Category Archives: UK news

Rachel Reeves ‘missed opportunity’ to raise £900m from online casinos

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Labour’s links to gambling industry questioned again after decision not to raise tax rate for online gaming

Rachel Reeves has been criticised over a “missed opportunity” to raise £900m from online casinos in her first budget as chancellor, amid concerns about the Labour party’s ties to the £11bn-a-year gambling sector.

Both the Liberal Democrats and Derek Webb – one of Labour’s largest donors – questioned the chancellor’s rejection of proposals to double remote gaming duty (RGD), levied on online games of chance, from 21% to 42%.

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Police ask public not to share images of man in fatal bus collision in Edinburgh

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‘Distressing’ images and videos were circulating after 74-year-old was struck by a single-decker in Cowgate area

Police have asked the public to stop sharing “distressing” images and videos after a man died in Edinburgh on Saturday evening.

The 74-year-old man was struck by a single-decker bus in the Cowgate area of the city, when the streets were busy with weekend revellers.

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Covid bereaved angered by Badenoch’s ‘insulting’ Partygate remarks

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Families group calls Tory leader ‘deeply misguided’ after telling BBC that Boris Johnson-era scandal was ‘overblown’

Families bereaved by the Covid pandemic say they feel insulted by Kemi Badenoch’s claim that the Partygate scandal was “overblown”.

The new Conservative party leader also told the BBC that Boris Johnson had fallen into a “trap” of breaking lockdown rules that should never have been introduced.

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Kemi Badenoch says Partygate scandal was ‘overblown’

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New Tory leader calls Boris Johnson a ‘great prime minister’ who fell into a ‘trap’ over Covid rules

The new Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, has said the Partygate scandal was “overblown” as she rejected the need to “churn over” everything that went wrong with previous Tory prime ministers.

Badenoch won the party leadership on Saturday and said she was going to be “honest” about what went wrong in the party under her predecessors.

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Revealed: billionaires are ‘ultimate beneficiaries’ linked to €3bn of EU farming subsidies

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Thousands of small farms have closed according to analysis of official but opaque data from EU member states

The European Union gave generous farming subsidies to the companies of more than a dozen billionaires between 2018 and 2021, the Guardian can reveal, including companies owned by the former Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš and the British businessman Sir James Dyson.

Billionaires were “ultimate beneficiaries” linked to €3.3bn (£2.76bn) of EU farming handouts over the four-year period even as thousands of small farms were closed down, according to the analysis of official but opaque data from EU member states.

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Boy, 14, charged with attempted murder after stabbing of girl, 13, near Hull

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Young victim found beside A63 in Hessle early Friday morning with lacerations to neck, stomach, chest and back

A 14-year-old boy has been charged with attempted murder after a 13-year-old girl was stabbed in the neck, stomach, chest and back near Hull on Friday morning.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has also been charged with possession of a bladed article.

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King and Prince William’s estates ‘making millions from charities and public services’

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Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster likely to make at least £50m from leasing land to services such as NHS and schools, according to investigation

King Charles and Prince William’s property empires are taking millions of pounds from cash-strapped charities and public services including the NHS, state schools and prisons, according to a new investigation.

The reports claim the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, which are exempt from business taxes and used to fund the royals’ lifestyles and philanthropic work, are set to make at least £50m from leasing land to public services. The two duchies hold a total of more than 5,400 leases.

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Labour challenges Badenoch to back billions for public services and tax rises

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Rachel Reeves throws down budget gauntlet to new Tory chief as party’s first black leader is congratulated on win

Labour has thrown down an immediate challenge to the new Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, to back Rachel Reeves’s budget plans for big increases in tax, spending and borrowing, as a huge political divide threatened to open up over economic policy and the future of public services.

All the main party leaders congratulated Badenoch on Saturday on becoming the first black leader of a main UK party after she stormed to victory over former immigration minister Robert Jenrick with 56.5% of the vote among Conservative party members.

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Footage shows arrest of Sara Sharif’s alleged killers on plane from Pakistan

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Ten-year-old’s stepmother says ‘I think you’re looking for us’ in bodycam footage played to jurors during trial

Footage of the moment police boarded a plane to arrest the alleged killers of Sara Sharif has been shown to jurors, showing the 10-year-old’s stepmother saying to officers: “I think you’re looking for us.”

The exchange was captured on cameras worn by officers and played in court during their trial.

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Devon cliff collapse leaves Sidmouth cottage teetering by 400ft drop

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Council closes coastal path and warns beachgoers to stay clear after landslip at Jacob’s Ladder Beach

The views from the old thatched cottage perched on top of Sidmouth cliffs in Devon have always been spectacular.

Now, though, they are downright terrifying after part of the 185m-year-old sandstone cliff collapsed, leaving the period property teetering on the edge of a 400ft drop.

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Tory leadership election live: Kemi Badenoch elected new Conservative leader

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Badenoch says Tories need ‘a clear plan to change this country by changing the way that government works’

Here are the results from previous Conservative leadership contests, and from the final MPs’ ballot of this contest, that will help put today’s results in context.

