Category Archives: UK news

C of E may need to rethink archbishop of Canterbury role, senior cleric says

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Exclusive: Stephen Cottrell, archbishop of York, says church is in period of reflection after ‘unprecedented crisis’ over abuse cover-up

The Church of England may need to rethink the role of archbishop of Canterbury after its “unprecedented crisis” over an abuse cover-up, Justin Welby’s second-in-command has said.

In an interview with the Guardian, Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York, said he would welcome a woman taking over from Welby. But he warned that the responsibilities of the job may need to be shared more widely in future.

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Xi Jinping praises Labour’s economic policy as Keir Starmer discusses human rights concerns

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PM questions sanctions against MPs and plight of Jimmy Lai as China’s president says Starmer ‘fixing foundations’

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has heaped praise on Keir Starmer’s economic policy, as the UK prime minister used their first meeting to raise concerns about sanctions on MPs and the treatment of the pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai.

During their conversation at the G20 summit in Rio, the first meeting between the UK and China’s leaders in six years, Starmer said he would be keen to host a full bilateral meeting with Xi and the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, in Beijing or London as soon as possible, aimed at turning the page on frosty UK-China relations.

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Home Office pressed on EU citizens removed while awaiting approval to stay

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Watchdog seeks clarity on legal right to go on holiday or visit family abroad after applicants denied re-entry at UK border

Hopes have been raised for EU citizens who have faced being removed from the UK post-Brexit even while they wait on their applications to stay, after a statutory body wrote to the Home Office demanding clarity on their legal right to go on holiday or visit family abroad.

The move comes after a number of cases came to light involving the removal of EU citizens when they returned to the UK after a visit abroad.

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Ed Sheeran: I wish I wasn’t on 40th-anniversary version of Band Aid

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Singer says his ‘understanding of the narrative’ around Do They Know It’s Christmas? has changed since 2014 appearance

Ed Sheeran has said he would rather not be on the forthcoming 40th-anniversary version of Band Aid charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas?, aligning himself with criticism of it as dehumanising and damaging to Africans.

Sheeran is one of an all-star cast to be drawn from three previous recordings of the song, in 1984, 2004 and 2014 – he appeared on the latter version. Producer Trevor Horn has mashed up three sets of performances into a new “Ultimate Mix”, which will be released on 25 November, and also features George Michael, Robbie Williams, Sinéad O’Connor and many more.

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Higher employment costs and interest rates to push UK firms into financial trouble; Trump tariffs would ‘hit growth’ – business live

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Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

Begbies Traynor also reveals that their employment costs are expected to rise by £1.25m due to the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions.

The company is “reviewing options to mitigate the impact where possible”.

“Additional headwinds for UK business from increased employment costs and the prospect of higher for longer interest rates are likely to extend the period of elevated insolvency levels, increasing the need for advice and support from our insolvency and business recovery professionals.”

“We have made a very good start to the year with double digit growth in revenue and profits driven by positive momentum across the group. This gives us confidence that we will deliver market expectations for the year as a whole.

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Keir Starmer says he wants ‘serious and pragmatic’ relationship with China – as it happened

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Prime minister says he wants to ‘be clear about issues we do not agree on’ after meeting Chinese president Xi Jinping at G20

Keir Starmer has held his bilateral with Xi Jinping in Rio at the G20, offering to meet his counterpart, the Chinese premier Li Qiang, in Beijing or London at the earliest opportunity.

But the PM also raised human rights issues with Xi, including the sanctions on parliamentarians and the persecution of Hong Kong and British citizen Jimmy Lai.

A strong UK China relationship is important for both of our countries and for the broader international community.

The UK will be a predictable, consistent, sovereign actor committed to the rule of law.

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Bridget Phillipson says she is likely to vote against assisted dying bill

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Education secretary urges ministers to limit discussion on policy to behind the scenes after vocal opposition to bill by Wes Streeting

Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has said she is likely to vote against the bill to legalise assisted dying, as she urged ministerial colleagues to restrict their discussions about the policy to behind the scenes.

Under a policy of government neutrality towards the private member’s bill by the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, which will get its first Commons vote this month, ministers are permitted to set a previously-known stance if asked but otherwise to keep out of the debate.

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Britons warned to expect ‘disappointing’ rise in energy bills in January

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Price cap for Great Britain forecast to rise to £1,736 a year for average dual-fuel bill, according to Cornwall Insights

Britons have been warned to expect a “disappointing” rise in energy bills in January, adding pressure to household finances, despite earlier hopes that prices may ease early next year.

The price cap for Great Britain is forecast to rise to £1,736 a year for the average dual-fuel bill, according to Cornwall Insights, a well-respected energy consultancy. This is a rise of 1% from the current price cap, which increased last month to £1,717 a year for a typical consumer.

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Wise told Morecambe he wanted to split up comedy act in 1950, letter reveals

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Items up for auction from Eric Morecambe’s family home show Ernie Wise had doubts about pair’s future

They became arguably the greatest comedy duo Britain has ever produced but if Eric Morecambe had listened to a young and despondent Ernie Wise they would have split up before ever getting properly started.

A poignant 1950 letter from Wise to Morecambe is part of a remarkable treasure trove of memorabilia to be auctioned in the new year.

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Average asking price for UK home drops by £5,000 in November

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Analysts say market is still relatively busy despite decline of 1.4%, which is unusually high for this time of year

The average asking price for a UK home has dropped by more than £5,000 this month as the autumn budget caused housing market jitters before the usual Christmas slowdown.

