Humza Yousaf holds emergency cabinet meeting amid reports SNP has abandoned power-sharing with Greens – UK politics live

First minister reportedly plans to run minority administration amid dispute over decision to ditch climate change target

The powersharing deal between the SNP and Scottish Greens at Holyrood has been brought to an end, PA Media is reporting.

Good morning. Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister, has reportedly abandoned the SNP’s power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens. He called an emergency meeting of his cabinet this morning, and the co-leaders of the Scottish Greens, Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie, who were ministers, were seen leaving soon afterwards. Yousaf reportedly sacked them, and plans to run a minority administration.

The Greens were angered when the Scottish net zero Secretary Mairi McAllan announced last week the Scottish government was to ditch a key climate change target.

That, combined with the decision to pause the use of puberty blockers for new patients attending the only Scottish gender identity clinic for children in Glasgow, resulted in the Greens saying last week that they would have a vote on the future of the powersharing deal.

Continue reading...

SNP ends power-sharing deal with Scottish Greens over climate strategy, reports say

Cabinet votes to leave historic Bute House agreement after government abandons emissions target

The historic power-sharing agreement between the Scottish National party and Scottish Greens is to end after a crisis over the Scottish government’s climate strategy, reports say.

The Bute House agreement was signed by the then SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, and the Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie in August 2021, bringing the Greens into government for the first time in the UK.

Continue reading...

UK’s first ever memorial to LGBT armed forces personnel to be built

Fighting With Pride charity will lead work for memorial at National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire

The UK’s first memorial commemorating the “lost legion” of LGBT people who have served in the armed forces is to be built at the National Memorial Arboretum.

The memorial will be built after a charity spearheading efforts to get justice for veterans affected by the pre-2000 ban on LGBT people serving in the UK armed forces was awarded a £350,000 grant.

Continue reading...

Barclays profits tumble 12% as UK interest rates hit mortgage demand

Pre-tax profits drop to £2.3bn between January and March, down from £2.6bn last year

Business live – latest updates

Profits at Barclays tumbled 12% in the first quarter, as higher UK interest rates weighed on demand for mortgages and loans and its investment bank was hit by a backdrop of economic uncertainty.

The UK bank said pre-tax profits fell to £2.3bn in the first quarter, down from £2.6bn last year, when it reported the strongest quarterly profit since 2011 after a string of interest rate hikes by the Bank of England.

Continue reading...

Runaway horses in ‘serious condition’ after bolting through central London

Animals ran through rush-hour streets, colliding with vehicles and leaving four people in hospital

Two of the military horses that broke loose during a morning exercise and bolted through central London on Wednesday are in “serious condition”, a minister has said.

The runaway horses, including one white horse drenched in blood, ran through the rush-hour streets of the capital, colliding with vehicles and resulting in four people being taken to hospital.

Continue reading...

Lack of action on Iran could lead to more threats and attacks in UK, says journalist

Dissidents and broadcasters feeling unsafe after stabbing of Pouria Zeraati in London call for ‘deterrent signal’

A former BBC journalist has said the UK government will “pay a heavy price” for its lack of action against the Iranian regime, which could lead to more “threats” and “operations” in Britain, after the stabbing of an Iranian journalist in London.

Sima Sabet, a former journalist at the BBC World Service and the dissident channel Iran International, said there would be more transnational repression unless the government issued a “deterrent signal” to the Iranian regime.

Continue reading...

Rwanda flights will deport asylum seekers ‘indefinitely’, says Cleverly

Home secretary visits Lampedusa in Italy as National Audit Office says scheme could surpass £580m by 2030

Several flights a month will deport asylum seekers to Rwanda “indefinitely”, the home secretary has said, as he argued that the £1.8m a person cost of the scheme was justified.

James Cleverly, in his first interview since the government’s plan was approved by parliament on Monday, said he had booked a succession of initial flights and was preparing to order the detention of people seeking refuge in the UK so they could be sent to east Africa.

Continue reading...

Barbados leader halts £3m payout to UK MP for Drax Hall plantation

Government U-turn as PM Mia Mottley acknowledges anger from reparations movement over plan to buy Barbados land from Dorset MP Richard Drax

The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, has halted plans for a multi-million-pound payout to the British Conservative MP Richard Drax for the purchase of 53 acres of the Drax Hall plantation, which he owns.

As revealed in the Observer last Sunday, the payout plan had angered those involved in the Caribbean reparations movement, who said Drax, the MP for South Dorset, should hand over all or part of the 617-acre plantation to the people of Barbados.

Continue reading...

Sunak claims defence spending plan won’t affect government’s ability to cut taxes – UK politics live

Prime minister gives joint press conference with Olaf Scholz and denies misleading people over spending plans

With Rishi Sunak in Berlin, it is deputies’ day at PMQs, and Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, will be facing questions from Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader. It will be her first time at the despatch box since it was announced that Greater Manchester is fully investigating various allegations relating to the council house she bought and sold before she became an MP, and where she was living during that period. It has been reported that at least a dozen officers are on the case.

Rayner does not have to firm up her position with Labour MPs. She insists that she has done nothing wrong, and most people in the party believe that that the allegtions being made against her are little more than a smear (as Keir Starmer put it at PMQs last week).

Frank was a steadfast, highly successful and diligent campaigner against child poverty. It is largely down to Frank that we have child benefit today, a truly towering achievement.

He gained support and respect from across the political spectrum and defined the concept of the ‘poverty trap’, now commonly used to describe the difficulties for working people of getting better off while claiming means-tested benefits because of the high rate at which benefits are withdrawn as earnings rise.

