Senior UK rabbis come out in support of sanctions on Israeli settlements

Spiritual leaders stress diversity of views within Jewish community and warn against inaction on settler violence

Prominent British rabbis have backed Ed Miliband’s sanctions on Israeli settlements, warning that the time for inaction on settler violence must come to an end.

The intervention comes after the UK’s chief rabbi, the spiritual leader of mainstream Orthodox Jews in the UK, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, described UK sanctions against illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories as a “dark day for British Jews” and warned they could embolden people who “use hatred as a weapon against Jews”.

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Israel sanctions will not hurt intelligence sharing between spy agencies, says Miliband

UK foreign secretary says international community including US shares ‘frustration’ at Israel’s failure to constrain illegal settlers

British intelligence has been given assurances by its Israeli counterpart that information sharing with the UK will continue as before, Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary, has said.

The disclosure counters predictions that his decision to impose a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements would lead to a collapse in cooperation between the agencies.

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Miliband defends sanctions on Israeli settlements and pushes back against chief rabbi’s criticism – UK politics live

UK foreign secretary ‘regrets’ Israel’s response to ban on trade with illegal settlements but ‘proud’ of his actions

Alex Burghart, the deputy Tory leader, was giving interviews this morning. On Israel, he opened up a new line of attack against the government, accusing it of hypocrisy. This is what he told GB News.

At the same time that Labour were saying all these things about Israel in the House of Commons, they put out a communique.

They put out an account of a conversation that Andy Burnham has had with the Chinese president, and it said how constructive they wanted to be with China, how they wanted to work with China, and what a great relationship we have.

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Miliband rejects chief rabbi’s claim that West Bank sanctions put UK Jews at risk

Foreign secretary says Sir Ephraim Mirvis wrong to suggest measures against Israeli settlements will make British Jews less safe

Ed Miliband has rejected warnings from the UK’s chief rabbi that the government’s sanctions against illegal Israeli settlements will make British Jews less safe, as he stressed ministers can confront the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government while also fighting antisemitism.

The foreign secretary announced sweeping sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank on Tuesday, with the government taking the position that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory was unlawful.

An import ban on goods from illegal settlements in the occupied territories and a new ban for arms licences and other exports that “materially contribute to the occupation”.

A comprehensive sanctions regime against providing services such as construction or financing for Israeli settlements and a ban on advertising them in the UK.

Personal sanctions against key individuals accused of promoting settler violence.

A new ban for arms licences and other exports that “materially contribute to the occupation”.

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Supercar maker McLaren to create 1,000 UK jobs as part of £450m tech investment

New roles at Woking-based manufacturer will include positions for indirect and agency workers

The British supercar manufacturer McLaren is to create 1,000 jobs in a welcome boost to the UK’s struggling automotive industry.

The carmaker is creating the jobs as part of a £450m investment in its technology centre in Woking, near to the plant where it manufactures all of its vehicles.

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Ed Miliband has overturned decades of Foreign Office inertia on illegal Israeli settlements

Foreign secretary ends UK’s feigned helplessness with sanctions and description of Israel’s actions as ethnic cleansing

The indefatigable ability of UK Foreign Office ministers over decades to issue boilerplate statements of concern about the extension of illegal settlements in Israel has long been a matter of ridicule.

Even some of the Conservative ministers who issued them, notably Alan Duncan and Alistair Burt, have agreed. Duncan described the UK stance towards settlements as weak and naive, while Burt wondered at the ability of the Foreign Office to find new forms of diplomatic condemnation that never amounted to any specific action. Margaret Thatcher, often torn as prime minister between her natural sympathy for Israel and her fear of the Gulf states falling under the sway of the Soviet Union, similarly expressed her anger at the settlements.

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UK air traffic control chaos disrupts flights for hundreds of thousands of passengers

More than 1,000 flights cancelled with problems continuing on Wednesday and airlines calling for overhaul after third incident in just over three years

Flight delays and cancellations were expected to continue into Wednesday at UK airports after another air traffic control failure kept planes grounded for hours, affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers.

