Key events
Piddington, small Oxfordshire village, votes for independence in symbolic referendum in protest over migrant camp
An Oxfordshire village which could house more than 1,000 asylum seekers has voted overwhelmingly to become an independent state in a symbolic “referendum”, the Press Association reports. PA says:
The people of Piddington have voted to secede from the UK after the government announced plans to house 1,256 male asylum seekers at a nearby former military base.
Some 285 villagers backed “independence”, with a turnout of nearly 92%.
Only 26 residents voted against the motion, with one spoiled ballot recorded.
The result was announced by a returning officer to an audience of dozens of journalists and residents gathered outside the village hall this morning.
UK inflation rises to 3.1% as motor fuel prices jump by almost a quarter
UK inflation has returned above 3% as soaring fuel and transport prices triggered by the Iran war heap renewed pressure on British households, Richard Partington reports.
Lisa Nandy brands Musk’s X a ‘disgrace’ as she pledges crackdown on social media doxxing
Good morning. We will be hearing from Andy Burnham today because he is back at work having taken time off following the death of his father. And already we have heard from Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, who has been doing a media round.
She has condemned Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, describing it as an “absolute disgrace”.
Nandy was talking about what social media companies are doing to stop people using their platforms to post intimidatory messages online, in particular posting private information like an address that might put someone at risk (doxxing). Yesterday Nandy hosted a meeting with social media companies about this, partly prompted by the abuse RNLI volunteers have been getting online by anti-migrant vigilantes who hate the lifeboat service for the role it plays protecting people on small boats at risk of drowning.
Speaking on Times Radio this morning, Nandy said:
I had the social media companies in to see me yesterday to talk to them about their responsibilities in this regard. All of the different social media companies have completely different terms of service, different standards that they apply to online hatred directed at individuals.
Some of them will automatically remove that content. Some of them, frankly, won’t.
X didn’t even bother to turn up yesterday, which I think is an absolute disgrace.
Nandy said she was determined to stop doxxing.
I have made a commitment to the RNLI and to, not just charities but public sector workers, police officers, and others who are being routinely harassed and abused online in the course of work, that we will tighten up the law. We will make sure that where, for example, people’s addresses are being published online, that we just do not allow that to happen, that those things will have to be either blocked or taken down immediately.
We cannot have a situation where not just charity volunteers, but shop workers and social workers and police officers are being routinely harassed online in the course of their work.
I will post more from her interviews shortly.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Andy Burnham is visiting a factory in the south-east of England.
Late morning: Burnham meets Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general, in Oxfordshire.
11.30am: Simon Case, the former cabinet secretary, gives evidence to the Lords constitutional committee on constitutional safeguards.
12.30pm: Alex Burghart, the Tory deputy leader, and Victoria Atkins, the shadow environment secretary, speak at Policy Exchange’s Britain and the EU: After the Reset event.
Also, during the day Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, is doing a round of interviews with regional media ahead of his party’s conference, which starts at the weekend.
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