The UK Prime Minister may have the regal touch in northern England, but he’s been wrong-footed on the constitutional challenges posed by the Celtic Alliance of first ministers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, argues KENNY MacASKILL
IN the last months of 2018 we saw two damning reports of outsourced asylum accommodation in Britain, and yet this week the government went ahead and gave billions of pounds worth of new contracts to outsourcers, including Serco which alone got an estimated £1.9 billion over a 10-year period.
These private companies have already failed to provide decent asylum accommodation, as they have failed in so many areas of social provision and campaigners have termed the award of these contracts as a slap in the face to those of who have suffered at their hands.
A report from Parliament’s cross-party home affairs select committee in December received widespread coverage and delivered a devastating critique of the system of housing for those who apply for refugee status and castigated Home Office failure to show “greater urgency” about improving conditions.
A look at Taylor Wimpey’s accounts shows why Labour’s market-led housing strategy won’t deliver more, cheaper homes, as promised, says SOLOMON HUGHES
Despite promises of a new era of insourcing, billions of pounds of public contracts continue to flow to private firms. Unions are now calling for urgent action to bring services back in-house, says EDDIE DEMPSEY
Long-term underfunding and state neglect, while simultaneously probation services have been undermined, have intensified the prison crises, argues SOLOMON HUGHES
With the agitated debate now raging in the media about the early release schemes, Prison Officers Association general secretary STEVE GILLAN gives the view of those who work in the sector


