Category Archives: UK news

Scottish landowner who ‘obstructs public access’ made environment minister

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Ramblers criticise appointment of Robbie Douglas-Miller to Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

No 10 has appointed a wealthy Scottish landowner accused by ramblers of restricting public access to his estate as a new environment minister by making him a peer.

The government made the surprise announcement on Friday afternoon that the king was giving the title of baron to Robbie Douglas-Miller, allowing him to enter the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as a minister.

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Laurence Fox accused of ‘insulting intelligence’ of libel trial attendees

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Actor called critics ‘paedophiles’ after they labelled him ‘racist’ following his call for boycott of Sainsbury’s over Black History Month stance

The actor and politician Laurence Fox has been accused of “insulting the intelligence of everyone present” during a libel trial at the high court over an argument on social media.

Fox had called for a boycott of Sainsbury’s in October 2020 on X, then known as Twitter, in response to the supermarket chain saying it would provide a safe space for black employees during Black History Month. He was called “a racist” by the drag artist Crystal, the former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake, and the broadcaster Nicola Thorp.

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Sunak accused of retreating from global climate leadership at Cop28

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PM attracts cross-party criticism with claim that ‘climate politics is at breaking point’ during combative summit visit

Rishi Sunak has been accused of “shrinking and retreating” from global leadership as he used the Cop28 summit to claim that “climate politics is at breaking point” because of the costs of net zero.

While many other world leaders, including King Charles, spoke of the urgency of action on the climate, the prime minister used his brief appearance at the summit in Dubai to promote his approach to slowing the pace of net zero policies and reducing pressures on family finances.

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Activist on trial for damaging UK sites of Israeli arms maker says he was justified

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Palestine Action’s Richard Barnard and co-defendants say alleged actions against Elbit Systems were aimed at stopping bombings

A co-founder of Palestine Action on trial with others for damaging an Israeli arms manufacturer’s UK sites has said they were justified because they were trying to stop people being bombed.

Richard Barnard, 51, and seven other defendants are accused of charges relating to actions against Elbit Systems Limited, which he said Palestine Action aims to “shut down”.

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Sunak says retaining Parthenon marbles is matter of law as he denies ‘hissy fit’

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PM reaffirms stance after George Osborne suggests snub to Greek counterpart was result of ‘petulance’

Rishi Sunak has denied having a “hissy fit” over the Parthenon marbles row and has said they cannot be returned to Greece “as a matter of law”.

The prime minister this week accused his Greek counterpart of using a trip to London to “grandstand” over the issue of the ancient Greek sculptures.

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Exit from Edinburgh zoo may signal end to era of China’s panda diplomacy

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Beijing’s strained relations with the west are less easily mollified by loans of cuddly endangered bears

As the UK’s only giant pandas leave Edinburgh zoo , returning to their native country after a 12-year sojourn away from China, the era of panda diplomacy also looks to be coming to an end.

Tian Tian and Yang Guang will board the panda express back to Sichuan less than a month after three giant pandas left the Smithsonian national zoo in Washington DC, ending the zoo’s five-decade panda programme.

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Rishi Sunak ‘won’t allow foreign court to block’ Rwanda plan

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Centrist Tories urge PM not to abandon UK’s human rights commitments, but Sunak said his patience ‘worn thin’ by delays

Rishi Sunak has promised not to allow foreign courts to stop Britain sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, even as a group of more centrist Conservative MPs urges him not to abandon Britain’s international human rights commitments.

The prime minister said on Friday his patience was being “worn thin” by delays to the Rwanda plan, which was ruled illegal under domestic and international law by the supreme court last month.

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Matt Hancock appears for second day of evidence to Covid inquiry – UK politics live

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Health secretary during pandemic returns to inquiry after saying tens of thousands of lives could have been saved if UK had locked down earlier

Gordon Brown has said political briefings against Alistair Darling in 2008 were “completely unfair”, as he paid tribute to his former chancellor following his death aged 70.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the former prime minister said Darling was a “compassionate politician who wanted to get things done” but was “always very quiet in the way he did it”.

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UK house prices rise for third straight month as mortgage rates fall

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Nationwide says average property price was £258,557 in November, £5,231 down on same month last year

UK house prices rose for a third consecutive month in November as the market responded to hopes that mortgage rate costs had peaked.

Nationwide, the UK’s biggest building society, said prices rose 0.2% month on month in November, after a 0.9% rise in October and a 0.1% rise in September. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a 0.4% fall in prices in November.

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UK weather: some areas to get 5cm of snow and temperatures to fall to -10C

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Yellow weather warning for snow and ice across eastern coast and amber cold health alerts issued in five regions

Parts of the UK could have 5cm of snow on Friday with temperatures expected to drop as low as -10C in some areas.

A yellow weather warning for snow and ice remains in place for the eastern coast of the UK, stretching from Scotland to East Anglia. Ice warnings remain in place for Northern Ireland and south-west England.

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Chinese prisoner’s ID card apparently found in lining of Regatta coat

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Derbyshire woman who bought item said she felt uneasy at find that raises concerns over possible prison labour

An ID card that appears to belong to a Chinese prisoner was found inside the lining of a coat from the British brand Regatta, raising concerns that the clothing was manufactured using prison labour.

