Senior police officer will leave after London 2012 Olympics, Scotland Yard has announced

Sue Akers, who has been leading Scotland’s Yard investigation into phone hacking, is to retire after the Olympics, the Metropolitan police has confirmed.

The Met deputy assistant commissioner has been on the force for 36 years. She is in charge of the three linked inquiries into phone hacking, illicit payments and computer hacking, and has been leading inquiries into the potential involvement of intelligence services in relation to detainees held abroad.

Deputy commissioner Craig Mackey said Akers’s extensive detective experience would be missed but her decision to step down would not be allowed to affect the progress of the investigations.

Akers, who joined the Met in 1976, took control of Operation Weeting – the force’s second inquiry into the phone-hacking scandal – in January 2011. Operations Elveden, which is focusing on inappropriate payments to police, and Tuleta, which is looking at allegations of computer hacking, run alongside.

The fresh investigation came after detectives were handed a new dossier of evidence hinting that suspicious activities at the News of the World went beyond “rogue reporter” Clive Goodman.

The now-defunct tabloid’s royal editor was jailed along with private investigator Glenn Mulcaire in 2007 after they admitted intercepting messages.

Mackey said: “Considerable resources have been dedicated to investigating phone-hacking and related offences, and the officers on these operations will continue to follow all evidence of suspected criminality.

“The importance of the continuity of leadership will of course be taken into account when the future command structure for Operations Weeting, Elveden and Tuleta is considered.”

Akers told the former Met commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson she had planned to retire after the Olympics even before the new phone-hacking investigation was launched, according to the Independent on Sunday. She is believed to be the longest-serving woman in the Met.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “Deputy Assistant Commissioner [DAC] Sue Akers is due to retire later this year after 36 years’ service with the MPS.

“The DAC signalled her intention to retire this autumn when she took charge of investigations into phone-hacking and related corruption and computer crime.”

Akers, the former borough commander of Barnet, was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in 2007.

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Shadow ministers urge leader to put pressure on Cameron by promising EU membership poll if Labour win general election

Ed Miliband is being urged by a growing number of shadow cabinet members and senior allies to promise a dramatic in-out referendum on Britain’s future membership of the European Union if Labour wins the next general election.

Several figures in the party are pushing the Labour leader to make the pledge well before the next European elections in 2014 to outmanoeuvre David Cameron, who is under heavy pressure to commit the Tory party to a national vote on the issue. The Observer has been told that, after discussions with shadow cabinet members, Miliband is leaving the door open to a referendum – although he is keen to stress that the short-term focus and discussion must be on how to end the current euro crisis.

Allies of the Labour leader say pressure on him to make what would be a historic, high-risk pledge will increase following the appointment of Jon Cruddas, the MP for Dagenham and Rainham, as Labour’s policy chief.

Cruddas, a long-time opponent of the euro but otherwise pro-EU, is strongly in favour of an in-out referendum as a means of ending divisive arguments on Europe once and for all. Before his appointment, Cruddas told the People’s Pledge campaign for a referendum that the issue was one of “democracy”, and said a referendum pledge should be made “immediately, or as quickly as we can”. Cruddas is understood to think that such a move would help define Miliband’s leadership as bold and distinct from the New Labour years of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

A ComRes opinion poll for the Independent on Sunday and Sunday Mirror showed how Europe is emerging as an issue that could be pivotal at the next election. The poll showed that 26% of Tories now say they will consider voting for the anti-EU Ukip compared to 11% of Labour supporters and 14% of Liberal Democrats. It also showed the extent of anti-EU hostility Labour would need to overcome if a referendum were held now, with 46% of voters saying they would vote to leave the EU compared with 30% who would vote to stay in.

If Labour did commit to a referendum, the party leadership would campaign vigorously in favour of a vote to stay in – a stance that would be supported by most Labour members.

A referendum would, however, leave the Tories divided, with the party leadership certain to campaign for a vote to remain in the EU, while many MPs and grassroots Conservatives would want to leave. One shadow cabinet member said: “We should have the confidence to say we think we can win this and get on with it. There are issues of timing, about when we make the decision and when one would be held. But it certainly is no longer heresy to talk about it.”

A spokesman for Miliband did not deny that the option was being considered, stressing merely that “our position is that we don’t think this is what Europe needs at the moment”.

Last week, in a sign that the Labour party is gradually preparing the ground for a referendum pledge, shadow chancellor Ed Balls said there could be a case in future, for calling a national vote when the current euro crisis was over and the shape of the new Europe was known. This followed similar comments from former cabinet minister and European commissioner Lord Mandelson.

On Thursday Peter Hain, a former Europe minister who stepped down from the shadow cabinet last week but who remains loyal to Miliband, said on BBC1′s Question Time that he believed the British people would deserve a say when the time was right. “I think the way things are going people in Britain probably want to make up their minds about whether to stay in Europe or not,” he said. “I don’t think we should be frightened about giving people a vote.”

