Category Archives: UK news

Bank of England cuts interest rates to 4.5% and halves UK growth forecast

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Latest quarter-point reduction comes with warning households face inflation of 3.7% by autumn

The Bank of England has cut interest rates to 4.5%, as it halved its UK growth forecasts for the year and warned households would face renewed pressure from rising prices.

With the government under fire over the sluggish economy, the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) voted by a majority of seven to two to reduce its key base rate, down from 4.75%, to provide some financial relief to borrowers.

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Hottest January on record mystifies climate scientists

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EU monitor says global temperatures were 1.75C above preindustrial levels, extending run of unprecedented highs

A run of record-breaking global temperatures has continued, even with a La Niña weather pattern cooling the tropical Pacific.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service said last month was the warmest January on record, with surface – air temperatures 1.75C above preindustrial levels.

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British conman sentenced to six years for ramming police with car in France

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Robert Hendy-Freegard, the subject of a Netflix documentary, injured two gendarmes at his home in 2022

A British conman who featured in a Netflix documentary has been sentenced to six years in prison by a French court for deliberately ramming two police officers with his car as he attempted a getaway.

Robert Hendy-Freegard, 53, nicknamed the Puppet Master because of his career as a serial swindler, made his escape after injuring the gendarmes at his home in the Creuse in central France.

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Badenoch to push for doubling of time before foreign workers can settle in UK

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Tory leader wants Labour immigration bill to include 10-year residence before granting of indefinite leave to remain

Foreign workers will have to live in the UK for 10 years without claiming any kind of benefit before being allowed indefinite leave to remain under plans announced by the Conservatives on Wednesday.

Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, said she would push for changes to the government’s immigration bill to double the length of time it takes to qualify for settled status, as part of her party’s latest promise to crack down on immigration.

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Evelyn de Rothschild left bank in 2004 after sexual misconduct complaint

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Rothschild & Co investigated complaint against the late financier in 2003 and he left shortly afterwards

The financier Sir Evelyn de Rothschild left the bank that bears his family name in 2004 after an investigation into a sexual misconduct complaint, it has emerged.

Staff at Rothschild & Co were told on Wednesday that the late banker, who was a financial adviser to Queen Elizabeth II, left in March 2004 after the complaint in late 2003.

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Grenfell Tower, where 72 people died, ‘to be demolished’, families are told

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Angela Rayner meets bereaved to tell them west London block will ‘be carefully deconstructed’

Bereaved families of the Grenfell fire are understood to have been told the tower block will be demolished.

The deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, who is also housing secretary, met with relatives and survivors on Wednesday evening.

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Naomi Campbell taking legal action in attempt to overturn charity trustee ban

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Supermodel has alleged she was victim of ‘systematic fraud’ by fellow trustee at Fashion for Relief

Naomi Campbell has launched legal action in an attempt to overturn an order banning her from running a charity, claiming she was the victim of a “systematic fraud” perpetrated by a fellow trustee who set up a fake email account to impersonate her.

The supermodel was disqualified from being a charity trustee for five years in May 2024 after a Charity Commission inquiry found widespread evidence of financial misconduct at Fashion for Relief, the poverty charity she created.

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London jewellery shop robbery was staged, defendant tells court

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Man charged over incident in Richmond says everyone had ‘consented’, including shop manager who killed himself

An alleged robbery in which £1.38m worth of watches were stolen from a shop in London was “staged” and everyone involved “consented”, including a jewellery store manager who later killed himself, a court has heard.

Junior Kunu, 30, and Mannix Pedro, 37, deny charges of conspiring with others to commit a robbery in Richmond, south-west London, on 25 May 2024. A total of 70 watches were stolen from the 247 Kettles shop.

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After experts find ‘no medical evidence’ of murder, will Lucy Letby get a retrial?

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Former nurse is serving 15 whole-life terms in prison yet an appeal is not guaranteed despite findings of expert panel

Despite 14 leading experts concluding there was “no medical evidence” that Lucy Letby murdered babies, there is no guarantee that her case will be sent back to the court of appeal – let alone quickly.

Letby’s fate now sits with the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the miscarriage of justice body that has the power to refer convictions back for appeal, and what the outcome will be remains uncertain.

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Home Office wasted nearly £100m on plans to house asylum seekers, watchdog finds

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Public Accounts Committee examined series of site purchases and found ‘troubling culture that repeatedly wastes public money’

The Home Office’s plans to house asylum seekers reveal a “dysfunctional culture of repeated mistakes and weak internal challenge” that wasted nearly £100m, parliament’s spending watchdog has concluded.

A Public Accounts Committee report said the department had a “troubling culture that repeatedly wastes public money” after examining the acquisition of the £15.4m HMP Northeye site to house new arrivals.

