| Conservative conference: Philip Hammond unveils high-speed rail plans Transport secretary says the government will consult on building a network incorporating high-speed corridors from the west Midlands to both Manchester and LeedsPhilip Hammond, the transport secretary, vowed today to make high-speed rail the "mode of choice" for the travelling public as he unveiled plans to take fast trains north of Birmingham to Leeds and Manchester.Hammond outlined the strategic project as demonstrators opposed to the building of the high-speed rail link from London to Birmingham prepared to stage a protest close to the conference centre in Birmingham where the party conference is being held.The Guardian reported today that an extra £800m is to be pumped into Britain's new high-speed rail network as Tory MPs threaten to rebel against plans to drive the line through the picturesque Chilterns.In contrast to Margaret Thatcher, who insisted the Channel Tunnel had to be built with private capital, the Tories are expected to declare that the state will bear the burden of funding the network.Hammond told delegates at the Tory conference in Birmingham that the government had set its sights further north than Birmingham, and would consult early next year on building a Y-shaped network incorporating separate corridors from the west Midlands to connect high-speed rail to both Manchester and Leeds.North of Birmingham, there would be one corridor direct to Manchester, which would then connect to the west coast mainline, and the other would go via the east Midlands and south Yorkshire – with stations in both areas – before connecting to the east coast mainline north of Leeds.Hammond told delegates the government had eschewed an alternative network across the Pennines because the Y route would provide fast journey times to Leeds and north-eastern England and serve additional areas in the east Midlands and south Yorkshire.The scheme, he said, was a strategic project "that will make rail the mode of choice for most inter-city journeys within the UK, and for many beyond".He said the chancellor's undertaking that he would support growth boosted the government's commitment to a high-speed rail network that would change the social and economic geography of Britain."Connecting our great population centres and our international gateways, transforming the way Britain works as profoundly as the coming of the original railways did in the mid-19th century."He also tackled rail fares, claiming that Britain has one of the most expensive railways in the developed world."This is unfair on passengers, and unaffordable for the taxpayer, and with public subsidy running at £5.5bn a year, this has to change," he said.He said Network Rail, train operators, the regulator and unions, as well the government, needed to change the way they worked together to drive out costs and drive up inefficiency while maintaining an "enviable" safety record.Turning on tube unions, engaged today on a 24-hour strike in protest over job cuts and safety fears, Hammond sent a message to London Underground workers who thought themselves exempt from change: "Let me tell them straight: they are not. All our railways have to modernise."He threw down the gauntlet to Ed Miliband, the new Labour party leader, to "come clean" on his position on the "hugely disruptive and pointless strikes"."Just as Ed Miliband has failed to spell out how he would tackle our huge budget deficit, he is also failing to come clean on what he thinks about these hugely disruptive and pointless tube strikes."Now he must answer two questions: does he condemn these pointless strikes that are causing disruption to Londoners, and will he encourage underground workers to cross picket lines and keep our capital city moving?"Hammond also signalled a two-year suspension of the M4 bus lane – a 3.5 mile stretch of road that starts just after Heathrow airport and runs to the Chiswick flyover on the London-bound section of the motorway.Hammond told delegates that nothing was more symbolic of Labour's indiscriminate war on motorists.He said he would "spoil" the retirement of Lord Prescott, the former deputy prime minister who initiated the scheme, by announcing that the bus lane would be suspended from Christmas Eve this year until the Olympics in the summer of 2012."Once the Olympics are over, my intention is to scrap it permanently: shortening average journey times, reducing congestion, restoring a sense of fairness, consigning to the dustbin of history this hated symbol of the Prescott era," Hammond said.ConservativesConservative conferenceTransport policyTransportRail transportHélène Mulhollandguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
School place case is 'thrown out' The High Court in Belfast throws out an attempt to force a grammar school to give a place to a child it refused. bbc.co.uk |
X Factor: Gamu Nhengu's faces fight for aslyum in Britain Gamu Nhengu, the X-factor contestant who is fighting deportation from Britain, has been accused of making trips back to her family's homeland of Zimbabwe to visit relatives. telegraph.co.uk |
