Your commercial news round-up: begging, sewage, Jeremy Corbyn, pay disputes, landlords, terrorism

Reading time: five minutes 

Rishi Sunak is banning begging under new antisocial laws, raw sewage is flooding English waterways and Jeremy Corbyn is making headlines once more – but this time not as a Labour politician. More strikes are on the way, this time involving civil servants, schools and the Royal Mail. Plus, Landlords are being given new powers to evict tenants. This week has been packed with huge stories worthy of your attention, so read on for LawCareers.Net’s commercial news breakdown.  

• People begging on the streets of Britain will be targeted under Rishi Sunak’s plans to crack down on antisocial behaviour. Under the prime minister’s proposals, police will be given new powers to “tidy up” high streets by removing people causing the public “distress”. Those deemed to be causing a nuisance on the streets, by begging or obstructing shop doorways, will be directed to health and social services. When speaking of his plans to crack down on antisocial behaviour Sunak said it “undermines the basic right of people to feel safe in the place they call home”, vowing to “tackle this issue with the urgency it deserves”. The prime minister is expected to unveil the full details of his plans on Monday, but as of right now it’s suspected authorities will be given the “tools” to clear the streets by directing people to accommodation centres, or mental health or substance misuse services.  

• Shifting the focus from our streets to our waterways, the Environment Agency is set to publish figures revealing that raw sewage is, on average, dumped into English waterways more than 800 times a day. The figures indicate that in 2022 alone “raw sewage was dumped into rivers and coastal areas across England 300,953 times by private water companies”. The report, which is set to be published tomorrow (31 March), will reveal that between 2020-22 storm overflows have caused more than one million sewage spills from water companies into English rivers and seas. The Good Law Project has launched a legal challenge against the government to demand tougher targets to tackle water companies’ environmental vandalism. The government’s Storm Overflows Discharges Reduction Plan gives water companies until 2050 to take action to reduce sewage discharges resulting from storm overflows. The Good Law Project has described the government as failing “to protect the majority of our coastal waters”, adding that its plan “also fails to include hundreds of other storm overflows”. The non governmental organisation will be taking the case to the high court, and is joined by the Marine Conservation Society, Richard Howard’s Oysters, and surfer and activist Hugo Tagholm; together their aim is to “see tougher targets imposed upon water companies and a much more complete plan to clean up our waters”. 

• Next up, a name you might not have heard in our headlines for a while, Jeremy Corbyn is set to run against Labour in the next general election as an independent candidate. The former Labour Party leader announced he’s “not going anywhere” after Keir Starmer formally blocked him from running as a Labour candidate. Starmer is asking the party’s ruling body to ban Corbyn’s candidacy, believing it’ll “significantly diminish” Labour’s chance of success at the next election. Corbyn, who’s represented Islington North for 40 years, winning his seat on 10 consecutive occasions, now has a number of shadow cabinet ministers concerned that he’ll win again, costing Labour an important seat at the next general election. Corbyn’s ban is understood to be worded in a similar manner to a case at the high court in 2021, where an ex-Labour Liverpool councillor unsuccessfully sued the party for blocking her candidacy. In a statement by Corbyn published in The Times, he says: “I joined the Labour Party when I was 16 years old because, like millions of others, I believed in a redistribution of wealth and power. Today, Keir Starmer has broken his commitment to respect the rights of Labour members and denigrated the democratic foundations of our party.” He added: “I am proud to represent a community that supports vulnerable people, joins workers on the picket line and fights for transformative change.” 

• Picket lines remain a hot topic in our commercial news this week, as civil servants, Royal Mail workers and teachers all experience further disputes over pay. In April, more than 130,000 civil servants will go on strike to increase pressure on the government to resolve disputes on pay, pensions and job security. Public and Commercial Services Union  General Secretary Mark Serwotka told the BBC: "We know our strikes have already caused serious disruption. The new strikes and another national day of action will pile the pressure on a government that refuses to listen." Members of the union are asking for a 10% pay rise alongside better pensions, job security and no cuts to redundancy terms. They’re set to strike on 28 April. Teachers have also been told by the National Education Union (NEU) to reject a recent offer of a 4.3% pay rise plus £1,000 one-off payment calling the ministers pay offer “insulting”. The NEU pointed out that the government would only be offering to fund half a percentage point with the rest of the offered pay increase coming out of existing school budgets. Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, joint general secretaries of the NEU, said: “NEU analysis shows that between two in five (42%) and three in five (58%) of schools would have to make cuts to afford staff pay rises. Schools will continue to be stretched financially, and it is students who will suffer.” They added: “It is now crystal clear that we have an education secretary and a government that is ignoring the crisis in our schools and colleges.”  The Royal Mail is also in trouble as talks between union leaders and the company’s board near collapse with the board threatening to declare insolvency should the strikes continue. Royal Mail bosses have said the company is making operating losses of £350 to £400 million this year, with rumours of job losses becoming increasingly likely. If the business was to declare it’s insolvent and unable to pay its dues, it would need special permission from the government, which would then appoint an administrator to run the postal service.   

• From pay disputes to tenant disputes, landlords are being given the power to evict tenants within two weeks if they’re noisy or disruptive. This move comes under the prime minister’s plans to tackle antisocial behaviour and would target tenants who: 

• are disruptive; 
• are “persistently problematic” (eg, drunken behaviour or drug use); 
• cause damage to the apartment; or 
• fall behind on their rent.  

Homeowners who use Airbnb to rent out their properties will also be made to register on a new database to ensure councils have the tools to combat complaints about rowdy guests. All new private tenancy agreements will include a specific clause banning antisocial behaviour under Sunak’s new plans. The government will also make it easier for landlords to prove disruptive behaviour in court by clearly stating any behaviour considered a “nuisance” is an evictable offence. These cases will also be prioritised in court. All changes will all be listed within a Renters Reform Bill which is said to also include protection for tenants such as bans on landlords raising rent more than once a year.