Category Archives: UK news

Labour government discussed Tanzania asylum camp plan in 2004, files show

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Newly released files show proposals to divert £2m – earmarked to prevent conflict in Africa – to fund scheme

Tony Blair’s government discussed diverting £2m earmarked to prevent conflict in Africa in order to fund a controversial pilot scheme to process and house asylum-seekers in Tanzania, newly released government files show.

Under the scheme, Britain would have offered Tanzania an extra £4m in aid if it opened an asylum camp to house people claiming to be Somalian refugees while their applications to live in Britain were assessed.

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Welsh ambulance service declares ‘critical incident’ after demand soars

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Patients waiting many hours for ambulances to arrive, while those phoning 999 struggle to get through

A “critical incident” was declared by the Welsh ambulance service on Monday evening due to significantly increased demand and extensive handover delays.

The ambulance service, which covers 3 million-plus people across Wales, said more than 340 calls were waiting to be answered at the time the critical incident was declared.

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Post Office campaigners vow to ‘never give in’ after receiving OBEs

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Former post office operators recognised in new year honours list for services to justice

Campaigners for justice in the Post Office scandal have said they will “never give in” after receiving OBEs in the new year honours list.

Lee Castleton, Seema Misra, Chris Head and Jo Hamilton were all honoured for services to justice. The lead campaigner, Sir Alan Bates, was knighted earlier this year.

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Sadiq Khan, Stephen Fry and Emily Thornberry make new year honours list

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Mayor of London ‘truly humbled’ to be made a knight as authors, actors and sporting stars receive honours

Sadiq Khan and Stephen Fry received knighthoods along with the former England manager Gareth Southgate while Emily Thornberry became a dame in the first new year honours list since Labour’s general election win.

The mayor of London, who secured a record third term in City Hall this May, said he was “truly humbled” by the honour. Fry, who first made his name as one half of a double act with Hugh Laurie in the late 1980s, said he had felt “startled and enchanted” on receiving the news.

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UK employers ‘risk losing good people’ without policies on infertility, say managers

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Survey by Chartered Management Institute finds only 19% of companies have a policy in place

Employers should have formal policies in place to help workers who are undergoing fertility treatment, the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) has said, warning that businesses are increasingly losing talented people by failing to support them.

With NHS data showing that one in every seven couples have difficulty conceiving, the professional body urged companies to be understanding and supportive, and offer flexible work hours and paid time off to accommodate medical appointments, as well as paid compassionate leave when necessary.

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UK ministers warned housing crisis puts plans for NHS and economy at risk

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Damning report reveals millions in England are living in poor-quality housing that threatens their health

Ministers have been warned that efforts to save the NHS and grow the economy will fail unless they tackle the housing crisis, as a damning report reveals millions of people are living in substandard homes that risk worsening their health.

In total, 4.5 million people aged 50 or above with an existing health condition in England are living in poor-quality housing with one or more problems such as rising damp, rot or decay that may be making them even sicker, the Centre for Ageing Better analysis found. Of those, 1.7 million are aged 70 or over.

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Police seize 6,000 illegal wild birds’ eggs as raids net largest haul in UK history

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Part of an international initiative to combat organised wildlife crime, similar seizures in Australia and Norway have recovered more than 50,000 eggs

More than 6,000 eggs have been seized in the biggest haul of its kind in UK history, after police carried out raids in Scotland, South Yorkshire, Essex, Wales and Gloucester. Thousands of eggs were found secreted in attics, offices and drawers.

The UK raids took place in November as part of Operation Pulka, an international effort to tackle organised wildlife crime – specifically the taking, possessing and trading of wild birds’ eggs. The raids began in June 2023 in Norway, and resulted in 16 arrests and the seizure of 50,000 eggs. In Australia, an estimated 3,500 eggs have been seized, worth up to A$500,000 (£250,000).

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NHS delays may drive patients to buy unsafe weight-loss drugs, says top GP

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People warned against buying illegal weight-loss medicines through beauty salons or fake pharmacy websites

Long waits for NHS services could lead people to take matters into their own hands by buying potentially unsafe weight-loss jabs online, Britain’s top GP has said.

Prof Kamila Hawthorne, the chair of the Royal College of GPs, warned that buying drugs online from unregulated retailers could put people at risk and they may also miss out on wraparound support offered alongside the medication.

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Police forces report sharp rise in religious hate crimes across UK

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Data shows spikes in antisemitic and Islamophobic offences after outbreak of Middle East conflict and Southport attack

Some of the UK’s largest police forces have reported increases in religious hate crimes in the past 18 months, figures reveal, with the number of incidents rising after the start of the Hamas-Israel conflict in autumn 2023 and again after the Southport attacks in England this summer.

Forces including Greater Manchester, West Midlands and the Metropolitan police recorded sharp increases in antisemitic offences in the weeks after the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East in October last year.

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Up to 30 MPs who backed assisted dying bill could withdraw support at next vote

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Several MPs preparing to suggest amendments on key concerns including coercion and role of medics

Up to 30 MPs who backed assisted dying could withdraw support at the next parliamentary vote, MPs have said, as several prepare to suggest amendments on coercion and the role of medics.

