Category Archives: UK news

BT considers takeover move for struggling rival TalkTalk

Posted on by

TalkTalk has been hit by financial difficulties and customer exodus but it is thought no approach has been made

BT is weighing up a potential takeover of the rival telecoms and broadband company TalkTalk, which is struggling amid financial difficulties and a customer exodus.

The UK’s biggest broadband provider is understood to have discussed the strategic possibility of buying TalkTalk. However, it is understood no approach has been made or talks held with TalkTalk, and that bankers have not been asked to draw up takeover plans.

Continue reading...

Fire breaks out at Larne leisure centre as Antrim unrest enters third night

Posted on by

Local MLA blames ‘masked thugs’ for attack on centre that had been hosting people in need after Ballymena rioting

A fire broke out at a leisure centre during a third night of disorder in Northern Ireland on Wednesday.

People wearing masks smashed windows at the Larne leisure centre in County Antrim and set fires outside which spread inside the building.

Continue reading...

Rachel Reeves to unveils £39bn housing boost in spending review shake-up

Posted on by

Chancellor promises biggest investment in social and affordable homes in a generation to hit 1.5m target

Rachel Reeves will raise government spending on affordable housing by nearly double on Wednesday, providing a major boost to the housebuilding sector and bringing the government’s housing targets a step closer.

The chancellor will announce nearly £40bn worth of grants to be spent over 10 years for local authorities, private developers and housing associations – a major increase on the previous programme.

Continue reading...

UK media regulator investigates possible online safety breaches at 4chan

Posted on by

Ofcom looks into whether 4chan and file-sharing services failed to put measures to protect users from illegal content

Britain’s media regulator, Ofcom, on Tuesday launched nine investigations into the internet message board 4chan as well as several file-sharing services over possible breaches of online safety laws.

Britain’s Online Safety Act, passed in 2023, sets tougher standards for platforms to tackle criminal activity, with an emphasis on child protection and illegal content.

Continue reading...

Cheaper imported chicken and beef increasingly seen in UK supermarkets

Posted on by

Grocers turning to Australia, Poland and Uruguay for meat, prompting claim they are undermining British farmers

Cheap chicken and beef from Australia, Poland and Uruguay is on the rise on UK supermarket shelves, according to the National Farmers’ Union, as supermarkets look for money-saving options.

The NFU regularly monitors supermarket shelves and notes that Morrisons is now selling raw chicken from Poland in its poultry aisle. Chicken in Poland is generally produced to different standards from those in the UK, and is cheaper as a result. Morrisons requires that for its UK chicken, poultry must be kept at a maximum stocking density of 30kg/m2, giving the chickens more space to roam. In Poland, this is up to 39kg/m2.

Continue reading...

Survivors of Ireland’s mother and baby homes risk losing UK benefits over compensation

Posted on by

Campaign pushes to change law that could lead to survivors living in UK being disqualified from means-tested benefits

Survivors of Ireland’s mother and baby homes are being “retraumatised” by the prospect of losing benefits in the UK if they accept compensation from the Irish state, Westminster has been told.

The warning comes amid a campaign backed by representatives of almost every political party in the UK and figures including Steve Coogan, who starred in Philomena, a film about the mother and baby homes scandal.

Continue reading...

Loss of data relating to inquiry at NHS trust most likely deliberate, say police

Posted on by

Nottingham university hospitals is subject of maternity care investigation involving nearly 2,500 cases

A missing data file containing the details of hundreds of maternity cases was most likely deleted “intentionally or maliciously”, a police investigation has concluded.

Nottinghamshire police began an investigation in February into the temporary loss of the computer file at Nottingham university hospitals (NUH) NHS trust.

Continue reading...

UK sanctions two far-right Israeli ministers for inciting West Bank violence

Posted on by

Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich face travel bans and asset freezes as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway also impose measures

The UK has been joined by Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway in placing sanctions on two Israeli government ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, largely for inciting violence against Palestinians in their campaign to gain control of new settlements in the West Bank.

Ben-Gvir, the security minister in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, and Smotrich, the finance minister, will face travel bans and have any assets in the five countries frozen. It was stressed that they were being sanctioned in their personal capacity, placing no restrictions on the ministries they lead. Netanyahu has promised to retaliate.

Continue reading...

Eurostar vows to run direct trains from UK to Germany and Switzerland

Posted on by

Cross-Channel rail operator, which is trying to fend off rivals for its London depot space, regards early 2030s as feasible

Eurostar has vowed to run direct trains from the UK to Germany and Switzerland, as it attempts to fend off potential competitors eyeing its London depot space.

The cross-Channel rail operator’s chief executive, Gwendoline Cazenave, said she had no doubt the direct services would run in the early 2030s despite the failure of previous ventures to connect London and Frankfurt.

Continue reading...

Public disorder breaks out in Northern Ireland town Ballymena after alleged sexual assault

Posted on by

Police in Northern Ireland say a number of missiles had been thrown towards officers and damage to properties had been reported

Public disorder broke out in Ballymena in Northern Ireland, with police saying a number of missiles had been thrown towards officers after crowds gathered near the site of an alleged sexual assault in the town.

The unrest follows a protest in the area, about 30 minutes’s drive from the capital city of Belfast, earlier on Monday evening, the police statement said, adding damage had been reported to a number of properties.

Continue reading...

Children to have free bus travel in west of England during summer holidays

Posted on by

About 150,000 under-16s will benefit across West of England combined authority and North Somerset

Children under the age of 16 will be able to travel for free on buses in the west of England during the school summer holidays in a move benefiting about 150,000 young people.

