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Byline Times is an independent, reader-funded investigative newspaper, outside of the system of the established press, reporting on ‘what the papers don’t say’ – without fear or favour.
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You’ll be forgiven if all you’ve seen of the news this past week has been the return of Donald Trump.
But there are plenty of important stories that have barely seen the light of day, but which deserve our attention too.
Here Byline Times takes you through a non-comprehensive round-up of news stories buried over the past week.
Don’t miss a story
Bolt Drivers Win Worker Status in £200m Legal Claim
Thousands of Bolt drivers have won their legal claim to be classed as workers, giving them rights that include paid holiday and to be paid at least the minimum wage.
Lawyers believe the compensation owed to their 15,000 clients could be worth more than £200 million, or roughly £15,000 per wronged driver.
In a judgment handed down last Friday (8 November), the Employment Tribunal ruled that the Bolt drivers represented by law firm Leigh Day are not, as Bolt claimed, self-employed contractors who run their own business.
Instead they are workers, and as such entitled to workers’ rights and protection under employment laws.
The ruling affects all of the 100,000-plus drivers who take on work through the Bolt private hire hailing app. They can argue they should be classed as workers with all the employment rights and protection the classification includes.
Those drivers who are part of the Leigh Day legal claim will also be entitled to backdated compensation for underpayment of the minimum wage and unpaid holiday pay. There is still time to join the legal claim and claim the right to compensation.
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Transport chiefs have rejected misleading claims of a massive hike in bus fares in England, amid confusion and spin
Another hearing is likely to take place early next year, when the Employment Tribunal will decide how much compensation for unpaid holiday pay and lost income each driver will receive.
Bolt drivers launched their own legal claim to be classed as workers following the 2021 Supreme Court ruling that Uber drivers are workers. Bolt drivers claimed that the ruling also applies to their working situation. Leigh Day also represented Uber drivers in their successful legal claim.
The Employment Tribunal’s ruling means that Bolt will need to provide paid holiday and ensure drivers are paid the minimum wage for any periods they work.
The tribunal will hold a further hearing to decide how much compensation the Bolt claimants are entitled to.
Glasgow Council to Trial Automatic Voter Registration
Citizens in Glasgow are set to be part of a pilot scheme to be automatically enrolled on the electoral register in the future, following discussions between SNP councillors and the Scottish Government.
With Automatic Voter Registration voters could be expected to opt-out rather than opt-in to being added to the electoral roll.
It would mean that most citizens would be able to show up to vote at polling booths without having to register in advance while being confident their details are correct.
Glasgow SNP Councillor Alex Kerr had written to Bob Doris MSP asking for his support for the SNP Glasgow Council Group’s proposal to consider Glasgow as a pilot area for Automatic Voter Registration, to remove as many barriers to voting for Glaswegians as possible.
Automatic Voter Registration was also supported by a Holyrood committee report and by the official Electoral Commission.
At Westminster, the Labour Party pledged to “improve voter registration” in its 2024 manifesto, with the Guardian reporting in June that this meant the party would introduce automatic voter registration in England. However, no plans have been brought forward as yet.
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Harrods Staff Brand Employer ‘Scrooge’ as They Plan Strike
Hundreds of workers across Harrods’ retail, restaurant, kitchen, and cleaning departments are to be balloted for strike action over the busy Christmas season, unless luxury London store Harrods “promptly” addresses their demands for “fair pay” and improved working conditions.
The Qatari owners of the famous luxury London store were handed £180 million in dividends in the year to February according to reports, while the Managing Director earned £2.1 million.
Meanwhile, workers in the United Voices of the World union (UVW) say they are angry as they say they face being stripped of benefits, and complain of “overwork due to staff shortages, and stagnant wages”.
The potential strikes come in response to grievances over staff shortages, and a call for a guarantee of “fair pay rises in line with RPI inflation”. Some staff also complain of the cover charge being scrapped in Harrods restaurants. “Many benefits, like a Christmas bonus and voluntary bank holiday work for cleaning staff have been whittled away,” a union spokesperson added.
The union has served Harrods with an official notice of intention to ballot, signalling a “strong possibility” of strikes during the retailer’s busiest season commencing on 19 December, and amid calls for Harrods’ management to officially recognise and negotiate with the union.
The union says it represents over 250 retail, cleaning and hospitality workers at Harrods.