The committee that will examine the next stage of Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying bill will begin hearings in the new year, with MPs coalescing around several demands for changes to the legislation.

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City regulators to start oversight of tech firms that provide ‘critical’ services to UK

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New powers come amid concerns that cyber-attacks and outages could put the country’s financial stability at risk

City regulators will begin cracking down in the new year on tech firms providing “critical” services to UK banks amid concerns that cyber-attacks and outages at companies such as Google or Amazon could put the country’s financial stability at risk.

From 1 January, the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority will be handed powers to regulate companies that are becoming a crucial part of the day-to-day operations of the increasingly digital banking and payments sector.

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Met police pays out after arrest of teenager wrongly linked to protest

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Exclusive: Force reaches out-of-court settlement with Xanthe Wells, who was accused of being at pro-Palestine demonstration

Scotland Yard has paid £5,000 in an out-of-court settlement after allegedly unlawfully imprisoning a 17-year-old who was wrongly accused of being at a pro-Palestine protest where a building was spray-painted.

The case is said by civil liberties campaigners to be compelling evidence of a heavy-handed approach by the Met to the policing of demonstrations over the last year.

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Councils failing to take homeless young people into care

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Exclusive: UK teenagers placed in temporary housing until they are adults as there are fewer obligations to support them if they are not care leavers

Councils are treating teenagers like homeless adults and placing them in unsuitable temporary housing rather than taking them into care, new research has shown.

Local authorities are “waiting out the clock” when assessing vulnerable 16- and 17-year-olds until they can be classed as adults. The teenagers were kept in the dark about their rights after escaping “harrowing” family situations involving physical and emotional abuse, addiction and mental health problems, according to research by the Coram Institute for Children charity.

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‘Authoritarian and heavy-handed’: call for investigation into vetting of experts by UK civil servants

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Speakers banned after criticising government in social media posts

The information watchdog has been asked to investigate “authoritarian” government vetting that caused speakers to be banned from official events for criticising ministers.

Two experts, who discovered that civil servants had combed through years of social media posts to judge them “unsuitable” to address conferences, believe the practice was covert and unlawful.

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London museum security guards urge public to stay away in strikes over pay

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More walkouts planned in 2025 at V&A, Natural History and Science museums as workers demand living wage

Three of the UK’s biggest museums face the threat of strike action in 2025 by security guards over pay and conditions.

Guards at the Science Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Natural History Museum are in dispute with the external contractor, Wilson James. They want a basic pay rate of £16 an hour to cope with the cost of living crisis.

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Third person arrested after man fatally hit by car in Blackburn on Christmas Day

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Kirk Marsden, 37, died after being struck by vehicle outside Gate Street Bar and Grill after reports of incident at venue

Police have arrested a third person suspected of murder after a man was fatally hit by a car outside a pub on Christmas Day.

Officers were called to reports of an incident at the Gate Street Bar and Grill in Blackburn, just before 4.50pm, after an argument in the venue.

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Thick fog expected to continue causing disruption at UK airports on Sunday

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Many flights at Heathrow and Gatwick cancelled or delayed on Saturday as murky conditions persist

Disruption caused by thick fog is expected to continue until Sunday at some of the UK’s busiest airports.

Flights at Stansted airport were affected by the weather conditions on Saturday, while live departure boards showed delays at Heathrow, Luton and Manchester airports.

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Driver in 80s arrested after pedestrian dies following collision in Bedfordshire

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Police say man in 40s died at scene in Dunstable after incident at about 4pm on Friday

A man in his 80s has been arrested after a pedestrian died following a road collision in Bedfordshire, police said.

Officers were called just before 4pm on Friday to reports of a collision between a blue Saab car and a pedestrian in West Street, Dunstable.

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Labour donor Dale Vince urges ‘rigorous financial scrutiny’ of Sizewell C costs

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Green energy entrepreneur voices concerns over project’s funding and ‘spiralling costs’ of UK’s other nuclear plants

The government’s new value for money tsar has been challenged to examine the costs of a nuclear power station to be given final approval next year, as ministers attempt to shore up private investment for the project.

New nuclear plants are a key part of the government’s plan to have clean power by 2030. The Sizewell C reactor, billed as generating enough energy to power 6m homes, is expected to be given the final go ahead in June’s review of public spending. Its projected costs are in excess of £20bn.

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‘Dubious’ use of the Freedom of Information Act stopping access to files on Prince Andrew, researchers say

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Biographer says government departments give contradictory refusals to requests and accuses them of ‘cover up’

Researchers have called for greater transparency from the Foreign Office over the files it holds on the Duke of York. Officials responding to freedom of information requests have given a variety of reasons why the files cannot be released.

Andrew Lownie, an author who is researching a biography of Prince Andrew, was told that the files could not be made public until 2065, and implied there was a general rule that papers relating to members of the royal family must remain closed until 105 years after their birth.

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