Category Archives: UK news

Craig Wright denies forging documents to support bitcoin claim

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Australian attacks qualifications of his own expert witness during testimony at high court in London

Craig Wright, the Australian computer scientist who says he invented bitcoin under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, has denied forging documents to support his claim.

In his first day of giving evidence at the high court in London on Tuesday, Wright flatly denied any forgery or falsification and attacked the qualifications of his own expert witness who found otherwise. The hearing was part of a lawsuit brought by Copa, a coalition of cryptocurrency-linked tech firms that seek to invalidate his claims.

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Rishi Sunak accused of personally holding up deal to end doctors’ strikes

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Exclusive: Sources say PM has blocked talks due to concerns about knock-on effect of more generous pay offer

Rishi Sunak has been accused of personally holding up a deal to end doctors’ strikes in England despite warnings from the health department and NHS England that waiting lists will continue to soar unless the industrial dispute is resolved.

Sources told the Guardian it had been made “abundantly and repeatedly” clear to the prime minister that there would be no progress on his pledge to drive down NHS waiting lists until a deal was struck.

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GMB members support ballot on strike action over allegations of bullying within union

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Union has been implementing recommendations of 2020 independent report that found it institutionally sexist

A row has broken out at the GMB, one of the UK’s biggest unions, after members of its largest region supported a move towards industrial action over “serious allegations of bullying and harassment”.

Staff in the north-east, Yorkshire and Humberside (NEYH) region overwhelmingly supported a consultative ballot on strike action – used as a shot across the bow when members want to raise a serious issue.

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Misconduct claims tipped CBI into ‘near death experience’, says president

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Rupert Soames says Guardian revelations over sexual misconduct claims were ‘appalling shock’ but is bullish about the future

The new president of the Confederation of British Industry has admitted the Guardian’s revelations of sexual misconduct were “an appalling shock” that tipped the lobbying group into a “near-death experience’’.

Rupert Soames, the City grandee recently appointed president of the CBI, said that this newspaper’s revelations about sexual misconduct at the organisation had triggered an existential crisis – one he is trying to rescue it from.

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Birmingham given go-ahead to raise council tax by up to 10%

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Michael Gove approves exceptional rise for UK’s biggest local authority, affecting 1m people, and three other bankrupt councils

Council tax in Birmingham is likely to increase by up to 10% after the government allowed the local authority to bypass the national cap without the need for a local referendum.

The increase will affect more than 1 million people in the UK’s largest local authority, which declared itself effectively bankrupt last year due to a £300m budget gap.

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Houthis claim fresh attacks on British and US ships in Red Sea

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Two vessels not badly damaged but incident casts doubt on success of UK-US strikes on Yemen missile sites

Houthi rebels say they have successfully targeted a British and a US ship in the Red Sea, casting doubt on the effectiveness of three waves of US-UK strikes on missile sites belonging to the group in Yemen.

Neither of the two ships were badly damaged but the incident will underscore the need for commercial ships either to pay higher insurance premiums or take longer, more expensive routes to avoid the threat of Houthi attacks. A third ship was targeted on Tuesday afternoon, but not struck, at least reassuring Britain that the Houthi capabilities may have been degraded by the US-UK airstrikes.

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Make used electric cars cheaper and tackle battery fears, peers tell ministers

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Grants needed towards buying EVs as well as a battery health testing standard to reassure consumers

Ministers need to intervene to boost the secondhand electric vehicle market and allay “uncertainty and concerns” over the health of their batteries, a House of Lords committee has said.

Peers on the environment and climate change committee urged the government to step up efforts to encourage electric vehicle adoption amid consumer jitters over the cost of vehicles, the longevity of their batteries and the availability of charging points.

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Don’t wait for Post Office-style scandal before regulating AI, ministers told

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Government to say binding measures for overseeing artificial intelligence are needed, but not immediately

Ministers have been warned against waiting for a Post Office-style scandal involving artificial intelligence before stepping in to regulate the technology, after the government said it would not rush to legislate.

The government will acknowledge on Tuesday that binding measures for overseeing cutting-edge AI development are needed at some point – but not immediately. Instead, ministers will set out “initial thinking for future binding requirements” for advanced systems and discuss them with technical, legal and civil society experts.

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UK’s January sales failed to revive consumer spending, say retailers

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Sales growth slowed last month amid cost of living crisis, poor weather and rail strikes

The traditional January sales on the high street failed to inspire a revival in consumer spending last month, as households continued to cut back amid the cost of living crisis.

Britain’s largest retailers said sales growth slowed last month as higher living costs weighed heavily on consumers, while weather conditions and strikes on the transport network also hit spending.

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King Charles: Prince Harry to travel to UK to see father after cancer diagnosis – as it happened

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King Charles ‘wholly positive about treatment’ but will postpone public-facing duties

Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf said he wished the king a “speedy recovery” following his cancer diagnosis.

He said: “My thoughts and prayers are with His Majesty The King and I hope for a speedy recovery and return to public life.