Sources said that Hain would never have spoken out on the EU issue had he felt such remarks would have been unhelpful to Miliband, or significantly out of kilter with the Labour leader’s own views.

Miliband is said to be genuinely undecided and cautious – not least because of the possibility that the country could vote to leave the EU. He is also being advised by some that the move could be seen as crudely opportunistic at a time of crisis in the EU.

Others say that it could put off Liberal Democrats who might otherwise come over to Labour.

Labour enthusiasts for a referendum stress, however, that it would not in any way amount to a watering down of Labour’s commitment to the EU. On the contrary, it would be an opportunity to argue the positive case for membership during a national campaign – one that would also help the party build alliances with pro-EU elements of the business community.

While a minority of Labour MPs might want to leave the EU, highlighting divisions within Labour, they say a referendum would cause far deeper splits in the Tory party.

The People’s Pledge, which draws support from all political parties, has announced it will hold more local referendums in three Greater Manchester constituencies, Withington, Cheadle and Hazel Grove, asking people if they want a national vote.

The seats, one in Manchester and two in Stockport, are all represented by Liberal Democrat MPs: John Leech, Mark Hunter and Andrew Stunnell, respectively. This follows its local referendum in Thurrock last month where 89.9% of people who voted backed a referendum.

Ian McKenzie, director of the People’s Pledge, said: “The people of Thurrock set the pace last month by voting in huge numbers for a referendum. Voters in Manchester Withington, Cheadle and Hazel Grove now have the chance to quicken that pace towards a national referendum for the rest of us.”

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Fears ‘pay-to-stay’ scheme will drive thousands out of housing association and council properties

The government is introducing measures that could drive thousands of families out of social housing by removing any subsidy for their rent.

In what is being billed as a “pay to stay” scheme, Downing Street has swung behind plans to introduce a new household income threshold above which social tenants must pay full market rent. The government is expected to say that rent subsidy will be capped at a household income of £60,000, meaning, for example, a couple on £30,000 each could see their rent rise by about £70 a week.

The scheme, applicable to all housing association and council properties, is explicitly designed to make social housing primarily available to the poor.

The housing minister, Grant Shapps, has referred to the idea before, but Downing Street’s embrace of the proposal means it will now go ahead with a consultation paper next month.

The government says it is necessary to remove an unfairness in the system and to allocate scarce housing resources more efficiently. Critics will say the scheme will give wealthier families an incentive to buy their property at discounted rates, removing social housing from the market.

The government has been accused of driving some poor tenants from properties in wealthier inner-city areas by introducing a higher rent, set at 80% of the market rent. It has also introduced a so-called spare room tax, so that under-occupying social tenants of working age are docked £14 a week for one spare bedroom and £25 a week for two. No tenant will receive more than £500 a week in welfare payments, a measure that will affect larger families on housing benefit.

The welfare cap is, in polling terms, one of the most popular policies the government has introduced, and the new £60,000 household income cap for social housing tenants is likely to win equally wide support.

A No 10 source linked the two measures, saying: “It’s not right that high earners benefit from taxpayer-funded housing subsidy. Just as we have introduced a cap on housing benefit and welfare payments to make the system fairer, now we’re acting on social housing too.”

Government sources added that social housing should be regarded as a precious asset to be devoted to those most in need, not a cheap option for those who can afford competitive rents or their own property.

The government consultation, due to be launched next month by Shapps, will suggest a range of options for the threshold, with the lowest at £60,000.

Ministers have been looking at a range of proposals to make social housing more flexible, including the removal of so-called lifetime tenancies, replacing them with fixed-term tenancies. Social housing tenants can also no longer pass their homes to their children.

Government research shows that as many as 6,000 social rented homes in England are lived in by people who earn a combined income of more than £100,000, including Bob Crow, leader of the RMT union. At the proposed £60,000 threshold, ministers estimate as many as 34,000 social rented homes in England alone would be affected.

It is being stressed that no one would be evicted from their home, simply that they would have to pay higher rents.

The government claims the economic subsidy provided by sub-market rents for social housing is worth £3,600 a year on average, or £69 a week.

The total cost of this annual subsidy for those above the £60,000 threshold is £122.4m, and the annual subsidy for a £100,000 threshold is £21.6m.

Social rents are set on the basis of a formula linked to size of the property, its value and local earnings.

Labour has always argued that social housing should be for a mix of tenants and not seen as the preserve of the poor. The Liberal Democrats have curbed some government housing reforms, but could arguably support the measure as a legitimate restriction on middle-class welfare.

However, social housing has been increasingly taken up as an option by young professionals unable to afford to own their own home. The cost of the cheapest quarter of homes is now more than six times average household income and eight times in London.

The overall social housing budget was cut by more than 50% in the 2010 spending review, to £4.4bn, and the number of people on council waiting lists is now 1.8m, an 80% increase in the last decade.

In a report this week, Shelter, the Chartered Institute of Housing and the National Housing Federation said the government was failing on five of its 10 key indicators: affordability of the private rented sector, help with housing costs, homelessness, housing supply and overcrowding.

