Category Archives: UK news

Tommy Robinson jailed for 18 months after admitting contempt of court

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Far-right activist sentenced over false claims about refugee and ordered to pay costs of £80,350.82

The far-right activist Tommy Robinson has been jailed for 18 months for contempt of court for repeating false allegations against a Syrian refugee, in breach of an injunction.

He was told that “nobody is above the law” by a judge who said the “flagrant” breaches had been done in a “sophisticated” way to ensure the false claims would achieve “maximum coverage”, reaching tens of millions of people.

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Mike Amesbury urged to resign as MP after ‘bridge row’ altercation

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Witness reportedly says Runcorn and Helsby MP and second man were arguing about temporary bridge closure

The Labour MP who punched a constituent in the early hours of Saturday morning has been urged to resign, as it was reported that the pair rowed over the closure of a local bridge.

Mike Amesbury was suspended from the party over the weekend and has had the whip withdrawn after videos emerged of the altercation in Frodsham, in his constituency in Cheshire.

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Lindsay Hoyle criticises chancellor Rachel Reeves for early disclosure of budget details – UK politics live

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Speaker of the House of Commons says it is ‘evident’ Reeves made significant policy announcements in the media, rather than parliament

Jeremy Corbyn and the independent alliance of MPs have issued a letter ahead of the budget with five things they are asking Chancellor Rachel Reeves to implement.

Saying “We have the means to end poverty, we just need the political will”, Corbyn listed five priorities:

Scrap the two-child benefits cap

Reverse cuts to winter fuel

Tax wealth

Protect welfare

Invest in a greener future

It is a national scandal that 4.2 million children and 2.1 million pensioners are living in poverty in the sixth richest country in the world.

You have previously told the British public to prepare for “difficult decisions” to repair this nation’s finances.

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Cheese firm hails ‘overwhelming’ response after £300,000 theft

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Owners of Neal’s Yard Dairy say they have heard from ‘a lot of incredible people’ since losing 950 wheels of cheddar

The owners of Neal’s Yard Dairy have said they have had an “overwhelming” response after it emerged that more than 22 tonnes of cheddar had been stolen from the London cheese specialist.

The company delivered 950 wheels of cheddar – reported to be worth as much as £300,000 – to an alleged fraudster posing as a wholesale distributor for a major French retailer. The cheese is believed to have been spirited away to Russia or the Middle East, according to suppliers to the company who were caught up in the scam on 21 October.

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‘Cock-up with the comms’: how Labour announced five non-existent freeports

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Erroneous announcement traced back to briefing note prepared by Treasury officals, ahead of PM’s Samoa trip

When Keir Starmer announced a shake-up in his No 10 operation last month he hoped to put an end to the missteps of his first few months in office. But an embarrassing error by Downing Street this weekend demonstrates how many pitfalls there are for a new government still learning the ropes.

In a press release on Friday, Downing Street said five new freeports would be announced in the budget. The Guardian and other outlets covered the news, which was given first to reporters who had travelled with Starmer to Samoa for the Commonwealth summit. Both the prime minister and his aides answered questions on the policy they had unveiled.

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Police viewed sensitive files on Sarah Everard out of ‘curiosity’, panel hears

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Seven Met officers accused of accessing X-rays and witness information after Wayne Couzens was arrested

Police viewed confidential information about the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard such as her X-rays out of “curiosity”, a disciplinary hearing heard.

Seven Metropolitan police officers were accused of looking at sensitive information relating to the case after the arrest of the firearms officer Wayne Couzens, the Times reported.

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Sally Rooney, Rachel Kushner and Arundhati Roy call for boycott of Israeli cultural institutions

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The authors are among 1,000 books industry figures pledging not to work with any publishers, festivals or publications ‘complicit in violating Palestinian rights’

Sally Rooney, Arundhati Roy and Rachel Kushner are among more than 1,000 writers and publishing professionals who have signed a letter pledging to boycott Israeli cultural institutions that “are complicit or have remained silent observers of the overwhelming oppression of Palestinians”.

Signatories to the pledge say they will not work with Israeli publishers, festivals, literary agencies and publications that are “complicit in violating Palestinian rights”, including operating “discriminatory policies and practices” or “whitewashing and justifying Israel’s occupation, apartheid or genocide”.

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London conference hears UK and Israeli criticism of conduct of Gaza war

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Speakers at event call for commitment to a two-state solution and urge Labour government to do more

Criticism of the Israeli government and calls for tolerance and a commitment to a two-state solution were the major themes of an event in London on Sunday organised by the left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The conference, titled Israel After October 7th: Allied or Alone?, featured speakers from across Israeli and UK politics, academia and media. It served in part to show the extent to which some members of the Jewish diaspora have been traumatised not just by the horrors of 7 October but also the response of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

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Hedgehogs ‘near threatened’ on red list after 30% decline over past decade

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The mammals were once common across Europe but urban development has pushed them towards extinction

Hedgehogs are now listed as “near threatened” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list after a decline in numbers of at least 30% over the past decade across much of their range.

While hedgehogs were once common across Europe, and were until now listed as of “least concern” on the red list, they are being pushed towards extinction by urban development, intensive farming and roads, which have fragmented their habitat.