The waterproof women’s coat was bought online by a woman in Derbyshire in the Black Friday sale. When it arrived on 22 November, she could feel a hard rectangular item in the right sleeve, which restricted the movement of her elbow.

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King Charles to give ‘call to arms’ Cop28 opening statement, says PM

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Rishi Sunak’s attendance comes after he scaled back pledges to help the UK reach net zero by 2050

King Charles will give a “call to arms” in his Cop28 climate summit opening statement, Rishi Sunak has said, expressing delight over the monarch’s record championing the issue.

Sunak said it was a “proud moment” for him to witness Charles deliver his speech on Friday, which “speaks volumes about our type of leadership as a country”.

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Iceland boss hits out at parent ‘exploitation’ in baby milk market

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Richard Walker calls for price cap on infant formula as competition watchdog finds evidence of greedflation

The boss of Iceland has hit out at “exploitation” of new parents and joined calls for a price cap on baby formula after the competition watchdog found evidence of greedflation by leading manufacturers.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Wednesday revealed manufacturers had increased prices by more than their costs during the inflation crisis, fattening profit margins and imposing an average 25% increase on shoppers in two years. It warned competition could be hampered because the market is dominated by two companies, Danone and Nestlé, which between them account for 85% of sales.

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British Museum ‘will continue Parthenon marbles talks’ despite fallout

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Institution’s chair, George Osborne, says the row opened Rishi Sunak up to a ‘devastating line of attack’ from Labour

Rishi Sunak opened up a “devastating line of attack” from Labour by snubbing his Greek counterpart this week, according to the British Museum’s chair George Osborne, who said the row had encouraged the institution to press ahead with talks over loaning the Parthenon marbles to Athens.

Osborne said: “That is, I think, something worth exploring. And we can go on doing it whether or not Rishi Sunak meets the Greek prime minister or not. In fact, if anything, things have been rather clarified by this week. We obviously know we’re not going to get any particular support from the Conservative government.”

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Record revenues at UK gambling firms amid rise of online slot machines

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Industry takings top £15bn as government considers curbs on online slots due to association with addiction

Gambling firms are raking in more money than ever from UK punters, fuelled by a surge in the use of online slot machines, which the government is considering curbing due to their association with heavy losses and addiction.

The betting and gaming industry’s revenues reached £15.1bn in the year to March 2023, or £10.95bn excluding the National Lottery, figures from the Gambling Commission released on Thursday show.

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Brianna Ghey murder trial: dog walkers saw accused running away, court told

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Jury hears woman’s 999 call and sees CCTV footage showing teenagers walking home

The teenagers accused of murdering Brianna Ghey, 16, were pictured on CCTV walking home together after the attack, after being disturbed at the scene by a couple walking their dogs.

The two 16-year-olds, a girl and a boy, who cannot be named, ran away from Culcheth Linear Park in Warrington shortly after Brianna was stabbed 28 times on 11 February this year, Manchester crown court heard.

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Earlier lockdown could have saved lives of 30,000, Hancock tells Covid inquiry

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Ex-health secretary has described Boris Johnson’s Downing Street as undermined by ‘culture of fear’

Tens of thousands of lives could have been saved if the UK had locked down three weeks earlier, Matt Hancock has told the Covid inquiry, as he described the operation of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street as undermined by a “culture of fear”.

The former health secretary said his staff were abused by Dominic Cummings and that Johnson’s then chief adviser attempted to exclude ministers and even Johnson himself from key decisions at the start of the pandemic, hampering the government’s response.

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Man charged after woman dies during ‘slapping therapy’ at Wiltshire hotel

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Hongchi Xiao accused of manslaughter by gross negligence of Danielle Carr-Gomm, 71, who was seeking help for diabetes

A man has been charged with manslaughter by gross negligence after a 71-year-old woman died during “slapping therapy” at a country hotel.

Danielle Carr-Gomm died while taking part in the session at Cleeve House in Seend, Wiltshire, on 20 October 2016.

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Matt Hancock ‘was not told about eat out to help out scheme until day it was announced’ – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here

Hancock is now deploying the defence previewed in the Observer on Sunday. (See 9.58am.)

He says from the middle of January the DHSC was “trying to effectively raise the alarm”. He says:

We were trying to wake up Whitehall to the scale of the problem and this wasn’t a problem that couldn’t be addressed only from the health department. Non-pharmaceutical interventions cannot be put in place by a health department. A health department can’t shut schools. It should have been grasped and led from the centre of government earlier. And you’ve seen evidence that repeatedly the department and I tried to make this happen.

And we were on occasions blocked, and at other times our concerns were not taken as seriously as they should have been until the very end of February.

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‘Greatest lyricist’: Irish president leads Ireland’s tributes to Shane MacGowan

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Michael D Higgins compares Pogues frontman’s songs with ‘perfectly crafted poems’

The Irish president, Michael D Higgins, has led Ireland’s tributes to Shane MacGowan, describing the Pogues frontman as one of “music’s greatest lyricists”.

After the singer’s death at the age of 65, Higgins compared MacGowan’s songs with “perfectly crafted poems” that captured “the measure of our dreams”.

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