Category Archives: UK news

UK can be ‘AI sweet spot’: Starmer’s tech minister on regulation, Musk, and free speech

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Technology secretary Peter Kyle has the task of making Britain a leading player in the AI revolution, but says economic growth will not come at the cost of online safety

With the NHS still struggling, a prisons crisis still teetering and Britain’s borrowing costs soaring, there are few easy jobs going in Keir Starmer’s cabinet at present.

But even in such difficult times, the task of convincing Silicon Valley’s finest to help make Britain a leader in the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution – all while one leading tech boss uses the Labour government as a regular punching bag and others ostentatiously move closer to Donald Trump – is among the most challenging.

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Tech giants told UK online safety laws ‘not up for negotiation’

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Senior cabinet minister promises not to dilute new measures despite Zuckerberg’s attacks on countries ‘censoring’ content

Britain’s new laws to boost safety and tackle hate speech online are “not up for negotiation”, a senior government minister has warned, after Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg vowed to join Donald Trump to pressure countries they regard as “censoring” content.

In an interview with the Observer, Peter Kyle, the technology secretary, said that the recent laws designed to make online platforms safer for children and vulnerable people would never be diluted to help the government woo big tech companies to the UK in its defining pursuit for economic growth.

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Reeves’ drive for growth seeks China lifeline after UK market turmoil

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Chancellor’s mission to Beijing weighted with greater expectations

Rachel Reeves hailed a new era of “respectful and consistent future relations with China” as pressure grew on the embattled ­chancellor to deliver on her government’s central promise to fire up UK economic growth.

After meeting China’s vice-­premier, He Lifeng, in Beijing, Reeves said Britain’s relationship with the world’s second largest economy would be “frank and open on areas where we disagree”, while stressing it would be pragmatic in ­“finding opportunities for safe trade and investment”.

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Friend of British hiker missing in Italy voices ‘acceptance’ as search continues

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Joe Stone says authorities ‘trying everything’ to find Aziz Ziriat after body of Sam Harris discovered on Wednesday

A close friend of a British hiker who has been missing in the Dolomites since New Year’s Day has said “there is an acceptance that it won’t be good news” as search efforts continued.

Sam Harris, 35, and Aziz Ziriat, 36, from London, last sent messages home on 1 January and the pair did not check in to their flight home on 6 January. Friends and relatives have travelled to Italy.

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‘So immoral’: gig economy workers forced to pay fee to receive their wages

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Retail assistants on low pay using YoungOnes platform docked cash or told to wait up to 30 days for earnings

Retail assistants have accused a gig economy firm of “holding them to ransom” by making them pay a fee if they want to receive their wages within a month.

A new payment system brought in by YoungOnes, which supplies “freelance” retail assistants to many well-known high street stores, charges gig workers 4.8% of their earnings to be paid in one minute or 2.9% to be paid in three days. If they decline, they typically have to wait 30 days. Previously the workers were paid in three days, without a charge.

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Search for missing sisters in Aberdeen extended to coast

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Eliza and Henrietta Huszti last seen near Victoria Bridge in city centre in early hours of Tuesday

The search for two sisters, who went missing in Aberdeen on Tuesday morning, has been extended to the coast, police said.

Eliza and Henrietta Huszti – who are part of a set of triplets – were last seen in the city on Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.

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Protesters in Calais condemn UK policies to stop Channel crossings

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Alliance of groups from across France call for measures to make crossings safer after 77 deaths recorded in 2024

More than 70 organisations from across France willcome together on Saturday to protest in Calais about UK policies to try to stop people crossing the Channel.

At least 77 people died trying to cross the Channel in 2024, the highest number since crossings began in 2018. Non-governmental organisations that monitor these deaths believe the total figure last year was even higher, with 89 deaths at the UK-French border of people attempting to reach the UK.

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Rail passengers face disruption from Avanti strikes every Sunday until June

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Train managers on west coast mainline to take action from 12 January to 25 May in dispute over rest-day working

Passengers on Great Britain’s west coast mainline have been warned of disruption to Avanti services on every Sunday from this weekend to the end of May.

Train managers represented by the the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) have said they will strike on every Sunday from 12 January to 25 May 2025, in a dispute over their pay for working on rest days.

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‘Hotel of mum and dad’ in UK at its fullest in two decades, study finds

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Almost a fifth of adults aged 24-34 are living with parents, particularly in areas of high-cost housing

The “hotel of mum and dad” is the busiest it has been for two decades as an increasing number of young adults in the UK choose – or are forced by low wages and rising rents – to live with their parents, research has found.

The prohibitive cost of renting, let alone buying, a home explains why more twenty- and thirtysomethings are “co-residing” with family at an age when their parents would have been living independently, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said.

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Pressure on Nigel Farage as Reform UK councillors resign over his leadership

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Exclusive: Departures will add to scrutiny of party leader after Elon Musk said he was ‘not up to the job’

A group of 10 councillors representing Reform UK have given notice of their intention to resign en masse in protest at Nigel Farage’s leadership.

The resignations will add to pressure on the Reform leader after Elon Musk said he was “not up to the job”. They are timed to overshadow the party’s south-east conference this weekend.