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Gold-painted Airbus 319 brings flame to airbase to begin the 70-day relay around the country in the buildup to London 2012

The applause inside the gold-painted Airbus 319 was not the usual ironical salute for a bumpy landing at the start of a package holiday. Eight years after Sebastian Coe and his team set out to win the Games for London, the Olympic flame had touched down in Britain. Now the Games can begin.

This was, London mayor Boris Johnson proclaimed, the first time a naked flame had been permitted on a British Airways flight since they banned smoking on planes. And there indeed it sat, lit a week earlier by the rays of the sun at ancient Olympia but now, in quadruplicate, occupying two seats in the front row of the passenger cabin of BA2012.

It flickered bravely in four specially made lanterns, each 15in high, during the four-hour trip from Athens’ Eleftherios Venizelios airport ‚built for the 2004 Olympics, to the Royal Navy’s airbase at Culdrose, near Penzance.

The arrival in Cornwall preceded the start of the 70-day, torch relay around Britain, which will end on July 27, when the flame is used to ignite the cauldron in London’s Olympic Stadium.

Its in-flight attendants, alongside Johnson, included footballer David Beckham, Olympics organiser Lord Coe, the Olympics minister Hugh Robertson, Princess Anne, the president of the British Olympic Association, and a small posse of track-suited Metropolitan police officers.

On landing at Culdrose, where the flight was met by Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minster, the flame was transferred to a ceremonial cauldron from which a torch will be lit early on Saturday morning and placed in the hands of Ben Ainslie, the triple gold medal winning sailor, the first of 8,000 runners. The second is Anastasia Swallow, an 18-year-old surfer from St Ives.

“So many of the people who are running will be members of the communities through which they’re carrying the torch,” Coe said. “Our market research says that at least nine million people will be watching, and many of them will be seeing their local coach, or teacher, or policeman.”

Or perhaps their local A-list celebrity. Beckham, a member of the 2012 team since its inception, made it clear that he would relish being a torch-bearer during the leg of the relay that passes through his native east London as well as being selected for Great Britain’s Olympic football team.

“I’ve never performed at an Olympic Games,” he said. “But to be part of this is something very special. We’ve got some very special people carrying the torch and it’s going to be a proud moment for them. If I was to be one of those carrying in London, it would be very special for me.”

Cynics like to point out that the torch relay was invented for “Hitler’s Games” in 1936, but torch relays played a part in the Ancient Olympics, sent out through Greek towns and villages to advertise the Games. In the modern era, the Olympic flame was re-introduced in 1928 by the peace-loving people of Amsterdam, eight years before the Berlin organisers dreamed up the idea of reconnecting Aryan supremacists with their supposed ancestors.

No one had thought to turn a flame into an Olympic symbol when London first held the Games at White City in 1908. On the second occasion, 40 years later, the torch arrived at Wembley stadium by a circuitous route in order to avoid a threat of disturbances in northern Greece, still enduring the aftermath of its civil war.

Its overland journey through Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium and France was undertaken in a car provided by Rolls-Royce and specially geared to proceed at a stately 8mph. The destroyer HMS Bicester carried it from Calais to Dover, where it was welcomed by a crowd of 50,000. Then it promptly went out. Officially, it was relit from a spare carried from Greece. Unofficially, a cigarette lighter was hastily employed. Eventually it was carried into the stadium by John Mack, the 22-year-old president of the Cambridge University Athletic Club, as fine a specimen of blond, strapping manhood that could be found.

This time the designated hero figure might be Johnson but is more likely to be Steve Redgrave, the owner of gold medals from five successive Games, or perhaps an east End child of symbolic mixed ethnicity. According to Coe, discussions on the identities of the final torch-bearers have yet to begin, but Beckham is unlikely to be disappointed, just as he will almost certainly be granted his wish of a place in the football squad.

He was mobbed by expats and Greek guests during a reception at the British ambassador’s residence in Athens on Thursday night, but those suggesting that his selection for the team might be a ploy to use his celebrity to fill seats and sell shirts were being “a little bit disrespectful”, the 37-year-old former England captain said. “Managers like Sir Alex Ferguson, Fabio Capello and Sven-Goran Eriksson, they don’t pick you because they want to fill stadiums. I’ve always wanted to be picked for what I can bring to a team.”

He had been amused, he said, to hear himself introduced as “Sir David Beckham” by the announcer during the handover ceremony in the Panathenaic Stadium on Thursday. “It made me laugh,” he said. “It made everybody laugh, probably.”

Looking ahead to the next 10 weeks, in which the flame will make its way around Britain, Coe was sanguine about the threat of the sort of disruption created by pro-Tibet demonstrators when the Beijing torch visited London in 2008. “We live in a country where peaceful protest is very much a part of what we are,” he said before leaving Athens. “Thank goodness it is, in a way, as long as that doesn’t slop over into becoming a public order issue or endangering people who are enjoying their day.”

