Category Archives: UK news

Asylum seeker locked out of home in London despite active claim

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Gambian woman, 46, has no access to possessions after being evicted without notice

An asylum seeker with an active case has been locked out of her Home Office accommodation in west London by a government contractor who told her: “When you’re asked to leave this country you have to leave.”

The woman, 46, who fled her country in west Africa after refusing to perform FGM on young girls, has an active asylum claim. She said her life will be at risk if she is forced to return to Gambia where FGM is prevalent because she defied her community by opposing the practice.

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Corbyn: Westminster should not block second Scotland poll

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Labour leader opposes UK breakup but says not parliament’s place to bar independence vote

Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed he believes Westminster should not block a second referendum on Scottish independence, but said he opposed the breakup of the UK.

Corbyn implicitly endorsed remarks by his close ally John McDonnell last week where he said a Labour government would not obstruct a fresh independence vote if there was sufficient support for one in the Scottish parliament.

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Gibraltar says it will free oil tanker at centre of Iran row

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Territory says Tehran has promised oil is not for Syria but US is challenging decision

Gibraltar’s chief minister has said he will allow a detained Iranian oil tanker to be released after Tehran gave the territory’s government an assurance that it would not allow its cargo to be discharged in Syria.

But Fabian Picardo acknowledged that his decision could yet be overturned after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) launched a challenge in the territory’s courts.

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Hong Kong protests: envoy says China has ‘power to quell unrest’

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China’s ambassador to UK also accuses British politicians of ‘colonial mindset’

China has issued its most pointed threat yet to pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, warning that it has “enough solutions and enough power to swiftly quell unrest” should it deem the situation “uncontrollable”.

Speaking to international media in London on Thursday, China’s ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, also accused some British politicians of harbouring a “colonial mindset” in their interventions.

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Lib Dems back Clarke or Harman over Corbyn to lead interim government

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Veteran backbenchers would garner more support as a temporary PM, says Swinson

The Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, has revealed the party’s proposals to stop a no-deal Brexit, including an emergency cross-party government, led by Kenneth Clarke or Harriet Harman, to replace that of Boris Johnson.

Speaking the day after Jeremy Corbyn urged opposition leaders to back a Labour plan to topple Johnson, via a no-confidence vote, and install him to lead a caretaker government before a Brexit-based general election, Swinson said she did not believe his plan was feasible.

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Nora Quoirin died of starvation after week in jungle, investigators believe

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Police say no evidence of kidnapping in case of London teenager who disappeared from eco-resort on 3 August

The autopsy of Nora Quoirin, the 15-year-old who went missing in the Malaysian jungle, has concluded that she likely died of starvation and stress after spending seven days in the jungle.

Speaking outside the police headquarters in Seremban, Negri Sembilan police chief Mohammad Mat Yusop said Nora had died “two to three days ago” from internal bleeding in her intestine, possibly caused by “prolonged starvation or stress”.

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Labour bloc plans ‘radical’ move to push through Brexit deal

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Call for ‘dramatic intervention’ to thwart no-deal Brexit by passing withdrawal agreement

Labour MPs opposed to a second referendum are considering a “radical and dramatic intervention” to make clear to Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson they are prepared to vote for a Brexit deal, with one estimating that dozens of colleagues are now ready to back the withdrawal agreement.

Stephen Kinnock, the Labour MP who coordinates around 30 MPs in a group called Respect the Result, said he believed that passing the withdrawal agreement was the most certain way of stopping the UK crashing out without a deal.

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‘Several lives lost’: note reveals early details of Peterloo massacre

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Magistrate’s message released to mark 200th anniversary may be first account of bloodshed

It was a defining moment in British political history, paving the way in the long struggle for democratic representation of the disenfranchised working classes.

Now, 200 years on from the Peterloo massacre in which peaceful protesters were cut down by sabre-wielding cavalry, a hastily scribbled note has been unearthed to reveal what could be the first account of the bloodshed.

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Brexit, Iran, Huawei: What John Bolton’s ‘interim deals’ could cost

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How far from European policy will the US national security adviser try to pull the UK?

John Bolton, the national security adviser to Donald Trump and one of the pre-eminent advocates of “America first”, could not have been more solicitous to the Boris Johnson government – but his overtures may come with a sting in the tail for the UK.

The messages of solidarity poured out. We are with you, he vowed, saying Brexit was in the US national security interest, with or without a deal with the EU by 31 October. Laced with a few barbs at the expense of Brussels, he presented his credentials as a pioneer Brexiter, arguing he was a leaver before there were leavers.

