The 39-year-old has three weeks to sort out programme after Sajid Javid’s exit
The budget will go ahead on 11 March, the Treasury said on Tuesday, forcing the new chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to piece together a fresh tax and spending programme over the next three weeks.
A delay was expected after Sunak’s predecessor, Sajid Javid, abruptly quit his job after a demand by Boris Johnson that he sack his advisers and replace them with a team jointly managed with No 10.
Continue reading...On Monday, David Abel spoke in a video update on Facebook about the mental strain of being quarantined on a cruise ship in Japan amid the coronavirus crisis. ‘It’s all getting to us now – not just me, other passengers as well. It’s the not-knowing factor that is the real challenge,’ he said. The British passenger, who published video diaries from the Diamond Princess, tested positive for the coronavirus, along with his wife, on Tuesday
Continue reading...Bank warns of ‘meaningful’ job losses in UK and of impact of coronavirus outbreak in Asia
HSBC has said it will slash 35,000 jobs over three years as part of a major shake-up as it issued a warning over the impact of the coronavirus outbreak in Asia.
The interim chief executive, Noel Quinn, confirmed on Tuesday that plans to cut $4.5bn (£3.5bn) worth of costs would involve slashing about 15% of the group’s global workforce. “We would expect our headcount to decrease from the current level of 235,000 to be closer to 200,000 in 2022,” Quinn said.
Continue reading...Oceans are central to the story of civilisation – so why do so many of us feel disconnected from them?
It was on day 11, I think, that I stopped getting out of bed at all. I had already let my hygiene standards slip to the point that a large knot was starting to form in my hair. Later my mother would have to cut it out with scissors. She didn’t mind. We were all in the same boat.
I was nine years old, and nearly two weeks into sailing across the Atlantic with my family. My father had sailed all his life, and introduced my mother to it; and they spent years preparing to sail around the world. Including my little sister, that made four of us aboard a 52ft yacht – our home for four years from 2000, in which time we got from Dorset to New Zealand.
Continue reading...Figures obtained by GMB show safety at its UK warehouses could be worsening
More than 600 Amazon workers have been seriously injured or narrowly escaped an accident in the past three years, prompting calls for a parliamentary inquiry into safety at the online retailer’s vast UK warehouses.
Amazon, whose largest shareholder is the world’s richest man Jeff Bezos, recently launched an advertising campaign fronted by contented staff members, after a string of embarrassing revelations about working conditions.
Continue reading...Former Speaker tells Guardian Live event that the issue has been ‘weaponised’
The former Commons Speaker John Bercow has described parliamentary staff members who allege that he bullied people as “snobs and bigots”, and claimed he is the victim of a concerted campaign to destroy his reputation.
In conversation with Owen Jones at a Guardian Live event in Sloane Square in central London, he mocked those who have complained about him and denied all the allegations surrounding his behaviour.
Continue reading...Andrew Sabisky says he is stepping down as ‘contractor’ to No 10 after fierce criticism across political spectrum
A controversial new adviser to Boris Johnson resigned on Monday night after MPs and experts accused No 10 of condoning his controversial claims that intelligence is linked to race.
Andrew Sabisky, who was brought into Downing Street by Johnson’s senior aide Dominic Cummings as part of his appeal for “misfits and weirdos”, became the subject of intense media scrutiny after details emerged of his views on subjects ranging from black people’s IQs to whether benefits claimants should be encouraged to have fewer children.
Continue reading...Labour says PM’s decision not to visit flood sites or call Cobra meeting is ‘a disgrace’
Severe flood warnings remain in place and rescue operations were continuing in stricken communities on Monday evening, as the government faced criticism for its response to what has been described as unprecedented flooding in parts of the country.
With thousands of properties flooded after a month’s worth of rain fell on parts of Britain over the weekend, and more than 200 flood warnings still in place, Labour said it was “a disgrace” that the prime minister was not visiting affected towns and villages and was resisting calls to convene the Cobra emergencies committee.
Continue reading...David Frost says democratic consent would snap if UK agreed to EU alignment
The democratic consent of the British public would “snap dramatically and finally” if the UK continued to be tied to EU rules, Boris Johnson’s chief Brexit negotiator has said.
In his first public speech since his appointment to the role, David Frost said Downing Street was not engaging in game-playing by rejecting alignment with EU laws after 2020.
Continue reading...Celebrations as a TUI flight from Gatwick becomes one of the first to land in the Egyptian resort town after the bombing of a Russian airliner
British tourists have arrived on one of the first flights from the UK to the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh since restrictions were lifted.