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‘Sublime flavours’ at Ledbury in west London win it three Michelin stars

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Notting Hill restaurant is sixth in the capital to get the ultimate accolade, while two Indian eateries get two stars for the first time

The London restaurant the Ledbury has been awarded three stars in the Michelin Guide for Great Britain and Ireland.

The Notting Hill restaurant is the sixth in the capital to hold the guide’s most prestigious accolade, while Gymkhana is one of the first two Indian restaurants in the UK to receive two stars, alongside Birmingham’s Opheem.

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Charles’s cancer diagnosis will cast doubt on his future role

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The king’s illness comes just as he was making a mark and as his popularity was growing, and means postponing public duties

Last Monday, King Charles emerged from a private clinic alongside Queen Camilla to smile and wave to a small crowd.

The message that Buckingham Palace wished to convey was obvious – the monarch is strong and will carry on his duties, despite the health setback.

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Sunak ‘out of touch’ for betting £1,000 on Rwanda plan’s success, says Labour

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PM also criticised for saying ‘the facts speak for themselves’ when asked if Keir Starmer was a terrorist sympathiser

Rishi Sunak has been called “out of touch” after taking a £1,000 bet with Piers Morgan on whether deportation flights to Rwanda will take off before the general election.

Morgan said to the prime minister on TalkTV: “I’ll bet you £1,000 to a refugee charity you don’t get anybody on those planes before the election. Will you take that bet?”

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Lloyds and Santander accused of providing accounts for Iranian front companies

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Both banks deny helping Tehran-controlled oil firm PCC to move money in breach of sanctions

Two of the UK’s largest lenders, Santander UK and Lloyds Banking Group, allegedly held bank accounts for front companies that helped Iranian entities evade US sanctions, according to reports.

The news has rattled investors, who sold off shares in the two banks on Monday morning, amid fears that the lenders could face penalties if they are found to have in any way assisted Iran’s state-controlled Petrochemical Commercial Company (PCC).

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We must act on Ethiopia food crisis, says UK minister

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Andrew Mitchell warns of ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ triggered by El Niño-driven drought and conflict

The risk of a humanitarian catastrophe in northern Ethiopia is growing, Andrew Mitchell, the UK’s Africa minister, said on his return from a two-day trip to the region.

“We have an opportunity to stop a looming humanitarian catastrophe in its tracks. But we must act and act now,” Mitchell said on Monday.

The country is suffering from the impacts of long-term El Niño-driven drought and brutal conflict, including the two-year war in the northern region of Tigray that ended in November 2022.

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Black police officers’ group calls for ethnic minorities to boycott joining Met

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Move comes in protest at ‘racist and vexatious’ misconduct investigation into a leading officer

The National Black Police Association (NBPA) has called for ethnic minorities to boycott joining the Metropolitan police in protest at a “racist and vexatious” misconduct investigation into a leading officer.

In the first call for a boycott in 20 years, the association claims Charles Ehikioya, chair of the Met Black Police Association (Met BPA), has been targeted because he voiced concerns about the poor behaviour of senior officers – and the racism he and his colleagues are suffering.

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Oesophageal cancer test ‘should be made more available in UK’

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Charities say deaths will be prevented if ‘sponge on a string’ test is widely adopted

A test that can detect oesophageal cancer at an earlier stage than current methods should be made more widely available to prevent deaths, charities have said.

The capsule sponge test, previously known as Cytosponge, involves a patient swallowing a dissolvable pill on a string. The pill then releases a sponge which collects cells from the oesophagus as it is retrieved.

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Asylum seekers evacuated from hotel near Heathrow after power failure

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More than 500 people forced to leave site, with some unsure of where to spend the night

There were chaotic scenes on Sunday night as the Home Office carried out a mass evacuation of one of the largest hotels used to accommodate asylum seekers after a failure of the power and water supply.

The hotel near Heathrow airport accommodates more than 500 asylum seekers – a mix of single adults, families, children and babies. The Guardian was sent video footage of adults and children walking around the darkened reception area asking what was happening.

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US says strikes on Iran-linked militias just ‘the beginning’ of its response

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National security adviser refuses to rule out targeting Iran after 85 sites were attacked in Iraq and Syria

US airstrikes on Iranian-backed militias in the Middle East were just the beginning of a sustained response, the White House national security adviser warned on Sunday, as he refused to rule out strikes on Iranian soil.

Jake Sullivan said the strikes on Friday night against 85 targets in Iraq and Syria, designed as retaliation for the killing of three US soldiers, “were the beginning, not the end of our response, and … there will be more steps, some seen, some perhaps unseen, all in an effort to send a very clear message that when American forces are attacked, when Americans are killed, we will respond and we will respond forcefully”.

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Rishi Sunak visits Northern Ireland to meet new power-sharing executive

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PM hails ‘fantastic cause for optimism’ as he seeks to put his stamp on success of Stormont reconvening

Rishi Sunak has said there is “fantastic cause for optimism” after arriving in Northern Ireland to meet the leaders of a new power-sharing executive that ended two years of political deadlock.

The prime minister arrived in Belfast on Sunday evening in advance of a meeting on Monday with Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill, who has made history by becoming the first nationalist first minister at Stormont.

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