Category Archives: UK news

Labour’s energy advisers warn against watering down £28bn green investment

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Climate thinktank says Britain could be left trailing in global race to develop low-carbon energy

Labour’s independent energy advisers have warned the party against watering down its £28bn green spending plans in advance of its promise to create a zero carbon electricity system by 2030.

Experts at the climate thinktank Ember, which provided the independent analysis underpinning Labour’s green targets, said growing international competition for low-carbon investment from the US and EU could leave the UK lagging in the global race for low-carbon energy.

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Electric car sales in UK flatline, prompting calls for VAT cut

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Stalled growth in electric vehicles comes despite government goal to phase out petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles by 2035

The number of new cars registered in the UK has jumped by nearly 18% but electric vehicle demand is flatlining, prompting the industry to call for a VAT cut to stimulate sales.

Annual figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) on Friday show 1.9m new cars were registered last year, well up on the previous year’s figure of 1.6m and the highest level since the 2.3m registrations of 2019.

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Government to fund school ‘attendance mentors’ in worst-hit areas of England

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Latest attempt to tackle pupil absences criticised as failing to tackle the magnitude of the problem

The government is to make a new effort to repair sagging school attendance figures in England, with the education secretary to announce funding for “attendance mentors” in some of the worst-affected areas.

Pupil absences remain stubbornly higher than before the Covid pandemic, and during a visit to Liverpool on Monday Gillian Keegan is expected to announce plans for caseworkers to offer one-to-one support for pupils in 10 areas including Blackpool and Walsall, where rates of unauthorised absences remain far above national levels.

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Over-70s are UK’s most online adults after twentysomethings, survey shows

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ONS data also reveals working mothers spend on average an hour and a quarter more a day on household chores than male partners

You may not catch them on TikTok or Snapchat, but the latest data shows that the over-70s are spending more time online than any generation besides Gen Z.

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics detailing how different Britons report spending their time, the 70-plus age group is second only to those in their 20s when it comes to the average amount of time using a computer or device as a primary activity (separate from working or watching streamed video).

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UK does not cooperate sufficiently over small boat crossings, says French body

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Independent French auditors say UK information on people crossing Channel is ‘very patchy’

The UK is not coordinating sufficiently with France to reduce the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats or providing enough detailed information, French state auditors have said.

The cour des comptes, an independent French body that examines the use of public funds, has published a report on the efficiency of French policy on illegal migration, in which it said France was “struggling to develop operational cooperation arrangements” with its neighbours, including the UK.

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Rishi Sunak says his ‘working assumption’ is that general election will take place in second half of 2024 – UK politics live

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PM appears to rule out spring election after recent speculation it could be held in May

Starmer says being in opposition is frustrating, and he accuses the Tories of treating it as performance art.

He is now on the passage about his career in public service that was posted earlier. See 9.12am.

If you’ve been breaking your back to keep trading, steering your business through the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, the challenge of Brexit and the chaos of Westminster.

If you’ve been serving our country, whether in scrubs or the uniform of your regiment and what you want now is a politics that serves you, then make no mistake - this is your year.

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‘I had no idea’: the new wave of fans attracted to darts by Luke Littler

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The teenage sensation may have lost his world final showdown but has helped bring a fresh audience to the sport

When Eilidh Milne was visited by her dad and brother on Tuesday, she initially protested against their insistence on watching the darts world championship on television.

But Milne soon found herself on the edge of her seat, yelling at the TV and leaping into the air when the 16-year-old Luke Littler, who had taken the tournament by storm, defeated the 2018 world champion Rob Cross in the semi-finals.

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Starmer rules out breaking Labour’s fiscal rules to meet £28bn green target

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Statement is clearest sign yet party is willing to drop one of its flagship policies in face of Conservative attacks

Keir Starmer has ruled out breaking Labour’s fiscal rules to meet its green investment targets if it wins the election this year, in the clearest sign yet that the party is willing to scale back one of its flagship policies in the face of Conservative attacks.

The Labour leader told an audience in Bristol on Thursday that he would not borrow £28bn to spend on green projects if it meant breaking a separate promise to reduce government debt as a proportion of economic output.

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Two charged with arson over fire at Tory MP Mike Freer’s north London office

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Paul Harwood, 42, and Zara Kasory, 32, charged with arson with intent over fire in shed at constituency office in Finchley, say police

Two people have been charged with arson over a fire at the constituency office of the Conservative MP Mike Freer, police said.

Paul Harwood, 42, and Zara Kasory, 32, both of no fixed address, were arrested on Wednesday and have been charged with arson with intent over the fire in a shed at the office in Ballards Lane in Finchley, north London, on 24 December, the Metropolitan police said.

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Rishi Sunak indicates he will not call election until second half of 2024

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PM says it is his ‘working assumption’ vote will be called in latter part of year, puncturing Labour hopes of earlier poll

Rishi Sunak has given his strongest indication yet that he will not call a general election until the second half of 2024, puncturing Labour hopes that it could come as early as the spring.

The prime minister told broadcasters on Thursday it was his “working assumption” the vote would be called in the latter part of the year, giving him more time to try to reverse the Conservatives’ deficit in the polls. The date of the election is solely in his hands after the repeal of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act in 2022.

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UK farmers say tighter environmental rules put them at risk of being undercut

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Eco-friendly British produce could become unaffordable luxury if low quality imports still allowed, say farmers

Tightening environmental standards for British farmers while importing food produced to lower standards risks making eco-friendly food an unaffordable luxury item, farmers have said.

At the Oxford Farming Conference on Thursday, the environment secretary, Steve Barclay, announced that the government would consult on a new labelling scheme that would single out food produced to UK standards, allowing consumers to choose more environmentally friendly food.