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‘Basic lack of decency’ driving self-harm in women’s prisons, report says

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Inspectorate points to challenges including ban on using washing machines for knickers and difficulties with family contact

Women in prison are resorting to self-harm because of “astonishing gaps” in basic services including strict time limits when contacting their children and bans from using washing machines for dirty underwear, according to a watchdog’s report.

A survey of women in prisons in England found that “the frustrations of day-to-day life” and a “lack of basic care” were driving many to hurt themselves.

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‘Watershed moment’ as three-year time limit on child rape claims scrapped in England and Wales

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Under current rules, civil child sexual abuse cases must be brought within three years of turning 18

Hundreds of child rape survivors, including those targeted by grooming gangs, are expected to pursue their abusers in the courts after ministers scrapped a three-year time limit on compensation claims.

Under reforms hailed by campaigners as a “watershed moment”, ministers said civil claims will no longer have to be brought within three years of a child abuse survivor’s 18th birthday.

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UK childhood mental health crisis to cost £1.1tn in lost pay, study finds

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Researchers estimate lifetime earnings lost as charities call for independent review of causes of the crisis

More than £1tn will be lost in lifetime earnings in the UK as a direct result of the mental health crisis in young people, research estimates.

Published to launch the new Future Minds mental health campaign, the study forecasts the financial burden of failing to tackle the mental health crisis.

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Minister promises to spend £250m to top up England’s flood defences

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Labour pledges to protect 66,500 more properties, criticising previous Tory efforts

Ministers are topping up flood defence investment in England to a “record” £2.65bn, after accusing the previous government of “putting lives at risk” by under-spending.

An extra £250m is being pledged on top of the £2.4bn previously announced, to shore up defences and protect an extra 66,500 properties from flooding over a two-year period, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said.

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Labour MP to push for better maternal mental health care after friend’s suicide

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Laura Kyrke-Smith says perinatal mental health care in England is ‘postcode lottery’, with disadvantaged women more likely to miss out

A new Labour MP will speak in parliament on Wednesday of her anguish over her friend’s suicide just 10 weeks after giving birth – despite the friend having repeatedly sought help for her anxiety.

Laura Kyrke-Smith, the MP for Aylesbury, will call for more specific mental health support to be embedded in maternity services.

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Mauritian PM expects ‘speedy resolution’ with UK over Chagos Islands

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Navin Ramgoolam says Keir Starmer expressed confidence about finalising agreement within weeks

Downing Street has refused to comment on the prospect of an imminent deal over the Chagos Islands, after the Mauritian prime minister said Keir Starmer had told him he was confident about finalising an agreement in the coming weeks.

An interim deal on returning sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, which would maintain the key UK-US military base on the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia, was agreed last year, building on work that began under the Conservative government.

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Nigel Farage says UK’s Brexit deal with EU can be improved but struggles to explain how – UK politics live

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Reform UK leader claims ‘industrial collaboration’ with EU will give UK ‘less flexibility’ to make deal with US

Nigel Farage has said the UK could be “friendly” with the EU but did not outline what kind of ties with the bloc his party would support, PA Media reports. PA says:

The Reform UK leader said that “industrial collaboration” with the EU will give the UK “less flexibility” to make a deal with the US.

His comments came in an interview on the Today programme after his party edged ahead of Labour to top a voting poll from YouGov for the first time.

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Johnnie Walker owner Diageo says Trump tariffs could hit profits by $200m

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UK drinks company considering possible price rises as shares fall despite strong Guinness sales

Diageo, the company behind Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker whisky, has said US tariffs could damage a nascent recovery in its sales and result in a $200m (£161m) hit to profits, with its tequila portfolio and Canadian whisky most affected.

The UK drinks company returned to sales growth in the latest half year, as strong performances for Guinness and tequila offset weakness in other spirits – but Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports could stop this recovery in its tracks, analysts said.

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‘No medical evidence’ to support Lucy Letby’s conviction, expert panel finds

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Babies former nurse was convicted of killing were victims of ‘bad medical care’ or died of natural causes, panel says

Babies the former nurse Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering were in fact the victims of “bad medical care” or deteriorated as a result of natural causes, an expert panel has concluded.

Outlining what the senior Conservative MP David Davis described as “one of worst injustices of recent times”, the international team told a press conference there was “no medical evidence” to support claims of deliberate harm.

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British investigative journalist banned from Cambodia

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Treatment of Gerald Flynn, who writes for the outlet Mongabay, condemned as attack on independent media

A British environmental and investigative journalist has been banned from entering Cambodia, in what press groups have condemned as yet another attack on independent media by the country’s authoritarian leaders.

Gerald Flynn, who writes for the news outlet Mongabay, was denied entry to Cambodia on 5 January as he returned from a holiday, according to the publication, which said he was forced on to a plane and flown to Thailand.

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