Company, which also makes Quality Street, says reducing sugar, salt and fats could harm ‘strategic freedom’
Nestlé faces a resolution at its AGM on Thursday that could force the world’s largest consumer goods company to cut back on high levels of salt, sugar and fats in its food and drinks.
The Swiss-headquartered multinational is urging investors to reject the proposal, arguing a move away from “indulgent products” could harm its “strategic freedom”.
Continue reading...Rating of -59 is record low for a prime minister in modern times – matching John Major’s score in August 1994, according to Ipsos
Rishi Sunak’s approval rating is at a record low for a prime minister in modern times, according to the polling company Ipsos.
In its latest Political Monitor report it says net satisfaction with Sunak (% satisfied with how he is doing his job minus % dissatisfied) is now at -59. This matches John Major’s -59 score in August 1994, the record low for a prime minister in the Ipsos data going back to the 1980s.
Starmer’s ratings have also fallen since February. 25% are satisfied with his performance as Labour leader (-4) and 56% are dissatisfied (+1). His net score of -31 is his worst as Labour leader since he recorded a -29 in May 2021. Among Labour supporters, satisfaction with his performance has also dropped from 58% to 51%.
When presented with a head-to-head choice, the public think Keir Starmer would make the most capable prime minister over Rishi Sunak by a margin of 22 points (44% to 22%). 22% say neither and 10% don’t know.
This is an increase in Keir Starmer’s lead since January (from 13 points to 22), and is similar to Starmer’s 20pt lead over Boris Johnson in July 2022. Although 2019 Conservative voters still prefer Sunak over Starmer by 49% to 20%.
Nobody from a list of 6 potential alternative Conservative leaders stands out as doing particularly better versus Keir Starmer in a head-to-head contest
Starmer leads each of the following as most capable PM:
Continue reading...There were 830,000 unwanted moves in England over the past 12 months, meaning 40% have been forced to relocate
Unwanted home moves cost renters more than half a billion pounds a year, with tenants coughing up an average of £669 every time they are forced by landlords to leave their home, a survey has revealed.
Analysis by the homelessness charity Shelter estimated that there had been 830,000 unwanted moves in England over the past 12 months, meaning 40% of renters who move house are doing so because they have been compelled to look for other accommodation.
Continue reading...Mark Menzies allegedly spent £14,000 of campaign funds on medical costs and demanded £6,500 from aide to ‘escape captors’
A Conservative MP has lost the party whip over allegations he misused campaign funds and demanded thousands of pounds from an aide to pay off “bad people” in the middle of the night.
Mark Menzies, 52, was suspended from the Tory parliamentary party on Wednesday night while an investigation is carried out.
Continue reading...Shares in Beyoncé and Neil Young song fund rise amid hopes uncertainty over its future could be over
The embattled British music royalties investment fund Hipgnosis, which owns the rights to songs by artists from Beyoncé to Neil Young, has agreed to a $1.4bn (£1.1bn) takeover by a music and theatrical rights rival after months of turmoil over the company’s structure and leadership.
The Concord Chorus deal, which offers Hipgnosis shareholders a 32% premium to Thursday’s share price at $1.16 a share, could put an end to uncertainty over the FTSE 250 firm’s future.
Continue reading...Demand for private treatment booms as NHS waiting lists remain long, while more people also sign up for dental cover
Britain’s health cover market has grown by £385m in a year as the NHS crisis prompted more people to seek out private medical treatment and demand for dental insurance increased, according to a report.
The total health cover market, including medical and dental insurance and cash plans, grew 6.1% to £6.7bn in 2022, the latest year for which figures are available, according to the health data provider LaingBuisson.
Continue reading...How much should Britain get involved in the conflict in the Middle East? The Guardian’s John Harris is joined by the columnist Gaby Hinsliff and former national security adviser Peter Ricketts to talk about the fallout from Iran’s attack on Israel at the weekend. Plus, John talks to Gaby about smoking bans, NatCon and Liz Truss’s new book
Archive: Sky News, BBC News
Continue reading...Legislation to go back to Commons after peers stand up for rights of Afghans and scrutiny of refugees’ treatment
The parliamentary battle over Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation bill will spill into next week after the Lords refused to budge over the rights of Afghans and scrutiny of the treatment of refugees in east Africa.
The move prompted an immediate backlash from the home secretary, James Cleverly, who blamed Labour for blocking the bill and being “terrified” that the Rwanda plan would stop asylum seekers from travelling to the UK in small boats.
Continue reading...People in routine and repetitive jobs found to have 31% greater risk of disease in later life, and 66% higher risk of mild cognitive problems
If work is a constant flurry of mind-straining challenges, bursts of creativity and delicate negotiations to keep the troops happy, consider yourself lucky.
