Category Archives: UK news

UK suspends trade talks with Israel as Lammy calls Gaza blockade ‘morally wrong’ and ‘unjustifiable’ – as it happened

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Foreign secretary tells parliament that the Israeli government’s ‘egregious actions and rhetoric’ are isolating the country from its friends and partners. This live blog is closed

The Scottish secretary has said the new UK-EU trade deal provides “12 years of certainty and stability” for the fishing industry, amid criticism from the industry that the government has made too large a concession to the EU on fishing rights.

The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) has described the deal as a “horror show”, but Ian Murray said: “I don’t agree with that.”

It gives 12 years of certainty and stability for the industry, it doesn’t change any of the deal that was put in place in 2019, which is 25% more quotas for UK and Scottish trawlers and it gives wide access, of course to the new markets of the EU, in terms of pushing away all that red tape that was there before.

Not one more fish will be taken out of Scottish waters by an EU trawler as part of this deal and that provides that stability and certainty.

We should never trust Keir Starmer. You know, he’s screwing things up domestically, so he gets on the international bandwagon.

He’s selling us out, not just on Brexit, but on Chagos and … we’re hearing all sorts of things about Gibraltar. We’ll hold them to account on this. Where Labour negotiates, Britain always seem to lose.

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Thames Water chair could face questions after comments to MPs on bonuses

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Exclusive: Sir Adrian Montague told select committee paying bonuses out of emergency £3bn loan was insisted upon by creditors

The chair of Thames Water could face more questions over his statement to parliament that large bonuses to be paid to senior bosses out of an emergency £3bn loan were insisted upon by creditors.

Sir Adrian Montague told the environment, food and rural affairs (Efra) select committee last week that the lenders had insisted that “very substantial” bonuses of up to 50% of salary should be paid to company executives from the controversial loan in order to retain key staff.

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Jailed wife of ex-Tory councillor loses sentence appeal over Southport tweet

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Lucy Connolly was imprisoned for 31 months for stirring racial hatred online after deadly knife attacks

A childminder who was jailed for 31 months after calling for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set on fire after the Southport attacks has lost an appeal against her sentence at the Court of Appeal.

Lucy Connolly, who was married to a Conservative councillor, said in an X post in July last year: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards for all I care … if that makes me racist so be it.”

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Tommy Robinson due for release in days after 18-month sentence cut

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High court reduces far-right activist’s contempt of court sentence by four months

Tommy Robinson is due to be released from prison within days after his 18-month sentence for contempt of court was cut by four months.

The high court reduced the sentence for the civil offence, for which Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was jailed in October. He was sent to prison after admitting multiple breaches of an injunction, made in 2021, that prevented him from repeating false allegations against a Syrian refugee who successfully sued him for libel.

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Mother of jailed British-Egyptian activist resumes full hunger strike

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Laila Soueif announces life-endangering action in protest over continued detention of Alaa Abd el-Fattah in Cairo

The mother of the imprisoned British-Egyptian human rights activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah has announced she has resumed a near-total hunger strike, stopping taking the 300-calorie supplements she had been consuming on her partial hunger strike for the past three months.

Since the start of her hunger strike 233 days ago, Laila Soueif, 69, has lost 36kg, about 42% of her original body weight, and now weighs 49kg. She is taking the life-endangering step in protest at the continued detention of her son in Cairo beyond his five-year sentence.

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Second person charged over fires at Keir Starmer-linked properties

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Man, 26, was arrested at Luton airport on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life

A second person has been charged over fires at two properties and a car linked to Keir Starmer, after an investigation by counter-terrorism detectives.

The Met police said Stanislav Carpiuc, a 26-year-old Romanian national, had been charged with conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.

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Bees face new threats from wars, street lights and microplastics, scientists warn

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University of Reading report says conflicts including war in Ukraine among 12 most pressing threats to pollinator

War zones, microplastics and street lights are among the emerging threats to the bee population, according to scientists.

Bee experts have drawn up a list of the 12 most pressing threats to the pollinator over the next decade, published in a report, Emerging Threats and Opportunities for Conservation of Global Pollinators, by the University of Reading.

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UK ‘the sick person of the wealthy world’ amid increase in deaths from drugs and violence

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While mortality from cancer has decreased, deaths from accidents and poisonings have risen, research finds

The UK is becoming “the sick person of the wealthy world” because of the growing number of people dying from drugs, suicide and violence, research has found.

Death rates among under-50s in the UK have got worse in recent years compared with many other rich countries, an international study shows.

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One in four pupils in England ‘disengage’ when they move to secondary, report finds

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New study found a drop in enjoyment, trust and feelings of safety after year 7 and a largely positive primary experience

One in four pupils in England “disengage” when they move up to secondary school, with enjoyment, trust and a sense of feeling safe declining sharply, according to a new report.

After a largely positive experience at primary school where children report high levels of enjoyment, there is a “steep and lasting” drop in engagement after year 7 when pupils transfer to secondary at the age of 11, the survey of 100,000 pupils in England reveals.

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Tributes paid as boy, 17, charged over death of teenager on Scottish beach

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Family of Kayden Moy, 16, say he will be ‘sorely missed’, while police continue investigation and call for information

A 17-year-old boy has been charged in connection with the death of Kayden Moy, 16, who died after a “targeted” attack on a Scottish beach.

