Labour in fresh attack on police cuts

THERESA MAY acknowledged the “winter pressures” experienced by one of the country’s leading hospitals as she visited to announce millions of pounds of new funding for cancer research.

Speaking on a visit to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, Theresa May said the Government was spending £75m to research a means of diagnosing prostate cancer earlier.

It is hoped that 40,000 men will be recruited to new research projects with the extra money.

“I think it’s very important that we put this focus on prostate cancer,” Ms May said. “One in eight men in the UK will be affected by prostate cancer and this money that we’re putting in, the £75m, will be funding research.

“Forty thousand men across the UK will be taking part in that research and what we want to find is a means of earlier diagnosis.

“I think this is very important as, of course, the earlier you diagnose then the better the treatment can be and the better the prognosis.”

Officials said the new studies will particularly target men who are at higher risk of the disease including black men, men over 50 and those with a family history of the disease.

During the visit Ms May was shown the hospital’s radiography department and met staff.

She acknowledged the “winter pressures” the hospital has experienced, and thanked staff for their efforts.

She added: “We prepared better than any previous winter, we put extra money into the NHS over that period of time but now I want to look at a long-term plan for the NHS with multi-year funding so that we can ensure that we are giving the best, most effective treatment to patients.”

More than seven out of 10 appeals made against planning decisions by the council last year were thrown out by inspectors, it has emerged.

Over the year starting in April last year, 26 people appealed against decisions made by Barnsley Council’s own officers or those made by councillors who sit on the authority’s planning board. From those, 71 per cent were rejected, meaning the original decision stood.

Mobile antiterror barriers which sound an alert in a major incident are poised to be introduced during festivals and events.

Officials at Edinburgh City Council plan to invest in new “hostile mitigation barriers” at key locations around the city. Described as “fully flexible gates”, the barriers are being tested by the local authority and improvements suggested before their introduction. MOST BUSINESS leaders believe that being able to speak Mandarin will give students an advantage in their future careers, according to a poll.

It suggests that many believe a knowledge of the language will be important for British businesses and the economy in the future, but the majority are currently finding it difficult to recruit UK workers who are fluent in it.

The British Council said that everyone who learns some Mandarin “builds another link” between the UK and China.

Overall, the survey, commissioned by the Mandarin Excellence Programme, found that more than three in four of the business leaders polled said that speaking Mandarin to near fluency will give students advantages in their future careers.

Separately, Professor Sir Keith Burnett, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield, is visiting China this week with scholars from the University’s Faculty of Science. AN EXTRA half a million crimes went unsolved over three years, according to Labour analysis of Home Office data.

In the Yorkshire and Humber region the number of investigations closed by the police without any suspect being identified between 2014/15 and 2016/17 increased by more than 70,000, while across England the number rose by more than 510,000.

The analysis also shows that almost half of all crimes now go unsolved, with the detection rate falling from 58% in 2014/2015 to 53 per cent in 2016/2017, nationwide. In Yorkshire, the detection rate in 2016/17 was 54 per cent, up from 49 per cent the previous year but down from 57 per cent in 2014/15.

Labour’s shadow Police Minister and Sheffield Heeley MP Louise Haigh said: “The Tories claim the police have the resources they need, but these figures would suggest otherwise.

“You can’t do security on the cheap.

“By failing to properly invest in policing, this Conservative Government is threatening community safety and letting down the victims of crime.”

The Labour research comes amid a row over police cuts and rising violent crime, which intensified after leaked Home Office research said reductions in officer numbers “likely contributed” to a rise in serious violent crime.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd faced criticism on Monday after publishing a violent crime strategy which did not once refer to police numbers. The Home Office said it was unable to comment in time for publication.