Gordon Brown today defended a controversial decision by the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, over police pay, claiming it was “in the national interest” – despite police calls for her to quit.
The prime minister said a tight pay settlement was necessary to curb inflation, after police leaders last night voted to ballot officers on their right to strike.
– The Guardian
The head of the International Olympic Committee watchdog overseeing London’s preparations for the 2012 Games yesterday warned that security posed the biggest risk to the project’s GB pound 9.3bn budget.
New figures released by the Olympics Minister, Tessa Jowell, on Monday revealed that the bill for policing London and the United Kingdom during the Games had soared from GB pound 200m at the time of the 2005 bid to a total of GB pound 1.2bn.
– The Telegraph
More than 6,600 illegal immigrants were given licences to work in the security industry in the recent scandal, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith revealed today.
The Security Industry Authority (SIA) handed permits to a further 4,400 people who immigration officials now believe may not have the right to work in Britain, she told MPs.
It makes a total of 11,100 who should not have slipped through the net and won their SIA licences, A “significant proportion” may yet prove they are allowed to work here, the Home Secretary said.
– The Mail