It had been instructive, he said, to watch the test event for the torch relay, which took place in Leicestershire last month. “It started at seven o’clock in the morning in Leicester and ended at five or six o’clock in the evening in Peterborough and went through little villages and small towns. In Melton Mowbray, they were four or five deep on the pavement, and that was just a test event with a cardboard torch and no actual flame. I don’t sense that there’s a widespread feeling that this is to be anything other than cherished. My gut instinct is that people will be quite protective.”

Amid a Cornish sea-fret on Friday night, Beckham was invited to step forward and light the cauldron. It is unlikely to be his last involvement.

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Chair of Office for Budget Responsibility says results would be deflation, soaring unemployment and rise in state debt

Greece leaving the euro could plunge Britain into a recession that would cause lasting damage to the economy, the chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, Robert Chote, has said.

It could be as bad as the recession caused by the credit crunch and there would be a possibility that “you go down and you never quite get back up to where you started”, he said.

Chote – who as head of the independent OBR is Britain’s economic forecaster-in-chief – delivered his warning in a wideranging interview with the Guardian, in which he also said there was no evidence to show that cutting the 50p top rate of tax would promote growth, that current spending on public sector pensions was sustainable and that the rules preventing the OBR from costing opposition policies should eventually be lifted.

The OBR predicted that the economy would grow by just 0.8% in 2012 when it published its last forecast, at the time of the budget, but Chote said that if the eurozone crisis resulted in Greece leaving the euro, the outcome could be very much worse.

“The concern is that you end up with an outcome in the eurozone that creates the same sort of structural difficulties in the financial system and in the economy that we saw in the past recession, and that that has consequences both for hitting economic activity in the economy, but also its underlying potential,” he said.

“And it’s the latter which has particular difficulties for the fiscal position, because it means not just that the economy weakens and then strengthens again – ie, it goes into a hole and comes out – but that you go down and you never quite get back up to where you started.”

Chote said there were so many uncertainties around what might happen with Greece and the eurozone that trying to produce firm predictions was not “particularly helpful”. But the OBR has tried to quantify the impact of a disorderly sovereign debt restructuring in the eurozone on Britain and the figures make grim reading.

Britain would be plunged into recession for two years, according to the OBR analysis, published in its most recent economic and fiscal outlook report. There would also be deflation, and by 2013-14 unemployment would reach almost 11%, with debt subsequently reaching more than 90% of GDP.

Chote admitted these projections were of limited value because the eurozone crisis could develop in so many different ways.

“For example, one issue would be do difficulties in the eurozone make it cheaper or more expensive for the UK government to borrow,” he said. “If it makes investors more nervous about risk in general, it might make it more expensive. If they see the UK as more of a safe haven, it might make it less expensive.”

Although the chancellor, George Osborne, has presented his controversial decision to cut the top rate of tax for those earning more than £150,000 from 50p to 45p as one of the government measures that will promote growth, Chote cast doubt on this claim.

Osborne said in his budget speech that cutting the 50p rate would improve Britain’s competitiveness. But Chote said the OBR’s analysis was that there was no evidence to show that the measure would have a positive effect of that kind.

“We didn’t feel that there was a strong enough evidence base to say our long-term or medium-term view of the economy is now more optimistic than it was beforehand as a result of that measure,” he said.

He also challenged another government nostrum by saying the OBR did not accept government claims that public sector pensions as currently paid were unsustainable.

Although the public finances as a whole would come under pressure in years to come, the current public sector pension regime was “not where the problem is coming from”, he said. That was because OBR figures show spending on public sector pensions – even without reform – falling as a proportion of GDP.

Chote also said that eventually it would be a good idea for the OBR to be allowed to cost opposition policies. Currently the OBR is not allowed to do this, but the government is committed to reviewing the operation of the OBR in 2015 and Chote said this would be a good point to change the rules.

He also suggested that the current arrangements, which will allow Osborne to go into the election saying his plans have been approved by the OBR while the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, would not be able to make the same claim, were potentially unfair.

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Young man jailed over 2004 killing then released by court blames Met police for taking away eight years of his life

Sam Hallam has criticised the Metropolitan police for taking away eight years of his life after the court of appeal quashed his conviction for murder when hearing fresh evidence that “significantly undermined” his conviction.

Speaking outside the high court, Hallam – who was put in prison at the age of 17 and released only on Wednesday – said he had not received an apology from the police for wrongly focusing on him as one of the killers of Essayas Kassahun in a gang attack in Hoxton, north London, in 2004.

“It [the investigation] just wasn’t done properly,” he said.

“Them not doing their job properly cost me eight years of my life. I lost eight years of my life and nothing is going to happen to them.”

The court of appeal quashed his 2005 conviction for murder on Thursday after hearing that evidence he had had all along on his own mobile phone undermined the case against him.

The phone was never examined by the Metropolitan police investigating the murder of Kassahun, nor by Hallam’s own defence team, nor raised as an issue by him – which Lady Justice Hallett blamed on his own “faulty recollection and dysfunctional lifestyle”.

