Sun Says

Hope for peace

TODAY marks the dawn of a new era of hope for the Middle East.

As US Vice-President JD Vance said yesterday, a truce brokered by Donald Trump has brought the region to “the cusp of true peace”.

1

While other world leaders postured and bewailed, the US President used his extraordinary power of persuasion to force Hamas and Israel to strike a deal to end two years of bloodshed.

It means thousands of Palestinians will return to what is left of their homes and get the food and medical aid they need, and Israelis can welcome back loved ones taken hostage during the terrorist massacre which started the conflict.

The 19th Century German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck once said that politics is “the art of the possible”.

But hard-nosed businessman President Trump has proved it can also be “the art of the deal”.

The path to lasting peace is still littered with pitfalls.

Hamas must be made to disarm and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu will have to be persuaded to drop his opposition to a future, self-ruling Palestinian state.

More tears will be shed in the days to come.

Much trauma awaits Israeli families whose loved ones return alive but emaciated or, tragically, in body bags.

There will also be anger if terrorist killers are freed as part of the deal.

Yet despite these hurdles, this is the brightest glimmer of hope the region has seen in a generation.

And if, one day, it leads to a lasting peace, the whole world will rejoice.

Win for justice

THE phrase “justice must be seen to be done” is as relevant today as when it was first uttered in court a century ago.

That is why The Sun challenged an order banning a child rapist from being identified as an asylum seeker.

In a shocking example of two-tier justice, both the prosecution and the offender’s lawyer had opposed our attempt to report his status.

But this newspaper chalked up a landmark victory for open justice and Press freedom by fighting to have the order overturned.

Judge Maria Lamb gave an instant ruling that we were right.

The jury took just two-and-a-half hours to convict the serial offender.

A double triumph for common sense.

Silly Mili

ED Miliband’s fixation with Net Zero gets more desperate and costly by the day.

The Energy Secretary is targeting well-off families with £7,500 “bribes” to fit green heat pump systems most of us can’t afford.

His barmy campaign confirms what we already knew about Mr Miliband’s obsession with meeting unrealistic carbon emission targets.

It’s a waste of money — and he is a waste of space.

Shabana needs to be tough like Arnie

NEW Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has no time to lose.

She has built a reputation as an immigration hardliner from the right wing of the Labour Party and is nicknamed The Terminator.

1

So her appointment, in the reshuffle forced on Sir Keir Starmer by Angela Rayner’s resignation, was a clear sign of intent.

But she has been parachuted into the middle of the Government’s biggest political crisis zone.

A chaotic year of ineffective posturing saw an astonishing 111,000 asylum applications pile up after Sir Keir ditched the Rwanda deterrent.

Nigel Farage’s Reform have swept into this policy vacuum and seized the initiative.

Little wonder that a new poll puts them on course for Number Ten.

The new Home Secretary says she has no choice but to deliver.

She is right to call for legal migrants to put more into society if they want to have leave to remain here.

But voters want fast action on stopping the boats and kicking out those who should not be here.

Ms Mahmood has ordered reviews of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Modern Slavery Act.

Now she must bang heads together to deliver them early.

Thousands have dodged deportation because of these two legal millstones around the Government’s neck.

If Ms Mahmood wants to succeed, she needs to quickly live up to her Terminator reputation.

By saying Hasta La Vista to those here illegally.

Air Miles Miliband

ED MILIBAND’S reckless rush to Net Zero is already costing households dear.

This month, regulator Ofgem said Labour’s obsession with wind and solar power will see electricity prices hiked by almost £100 by 2031.

Now, as we reveal today, the Energy Secretary has himself clocked up 50,000 miles on globe-trotting flights since Labour came to power.

Forget his Red Ed nickname. It should now be Air Miles Miliband after he enjoyed carbon-busting jollies to India, China, Brazil and the US.

All this from a politician who in opposition urged voters to cut their use of flights.

To offset hypocrite Miliband’s globe-trotting would require 1,200 trees to be planted.

And that’s before you deal with the hot air he spouts.

Lost decades

WE are now in a new cost of living crisis — or perhaps we never really escaped the first one.

A dismal report yesterday revealed family incomes are £20,000 less than they should have been had economic growth in the UK not flatlined after 2005.

1

It means Brit households have effectively lived through two lost economic decades.

Covid, the credit crunch, war in Europe and energy price shocks were hammer blows.

But inflation is now firmly entrenched in the economy thanks to Rachel Reeves’s policies, which have directly driven up prices.

Her National Insurance rise has left hard-pushed customers facing bigger bills at the tills, as shops were forced to pass on huge extra costs.

Unnecessary Net Zero measures only add to the misery.

The irony is that yesterday’s report on living standards was by the Left-leaning Resolution Foundation.

Many of its former members are now sitting in Downing Street as key advisers to the Prime Minister and Treasury.

Yet most of their ideas to fix the economy are based on seizing ordinary people’s hard-earned savings, property taxes and taxing the rich so highly they flee the country.

Big business is already warning of the folly of this outdated 1970s-style approach.

Don’t do it, Chancellor.

Action, not talk

NEW Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood says she will not allow migrants to avoid deportation through bogus last minute claims that they are the victims of modern slavery.

She insists these “vexatious” appeals make a mockery of our laws.

Of course, she is right that migrants are gaming a broken asylum system.

But for all her tough talk, how exactly does she plan to do it?

Successive Home Secretaries have promised to do “whatever it takes” to secure our borders.

All have foundered on the immovable rock that is European human rights laws.

Those same laws which are defended to the hilt by her cabinet colleague, Attorney General Lord Hermer.

We wish Ms Mahmood well. But it’s actions that count.

Hope & glory

FOR all the talk of trade deals and tariffs worth billions there is one British institution that remains priceless.

Our Royal Family — such a vital asset to this country — once again totally charmed the world’s most powerful man, Donald Trump.

Amid the doom and gloom it’s good to remember that no-one does pomp and pageantry quite like us Brits.