Tribune – Comment, news and reviews from Britain's democratic left

Plans to shift control of Parliament from government to MPs are doomed to failure because ministers are acquiescing in having them killed off by stalling tactics, an MP and reform campaigner has warned.

The director of the Serious Fraud Office acted unlawfully when he stopped a major investigation into alleged bribery by arms giant BAE Systems, according to a legal opinion this week.

Labour treasurer Jack Dromey has been shortlisted for the safe seat of Birmingham Erdington amid mounting controversy over the party’s secretive handling of selections.

Unions have reacted with dismay this week to a survey predicting a “bleak quarter ahead for the public sector”.

The Department of Health was accused this week of wasting money by funding privately run clinics and treatment centres. The British Medical Association claimed that some privately run services were costing the taxpayer more than National Health Service treatment.

A new attempt to provide shelter for hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers near Calais has been closed down by French police.

In the wake of the last-minute deal with the DUP to save the power-sharing government at Stormont, and just ahead of a general election, Sinn Féin is holding a conference at the TUC called “Putting Irish Unity on the Agenda”.

The RMT is turning up the heat on Scotrail over the privatised rail company’s attempt to introduce more driver-only trains. Legal opinion obtained by the union is that an agreement from 2001 commiting Scotrail not to extend driver-only operations remains in force. Angus McPherson of Drummond Miller has advised the union that First Group is wrong in law to argue that it is not bound by an agreement the union made with the previous franchisee National Express. He said the agreement is clearly protected by the Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment regulations.

Eight hundred anti-nuclear activists blocked all entrances to the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston in Berkshire on Monday to prevent building work starting in preparation for the production of new nuclear warheads. Protesters were joined by two Nobel Peace Prize laureates, landmine campaigner Jody Williams and Mairead Maguire of the Peace People in Northern Ireland, to raise the issue of the Trident replacement in the run-up to the general election.

Trade unions in Greece began a fresh wave of industrial action this week to protest against plans by the Socialist government to cut public expenditure.