Researchers have found that the more people use their brains at work, the better they seem to be protected against thinking and memory problems that come with older age.
Continue reading...Move follows vote in Commons where MPs voted down four amendments inserted by Lords yesterday
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
PMQs is starting soon.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Man whose uncle died in 2017 disaster describes ad for pain relief gel Voltarol as ‘insulting’
Grenfell Tower has been edited out of a TV advert in a move described as “insulting” by a family bereaved by the June 2017 disaster.
Karim Mussilhy, whose uncle Hesham Rahman was among 72 people who died as a result of the fire, noticed the edit while watching the Channel 4 streaming service on Monday when an advert for the pain relief gel Voltarol showed people playing football on the Westway football pitches close to the council block.
Continue reading...Experts believe remains belong to a type of ichthyosaur that roamed the seas about 202m years ago
Fossils discovered by an 11-year-old girl on a beach in Somerset may have come from the largest marine reptile ever to have lived, according to experts.
The fossils are thought to be from a type of ichthyosaur, a prehistoric marine reptile that lived in the time of dinosaurs. The newly discovered species is believed to have roamed the seas towards the end of the Triassic, about 202m years ago.
Continue reading...Officials at Department for Work and Pensions accused of ‘threatening and cruel’ tactics over repayment orders
Government officials have been accused of using “threatening and cruel” tactics towards unpaid carers by saying they could face even greater financial penalties if they appeal against “vindictive” benefit fines.
This month a Guardian investigation revealed that thousands of people who look after disabled, frail or ill relatives have been forced to pay back huge sums after being chased by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over “honest mistakes” that officials could have spotted years earlier.
Continue reading...Labour shadow minister also says Israel should be held accountable before international tribunal for war conduct in Gaza
Lisa Nandy, the UK’s shadow minister for international development, has called for support for the UN relief agency, Unrwa, warning that “time has run out for hundreds of thousands” of people in Gaza.
Nandy is in Washington this week attending the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund with a message of how the UK’s humanitarian and development policy will change if Labour, as expected, forms the next government by the end of this year.
Continue reading...Paul Kagame flew to UK for Champions League match while national police told citizens to restrict activities including football
The president of Rwanda, whose police force has asked the country’s people to restrict football-related activities during the 30-year anniversary of the Rwanda massacre, is facing questions after flying to the UK and watching Arsenal play Bayern Munich.
Paul Kagame visited on Tuesday 9 April to watch the Champions League match in north London. Before the match, he visited Rishi Sunak at No 10 Downing Street, after giving civil servants just a few days’ notice of his visit. They discussed the UK’s deportation deal, which aims to send asylum seekers to Kigali to be processed there.
Continue reading...Lords also press ministers to allow independent Rwanda monitoring as deportation bill returns to Commons
Rishi Sunak’s government is considering concessions on the Rwanda deportation bill to allow exemptions for Afghans who served alongside UK forces, parliamentary sources say.
Ministers are also being pressed to give ground to an amendment to the legislation so that the east African country could be ruled unsafe by a monitoring committee.
Continue reading...£25bn of public money would have been saved between 2019 and 2023 if north had same care entry rates as south, report says
One in every 52 children in Blackpool are in care compared with one in 140 across England, leading to calls for more to be done to urgently tackle the widening north-south divide, brought on by “decades of underinvestment”.
Nine in every thousand children are in care in the north, compared with six in the rest of England, according to a report by Health Equity North.
Continue reading...Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health urges ministers to follow lead of Scotland and Wales
Parents in England and Northern Ireland should be banned from smacking their children because doing so is unjust, dangerous and harmful, leading doctors have urged ministers.
It was “a scandal” that Scotland and Wales had outlawed smacking but not the other two home nations, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Legislation to return to the Commons with changes that would ensure conformity with UK and other law and protect claimants
The Rwanda deportation bill has been delayed for at least one more day after the House of Lords voted for amendments that would ensure that it adheres to international and key domestic laws.
The plan to spend £541m to send 300 people seeking asylum to east Africa was sent back to the House of Commons after peers voted several times to add protections for claimants to the bill.
Continue reading...Prospective contenders Badenoch, Braverman, Jenrick and Mordaunt abstained or voted against the ban
In his speech to the Tory faithful at the Conservative party conference in Manchester in October, Rishi Sunak declared that he wanted to ban smoking for future generations.
His announcement – confirming a plan first reported by the Guardian – was met with applause from grassroots members then. But Tuesday night’s vote demonstrates the challenges for a Tory prime minister championing what his own side deems an archetypal “nanny state” policy.
Continue reading...