In December 2021, Harrods restaurant workers won a nearly 25% pay rise, setting a new pay benchmark in the sector, according to UVW. Earlier this year, workers had to threaten to strike again to secure a pay review effective from April 2024 and during the summer migrant night cleaners had to be balloted to strike over new holiday policies which severely restricted their ability to travel back home to their families to countries such as India. The guidelines were revoked.
Harrods was sold by the late sexual predator Mohammed Al Fayed in 2010 to an investment arm of the Qatari state, and now faces the fall-out from a string of legal claims from its former owner’s victims.
Donald Trump’s Victory Shows UK Abortion Rights Are Not as Secure as You Think
Six women were charged in the UK for ending their own pregnancy after the US overturned abortion rights in 2022. Investigations have also exposed how US lobby groups are funding UK anti-abortion organisations
UK Media Merger Laws to be Overhauled
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has announced plans to allow regulators to step in if news websites or online media brands merge in a way that would undermine competition and media plurality.
The Labour minister plans to broaden the scope of the UK’s media mergers regime, “updating it for the digital age to reflect modern news consumption habits and better protect media freedom and plurality,” a Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson said.
The plans will allow for greater scrutiny in the public interest of deals to purchase UK online news publications and news magazines that might “adversely impact accurate reporting, freedom of expression and media plurality.” It would widen the scope of the regime beyond the existing powers to step in over TV, radio and print newspaper mergers.
Currently the rules on media mergers are 22 years old, as set out in the Tony Blair-era Enterprise Act 2002. It allows the Culture Secretary to intervene in mergers and acquisitions of broadcasters, UK daily and Sunday print newspapers, and local periodical newspapers, which “mainly” circulate in the UK.
But it makes no mention of online news sites, despite many outlets now being online-only.
“To reflect the way news is increasingly consumed online and the need to protect the freedom of the press as a cornerstone of democracy…the Culture Secretary has launched a consultation seeking views on expanding the scope of the media mergers regime to include online news publications and weekly or monthly print news publications,” the DCMS spokesperson added.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “Since the media mergers regime came into force more than twenty years ago, our laws haven’t kept pace with technology and evolving news consumption habits.
“As people increasingly get their news online, we need a regime that is future-proof. That’s why I’m proposing further reforms to protect the availability of accurate, high-quality news from a variety of sources, ensuring media freedom continues to be upheld.”
Mergers involving companies that own online news publications which are connected with the UK, for example online-only news providers.
In March, the online-only Independent took over Buzzfeed UK brands including HuffPost. That is currently out of scope for regulators, but would be open to challenge under a new media competition regime.
Public Demands Starmer Resurrects Leveson Press Corruption Inquiry Amid Collapse in Trust in UK Media
The mother of late TV presenter Caroline Flack calls for Starmer to “find the courage” to restart it as exclusive new YouGov polling finds public wants reform
Hacked Off Revives Call for Leveson Inquiry Part 2
Media reform campaigners are renewing demands for “Leveson Part Two” – the unfinished second-stage of the inquiry into phone hacking that was planned but never took place.
In a video featuring actor and phone hacking victim Hugh Grant, press campaigners Hacked Off note that the original Leveson Inquiry was split, with Part One exposing a culture of hacking, bribery, and data theft.
However, Part Two — the investigation into “who orchestrated, ignored, and enabled this”, and the relationship between the press and the police, was never completed.
“It’s time to uncover the full truth. Join us in demanding accountability,” the group wrote on social media.
Hugh Grant said in the video launching the new push: “One lie over a decade ago begat more lives. One rogue reporter became lots of rogue reporters, one rogue newspaper became three rogue newspapers.” There soon emerged a “torrent” of revelations over media law-breaking and wrongdoing.
“The conundrum for the Leveson inquiry was how to legally identify precisely who was responsible for all this criminality and corruption within the big newspaper corporations, and in the police and in government without prejudicing criminal phone hacking trials that were ongoing at the time. So they split the inquiry.
“The second part to take place when the trials were over was to be much more precise, who did it, who ordered it, who deliberately ignored it, what exactly was the relationship between the press and the police or the press and politicians?” Grant said.
But facing huge pressure from the press, successive Governments held off launching Leveson Part 2.
It looks like the Labour Party has followed suit. This July, Labour failed to deny a secret Murdoch deal to drop relaunching the Leveson inquiry, in exchange for Murdoch-owned newspaper endorsements such as The Sun.
A spokesperson told Byline Times that the party took the decision to drop its commitment to complete the official inquiry into press corruption, “in the interests of the country”.
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