Hallam, who is now 24, said on Thursday that prison had been tough. He started his sentence in Feltham young offenders’ institution – which his uncle, Terry Hallam, said had been very difficult.

His father killed himself while Hallam was in prison, and he has not yet been able to visit his grave. “Just knowing I was innocent and having a lot of support outside kept me going,” Hallam said on Thursday in an interview with BBC London. “I couldn’t have done it personally, it was the support outside.”

Clearly angry with the police, he said: “I have lost my family, my family lost me, I have lost my life. I spent all my time in prison, and I lost my liberty … I can’t get that back. That time is gone. I have got to carry on from there.”

He thanked his family and the huge numbers of supporters from the community in Hoxton for their long campaign to free him.

Hallam was jailed in 2005 for life with the recommendation that he serve at least 12 years for the murder of Kassahun, having served a year on remand at 17.

The main evidence against him was from two young witnesses whom the appeal court said on Thursday had only a fleeting glimpse of what happened and for whom there was always plenty of scope for making a mistaken identification.

His case was investigated by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which brought an appeal based on fresh evidence that raised doubts about the reliability of the two key witnesses and new information from his mobile phone in the form of pictures that supported what he had always maintained: that he had not been at the scene at the time Kassahun was killed.

Hallam was released on bail on Wednesday when the crown surprisingly announced that it would not oppose his appeal. He is one of the youngest victims of a miscarriage of justice. His freedom had come after a massive campaign was launched – eliciting the support of the actor Ray Winstone among others – to clear his name.

But in her ruling on Thursday, Hallett said what had emerged was that Hallam had evidence in his possession – his mobile phone – that could have helped him all along. When he was arrested, Hallam could not remember where he was on the night of the murder. He later said he was with a friend – Timothy Harrington – but Harrington denied being with him, and the crown claimed at the trial that Hallam had clearly made up an alibi.

Hallam remained silent when he was arrested by the police shortly after the killing in 2004.

“It has to be said that his inability two days after to say where he was at the time of the murder has not exactly helped his case,” Hallett said. She asked why neither the police nor his legal team had examined his two mobile phones

“One reason proffered for the failure to examine the phones was that in 2004 the Metropolitan police did not have the technology in use for 3G phones,” she said.

“However, given our limited knowledge, we would have thought that even a cursory check would have produced some interesting results.”

When Hallam’s 3G phone was eventually examined by the CCRC and Thames Valley police – which carried out inquiries for the CCRC – it was found to contain pictures that put Hallam in a pub with his father on the evening of the killing and also showed that he had been with Harrington the day after – thereby giving credence to his original alibi.

It raised the distinct possibility, the judge said, that Hallam and his friend Harrington had merely been mistaken as to when they had met and that he had not – as was claimed – concocted an alibi.

Expressing surprise that Hallam himself had not mentioned the existence of his phone or the fact that he had been taking pictures with it to his legal team, she said: “We would have thought the appellant [Hallam] would have alerted the defence team that he had been taking photos on a new phone, which would have helped establish his whereabouts.”

She blamed his failure to alert them on his “faulty recollection and a dysfunctional lifestyle, not a deliberate lie”.

Hallett stopped short of criticising the Met or the Crown Prosecution Service, which were accused by Hallam’s defence team at his appeal of failing to pursue lines of inquiry and not disclosing all the evidence.

Quashing his murder conviction, Hallett said there was now significant material before the court that supported Hallam’s story that he was not at the scene of the murder on the night.

“The situation has now changed dramatically,” said Hallett. The “false alibi” claim that the prosecution had used to support their two witnesses had now been “significantly undermined”.

The Met police said: “The death of Essayas Kassahun was a tragedy and what followed was a complex investigation for which one person remains convicted. It is a matter of deep regret that Sam Hallam lost his liberty due to what has subsequently been found to be an unsafe conviction. The circumstances of his death involved a large group of people and this type of investigation often relies on people coming forward to give us personal accounts. We continue to face challenging investigations such as these and there are undoubtedly certain lessons to be learned for police and the wider criminal justice system from today’s judgement which we will carefully consider.”

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Feared closure averted as GM announces that next Astra car model will be built at Merseyside and Polish plants

The Vauxhall car plant at Ellesmere Port has been saved from closure, preserving 2,100 jobs and creating 700 more, after workers accepted a deal that will result in the next-generation Astra built at the factory.

The business secretary, Vince Cable, visited the plant on Thursday to mark an agreement that, in a rare reversal of industrial fortune, could lead to the closure of a sister plant in Germany.

The European arm of General Motors, Opel/Vauxhall, will split production of the new Astra model between the Cheshire site and a plant in Gliwice, Poland, with Opel’s factory in Bochum, Germany, likely to lose out as a consequence.

Ellesmere Port and Bochum had been chosen by GM executives as the plants most likely to close, triggering frantic lobbying by British politicians and trade union officials that appears to have paid off. GM is attempting to cut losses at its European operations that reached $ 747m (£470m) last year.