2024 contest

The choice is between two people who each played their part in 14 years of Conservative chaos and decline, and who have refused to apologise it.

Whoever wins, they have learnt nothing.

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Kemi Badenoch wins Tory leadership election

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Conservative party announces Badenoch has beaten rival Robert Jenrick in ballot of party members

Kemi Badenoch is the new Conservative party leader after defeating Robert Jenrick in a members’ vote, becoming the first Black leader of a major UK party and the fourth woman to lead the Tories.

Badenoch took just over 56% of the 95,000 votes, in a poll that had a 73% turnout of eligible members. This amounts to the narrowest win of the four since the party changed its rules to allow party members the final say in contested leadership elections.

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Hard to overstate challenges Kemi Badenoch faces as leader of the opposition

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There are questions over whether new Tory leader can hold splintered party together, or even piece together a worthy shadow cabinet

Kemi Badenoch might have avoided the cursed 52%-48% ratio which has riven the Conservative party before, but the close-run nature of her 56.5% winning margin in the Tory members’ vote shows the scale of the task before her.

It is hard to overstate the challenges Rishi Sunak’s replacement faces, even setting aside the much-cited fact that the last new UK leader to take a party directly from an election defeat to government was Margaret Thatcher in 1979.

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UK schools boost maternity pay to stem exodus of female teachers in their 30s

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Sector faces ‘catastrophic loss’ as more than 9,000 thirtysomething women leave state education in a year

Schools across England are ramping up maternity pay and offering flexible working in a bid to stem the exodus of thousands of women in their 30s from teaching.

In Wednesday’s budget, Rachel Reeves confirmed she would fund the recruiting of 6,500 new teachers by pressing ahead with imposing VAT on private school fees. Yet heads and charities are warning that with more than 9,000 women aged between 30 and 39 having left state education last year, the government will not fix the teacher shortage unless it also acts to stop experienced women leaving.

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‘You have to disguise your human form’: how sea eagles are being returned to Severn estuary after 150 years

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Use of bird hand-puppets to rear young among innovative methods unveiled as part of project to restore species

Sea eagles were last seen soaring over the shimmering mud flats and brackish tidal waters of the Severn estuary more than 150 years ago. Now wildlife charities have unveiled innovative plans to bring the raptor back to the estuary, which flows into the Bristol Channel between south-west England and south Wales, by 2026.

“Sea eagles used to be common in these regions. But they were wiped out through human persecution,” says Sophie-lee Williams, the founder of Eagle Reintroduction Wales, which is leading the project. “We strongly believe we have a moral duty to restore this lost native species to these landscapes.”

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Scottish comedian Janey Godley dies aged 63

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Godley, whose comedy drew upon her Glasgow upbringing, died ‘surrounded by her loved ones’, her management says

Janey Godley, the Scottish comedian and author whose quick wit led her to swap pint-pulling in Glasgow for international standup tours, has died aged 63.

She died in a hospice “surrounded by her loved ones”, her management said on Saturday. Godley had announced she was receiving palliative care in September after her terminal cancer spread.

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Boy, 15, who fatally stabbed teenager he did not know in Birmingham is jailed for life

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Muhammad Hassam Ali, 17, was killed by stranger after a four-minute conversation in city centre

A 15-year-old boy who followed a teenager he did not know through Birmingham city centre and stabbed him to death after a four-minute conversation has been jailed for life with a minimum of 13 years.

Muhammad Hassam Ali, known as Ali, was 17 when he died in hospital on 20 January, hours after he and his friend were confronted by two masked 15-year-old boys they had never met as they sat in Victoria Square, drinking hot chocolate and chatting about cricket.

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Man jailed for claiming he had fought for Wagner group in Ukraine

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Piotr Kucharski wore insignia for proscribed terror group on combat clothing at Suffolk Viking re-enactment

A builder has been jailed for claiming at a Viking re-enactment that he had fought for the Wagner group in Ukraine.

Piotr Kucharski, 49, wore combat clothing bearing badges with insignia for the proscribed terror organisation to an event in Stonham Aspal, in Suffolk.

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Wandsworth escape accused says it was ‘foolish’ to jail him with his ‘skill set’

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Daniel Khalife, 23, says he absconded because he was ‘terrified’ of being locked up with dangerous offenders

A former British soldier has told a jury he did not hand himself in after he escaped from prison because he was “finally demonstrating what a foolish idea it was” to imprison someone with his “skill set”.

Daniel Khalife, 23, told the court he absconded from Wandsworth prison while on remand because he was “terrified” of being locked up with “serious sex offenders” and “terrorists” who wanted to kill him, and that he did not think his imprisonment would be in the public interest.

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Crown court backlog in England and Wales ‘could hit 100,000 without radical overhaul’

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Chief inspector raises prospect of judge-only trials and greater use of magistrates to reduce prosecutors’ caseloads

The backlog of cases in crown courts in England and Wales could hit 100,000 unless radical action is taken to overhaul the criminal justice system, a watchdog has said.

Anthony Rogers, the chief inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Serious Fraud Office (SFO), said prosecutors’ caseloads were already beyond what had been seen before and he feared the situation could deteriorate.

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