Flights between Britain and Sharm el-Sheikh were halted in November 2015, following the bombing of a Russian airliner soon after take-off from Sharm el-Sheikh airport, which killed all 224 people on board.
Continue reading...ITV says Sunday’s Love Island will not be broadcast as calls mount for regulation of traditional and social media
Politicians have condemned press intrusion, calling for more regulation of both traditional and social media after the death of TV presenter Caroline Flack.
The former Love Island presenter is understood to have taken her own life on Saturday at her home in Islington, London. She had been charged with assaulting her partner and was due to stand trial in several weeks’ time.
Continue reading...Emmett McConomy, whose 11-year-old brother died in 1982, said cases ‘not going away’
A man whose 11-year-old brother was killed by a soldier in Northern Ireland nearly 40 years ago has warned that victims’ families “were not going to go away” if the British government tried to introduce an amnesty for military personnel.
Emmett McConomy, whose older brother Stephen was shot in the back of the head with a plastic bullet, said the new Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, needed to understand the strength of feeling among families who had not yet seen cases involving British soldiers come to court.
Continue reading...French foreign minister says it will be hard for UK to strike deal by end of year given differences
Britain and the European Union are going to rip each other apart in talks over a future trade deal, the French foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, has predicted, while also holding out hope that UK defence co-operation with Europe will continue.
Speaking at the Munich security forum, he added it would be tough for Britain to achieve its aim of a free trade deal by the end of the year given the differences between the two sides.
Continue reading...Roads shut and trains suspended as storm lashes large parts of country
The Red Cross has urged people to prepare “should the worst happen”, as water levels are expected to peak in the coming days.
Georgie Timmins, crisis response officer at British Red Cross, said:
The storms are expected to continue, and water is anticipated to be at peak levels on Monday and Tuesday. It is important people are ready should the worst happen. It’s a good idea to ensure your phone is fully charged and you have torches at hand.
We are currently responding in Shropshire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire and Gloucestershire, and we are currently ready to help in Wales, Manchester, Buckinghamshire, Lancashire and Inverness.
Our volunteers know that when people are caught up in a crisis, one person’s needs are different to the next person.
South Wales police have declared a major incident over flooding and landslides caused by Storm Dennis, with an emergency response dealing with “serious disruption”.
They said:
Due to this morning’s flooding and severe weather-related incident which have occurred overnight and through the course of the morning, a major incident was declared and South Wales police is coordinating a major response.
Continue reading...Changes to Japanese procedure could mean two more weeks on the Diamond Princess
Britons could face two more weeks trapped onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship as Japan updates its quarantine procedure in an effort to halt the rapid spread of coronavirus among passengers.
Cruise ship guests received a letter on Sunday saying that while those who tested negative for the virus would be allowed to leave on Wednesday, anyone who shared a room with a passenger who tested positive would face another two weeks onboard, starting from the date they were separated from their cabin mate.
Continue reading...High court judge intervenes to prevent victim of county lines sex exploitation being made street homeless after refusal to find her safe housing
A young and highly vulnerable British sex trafficking victim was re-trafficked by county lines drug gangs on multiple occasions after the Home Office repeatedly refused to fulfil its legal obligation to provide her with safe accommodation.
A high court judge was forced to intervene to compel the Home Office to house the woman, who was about to become street homeless.
Continue reading...Former Love Island host reported to have been found dead at east London home on Saturday
The boyfriend of TV presenter Caroline Flack, who was found dead at her home on Saturday, has said he is heartbroken by her death.
Flack, 40, was due to go on trial on 4 March for assaulting Lewis Burton, a prosecution he did not support. She had been forbidden by a judge from communicating with him before the trial.
Continue reading...A millionaire fashion executive accused of raping 10 women and girls at his Bahamas mansion reportedly hosted Prince Andrew and his family at the property in 2000.
A class action lawsuit lodged in New York City claims that Peter Nygard lured “young, impressionable, and often impoverished children and women” to his Bahamas property with cash payments and promises of modeling opportunities, only to then “assault, rape, and sodomize them”.
Continue reading...Follow the day’s developments as high winds, heavy rain and flooding expected to bring havoc in UK
There are 144 properties without power in Camborne, Cornwall, according to Western Power Distribution.
The company said they are aiming to get power back by 12:30am on Sunday.
Continue reading...Passengers on Diamond Princess liner ‘disillusioned’ with government over lack of action
Pressure is growing on the British government to airlift citizens stranded on a cruise ship stricken by coronavirus, after a Chinese tourist in France became the first person to die from the disease in Europe.
The US announced late on Friday that it would be evacuating more than 400 nationals from the quarantined ship, which has had nearly 300 confirmed coronavirus cases, and British travellers called on their government to do the same.
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