Workers at the plant voted 94% in favour of new pay and conditions under the deal, clearing the way for the £125m investment to go ahead.

Cable, an Astra owner, told the Guardian the government had serious concerns over the future of Ellesmere Port earlier this year. “At the beginning,” he said, “we were very concerned because it was clear that GM were committed to substantial downsizing in Europe. But we thought that this was one of the most productive plants and it was not being fully utilised. We had a good story to tell about the British car industry.” Cable said the plant had been saved by a “team UK effort” that included officials at the Unite trade union, led by former general secretary Tony Woodley.

Asked about the Bochum plant, Cable said: “I don’t want to be triumphalist but the fact that they have chosen to commit to the UK rather than the German plants is a significant statement in a way.

“But rather than dance up and down on Germany I would prefer to leave it as a positive story for us.” Cable said he would be “in the market” for buying the new Astra when it rolls off the Ellesmere Port production line from 2015 onwards.

Welcoming the news, David Cameron said: “This is excellent news for Ellesmere Port and for UK manufacturing. Once again we have seen the success of the UK automotive industry and the crucial role it plays in growing and rebalancing our economy.

“This has been a real team effort with the government, the company, unions and workers all focused on keeping production in the UK.”

The government is expected to support the expansion of Ellesmere Port through supply chain and apprenticeship initiatives.

Unite’s current general secretary, Len McCluskey, said the plant’s future had been guaranteed into the next decade. “This is extremely good news for Ellesmere Port. The company has made an offer to the workforce, which our members have accepted.

“From a position of uncertainty earlier this year, there is now a potential for a future at the plant until 2020 and beyond, and with that, 700 new skilled jobs at Ellesmere Port itself, and possibly hundreds more in the supply chain.”

The site is 50 years old this year and employs 2,100 workers, plus a further 700 suppliers on the site. The directly employed staff have accepted a new labour agreement that includes a pay deal. Woodley played a significant role in negotiating the deal, which will result in Ellesmere Port ratcheting up to a 24-hour production cycle, from two daily shifts to three.

GM is not the only carmaker scrutinising its European operations. Analysts believe the industry in Europe is more than 3m units over capacity. GM owns seven plants in Europe, including a van factory in Luton, which is not under immediate threat. Ellesmere Port builds the Astra Sports Tourer, making 140,000 models last year. The plant was built in 1962, producing its first car, a Viva, two years later. As well as creating 700 new jobs, the new agreement will see £125m invested in the plant, which will produce a minimum of 160,000 vehicles per year.

The doubts about Ellesmere Port’s future have been the only cloud over a UK car manufacturing industry that is enjoying a renaissance from the post-crash lows of 2008-09. Britain made about 1.34m cars last year, an increase of 6% on 2010. A large contributor to the boom is demand in emerging markets for premium cars, such as Minis, Land Rovers and Bentleys – all made in the UK.

However, the mass-produced market has been suffering across Europe and Ellesmere Port has been caught by that crisis. Nonetheless, other mass producers based in the UK, such as the Japanese trio of Honda, Toyota and Nissan – the biggest car producer in the UK – have boosted their British production plans in recent months.

Vauxhall’s chairman, Duncan Aldred, said: “This is great news for the Ellesmere Port plant, our employees, the local community, our suppliers, the Vauxhall brand and the UK. We have been able to develop a responsible labour agreement that secures the plant’s future. This is assisted by the government’s industrial strategy: increasing its focus on the manufacturing sector and creating ideal ground for companies to build up long-term investments.”

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Decision to release 24-year-old after appeal over 2004 murder conviction follows long legal battle by family

Sam Hallam became one of the youngest victims of a miscarriage of justice on Wednesday when the court of appeal released him after he served seven years for murder.

Hallam, 24, emerged with his mother on to the steps of the high court, where, in front of a crowd of photographers, he was sprayed with champagne by the friends and supporters who have long campaigned for his release.

Hallam, of Hoxton, north London, was just 18 when he was jailed for life for the murder of Essayas Kassahun in a gang attack in October 2004.

The court of appeal is expected to quash his murder conviction on Thursday after the crown dramatically withdrew all opposition to his appeal.

The court heard Hallam was jailed as a result of a flawed investigation that failed to follow lines of inquiry and in which the Metropolitan police and the Crown Prosecution Service withheld evidence.

Outside the court, his mother, Wendy Cohen, said: “I am just shocked. I knew this would happen, he should never have been in there. My family has gone through hell, it is like we were all being tortured. Sam’s father killed himself while he was inside, all of us have suffered.”

Hallam’s release comes after a campaign run by friends and family and supported by the actor Ray Winstone.

Henry Blaxland QC, for Hallam, said: “Sam Hallam – and I put it boldly – has been the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice brought about by a combination of manifestly unreliable identification evidence … failure by police properly to investigate his alibi and non-disclosure by the prosecution of material that could have supported his case.”

Shortly afterwards, supporters and friends inside the court gasped as David Hannon QC, for the crown, announced: “We have given this anxious consideration for a long time, and again today, and we are not in a position to oppose the appeal.”