At least 177 flights scheduled for Wednesday to and from UK airports had been cancelled, plane tracking site Flightradar24 said, “nearly all at London Heathrow”. More than 1,000 were cancelled by about 8pm on Tuesday.

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UK to force Apple and Google to block explicit images on children’s smartphones

Lisa Nandy says government will introduce legislation after talks deadline ends without breakthrough

Apple and Google will be forced to block explicit images on children’s smartphones by law in the UK after talks failed to produce a breakthrough, the government has said.

The legislation commitment puts ministers on a collision course with two of the biggest players in Silicon Valley, months after the government announced a social media ban for under-16s.

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United Utilities fined £1m after discharging raw sewage into Lancashire coast

Sewage plume reached seven bathing waters and significantly affected water quality in June 2023

United Utilities has been fined nearly £1m after illegally discharging raw sewage into the Lancashire coastline and polluting seaside holiday locations including Blackpool.

The water company pleaded guilty to five environmental permit offences relating to a pollution incident along the Fylde coast in June 2023, and was ordered by Preston magistrates court on Tuesday to pay £964,225 in fines and costs.

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UK accuses Israeli ‘terrorists’ of ethnic cleansing in West Bank with government backing

In strongest condemnation ever by UK government, Ed Miliband announces sweeping sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements

Israeli “terrorists” are conducting ethnic cleansing in the West Bank with the tacit backing of the government, the UK foreign secretary, Ed Miliband has said, as he announced sweeping sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements.

In the strongest condemnation ever issued by the UK government, Miliband said the government would now take the official position that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank was unlawful in its entirety, saying such acknowledgment was “the least the people who face such suffering deserve. And it should be the prelude to justice.”

An import ban on goods from illegal settlements in the occupied territories.

A comprehensive sanctions regime against providing services such as construction or financing for Israeli settlements.

A ban on the advertising in the UK of illegal settlement properties.

Personal sanctions against key individuals accused of promoting settler violence.

A new ban for arms licences and other exports that “materially contribute to the occupation”.

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Majority of Tory and Reform voters do not back cuts to disability benefits, survey finds

Nearly half of respondents say spending on personal independence payments should be increased

There is little appetite for cuts to disability benefits even among Conservative and Reform voters, and proposals to reduce spending could prove politically risky, according to an authoritative national survey.

The British Social Attitudes (BSA) report found that while support for welfare spending as a whole had dipped sharply in recent years, just 7% of respondents backed cuts to disability benefits – and 49% said they should be increased.

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Cities in Great Britain most vulnerable to extreme heat revealed

OS index examines which ‘urban heat islands’ suffer the most – and which cope the best with rising temperatures

Portsmouth, Leicester, Exeter, Bristol and Nottingham will be among the cities that warm the most by the end of this century as global heating turns British cities into urban heat islands, according to research.

Analysis from Ordnance Survey (OS) has created a heat vulnerability index for all cities in Great Britain. Portsmouth, which sits on the south coast of England and is home to 208,000 people, is the most vulnerable to extreme heat today and into the future, according to the research from the OS, the Met Office and the data analysis company 4 Earth Intelligence.

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UK to adopt tougher stance on Israel with illegal settlements trade ban

Ed Miliband to reassert support for Palestinian rights and a two-state solution in move likely to draw fierce criticism from US and Israel

Ed Miliband will announce what he has described as a broad reset of the UK’s relations with Israel on Tuesday, promising the government will take a more active approach in supporting the Palestinian cause.

In an intervention that is expected to draw fierce criticism from the US and Israel, the foreign secretary will impose a UK ban on the trade in goods and some services from illegal Israeli settlements.

