Category Archives: UK news

No 10 groping allegation suggests complaints are still badly handled

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The lack of response to TV producer Daisy Goodwin’s allegation about a mayoral candidate casts doubt on complaints processes

Two years after the Pestminster scandal about sexual harassment by politicians swept through parliament in 2017, a downbeat speech in the House of Commons summed up how many female MPs and aides felt about its consequences.

The verdict was delivered by Jess Phillips, the Labour MP and women’s rights campaigner. “Nothing has changed since we started the whole Pestminster thing or even the broader #MeToo movement; it feels as if a moment of blood-letting led to no significant material change in the actual working lives of the people we are here to try to protect.”

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Rishi Sunak seen using erasable-ink pens on official documents and in meetings

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Exclusive: Sunak regularly pictured using Pilot V fountain pens during time as chancellor and prime minister

Rishi Sunak routinely uses pens with erasable ink to make hand-written notes on official documents and in government meetings, prompting concerns over Downing Street secrecy, the Guardian has learned.

The prime minister has regularly been pictured using the disposable Pilot V fountain pens during his time as chancellor and prime minister, most recently while taking notes during the Cabinet meeting two weeks ago.

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Prince Harry should get just £500 in phone-hacking case, argues publisher

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Mirror Group Newspapers says it has ‘sympathy’ for royal but he has no ‘hard evidence’, court told

Prince Harry should receive only £500 in damages at the end of his phone-hacking trial, Mirror Group Newspapers has argued at the high court.

The Duke of Sussex wants a judge to award him more than £200,000 over allegations that he was the victim of illegal activity by journalists working for the Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and the People.

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Bank of England’s quantitative easing scheme let ‘inflation take root’

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UK economy became reliant on cheap money due to the Bank’s actions, warns former permanent secretary to the Treasury

The Bank of England’s quantitative easing money-printing programme enabled high inflation to take root in Britain, while creating “windfall gains” for the rich, a former Treasury mandarin has warned.

Nick Macpherson, who was permanent secretary to the Treasury under the last Labour government and during David Cameron’s premiership, said the central bank’s £895bn bond-buying stimulus programme had gone “too far” and made the inflation shock hitting Britain worse.

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Marking boycott may delay degrees of more than 1,000 Durham students

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University says about 20% of final year students will be unable to graduate if industrial action continues

More than 1,000 final year students at Durham University could be left without a degree this summer because of the marking boycott disrupting universities across the UK.

Durham, one of 145 universities affected by the industrial action over pay and working conditions called by the University and College Union (UCU), said about 20% of its 5,300 final year students would be unable to graduate.

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Met police admit downloading sim of French publisher, lawyer claims

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Ernest Moret had devices seized after arrest by counter-terrorism police on arrival in London in April

The Metropolitan police have admitted downloading the sim card from the phone of a radical French publisher who was arrested by counter-terrorism police at St Pancras station in April, his lawyer has claimed.

Officers returned the iPhone and laptop it had seized from Ernest Moret, 28, to his London lawyer on Tuesday after the Met announced late on Friday that no further action would be taken against him. He had been arrested on his way to the London book fair and held for almost 24 hours under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

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EU’s flagship nature laws in jeopardy after voting stalemate

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Nature Restoration Law vote tied at 44 in favour and 44 against amid claims of lies and fake news

The future of the EU’s flagship environment laws are again hanging by a thread with a cliffhanger vote, flared tempers and accusations of lies, fake news and manipulation of voting in the European parliament.

Emotions were running high after voting on the European parliament committee steering through the Nature Restoration Law (NRL) ended in a dead heat on Tuesday, with 44 votes in favour and 44 against. It can now progress to a vote of the full parliament in a plenary session in July.

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Sharing deepfake intimate images to be criminalised in England and Wales

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Under online safety bill, maximum sentence where intent to cause distress is proved will be two years

Sharing deepfake intimate images is to be criminalised in England and Wales. Amendments to the online safety bill will make it illegal to share explicit images or videos that have been digitally manipulated to look like someone else without their consent.

The Ministry of Justice said the use of deepfakes had been increasing in recent years, with a website that virtually strips women naked receiving 38m hits in the first eight months of 2021.

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Shop price inflation easing, say top UK retailers before key meeting with MPs

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British Retail Consortium says figure eased to 8.4% in June from 9% in May

Britain’s biggest retailers have said shop price inflation is easing ahead of a crunch meeting with MPs on Tuesday over the soaring cost of groceries, but warned food prices were continuing to rise at near record rates.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said annual inflation in overall shop prices eased to 8.4% in June, down from 9% in May, as retailers cut the price of many staples including milk, cheese and eggs. Clothing and electrical goods prices also fell ahead of the summer holidays.

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Home Office delays have devastating effect on child asylum seekers – report

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Children are being left in limbo so long that they are at risk of harm, social workers warn

Lone child asylum seekers are facing fivefold increases in delays in having their claims processed by the Home Office, with devastating consequences, according to a new report.

Social workers, legal professionals and the children themselves have warned that the impact of being left in limbo about their future for so long includes the risk of suicide, self-harm and persistent insomnia.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie.