The West of England combined authority (Weca) – covering Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire – plus North Somerset will allow children aged from five to 15 to travel for free with no bus pass or registration required.

Continue reading...

Sizewell C power station to be built as part of UK’s £14bn nuclear investment

Posted on by

Ed Miliband promises to ‘get Britain off the fossil fuel rollercoaster’ with new plant expected to create 10,000 jobs

The biggest nuclear programme in a generation will “get Britain off the fossil fuel rollercoaster”, the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has said, announcing £14.2bn to build a new nuclear power station and a drive to build small modular reactors.

The multibillion-pound investment at Sizewell C on the Suffolk coast, which has been long expected, will create 10,000 jobs and power the equivalent of 6m homes.

Continue reading...

Russia could be ready to attack Nato within five years, says secretary general

Posted on by

In speech in London Mark Rutte says he expects alliance members to agree to raise military spending to 5% of GDP

Russia could be ready to attack Nato within five years and leaders of the western alliance are expected to agree to increase military spending to 5% of GDP this month to contain the threat, the alliance’s secretary general has said.

Mark Rutte said in a speech in London on Monday that Nato needed “a quantum leap in our collective defence”, which would include significant rearmament to deter an increasingly militarised Russia.

Continue reading...

France to use UK drama Adolescence to teach teenagers about toxic masculinity

Posted on by

French education ministry follows Britain and Netherlands in incorporating Netflix hit into school curriculums

France has followed the UK and the Netherlands in allowing the Netflix drama Adolescence to be used in secondary schools as part of efforts to teach teenagers about toxic masculinity and online harms.

The French education ministry will offer schools five classes based on excerpts from the critically acclaimed mini-series, which has provoked a global debate about the impact on young boys of misogynistic content online and on social media.

Continue reading...

Winter fuel payments U-turn likely to lead to higher taxes or other welfare cuts, says IFS director – UK politics live

Posted on by

Treasury says move to restore the funding for most pensioners will cost around £1.25bn

The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are both trying to take credit for the winter fuel payments U-turn by the government.

This is from Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader.

Keir Starmer has scrambled to clear up a mess of his own making. I repeatedly challenged him to reverse his callous decision to withdraw winter fuel payments, and every time Starmer arrogantly dismissed my criticisms.

This humiliating U-turn will come as scant comfort to the pensioners forced to choose between heating and eating last winter. The prime minister should now apologise for his terrible judgement.

Finally the chancellor has listened to the Liberal Democrats and the tireless campaigners in realising how disastrous this policy was, but the misery it has caused cannot be overstated.

Countless pensioners were forced to choose between heating and eating all whilst the government buried its head in the sand for months on end, ignoring those who were really suffering.

Continue reading...

Lex Greensill says SoftBank managers ‘felt threatened’ by his links to founder

Posted on by

Financier tells court he travelled to Tokyo ‘often weekly’ for mentoring sessions with Masayoshi Son

The financier Lex Greensill has told a court that senior managers at SoftBank “felt threatened” by his relationship with Masayoshi Son, the founder of the Japanese tech investor that pumped hundreds of millions of dollars in his specialist lender before its collapse.

Greensill said he travelled to Tokyo “often weekly” for in-person mentoring sessions with the billionaire founder, who he dined with and referred to by the Japanese honorific “Son-san”. Greensill made the comments in his first public courtroom appearance since the devastating demise in 2021 of his company, which counted former prime minister David Cameron as an adviser.

Continue reading...

Nigel Farage’s pitch for Welsh elections: bring back coalmining

Posted on by

Reform leader says steel and coal industries can be revived but does not say how beyond ‘scrapping net zero’

Nigel Farage has demanded the reopening of domestic coalmines to provide fuel for new blast furnaces, arguing that Welsh people would happily return to mining if the pay was sufficiently high.

Speaking at an event in Port Talbot, the south Wales town traditionally associated with the steel industry, the Reform UK leader said it was in the “national interest” to have a guaranteed supply of steel, as well as UK-produced fuel for the furnaces, a close echo of Donald Trump’s repeated pledges to return heavy industry to the US.

Continue reading...

Rachel Reeves in standoff over policing and council budgets days before spending review

Posted on by

Chancellor still at negotiating table on Sunday as Home Office demands more cas

Rachel Reeves has been locked in a standoff over the policing and council budgets just days before this week’s spending review, which is set to give billions to the NHS, defence and technology.

Yvette Cooper’s Home Office and Angela Rayner’s housing and local government ministry were the two departments still at the negotiating table on Sunday fighting for more cash, after weeks of trying to reach a settlement.

Continue reading...

Nottingham victim’s parent complains about ‘offensive’ IOPC meeting

Posted on by

Father of Grace O’Malley-Kumar, killed by Valdo Calocane, said meeting with a director of police watchdog should not have begun with a prayer

The family of a student killed in the Nottingham attacks have formally complained to the police watchdog over an “offensive” meeting with one of its directors.

Valdo Calocane killed Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber and Ian Coates in a spate of attacks in the city in June 2023. He was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order after pleading guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility as a result of paranoid schizophrenia and three counts of attempted murder.

Continue reading...

Cuts to UK’s global vaccination funding would risk avoidable child deaths, experts warn

Posted on by

Exclusive: Scientists also say any reduction in Foreign Office funding for vaccine alliance Gavi would harm UK’s soft power

Any cut in UK funding to a global vaccination group would damage soft power and could make British less resilient to infectious diseases, as well as causing avoidable deaths among children, leading vaccine and aid experts have warned.

Scientists including Sir Andrew Pollard, who led the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, said a major cut in money for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) could also make the UK less able to respond to a future pandemic.

Continue reading...