Hallam was one of two men convicted of the killing of 21-year-old Kassahun in a gang attack which was over within seconds on the night of 11 October 2004. The trial judge recommended he serve life with a minimum term of 12 years.

The only evidence against him was two supposed witnesses who claimed he was present at the murder, one of whom gave several different accounts. The second retracted his evidence at the trial.

There was no forensic evidence to link him to the scene, and under cross-examination the main witness, Phoebe Henville, admitted: “I just wanted someone to blame.”

The appeal was brought after the criminal cases review commission instructed an outside police force to investigate – something it only does in a handful of cases. The inquiry by Thames Valley police uncovered new evidence which showed the witness evidence was “so manifestly unreliable” that it should never have been put to a jury, the court of appeal was told.

Other new evidence included information from previously undisclosed police documents about another suspect, and evidence from Hallam’s mobile phone which suggested he was in the pub with his father on the night of the murder.

As the crown withdrew its opposition to the appeal, Lady Justice Hallett adjourned the hearing for a few minutes and asked Hallam if he needed time to compose himself. She then announced that he would be released on bail with almost immediate effect. Hallam was led to the court cells, from where, shortly afterwards, he emerged into the well of the high court and the embrace of his mother. As campaigners cheered and clapped, most in tears, he stared straight ahead, looking dazed.

His brother Terry Hallam, 32, said: “It feels amazing. I just want to get him back home. The first thing we are going to do is visit my dad’s grave together, he hasn’t been able to do that. We are all stunned, we knew it would happen but we didn’t think it would happen so suddenly.”

As Hallam was driven away, Paul May, who led the campaign to release him, said he was considering referring the case to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. “There’s a legal duty on the police to pursue reasonable lines of inquiry. They didn’t do it, they didn’t do their job,” said May.”Not only has an innocent man gone to prison, the perpetrators of this dreadful murder have largely escaped justice.”

Winstone criticised the police and demanded answers on Wednesday evening. He said there had been “an outrageous miscarriage of justice” on ITV’s Tonight With Trevor McDonald. “For me it is the disgraceful unprofessional action of the police involved in this case. Action that has caused a terrible stress within the family of the Hallams.”

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Labour accuses PM of stoking fears for eurozone, days after chancellor criticised those who engaged in speculation

David Cameron appeared to cast doubt on the future of the euro during prime minister’s questions when he said the eurozone “either has to make up or it is looking at a potential breakup”.

He told MPs: “That’s the choice they have to make and it is a choice they can’t long put off.” His aides said later he had not made a mistake with his remarks, which Labour immediately pounced on, accusing the prime minister of stoking fears of a breakup.

Cameron’s words followed a stark warning from the governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, who said Britain’s recovery was being hampered by a eurozone that was “tearing itself apart” and referred to a “storm heading our way from the continent”.

Cameron’s open questioning of the euro’s future seemed to be at odds with comments made two days ago by George Osborne. The chancellor had criticised those such as the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who had raised speculation about Greece’s continuing membership of the euro.

He said in Brussels: “It’s the open speculation from some members of the eurozone about the future of some countries in the eurozone which I think is doing real damage across the whole European economy.”

Aides said Cameron had discussed his comments in advance with Osborne, but stressed he was not predicting the breakup of the euro. “He would obviously rather it was ‘make up’. There would be huge implications for us if it was the ‘breakup’ option,” said one source close to the prime minister.

Aides declined to say whether the UK believed Greece should stay in the euro, insisting that was a matter for the Greek people to decide.

A spokesman said: “Who the Greeks elect as their government is completely a matter for them. I think the main political parties in Greece are all in favour of being in the euro.”

Cameron revealed he would be holding a bilateral meeting with the new French president, François Hollande, ahead of a full G8 summit this weekend in Washington and that he had been in touch with King about contingency plans for a euro breakup.

The European commission continues to insist it is not contemplating a breakup or the loss of Greece from the euro.

The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, said: “It’s a shame [Cameron] didn’t see the French president three months ago when he was in the United Kingdom … but I’m sure, Mr Speaker, a text message and LOL will go down very well.”

He said: “We are in a double-dip recession made in Downing Street.”

But Cameron replied in reference to allegations of tantrums by the former prime minister Gordon Brown: “I have to admit that perhaps I’ve been overusing my mobile phone but at least as prime minister I know how to use a mobile phone rather than just throw it at the people who work for me.”

He also said he looked forward to discussing measures that “could seriously add growth in Europe” such as the energy market, the digital market and the services single market, adding: “There will be common ground between the British view and the French view … the French president does not back the Labour view that the way out of a debt crisis is to borrow more, spend more and add to your debts.

“What we need to have is the low interest rates that we have, because when the government came to power we had the same interest rates as Spain. Ours are now under 2%. Theirs are over 6%.”

The prime minister welcomed the largest rise in employment in a year, adding he was not remotely complacent, saying there were too many people in part-time work that wanted full-time work.

