudd said in September when banning two aliases under which the group continued to operate.

  • Britain dismisses report of worsening relations between May, Hammond

    Britain’s Defence Minister on Thursday dismissed a Times newspaper report suggesting that relations between Prime Minister Theresa May and her finance minister, Philip Hammond, had deteriorated.

    The Times newspaper said relations between the teams of the two most senior members of government had deteriorated following a series of disagreements over policy and presentation ahead of a June 8 election.

    Fallon was however asked about the front page report and he said he would have thought John you would be the last person to fall for such tittle-tattle.

    “Philip Hammond, (interior minister) Amber Rudd, Theresa May, (foreign minister) Boris Johnson and I in the cabinet are working together,’’ he said.