Average asking prices from new sellers fell by £5,366, or 1.4%, in November to £366,592, compared with the 0.8% decline usually recorded at this time of year, according to the website Rightmove.

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Starmer aims to build ‘pragmatic and serious relationship’ in meeting with Xi

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Prime minister wants bilateral at G20 to lead to closer ties with China, which he sees as key to faster growth

Keir Starmer will become the first UK prime minister in six years to meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, promising to turn the page on UK-China relations by building “a pragmatic and serious relationship”.

Starmer and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, have been pursuing a thawing of relations with the world’s second-largest economy on pragmatic grounds, suggesting that the UK cannot achieve its growth ambitions without better terms with China.

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Keir Starmer promises Ukraine will be ‘top of the agenda’ at G20

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UK prime minister to meet world leaders at summit in Brazil that Vladimir Putin has declined to attend

Ukraine will be “top of the agenda” this week at a meeting of leaders from the world’s most powerful economies, Keir Starmer has pledged, though he said he had “no plans” to follow the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and speak directly to Vladimir Putin.

Starmer will meet world leaders on Monday at the G20 summit in Brazil, which the Russian president has declined to attend, sending his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in his place.

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‘You should be afraid’: poison pen letters reignite UK actors’ fund feud

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Police notified after former trustees and current chief executive of Actors’ Benevolent Fund were sent notes

A bitter feud that tore apart an illustrious actors’ charity has been reignited by the emergence of poison pen letters threatening former trustees.

The annual meeting of the Actors’ Benevolent Fund (ABF) takes place on Tuesday after at least three years of turmoil with little prospect that it will pass off uneventfully.

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Welsh Lib Dems leader under pressure after criticism over C of E abuse case

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Ed Davey says Jane Dodds should reflect on her position after failing to take action over allegations of abuse by late bishop of Chester

Ed Davey has said the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats should reflect on her position because of her failure to take action over an abuse case when she was a manager in the Church of England.

Jane Dodds, who was briefly the MP for Brecon and Radnorshire and is now the only Lib Dem member of the Senedd, was criticised in a C of E report about abuse carried out by the late bishop of Chester, Hubert Victor Whitsey.

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Floods, explosions and asbestos: Thames Water faces potential problems on all fronts

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Exclusive: Senior managers say they are forced to press ahead with orders for vital items without approval

When Sarah Bentley and Sarah Albon met at Beckton sewage treatment works in east London, the choice of location was designed to underline Thames Water’s predicament.

The site is Europe’s largest sewage treatment operation, with Grade II-listed parts of the site dating to the 1860s. It is now connected with the new Thames Tideway super-sewer, but insiders say several parts of the site are simply crumbling. The site is also riddled with asbestos.

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Muslims face ‘bleak and dystopian’ climate in UK, says head of thinktank

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Shabna Begum says racist riots will return if Islamophobia continues to be ‘an acceptable currency’ in politics

Islamophobia has become “brutally divisive” in the UK and failure to challenge its root causes will lead to more racist riots, the head of the UK’s leading race equality thinktank has said.

Shabna Begum, who became the chief executive of the Runnymede Trust earlier this year, said the country was entering a new phase in how it talks about Muslims.

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Thames Water supply ‘on knife-edge’ with £23bn repairs needed

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Exclusive: Company has failed to tackle serious safety concerns or upgrade vital IT systems, Guardian investigation reveals

Thames Water has £23bn of assets that are in urgent need of repair and the supply of water to its 16 million customers is “on a knife-edge”, a Guardian investigation can reveal.

Britain’s biggest water company has failed to tackle adequately serious safety concerns, has not upgraded essential IT systems and has tolerated a culture of intimidation among staff, according to insiders and an analysis of documents.

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More than 5,000 investors now suing Hargreaves Lansdown

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Claims management company expects claims over collapsed Neil Woodford fund to exceed £200m

More than 5,000 people who invested in Neil Woodford’s collapsed equity fund are suing Hargreaves Lansdown, claiming that the investment platform was still promoting the fund even when it was aware of its problems.

The number of people suing Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK’s largest investment site, has almost doubled in the past two years, according to the claims management firm RGL Management. Two years ago the number of people taking part stood at 2,750.

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Essex police defend their investigation of Allison Pearson tweet

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Force says Telegraph writer accused of inciting racial hatred, rather than committing a non-crime hate incident as she had claimed

Essex police have defended their decision to investigate the Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson over a social media post, saying she is accused of “inciting racial hatred” not of committing a “non-crime hate incident”, as she had claimed.

The row over Pearson’s tweet has been splashed across the front pages of the Times, Telegraph and Mail this week. Leading figures on the right, including the new leader of the Conservative party, Kemi Badenoch, and the former prime minister Boris Johnson, have leapt to her defence.

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Revealed: ‘Grassroots’ campaigns opposed to assisted dying financed by conservative Christian pressure groups

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Religious lobbyists are secretly coordinating and funding bodies that claim to be led by disabled people and health workers

Campaigns against assisted dying that claim to be led by healthcare workers and disabled people are being secretly coordinated and paid for by conservative Christian pressure groups, an Observer investigation has found.

The “grassroots” campaigns have been central to the debate on legalising assisted dying in England and Wales before a landmark vote by MPs this month.

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