LONDON: London’s mayor announced Wednesday he will take a 10 percent pay cut due to a budget crisis caused by the coronavirus outbreak, as he urged the government to help Britain’s stretched local authorities.
Sadiq Khan said the capital faces a budget shortfall of nearly $628 million over the next two years because of an “unprecedented” income loss from the crisis.
The Labour mayor warned he could make cuts to police, fire and transport services without additional funding from the government, which he accused of risking “a new era of austerity.”
“COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on London’s public finances,” he said in a statement, warning many local authorities across the country were in a similar position.
“I will do everything in my power to persuade ministers not to force another era of austerity on local and regional government.
“It’s only right that I should volunteer for an immediate pay cut in these extremely difficult circumstances.”
As well as taking a cut on his £152,734-a-year salary, Khan said he would freeze the wages of his 15 direct appointments given the £493-million budget shortfall forecast.
Like most local authorities, the directly elected London mayor — created in 2000 as part of local governance reforms — is funded through government grants and income from sources such as transport fares.
Funding for them from the British government has fallen dramatically over the last decade under the so-called austerity policies of the ruling Conservatives brought in after the 2008 global financial crash.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government says it has boosted their finances during the pandemic, but is facing its own mounting bill for various emergency virus response policies for workers.
Meanwhile, the government is facing unprecedented falls in revenues due to the nationwide lockdown introduced in late March and now being gradually eased.
Britain’s economy has crashed spectacularly, shrinking by one-fifth in size during April as unemployment has surged and it heads into recession.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development last week predicted the UK economy was on course to shrink by more than 11 percent in 2020 because of COVID-19.
Amid the grim economic picture, other regional and local leaders have echoed Khan’s call for extra funding to cope.
The devolved government in Scotland, which was given tax-raising powers when it was created in the late 1990s, warned this month of a possible “return to austerity.”
It wants increased borrowing powers, allowing it to take on debt, to fund its COVID-19 response.
London mayor Sadiq Khan takes pay cut over coronavirus funding cut fears
https://arab.news/raet5
London mayor Sadiq Khan takes pay cut over coronavirus funding cut fears
- ‘COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on London’s public finances’
- Britain’s economy has crashed spectacularly, shrinking by one-fifth in size during April
Trump administration labels 3 Muslim Brotherhood branches as terrorist organizations
- The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization
- “These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence,” Rubio said
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration has made good on its pledge to label three Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, imposing sanctions on them and their members in a decision that could have implications for US relationships with allies Qatar and Turkiye.
The Treasury and State departments announced the actions Tuesday against the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which they said pose a risk to the United States and American interests.
The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization, the most severe of the labels, which makes it a criminal offense to provide material support to the group. The Jordanian and Egyptian branches were listed by Treasury as specially designated global terrorists for providing support to Hamas.
“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”
Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were mandated last year under an executive order signed by Trump to determine the most appropriate way to impose sanctions on the groups, which US officials say engage in or support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm the United States and other regions.
Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said they renounce violence.
Trump’s executive order had singled out the chapters in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, noting that a wing of the Lebanese chapter had launched rockets on Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel that set off the war in Gaza. Leaders of the group in Jordan have provided support to Hamas, the order said.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 but was banned in that country in 2013. Jordan announced a sweeping ban on the Muslim Brotherhood in April.
Nathan Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said some allies of the US, including the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, would likely be pleased with the designation.
“For other governments where the brotherhood is tolerated, it would be a thorn in bilateral relations,” including in Qatar and Turkiye, he said.
Brown also said a designation on the chapters may have effects on visa and asylum claims for people entering not just the US but also Western European countries and Canada.
“I think this would give immigration officials a stronger basis for suspicion, and it might make courts less likely to question any kind of official action against Brotherhood members who are seeking to stay in this country, seeking political asylum,” he said.
Trump, a Republican, weighed whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in 2019 during his first term in office. Some prominent Trump supporters, including right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, have pushed his administration to take aggressive action against the group.
Two Republican-led state governments — Florida and Texas — designated the group as a terrorist organization this year.