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UK should give British nationality to Hong Kong citizens, Tugendhat says

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Move would be to reassure Hong Kong’s people rather than facing down Chinese threats, he says

The UK should give Hong Kong citizens full UK nationality as a means of reassurance amid the current standoff with Beijing, the chair of the influential Commons foreign affairs committee has argued.

Tom Tugendhat said this should have happened to people in the formerly British-ruled territory in 1997, when it was handed back to Chinese control, and that doing so now would reassure Hong Kong’s people that they were supported by the UK.

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Risks of no-deal Brexit can be managed by government, says Rudd

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Work and pensions secretary had stated in March she believed no deal would ‘do generational damage’ to UK

Amber Rudd has said she believes the risks of a no-deal Brexit are no more than a challenge that can be countered by government action, going back on her previous assessment in which she said it would cause “generational damage” to the UK.

Related: Brexit: judge fast-tracks challenge to stop Johnson forcing no deal

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Nora Quoirin: body found in Malaysia confirmed as missing girl

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Postmortem examination to determine whether further police investigation needed

A postmortem examination will be carried out to determine the cause of death of Nora Quoirin, 15, whose body has been found in the Malaysian jungle.

The London girl’s body was discovered on Tuesday by a local team of hikers just over a mile from the resort where she had been on holiday with her family. The find brought to an end a 10-day search which had involved more than 350 volunteers and drawn offers of support from around the world.

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MPs call for tougher penalties on drivers using mobile phones

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Committee says ban on hands-free use should be considered amid rise in road deaths

Tougher restrictions on drivers using mobile phones, including extending the ban to hands-free devices, should be considered, MPs have said.

The transport select committee said using any type of mobile phone while driving had potentially catastrophic consequences. The MPs called for more severe penalties “commensurate with the risks”, as road deaths linked to phone use have risen steadily over the past decade.

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British student in South Africa killed by freak wave, inquest hears

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Sinead Moodliar, 19, was swept out to sea on sunrise beach visit while on holiday over Christmas

British university student Sinead Moodliar, who went to witness the sunrise on a South African beach, died after a powerful wave swept her from a rock and out to sea, an inquest has heard.

Moodliar, 19, a philosophy student at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, was on holiday over Christmas last year. She went to Umhlanga Rocks, a beach area near Durban, on Boxing Day when she was involved in an incident that could not have been foreseen, a hearing was told yesterday.

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No-deal Brexit battle set to come to head in September

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Opponents of chaotic exit from EU still divided on strategy to outmanoeuvre Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson is preparing for a parliamentary battle against MPs trying to block a no-deal Brexit in the second week of September, as his cross-party opponents continue to be divided about the best way to stop the UK crashing out on 31 October.

A senior government source said Downing Street believed the first legislative showdown over no deal would be on 9 September, when parliament is due to debate a progress report on power-sharing in Northern Ireland.

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Facebook denies giving contradictory evidence to parliament

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Committee chairman suggested staff knew Cambridge Analytica had misused data before Guardian revelation

Facebook executives did not give contradictory evidence to a parliamentary committee investigating the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the firm has claimed, insisting that it learned of the misuse of data only when the Guardian reported it in December 2015.

The company was responding to Damian Collins, the chairman of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee, who had sought clarification on points made by two Facebook executives before the committee.

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Regulator looking at use of facial recognition at King’s Cross site

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Information commissioner says use of the technology must be ‘necessary and proportionate’

The UK’s privacy regulator said it is studying the use of controversial facial recognition technology by property companies amid concerns that its use in CCTV systems at the King’s Cross development in central London may not be legal.

The Information Commissioner’s Office warned businesses using the surveillance technology that they needed to demonstrate its use was “strictly necessary and proportionate” and had a clear basis in law.

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UK and Ireland commemorate 1979 Fastnet race disaster

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Series of events include exhibition of portraits by Welsh artist Dan Llywelyn Hall, poetry and vigils

It was the summer storm that roared without warning into the Celtic Sea, unleashing monster waves that ambushed a fleet of 303 boats competing in the Fastnet race.

Instead of skimming along the south coast of the UK to the Fastnet Rock off south-west Ireland, sailors found themselves battling for life against howling winds and walls of water. Dozens of yachts capsized, trapping crews in their cabins and tossing others into the foam.

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Britons have spent £4bn stockpiling goods in case of no-deal Brexit

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Research suggests one in five people have a food, drinks and medicine hoard worth £380

Britons have spent £4bn stockpiling goods in preparation for a possible no-deal Brexit, new research suggests.

One in five people are already hoarding food, drinks and medicine, spending an extra £380 each, according to a survey by the finance provider Premium Credit. The survey found that about 800,000 people have spent more than £1,000 building up stockpiles before the 31 October Brexit deadline.

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