He said: “The number of people on out-of-work benefits has fallen by 70,000 since the election but there are still challenges. We must go on investing in apprenticeships and the work programme.”

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Former News International CEO expressed anger that those close to her had been ‘dragged into the affair’

Rebekah Brooks made a defiant attack on the “weak and unjust” decision by the prosecuting authorities to bring charges against her on Tuesday and dismissed the case as an “expensive sideshow and waste of public money”.

Outside her solicitor’s office in London, the former chief executive of News International said she could not express how angry she was that those close to her had been “unfairly dragged into this”.

An emotional and nervous-looking Brooks, 43, spoke out after a momentous day in the phone-hacking affair saw her facing three charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice over allegations that she concealed “material, documents and computers” from detectives investigating phone hacking at the News of the World and alleged bribes to public officials by journalists at the Sun.

Her husband, Charlie Brooks, a racehorse trainer and friend of the prime minister, faces one charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by acting with others to “conceal documents, computer and other electronic devices” from detectives.

Speaking alongside his wife, he also condemned the decision as “an attempt to use me and others as scapegoats, the effect of which is to ratchet up the pressure on my wife, who I believe is the subject of a witch-hunt”.

The couple were among six individuals – including News International’s head of security, Mark Hanna – charged over allegations that they were engaged in a cover-up to hide evidence from police investigating phone hacking at the News of the World.

One of the most high profile figures in the newspaper industry, and a close confidante of Rupert Murdoch, Brooks was charged by police at a police station in Lewisham on Tuesday afternoon. She had travelled to London with her husband from their home in Oxfordshire to answer bail after their arrest in March.

The couple were made to attend different police stations – Mrs Brooks at Lewisham, and her husband at Hammersmith – to have the charges laid against them.

The decision to bring the first charges in the long-running phone-hacking investigation, Operation Weeting, had been announced earlier by Alison Levitt QC, of the CPS, in a high-profile televised statement, the lawyer said, in the interests of “transparency and accountability”.

Brooks, however, condemned the live broadcast as “the further unprecedented posturing of the CPS”.

All the alleged offences took place in July last year when the phone-hacking investigation was at its height.

The charge is a serious one which carries a maximum penalty of life, although the average term served in prison is 10 months. Brooks also remains on bail over phone-hacking allegations and allegations over bribes to public officials.

Levitt said the decision to charge six of the seven individuals arrested for conspiring to pervert the course of justice came after prosecutors applied the two-stage test they are required to when making charging decisions.

“I have concluded that in relation to all suspects except the seventh there is sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction,” she said.

“I then considered the second stage of the test and I have concluded that a prosecution is required in the public interest in relation to each of the other six.”

Brooks and her husband were arrested in March. Detectives from Operation Weeting then handed their file of evidence on the couple and the other individuals to the CPS on 27 March. The five others arrested were Hanna, Cheryl Carter, Ms Brooks’s former personal assistant for 19 years, Paul Edwards, Brooks’s chauffeur and employee of News International, and Daryl Jorsling, who provided Brooks with security, supplied by News International.

The seventh suspect – who has not been named – also provided security.

Scotland Yard said later that the seventh man – for whom no charges were laid – had been released with no further action to be taken.

The first charge against Mrs Brooks alleges that between 6 July and 19 July 2011 she conspired with Charlie Brooks, Cheryl Carter, Mark Hanna, Paul Edwards, Daryl Jorsling and persons unknown to conceal material from officers of the Metropolitan Police Service.

The second charge, which she faces along with Carter, alleges that between 6 July and 9 July 2011 they conspired together to permanently remove seven boxes of material from the archive of News International.

In the third charge she is accused, along with her husband, Mark Hanna, Paul Edwards and Daryl Jorsling and persons unknown, of conspiring together between 15 July and 19 July 2011 to conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment from officers of the Metropolitan Police Service.

Brooks and her husband revealed they were to be charged some 10 minutes before the CPS live announcement on Tuesdaymorning.

They promised they would make a further statement after attending the police station. They did that shortly after 5pm outside their solicitors, Kingsley Napier, in London.

Looking tired, Brooks said: “Whilst I have always respected the criminal justice system, you have to question whether this decision has been made on a proper impartial assessment of the evidence. Although I understand the need for a thorough investigation, I am baffled by the decision to charge me.

“However, I cannot express my anger enough that those close to me have unfairly been dragged into this.

“As the details of the case emerge people will see today as an expensive sideshow, and a waste of public money as a result of this weak and unjust decision.”

Standing next to her, Mr Brooks raised doubts that his wife would get a fair trial.

“There are 172 police officers, about the equivalent of eight murder squads, working on this; so it doesn’t surprise me that the pressure is on to prosecute, no matter how weak the cases will be,” he said.

“I am confident that the lack of evidence against me will be borne out in court, but I have grave doubts that my wife will ever get a fair trial, given the volume of biased commentary which she has been subject to.”

Scotland Yard said all six defendants were released on bail to appear at Westminster magistrates on 13 June.

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