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Labour puts pressure on government over frozen Russian assets plan

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Party to use opposition debate to call for workable proposals, saying Moscow must pay for destruction in Ukraine

Labour has made a partial break from the government over its Ukraine policy by demanding ministers come up with a plan to freeze Russian assets within 90 days. It is also demanding a deadline is set after which it will be a criminal offence to fail to disclose information about the whereabouts of Russian assets.

Labour, which has been reluctant to make public any differences with the government over the Ukraine war, has decided to put pressure on ministers, believing other countries are ahead of the UK with plans to seize Russian assets.

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Sending asylum seekers to Rwanda will cost £169k a person, says Home Office

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‘Impact assessment’ of the illegal migration bill reignites bitter rows over the controversial scheme

The cost of sending a single person seeking asylum to Rwanda could be nearly £170,000, according to government analysis, which has immediately reignited bitter rows over the controversial scheme.

A long-awaited “impact assessment” of the illegal migration bill has conceded that ministers do not know the overall costs of implementing plans to detain and deport anyone who arrives in the UK by irregular means.

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Stephen Lawrence inquiry should have received more from Met, IOPC found

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Watchdog identified further details that ‘could and should’ have been handed over to Macpherson inquiry

An official investigation has concluded that Scotland Yard had information that “could and should” have been handed to the inquiry into Stephen Lawrence’s murder but failed to disclose it, the Guardian has learned.

The unpublished findings from the police watchdog are a potential fresh embarrassment to the Met and emerged after a sixth suspect in the 1993 killing of the black teenager was identified, leading to calls from Lawrence’s father and best friend to reopen the investigation.

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Keir Starmer promises to ease tensions between Labour and India

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Party leader seeks to win back British Indian voters after anger over party’s perceived support for Pakistan in Kashmir dispute

Keir Starmer has promised to reset relations between the Labour party and India after years of tension between the two.

The Labour leader said on Monday that his party had made mistakes in its approach to relations with the world’s most populous country, and that it would seek closer ties if elected to power next year.

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Rishi Sunak admits NHS faces ‘long-term challenges’ after damning report – UK politics live

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PM likely to be questioned during Nottingham visit on King’s Fund report that says NHS is ‘more a laggard than a leader’

Lord Bethell, the former health minister, has welcomed the announcement from the government today about targeted lung cancer screening. But he thinks the government should go further.

The review by Javed Khan, published last summer, recommended raising the age at which people can buy cigarettes “by one year every year until no one can buy a tobacco product in this country”. Many Tories strongly oppose measures like this on libertarian grounds, and the government has not adopted the plan.

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UK aid should not fund private hospitals in developing countries, says Oxfam

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Development charity says patients denied treatment or held hostage until fees paid in private facilities in India and Kenya

Private hospitals in India and Kenya accused of refusing people on low incomes vital healthcare, or holding them hostage until bills have been paid, benefit from UK government investment funds, according to a report by Oxfam.

Investments worth hundreds of millions of pounds by government-backed agencies are used to facilitate the “impoverishment and even the imprisonment of the very people [the private hospitals] are supposed to be helping”, said the development charity.

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Tyrone Mings describes ‘scary’ experience as he backs Prince William homelessness project

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England footballer recalls childhood emergency housing as royal launches five-year UK scheme

Homeless people are to be helped into permanent accommodation, regardless of their circumstances, as part of a five-year project to be run by Prince William’s foundation and supported by the England footballer Tyrone Mings.

The project, called Homewards, which emulates one run in Finland, will be launched initially in six areas around the UK and is aimed at preventing homelessness where possible and ensuring any incidence is “rare, brief and unrepeated”. The Prince of Wales’s charitable foundation is giving £3m of startup funding to the project.

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Aston Martin agrees deal to make electric vehicles with US firm Lucid

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British carmaker to use components from Lucid to produce luxury high-performance battery electric models

Aston Martin has struck a deal with the US firm Lucid to start making “ultra-luxury high-performance electric vehicles” from 2025.

The British luxury carmaker, whose losses more than doubled last year to almost £500m, has struck a cash and shares deal valued at £182m in which Lucid will take a 3.7% stake in London-listed Aston Martin.

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Primark owner upgrades profit outlook as inflation fuels jump in sales revenue

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Associated British Foods says group sales rose by 16% with Primark saying rises supported by steeper prices

The owner of Primark and food brands including Twinings has upgraded its profit forecast for this year as sales revenue jumped thanks to inflation-fuelled price increases and as shoppers bought summer clothes.

Associated British Foods, which also owns brands including Ovaltine as well as a sugar business, said that group sales rose by 16% to £4.7bn in the three months to 27 May. Sales at Primark were up by 13% to nearly £2bn.

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Camera brings ‘unprecedented clarity’ to restoration of historic artworks

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Technology will allow conservators to use fluorescence to identify and remove ageing varnish with total accuracy

Scientists have developed technology that will revolutionise the restoration of historic works of art by allowing conservators to identify and remove ageing varnish with total accuracy.

A team at King’s College London’s department of physics has harnessed the power of fluorescence to bring “unprecedented clarity” to the conservation process, said Prof Klaus Suhling.

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