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Researchers study treatment for chronic pain in childhood cancer survivors

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Team at Nottingham Trent University is investigating how chemotherapy in early life could damage nerve cells

Treatments that could help alleviate the chronic pain experienced by thousands of childhood cancer survivors are being investigated by scientists and researchers in the UK.

About eight out of 10 children survive their cancer for 10 years or more but more than half of them report delayed and ongoing pain in adulthood.

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London’s Aim shrinks to smallest since 2001 amid fears of tax relief changes

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UHY Hacker Young says 92 companies have delisted and only 10 floated on junior stock market in past year

The UK’s Alternative Investment Market (Aim) has shrunk to its smallest size in 23 years as business owners and investors anticipate an abolition of inheritance tax relief in the budget this week.

The accountancy group UHY Hacker Young calculated that 92 companies have delisted from Aim, London’s junior stock market, in the past year, reducing the total number of companies on Aim to 695.

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Keir Starmer vows to ‘embrace harsh light of fiscal reality’ ahead of budget

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PM will defend Labour plans in speech and insist working people need better public services more than lower taxes

Keir Starmer will promise to “embrace the harsh light of fiscal reality” on Monday as his chancellor prepares to unveil a budget that includes billions of pounds’ worth of tax rises and spending cuts.

The prime minister will give a speech in the West Midlands defending Labour’s approach to the economy, as Rachel Reeves prepares to announce what she promises will be as momentous a budget as any in the party’s history.

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Labour suspends MP Mike Amesbury after video appears to show him punching man

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Footage appears to show MP for Runcorn and Helsby knocking man to ground before aiming six more blows at his head

Labour has suspended the whip from the MP Mike Amesbury after footage appeared to show him punching a man to the ground, the party said.

A video published by the Mail appeared to show Amesbury, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, hitting the man in the face and knocking him to the floor, before standing over him and aiming six more blows at his head.

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Keir Starmer appoints former Blair and Brown aide as his political director

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Claire Reynolds, the director of Labour Women’s Network, will take on task of liaison between No 10, party and MPs

Keir Starmer has appointed a former aide to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as his new political director in Downing Street.

The prime minister has given the senior role to Claire Reynolds, the director of Labour Women’s Network, who was credited with helping get 100 new female MPs elected this summer.

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OBR to publish breakdown of claimed £22bn ‘black hole’ on budget day

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Former chancellor Jeremy Hunt says decision to publish findings of review on Wednesday is ‘significant concern’

Britain’s fiscal watchdog is to publish a detailed breakdown of the £22bn “black hole” that Labour says it inherited after Rachel Reeves presents the budget on Wednesday.

The Office for Budget Responsibility will release the conclusion of its review of how the forecast for departmental spending for its last economic and fiscal outlook, published for the March budget, was prepared.

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Cutting off Unrwa would deeply harm Israel’s reputation, says UK minister

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Hamish Falconer says legislation under consideration by Knesset is ‘neither in Israel’s interest nor realistic’

Israel’s reputation as a democracy would be “deeply harmed” if the Knesset pressed ahead with bills this week that would end all Israeli government cooperation with the Palestinian relief agency Unrwa, the UK’s Middle East minister has said.

Hamish Falconer said such a move at a time when the humanitarian crisis in Gaza was catastrophic and worsening would “neither be in Israel’s interest or realistic”.

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Scheme to boost French school trips to Britain ‘at risk’ under new UK entry rules

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Trade body for France’s travel industry reportedly writes to UK home secretary over concerns for programme’s future

A scheme designed to boost the numbers of French children able to travel to Britain for school trips is reportedly in peril as a result of an overhaul of entry requirements in the UK.

New rules for French school trips were introduced in December last year after a meeting between the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the then UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak.

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Man dies while trying to cross Channel to UK

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Forty-year-old has cardiac arrest after boat carrying 50 people deflates shortly after leaving France

A 40-year-old man died on Sunday trying to cross the Channel from northern France to the UK.

According to the prefecture in Calais, the man was of Indian heritage and had a cardiac arrest after the boat he was in with about 50 other men, women and children deflated minutes after leaving the French shore.

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Stop punishing doctors who take part in climate protests, regulator told

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Hundreds of health workers sign letter to General Medical Council calling for halt to suspensions as GP faces jail for activism

Hundreds of health workers have called on the General Medical Council to stop suspending doctors imprisoned for peaceful climate activism ahead of a trial which could see the first jailing of a working GP for a non-violent climate protest in the UK.

Two retired GPs have been suspended by GMC-convened tribunals this year after receiving short sentences for non-violent offences during Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain protests in 2021 and 2022. The medical regulator did not express concerns about the doctors’ clinical capabilities but said their actions undermined public confidence in the profession.

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Change drug policy or risk more poisoning deaths, UK government warned

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Experts call for consumption rooms and wider testing of substances, as number of people dying hits new high

Experts in drug addiction have warned the government must take a different approach towards illegal substance use, or risk an increasing number of deaths from drug poisonings.

Data published by the Office for National Statistics last week showed that the number of people dying as a result of drug poisoning had reached the highest level on record.

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