Police were called to reports of a teenager being seriously injured at Irvine beach in North Ayrshire on Saturday at about 6.45pm.

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Netanyahu vows to ‘take control’ of Gaza as UK, France and Canada threaten action against Israel

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Key allies call escalation ‘egregious’ and promise ‘concrete’ response if Israel does not end renewed offensive and allow aid into strip

Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel will “take control” of all of Gaza, as three key allies attacked his “egregious” escalation of the military campaign and blockade on humanitarian aid.

Britain, France and Canada attacked Israel’s expansion of its war as disproportionate, described conditions in Gaza as “intolerable” and threatened a “concrete” response if Israel’s campaign continues.

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Reeves hopes hat-trick of deals shows Britain is open for business

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Impact of agreements on food, energy and defence may not be huge but chancellor believes it will draw investors to UK

Rachel Reeves joked to journalists after Monday’s EU-UK reset that trade deals were coming along “like buses”, given the agreements with India and the US that had also been sealed in the past fortnight alone.

The chancellor described the EU deal as the best that had been secured by any non-member country, but she was also keen to talk about the three successful negotiations as a package.

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EU reset deal puts Britain back on the world stage, says Keir Starmer

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UK prime minister heralds a ‘win-win’ but faces criticism for concessions on fishing rights

Keir Starmer has vowed his EU reset deal will deliver cheaper food and energy for British people, heralding a “win-win” as he sealed the high-stakes agreement with concessions on youth visas and fishing.

“Britain is back on the world stage,” the prime minister said after shaking hands on the deal with the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen in London. “It gives us unprecedented access to the EU market, the best of any country … all while sticking to the red lines in our manifesto.”

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Starmer’s post-Brexit reset offers clear benefits – but there is political risk too

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While getting UK-EU deal through parliament should be easy enough, cries of ‘betrayal’ may chime with some voters

There were two moments at the UK-EU summit where it felt as if a corner had truly been turned. It was not on agrifoods, nor youth mobility, defence or fishing.

When Keir Starmer said the UK had changed, the most symbolic evidence of that came in a press release from No 10 that set out the terms of the agreement brokered at Lancaster House.

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Charities step up pressure on Keir Starmer to scrap two-child benefit cap

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Exclusive: Survey commissioned by children’s charities shows UK voters want to see families prioritised

Charities and a Labour-aligned pressure group are ramping up calls on Keir Starmer to scrap the two-child limit on benefits, as polling shows support for action on youth poverty remains high, and is equally solid among Labour voters tempted by Reform.

As discussions continue in government ahead of the forthcoming child poverty strategy, a survey commissioned by a coalition of charities suggests voters want to see families prioritised.

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Weakening of UK EV sales rules ‘likely to result in significantly more carbon emissions’

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Analysis suggests there could be 500,000 additional plug-in hybrid electric cars on Britain’s roads by 2030

The UK government’s weakening of rules on electric car sales is likely to result in significantly more carbon emissions as sales of plug-in hybrids rise, according to analysis.

Relaxed rules could result in as many as 500,000 additional plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) on UK roads by 2030, according to modelling by T&E, a campaign group on transport and the environment. PHEVs combine a small battery with a polluting petrol engine and tend to be much more profitable than pure battery electric cars.

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At least £64bn of property in England and Wales is hidden behind opaque trusts

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Campaigners say secretive ownership structures are becoming the ‘go-to vehicle for kleptocrats’

The owners of nearly a quarter of a million properties in England and Wales worth a combined £64bn are hidden behind opaque trusts, according to research that prompts concern that such structures are the “go-to vehicle for kleptocrats” stashing money in Britain.

The government introduced a register of property held through offshore vehicles in August 2022, revealing a string of unknown owners, including high-profile figures such as Lewis Hamilton and James Dyson, as well as sanctioned Russians, Gulf royals and the Chinese state.

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Santander UK freezes salaries and cuts jobs in commercial banking arm

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Exclusive: Bank also set to slash bonuses in wider shake-up that could help make it more attractive to potential buyers

Santander UK is freezing salaries, slashing bonuses and cutting jobs across its commercial banking arm as part of a wider shake-up that could help make the bank more attractive to potential buyers.

The bank began unexpectedly changing bankers’ job titles and shuffling staff into new teams earlier this month amid a larger review of the Spanish lender’s UK business, where there is mounting frustration over regulations and costs.

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Two UK Jewish movements vote to become one progressive group

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Merger of Liberal Judaism and Reform Judaism will be first in any major religion for more than half a century

Two Jewish movements in the UK have united to form Progressive Judaism, embracing female rabbis, same-sex marriage and mixed-faith couples and representing about a third of British Jews who are affiliated to synagogues.

Liberal Judaism and Reform Judaism took the historic step of voting to unite at parallel meetings on Sunday. Each vote easily exceeded the required 75% threshold for the move, with about 95% in favour.

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Elton John calls UK government ‘absolute losers’ over AI copyright plans

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Songwriter says he thinks it is a ‘criminal offence’ to let tech firms use protected work without permission

Sir Elton John has called the UK government “absolute losers” over proposals to let tech firms use copyright-protected work without permission.

The singer and songwriter said it was a “criminal offence” to change copyright law in favour of artificial intelligence companies.

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