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Cooper quashes ID card plan
Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has slapped down her close colleague Stephen Kinnock after he said the party would consider bringing in ID cards to help control immigration. Mr Kinnock, who is the shadow minister for immigration, said identity cards should “certainly be on the table” as one solution to control the problems of small-boat crossings and migrants working illegally in the UK.
Despite huge controversy over the issue during the New Labour era, Mr Kinnock told Times Radio: “That is certainly something that Labour is reviewing and will be looking at very carefully.” He said that ID cards would be “so helpful” in reassuring the public that the government had control of its borders. “Just about every member state of the European Union has a proper registration and ID card system.”
However, Ms Cooper said gave a firm “no” when asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if ID cards were something Labour was considering.
EastEnders actor Treacher dies aged 92
Bill Treacher, who played Arthur Fowler in EastEnders, has died at the age of 92. The news was announced yesterday by his family, who said that he had died on Saturday 5 November after suffering from ill health.
Treacher made his debut on EastEnders in its very first episode in February 1985. He was one of the first actors to be cast in the soap and stayed in the role until his character’s death in 1996. In a statement, the actor’s family said that his health had been declining for “some time”.
“Bill was a brilliant actor and a wonderful husband and father, plus a very fine human being. He will be hugely missed,” the message read. They added that he “was much loved by his wife, Kate, his son, Jamie, and his daughter, Sophie”.
‘No evidence’ Archie took part in online challenge
A coroner said he has seen no evidence that Archie Battersbee was taking part in an online blackout challenge, as an inquest heard that police have found messages on the 12-year-old’s phone reflecting “very low mood”. Archie’s life support was withdrawn on 6 August after his parents Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee failed in bids to overturn a High Court ruling that doctors could lawfully do so.
Judges were told that Ms Dance had found Archie unconscious with a ligature over his head at home in Southend in Essex on 7 April. Ms Dance thinks her son may have been taking part in an online challenge before he was found unconscious. But Essex’s senior coroner Lincoln Brookes, presiding over a pre-inquest review hearing in Chelmsford yesterday, said there was “no evidence at this stage to substantiate the concern”. PA
Food prices to rise further as farmers face ‘hammering’
Britain’s food production faces a “hammering” with the worst conditions for farmers “in living memory” likely to push up prices even more over the next year, farming chiefs have told MPs.
Soaring prices of animal feed and nitrogen fertiliser, as well as a shortage of labour linked to Brexit, are combining to drive up costs – which have jumped by around 30 per cent in a year. The situation means that food prices in supermarkets, which are already up 15 per cent on last year, are now expected to continue to rise.
Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers’ Union, told the House of Commons environment and food committee that huge rises in input costs were “driving massive problems” across all types of farms. “It’s an extraordinary situation and I think whoever you speak to, certainly whoever I speak to, says that they have never witnessed anything like this at any time in living memory,” she said.
Carry On and Harry Potter star Phillips dies aged 98
Harry Potter star Leslie Phillips has died aged 98. The actor – best known for lending his voice to the Sorting Hat in the JK Rowling franchise – died on Monday.
Phillips had been struggling with illness for some time and had previously survived two strokes. After suffering a lifethreatening stroke in 2015, he had spent the past few years recovering at home.
In a statement, his wife Zara Carr, 63, remembered her husband as a “national treasure”. “I’ve lost a wonderful husband and the public has lost a truly great showman,” she said. “He was quite simply a national treasure. People loved him. He was mobbed everywhere he went.”
Fans will also recognise the actor, whose career spanned 75 years, from his roles in the bawdy Carry On film series, where he established his trademark phrases “ding dong” and “he-llo”.
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