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Polanski faces Green rival in his pursuit of Keir Starmer’s old seat

Hamza Chowdhury says most of his fellow Green Camden councillors back him to contest 8 October byelection

Zack Polanski is facing unexpected opposition from his own party in his attempt to fight the Holborn and St Pancras byelection for the Greens, with a local councillor saying he is also seeking the nomination, and that the seat does not need “a politician you’ll only see on a leaflet”.

The intervention by Hamza Chowdhury, a Green representative on Camden council in north London, came as the date for the byelection was confirmed for 8 October, after Keir Starmer’s formal resignation as an MP.

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Plans for local government overhaul on hold after legal advice

Angela Rayner to announce review into local government shake-up as decisions on four areas withdrawn and 16 paused

Plans for a major reorganisation of local government have been put on hold after the government received new legal advice that suggested they might not comply with the law.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said the review is to ensure the process is robust and aligns with the new government’s aim to “rewire the state”, and follows “updated and privileged legal advice”.

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Sightings of Meghan at star-studded retreat fuel Cotswolds rumours

Reports of Soho Farmhouse visit add to speculation Duke and Duchess of Sussex could be settling in the area

When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex landed back in England earlier this summer, six years after they moved to California and quit as working royals, speculation was rife about where they would call home.

Now, members of the luxury countryside retreat Soho Farmhouse have said they spotted Meghan arriving for an early morning coffee, sparking speculation that the couple were settling down in the exclusive countryside enclave of north Oxfordshire. Correspondent for the Royalist Tom Sykes said the duchess was seen arriving at the Comfy Farm lounge before 9am, where she was introduced to senior staff members by name.

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Camden Green councillor says he will fight Polanski to run in Starmer’s seat – UK politics live

Hamza Chowdhury says he will challenge party leader and has received nominations from other Green councillors

Healey says Andy Burnham set out in his statement to MPs last week what he thought had gone wrong

The fundamentals of our economy [were] hollowed out through a series of past policy decisions, political power was centralised, weakening the relationships between the people, the businesses and the institutions who can make things happen beyond Whitehall. The economic enablers were privatised and outsourced, leaving accountability to a thicket of arm’s length bodies and regulators, too often without the predictability or the pace that underpins a thriving market economy. And our country was deindustrialised as the cost to make anything, to build anything here soared, and our dependence on unreliable sources grew, including in areas critical to our national security and sovereignty.

Let me be clear, I recognise that the costs of business, its energy bills, regulation, burdens, planning constraints, labour costs, have grown since Covid and I want to draw the line.

And whether it is the cost of business or the cost of living, the only way we deal with these in the long term is growth.

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Ukraine seeks to seize water company owned by billionaire family of British theatre mogul

Dispute centres on stake held by Patarkatsishvili family in bottled water firm it jointly owns with Russian oligarch

A British theatre impresario and her billionaire family are embroiled in a bitter dispute with Ukrainian authorities seeking to seize a water company they jointly own with a Russian oligarch.

The row centres on a 34% stake held in the producer of Ukraine’s biggest bottled water brands by the Patarkatsishvili family, including Liana Patarkatsishvili, who recently worked on an immersive show with Toby Jones and Meera Syal.

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Jamaican delegates arrive in UK to hand slavery reparations petition to King Charles

Slavery’s legacy continues ‘to deprive our country and our people’, says minister, as group prepares to appeal to Jamaica’s head of state

A landmark petition is to be handed to King Charles by Jamaica over slavery reparations, aiming to confront historical crimes that still disadvantage former British colonies, the Caribbean nation’s culture minister has said.

The petition will be lodged with Charles, Jamaica’s head of state, on Monday.

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Pupils with Send plans in England likely to double to one in 10 in rush for support

Schools and councils express financial concerns as EHCP applications surge before potential change in provision

Schools and councils across England are expecting the proportion of children with special needs plans to double to one in 10, with families rushing to secure support before ministers bring in changes.

Headteachers have reported an “unreal” surge in applications for education, health and care plans (EHCPs) mandating support for needs or disabilities such as speech and learning difficulties, autism or ADHD. In 2025, just one in 20 school-age children had EHCPs.

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