Continue reading...

Three people injured at school in Wales and one arrested

Dyfed-Powys police investigate as emergency services attend Amman Valley school in Carmarthenshire

A school in west Wales has been locked down after three people were injured in an incident and one person was arrested, police have said.

Dyfed-Powys police said in a statement they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident at Amman Valley school in Ammanford.

Continue reading...

Four taken to hospital after military horses break loose in central London

Witnesses describe ‘total mayhem’ as horses run through centre of UK capital during rush hour

Four people have been taken to hospital after several military horses broke loose during a morning exercise and bolted through central London, colliding with vehicles.

Astonished witnesses described “total mayhem” as the runaway horses, including one white horse drenched in blood, ran through the rush-hour streets.

Continue reading...

Angela Rayner tells ministers to focus on no-fault evictions, not her house sale

Deputy Labour leader also criticises watering-down of leasehold reform plans while facing Oliver Dowden at deputy PMQs

Angela Rayner has accused ministers of “obsessing” over her living arrangements and urged them to focus on implementing long-promised housing reforms instead.

The deputy Labour leader came out fighting at deputy prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, weeks after police opened an investigation into the sale of her council house in 2015.

Continue reading...

Jeffrey Donaldson charged with rape, assault and gross indecency

Former DUP leader faces 11 charges spanning 21 years, as wife, Eleanor Donaldson, charged with aiding and abetting rape

Jeffrey Donaldson has appeared in court charged with rape, gross indecency and other sexual offences spanning 21 years in a case that has stunned Northern Ireland.

His wife, Eleanor Donaldson, appeared alongside him at Newry magistrates court in County Down on Wednesday and was charged with aiding and abetting rape and indecent assault.

Continue reading...

UK accused by Amnesty of ‘deliberately destabilising’ human rights globally

Rights chief also warns Britain will be ‘judged harshly by history for its failure to help prevent civilian slaughter in Gaza’

The UK has been accused by Amnesty International of “deliberately destabilising” human rights on the global stage for its own political ends.

In its annual global report, released today, the organisation said Britain was weakening human rights protections nationally and globally, amid a near-breakdown of international law.

Continue reading...

Nigel Farage can host GB News show during election, says Ofcom

Media regulator says no clear consensus among British public to ban politicians presenting on news channels

Nigel Farage will be allowed to present his nightly GB News programme throughout the general election campaign, Ofcom has confirmed, after the media regulator said there was no clear consensus among the British public to stop politicians presenting shows on news channels.

The founder of the Reform UK party, which has the backing of 10% of voters in opinion polls, will be allowed to keep broadcasting until polling day providing he does not stand as a parliamentary candidate.

Continue reading...

UK ‘helping Russia pay for its war on Ukraine’ via loophole on refined oil imports

£2.2bn-worth of oil processed in China, India and Turkey – to whom Russia supplies crude – was imported in 2023, data shows

The UK has been accused of “helping Russia pay for its war on Ukraine” by continuing to import record amounts of refined oil from countries processing Kremlin fossil fuels.

Government data analysed by the environmental news site Desmog shows that imports of refined oil from India, China and Turkey amounted to £2.2bn in 2023, the same record value as the previous year, up from £434.2m in 2021.

Continue reading...

Heathrow expects summer holiday season to be ‘busiest on record’

Passengers numbers this year predicted to hit 82.4m but airport’s future uncertain, with proposed £6bn sale in doubt

Heathrow is expecting its busiest ever summer holiday season but faces uncertainty over its long-term future as the proposed £6bn sale of the UK’s biggest airport remains in doubt.

The airport said on Wednesday that the summer getaway this year was expected to be “the busiest on record” and promised to have “robust” plans in place to keep the airport “running smoothly”, even if staff strikes held last year are repeated.

Continue reading...

England childcare scheme may struggle to deliver places, finds ‘damning’ report

Watchdog says only a third of local authorities are confident they will have enough places for September

The deployment of the government’s childcare scheme to tens of thousands more families is facing “significant uncertainties” and may struggle to meet its own targets, according to a report by Whitehall’s spending watchdog.

The National Audit Office revealed the Department for Education (DfE) had assessed the likelihood of being able to deliver the funded childcare places it promised for September 2024 and 2025 as “amber/red problematic”.

Continue reading...

Ethnic minorities in England ‘need more GP visits’ before cancer diagnosis

One in five people on average need at least three interactions – but for ethnic minorities figure rises to one in three

Ethnic minorities and young people require more visits than other people to the GP before being diagnosed with cancer, according to new analysis.

On average, one in five people across England require three or more GP interactions before being diagnosed with cancer. But for people from ethnic minority backgrounds, the figure rises to one in three, according to analysis of the NHS cancer patient experience 2022 survey by QualityWatch, a joint programme from the Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation.

Continue reading...

Mother of Nottingham stabbing victim criticises police officer’s comments

Open letter says ‘callous and degrading’ police group WhatsApp message caused ‘more trauma than you can imagine’

The mother of one of the Nottingham attack victims has written an open letter to members of a police WhatsApp group in which a message was posted describing her son as being “properly butchered”.

Emma Webber, the mother of Barnaby Webber, 19, who with Grace O’Malley-Kumar, 19, and Ian Coates, 65, was stabbed to death by Valdo Calocane, has written to the Nottinghamshire police officer who she says posted graphic details of the victims’ injuries in the chat group.

Continue reading...