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Almost 900 weapons seized in a year at Yorkshire young offender institution

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Weapons such as sharpened objects and rocks taken from children aged 15-18 at YOI Wetherby

Almost 900 weapons were seized in one year from children detained in a young offender institution in the north of England, a prisons watchdog has found.

In its annual report published on Friday into HM young offender institution Wetherby in West Yorkshire, the institution’s independent monitoring board found that children were in possession of a range of improvised weapons. The children told IMB they carried the weapons because they felt unsafe behind bars.

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Ukraine’s highest profile combat unit to recruit English-speaking soldiers

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Azov, a volunteer brigade, plans to form international battalion to boost numbers as Ukraine heads into fourth year of war

Ukraine’s highest profile combat unit is seeking English-speaking recruits at a time when the impending presidency of Donald Trump means that Kyiv is expected to come under intense pressure on the battlefield.

Azov, a volunteer brigade whose decade-old nationalist origins have made it a target of Russian propaganda, plans to form an international battalion to boost its numbers as Ukraine heads into a fourth year of full-scale war.

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Mark Rylance joins criticism of police ban on pro-Palestine march in London

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Protesters planned to gather outside BBC HQ, which is near a synagogue, on the Jewish holy day

Mark Rylance, the star of the BBC’s Wolf Hall, has joined the singer Charlotte Church and actor Juliet Stevenson to condemn a decision by the police to ban a pro-Palestine protest outside the corporation’s Broadcasting House headquarters.

Protesters were planning to gather in Portland Place in central London on Saturday 18 January before marching to Whitehall. A ban was imposed on Thursday by the Met, with officers citing the risk of “serious disruption” to a nearby synagogue on the Jewish holy day, as congregants attend Shabbat services.

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Three teenagers arrested after 17-year-old fatally stabbed in Bedford

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‘Shocking incident in which teenage boy has lost his life as a result of knife crime and serious youth violence,’ says DI leading the investigation

Three teenagers have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a 17-year-old was fatally stabbed near Bedford bus station, police have said.

Thomas Taylor, 17, was attacked by a group of males at 5.50pm on Wednesday as he walked along Greenhill Street, close to the town centre bus station, officers said.

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Coroner issues warning about antidepressants after suicide of royal’s husband

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Thomas Kingston, son-in-law of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, had been prescribed SSRIs

A coroner has issued a warning about the effects of antidepressants prescribed by a Buckingham Palace doctor to the son-in-law of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent before his suicide.

Thomas Kingston, 45, whose marriage to Lady Gabriella at Windsor Castle in 2019 was attended by the late Queen, killed himself last February after “suffering adverse effects of medication he had recently been prescribed”, an inquest found last month.

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MPs write to Wes Streeting asking for action plan on 14 hospitals in crisis

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Committee says it wants urgent update on support for hospitals declaring critical incidents under winter pressure

MPs have written to Wes Streeting, the health secretary, asking for his action plan to help the 14 hospitals declaring critical incidents under winter pressure.

The health and social care committee wrote to Streeting on Friday asking him to spell out “what specific immediate additional support, including financial support” would be provided to trusts declaring critical incidents.

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Family of former Leicester City owner killed in helicopter crash sue makers for £2.15bn

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Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s relatives demand compensation from Italian firm Leonardo six years after his death

The family of Leicester City’s former owner, who was killed in a helicopter crash outside the club’s stadium in 2018, have launched a lawsuit against the company which made the aircraft.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s family are suing the Italian aerospace and defence company Leonardo SpA for £2.15bn – the largest fatal accident claim in English history, according to the family’s lawyers.

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Starmer’s top aide made low-key Brussels trip as No 10’s EU reset efforts continue

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Morgan McSweeney met EU counterparts before Christmas as Downing Street poised to hire new foreign adviser

Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, made a below-the-radar trip to Brussels last month, as No 10 prepares to appoint its own foreign affairs adviser to help bolster the Downing Street policy operation.

As the UK’s attempts at a “reset” with the EU continue behind closed doors, No 10’s most senior aide made the trip to meet counterparts in Brussels before Christmas.

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Lisa Nandy rejects calls for England to boycott Afghanistan cricket match

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Culture secretary says it should go ahead despite pressure for it to be cancelled over Taliban’s treatment of women

England should be allowed to play next month’s cricket match against Afghanistan, the culture and sport secretary has said, despite calls for a boycott over the Taliban government’s treatment of women.

Lisa Nandy backed a decision by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to allow the game to go ahead, saying on Friday that cancelling it would “deny sports fans the opportunity that they love”.

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Visa-waiver system could overwhelm UK immigration services, law firm warns

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There are also fears electronic travel authorisation will threaten post-peace tourism sector in Northern Ireland

The UK Home Office’s already burdened immigration services could be overwhelmed this summer when a new visa-waiver system comes into force for European business travellers and tourists in April, a leading law firm has said.

There have also been fresh warnings that the electronic travel authorisation (ETA) requirements could threaten the post-peace tourism sector in Northern Ireland, with Americans and Europeans travelling to Dublin and beyond deciding not to bother crossing the border because of the red tape.

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