MPs blasted over foreign ‘freebies’
JET-SETTING MPs were criticised today for racking up “freebie” overseas visits worth £1.5 million in the last two years.
Foreign governments, pressure groups and private companies have funded a raft of excursions to exotic locations for backbenchers, according to The Independent.
It found a number of MPs had accepted trips abroad and later made supportive speeches about those countries in Parliament.
MOD makes £50m patrol vehicle order
THE Ministry of Defence will today announce a contract worth nearly £50 million to provide around 50 new light patrol vehicles for soldiers in Afghanistan.
Defence Minister Philip Dunne will confirm details of the new contract today during a visit to the British company that makes the vehicles.
The Foxhound, introduced to offer unprecedented levels of blast protection, replaced the Army’s Snatch Land Rover, which proved highly vulnerable to roadside bombs used by insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Student sentenced for raping girl
A STUDENT will be sentenced today for raping a girl after advertising online as a childminder.
Red Saunders, 23, was already on the sex offenders register but used another name to find jobs through the Gumtree site.
Saunders abused girls aged seven and eight in their homes after filming them, the Old Bailey heard.
Poor should take more risks: Freud
POOR people should be prepared to take more risks because they have the least to lose, according to the minister for welfare reform.
Lord Freud said the benefits system was “dreadful” and allowed lone parents and sickness claimants to “have a lifestyle” on the state.
The Tory peer, who is helping to push through a radical overhaul of the welfare state, insisted he understood the reality of living on benefits, arguing “you don’t have to be the corpse to go to a funeral”.
Boys in court on OAP murder charge
TWO boys will appear in court today charged with murdering a partially-sighted pensioner who died following a mugging in west London.
The teenagers, aged 14 and 15, from Southall, were arrested on Wednesday by the Metropolitan Police and will appear at Uxbridge Court.
The pair, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have also been charged with two counts of robbery related to a separate incident.