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Tintern Abbey excavation suggests poor people were later buried alongside lords

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Archaeologists surprised to find graves of ordinary locals in place known as final resting place of rich and powerful

In the heyday of the wonderful church, it was used as the final resting place for the rich and powerful: high-ranking clergy, wealthy landowners, lords who guarded the borderlands.

But excavation work carried out at Tintern Abbey has found that after the gothic masterpiece fell into ruin following the dissolution of the monasteries, ordinary local people took advantage of the chance to bury their dead within the sacred – and beautiful – grounds.

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Labour election win would lift downtrodden UK, Keir Starmer to say

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In a speech in the west of England, Labour leader will say he wants British people to believe in politics again

A Labour win at this year’s election will improve the mood of “a downtrodden country”, Keir Starmer will say, as he hopes to inject a note of optimism into what is set to be one of the most bitterly fought campaigns in recent history.

The Labour leader will set out his pitch to voters at a speech in the west of England on Thursday marking the beginning of what Labour believes will be a five-month lead-up to the election.

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Junior doctors’ leaders warn of more strikes unless ministers make new offer

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Row breaks out on first day of NHS’s longest ever stoppage as requests to return to work rejected

Junior doctors’ leaders have said they are prepared to stage yet more strikes after the longest stoppage in NHS history, as health leaders warned that this week’s action alone could cripple the health service until spring.

The dire warnings came as Rishi Sunak faced fresh pressure over his pledge to reduce waiting times. Since he made his vow exactly a year ago, the list has gone up, not down – and by 500,000, official figures reveal.

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‘An inspiration’: family and friends pay tribute to Camila Batmanghelidjh

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Children’s campaigner lived an extraordinary life encompassing social entrepreneurship, fame, politics, a fall from grace and a dramatic courtroom exoneration

Family and friends are squashed into the late Camila Batmanghelidjh’s neat, tiny, kaleidoscopically colourful flat in north-west London. There are tears and hugs. Dates are passed round and cups of tea. “One thing is for sure,” said Lindita Berila, who has dropped in to pay her respects, “everyone knew Camila was special.”

A few days previously, Batmanghelidjh had been here with colleagues helping to wrap thousands of Christmas presents to be delivered the next day to disadvantaged children. “She looked fabulous,” said her brother Bobby. “There was no indication she was going to leave us.”

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Ed Davey accuses Post Office bosses of misleading him over Horizon IT scandal

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Lib Dem leader says he regrets not doing more while postal affairs minister to help victims wrongly accused of stealing

The Liberal Democrat leader has accused Post Office bosses of misleading him over the Horizon IT scandal in which hundreds of branch owner-operators were wrongly prosecuted.

Sir Ed Davey, who was postal affairs minister between 2010 and 2012 when the software issues started coming to light, said he regretted not doing more to help victims who were wrongly accused of stealing but claimed that executives had blocked him from meeting campaigners.

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Thames Water’s owners only have themselves to blame for the write-downs | Nils Pratley

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It looks as if USS simply overpaid and underestimated the effort and catch-up investment required

“We continue to view Thames Water as a long-term investment,” said the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), the £75bn pension fund for UK academics, as it wrote down the value of its stake in the Thames’ parent by nearly two-thirds, or almost £600m. Top marks for cheerfulness, but it’s a line that recalls the old joke about the definition of a long-term investment: a short-term investment gone wrong.

USS and Canadian pension fund Omers, the other late arrival on Thames’ register in 2017 (they replaced the departing Macquarie and its co-travellers), surely cannot have imagined that the long term would stretch quite so far over the horizon. As USS says, it’s taken no dividends so far, and the current business plan imagines no income for shareholders until 2030 at the earliest. That’s a near-eternity in investment terms for utility assets, which are supposedly prized for their ability to generate steady cash.

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Students find Erasmus replacement scheme inadequate, analysis finds

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Some UK applicants forced to quit Turing scheme when places not confirmed or they failed to receive funds in time

Students taking part in the government’s post-Brexit replacement for the EU’s Erasmus+ student exchange scheme were forced to drop out because places were confirmed too late, while others failed to receive funding until after their return, according to analysis.

The first official analysis of the Turing scheme, which was announced by the then prime minister Boris Johnson and launched in 2021, found that four out of five universities (79%) had difficulties with the application process, which was overly complex, repetitive and “tedious”.

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Junior doctors want 35% pay increase over time, not immediately, says BMA leader – UK politics live

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Co-chair says members ‘very happy to look over deals that would span a number of years’

Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, has restated her call for the BMA to call off the junior doctors’ strike in England. Speaking to Sky News she said:

We’re very concerned about the consequences [the strike] will have, not just for this week of industrial action, but also in the weeks following, because consultants and other clinicians who are picking up the slack as junior doctors, doctors in training, are not at their work – that will be reflected in the weeks coming up with people trying to catch up with the lost time.

So it’s going to have a huge impact on our health system. My ask of the junior doctors committee is to call off these strikes and get back round the negotiating table.

Six days of Junior Doctor strikes in England, all because of a UK Government that chooses tax cuts for the wealthy over paying NHS staff fairly.

We have taken different choices in Scotland and avoided a single day of NHS strikes. Our budget gives the NHS a real-terms increase.

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Ryanair ticket sales hit after travel agent websites delist airline

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Carrier says such sites only account for ‘small fraction’ of its bookings but move has affected load factor

Ryanair has said that it has seen a drop in the number of tickets it has been able to sell after a number of major online booking websites stripped the budget carrier’s flights from their listings.

Europe’s largest airline said that in early December “most” of the larger online travel agent sites – including Booking.com, Kiwi and Kayak – “suddenly removed Ryanair’s flights from sale on their websites”.

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