Witness video shows 'deportee in apparent distress' on flight to Kenya Passenger's video captured deportee screaming while being restrained by G4S guards on flight to Nairobi last yearFootage that shows security guards restraining a deportee on a flight to Kenya has been obtained by the Guardian.The video, in which the deportee is heard shouting in apparent distress, was recorded by a passenger on a Kenya Airways flight from Heathrow last year.The identity of the deportee in the footage is not known. However the video provides an insight into the commotion caused when foreign nationals are forcibly removed on commercial flights.The passenger who shot the footage said he wanted it released in light of the death last week of the Angolan refugee Jimmy Mubenga.Detectives investigating Mubenga's death have arrested three guards working for the private firm G4S. They were escorting the 46-year-old on a British Airways flight to Angola on Tuesday night when he collapsed.The guards shown escorting the deportee on the Kenya Airways flight 101 on 12 October last year also worked for G4S.In the video, the guards appear to have surrounded a deportee and are holding him in his seat. One official appears to be holding the man's head from behind. The guards repeatedly tell the man to sit down. He can be heard screaming.G4S subsequently told the Home Office that the deportee, who was en route to Cameroon, via Nairobi, had become violent and non-compliant. A previous attempt at removing the man had failed due to his disruptive and violent behaviour, the firm told the Home Office.The footage was shot on an iPhone by a 31-year-old documentary-maker who asked to be identified only as Stephen. He said passsengers complained about the treatment of the man, and they were told he was being deported and would quieten down once the aircraft was in the air.He added that the screaming continued for around 20 minutes and the guards tried to prevent him from filming the incident."There were seven or eight guys in suits at the back of the plane all standing up around the last couple of rows. They were crowded around me and the back of my seat and it seemed a bit odd," he said."I sat down and one of them leant over and said: 'There is a guy in the toilet at the moment and he is going to come out in a minute and he might cause a bit of a fuss but don't panic, it is fine, it will be under control.'"As he did that this guy came out of the toilet and they basically just grabbed him and he started yelling and they basically dragged him to his seat, so the video picks up as they get him into the seat."The suspected deportee was seated in the middle section of seating at the back of the plane, Stephen said. "They were really rough with him and it sounded like he was in a huge amount of pain. People started to kick up a fuss about it and ask who he was. People thought he might be a terrorist and were asking, 'Why are you deporting this guy?'"We moved to the front of the plane because it was really quite distressing and then moved back again. They said they were deporting him and were trying to restrain him. They were saying, 'He is trying to get off the flight by kicking up as much fuss as possible and once we get off he will be all right', but people were getting more and more nervous. One guy stood up and he was demanding to know who this guy was and why there were eight of them. It just seemed a bit of an overkill to be honest."David Wood, the UK Border Agency's director of criminality and detention, said: "We take any allegation of mistreatment by our contractors extremely seriously. We will look at this footage carefully when we receive it."According to the contractor's records, the detainee had become violent and non-compliant before the flight took off and trained escorts took the decision to use restraint in line with our agreed procedures. A previous attempted removal had already failed due to his disruptive and violent behaviour."He was accompanied on the flight by medics who examined him during the flight and found no injuries as a result of the restraint. No complaint was ever received from him, his legal representatives, from the airline or any passenger on the flight following this removal more than a year ago."G4S also confirmed its personnel were involved in the deportation. "We cannot comment on the footage referred to by the Guardian as, although we have asked to see it, we have not been given any opportunity to review it," the firm said."It is important to note that until today neither G4S nor the UKBA had received any complaints about this particular removal from anyone travelling on the flight. However, if once we have had a chance to review the footage we or the UKBA believes there is grounds to investigate then we will obviously do so, in line with our normal procedures."The passenger who shot the footage said he was unsure whether the treatment was "over the top"."It is not my judgment, but at the time I found it quite distressing because when you get on a plane that is not what you want to see," he said."Some people were demanding he be taken off the flight. I think people were suspicious of who he was and why there were so many people to deport him."He added: "The guards were pretty good to the people on the plane, to be honest, but I thought it was very aggressive towards the guy. I was told not to film by one of the guards. He told me to put my camera away."Contact paul.lewis@guardian.co.ukImmigration and asylumJimmy MubengaKenyaMatthew TaylorPaul LewisOwen Bowcottguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Navy cuts would lead to Argentina taking Falklands 'without shot fired' Argentina could retake the Falkland Islands with "barely a shot fired" because defence cuts will cripple the Royal Navy, the head of the 1982 task force has warned. telegraph.co.uk |