Tim Farron Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Housing, Communities and Local Government) 6:29 pm, 6th January 2021
The proposed restrictions are right. There is no greater freedom than the right to life and we are willing to suspend many freedoms to protect especially those who are vulnerable, and those who work night and day in the NHS and our care settings to protect us. They deserve and require us to abide by the regulations and rules—we owe it to them—not least because we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Given that the vaccination programme is beginning, it is all the more urgent that the Government recognise the importance of supporting the economy and everybody within it throughout the coming months. We know that it is not an ill-defined and possibly indefinite period, but that this will be over at some point in the coming months.
That is a source of great joy and should focus the Chancellor’s mind on the support that he needs to give those who are missing out.
There are many of them: people who have been self-employed for less than two years; directors of very small limited companies, such as taxi drivers; people who have been on maternity leave. They have been excluded from support. It is an outrage that those people have been left to get into deeper and deeper debt because the Government have yet to devise a mechanism for supporting them. They must do so now. We need those people to build our economy back once we are out of this situation. To let them flounder in poverty now is outrageous and unacceptable.
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LEEDS
An armed police car has crashed following reports of a shooting in Leeds.
Police were called to reports of the shooting in Thorpe Road, in the Middleton area of the city, this evening.
Neighbours said a man was shot at around 8pm. He was quickly rushed to hospital in an ambulance and a police scene was set up.
One Thorpe Road resident said crime scene investigators cordoned off the road and looked to be, "trying to find the gun with torches."
Meanwhile, an armed police car was in a collision with a taxi on Leeds ring road.
The dark coloured unmarked BMW X5 crashed into the taxi at the junction with Bodmin Road in Middleton, around one mile from the scene of the shooting. A police scene is in place.
https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds-news/armed-police-car-crashes-leeds-19599922
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GLASGOW
A private hire taxi driver who was caught with almost £300,000 of cocaine hidden in his car was yesterday jailed for three years.
Gordon Mitchell, 37, was snared near Gorbals Leisure Centre in Glasgow on December 2, 2019.
Police had spotted him doing three-point turns in his Volkswagen Passat and stopped him.
The High Court in Glasgow heard that Mitchell was couriering the drug in order to pay off part of a gambling debt.
Prosecutor Lindsey Dalziel said the car was searched and two mobile phones were found – one which appeared encrypted.
Miss Dalziel added: “A trained dog handler was contacted. The dog then gave a strong indication at the centre console of the car.”
The compartment was opened and a plastic bag was found inside which contained a taped package of 996g of cocaine with a purity of 73 per cent.
Officers searched Mitchell’s home in the city’s Shettleston and found £1020 in cash as well as three more mobile phones.
The court was told the cocaine had a potential value of £290,906.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scots-cab-driver-gambling-debt-23300976
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Northern Ireland
Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon has pledged an additional £1,500 payment each for taxi drivers as result of Covid-19 linked restrictions.
Ms Mallon revealed details of the plan during a meeting with cab drivers yesterday.
Those involved with the industry say they have been put financial under-pressure as a result of Covid-19 restrictions.
There had been criticism of criteria for a £1,500 one-off payment announced in November, which required those applying to have an unbroken insurance record from March until September.
Some had cancelled their policies in a bid to save cash.
Last week Ms Mallon said she would seek further powers to for a second financial assistance scheme for drivers.
Taxi drivers say that during a meeting yesterday the minister confirmed that an additional payment of £1,500 will now be made to cover the period from September 2020 to March 2021.
Taxi driver Pat Meighan, said: “The Minister has acknowledged the plight of the taxi industry in confirming that she now proposes on bringing forward a second scheme."
Solicitor Darragh Mackin, of Phoenix Law, represents NI Taxi Drivers and made representations to the minister during yesterday's meeting.
“Today's development comes as a massive relief to the entire taxi industry who have collectively come under financial hardship due to the ongoing covid pandemic," he said.
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